Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'
engadget.com

There was nothing unique, compelling, or, well, anything about these phones. Most were even exceptionally crappy with the exception of the Samsung. It's clear that none of the OEMs were willing to invest the resources to design and build a piece of hardware that was compelling.

I don't blame Microsoft for shopping around for an "official" manufacturer after that little debacle.

And I say: Finally! One of the weaknesses of Android has always been this clearly demarcated line between hardware and software, as necessitated by its licensing terms and mission statement. iPhones don't suffer from the effects of this - the software plays closely with the hardware, and it shows. With beautiful industrial design (honestly, I'm a fan of this new phone) and tight hardware-software integration, Microsoft can stand a real chance. I say, about time.

I looked at WP through BizSpark a little, and it looks easier to develop for than iOS or Android, at least for corporate apps. It's possible RIM will lose out in the "corporate owned/managed" market to WP, especially if they can build in equivalent or better security and management tools.

If I were MS/Nokia, I'd heavily subsidize this in ways other than just reducing the retail price; maybe even go for a $799 retail MSRP but heavily discount through the carriers or through channels to $0-400. You want the price to make it seem premium (or at least as good as a high-end Android or iPhone 4S), but they're the new entrant, so using price to promote the product might be a win. Maybe something like "$400 credit for any smartphone trade-in" at retail. Or, bundle "we pay your phone bill for 3 months" or something.

That thing looks like a lazy ripoff of the Nokia N9. But oh well. They're both beautiful :-)

Disclaimer: I used to work for Nokia.