The Nokia Lumia 900 released on AT&T on Sunday, and priced at just under $50 at select AT&T authorized retailers, the phone is all set to revolutionize current market trends in the smartphone arena. The phone could also brand Windows as a market disruptor between Apple’s iPhone and Android phones. The Lumia line of smartphones produced by Nokia uses Windows Phone as its operating system. Although these phones contribute to a small portion of the smartphone market (only 3%), Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester believes that these phones could lay the seed for the existence of Windows Phone as a third ecosystem and thus compete on a level field with the likes of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.
Buy the Nokia Lumia 900 starting at just $49.
Epps suggested that Microsoft and Nokia must devise a strategy to ensure that every BlackBerry user converts to the Windows Phone OS. BlackBerry users account for 8% of the total number of smartphones in the market today, so grabbing those users shouldn’t be an arduous task for Microsoft. Microsoft could also resort to aggressive marketing in populated countries like India and China in order to catalyze the transition from Symbian to Windows Phone OS. Epps has already admitted that she is a strong supporter of the Windows Phone OS. She further added that she is proud of her phones, the HTC trophy and Samsung Focus Flash, both of which run on the Windows Phone OS.
The entry of the Lumia 900 couldn’t have been better, given that RIM (Blackberry manufacturer) isn’t planning on releasing a competent phone is the near future. The economical pricing and the aforementioned reason should suffice for a large number of BlackBerry users to switch to the Windows Phone OS, given sufficient marketing. She even spoke highly of the Lumia 900, highlighting its sleek form factor, superior screen resolution and better quality pictures courtesy of its Carl Zeiss lens.
There are other analysts who think that the Lumia 900 is a mixed bag, mainly criticizing the phone’s subpar specs compared to the latest Android offerings. The phone also cannot expect to compete against the likes of the iPhone or a top rate Android phone like the Samsung Galaxy S II, which wouldn’t put it on the wish list of many consumers. Though the specs on the phone may not be very alluring, if a user is looking for a change in the interface then Microsoft wants to be in a position to push their platform effectively. For that itself, the Lumia 900 is a great start for the company.
