Nokia's 'last-ditch' Windows phone stumbles - sales crawl behind Androids, iPhones, BlackBerries

Daily Mail ^ | 12/23/2011 | Rob Waugh

[SeekAndFind]

Nokia's Lumia 800 phone - the first fruit of its much-hyped alliance with Microsoft, seems to be unlikely to be the saviour the firm hoped for.

When CEO Michael Elop took over, he described the firm's situation in smartphones as standing on a burning oil platform, with no choice but to hurl itself into the sea. The alliance with Microsoft came after Elop's gloomy prognosis.

But from sales data released by Mobiles Please, it looks like Nokia has so far failed to make a splash.

A sample of 5,000 sales by the price comparison site found that the Lumia 800 has captured just 0.17 per cent of the market.

If true - and if sales of the relatively new phone and its sibling the Lumia 700 persist at this level - it's disastrous for Nokia.

Over the same period, Samsung's hit Galaxy S II commanded 16.3 per cent of the market.

Three models of iPhone were in the top ten, taking roughly 18 per cent of the total.

Even BlackBerries sold more than six per cent.

'Despite the support of Microsoft, Nokia has a mountain to climb if its latest venture into the smartphone market - its Lumia 800 - is to survive in the demanding world of Smartphone innovation and sales,' said Mobiles Please.

[SeekAndFind]

THE TOP TEN

Samsung Galaxy S II 16.13%

Apple iPhone 4 16GB 10.24%

Apple iPhone 4S 16GB 5.50%

BlackBerry Touch 9900 3.79%

Apple iPhone 3GS 8GB 3.03%

BlackBerry Curve 9300 2.54%

HTC Sensation 2.16%

Apple iPhone 4S 16GB 2.01%

Nokia Lumia 800 black 0.17%

[Jonty30]

It looks like Microsoft has more work to do.

Part of the problem is that Microsoft has a habit of jumping into the market and, if there’s no success very quickly, they will jump out again.

Perhaps if they stayed for a awhile, they may move up.

[Eye of Unk]

I have a Tracfone slider.

[Dallas59]

Nokia has always waited till the last minute to produce something the public wants. They are still stuck in 1993.

[tacticalogic]

Perhaps if they stayed for a awhile, they may move up.

Right now the development work they're doing on Windows 8 seems to indicate they're in this for the long haul.

[Hodar]

Part of the problem is that Microsoft has a habit of jumping into the market and, if there’s no success very quickly, they will jump out again.

Exactly, thus leaving the sucker with the 2 year contract stuck in the lurch. Consider the poor unfortunate souls who boughtthe Kin1 or Kin2 cell phones, or the Zune portable player, or the Courier tablet .... Now, they are left "high and dry" by a company that has the ability to support a product, but had opted to abandon that product.

No thanks, I'm quite content with my iPhone 4, and will only abandon that when my contract is up and the iPhone 5 is out.

[JNRoberts]

Just bought the Samsung Galaxy S II on Wednesday. After looking at the Apple iphone 4 and Galaxy.

Wow....unreal speed, love the bigger screen, the apps, just amazed.

[martin_fierro]

[B Knotts]

They were on the right track with the N900. They just needed to further develop that. Instead, they started changing the OS before it was even released, and then abruptly changed directions and partnered with Microsoft.

[fx45guy]

The numbers have been proved bogus. The 800 is sold out in almost every European market it was delivered in.

I love my WP7 phone. Leaps and bounds easier and quicker to use than any Android or iPhone. Give it a try.

I for one won’t be supporting the ultra liberal, anti prop 8, google bosses. Microsoft is the lesser of three evils here.

[fx45guy]

Oh, and no apps to kill (there is no app task list/killer), the phone manages everything automatically. And my phone hasn’t needed to be rebooted in almost 6 months of usage. How many Android users can say that? Microsoft has a winner here with crappy marketing.

[dfwgator]

I’m still ticked at Nokia for not allowing you to bowl a 300 game in their bowling app.

[B Knotts]

To clarify, the N900 did not run Android. It had its own operating system derived from Debian Linux and Qt (which is owned by Nokia). It was closer to a tablet OS, really.

[longtermmemmory]

Microsoft is dead in the cell phone business.

They TRIED to be iphone lite and failed utterly.

apple has a closed system, microsoft USED to be open.

now with two closed systems and one sporting zune (!hahahahahahahahaha what a joke) it is clear no way can MS beat that.