AT&T no longer able to order Lumia 920's from Nokia

[AZBrowncoat]

I thought it interesting, however, that he mentioned to me that they received an email from corporate this morning saying that Nokia is no longer allowing them to even order certain colors of the Lumia 920 because they're so far backordered.

Yellow and Cyan for sure...I returned my Yellow Lumia today due to a freezing issue and was in-store for quite a while while they tried to figure out how to order me a replacement in Yellow.

Eventually I was told that they were not even being allowed to order Yellow or Cyan.

Eventually ended up driving across town to get one of only two Red Lumia's in stock.

 

[willied]

Prime time television in the US shows nothing but Lumia 920 commercials. This is somewhat of a nightmare especially at the beginning of the product's life cycle.

How is this a nightmare? I thought exposure was a good thing?

 

[mlm1950]

How is this a nightmare? I thought exposure was a good thing?

Probably meant that it is a nightmare that people may not be able to get the phone after seeing an ad for it and having it strike their fancy and having to go out and get it right then, only to be told that the phone is backordered, thus causing the potential customer to get discouraged, causing him/her to buy an android or apple phone because they are at the point of needing instant gratification.

 

[razorguy]

people still believe what customer service says...? i'm willing to bet that guy probably decided to pull something out of the air just so that you don't call back and have the blame on Nokia instead...

I'd venture to say this is accurate. I was in the customer service business for years and lies like that come out of your mouth naturally when you get angry customers in front of you or on the phone just so they will shut up about something you have no control over. I don't see Nokia pulling something like this as a struggling company who obviously needs the sales.

 

[Tempest790]

I hope they start get either the cyan or yellow ordering again. I don't mind waiting, but there must be some reason why this launch was so chaotic.

 

[humdinger]

I'd be concerned about QC issues in case Nokia tries to push up production.

 

[Tempest790]

I'd be concerned about QC issues in case Nokia tries to push up production.

I think that's already happened to a few people unfortunately. My black 920 hasn't had any issues or build quality problems, thankfully.

I've been checking AT&T Lumia 920 stock in various cities around the country. It appears that white is the most stocked color. Maybe that color is selling the least? My wife doesn't want that color because a gloss white is going to show dirt and wear a lot more. I few and I do mean few have the matte black. I didn't see red at any of them, and I punched in at least 20 different cities both large and small around the country just to see.

Ironically enough, Nokia is rolling out the Lumia in more countries and they are no where near keeping up with the demand here. I think Europe's providers are all sold out as well.

 

[lordofthereef]

Honestly, I just want to hear numbers now. As difficult as it seems to be to keep these things off the shelves it better blow me away. We are talking millions. Anything under that mark would be just... sad.

 

[scdkad]

What about the plant in Korea-which is where the L900 was made? At least that's what it says on the bottom of mine..

 

[stephen_az]

It is just sales BS to stress how hot a seller it is and to excuse poor AT&T service. It is obviously selling well - the rest of it meaningless garbage from someone who doesn't know anymore than you....

 

[LikeWaah]

I think that part of the shortage is related to the shutting down of the factory in Finland, as Coreldan was saying, and due to the demand in other parts of the world.

I'm assuming most people here are American, correct me if I'm wrong, and as such, we have an Americentric POV. The US is hardly a large market compared to other parts of the world, and we certainly don't have the growth of other emerging economies. It makes more sense for them to establish their brand, and grab marketshare, in India, China, and Europe as a whole.

So, I might expect Nokia to route a majority of their production towards the other markets, and let the US market buy whatever is available. That might sound unfair to some of you, but it's just the economics of the matter. Even if you say that the average person in India or China can't afford a 920, the average person in Europe certainly can. And even if they are in a recession, Americans seemed to have no problems buying iPhones, so what's stopping a European from buying a 920?

According to the 2011 census, Europe has a population of 739,165,030. The US has 311,591,917 people, that's half the number of Europe. India? 1,241,491,960 people. That's 4 times the size of the US. China? 1,344,130,000 people. That's a combined 8 times more than the US.

Comscore has guessed that there is a smartphone penetration of 47% in the US. So that leaves half of the market for easy sales, being optimistic of course. India's penetration? 2.5%. China apparently has a 33% penetration rate (I don't know how reliable that figure is..). That's a lot more potential customers in those markets.

My exact numbers may be off, but the concept holds true regardless. I don't know, I could be completely wrong, but it seems reasonable to me. It also seems like a smart move. I don't know about China, but Nokia has a strong brand presence in India. Their Asha phones are doing really well there. Also, hopefully, their new plant in Vietnam becomes operational earlier in 2013 than later. They said it would be open in early 2013. I say that window gives them anywhere from January to May. January would be amazing, but I think March is more realistic.

 

[Robinsonmac]

China Mobile has 650 million subscribers, thats double the entire us population & the Iphone is not sold in that country. Nokia has a very strong presense there & is growing. The same goes for India. Those 2 markets account for a 3rd of the worlds population.... With Europe it's almost half. What markets would you send a limited supply of phones to? A 311 million market or half the worlds population market?

 

[kcovert]

It's not that the US market is the largest it's just that it's very influential in smartphone realm and is why you want to do well in the US.

 

[Rich White]

They've replenished Black and White locally a couple times. There are 3 red phones in the state--3 stores with 1 each. Leftovers from the initial order

 

[Jazmac]

When I bought my white 920 (which was the only 920 left at the store I went to) the rep who helped me said they can't keep the 920 in stock, and they get frequently restocked. There is ACTUAL demand for the 920, not just bullsh*t hype, but actual demand. The rep told me she'd actually been selling more 920s than iPhone 5s in the past couple of weeks and people are coming into the AT&T store SPECIFICALLY to look at and use the 920 and 8X.

This is nothing short of amazing. Inasmuch as I want people to get the Windows phone they want, its good to see how the demand has grown. This is real.

 

[LikeWaah]

It's not that the US market is the largest it's just that it's very influential in smartphone realm and is why you want to do well in the US.

Kcovert,

I don't think it's accurate to say that the US is the most influential, it just happens to be that the smartphone trend was established primarily in US markets first. Apple is a US company, Google is a US company, RIM is Canadian, but has (had?) a huge market share in the US during their prime.

I know Korea and Japan had much better feature phones early on, when the US was still using monochrome displays, Korea had color screens and polyphonic ringtones. Those features didn't show up in the US market for at least a couple years. So who is influencing who?

People used to care more about the US market because that's where the money was. It's not the case anymore, the US (relatively speaking) is not a growth market compared to China or India.

In short, people cared about us in the past because we had lots of money to spend. People cared about smartphones, so they paid attention to the US market. They will continue to do so for a while, but IMO, the influence of the US market is waning.

 

[Reflexx]

China Mobile has 650 million subscribers, thats double the entire us population & the Iphone is not sold in that country. Nokia has a very strong presense there & is growing. The same goes for India. Those 2 markets account for a 3rd of the worlds population.... With Europe it's almost half. What markets would you send a limited supply of phones to? A 311 million market or half the worlds population market?

That's a good point.

Though I imagine that a majority of the Lumias they well there will be the 510 and 610. Then again, even if a small minority of subscribers there buy the 920 and 820 it will blow away US numbers.

 

[Robinsonmac]

That may be true but lets say only 1 in 10 bought an 820 or 920 that's 1 in 10 of a BILLION subscriber market for China & India respectively. That's 100 million sold per market.

 

[Harry Wild]

On AT&T website, 920 color out of stock is black. Rep said the red color is not selling.

 

[zombiwoof]

Still waiting for my charge plate as well???