Lumia 810 - Indications of exclusive devices on the different US carriers?

[Aykazu]

I'm not sure that I see the benefit of a bunch of minor variations of the same handset across carriers.

If it's the only way that Nokia can crack the US market, I guess that's okay. But it creates an exceptionally large number of confusing products with limited differentiation.

This is the way that usually works in the mobile business, you need to get your products into shelves, and a lot of different kind of products. Thats why Samsungs Galaxy line is so popular and that is how Nokia dominated the whole industry for nearly 15 years.

This is an extremely good thing for Windows Phone in general. Nokia is doing what it does the best in the world and that is to flood the market with "different" products (actually, they are pretty much the same products just in different design but it is proven to work).

It is also good for the carriers because now they can market the products as "Exclusive" something desirable from just them and thats exactly what Nokia is aiming for.

 

[a5cent]

You forget that while variations increase cost, if the price Nokia gets is higher than the cost involved, Nokia actually profits more. And that's what I imagine is going through the minds of Nokia executives when they decided on this strategy.

I disagree. See below (my response to TK-093)

I doubt AT&T would agree to pay a bunch of money to Nokia to get an exclusive 920 if simply calling it a 922 on Verizon is all it takes to get around an exclusive agreement like that.

Hey TK-093, I'm assuming that comment is directed at me, so I will respond (I apologize if I'm mistaken).

I did not state that AT&T agreed to pay Nokia money for exclusivity! Although that might also be happening indirectly (by AT&T shouldering a larger percentage of the subsidy), that isn't what the exclusivity deals are about. Note also, that exclusivity can be limited, so even if something like a 922 is coming to Verizon, the 920 still counts as an exclusive until Verizon has the 922 in retail.

So, again, the exclusivity deals are the only thing Nokia currently has to offer, which carriers can potentially profit from themselves. Only by giving carriers something to be interested in, will they agree to running advertising campaigns for the Lumia line. Possibly even more important, is that Nokia can expect carrier management to be much more deliberate in dictating sales policy to carrier sales staff. If AT&T advertises it, they can't well have sales staff actively discouraging customers from buying it. You may recall WP devices had a huge problem last year at carriers POS. That is what exclusivity is about.

Ehm... Yes they are. They get reinstalled when you hard reset, hence they're in the ROM. You can uninstall them, but the installer is still in the ROM for when you hard reset again.

You have anything to back that up with?

My Lumia 800 also installs apps after a hard reset, but I've got protocols clearly showing those apps get downloaded from the marketplace during the initial setup process. That means those apps aren't in ROM!

Also note that after a hard reset, none of those carrier and OEM apps require updating from the marketplace (at least I have never witnessed such). I think that makes it quite obvious those apps aren't installing from ROM, as whatever apps were stored in ROM, would get outdated rather quickly.