The Farce of the Nokia Lumia 920 in the UK

[RXP-Andy]

Nokia normally / traditionally have mainly sold their devices to service provides and 3rd parties. However, I do wonder why they choose EE as the "exclusive" provider as there track record is unproven at the moment and from the comments I have read, they don't seem to care about customer service. I do wonder how much money they have paid to have the device as a "exclusive".

That said though, I have ordered mine (Yellow) from Cyberport which gets around these silly excluse deals.

 

[un hombre]

Yep, and another thing that came to my mind.

Situation 1 - Nokia sells 1000 L920 in EE UK, exclusivity for next 6 months, EE pays to Nokia for the deal and during those 6 months lets say Nokia earns X,

Situation 2 - Nokia sells 100.000 L920 in EE UK, unlocked during the 6 months, without any exclusivity - overall, they earn X as well (EE deals and sim unlocked).

Now, even though they may have earn the same amount of money in both situations, option 2 is much better for Nokia and WP8 anyway!

They have more phones on the market and this means more apps will be bought, more developers interested in the platform, platform gaining its share in the market.

And in 6 months I bet there will be new phones, probably more exciting than L920 (even from Nokia perhaps).

Seriously, multi billion Euro corporation and no thinking...

 

[Coreldan]

Except you have nothing to back up those numbers that they would sell 100 times the amount in situation 2 instead of situation 1.

I'd say the multi billion corporation has done far more thinking than you have and they got some numbers to back it up too (even if they wouldnt show them to us) unlike you.

 

[peachy001]

I was telling family members about it. The camera was a big deal for me, I have kids and it is a killer trying to get a good photo of them. This was my sole reason for going for 920. Other family members were very keen. Sadly, they wanted to stay Vodafone and got sick of waiting. They got an iPhone instead.

So many missed sales it scares me. And as for the price plans on ee, forget it.

 

[un hombre]

Ok, I just gave some random numbers but even if it is less than I originally put, I imagine, that they would sell much much more of those phones, if those were available on other, major networks and unlocked.

 

[scumbagculloch]

I found a website gummobile.com that is selling black fully unlocked Nokia lumia 920. Delivered by the 19th November for ?499.99. I've never heard of this company but I think ill take the plunge!

 

[karnka]

Don't touch gummobile. They're habitual liars / borderline fraudulent.

Anyways, still reading all of this with interest. To the extent that I popped into a P4U this afternoon.

They had 920, 820 and 8X dummys on display.

The 820 felt very nice in hand. I'm happy with the size of the screen but I won't go back to an 800x480 res screen. It would feel like going back in time

The 8X is actually quite a nice size. It has all of the specs I could want (except I did quite fancy the wireless charging) however it just doesn't feel 'premium' in any way. I swore I would never buy another HTC after a couple of really shoddy handsets I've owned.

Now, the 920. It is so chunky/heavy. I was expecting it to be that way but it still surprised me to hold it. It however does feel very expensive/quality. I think given the option I really might go for it but I would be concerned about having it in my pocket. Held it next to my Galaxy Nexus (which has a bigger screen) and the weight difference was huge.

The P4U guys seemed convinced they were getting the four colours in next week and that they would be available completely SIM unlocked for ?460.... I don't really believe them.

Anyways, I just don't think there's a compelling option for WP8 at the moment. Such a shame.

 

[rplyons]

Well according to @NokiaUK on Twitter, the NOKIA Lumia 920 in the UK 'will' be Locked to the EE Group during the 'Exclusivity Period', which also extends to SIM-Free Models...how you're supposed to then Unlock a SIM-Free Smartphone afterwards is, quite literally, beyond me!

Hence why I'm now getting the NOKIA Lumia 820 SIM-Free, basically to stop myself from going completely mad waiting for the 920 to be released to everyone, rather than the EE Group (3 customer).

 

[TrentTech]

Ok, I just gave some random numbers but even if it is less than I originally put, I imagine, that they would sell much much more of those phones, if those were available on other, major networks and unlocked.

Without knowing the exact details of the exclusivity deal there is no way of us knowing if it was better for Nokia to sign exclusivity in the UK or not. It's not just the money EE paid for exclusivity, it's the marketting and the carrier commitment too.

The Lumia 920 is a top end phone and having it on the first LTE network in the UK would be deemed as a necessity due to the hype EE's launch has been getting. If EE demanded exclusivity or it wouldn't have the device at all then Nokia were stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they refused exclusivity then it would lose out on the 4G market big time to the GS3 and the iPhone 5 and that would hurt them badly.

If EE promised better marketting support and commitment to the Lumia brand then competitor networks as long as it launched exclusively then Nokia would lose out in terms of the public's mindshare if they didn't go for the exclusivity deal. EE have been enthusiastic about the Lumia in their PR and marketting building up to launch for sure.

On the other side of things, Vodafone doesn't seem to have committed to any WP8 phones yet, so chances are they didn't want it. It seems O2 only has the HTC 8X, not even the 8S according to their website, so they may well have opted to only go for a single WP8 device to test the waters and the 8X is the cheapest top-end device. Three representatives seem very enthusiastic about the 8X too, but seem to be recommending buying it sim-free and getting a sim-only contract through them.

If this is all the case and the other major carriers were less than enthusiastic about the Lumia 920 then the exclusivity deal with EE was a very good business decision for them as they get EE's full uncompromising support and it would work on T-Mobile & Orange which are very strong brands in their own right. It makes it very frustrating for customers of other networks wanting to buy it sim free for sure, but it could well have been the best option on the table for Nokia as they're at least guarenteed X number of units while relying on sim-free sales would not guarentee them anything at all and would be a much bigger risk.

Everyone likes to report on how badly Nokia are doing as a business at the moment, so it makes sense they would take the safe option which is guarenteed a minimum return against the risky option which may get them more sales or may end up tanking and hurting their stock prices even more.

I'm not defending Nokia by any means, I would prefer it to be available on all networks so the choice was there, but if you're to talk about it in a business sense, debating how much they could sell with or without the exclusivity, you need to look at it like a business decision with all the various factors involved and not from a consumer's point of view. It's almost certain that what I've mentioned here were just a small fraction of the issues Nokia took into account when making the decision to be exclusive to EE. The fact they've only got exclusivity until the new year with an option to extend it shows that Nokia themselves wanted a get out clause in case the deal wasn't what they were hoping for. If EE doesn't meet their expectations then they almost certainly won't extend the exclusivity deal.

 

[peachy001]

I had a look at the dummy 920 in P4U yesterday. Felt great, but I reckon it was hollow. Felt so light. I don't think they weight match them. They actually appear to have never sold a Nokia before. The lady I spoke to had never really looked at the Lumia range it seems. She offered me a HTC and it looked great, but I told her I had to have the 920. She then pointed to the 800 and said, "oh look, it is like a smaller version of the 920" like she had never noticed either phones before. Also, she then pointed and suggested I could go for the 900 as it looks the same as the 920.

I advised her that I wanted the 920 for the improved camera abilities. She was entirely unaware of any difference between the phones.

So easy to see how people get herded onto the latest phones. I imagine Samsung are elated at the level of product knowledge in the shops. To me, their galaxy range of phones have looked and felt like cheap tat, yet they sell by the bucket load. I imagine it is an easy sell to herd shoppers on to those phones.

 

[karnka]

Maybe if it was a bit cheaper maybe I would consider an 820 as a stop gap and either hang around for a phone from MS or a next gen flagship that appealed more.

Can't see me paying more than ?300 for it though so ain't going to happen.

 

[dogfish54]

Yep, and another thing that came to my mind.

Situation 1 - Nokia sells 1000 L920 in EE UK, exclusivity for next 6 months, EE pays to Nokia for the deal and during those 6 months lets say Nokia earns X,

Situation 2 - Nokia sells 100.000 L920 in EE UK, unlocked during the 6 months, without any exclusivity - overall, they earn X as well (EE deals and sim unlocked).

Now, even though they may have earn the same amount of money in both situations, option 2 is much better for Nokia and WP8 anyway!

They have more phones on the market and this means more apps will be bought, more developers interested in the platform, platform gaining its share in the market.

And in 6 months I bet there will be new phones, probably more exciting than L920 (even from Nokia perhaps).

Seriously, multi billion Euro corporation and no thinking...

Both situations are unlikely. I think Nokia is getting $0 from the carrier for the exclusive. What Nokia are (likely) asking for is:

* a higher subsidy
* more promotion / advertising of the device
* a bigger in-store sales push

it is RIDICULOUS, not even close to possible that Nokia are doing it for a one-time cash payment. Nokia is not so stupid, they know they need the brand and ecosystem to grow.

I understand how frustrating when a device is not on your carrier (my preferred carrier is US Cellular).
Unfortunately most people don't know about WP8 or think it's stupid. When I talk about Windows Phone, people laugh, say they tried it but it was stupid or they didn't 'get it'. When you go to a store and they don't care and just want to sell you a Galaxy S3, how does that help. Nokia needs the stores to push their device, and the one way to incent the stores to push a device is to offer a carrier exclusive.

 

[cgk]

Or after the lackluster sales of previous generation WP devices, this was the best/only deal they could do where the terms were favourable to them?

Let's be honest about this - they aren't starting with much leverage.

 

[rplyons]

Just look at the comments of the thread so far, the vast majority of 'potential' 920 customers are angry with what NOKIA has done in the UK Market and so they will more than likely vote in their foe by purchasing the recently released Windows Phone 8X by HTC, or even the Samsung ATIV S.

Me myself I will remain totally loyal to NOKIA, even through their mental breakdown, and purchase an 820 until the 920 is released to General Population...like it should be from Day 1.

NOKIA may even extend the 'Exclusivity Period', so a few days before the end of the year they may prolong everyone's pain...and possibly their own :-/

 

[karnka]

I don't understand why you think Nokia would deserve unwavering loyalty for any reason.

If you think the 820 is the best compromise in this situation and then might upgrade to a 920 later then fair enough but just being 'loyal' sounds a bit odd.

You don't owe Nokia anything. None of us do.

 

[peachy001]

I personally owe Nokia nothing. My first phone was an 8210 and the thing had 5 screen replacements. Was shocking so I avoided them. Tried a Motorola on 3 when it just came out. That put me off both very quickly. Then went for the Sony Ericssons. Had probably 6 of those, just loved them and the camera quality was great on all of them.

Then plumped for an HTC Desire. It feels so solid and well made and has kept going well. Very pleased with it. But the camera cheeses me off a bit. Also the fact they faffed around with the updates was frustrating. So I fancied a change. The camera alone on the Nokia was the deciding factor.

 

[cgk]

I don't understand why anyone would think any faceless megacorp deserves loyalty for any reason.

 

[rplyons]

I don't understand why anyone would think any faceless megacorp deserves loyalty for any reason.

Just personal preference

 

[karnka]

I've had various brands over the years too and have always hopped around.

I agree the 920 is very appealing I just question the use of the word loyal

 

[sketchedout]

I find it really frustrating that flagship products can get such a weak launch or at least such a confused one. Nokia got panned after the initial announcement for not releasing pricing and release information and everyone then hoped that come the full Windows Phone 8 reveal it would obviously be cleared up. We are now apparently in the launch window and it's still no clearer on when you can actually expect to walk into a store or log on and buy one. Granted, just because it's out doesn't necessarily mean you will get one if demand is high enough but at least you know it's out. I was expecting a far clearer launch for a flagship product from a company in financial difficulty.

I can see why after deciding to make a 4g capable phone EE and Nokia buddied up at launch as no other network has 4g yet. But seeing as Nokia have been going through a turbulent trading period I'm surprised they wouldn't have wanted a wider variety of carrier choice and if by signing up with one carrier to start with at least then make it easily available sim free. Like many others I'm outside of the current EE area so why would I want to sign up to a 24 month contract when a fair few of those months are going to drift by without experiencing 4g at all but I'm paying for the service. I'm really hoping that EE pricing fails otherwise there will be no incentive for the remaining UK carriers to compete with lower deals.

I'm amazed that for the UK if they are only selling initially through two outlets EE / Phones4U that it could seem so difficult to get a consistent message out. I'm now just hoping that by not spreading the supply across all carriers and outlets it will actually mean that the stock should at least be healthy enough to let Phones4U sell sim free.

Trouble is the official website reviews start pointing out some of the negatives of the handset, it then kicks off the rumour mill that maybe all isn't well and last minute fixes are put in, while Nokia will no doubt scramble together an announcement that demand has simply outstripped supply to stave off any criticism.

I do have a sneaky feeling though that the 920 might be short lived as the flagship, just as the 800 was with their first effort.