Let's be honest - this thing isn't going to compete at $299

[bigkevbosky]

So let's throw out current WP users as, we all can admit, there aren't that many of. Those people probably will upgrade to the 1020.

Let's say you're an iPhone user, Android user, or a dumbphone user, and you want to upgrade/get a new phone. You go into the AT&T store and you're like "man I love taking photos with my phone" so you tell that to the sales person. They go "great, we have just the phone, the Lumia 1020". You get excited, you learn about features, and then you ask how much it is. The sales person responds :

"$299, on contract for 2 years. Plus $36 fee to upgrade. Plus taxes. Oh and you'll want this $80 camera grip for the true experience".

My best is 95% of people who hear that will quickly respond "yeah, I like taking pictures on my phone, but I don't like it at that price. Any other phones have good cameras?". And then they move on to the GS4 and HTC One for $99 and they're sold.

At $99 or, better yet, FREE on contract, people might have been standing in LINES for this thing. At the current price, its really going to flop. I think this phone will be the biggest Windows Phone flop we've seen yet, and it just might be the thing that forces MS to buy Nokia.

 

[Muessig]

The 1020 is arguably for the more serious photographer. Surely the sales rep would go, "Okay if $299 is a no-go maybe you'd consider the 'younger brother' of the 1020 - the 920 or the 925 for $49 or $99" ?

 

[erzhik]

Amazon will be selling this for way less.

 

[stmav]

A factor is going to be how they advertise and market this. If they get commercials out there that show the stuff they demo'd today, that's going to attract some people beyond the serious photographer.

 

[ScreenSaver24]

Yah i agree, if this was at the $199 price point it would be a competitor bought at this price point no way.

Honestly i am starting to get real bummed out at this point about windows phone. It just doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

 

[Jonathan Piferrer]

You should thank god be living in countries when can purchase that phone at $ 299!

Here in Argentina, TODAY Nokia released Lumia 920 at u$s 500 WITH CONTRACT (Movistar)...

So if in my country Lumia 1020 cost $299 i would be crying of happiness at the same time that i would be ordering it...

Regards from Argentina and appreciate what you have, a tremendous smartphone with a gorgeous camera!!! :smile:

 

[Jaripi]

I am not a serious photographer, but I will buy it because I want good photos and videos by my cp and Lumia 1020 seems to be the best for that ...

 

[Marc Jones]

Okay, you all say that it's not gonna compete with that price point, but look at the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5. Those phones, on contract, cost way more than the Lumia 1020. Granted, I think it should be a bit lower as well, but I think it's just as fine to compete with those other phones.

 

[Divair]

Compete with what? What other smartphones are practically designed to be replacements for cameras? This isn't for your average Joe. This is for casual photographers.

 

[12Danny123]

Yah i agree, if this was at the $199 price point it would be a competitor bought at this price point no way.

Honestly i am starting to get real bummed out at this point about windows phone. It just doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

I feel we are going somewhere we are getting tones of apps now compared to last year

 

[Eye Doc]

I used to be a photographer for a newspaper. Each of my SLR lenses costs much more than the 1020 off contract. The whole reason I moved to WP from Android was for the 920's camera. However, it didn't hurt that I got the 920 "free" from Walmart during their sale. The 1020 has me crazy excited, but I cannot justify $300 on contract for a phone. I'll wait for a sale and the price to reach $100 at most. Obviously, this is simply my position, and I don't claim to speak for other photographers.

 

[MFmonster]

$299 on contract is steep if you only compare prices on contract. The Galaxy s4 ranged from 199-249 on contract and could get away with only because the name and popularity. This is a niche device and there probably is no expectation it will sell like gangbusters. This is the first Windows Phone with a camera this advanced and it will pave the way for next line of devices that will be offered at a lower price point. New tech always costs more at first. Who would not want to see it priced lower. We are the consumer and we want something for less. You are paying for a top shelf camera......on a phone. Also to think this device would be "free" on contract at release?! What!
There are always things to complain about, on every OS, phone, etc. Unfortunatly more complain than discuss.

 

[theefman]

So let's throw out current WP users as, we all can admit, there aren't that many of. Those people probably will upgrade to the 1020.

Let's say you're an iPhone user, Android user, or a dumbphone user, and you want to upgrade/get a new phone. You go into the AT&T store and you're like "man I love taking photos with my phone" so you tell that to the sales person. They go "great, we have just the phone, the Lumia 1020". You get excited, you learn about features, and then you ask how much it is. The sales person responds :

"$299, on contract for 2 years. Plus $36 fee to upgrade. Plus taxes. Oh and you'll want this $80 camera grip for the true experience".

My best is 95% of people who hear that will quickly respond "yeah, I like taking pictures on my phone, but I don't like it at that price. Any other phones have good cameras?". And then they move on to the GS4 and HTC One for $99 and they're sold.

At $99 or, better yet, FREE on contract, people might have been standing in LINES for this thing. At the current price, its really going to flop. I think this phone will be the biggest Windows Phone flop we've seen yet, and it just might be the thing that forces MS to buy Nokia.

Why wont people move on to the phone with the accepted best smartphone camera now, the 920? And do you really think Nokia's future hinges on this one device? The 925, 928 & 920 are still there for those who cant afford the 1020 and later on this year will be phones with upgraded specs apart from the camera which will still be the selling point of the 1020. So Nokia will be fine. Why does everyone believe MS buying Nokia is some magic bullet to solve everything?

 

[RodimusMajor]

I'm caught in a rather nasty situation here, since I'm stuck on 7.8 with my current phone and desperately want to get the best WP8 device that I can get on my carrier (AT&T, obviously, or I wouldn't be looking at this phone), but I only get paid for part of the summer and my money just dried up today. As is, I've only scrounged together a third of the price and can't possibly have it all by release day. I've psyched myself up for months about getting this thing (after getting over the disappointment over the fact that, no, I'm not getting a 925 or 928 without paying a king's ransom for unlocked), and yet now, on the eve of release, I'm up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The best I can do is hope to get the thing as a gift, or simply let myself be disappointed and wait.

That said, had I still been getting my salary by this point, I'd have paid ANY price for it.

 

[bilzkh]

The first wave of people who are going to buy this are WP diehards and people looking to try out camera+phone concepts... With time its price will go down so as to widen the scope of the market, it's always been like this.

 

[SahilShah]

It will probably be dropped eventually in 2 or 3 months so that it can compete more with everything else. Also, many vendors will sell it for less, but I agree that in actual brick and mortar stores, it won't sell so well because of the inflated price. It will drop eventually, but I hope that it is not too late. At a good price, this phone can be solid.

 

[JonnieLasVegas]

The 1020 is arguably for the more serious photographer. Surely the sales rep would go, "Okay if $299 is a no-go maybe you'd consider the 'younger brother' of the 1020 - the 920 or the 925 for $49 or $99" ?

Not in any AT&T store I've been to. They may not even mention the 1020 & if they do, they likely won't mention the 920 after.

 

[bigkevbosky]

Why wont people move on to the phone with the accepted best smartphone camera now, the 920? And do you really think Nokia's future hinges on this one device? The 925, 928 & 920 are still there for those who cant afford the 1020 and later on this year will be phones with upgraded specs apart from the camera which will still be the selling point of the 1020. So Nokia will be fine. Why does everyone believe MS buying Nokia is some magic bullet to solve everything?

But Nokia has had the best cameras in every phone for YEARS and it hasn't made much of a dent. People are "ok" getting by with the 13mp camera in the GS4 or the 8mp camera in the iPhone 5.

I don't think MS buying Nokia helps anything, I just think it keeps Nokia from going belly up.

 

[bigkevbosky]

$299 on contract is steep if you only compare prices on contract. The Galaxy s4 ranged from 199-249 on contract and could get away with only because the name and popularity. This is a niche device and there probably is no expectation it will sell like gangbusters. This is the first Windows Phone with a camera this advanced and it will pave the way for next line of devices that will be offered at a lower price point. New tech always costs more at first. Who would not want to see it priced lower. We are the consumer and we want something for less. You are paying for a top shelf camera......on a phone. Also to think this device would be "free" on contract at release?! What!
There are always things to complain about, on every OS, phone, etc. Unfortunatly more complain than discuss.

But in an AT&T store you are comparing prices on contract, and that is where my point comes from. In the US, few people buy off contract, so the on contract price is everything.

The GS4 and iPhone can get away with $249, $299, whatever, because they've earned that reputation. No Windows Phone has. If you're selling an advanced camera phone and it's called "iCamera" or "Galaxy Zoom", it sells BECAUSE of the name. Nobody in the US gives two turds about the Lumia name. I work at one of the USA's largest airports, and I'm out amongst passengers from all over the world every day, and I RARELY see Windows Phone devices, even on flights that originate from overseas. Nobody is buying these things.

Look, it may seem like I'm rooting against Windows Phone, but I'm not. I'm frustrated because they keep MISSING golden opportunities, and the BIGGEST golden opportunity in the USA is all based around money. Nobody cares about your 41 MP camera when you're charging $299 for the damn thing. Its like if HTC included a bunch of Beats hardware with a phone but charged $499 for it - nobody would buy it based on "awesome audio quality". Those types of gimmicks don't sell phones.

At $299 I'd expect it to come with the Camera Grip accessory free, and then it's maybe feasable. But $299 for just the phone, no wireless charging plate, no anything, is overpriced. It just is.

 

[Nataku4ca]

some graveyard shifts at McDonalds for a month or two and with some luck there should be a sale of some sort then you'll be all set (or I could lend you the money for 300% interest )