At a recent Blogger’s Meet in Dubai, Nokia’s Senior VP Shivkumar said that the company will be focusing on expanding the Lumia line-up while making it a lot more affordable in the coming times. He said that unlike where cell phones get subsidized by the service provider, India follows an open-market model where the consumer must bear the entire cost of the phone, so it only makes sense to introduce devices at a more affordable price point.
While it comes as no surprise that Nokia will be expanding on its Windows Phone range under the Lumia moniker, it is interesting to note that the focus of the company is to drive the end cost borne by the consumer down. India is a very price sensitive market, and with manufacturers like Karbonn and Micromax being very popular due to their budget factor, it is only natural for Nokia to also drive its price points down. While the high-end segment is dominated by the Apples and the Samsung S 3s, Nokia’s high end device may have a hard time penetrating the segment, therefore, a focus on the budget line is essential, if Nokia wants to survive in the market.
When asked about whether the existing phones would experience a price cut, Shivkumar said “I can’t share specifics. But in just over a year, we’ve rolled out eight Lumia devices across a wide range of price-points, from roughly Rs 10,000 to Rs 38,000. We continue to work closely with Microsoft to take the Lumia range to newer markets and price points. But in the immediate term will Nokia’s IMEA revenues be primarily driven by the more popular Asha line of low-cost smart devices. Asha is the principal revenue driver in the region and will be very big, but that does not mean Lumia will be small. It will be a twin strategy and an ‘And strategy’, not ‘Lumia or Asha’. For Nokia, we have to win in both.”
Currently, there are eight Lumia devices in the market catering to pretty much every price point, with the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 being the latest additions. The Nokia Lumia 620, the highly anticipated budget Windows Phone 8 device from Nokia, is being reported as delayed for an India launch. Back when the Lumia 920 and 820 were being launched, the launch date for the 620 was set for some time mid-February, but it seems like we won’t be getting the phone on store shelves anytime soon.