Nokia's flagship phone price cut in half
Nokia's Lumia 900 Windows phone, barely three months after its launch, is now available for $49.99 based on a two-year contract -- falling from its original price tag of $99.
Potentially reduced as an effort to staunch its wounded market share, in light of rivals including Apple and Samsung, the phone manufacturer's U.S. price drop for the Lumia 900 is likely a bid to entice new customers to sign up on long-term deals rather than embrace rival firms.
Nokia's phone is sold at AT&T Inc. stores, and features a 4.3-inch screen, 1.4-gigahertz processor and 8-megapixel camera.
Nokia spokesman Keith Nowak told Reuters that the price cut "is part of our ongoing lifecycle management, which is jointly done between Nokia and carrier customers.", noting that Samsung has also cut the price of its Galaxy S II, which was launched before the Lumia 900.
Sales of the flagship phone have been sluggish, and took a further blow when Microsoft revealed that its new Windows 8 operating system, released later this year, would be incompatible with the model. However, Nokia has said that the phones would still have "significant upgrades" even if Windows 8 is not an option for consumers.
Once a dominant player in the cell phone industry, Nokia is now losing out to rival firms who embraced smartphone technology earlier. In the market for lower-end, less expensive phones, the company is currently experiencing a gradual loss in market share.
The Finnish phone maker is expected to report second-quarter earnings on Thursday.