Nokia will bring its Lumia 710 to the U.S. in what marks the beginning of a grand plan to grab market share with its Windows Phone devices. The problem: Nokia is hitting U.S. shores with its weakest device on the weakest carrier in T-Mobile.
The Lumia 710 is the weaker brother to the Lumia 810. Both devices are already selling in Europe.
While I welcome Nokia's return to the U.S. there are a few problems to consider.
First, the carrier. Nokia will get more shelf space with T-Mobile, but the carrier is struggling amid competition from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint---three rivals too busy selling Apple iPhone 4S smartphones and Android devices to care. T-Mobile obviously needs a hit and is willing to give Nokia some marketing love.
The device is flimsy relative to the Lumia 810. If you're going to make a splash land with your strongest device first.
Customers are going to be inherently skeptical. T-Mobile
is losing customers, Nokia is a wild card and the peer pressure may work against the Windows Phone platform. Is T-Mobile in any position to convince consumers to try a Nokia with a two year contract.
Add it up and Nokia's best strategy may be a tried and true strategy: Cut the price dramatically. Nokia should go cheap to grab share. If Nokia can garner some momentum at T-Mobile perhaps it can work its way into other carriers.
