Barcelona, Spain (iTers News) – What great a difference can just one year time period make? Nokia Corp. proves that one year is long enough to make a dramatic departure from the past. One year after it started to restructure its money-losing mobile operations that lost ground to Apple and Samsung in worldwide smartphone market, the ill-fated mobile phone maker has lined up three high-end smartphone models of Lumia series, so far, including Lumia 710, Lumia 800, and Lumia 900.
To put together the last piece of the puzzle, the Finland mobile phone maker today added two more to its smartphone product line-up –Lumia 610 and PureView 808.
With a retail price tag of 189 Euros before tax and subsidies, Lumia 610 is the most affordable model of its smartphone portfolio, which is specifically aimed at low-end smartphone market -the market segment where Nokia has yet to make a presence.
The Pure View 808 smartphone, which is scheduled to sell for 450 Euros starting in May, makes a difference from Lumia series in that it is built around its own mobile OS platform, not Microsoft Windows Phone. But, the high-end model is also a leading indicator of what Nokia smartphone of tomorrow will look and work, featuring what used to be found only on a professional camera as well as a home theater system.
At a press conference here held at MWC 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, CEO Stephen Elop said, “One year ago, we said we will shift our strategy toward smartphones. We have focused on key differentiations in design and location-based services.”
Added he, “We have introduced three Lumia series of smartphones last year ahead of schedule –Lumia 710, 800, and 900 We reentered the U.S with the help of T-Mobile. Sales there far exceeded expectations. In Russia, Lumia 800 is the No.1 smartphones in the mobile segments. In Singapore, people are lining up to buy our smartphones. In addition, we have introduced a new generation of location-based services like Nokia Drive, Nokia Map, and Nokia Transport.”
According to him, Nokia Transport service has preloaded public bus and metro timetables of over 500 cities in 40 countries.
He also said that Nokia is scheduled to ship LTE-enabled Lumia 900 beyond the U.S. to make it the 4.3-inch smartphone available in Canada starting in April. Running on Windows Phone 7 OS and Carl Zeiss camera lens , Lumia 900 LTE smartphones were debuted in the U.S. in early January.
According to Nokia, the Lumia 900 LTE technology is based on DC-HSPA, which is two times faster than HSPA + in downloading data.
The Lumia 900 is also scheduled to be shipped across Europe starting in the 2ndquarter with a before-tax and-subsidy retail price tag of 480 Euros.
Lumia 610 aimed at youth market
Dubbed as the perfect Windows introduction for a young audience, the Lumia 610 features instant access to social networks , email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts into one place.
It also makes it easier to browse the Web with Internet Explorer and to access games through Xbox Live. With Nokia’s location-based services –Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, and Nokia Transport- preloaded, people can also choose from thousands of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace to further personalize the experience.
With a distinctive profile and finely beveled metallic edges, the Nokia Lumia 610 comes in white, cyan, magenta and black.
By Austin Jung