Nokia Windows Phone too expensive cites Telefónica manager

Nokia’s hopes of strengthening its position in the smartphone market received a setback when service provider Telefónica decided that the manufacturer’s new Windows Phone devices are too expensive for them to carry. The company’s European General Manager Simon Lee-Smith spoke to Telecoms.com about the decision.

According to Lee-Smith, Nokia’s high-end handsets are ‘too expensive’ and ‘not yet at the right price point’ for Telefónica to offer them to its consumers. He added that if the company wants to sells its products in high volume, then it ‘needs to bring out devices which are cost effective’.

While referring to the N8, the N9 and the Lumia 800 which is set to retail at a price that is over 400 Euros, he felt that Nokia was following its competitors in pricing strategies, and pricing its products at levels which were too high for consumers and carriers.

The manager wished Nokia success with its new line of smartphones that offer sophisticated functions at low prices. According to him, consumers and carriers were unwilling to pay a high price for devices which ‘don’t differentiate sufficiently’. He added that operators like Telefónica won’t pay premiums ‘simply because vendors are delivering phones with bigger screens or higher resolution cameras’.

Lee-Smith is expecting Nokia to launch phones that are ‘more commercially effective’ in 2012 as he feels that Nokia was ‘beginning to listen’ and change its approach. If Nokia does indeed change its strategy, smartphone enthusiasts will have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. The promise of smarter, more intelligent phones at remarkably reasonable prices will indeed place Nokia at the top position in at least a segment of the smartphone market.