European Carriers Hit Out at Nokia's Lumia Line
European carrier say Nokia's line of Microsoft phones can't compete with offerings from Apple and Microsoft.
It's been a little over a year since Nokia announced plans to adopt Windows Phone, which was a major departure from the company's previous Symbian-only strategy. In the last 12 months, Nokia has launched a fistful of Windows-powered devices under the Lumia brand with offerings that range from the low-end Lumia 710 to the high-end Lumia 900. However, it seems European carriers aren't impressed with Nokia's efforts.
According to Reuters, mobile network operators in Europe have said Nokia's Lumia line isn't enough to stand up against the iPhone or Samsung's Galaxy devices. The news outlet cites four major European telecom providers as saying the Nokia Lumia phones aren't good enough to compete. One unnamed executive revealed: "No one comes into the store and asks for a Windows phone." Ouch. This same exec added that if the same Lumia hardware ran Android, the phones would be easier to sell.
Interestingly, it seems a lack of education is at least partly to blame. While the AT&T is mounting a huge marketing campaign for the Nokia Lumia 900 in the U.S., operators in Europe say Nokia and Microsoft need to put up more money for marketing the line.
"They either need to come to market with a really disruptive, innovative product or a huge marketing budget to create client demand. So far they have done neither," one device chief told Reuters.
Another executive conceded that while phones are capable of "tons of cool things," people didn't really seem to know that. Someone else in the European telecoms industry is quoted as saying Nokia might do well to drop the price to 'get the phones out the door.'
When Nokia announced its Microsoft partnership last year it said it was committed to making Windows Phone its primary smartphone OS, so it's unlikely the company will be giving up on Windows Phone anytime soon. Do you think marketing is what the Lumia line is missing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

I've gone from a iPhone to Android so far. I'm getting more and more interested in a Windows phone as time goes on. I could see it being my next upgrade later this year. Maybe by then the App Store will have grown a lot more.
I don't know, but I have plenty of friends who are walking around with WP7 phones,
people who previously owned iphones and android phones.
All of them are happy with there switching.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the lumia line is just out a couple of months,
at least here in Belgium...
edit: Samgsung
you noted it before me, but I'm sure they meant google
I've gone from a iPhone to Android so far. I'm getting more and more interested in a Windows phone as time goes on. I could see it being my next upgrade later this year. Maybe by then the App Store will have grown a lot more.
He seems to like Nokia 900...
Its market share is plunging. Its share price is plunging. Ratings agency Moodys just downgraded it to almost junk. It can't break into the US phone market. And now Europe doesn't like its phones.
I don't know, but I have plenty of friends who are walking around with WP7 phones,
people who previously owned iphones and android phones.
All of them are happy with there switching.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the lumia line is just out a couple of months,
at least here in Belgium...
Is Tom's getting advertising $$ from Microsoft they don't wish to risk or is it just sloppy writing ?
I think the main problem here is that Windows charges too much for the OS, and has too many specific requirements for the manufacturers which is why we see so few phones with the OS. I mean look at HTC! They have ~8 new Android phones every 6 months, but only a total of 2-3 wp7 phones. Sure, a lot of that is popularity/demand, but if Windows charged a little less, and opened up their platform a little then manufacturers would be all over it.
Nokia is all Windows because all the execs there are old MS employees. Again, I like WP7, but if MS wants it to take off they are going to need more than one phone company to hock their product.
that being said, I just saw a lumia 710 today for the first time. Very impressive for a base model phone. the 900 must be something special to see in person.
I absolutely hate that there are so many different htc's with only minor differences
On another thread, it did show that the Lumia's cost more than the iPhone to make. While they may be cheaper on some of the hardware, they are more expensive in other areas, like the screen.
It's a lot like houses in the USA. People want a fancy house, and developers know this, so they build with all the nice items in them, but to keep the costs down, they build it with the cheapest materials possible. So you get homes with great floor plans and great looking shapes, but they start to fall a part in 10 years.
Sadly, smart phones have become much more about 'cool' and less about what they can do. There is a good flow of positive feedback from those who have used WP 7 phones, but that doesn't sound as cool as 'We have 25 billion apps for our phone!' (Of course, 24.75 billion of those are of the fart app type, but that's not what counts.)
My wife loves her iStuff, I like my Androids, but I'd like to play around with WP 7 to see what it's like. Too bad they won't just let me borrow one for a while. Maybe Windows 8 will give me an idea of how WP 7 works.
If Verizon finally gets a decent WP7 device I'm definitely going to check it out. I'm hoping in a few months that a variant of the Lumia 900 will make its way to VZW.
it should not be that hard to show customers all the great WP7 features and how easy iit is to use.
1. Market place is too small
2. While the touch screen is smooth and responding, the Drawing Pad (especially the one for Chinese character input) is BAD. Not as responsive as those in Android. The sales girl kept on telling me please don't press, you have to touch very soft, you have never used a touch screen before......
I would like to try GPS navigation, but unfortunately can't get it to work, because I am in door