Nokia has released its new line of Windows smartphones to the public. The first model introduced is a moderately priced, Internet-ready model targeted at emerging markets around the world. Its new smartphone, the Lumia 510, will cost about $199 and be sold initially in India, China, Latin America, and some other emerging markets. The penetration of smartphones in these emerging markets is still very low, unlike those in more mature Western markets.
The Lumia 510 will run on version 7.5 of the Microsoft Windows Phone operating system. The phone comes with Microsoft’s scrolling tiles interface, a touch screen, and a five-megapixel camera. Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia’s smart devices business, said, “With the Nokia Lumia 510, we continue to meet our commitment to bring Windows Phone to new, lower price points.” The smartphone will be sold in five different colors: red, yellow, cyan, white, and black.
Nokia is resting much of its future on the success of this release. Nokia reported a loss of €969 million, or $1.26 billion, for the third quarter. Nokia has been struggling to regain traction in the smartphone market and reassert its relevance in the industry. Nokia was the global leader in the smartphone market until the arrival of the Apple iPhone in 2007. The company remains the No.2 maker of cellphones after Samsung. Nokia sold 84 million cellphones worldwide in the second quarter, while Samsung sold 93 million.
A major expansion of the Lumia line was announced by Nokia. The company hopes to create a full range of alternatives to smartphone models running Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems. iOS and Android phones have increasingly dominated the market. The new smartphone is the eighth Lumia phone released running the Windows operating system. Nokia is hoping the line will reinvigorate sales. Sales of Lumia smartphones fell to 2.9 million units in the third quarter, from 4 million in the previous quarter.
