when will nokia realize that their high priced phones only look good in movie and are unrealistic in real life.

lower the price of that phone by a few hundred bucks and you might draw a bigger consumer base.

moviscop

need quad band gsm.

Malfoy

This carbon fiber stuff makes me want to hurl. saw a lifetimes worth on "fast and furious". But at least it's not steam punk.

aeroworks

@kevman90:

I was referring to the majority of their phones that lie in the 600-1,600 range.

Few people have those phones.

moviscop

@moviscop: Dude Nokia has one of the biggest consumer bases in the world. Maybe you should try to travel a little more.

kevman90

Didn't the Matrix come out 10 years ago?

@moviscop:

There are some things you need to understand about the cellphone market. First, Nokia is still the king. Do Nokia phones get the press of the iPhone? No. But on the other hand, Apple doesn't have global annual revenue of $75 billion. Besides, 40% of the global cell phone market is plenty big.

Second, the RAZR started out pricey too. The thing is that it caught on. Cell phone companies subsidize phones to the extent that the phone will draw new customers. Many "premium" gadgets keep their high price tag at the initial stages while they're generating buzz.

The RAZR started at $600 (in 2005) with a 2-year contract. Soon, it dropped to $400 (in 2006) and then steadily to $200 and eventually free. The iPhone was initially $600 and now, one year later, it's $300. The original 5GB iPod was $400 in 2001. In 2002, the 10GB iPod was $500. This was at a time when Creative was selling the Zen for half that price.

Gadgets cost a lot at the beginning. If they can generate buzz, more people buy, the economies of scale start to kick in, and the price comes down.

Perhaps Nokia should put its phones in Academy Award swag-bags (like Motorola did with the RAZR).

OMG! Ponies!

@moviscop:

By the way, Nokia phones don't cost 600 to 1600 USD unless you buy them unsubsidised. You can get even the very high end devices like Nokia N95 8GB for free with a two year contract in most ocuntries in the world. For *FREE* - not 199 USD like the iPhone is. That's quite a bit different than the 600 to 1600 USD you are talking about.

One of the few places in the world where Nokia phones cost a lot is in the USA because most carriers choose not to carry Nokia phones for some reason (xenophobia? jingoism? fear of the giant Nokia?). But then again USA is only about 10% of the total global mobile device market. I'm sure Nokia would like to do better in the USA but it's not a make or break kind of thing.

Kim98

@moviscop:

LOL! Are you aware of the fact that Nokia sells close to 500 million phones (that's half a billion) per year and that they have BY FAR the largest consumer base of any electronics / gadget maker. In fact simply because they have cameras on the phones they are also the world's largest camera maker at the same time! Nokia's high-end N-series and E-series devices sell over 100 million per year. For comparison, Apple has so far sold about 5 million iPhones since it came out over a year ago.

I don't know what planet you live on but you might want to check your facts a little bit!

Kim98

@OMG! Ponies!:

Indeed. And another important point is that this Nokia model is specifically the "Rolex" model. The whole point of this device is that it is exclusive. It uses exclusive materials (titanium, carbon fiber, stainless steel, scratch-proof and fingerprint-proof glass, etc.), it looks exclusive, it comes in a fancy box, etc. If 10 million people bought this for 50 USD it wouldn't be exclusive anymore and the whole point would be lost. This is for the Paris Hiltons of the world - not the average Joe.

Motorola's biggest mistake was that the once exclusive RAZR became too main stream because it became too low cost and too popular. It just wasn't cool to have one anymore and when it was time for users to upgrade Motorola had nothing to offer. It's very telling that most of the 1st gen iPhone buyers in the USA had a RAZR prior to getting the iPhone!

Kim98

@Raz: sorry that's in the uk, no idea about the us, might not do any such deal over there

Raz

@OMG! Ponies!: @Kim98: Actually o2 have started doing the iPhone for free, though admittedly that's on a 2 year contract at £45 a month. But still, thought I'd point that out, you can get the iPhone free on contract at a price.

Raz

@kevman90: @Kim98:
Thank you for knowing the truth, and not praising the iPhone, which very few people actually BUY. Nokia and Sony Ericsson ftw.

aR-Tard

The whole point of a $1,600 phone is that not everyone has it. You're buying a well made phone, but more than that you're buying exclusivity.

benjamin93

What is all that big fuss about carbon-fiber anyway? Nowadays, they're putting carbon-fiber in everything. I don't understand why they insist on using it if it is such expensive and fragile.

p.s. extreme conditions such as formula cars or spacecraft are of course exceptions, but why cellphones why?

cburakb

$1600... rather get a couple of iphones for that price thank you very much...

iam.gmo

I would've actually considered purchasing this phone if it were released two years ago. But the Series 40 OS seems very dated now...

pastrychef

@iam.gmo: iPhone is nothing compared to this :)

tartooob

So sleek. Oh my.

pardyhardy

That's a lot of money for last-generation phone technology.

EBone

"Internally it looks like the phone is pretty much unchanged..."

So basically the battery still sucks.

Wiibie

I suppose my statement was a bit too sweeping.

If you check their website, they are continuing to utilize it for advertising very expensive phones. Here in California, Nokia phones tend to be more rare than the others.

I'm just asking why Nokia wants to continue marketing phones that cost so much. When I was searching for a phone I wanted to go Nokia.

As for getting them free with activation, the only option is to buy them unlocked here because they are not being offered at ATT and T-Mobile nearly as much anymore.

Especially the more expensive lines.

moviscop

@moviscop: Funny that Nokias are rare in California (and I agree with you on that), as I live about five minutes from their U.S. corporate headquarters in San Diego.

EBone