On Sunday, Microsoft and Nokia will launch a Windows Phone. The new device will hold the future of the two company’s smartphone fate in its polycarbonate case. AT&T is working with Microsoft and Nokia on the smartphone launch and has gone to great lengths to have well trained sales reps and huge displays in stores promoting the new device.
AT&T said the marketing for the Windows phone would be one of the biggest marketing pushes the company has ever made. That just proves how important the phone’s success is to both Nokia and Microsoft. AT&T wants to have a third smartphone that is viable in order to make it less dependent upon the wishes of the Android manufacturers and Apple.
For smartphone makers Nokia, the new Lumia 900 marks the Finnish company’s return to the smartphone market in the U.S. Nokia once ruled the market but then were eclipsed by Apple and other companies that used the Android platform. Symbian, the current Nokia smartphone, only has a 1.5% share in the U.S. Market.
In the fall of 2010, Microsoft launched its Windows Phone 7, which replaced an outdated Windows platform. However, since that time the company’s market share for smartphones has declined. At this time, Microsoft has less that 4% of the U.S. market.
The new Lumia 900 will cost $99 and have a two-year contract. The phone will be AT&T’s hero product meaning it will have billboards, window signs and stands promoting the phone for the next 8 weeks.
