In an attempt to explain the recent financial problems that Nokia has undergone, including some recent firings and corporate restructuring., Stephen Elop has some interesting commentary for Windows Phone sales: it’s not selling all too well.
Stephen Elop blamed the lack of Windows Phone not selling being due to customer service repesentatives who sell mobile devices in stores, a position that Elop candidly stated previously. Elop goes on to argue:
The challenge in all of this is breaking through the strength Android and Apple have in a retail environment
…
We aren’t getting the traction we prefer.
In an attempt to solve the problem with lack of selling, Nokia will try to lower the manufacture costs of Windows Phone to ranges below the Lumia 610 and try to break into the Chinese markets with the help of Microsoft. The amazing aspect of trying to create a cheaper Windows Phone is Nokia had the market of budget and cheap phones as of the end of 2010; prior to the burning platform speech Nokia made to shed Symbian and go full on with Windows Phone. And yet, Windows Phone is not selling, the retailers are blamed.
That isn’t to say that Elop’s argument lacks any merit because the argument is very true in America prior to the Lumia 900 release in America. But in the time since the Lumia 900, and the CSR training, giving out handsets to employees to make them very savvy of Windows Phone, the retail channel argument is getting a bit dated. At least in Chicago, IL where CSRs almost force the Lumia 900 down anyone’s throats for a period of time.
Commentary aside, is it time for Nokia to shift gears a moment due to the lack of selling?
