European Carriers Hit Out at Nokia's Lumia Line

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!

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