I was genuinely surprised by the Lumia 620 announcement yesterday. I was in my mind set to see Lumia 720 for ~340€ and the lower part of Nokia’s Windows Phone portfolio occupied by Windows Phone 7.8 handsets. Rather than dragging customers and likely not getting too much success with +200€ Windows phone 7.8 handsets, Nokia decided to cut the crap right on the start with the release of Lumia 620 that got the brand new Windows Phone 8 inside and price tag of 190€ before taxes.
That’s an amazing feat when you consider HTX 8S suggested price is 339€ and lesser specifications. I doubt Nokia’s profit margins are much to brag about on Lumia 620, but then again Lumia 620 presents a clear cut by Nokia on the Windows phone ecosystem that had to be done early by somebody.
The only hope for Windows Phone 7.8 to remain relevant was the low end Nokia’s, but now with Lumia 620 it seems unlikely Windows Phone 7.8 will matter much after the next 6 months. Lumia 620 actually sets the bar very low if Nokia wants to release more Windows Phone 7.8 handsets. Those handsets need to be at the very least below 150€. I would say that example Lumia 510 should go cheaper than what it is at the moment.
I’m sure there are customers who are not happy how the Windows Phone ecosystem made the switch from Windows phone 7.x, yet this was one more right decision by Nokia in these past 5 months. Why drag the inevitable and by so likely just doing more harm.
