Does the AT&T exclusivity hurt the Lumia 920?
A good few people rejoiced this morning when AT&T announced the Lumia 920, and quickly after, a few less people rejoiced after reading the “exclusive” bit in the press release. AT&T managed to snatch up another exclusive for themselves, does the AT&T exclusivity hurt the Lumia 920’s chances of making a splash in the market?
It most certainly could. This device has been marveled at time and time again by many, not only is it viewed as the best Windows Phone device around, but it also has the potential to be the best smartphone on the market. When you tie the hands of the consumer by only making it available to one carrier, things get hairy.
Is this an entirely bad thing? For the first time, I can see Nokia adopting the Microsoft culture clear as day. You’ve got to understand why and how Microsoft are who they are. They have built and continue to foster a Plethora of strong partnerships. Strong partnerships have less to do with money and market share and more to do with loyalty. I think this is a good trait of Microsoft for Nokia to adopt.
The argument that the exclusivity will hurt the Lumia 920 comes directly from a market share perspective. Perhaps we should think about it this way, AT&T moved the Lumia 900 in good numbers, they had faith in the product and delivered a great launch and they continue to show interest. From where I’m standing, AT&T earned that exclusivity.
Further more, the iPhone had shown for years, if someone wants a phone bad enough, they WILL switch. We’ve all had conversations with the “I love my iphone but I hate AT&T” guy. That is a real thing. Pound for pound, the Lumia 920 and Windows 8 has got the iPhone 5 beat, I have no reason to believe people wont switch if they really want the phone.
Besides, HTC has the rest of the market covered with the 8X. The Lumia 920 will be just fine.
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Of course it hurts the L920. I’m ecstatic, that’s it’s on ATT, cuz I’m on ATT, however, if Nokia wants to truly put a dent into market share it has to service the entire market. One carrier is not going to cut it. Case in point, Samsung GS3 sells are not counted by the individual carrier but all of them. Same for iphone.
It most definately hurts them. And at this point I’m glad it will.
Samsung and apple both offer thier flagship phones on more than one carrier. Despite thier success in the market they both saw the need to expand their market share by offering to other carriers. That alone makes Nokia foolish.
Even HTC is “planning” to sell the 8X on multiple carriers.
No matter what ATT did for the 900 and how bad they need another OEM/OS to step up they will not push the 920 at the expense of the iTurd… never! It’s costing them a gang of loot to carry the iTurd, but they would be fools to not try and recoup that by selling the hell out of it.
People may be dumb enough to swith carriers for the iTurd, but thats because they are followers who get caught up in the hype that’s been spread by the other sheep who have them. Nokia doesn’t have that kind of loyalty… assuming loyalty is the right word for that.
My question… HOW LONG will it be exclusive to AT&T? Forever? Just for this holiday season? Just for a month after launch?
I have a hard time believing Nokia would put this much effort into a phone and then handcuff it. I would bet in January it goes to other carriers, or that something very similar to the 920 comes out on other carriers, or whenever the second wave of WP8 phones come out.
I think I saw a mention of 3 months somewhere, but I didn’t follow up.
Personally, I’m okay with that: I’m the person that can wait 30 days for Netflix to let the studios (try) to get my non-existent money before they can show new TV episodes/movies. However, I’m not so sure that the pundits will let “low sales” (real or otherwise) slide for 90 days. Meh. It’s still stupid, though.
Exclusivity is never a good thing for the consumer, so I was a bit annoyed for the platform when I read the announcement. With that said, I believe the L920 will still be the best selling WP8 in the US, Europe, Canada, and several other countries.
The 90 day exclusive sounds like a real possibility. Or, Nokia releases a 920v or 925 in early January for Verizon, with even more eye candy than the current 920. Either way, I think Verizon customers will get their due soon enough.