Comments on: $700 for Nokia's new phone. Are they nuts?

Nokia's new N97 has hit U.S. shores with a whopping $700 price tag, making it a highly unlikely competitor to any of the latest smartphones launched in the U.S.

[yipcanjo]

Awesome writing.

"But in the U.S. where consumers are accustomed to paying $200 for a smartphone, it seems a bit out of ridiculous."

And two paragraphs later.

"But a phone priced at $700 in the U.S. market just seems ridiculous, especially in when most devices sell here for $200."

Wow. ESL?

[sanenazok]

What's the problem? Lead paragraph and then a follow-up one.

[Eludium-Q36]

Um, remember how many people bought v1.0 of the iPhone for $600 ?! There weren't any complaints until they dropped the price, when the early adopters realized they were snookered. There's PLENTY of people who'll fork out big $$$ for a feature-laden cell even in this depression.

[oldmanangry]

Wow, racist?

Is it ESL, skin color of the writer perhaps?

[steviemanX]

Oh I'm pretty sure there were smartphones for $200 when the $600 iphone began

(sarcasm)

[codynews]

omg, saying "ESL?" is racist? Are you kidding me? Damn some people are PC to the point of being crazy. Lighten up. ESL is just making a snide comment about someone's use of English... They could be any race/color.

[ducttape36]

iphone actually costs closer to 800 if you want to get one that is "unlocked" like the n97.

[simkatu]

For people who don't seem to understand this comment:

ESL stands for "English as a Second Language".

The quote, "a bit out of ridiculous", from the first sentence is incorrect. The author intended to write, "a bit ridiculous".

The second quote "especially in when most devices..." is also incorrect. The author intended to write, "especially when most devices..."

It is becoming more an more common to see these types of errors from newspapers and online news sources.

I don't know if it is just that the writers are not educated or just lazy or if it is just an editing problem. In any case, it makes the news source look very amateur.

[sharmajunior]

An unlocked iPhone costs 600-1000 dollars. So what's the big fuss about ????

This phone is without a contract, can get updates and is unlocked to the point where none of the features are disabled unlike in a jail broken unlocked iPhone.

[Zakney]

smatphones?

[BogusBasin]

From Brooklyn

[johnsbrn1]

I guess if you hate the iphone, blackberry and palm, then you might be crazy enough to pay $700 for this thing. I'd be interested to hear from all 3 people in the US that are thinking about buying it.

[volcomwave]

This phone is actually creating a lot of hype! There are wait lists at both of the Nokia stores in Chicago and New York. It's also a very good alternative to the iPhone for people who don't want to have a locked phone! Currently I use the unlocked Nokia E71 on T-Mobile and I love it! It's very nice to not have to buy the expensive internet plans and just use Wifi. I am a college student and there is Wifi everywhere on campus, so I have no need for the internet plans. Unlocked Nokia phones (in my eyes) are the best option when looking for a phone with wifi. That way, you can buy a SUPER expensive phone, but still save money on not buying an internet plan.

[johnsbrn1]

I didn't realize the price was for an unlocked phone, but the price is still equivalent to a no contract iphone/blackberry/palm.

[sharmajunior]

In NY, the phone is already sold out on preorder.

[pentest]

There are no contract iphones?

[slickuser]

What is the use of having 5 megapixel camera, more memory etc when the device is not fun to use and the software sucks?

[seven7dust]

plus higher megapixel count doesnt automatically mean better pictures

[Mark_Anderson]

Well, slick, since you're never going to have enough money to use one I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that it won't. :)

@7dust - yes, but the larger sensor does.

[sanjayb]

If u want a camera then get a fricken standalone camera that does a better job. Seriously, camera phones just don't compare.

[Mark_Anderson]

@sanjay

The best camera is the one you always have with you.

[sharmajunior]

Last I checked, Symbian has the largest app library. Plus one can say that the iPhone interface is 20% similar to that of a Symbian based Nokia.

[dbmalya]

I find Symbian better than WinMo. You cannot say the Nokia software sucks. My Nokias never crashed. I haven't been that lucky with WinMo. But I would not say WinMo sucks. I'd rather stick to "I personally didn't like the WinMo Experience."

[tvank]

An unlimited data plan with AT&T for the iPhone is $30/month. With an unlocked phone like this, it's $10/month. Over 24 months, that brings the cost comparison a whole lot closer.

[tvank]

Edit: In some cases the unlimited plan is $10 and in some it is $15 apparently.

[homercles82]

People don't see that. That is why most of us buy them with the 2 year contract.

[Maggie Reardon]

I believe you need to buy a smartphone data plan for this phone. I think the $10 a month plan you are referring to is for feature phones that access WAP sites. This phone has a full browser and uses a lot of data. So you'd likely have to subscribe to the $30 data plan anyway. It's the same with other smartphones that AT&T offers, such as the E71.

[tvank]

It's only classified as a smartphone if AT&T sells it. Been using the $10 plan on my N95 for a while.

[Renegade Knight]

If the data plan is the same apparently AT&T feels the need to rip off it's customers who provide their own phone. If a phone is truly subsidized that means if you don't get a subsidized phone you don't need to make the higher plan paymerns. Alas our Cell Phone model (used by all carriers) isn't so versitile.

Hopefully more players like Nokiea sell raw phones that do a good job and force the cell plan issue, and lower the prices of unlocked phones.

[DP_US]

AT&T does not provide 3G access for unlocked phone. AT&T customer service confimed this when I enquired for not getting 3G on my N73. You will be stuck with EDGE/GPRS.
But I'll definitely be buying this one soon. N97 blends the features of smartphone, touch interface & music phone.

[specialp]

It is absolutely not true you cannot have 3g with unlocked phone. I am currently running 3g ATT on both n95 and n97 unlocked. I also pay half the price!

[lliilllei]

I agree with you YIPCANJO. I think the writer needs to do a better research on cellphone comparison. Yes the n97 has $700 price tag but it has awesome features. The IPHONE 3Gs is half the price because it has half the features too, plus you are locked into an expensive 2-yr agreement with additional data plan. So to summarize what i am saying here:
N97= $700.00= awesome features
Iphone= half of n97's price= half of N97's features, so its fair enough.

[Maggie Reardon]

!. You definitely need a data plan with the N97. You could just sign up for a voice plan, but then what's the point of having all that funcationality?
2. There are some feature differences, but the iPhone also the App Store with early 40,000 applications. Nokia's marketplace on Ovi hasn't gotten off the ground yet, and other Ovi services like it's music service aren't yet available in the U.S. And the iTunes music store is available.

Anyway, my point in the story was that I don't think that Nokia is trying very hard to be competitive in the U.S. in the smartphone category.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Maggie

[Rolker]

Quote: "The reason the price of the N97 is still so high is that Nokia is not selling it through any particular carrier."

I agree with lliillei. Nokia is delivering an amazing phone, which is superior to the writer's beloved iPhone and to the Pre. The problem is with concept. People will think on "700$", without noticing that actually they're paying more in a 2 yr contract. But here is were Nokia fails. It needs to explain this to the costumers. And lets not forget that Nokia is currently the biggest cellular company in the world.
*I'm writing this according to data information, and not actually using the new Nokia or the Pre.
I just "love" how cnet always has this tendency to treat the iPhone in a kind manner, while other phones and companies receive "a cold shoulder".

[dcwizards]

Maggie - FYI, you actually only need the $15 data plan, not a $30 plan.

[seven7dust]

the Nokia device has sluggish O.S thats look oudated in terms of User interface
and a resistive touchscreen which is not as responsive as the iphone G1 or pre
software is the main problem with any Nokia phone nowadays !

[Mark_Anderson]

"Nokia's marketplace on Ovi hasn't gotten off the ground yet"

Oh that's weird. I thought I had downloaded about ten apps from it.

*Checks*

Yup, definitely have.

You're right though: The US isn't a prime market for Nokia. It's not big enough or important enough to change their pricing strategy for.

[rnaoncfixd]

All these comments are reasons I stopped caring about CNET readers. No one reads the article and no one adds anything important to the conversation. It's all just biased opinions attacking someone or some thing.

Geeze people, it's just a phone. Stop getting your panties in a knot because the writer explained how Nokia isn't being aggressive in their US marketing.

It may be a great phone, so what, it's $700. How's Nokia going to convince people to buy this phone over, the iPhone or Palm Pre? I can get a cheap netbook and use skype for much cheaper and have more functionality than the Nokia phone for that fact in matter.

[ejb111]

WOW, you've downloaded 10 whole apps. I'm guessing that was all that was available. And the US isn't big enough or important enough for Nokia?? What don't you share some of whatever it is your smoking bub.

[Mark_Anderson]

@ejb111

Don't get riled up, son. Just because the US isn't seen as a key market by Nokia - the Europe and Asia are - there's no need to take it as a personal insult. The point was that Nokia and the US carriers cannot reach agreement on pricing and Nokia don't see it as value adding to change their position on the matter.

As for Apps - I think I have about two dozen on my 5800. About half came from the Ovi store, the others were downloaded from other providers. Choice: it's awesome! :)

[dabs1]

The iphones are locked to AT&T and even the 3g version has not been "completely" unlocked - there are always hassles of upgrading (or not) firmware. Even then you lose the warranty. Also, the amazon price of the n97 is down to 600 already.

In my opinion, The strategic mistake on Nokia's part was not to include the t-mobile 3g band. Otherwise the overall cost after taking into account the cheaper service plans that would go with n97 makes the cost comparable to an iphone. You just need to cough up the money up front

[Gasaraki]

Huh? This is a quad-band phone it already has the 850MHz band which T-Mobile uses...

[texaslabrat]

@Gasaraki

You are confusing the 3G bands with the GSM voice bands. T-Mobile runs its 3G services on the 1700Mhz frequency band, which the N97 doesn't support.

[gtdmouse]

they will most likely release a north american version in a month or so with the t-mobile 3G band. they've put out north american versions of their smartphones before.

[specialp]

I believe the north american version is out here anyhow. My phone sticker says N97-3 which is similar to the n95-3 which was NAM. I doubt there will be a 1700mhz version unless tmobile subsidizes the phone. Tmobile USA is the only service in the world that uses 1700mhz 3g

[Maarek Stele]

read the bottom line... that's the UNLOCKED PRICE!!!

[purpleLightning]

So Nokia *isn't* trying to be a player in the US cellphone market just because they haven't subsidized one particular model of phone? Not very sound logic.

And Nokia produces new models of phone faster than the likes of Apple or Palm, so what's to say their next model of high-end smartphone doesn't go the subsidy route?

[rrod182]

It doesn't even have real GPS. Now if one of these 4 devices could give me a freakin killer mobile hulu.com experience, the war would be over.

[texaslabrat]

So what, exactly, do you define as "real gps" ?

[DosEquisXX]

What do you mean it doesn't have real GPS? It has A (Advanced) GPS for faster initial location locking.

[Mark_Anderson]

@rrod182

LOL! It has GPS, AGPS and built in maps from Navtech. Plus of course Nokia have their own turn by turn voice navigation software.

[tech_crazy]

"Real" GPS works using triangulation with satellites. Cell phones usually do it with time difference from cell-towers. They are not one and the same.

[texaslabrat]

the original iphone did it with cell phones, true...and for the "true believers" of all things Apple I can see where the lack of knowledge of other products might be lacking in that regard. Nokia has had satellite-based gps modules in their phones for a while now...N97 being no exception. In fact, you can use a nokia phone with gps as a bluetooth-connected gps receiver for a laptop or other device (eg nokia n800 which doesn't have its own gps capability). Hence my puzzlement at rrod182's comment.

[texaslabrat]

er, I mean "cell towers" LOL. Getting late...

[steviemanX]

lol A(Advanced) GPS
are you serious?

AGPS stands for Assisted GPS

[specialp]

Half you guys here have no idea what you are talking about. If there is no clear view of the sky then yes it uses cell tower triangulation. The "A-GPS" means that it gets a hint from a server online to where the satellites are to speed finding them. It works without it, just takes longer to find the satellites. And YES that is as real GPS as anything, this is not cheesy triangulation with towers, it is triangulation with satellites which is by definition GPS. A-GPS allows getting synced in less than 5 seconds.

[rolfsky]

This article would have been stronger if the author had started it at the 4th to last paragraph, here:

"There is no question that the N97 is a feature-rich, advanced smartphone that could easily take on any of the top smartphones in the U.S. But without a U.S. carrier to subsidize it..."

This highlights that there's nothing wrong with the phone OR the $700 price tag, just Nokia's failure (or stubbornness) to agree to a carrier subsidy.

[Rolker]

As I commented above, Cnet as this tendency to praise anything that Apple produces (yes, even the Apple TV), while other companies usually receive a more negative view.

[ralfthedog]

@Rolker, The Apple TV is fantastic. It only has 720p output and 5.1 sound, but that is the best you can get with any downloaded media. You don't get any compression artifacts and no color banding. It is fantastic when you miss a TV show do to bad weather. It is not a replacement for Blu-ray when you want to watch a movie, but it is far better than any other download service or PPV on cable.

I also like the fact that anything I buy is automatically copied to my computer, then backed up onto one of my servers.

Best audio and video quality of any service, automatic backups and you can watch anything you buy on your Apple TV, your computers and your iPhone. It also lets you take your audio collection and play its lossless compressed sound files on your home sound system or you can jack your iPhone into your car stereo by USB and have the same quality audio while you drive. What is wrong with that.

[ralfthedog]

Just jumping in to say, "What's wrong with that." should have ended with a question mark. I was up writing code very late and my English is a bit blurry at the moment. Sorry for the stupid typo.

[NervClaX]

Slap some Swarovski crystals on that sucker and it'll sell like hotcakes... hotcakes glistening with Swarovski crystals.

[sharmajunior]

Then I would rather buy the Vertu with a Black and White screen....Oh...those were the days where you could go around anywhere and all you had was a piece of white light coming from your phone (it wasn't the good bright kind like the one on today's phones).

[DragonStab]

What's the deal with all the BIG Cialis and Trojan Condom adds on this site?!?!? I think you are being sponsored by "technology" for the wrong kind of "equipment".......

[stigmattaman]

Noticed that too a few days ago. Makes sense I guess, as the ad market's in the toilet right now and they're happy to have anyone. Next up: CNet iPhone 3G S, brought to you by Colt 45.

[michael_j_x]

I was wondering about that too. But my question was why trojan would ever want to advertise on a geeky technology site like cnet. :p

[willengage]

The iPhone is $699 if purchased without a commitment, and it still requires an AT&T account. If you buy this phone unlocked, don't want a data plan, and subtract all the subsidized excess in the monthly iPhone payment plans from AT&T, you'll save A LOT of money over two years. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are cash poor, so they get raped financially on a daily basis because they can't scrape together any dough. (e.g. Credit Cards, Pat Day loans, etc.) This phone is definitely not for them. If I hadn't just bought my unlocked, white, E71, I would be ordering this phone today.

[rogerincalgary]

First off let me just say you can get this phone from Amazon for $600 and that Nokia always has higher prices on their website because they support their resale partners e.g. Amazon that way. However if you buy from Nokia you do get international warranties so there is an advantage one way or the other and worthy of consideration depending on your needs.

Secondly, this phone is way way better than both Phones mentioned in the article. I personally think the Palm Pre is amazing and their contact management is sweet, but there are some tools that do some of what they do already on the Symbian OS (Nokia N-series runs this OS) and there are developers hard at work probably now to bring exactly what the Palm Pre has to Symbian. What is so great about the iPhone? Its touch screen whooptee doo.

As has been pointed out many times there are real considerations that Apple just ignores in their product and anyone who uses a phone heavily for fun or work will truely miss these is a big way. Skype is not fully integrated into iPhone because of those 'deals' with mobile networks and this really limits international usage. I have friends and business contacts all over the world and I use my E61i in Canada (bought while I lived in the UK) to conference call and stay in contact with them. *Caveate I use a mobile client for Skype not an official skype client.

Also I have a programme that records phone calls perfect for those calls with your banker, insurance company or any other organisation known for screwing its users/clients. iPhone call use this because it can't do two things at once which leads me to my next issue I need to run my IM in the background so I can stay in touch and I can't do that with iPhone even with 3.0 from what I understand.

If a call comes in my browser will close on an iPhone but often I have my Bluetooth in my ear and I keep working on my phone which is awesome when you really want to utilize it as a tool not just a toy.

Also as one friend at all about Symbian pointed out with a Nokia I can silence my phone with two clicks by switching profiles, this is not possible with the iPhone because they don't operate with profiles.

Now on a different topic, Americans and Canadians may have just discovered Smartphones but they are not the fastest growing market by any real measure. India or China buy more phones than the US, Europe busy millions and millions of smartphones. In fact I don't even know a single person in the UK who doesn't have a smartphone and with contracts around 12-18months with 12 being more common each European is worth 2 American's as far as volume goes.

Lastly on a completely unsubstantiated note, I am equally curious why Nokia makes way better phones in nearly every category but can't seem to enter the market in the US. If I was Nokia I would be looking closely and pondering whether there is some illegal activity occurring. Anti-trust behaviour is even a possibility, but I can't say it with any certainty I am just wondering aloud.

[onejap]

NUTS? it's sold out on amazon. i bought one. been a symbian users for years. and i always buy an unlocked phone because i travel and my data plan costs less on one. ease of use? my 2 1/2-year-old nephew and 4-year-old-niece have no problems using a symbian phone. but then again, most americans don't know where to find djbouti on a map.

[GenX2.0]

First you spelled it wrong. Its Djibouti. Second, why would we know exactly where it is? It's a 30 yrs old for pete's sake, its not like its Egypt or Nigeria. Anyway, other than that absurd comment, your missing the point of the article which is: Brining a $700 or $600 smartphone into a US market with the iPhone (Whether you like it or not) and the Pre being the new "hot". Plus, you need to remember how insane the Applites are about new apple technology. Yes, long term, depending on plan/features it may be a better investment. But few people I know have $700/$600 to spend on a phone. You only need to look at the result of the PS3 coming into a market with a higher price point to see the Author's point of view. If it wasn't for BluRay PS3 would have been the DreamCast for Sony....

[UnzipMyGENEs]

Nokia has hesitated to offer a phone to be subsidized by U.S. carriers because of what the carriers do to the software on the phones (e.g. e71 v. e71x). As for the pricing, there are places like amazon.com that sells the n97 for about $604 USD with free shipping and no tax. Yes, that is still a lot of money but it buys you a phone, exceptional camera, expandable media player, and also a "half-price" data plan rate.

To rrod182, it does have real GPS

To Maggie, the "new" e71x is sold by AT&T, NOT the e71 released last year. My unlocked e71 is on a $15/mo. data plan and does not have any of AT&T's bloatware, as opposed to the $30/mo data plan for AT&T branded phones.

Also, yes! 40,000 apps! but are all of them worthwhile? a team of joe schmoes can write another 40,000 fart apps, baby-shaking apps, lighter apps... and then you can have 80,000!

[seven7dust]

the problem with any s60 touch device is the horrible unresponisive resistive touch screen
plus early reviews have said that the Processor cant take the load
hence makes the O.S more sluggish than it already is
looks like Nokia is having far too many software issues nowadays
the Ovi store is a joke too ! they need to switch to Android
if they want to compete with the iPhone or other modern touchscreen smartphones etc. !

[texaslabrat]

If the resistive touchscreen is anything close to the 5800's...I'll be very pleasantly surprised. I was impressed with the responsiveness of the 5800's screen (assuming the worst due to the nokia-haters posting how aweful it is). Yes, it takes a bit of pressure compared to a capacitive screen..but on the other hand it works if you have wet fingers, gloves, or want to use a stylus. I'll take that flexibility over the whiz-bang capacitive screen any day, thank you...especially when it works as well (or probably better) than the 5800's ;)

[Mark_Anderson]

Ignore 7dust, he's trolling as usual.

The screen is better than the 5800's according to All About Symbian and the difference between it and the iPhone's is so small as to be meaningless.

[ArsFragica]

Why would I buy Nokia's piece of **** phone for $700, when I could get iPhone 3G now for $99? Nokia is the worst, overpriced phone company every. I will never buy a Nokia phone.

[x181]

There is no competition. Apple has once again created a phone and user experience which is a hundred times better than anything else out there because it works.

We will always have people who deny Apple's continued success.

[xiamenbill]

I have a Year-Old Nokia N82 with a Xenon Flash that's the best camera phone I've seen, $250 unlocked pay-as-I-go global roaming from my residence in China, cheaper than any contract, which I would NEVER sign. Use in any country in the world and I travel constantly with never a problem. Stereo speakers loud enough to drown out traffic in Hong Kong, GPS to see me though the streets of Shanghai, IN ENGLISH, or here (present location) in Saudi Arabia. Need to test the "Dual LED" flash and video lights of the N97 to consider the move up. In the low light of Pubs and Resturaunts where I do business and socialize (like singing onstage at the Hard Rock Cafe in Bangkok) My Nokias abilities shine and make this fat, balding, rock-star wanna be look brilliant where the iPhone's camera is just puke.
Love that Nokias from top to bottom are intuitive to anyone and been using them for 10 years with never a hitch. My 7 year-old 3210 has thrice swum in Chinese toilets, been thrown at me at least half a dozen times, and dropped more than a hundred, with only the battle scars to show for it. Still my construction-site-reliable communication tool. The "John Cameron Swayze" era TIMEX of Phones. "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' " device you can believe in. My N82 is accumulating a similar pattern of dings, endured a couple beer baths and still performs Brilliantly.

Apple is to be admired for many things but next to Nokia I'm totally underwhelmed by the iPhone. And for Now I'll keep my N82 while the dust settles around all the new touch phones.
Talk to me in a decade.

[keepntabs]

I have pre-ordered two of these on Amazon for $604 each; one for me and one for the hubby. We currently have N95s, and use them with the AT&T $15 data plan; which we can tether to our netbooks if we are not near a wi-fi source. The N95 is a great phone, but I would use more of its media features if the screen size were larger. I'd rather pay the non-subsidized price, and maintain a little more financial freedom by being able to choose my wireless services a al carte, store and play my music and videos in a format that can be used without iTunes, and save on international roaming fees and higher per minute charges when overseas by getting local phone SIMs. Right now we pay $90 a month for 550 shared minutes, unlimited mobile-to-mobile/nights & weekends, and the unlimited MediaNet service. That's perfect for us, because we don't use all of the talk minutes each month (most people we call are also on AT&T). The least expensive similarly spec'd plan that AT&T offers for iPhones is $130 per month. So, if I am doing the math correctly, during the next 2 years we will spend ~ $3368 for the N97 and our existing wireless plan vs. ~ $3776 for two iPhone 3G S and the required wireless plan; over $400 difference. I am sure the iPhone is a fantastic device, but I'm sticking with Nokia.