Nokia has on Wednesday (4 September) announced local availability of its flagship products, the Nokia Lumia 925 and Nokia Lumia 625, with both smartphones expected in South Africa “next week”.<\/p>\n
The group will also deliver its latest addition to the Asha range, the Nokia Asha 210 to the SA market. Joining the new devices locally in October will be a new classic mobile phone, the Nokia 208.<\/p>\n
Finland\u2019s Nokia, once the undisputed leader in mobile phones, has been struggling to respond to the challenge from smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung.<\/p>\n
As a result, on Tuesday\u00a0Microsoft Corp<\/a>\u00a0announced that\u00a0it will buy\u00a0Nokia<\/a>\u2018s phone business for 5.44 billion euros ($7.2 billion).<\/p>\n Speaking at an event in Sandton, Nokia VP of South and East Africa, Gerard Brandjes and Nokia head of Product Marketing, Smart Devices, Ifi Majid announced the pricing and availability of the new devices.<\/p>\n Speaking at the company’s showcase event, Branjes said that Lumia smartphone uptake in country is growing, and revealed that the Windows Phone app store had hit 170,000 apps, while the Nokia store had reached 150,000 content items.<\/p>\n Brandjes put emphasis on bringig more of Nokia’s Asha range to Africa, saying that the series of lower-end devices have benefitted from gaining high end features from the company’s Lumia range.<\/p>\n Brandjes announced that the Nokia Asha 210 and Nokia Asha 208 would be available in South Africa in October at a recommended retail price of R999 and R899, respectively.<\/p>\n The Nokia Lumia 625\u00a0LTE phone offers the largest screen on a Lumia device with a 4.7inch LCD screen – the same experience of the 925, but at a more affordable price point, Majid said.<\/p>\n The phone features a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and a 2,000 miA battery, and will hit retail stores at a R3,499 price point.<\/p>\n Majid also noted that the freshly designed Lumia 925 would also be reaching local shores.<\/p>\n The slim, metal cased device features a special metal band design to boost the phone’s antenna, with the promise of reduced dropped calls.<\/p>\n The 925 will go on sale at a price of R8,999, and also ships with a cover and wireless charging pad.<\/p>\n Majid announced one additional device – the 41 megapixel Lumia 1020 – would also be hitting South African retailers.<\/p>\n The 1020 places a big emphasis on the phone’s camera capabilities, offering consumers the tools to take professional-quality photos.<\/p>\n The Lumia 1020 is understood to be coming in November, although no date has been set, but Branjes said that it will be\u00a0available\u00a0before Christmas. The RRP for the 1020 will likely only be revealed in October.<\/p>\n Branjes said that all the showcased devices will be made available to South African network operators, and no exclusivity deals have currently been made.<\/p>\n “Consumers want their devices on their favourite network, so they will be made available to Cell C, Vodacom, MTN and Telkom Mobile – whether they take stock of them is perhaps a question you should ask the operators,” he said.<\/p>\n Microsoft to buy Nokia phone unit for $7.2 billion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Why Nokia held on to its patents<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Nokia results disappoint as Lumia sales miss forecast<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Which mobile phone maker has the happiest users?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Nokia<\/h3>\n