Nokia to Launch $99 Smartphone Through Verizon Wireless

10 2012 Tuesday

Nokia has formed an exclusive partnership with Verizon Wireless to market its $99 Smartphone in a bid to regain U.S. sales.

Verizon Wireless will offer the Lumia 822 as part of its “fall portfolio,” Nokia said in a statement Oct. 29. The statement did not give an exact launch date or price details.

“Bringing the Nokia Lumia 822 to Verizon Wireless allows us to expand our award-winning Lumia brand to even more customers here in the United States,” said Olivier Puech, president of Nokia Americas. “With the Nokia Lumia 822, first-time Smartphone buyers — and those ready to switch — will get high-quality performance on both their device and Verizon Wireless’ incredibly fast 4G LTE network.”

The device is said to be aimed at those moving up from a more basic handset.

The Lumia 822 offers an 8MP camera, a 1.2MP HD front-facing camera for “crystal clear video calls” and LTE support and switchable shells.

The device has a 4.3-inch screen, which is smaller than its predecessor and a dual-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 processor. It has an 1,800 mAh battery, 1GB of RAM and a microSD slot that supports cards up to 64GB. It also features Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC.

Nokia dominated Smartphone sales world-wide before the first iPhone and Android devices were introduced. Shares of Nokia have dipped about 90 percent since Apple began selling the iPhone in 2007.

Roughly two percent of U.S. Smartphone purchases were from Nokia in the second quarter, while the iPhone and devices using Google’s Android software made up about 90 percent of the market, according to Strategy Analytics.