Nokia 520 -$99 -Perfect for kids.

[IamDavid]

Just picked one up from ATT for my daughter and its perfect for what a kid needs and only $99. I added it to my current family plan which surprised me being a go phone. So $99, no contract, 4g, ability to add to any regular plan or use as go phone. Another great job for Nokia.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I got the T-Mobile version, the Nokia 521. Apparently I don't care much for Window Phone 8, but for the price, the hardware is quite impressive. Screen is only 800x480, but it's IPS and I think looks pretty good. It only has 8GB of storage, but I can put in a 64GB SDXC card. The back cover is soft touch plastic and feels nice and durable. And the speaker sounds really impressive (better than my Nexus 4 by far). And the thing even has a dedicated camera button.

Is Nokia taking a loss selling this thing this cheaply?

 

[IamDavid]

For $99 they can't be making much if anything. Probably banking on Nokia music or other services to generate revenue.

 

[jpiniero]

There might be a subsidy even without a contract. Probably locked to AT&T.

 

[pantsaregood]

The Lumia 520 is locked to AT&T, and the Lumia 521 is locked to T-Mobile. Both can be unlocked, though. T-Mobile probably won't give you nearly as hard of a time unlocking the device.

I doubt Nokia is losing money on their low-end handsets, but margins certainly aren't high. Their strategy is definitely accomplishing what they've intended for it to do - put a lot of pressure on Android OEMs and significantly increase Windows Phone market penetration. As of now, the Lumia 52x accounts for 29% of WP8 devices worldwide, meaning that the Lumia 52x increased shipments by 41%.

 

[BladeVenom]

I doubt Nokia is losing money on their low-end handsets, but margins certainly aren't high.

Nokia lost $298 million in their last quarter. They are losing money on their Lumia phones.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Well, I'm really impressed at the build quality, the IPS display, and overall specs of these Lumia 52x phones that are being sold at only $99. And it seems like a good strategy, because I had no interest in buying a Windows Phone 8 device, but at this low price it was an impulse buy to see what WP8 is like.

 

[pantsaregood]

Nokia lost $298 million in their last quarter. They are losing money on their Lumia phones.

Losing money doesn't mean they're selling their phones at a loss. Please, go bash Microsoft somewhere else.

 

[BladeVenom]

Losing money doesn't mean they're selling their phones at a loss. Please, go bash Microsoft somewhere else.

I didn't even mention Microsoft.

It should be clear to everyone that they are losing money on their Lumia phones. But don't take my word for it, "The smartphones are still sold at a huge 14% loss per phone" -http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/

 

[bearxor]

If someone is interested in the Lumia 520, but you live in an area where AT&T had launched AIO Wireless (AT&T's MVNO), they have the Lumia 620 for $100 now. The screen size is only 3.8", so a tad smaller than the 520, but it's a much nicer screen, there's a flash on the rear camera, and a front facing camera.

AIO's plans aren't that bad, either. $55:no for unlimited talk/text 2GB of high speed data and $70/mo for 7GB of high speed data.

 

[Kneedragger]

Do they have a cheap one like this that works on Verizon?

 

[bearxor]

No. But I've seen Lumia 822's in the $150 range on swappa.com.