No Windows 8 update means half-price Nokia Lumia 900

Jeff Parsons | News | 16/07/2012 09:58am

Nokia has halved the price of its flagship handset, the Lumia 900, after it was confirmed there will be no Windows 8 OS upgrade for the device. At present, customers in the United States using the AT&T carrier can snap the handset up for only $50 (£32) on a two-year contract, half the original asking price.

The reason for the sudden price drop is the fact that Microsoft announced that any phone currently running Windows Phone 7 will be eligible to upgrade to Windows 8 when the OS arrives in the following months. Instead, WP7 owners will be limited to the Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade – that gives you much of the look of the new OS but none of the extra features.

Whether this drop will make it over to the UK remains to be seen. But its more evidence to suggest that things at Nokia are looking a little bleak. The Finnish company has revealed it will be cutting 10,000 jobs and that it has posted a higher than expected quarterly loss.

What’s more, now the company has made the move to Windows, it’s handsets are far more appealing. We gave the flagship device four stars in our Nokia Lumia 900 review and similarly praised its predecessor the Nokia Lumia 800. Here’s hoping that Nokia, once the dominant name in the mobile market, can turn things around.