Nokia has confirmed the availability of its much touted 41 megapixel 808 PureView phone in Kenya. The PureView technology is marketed by the dying former mobile giant as “the highest level smartphone imaging experience, bringing together high-performance sensors and exclusive Carl Zeiss optics.”
It is however very hard to see more uptake of the devices locally considering the strong competition from Samsung, Huawei, HTC and Sony in the same cadre.
It is telling considering that the much touted “superior phone” is retailing at Ksh 52,900 way below Samsung Galaxy S3 which goes for Ksh 59,999 and HTC One X also expected to launch at above Ksh 55,000. Even iPhone 4s is still strong in the market through Orange Kenya outlets where it retails from Ksh 54,000 for the 16GB version.
You must however give it to Nokia management in Kenya this time who have seen the market as important to launch the phone locally way much ahead of most markets. Previous management saw the market as not so important that they couldn’t even dare bring some of the very high-end devices to the market, preferring instead to launch the so-called Mulika Mwizis.
It is however funny that no single operator was able to be enticed by Nokia to take up the phone it as Samsung is doing with Safaricom on Galaxy S3 and others.
The Nokia 808 Pureview is available at Midcom outlets in Nairobi and Mombasa
Sources at Safaricom, Airtel and Orange indicate that the operators see very low uptake of the device. One source at Safaricom said, “Nokia will be very lucky to sell 400 units of this phone.”
Samsung Galaxy S3 sale in Kenya is just hovering close to 1,500 pieces sold through Safaricom while the black market might have delivered around 500 units. It will be interesting to see the uptake of the Nokia 808 PureView locally.
IMG: gsmarena
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