We’re the best part of three weeks on from Nokia World, and yet we still don’t have a concrete release date for the Lumia duo announced on stage in Helsinki – never mind the all-important price.
But we’re getting closer. Several Nokia sites around Europe have started taking pre-orders for the Windows Phone 8 duo, and if you were hoping for a bargain, you’re not going to get one.
Nokia Russia, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Norway have all been given the green light to start taking orders, and on average we’re talking in the ballpark of £450-£500 for the Lumia 920, and £360-£400 for the “cheaper” Lumia 820.
Now obviously the vast majority of customers – whether it’s the UK, Russia or anywhere else – won’t be coughing up the full up-front cost for a SIM-free model, but it serves as a good barometer of the kind of competition Nokia’s latest hopefuls are up against.
And on those prices we’re talking phones that have an “i” at the start of their name, or a “III” at the end.
Tellingly, a fixed on-sale date remains elusive, and we can’t pin it down any further at this stage than to say “mid-November”. Nokia took plenty of heat for not having a fixed on-sale date in place at Nokia World – so we can only assume that if that’s still the case it’s because Nokia itself still doesn’t know.
