If you want the latest byproduct of the Nokia-Microsoft partnership, head to a Microsoft Store and stake your claim for a Lumia 900 smartphone.
The Windows Phone-powered device is now available for pre-order, with a $25 deposit. The 900 is available exclusively with AT&T service and runs on the carrier’s high-speed 4G LTE network.
The 900’s brother, the Lumia 710, just launched in the US on T-Mobile. Nokia is hoping the price will draw customers in – it’s only $100 with a two-year service agreement, and comes with a $50 mail-in rebate to make the final effective price just $50.
The 900’s price hasn’t actually been announced, though Microsoft Store employees are suggesting it will either be $150 or $200, putting it more in line with the standard smartphone price of the day.
What remains to be seen is how long it will take before a Nokia Windows Phone makes its way to Verizon or Sprint. Nokia is based in Europe, where the standard known as GSM (which is what powers AT&T and T-Mobile) is much more universal than CDMA (the Sprint and Verizon standard).
Very few manufacturers with strongholds in Europe like to play with Sprint and Verizon in the US, but if Nokia truly wants to make inroads in the US again this will be a necessity.
For now, though, it’s sticking with the carriers it can work with most easily, so you can probably expect the next Nokia Windows Phone to be on AT&T or T-Mobile again before it hits one of the other two for the first time.
