Nokia made mention of a broader Lumia phone range coming as part of its major strategy shakeup, but it wasn't clear just where the Windows Phone line was heading. During a call discussing the nitty-gritty of the strategy shift, though, the company made clear that it was swinging towards devices cheaper than the Lumia 610 -- much cheaper. Plans had already been underway to drop the price lower, but Microsoft had given "specific support" to get to lower prices than Nokia "had a sight to." Executives dropped hints that "important catalyst dates" in Microsoft's Windows Phone timetable were instrumental to lower prices; we've got a few ideas as to what Nokia might mean. The cost-cutting was considered vital to competing with the very low-cost Android smartphones that thrive in countries like China, as Nokia wasn't about to throw a mix of basic Symbian phones and Windows Phones against a pure smartphone platform like Google's. Along with narrowing the focus in product launches to fewer countries but more ambitious plans -- think of AT&T's Lumia 900 launch shebang -- Finland's phone giant thinks it can go toe-to-toe with Android-using rivals that can often compete solely on cost.

Nokia: Microsoft is giving us 'specific support' to compete with Android at even lower prices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.