One of Nokia's flagship Windows Phone-powered smartphones is to see its price cut by half. The phone giant maintains the move is a "normal strategy."
Nokia has slashed the price of its flagship smartphone by half in the U.S as it tries to fight its way back into the market.
Reuters reports that Nokia has cut the cost of the Lumia 900 from $99 to $49.99 following discussions between both Nokia and AT&T, which sells the smartphone exclusively in the U.S.
The Lumia 900 smartphone was first announced at Nokia World 2012 in London. It was one of the first devices launched following the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft to bring the Windows Phone operating system to Nokia hardware.
AT&T said at the time the launch of the Lumia would be a "notch above anything we've ever done," including the iPhone's launch.
Launched in the U.S. only three months ago, the smartphone was rendered obsolete by the announcement of Windows Phone 8 -- Microsoft's forthcoming mobile operating system -- which which the Lumia 900 will not be able to run.
The handset's fortunes had earlier sufferd a blow when, within days of its debut, it was hit by a software data bug that saw some customers lose connectivity, and ultimately saw Nokia handing over $100 in AT&T credit -- cancelling out the price of the handset altogether -- to apologise for the fault.
Since then, however, Nokia has seen "mixed sales" from Europe during the first-quarter, but uptake in the U.S. has been slow. Nokia maintains the price cut is a "normal strategy," despite the company's ailing finances.
Recent Nielsen data suggests Nokia has captured 0.3 percent of the smartphone market with its Windows Phone 7 devices, compared to Samsung's and HTC's respective 0.5 percent, while comScore figures show a slightly more optimistic 4 percent of the overall smartphone platform.
Nokia's shares dropped to a 16-year low this month following the former phone giant's move to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide. The Finnish phone maker will announce its second-quarter results this week.
