Lumia 800 to be released in KSA soon?
If any of you guys are following me on twitter (doubt it 
) you’l know that I’ve had some serious issues with the micro-USB port on my N8; where cables hardly connect except after hours of fiddling and then I must stay deathly still cause the slightest movement disconnects the cable (for the record the USB port wasn’t great to start with, even when the device was new but over the past five months it’s gotten completely horrible- possible defective device???), unfortunately the local Nokia care (Jeddah-KSA) was closed so I wasn’t able to talk to anyone about it. However I thought since I was already at the HUB of mobile phones in the city (Basically a really long street crammed with hundreds of 3rd party mobile sellers) I decided to do cut my SIM, stick it into the Lumia (Crazy since it’s a trial…but yeah) and do some snooping.
According to several stores I asked the Lumia 800 has arrived in KSA but isn’t for sale yet, meaning it’s in stock somewhere while people are trained probably; the expected price is 2,500 SAR (650 Dollars) which sounds about right considering the N9 launched here for 2,800 SAR or so (740 USD) and is now currently selling for 2,000 SAR (515 USD).
Just for the sake of curiosity I decided to flash my trial Lumia 800 around a bit, seeing what price I could get for it AS-IS (no box, cables or headphones/case); a lot of people had no idea what it was, while I did get an offer for 2K or $515 which is quite good; honestly I expected something waaayyyy more considering almost nobody has this device in the whole country. Overall if Nokia wants to sell the 800 here they’re going to have to do some serious advertising as Samsung (S2 & Note) as well the 4S are killing the sales, 2 years ago every single billboard in the area was a Nokia billboard/store sign, now every single one is Samsung (I literally couldn’t find a single Nokia sign on store billboards- except the dedicated Nokia stores).
P.S. I wonder what Nokia Connects would do to me if I sold their phone for a crazy price (considering it’s not out here) and bought a N9 and sent that one back? (will take best offer below) – then again I can’t really part with the 800 <3
Category: Lumia, Mango, MeeGo, Nokia, Nseries, Samsung, Symbian, Windows Phone
About the Author (Author Profile)
Heyyo, names Ali- Currently a third year Dental Student from Chicago; studying in Jordan. I love all sorts of gadgets (Have = Green Nokia N8, Cyan Lumia 800, Black N9; Want: White 808 & Stromtrooper Lumia 900- yes I'm greedy) oh and cookies.. don't forget the cookies. Follow my twitter handle '@AliQudsi' - no pressure. Thanks.Subscribe
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Surprisingly, the other day I went to Jarir (here in shargiya) and I stood next to the mobile area just to observe the people. MOST of the men and women that walked in demanded to see the Nokia N9, liked it, asked for the price AND an explanation of swype and Meego. I was surprised, they ignored Motorola Driod RAZR and iPhone 4S and were gazing at the beautiful N9.
I liked that the design of the phone itself has sparked an interest in the public here.. but for the Nokia Lumia 800? Yeah, either there must be SERIOUS advertising, or Nokia will lose KSA market. People have little or no clue about WP7. Even young adults our age know “iPhone and Android”.. no one knew there was a new Windows Phone operating system, everyone thought it’s that old WP5 or WP6 thingy. So yes, LOADS of ads required here.
Elop doesn’t want the N9 released because it will kill the Lumia.
well, if they would have believed in themselves, they would have seen that Meego would have been the new and much better face of Nokia instead of Windows Phone. WP is good and smooth, but Meego and N9 are just out of this world.
“They also demolish the notion that Nokia shipped more Meego powered Nokia N9’s that Lumia handsets, saying only 0.6 million of those handsets were shipped then, close to the 0.5 million estimated by AllaboutSymbian.com.”
N9 fail http://www.canalys.com/newsroom/smart-phones-overtake-client-pcs-2011
its the same as the n9 thou? it has a beautiful design and it catches attention. Just nokia pushed massive amount of ads for the lumia since you know, its their primary platform now.
oh and dude.. don’t sell it! Give it to me
Although I’d choose N9 over any other phone at the moment.. first thing on my wish list *gazes sadly over my year old N8*
Interesting, there are some Jeddah folk that visit mynokiablog! Yes, it will be launching very soon, I believe the issue is the Arabic keyboard support which should be coming soon.
I have a Lumia and an N9, both from Nokia. I of course love the Nokia N9 (pity it’s the last) but am hoping that in the long, long run Nokia does not completely kill off what Meego is now.
Windows Phone on the other hand needs to stand the test of time, and we need to see how much Nokia can actually influence Microsoft. Let us see what Marko and Belfiore can do together.
Nokia lumia 800 now in uae in dubai mall
Its only 1950 dhs (680$)
Selling the phone in the middle east at the moment doesn’t make sense since we can’t even access the marketplace if our live ID account was created anywhere here, and we can’t buy apps if we do manage to find a way around that. Not to mention no arabic language support till 2H 2012.
Not just the N8. The E7 is reporting numerous USB problems and Connectivity.. Maybe more so with E7, because the USB port is the one and only Charging Port available..
Hope this isnt a recurring problem with Nokia handsets..
Looking forward to Wireless Charging methods becoming available.
I’ll be damned if I lose yet another device to failing USB-port. Lost my N900 that way >:/
you wont see any lumias until WP starts supporting arabic and then nokia updating their phones to support it. end of.
we are actually lucky that it still doesn’t support arabic, otherwise we can kiss the n9 goodbuy.
I do follow you on Twitter Jay (@Yemay Oneder).
My N9 has been mistaken for the lumia 800 a couple of times at work. I think that is a good thing because the name “Lumia” is becoming a popular brand.
Not Jay
lol…..
I’ll find you and add you too
I think Android is still catching up (in Riyadh at least), and right now it’s Blackberry (for BBM alone!) or iPhone, or both (which is very common!)
Those who bought WP phones (mostly HD7) love them. Well, until they realize the limited Arabic support (You can only read Arabic SMS’s and contacts.)
Now when you can’t browse your favorite websites or even read your email, that’s a deal breaker for almost everyone.
The marketplace and Bing localization is another problem. But I’m sure Nokia can help with that (Many people still carry their Nokia next to their new smartphone only for its amazing Navigation and Maps services)
Nokia isn’t what it used to be a few years ago, but it isn’t too late for a comeback, not yet. And people in SA aren’t that attached and invested in other ecosystems (thanks to jailbreaks!) and also love to change, and I’m sure they will easily jump into a good marketed well crafted Nokia device carrying a snappy localized WP (with a copy of WhatsApp and Skype
)
There’s the west, mid-east and east. I hope they don’t ignore the south-east guys. We already had both Lumias here, but that reseller is known to sell stuff at highly inflated price, so currently waiting. 800 = $778. 710 = $598.
Possibly defective, I bought mine april of last year and I didnt have such defects, anyways weren’t the first batch of n8s defective ?
I’m always glad to read posts on the popularity of the N9 around the world. It gives me hope that the little beauty will be supported for a decent amount of time.
HI guys did any one see the anti nokia propaganda launched on google+ by eldar murtazin check it out….
he’s an ass.
Not related to the article, but the beauty of the N9/Lumia 800 design. I have the 800 and put it in the official blue case, and find people gazing at it lovingly all the time.
Nokia really produced a classic design with this, same as they did with N8, E7, X6… The list goes on.