Nokia 5800 XpressMedia To Miss Xmas?

By Ernest DokucloseAuthor: Ernest Doku Name: Ernest Doku
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In our excitement over the new touchscreen Nokia 5800, we neglected to realise that the release date was not one of November as was initially rumoured, but rather a 2009 launch in the US and UK.

According to a Reuters report, the emerging markets will be the first to benefit from the phone’s arrival, with India, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia and Spain to all see the Comes With Music equipped phone by the end of the year. What is usually considered the larger markets of the UK, America and most of Europe will have to go without…

Thinking about it, this is a very shrewd move. Apple did the exact opposite, launching in the established Western territories first, then turning their attention to countries like India and Russia, where the lack of appealing network subsidies meant a far later release. Heck, Russia hasn’t even got an iTunes store yet, Apple has plenty to straighten out before forging links in foreign markets.

Nokia has years of experience in precisely these areas, selling tens of millions of phones in emerging sector over the years. By releasing the 5800 quickly, and at a far cheaper price point than the iPhone, they stand to make far more of an impact in these areas.

“The phone is competitively priced and Nokia’s competitive advantage is in emerging markets. When putting two and two together it’s logical they start the roll-out from emerging markets,” said analyst Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.

However, to lose out on a festive period which will see the powerhouses of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, the Samsung Pixon, the LG KC910 Renoir and T-Mobile’s Android-powered G1 poised to force their way into people’s stockings, Nokia’s 5800 may not get a look in come 2009.

Who’s to say they won’t have an even more snazzy touch phone waiting in the wings by then?

Tags: 5800, KC910, LG, Nokia, pixon, renoir, samsung, t-mobile g1, xpressmedia