germany

Nokia Lumia 900 pushed back to another week in Germany

May 23, 2012 | By Surur

Some of our German readers have been eagerly awaiting the Nokia Lumia 900’s arrival in Germany. Now Amazon Germany has pushed back the ship date for the handset from the 25th May to the 31st, i.e. from this week to next.

While I am sure this is disappointing, hopefully it still reflects high demand in USA, where the handset has seen good sales traction.

Have any of our readers been waiting for this Windows Phone? Let us know below.

Thanks Adam for the tip.

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Kantar WorldPanel: Windows Phone now holds 6% market share in Germany

May 8, 2012 | By Surur

Market analysts company Kantar WorldPanel have teased their May 15th results, and have revealed that Windows Phone’s market share in Germany has risen to 6% in Germany. The last result from March 20th was only 3.1%, indicating a doubling in market share in only a few weeks.

In terms of ownership half a million Germans now own Windows Phones, likely around 2.5% of the smartphone using population.

Hopefully Windows phone can rise to a more commercially relevant 10% market share, which will hopefully put an end to the “6 people owning Windows Phone” jokes.

See the tweet here.

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Nokia Lumia 900 now also on pre-order at Amazon Germany

April 29, 2012 | By Surur

We have recently seen the Nokia Lumia 900 pop up for pre-order at Amazon UK. Now Amazon Germany is joining the party, and are offering the handset for € 575 (around the same price as Amazon UK). The smartphone will be available in Black, White and Cyan, with Magenta unfortunately still elusive.

Interestingly the handset is only expected to launch a full 10 days later than UK, on the 25/5/2012, suggesting Nokia is doing a staggered roll-out so as to be able to keep up with demand.

Lets hope some of that US demand does in fact spill over into Europe.

The Amazon.de page can be seen here.

Via WP7App.de

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Now Microsoft Germany’s Windows Phone Marketing Manager also out

April 18, 2012 | By Surur

We posted yesterday about Gavin Kim, Microsoft’s Marketing Manager for Windows Phone departing for unknown “personal” reasons.

Now the German Microsoft Marketing Manager for Windows Phone, Frank Fischer, has also announced his departure, leaving for Deutsche Telekom.

Also leaving “at his own request”, unlike Kim he has been working for Microsoft for 9 years, and has been responsible for marketing the introduction of Windows Phone and Nokia’s new handsets in the region.

Microsoft will unveil in the coming months for a successor.

Via AreaMobile.de

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Microsoft takes #SmokedbyWindowsPhone to Germany

April 12, 2012 | By Surur

WP7app.de reports that Microsoft has been stalking the halls of the Brightpoint Mobility Forum challenging other smartphone owners to being Smoked by Windows Phone. The reward for winning was 50 Euro, but as usual Microsoft’s Jens only had to pay that out twice (to a Galaxy S II and iPhone 3GS), comfortably beating the rest of the comers.

It seems Microsoft has not at all been phased by the brouhaha around the contest from a few weeks ago, and probably finds it an effective method to convey a phone does not need dual core processors to be fast.

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Nokia Lumia 610 to also be available in orange and purple?

March 17, 2012 | By Surur

Smartphone7.de attended the Nokia Blogger Meet 2012 in Düsseldorf,where they were shown a presentation on the Nokia Lumia 610. The slide above interestingly shows that besides the 4 colours (cyan, fuchsia, black and white) the handset may also become available in Orange and Purple.

It is not clear if the colours will be available at launch or released later, like white and magenta for the Nokia Lumia 800.

Nokia told Smartphone7.de the handset will reach the market in May this year.

White Nokia Lumia 800 coming to O2 Germany very soon

March 4, 2012 | By Surur

We have just been sent some marketing material for the very desirable White Nokia Lumia 800.

If you have been holding out for the handset, the good news is that it is shipping to O2 Germany right now, and will end up in stores shortly. Above is some marketing material for the handset which will join the device at stores.

The handset became available in UK a week ago, and is also available unlocked from retailers.

On O2 Germany the handset will join the full range, including the Cyan, Magenta and Black Lumia 800.

Thanks to our anonymous tipster.

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LG E906 Jil Sander Windows Phone now only 199 Euro

February 18, 2012 | By Surur

lgjillsandersdeal

We have seen new Windows Phones break new low price barriers, but no new 16 GB Windows Phone is selling as low as only 200 euro.

Score one then the LG E906 Jil Sanders which is now available at the German MediaMarkt for only 199 euro. The handset has a 3.8 inch TFT screen and 5 megapixel camera, and comes with exclusive Jil Sander branding and applications.

See more on the device and the deal at MediaMarkt here.

Thanks Sem for the tip.

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LG Germany announces new firmware for unlocked devices with Internet Sharing

January 27, 2012 | By Surur

lgoptimus

LG Germany has announced on their Facebook page that they have now made new firmware available for unlocked LG Optimus 7 handsets which enable Internet Sharing. Many uses from numerous devices have been complaining the 8107 update does not enable this feature on their current handsets.

The firmware in version V11h (1.1.8.10), with the current version being V11g (means: 1.1.7.10) .

Hopefully we will see this update roll out to carrier devices soon also.

Thanks Manu for the tip.

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German 1&1 carrier offering the Nokia Lumia 800 with fully unlimited plan for only € 39.99 per month

January 2, 2012 | By Surur

1and1

The German 1&1 carrier is offering the Nokia Lumia 800, which it calls one of its Best Sellers, on its 1&1 All-Net-Flat plan, which offers unlimited mobile, landline and data calls for only €39.99 Euro per month on a 24 month plan.

A €199.99 contribution does however need to be made ahead of time for the handset. The HTC Titan is also available on the carrier, but is even more upfront, costing €299.99.

With unlimited data plans increasingly rare the Lumia 800 deal sounds pretty good. The deal is only available to new subscribers. See 1&1’s selection here.

Via AreaMobile.de

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HTC may ignore German patent ban, risks 250,000 euro per phone fine

November 29, 2011 | By Surur

nrd2151-i2 HTC has said it will ignore the IPCom patent complaint which was decided against the company, and which would ultimately lead to a ban in the sale of HTC handsets, including their Windows Phones ones, in Germany.

HTC said that Ipcom’s intellectual property claim had already been ruled invalid by the German Federal Patents court in December 2010, but notable experts disagree. The patents relate to how phones connect to 3G base stations.

HTC has dropped its appeal case against an earlier decision which favoured IPCom, leaving the company with a default judgement.

"Since HTC has never come up with an offer that adequately reflects the value of these patents, Ipcom has been left with no choice – we will use the right awarded by the courts, likely resulting in HTC devices disappearing from shops during the crucial Christmas season," said Ipcom’s managing director, Bernhard Frohwitter.

He added that if HTC ignored the order Ipcom would ask for the phone maker to be fined.

"It’s up to the court and could go up to 250,000 euro (£213,000) per violation per phone," Mr Frohwitter said.

Ipcom said it has now told HTC that it intends to enforce the ban.

What IPCom is however after is ultimately license fees. He added that Ipcom was still willing to settle, providing HTC agreed to pay a "fair" licence fee.

HTC only sold 1.43 million phones into Germany in the last 9 months, making it an important but not vital market. It remains to be seen if HTC is willing to deal or not.

Carrier billing now being offered for Marketplace purchases in Germany

November 24, 2011 | By Surur

carrierbilling

Carrier billing is a pretty big deal, as it makes it frictionless to purchase applications, and removes the need to have a credit card registered with Marketplace, or having a credit card at all.

Having carrier billing was one of the key requirements for Nokia to implement on their Windows Phone, but it seems smartphones from other OEMs, like this Samsung Omnia 7 in Germany, will also benefit from these deals.

Do our readers prefer keeping their app purchases separated from their phone calls, or do you look forward to the convenience? Let us know below.

Thanks David for the tip.

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Exclusive: 02/Telefonica has a Nokia game plan after all, calls the Lumia their "major holiday season strategy".

November 11, 2011 | By Surur

We have heard that O2 in UK, owned by Telefonica, will not be providing the Nokia Lumia 800 due to excessive demands from Nokia.

It seems the two companies have now reached an agreement, as an email providing details of their deal, at least in Germany, has been leaked to us.

Firstly Nokia will be incentivising O2 stores over the holiday season to sell their handsets, with the stores that do the best receiving several thousand euros.

Secondly all O2 Direct stores in Germany will have working Lumia displays, right next to the iPhones.

Telefonica will be widely promoting the phone, putting it on the front page of all their literature. They will also be running promotions on television, printed media and at universities, train stations and other public venues.

Also every shop manager has had mandatory training on the Nokia windows phone.

Devices will be available from the 15th in Black, and from December in all three colours, with another major push.

Apparently O2 is all in, and calls the Lumia their "major holiday season strategy".

It seems there is a reason why Germany has a higher Windows Phone 7 Market share than any other region in the world.

The Nokia Lumia 800 (SeaRay) is an upcoming Windows Phone with a 3.7” ClearBlack AMOLED screen, HSPA+ data speeds, and a 1.4 GHz single-core processor. It has an 8-megapixel rear camera, no front-facing camera, and 16 GB of storage. It is coming to many countries like Germany around November 16, 2011. United States release date is currently unknown. Full specs…

Thanks Danny for the tip.

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