Nokia launch its most successful ever in UK, but still slower than iPhone or Android

A verdict of sorts have arrived regarding the Nokia Lumia 800’s performance from  yesterday’s launch.

Carrier insiders have told FT.com the Lumia 800 received far fewer pre-orders than Apple’s iPhone 4s, and had also been slower than recent high-end phones using Google’s Android operating system.

Orange however confirmed it had been the most successful Nokia launch ever and had been popular in pre-orders, although half had been take-up of a deal that gave away a free Xbox games console.

Nokia for its part was happy with the performance, saying sales will build over time, noting the phone and the Windows Phone 7 operating system were both new experiences for most consumers.

“This is not another model, it is something brand new,” said Stephen Elop.

One operator commented “The company is only just coming back into the market so it will take some time to regain its identity among smartphone users.

“Apple and Samsung were bringing products out in a market that already knew and loved their phones, so it is tough to ask Nokia to deliver a similar result immediately. We expect sales to gradually pick up.”

it is of note that most of the comments were about pre-orders, and actual sales performance on the day have not yet been released yet. Of course on a very positive note it does sound as if Nokia has improved its sales performance compared to its Symbian handsets, which of course was the whole point of their Windows Phone 7 adventure, and that 19.5 million Symbian handsets were sold in Q3, the second biggest operating system according to Gartner. Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 handsets does not have to outsell iPhone or Android to push Windows Phone 7 into the big league very quickly.

Read more at FT.com here.

Via the Verge.com