Nokia N97 - Comes with Crazy Pricing

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 12:36pm #1

It would seem that the N97, rather than 'coming with music' like some of Nokia's other flagship handsets lately, will instead 'come with crazy pricing'.

According to 'The Register', the recommended retail price for the handset would be €480 according to Nokia. Play.com first posted a price of £479 and now have upped the price to £649 - see http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/03/03/n97_price_launch_details/ for details. When you take into account that play.com do not adhere to current euro/pound exchange rates, the handset is likely to cost in the region of £700 for those who pay in euros.

As if that wasn't bad enough, www.expansys.ie are now quoting a whopping €857 for the exact same handset which is equivalent to around £750 for customers here in Ireland - recession, what recession??

I am now looking at the Samsung Omnia HD which looks more capable in many respects than the N97 apart from the absence of the qwrty keyboard which, personally, I wasn't too keen on anyway.

I would be very interested to hear how other previously loyal Nokia customers feel about this Nokia inflation.

matrim · 04-03-2009 12:45pm

Wasn't the N95 about 700 euro when it first came out. Most Nokia flagship N series devices are expensive, in fact most smartphones are expensive

A quick look over expansys.ie shows

HTC Touch Pro = 590
Nokia N97 = 775
Nokia E75 = 490
Sony Erricsson Xperia X1 = 679

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 1:01pm

Yes they are and I have no issues with paying a fair price but there is quite a substantial difference between a recommended retail price from the manufacturer of £480 and an actual retail price of £750 which I think, even the most creative accountant at Anglo Irish Bank would be pushed to account for. I would very much like to understand why this difference exists and what contributes to it.

I see you quote 775 for the n97 from expansys now - I presume that's euros. I checked yesterday and got €857! I'm totally not getting the logic here.

Tom Dunne · 04-03-2009 1:05pm

Some idiots will actually pay that amount.

I paid €750 for an O2 Atom about 3 years ago when it came out first. I sold it 10 months later for €250. It hurt, a lot.

But that's the nature of new smartphone. They will always command a premium at launch time and some people will pay it.

Rsaeire · 04-03-2009 1:13pm

You can always find great deals on eBay. I bought a good few handsets from users in the UK for a fraction of Expansys’s, and other similar site’s, prices. Of course you would need to ensure you find a reputable seller, but it's more preferable than paying insane prices, such as upwards of €700.

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 1:24pm

I suppose at the end of the day, it does come down to what consumers are willing to pay.

I can only hope that by highlighting this insane situation that people might think a bit more before they buy.

And yes, buying abroad or on Ebay seem to be the only sensible options left open to Irish smartphone consumers - good job, Irish phone retail industry!

Tom Dunne · 04-03-2009 1:28pm

Bluefrog wrote: »

And yes, buying abroad or on Ebay seem to be the only sensible options left open to Irish smartphone consumers - good job, Irish phone retail industry!

In fairness to them, it really is a niche end of the market, so it probably isn't worth their while stocking them.

Which makes sense - stocking a large range of phones that will be easily sold, or a couple of high-end phones that will only entice the likes of the regulars on this forum?

Professey Chin · 04-03-2009 1:31pm

Ill be sticking with my 5800 then

strecker · 04-03-2009 1:35pm

Samsung's 'Innov8' was at times priced at almost 900.00 euro on expansys.
The n95 was over 700.00 in one place while 550.00 elsewhere.
O2 had the prepay n95 for 599.00 while vodafone's prepay was 499.99...
wait til the n97 is out before you follow the MWC-exhausted and bored gadget-sites! Expansys reckon it won't be available until June.
The price WILL change!
Oh, and if you think the omnia is comparable to the n97 start from scratch

They'll all be 'archaic' by spring 2010, anyway! We are seeing the end of smartphones' 'infancy'!!!

matrim · 04-03-2009 1:45pm

Bluefrog wrote: »

I see you quote 775 for the n97 from expansys now - I presume that's euros. I checked yesterday and got €857! I'm totally not getting the logic here.

I think the 857 might have been for the 32GB model

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 1:46pm

Hmmm, might have been a niche end of the market pre-iPhone, Tocco and Omnia but now surely that's changing? Also, if it is a niche market here, it is also one on the UK, if not even more so given the well documented Irish love of mobiles, yet we still see a differential of nearly 30% in the price.

I would love to be fair to the industry if I got to see some transparency.

Valid point on the storage and pricing difference - that could account for it.

matrim · 04-03-2009 1:51pm

Bluefrog wrote: »

Hmmm, might have been a niche end of the market pre-iPhone, Tocco and Omnia but now surely that's changing? Also, if it is a niche market here, it is also one on the UK, if not even more so given the well documented Irish love of mobiles, yet we still see a differential of nearly 30% in the price.

I would love to be fair to the industry if I got to see some transparency.

Valid point on the storage and pricing difference - that could account for it.

Even the iphone was about 500 or 600 euro on release. Then you had to add the 2 year contract with the operator on top of that

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 1:54pm

Actually, just checked and the 32gb model is being quoted at €774 now - er, Princess_Tom, I'm having a crises of belief!

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 1:56pm

matrim wrote: »

Even the iphone was about 500 or 600 euro on release. Then you had to add the 2 year contract with the operator on top of that

Well I meant that smart/more functional phones are a more common purchase for people now than they might have been before the iPhone came along so are therefore considerably less 'niche'.

DiarmaidGNR · 04-03-2009 2:28pm

its not worth it, all you get is a n95 with a touch screen. The novelty of a touch screen wears off pretty quick. The n96 is just a n95 with a bit more memory and no graphics power. Stick to the n95.

jesus_thats_gre · 04-03-2009 2:31pm

Sure how much was the 5800 in the lead up to the launch? The price will drop significantly.

Rsaeire · 04-03-2009 2:33pm

I agree. The price on Expansys will drop by launch, however, it will still be more beneficial to buy elsewhere.

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 2:57pm

Well the thing I really liked about the N97 was the screen size over the N95 - being as blind as a bat that would be great but looking at the Omnia HD the screen looks spectacular - even on Youtube.

sprongle · 04-03-2009 3:31pm

Only a complete numpty gets sucked in by early prices. They mean nothin at all. Phone shops prefer to sell samsungs cos they get a better margin on them than nokias.

You should be waiting for the sony ericcson "IDOU" phone if you want the best.

strecker · 04-03-2009 4:04pm

sprongle wrote: »

Only a complete numpty gets sucked in by early prices. They mean nothin at all. Phone shops prefer to sell samsungs cos they get a better margin on them than nokias.

You should be waiting for the sony ericcson "IDOU" phone if you want the best.

I agree...except for the 'Idou', cause I don't. Yet believe it's gonna be all that. Remember when the X1 was announced? It was gonna rock the wm-world hahahaha... SE have perfected the concept of freat launch announcements. If it lives up to the on-paper-specs and features, it'll be a fine phone, but the 12mp may not mean much in the end! Samsung's g810 at least has 3x optical zoom.

N97 is just the warm-up act, anyways!
This year I'd really recommend going for well established, well supported cheaper phones! The game's really changing. Wait til makers really get to grip with snapdragon, the new omaps, etc etc...
It may be well smarter now to go for a midrange model like the 5800 or the upcoming E-series models.

Tom Dunne · 04-03-2009 4:08pm

sprongle wrote: »

Only a complete numpty gets sucked in by early prices. They mean nothin at all. Phone shops prefer to sell samsungs cos they get a better margin on them than nokias.

Numpty, or early adopter? Some people are willing to pay the price.

sprongle wrote: »

You should be waiting for the sony ericcson "IDOU" phone if you want the best.

If you waited around for every phone that's "coming soon", you would be forever waiting. There is always something better around the corner.

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 4:21pm

Princess Tom wrote: »

If you waited around for every phone that's "coming soon", you would be forever waiting. There is always something better around the corner.

Exactly. For me, it took quite a while to see anything possibly worthy of replacing my N95 which makes all this pricing silliness that bit more annoying.

Guess I'm just tired sitting on my hands while these things are dangled in front of me

Rsaeire · 04-03-2009 5:10pm

I have a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1i and can honestly say that it is the best handset I have owned. I don’t like touchscreen only handsets and I don’t like standard handsets; I much prefer having a slide-out keyboard with a few hardware buttons. With that said, I haven’t seen any handsets that are currently available, or will be in the near future, that I would refer over the X1i. There are some features that would be nice to have, like the 720p recording mode on the Samsung OmniaHD, but currently I am content with my lot.

Bluefrog, if the price of the Nokia N97 decreases by a few hundred Euros, would you still be interested in buying it over the Samsung OmniaHD?

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 5:45pm

I have to say that the presence or not of a keyboard really isn't a deal breaker for me personally - I have never had one before so I suppose its a case of what you didn't have, you don't miss. I'm really liking the little I have seen of the Omnia so far - as I said earlier the screen alone looks amazing, my only concern being that these OLED screens are still a bit of an unknown quantity in terms of lifetime and real world durability.

Not wanting to end up a 'numpty', I guess I will keep my money in my pocket until both models have been out a few months and I have a somewhat better idea of the issues involved with each phone not to mention the price but as of right now, I think my preference would be for the Samsung, even if it is a few bucks more.

It will be delightful to pull either out on a bus sitting beside someone with an iPhone though

mkennedy · 04-03-2009 6:29pm

strecker wrote: »

Samsung's 'Innov8' was at times priced at almost 900.00 euro on expansys.
The n95 was over 700.00 in one place while 550.00 elsewhere.
O2 had the prepay n95 for 599.00 while vodafone's prepay was 499.99...
wait til the n97 is out before you follow the MWC-exhausted and bored gadget-sites! Expansys reckon it won't be available until June.
The price WILL change!
Oh, and if you think the omnia is comparable to the n97 start from scratch
They'll all be 'archaic' by spring 2010, anyway! We are seeing the end of smartphones' 'infancy'!!!

What great innovations do you envisage the smartphone childhood, adolescence and adulthood will bring.

strecker · 04-03-2009 6:39pm

mkennedy wrote: »

What great innovations do you envisage the smartphone childhood, adolescence and adulthood will bring.

Hahaha... More childhood, but better, faster... 'funner'

Processor power and storage! Wifi- and usb-host, and with the new processors battery life will finally go up again: the e55 will have up to 28 days standby (have you seen HOW thin it is?)...without snapdragon sth like Toshiba's TG01 would be dead within 20 minutes hahaha!

Bluefrog · 04-03-2009 7:00pm

I don't doubt the price will change on Expansys - it already has in the space of less than a day coming down by €90 or so for no discernible reason - my original point was to highlight the nonsense involved in this kind of pricing and the lack of transparency for consumers and maybe to spark a debate on the value we get here in Ireland on SIM free phones from retailers.

As for what's coming and the general evolution of the smartphone, its a tad off-topic but definitely fun to speculate on.

05-03-2009 3:48pm

Has anyone heard of a set in stone release date for it yet?I heard the end of march last month but as par expansys the estimate seems to be june now

hobochris · 05-03-2009 6:33pm

sprongle wrote: »

You should be waiting for the sony ericcson "IDOU" phone if you want the best.

Just checked the spec its only agps not standalone gps, meaning that it requires network support for position calculation, in other words this has to be turned on at all phone masts for your network. at presents this is turned off on most Irish phone masts.

so this is where the nokia series have the "IDOU" pegged with their dedicated gps receivers.

elderlemon · 05-03-2009 6:45pm

nonsense. Agps is assisted gps which means the network helps shorten the time to get an INITIAL fix. I have an E71 with agps and it works fine on any network, including Ireland.

FYI - on my boat I have a very high end gps. If I turn it on fresh it asks for a country so that it can start with a set of known gps sats, instead of searching though its db and checking each one. Even with that it takes a good 2 minutes to come up with an initial fix. After that its fine and almost instant.

This is exaclty how my E71 (with agps) works. Turn off network help and the E71 has to go through the db trying to find where it is. Once it gets the fix it no longer needs the network.

hobochris wrote: »

Just checked the spec its only agps not standalone gps, meaning that it requires network support for position calculation, in other words this has to be turned on at all phone masts for your network. at presents this is turned off on most Irish phone masts.

so this is where the nokia series have the "IDOU" pegged with their dedicated gps receivers.

Professey Chin · 05-03-2009 7:03pm

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Sure how much was the 5800 in the lead up to the launch? The price will drop significantly.

5800 was always about the €300 mark if i remember right

Nokia N97 - Comes with Crazy Pricing

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