So Nokia’s solution is to simply cut out the middlemen, and sell the handsets, SIM free, to the end users and businesses that want them. It’s a two front approach, with their own strong online presence, and allowing third party stores and chains to be found through the www.nokiaforbusiness.com website (and providing tools for those stores for lead generation as well).
How the networks will react to this will be of interest, but the bigger question is whether the American public will take to paying full price on the handset. The use of the internet, and the blogger outreach program is starting to seed the value of the handsets, and also the fact that the phone is separate from your SIM card.
And it’s not as if another phone is coming to market in the $600 price range that is preparing the market for that sort of cost of a phone. With the Nokia devices at roughly $400, it does appear that the public could be ready for this
Read the Nokia Press Release.