AT&T Nokia Launch Too Little, Too Late? (T, NOK, MSFT, AAPL, GOOG)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has set April 8th for the launch of the Lumia 900 smartphone from Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK). The phone is the first to use the Windows Phone 7 operating system from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) on a 4G LTE network.

It goes without saying that Nokia and Microsoft have a lot of catching up to do, given the enormous clout that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and its iPhone and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and its Android operating system have built up in the smartphone market. AT&T is offering the Lumia 900 for $99.99 with a minimum 2-year contract for both voice and data service.

Perhaps the biggest problem Nokia/Microsoft face is the relatively small number of apps available on the new phone. There are about 70,000 apps currently available for Windows Phone, but that is a far cry from the more than 500,000 apps available for iPhones or Android phones. Nokia/Microsoft plans to spend $24 million to juice that number, but let’s face it, the companies are starting in a big hole.

Paul Ausick