[Hands0n]

Prices on Nokia’s 3G smartphone, the 6680, have plummeted by more than £100 over the last two months, wiping thousands of pounds off the value of many traders’ stockpiles.

An £80 price drop on the 6680’s market price was reported by several traders last month, prompting panic selling that pushed its price even lower. A senior trader for a well-known distribution company said: ‘Loads were just dumped onto the market. Nokia put the price down a little and people panicked.’

The price of the smartphone is believed to have tumbled from around £300 a month and a half ago to below £200, its current trading price.

A multitude of explanations have been given for the irregular price activity. One trader said many splitters had been caught out because of the ‘impossible’ nature of unlocking network-locked versions from 3 and Orange.

Mark Squires, director of Communications at Nokia, said he was reluctant to say the handsets were ‘impossible’ to break, but said: ‘The security algorithms on Series 60 network locked handsets now have very tight security.’ He also suggested that the price drop was caused by huge buying from the networks.

One London trader said: ‘Nokia normally ships very small amounts to build the market up and then floods it [when there is sufficient demand]. There was just way too much suddenly thrown in when the [consumer] demand wasn’t there.’



Full article is available here --> http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/artman-test/publish/article_876.shtml

[Ben]

You heard them folks, go buy 6680's and be merry! For a phone of the 6680's calibre to be in the sub-£200 bracket is great news for 3G and smartphone lovers everywhere.

[Hands0n]

Mobilefun still knocking the 6680 out for £278 (down from £359 a while ago), see http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/6017.htm
Expansys pushing them out for £269 here http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=119205
Onedaymobile for £244 here http://www.onedaymobile.com/erol.html#1952x0&&

and so it goes on ...... getting close to the £200 but now quite down below it yet ....

Will we [ever] see the 6680 at sub-£200, I'd like to think so given the above. I'd like to see all handsets come down to more realistic prices, just to give The Customer an alternative to the mobop.

I do think that there is a huge [waiting] market for over the counter SIM-free handsets. The mobops may not like it, but it would be an excellent channel to market for the handset manufacturers, and would go some way to giving them at least some parity with the mobops, rather than being subservient to them as a sole channel. Perhaps Nokia would be brave enough to try this? They are in a very strong global market position to call the shots, rather than be the tail of the dog that is the mobop.

[Ben]

Nokia should absolutely exploit direct sales of handsets to customers. They're obviously reluctant, but with the dramatic upsurge of branding, inside and out, on new mobile phones by the networks customers need alternatives. A Nokia direct online store would be good, and maybe even a highstreet presence, and they could push the SIM-Free deals offered by the likes of Vodafone that make ditching the conventional contract worth every penny.

Of course, with mobops currently being so dominant, if Nokia were to upset the current channel then they risk being deliberately cut out and losing market share to the likes of Moto and SE.

[Hands0n]

Of course, with mobops currently being so dominant, if Nokia were to upset the current channel then they risk being deliberately cut out and losing market share to the likes of Moto and SE.

You've hit the nail on the head there for sure. It will take a good deal of corporate confidence to buck the trend and make inroads to direct sales (either by themselves or via the regular distribution channels that, say, other personal electronics are marketed). I reckon that the other mobile manufacturers would soon follow such a lead. No manufacturer really wants to be beholden to a single channel to market. But the mobile phone industry has a history of precisely that, and breaking out of that mould will be a scary process for the manufacturer.

But then I wonder if the likes of Moto, SE, Samsung etc. could resist the huge market that they would ultimately create.

My money is on this happening inevitably, and I know there are those who may strongly disagree. But the old sales paradigm is well past its sell by date. Lifestyle is big business, and mobiles are well and truly in the Lifestyle scene. Witness the media ads for mobiles from manufacturers such as Samsung which appeal directly to Lifestyle choices. Why would a manufacturer advertise directly? Why not leave it to the mobile operator to pull in the [its] business using the handset as the customer hook? And so perhaps the likes of Expansys, Mobilefun et. al. will be the Trojan Horse channel to the Customer for now, until there is sufficient groundswell for the manufacturers to come out of the closet :D so to speak.