MIR's Inner Circle members comment on yesterday's Nokia Lumia announcements

I sent an email out to Mobile Industry Review’s Inner Circle. Those are the senior executives and mobile fanatics who have subscribed to my uber-exclusive “behind the scenes” newsletter. I mail them a few times a week sometimes with an opinion, sometimes with a question. See below for subscription information.

This morning I knocked them all out a question to ask their perspective of Nokia’s announcements yesterday — but limited to one sentence.

I’ve done a straight cut-and-paste as the replies arrived — no agenda, no manipulation. These are in the order in which I received them. I’ve only used first names or initials to preserve the privacy of the contributors. Perhaps in future I might ask for Twitter accounts for those who’re OK with it as it might be a nice way of following some new people.

Anyway let’s begin.

– – – – –

Here’s my very short summary of Nokia’s announcement: 2 handsets, no day and date of release. The rest of it is meaningless rubbish.
– Dameon

The new Nokia is a pretty good device, but there are far too much expectations on the new iPhone for the moment ; I hope people will recall the 920 if the iPhone proves disappointing.
– Boris

Too little, too late, on an uncompetitive platform which is not evolving fast enough – so “Game Over” for the “3rd Ecosystem” of Windows Phone.
– Stuart

Solid products marred by a not-future-enough spec sheet and lack of immediate availability.
– Antoine

An engineering tour de force that shows the world, yet again, that differentiation must be on the hardware level first and then on the software level!
– Gareth

Loved them – not truly innovative (but moreso than the last iOS devices), but they look great and have a lot of nice features
– Nick

Unfortunately I think they’ve got a long way to go to match the 20million S3 devices sold! I’m using an 800 at the moment and am really enjoying it. However I didn’t enjoy the form factor of the 900 so not too keen on this one from the start. Wireless charging is fun, but ahead of its time and not going to sell devices alone. I think it’s a shame that they’ve used the PureView moniker for the camera without the high megapixels (I know it’s not all about the pixels, but even so) although I’m interested in testing out the camera with the BubbleScope as its low light level performance could be ideal for us.
– Stuart

Interesting announcement but regardless of innovation without carrier subsidies it is not going to go anywhere in the US, and I would imagine most of the Tier 1s are holding them back for the iPhone 5. So it will probably be stillborn in the most valuable smartphone market in the world. Just shows how far they’ve fallen…
– Ciaran

Impressive looking hardware that seems to take the best of all that’s currently available but it doesn’t make me want to rush out and get one though
– Matt

My expectation is more on windows 8 then Lumia 920, finally pricing is what will decide if they can take the cake.
– Pankaj

“Who’s going to sell it? US/UK/European Network support is the key to the success or failure of these handsets, and Nokia didn’t do the one thing that could reassure the analysts and investors – will the sales teams in the high street be pushing this phone hard, offer it as the ‘alternative to X’ in the classic ‘give them two options in-store’, or just pay it lip service because Samsung give them a bigger subsidy?”
– Ewan (another Ewan!):

It’s a big ask for anyone to switch ecosystems; and compelling hardware or not, Elop backed the wrong horse.
– Tony

Yes the Lumia 920 comes across as great looking and well built device, but has WP8 and the publicity machine behind it got what it takes to lure millions of existing smartphone users away from the familiar comfort of iOS and Android environments when upgrade time comes around?
– Chris

Wireless charging is a neat idea, but will only really fly if/when it is standardised so I can charge ALL my kit like that. having one or two out of a (multi)dozen devices with wireless charging won’t noticeably reduce the amount of cables I have tripping me around, and nor will half a dozen different wireless charging stands. Other than that, it’s mostly either “meh” or “too little, too late”. Also, I really dislike the cheapening of PureView brand.
– Vladimir

Will make a lot of sense when we have Windows 8 on our tablets, desktops and laptops
– Chris

What amazed and disappointed me was the drop in share price for Nokia. Steven Elop must be holding his head in his hands. What did analysts believe Nokia could announce?Overall the 920 and 820 are a fairly impressive package, wireless charging, 8 mp with image stabilisation, NFC, amazing touch screen, fabulous design and a fantastic “grown up” operating system. From where we are with technology at the moment, I don’t believe anyone is doing better? I was watching the feed with a group of my developers who sneered and laughed all the way through. I got cross when they dismissed the pairing and charging with the JBL speakers. Only when forced to confront the fact that it’s a better way of doing things than a docking station, did they reluctantly admit it looked good! But that was after a lot of pressure! I can’t work out whether to buy £2,000 worth of Nokia “junk” shares or to just consign the company to history! BTW the 808 really was a phone for demo purposes, I’m not sure they even sold any? (Bit like the N900, more of a proof of concept thing) I actually can’t wait to get my hands on a 920, so the sooner the better for me!
– Ashley

Good to see Nokia offering a serious challenge to Apple. Competition can only be good for us all. However pity they screwed it up by using another camera for some of the video footage. Stupid, stupid mistake and something they don’t need right now.
– JJ

At best, this incremental innovation will likely result in incremental growth for Nokia, when what they blatantly need is disruptive growth.
– Jonathan

Lots of good innovation but like Samsung last week; no availability. Apple will launch next week with a definitive ship date. Nokia needed to ‘better’ last year’s “It’s shipping from the factory today” but they didn’t. It probably won’t hurt their sales, but it now won’t dent Apple sales either..
– Stephen

Great camera (hardware + software), otherwise underwhelming.
– Reuben

Nokia (and Microsoft) need to state the availability and price of their devices when they officially announce them.
– I.E.

Too little too late. Press were taking pictures of the nokia camera with the iPhone camera. Is the UX beginning to look tired?
– Stefan

I can think of several reasons customers should buy these: the quality of the camera, the choice of colours, integrated satnav, beautiful display, wireless charging and useful, well-designed accessories all make for a compelling user experience. However, there’s one reason they won’t: they can’t. By announcing without pricing and availability, Nokia has shot itself in the foot. Expect modest sales to existing Nokia customers once swifter rivals announce their holiday season devices and get to market ahead of the new Nokias.
– Marek

It’s like a new album from a band you kind of used to like. Three good tracks but the rest sounds like other bands.
– Douglas

Mixed feelings Ewan – delighted with the handsets (they’ve gotten their mojo back) but, for me, the fake video really hurt.
– Joey

It’s different, and this time really different.
– Darko

Innovations aside, without pricing or availability details Nokia presented the products way too early as Nokia obviously wanted to be in the limelight before Captain Cook reveals all.
– Dominic

Best Windows Phone products so far, chances of beating iPhone 5 or Galaxy III, Zero.
– Neil

Great phone but there are a few apps I can’t live without on my current OS, until the Apps are available I will not switch back.
Still really wish Nokia had gone for android.
– 00t

Yawn….has the iPhone 5 launched yet?
– Mike

Yes, spec wise they are not behind the curve anymore, with the screen and camera even being better than S3 / 4S; Windows Phone 8 will either make or break the product.
– Mark

It’s not the hardware excellence that matters anymore, it’s all about ecosystem. If Nokia fails to penetrate US market with 920, they are gone.
– Ashutosh

Typical Nokia, first to announce a new phone, nice features, but no detail on price or release date, Apple come along and announce their new phone a week later, goes on sale shortly afterwards and sell millions before the new Nokia is finally released – massive missed opportunity for Nokia again
– Stephen

– – – – –

Well that was a fascinating set of immediate perspectives there. I’ll be publishing my own reactions soon!

If you’d like to subscribe to the Inner Circle email list, you can do so at www.tinyletter.com/mobileindustryreview.

Update: Thanks very much to Ewan Spence who has re-published this post on Forbes.com.