AT&T employees get the memo and are pitching hard the Nokia Lumia 900
Arstechnica did a little non-scientific survey to check whether the rumored front office marketing push by AT&T and Nokia about the Lumia 900 is indeed happening. The carrier apparently got a multimillion budget from Nokia and by extension Microsoft, to equip the sales reps with free Lumia 900s as their business phone, so they can get better acquainted with its features.
The strategy worked in the first AT&T store where the secret shopper set foot, pretending to choose a phone for his imaginary mother with a "Droid". The rep said they have a wide variety of Android phones if she wants to stick with that, but next he pitched the Windows Phone stand, explaining that both Nokia and Microsoft are truly committed behind the platform, and that all sales reps there, including him, are now carrying Lumias as their business devices.
In the second shop the act was to take out an iPhone 4 and ask for what's arrived out there to replace it after the contract is up. The rep said the new iPhone 4S is faster, but they have other interesting devices currently, and began the same Windows Phone pitch as in the previous store, answering questions about the Lumia 900 correctly, and showing knowledge about the device. The big take from that store was that 2-3 Skyrockets and 2-3 Lumias went out of the door last week, while customers walked out with 8-9 iPhones.
The other store had a rep whose knowledge about the Windows Phone platform was a bit iffy, but he did recommend the Lumia 900 as one of the best offers currently at $99.
Overall the reps pitched the People tiles, simplicity and messaging, as well as the 8MP camera, fast LTE connectivity and good value for money ratio of the Lumia 900. It seems that AT&T employees have gotten the memo to make Nokia's first serious effort in the US for quite a while their true "hero" device, and if it indeed keeps selling on par with good Androids, the positive impact of Windows Phone handsets on Nokia's results might strengthen in Q2.
source: Arstechnica
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: