Carphone to sell Nokia 3310 a day earlier
Only to those that pre-ordered. General sale begins May 24, priced at £49
Retailers - Manny Pham
May 19, 2017
Mobile Phones Direct chief marketing officer Chris Liveing anticipates the release of the handset driving success for the manufacturer
The Nokia 3310 was among the most popular feature phones of the early millennium. It became one of the most sought-after mobile handsets ever and established itself in the history books for having sold 126 million handsets worldwide since its release in the year 2000.
Perhaps it’s unsurprising then that since the news broke of the re-release at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from March, the media have covered everything: from the latest rumours to its precise specifications.
Upturn in purchases
It’s hoped that the release of the Nokia 3310, which was released by HMD Global – the company with the rights to market phones under the Nokia brand – will help increase the Finnish manufacturer’s sales.
Data from Mobile Phones Direct shows that Nokia sales only accounted for around one per cent of phones sold through our website this year.
Despite this, many believe the re-release will mark an upturn in UK purchases.
The phone gave us everything we wanted before applications came into our lives and became mainstream.
It also brought us Snake, one of the most iconic and addictive games of all time. However, is it worth all of the hype that the media is generating?
The re-release has brought us a modern and updated version of the retro handset, rather than a carbon copy of the original version. Indeed, the phone is marketed as more of a back-up phone rather than a primary phone.
Handy features
Nokia understands the demand for a secondary reliable, disposable phone with less value. Recent research has shown that just over half (55 per cent) of UK mobile users currently insure their phones against theft, damage and loss.
The new 3310 is rumoured to be retailed for around £50. This would make it around £80 cheaper than the original selling price of £129.99 from its initial release 17 years ago.
For this price, you can get some handy new features including a two megapixel rear camera, a headphone jack, 2G connectivity and up to 32GB of internal memory.
The global media are all lapping up the re-release, so it’s only natural that concerns exist as to whether the phone will actually live up to the high expectations.
Regardless of this, the 3310 is a good phone which serves the purpose of being able to call and text, and the low price point won’t break the bank.
Lack of functions
That said, there is one issue which could potentially put off the younger demographic, and that is the lack of the functions that smartphone users have grown so accustomed to over recent years.
Although 2G connectivity will allow users to browse the internet (albeit very slowly)
there is no integrated applications store.
This means that those customers looking to navigate Facebook and Twitter will be disappointed.
Success for Nokia
So going back to the original question – will the Nokia 3310 handset re-release live up to the hype? The consumers have the answer here.
However due to the popularity of the phone prior to the re-release and the extensive media coverage it is receiving, we anticipate that there is certainly success on the horizon for Nokia.
