The Lumia 900 finally has a release date. AT&T today confirmed that Nokia's flagship Windows 7 Phone will make it to retail stores on April 8th, just a few weeks after the initially rumored March 18th release date. But one report that proved to be true is the Lumia's price: $100 with a two-year contract on AT&T. That puts it in direct competition with the last-generation 16GB iPhone 4 that AT&T also sells for $100 on contract. But unlike the iPhone 4, this is a brand new phone, running Windows Phone 7 Mango and sporting LTE connectivity. It also has a 4.3" 800x480 AMOLED screen and an 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, thought not Nokia's PureView technology shown at at Mobile World Congress.
The first Nokia Windows 7 Phone released in the US was the mainstream-targeted Lumia 710, which has since seen its price reduced to nil with a contract on T-Mobile. I hope that Microsoft, Nokia, and AT&T will be smart about their messaging in promoting the 900, which we first got hands-on time with at CES. $100 is a very attractive price for a flagship phone, especially one with LTE capability and solid hardware and software design.
Pre-orders for the Lumia 900 begin on March 30th, and only the matte black and cyan models will be available at launch. The white model will be released on April 22nd.