Lumia 520 was a turning point for Microsoft and Windows Phone and it indicated a point where a single device would drive mass adoption of Windows Phone. The device is still on sale over a year after the expected End Of Life reached. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Given.
Microsoft expected that it’s an entry level thing, that Windows Phone was appealing to people who want to dip one foot to Windows phone and this would best be done at entry level. They released Lumia 530 sometimes mid last year. Put in lesser specs, and took the price even lower. But the sales weren’t as enthusiastic.
Lumia 535 came much later, the first Microsoft branded Windows Phone and put things back on track. Lumia 535 came in with a specs blend that told the consumer that “we are here to put an offer you cannot refuse”. We agree with that. So do many shoppers.
Zauba reports that Microsoft shipped 548,698 in the period ending January for India, with January taking the bulk of shipments. This is not sales, it’s shipments. But vendors do not gamble with stock they think might not sell, tells of a confidence story.
In contrast, Lumia 530 which came earlier, shipped a mere 113,810 in the four month period from July to October. Lumia 535 doesn’t seem to be stopping and could mean another story for Microsoft. February is supposed to mark a year since Microsoft ventured into Android smartphones, well, unsuccessfully and we expect they might be launching something at MWC come March, although with Lumia 535 already solidly there and Lumia 532/Lumia 435 also coming in somewhere there, we wouldn’t quite know which slot a new announcement would fit. Probably the overdue Lumia 1320/Lumia 1520 replacements. Now that there is little to no hopes for a Lumia 1020 successor.
