Selling something for $150 off-contract isn't anything to get excited about when the developing world (India and China mainly) already has huge market penetration from the likes of Samsung, ZTE, SE etc. - they are all selling equally capable phones at similar price point.
I.E. the situation is not very different from western markets - Samsung/Sony/ZTE already have a mindshare there at low and high end - even if you forget the low end iPhones. Plus to Nokia's detriment, Samsung can always release their "better" $150 Windows Phone in those markets.
Also the app situation isn't changing - at this point they really needed the app development scene nailed - Microsoft hasn't even released the SDK for WP8. Developing world is not somehow going to ignore that and spend $150 buying a dumb phone replacement.
Selling something for $150 off-contract isn't anything to get excited about when the developing world (India and China mainly) already has huge market penetration from the likes of Samsung, ZTE, SE etc.
Actually, $150 is waaaay too high for the developing world. You can get a kinda-OK Android phone for half that in places like Brazil.
They're obviously going to keep pushing lower and lower price points. This is just the beginning. But the point is that android phones you get for 150$ or less off contract are rough, very rough. If you can offer someone a phone that's a wee bit more but that is so much more performant, you can sway them over. But that said, this is just the beginning. You'll see Nokia push even lower price points later.
Actually, smooth performance is something very few consumers in the developing world actually care about. I bought an android phone for ~$130 in 2010. It ran eclair. Now it runs the latest version of gingerbread. I never really felt it's performance was a deal breaker at any point. And consequently, the galaxy Y duos, a gingerbread phone that retails for ~$160 today, runs pretty smooth. Here's a video of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&v=qZdAbI0ZMuE It's performance is really good enough and something most consumers would buy.
I.E. the situation is not very different from western markets - Samsung/Sony/ZTE already have a mindshare there at low and high end - even if you forget the low end iPhones. Plus to Nokia's detriment, Samsung can always release their "better" $150 Windows Phone in those markets.
Also the app situation isn't changing - at this point they really needed the app development scene nailed - Microsoft hasn't even released the SDK for WP8. Developing world is not somehow going to ignore that and spend $150 buying a dumb phone replacement.