Nokia Lumia 920 selling out across Europe thanks to 4G support
Nokia's Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 smartphone is proving popular in Europe thanks to its wider support for Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G mobile broadband.
The next generation of mobile data connectivity, LTE offers significantly improved performance over 3G or prior data services - in some cases, even faster than ADSL-based fixed-line broadband connections. While the technology has yet to take off in the UK - currently EE, a conglomeration of T-Mobile and Orange, is the only company to offer a larger-scale 4G service in this country with others due to follow next year - elsewhere in Europe the system has been proving extremely popular.
LTE services have also been rolled out in the US, where Apple's iPhone 5 can take advantage of the system to stream data from the internet at far faster speeds than on 3G networks. Sadly, the iPhone 5's LTE support uses frequencies specific to the US mobile networks - meaning it can't connect to many LTE networks in Europe, supporting just two networks in the UK and Germany compared to the two dozen LTE networks currently available across the continent.
Nokia's Lumia 920, however, can - and that broader support is leading to a claimed sales surge outside the US. Business news site Bloomberg claims that shoppers in Europe are increasingly turning away from Apple devices and towards Nokia handsets specifically to gain support for LTE networks, with one analyst quoted as expecting holiday sales of the Lumia 920 will surpass five million for the fourth quarter, almost double what the smartphone has sold since launch.
With many stores in Europe reporting that their initial allocation of Nokia Lumia 920 devices has sold out, suggesting demand is far higher than slow US sales would suggest - and that Nokia may be back on the right track after a long period of decline.
Author: Gareth Halfacree
