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July 23, 2014

Lumia 530 To Bring High Function & Low Price Together

Value is a shaky concept at best, often varying from person to person, depending on who's asked. But a good measure of value for devices comes when a device's cost is perceived as sufficient or less than the provided utility of the device in question. If it does $500 worth of stuff for a $400 price tag, for example, it's a good value. Microsoft earlier today announced the Lumia 530, a device that's going for the value proposition very hard by offering up a decent array of features coupled with an impressive price tag.

The Lumia 530 will be available with either one or two SIM cards, and is set to run on a 3G wireless system. It's packing a four inch LCD display showing at FWVGA resolution, said to be 854 x 480 in pixels, supported by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor with 512 megabytes of RAM, a four gigabyte eMMC, support for 128 gigabyte SD cards, and a five megapixel camera. The device also packs a micro-USB port, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and HSPA+ connectivity as well. The battery can offer up to 22 days of life in standby mode, with 13 hours of talk time available, driven by the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. There are even a set of cover shells that can be changed, allowing the phone to have different colors depending on needs at the time.

Admittedly, that doesn't exactly compare to the other smartphones in the market, but the Lumia 530 has another trick up its sleeve in the form of its price tag. Those interested in getting hands on one will be able to do so for a planned retail price of 85 Euros ($114.46 U.S), and that's before the issues of taxes and assorted subsidies kick in to alter the prices in one direction or another.

Microsoft Devices Group corporate vice president Jo Harlow offered up some commentary on the release of the Lumia 530, saying “We are moving quickly to help more people experience the uncompromised Lumia technologies, third-party apps and Microsoft services that we deliver on our flagship products. Lumia 530 underscores our commitment to making affordable smartphones for everyone, and introducing more people to the best of Microsoft.”

Sound enough reasoning, but this phone is going to be going out into a very glutted market, featuring entrenched competitors like Apple and Samsung. The Lumia 530 is going to have to put on a very good show here, and it's not likely to impress iOS or Android users sufficiently. It might have an appeal to the budget sector who's been considering a smartphone but not pulling the trigger due to costs, but that may not be a very big market sector at all. Still though, for the budget buyer paying in Euros, the Lumia 530 might well prove an answer to prayer, it's just that there may not ultimately be enough budget buyers to make this a good prospect for Microsoft.

Only time will tell just how well the Lumia 530 fares in the market. It's got a clear value proposition and what looks like a target market in mind, but the size of that target market may not be sufficient to return the kind of results that Microsoft may have had in mind.





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