Microsoft to sell two BLU Windows Phones direct to consumers for $99 and $199

If the Softbank acquisition of T-Mobile goes through, eventually Sprint and T-Mobile will be merged. As one of the two found a successful strategy, I would assume Sprint would go away

The CEO of T-mobile in response to questions surrounding the rumors said something along the lines of that no matter what happens, the T-mobile name and it's UNCarrier strategy are here to stay. So it's likely: Softbank aquires T-mobile, folds Sprint into it's services and moves customers and services over.

The uncarrier strategy has been working while Sprint isn't able to do something similar. Some of the remarks from Softbank regarding internet speeds in the US makes me think they'll prefer T-Mobile's approach. It might be a while before it happens

Rumors are that Legere (TMO's CEO) would be the CEO of the merged company--which I could get behind. 

They gotta figure out a way to sell regular WP devices in the carrier stores. First things first.

Yes and no.     What they need to do, is get deeper in roads into the pre-paid market.  In the US, this is where the real market growth has been for years.  Just take a look at Straight Talk, the deal between Walmart and TracFone.  I sat in a Walmart electronics department a few weekends back, chatting up one of the workers there, and just watched the bee line of people were making to the Straight Talk product.  If I had to give an estimate, for every contract phone, or contract extension (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon) they sold there, they easily sold somewhere like 20, or 30 Straight Talk phones . . . and every last one of those phones were Android.  With the kind of traffic like that, it's a damned shame the ONLY choice those customers have for phones, are Android.  At the sub-$100 price point for almost a year, the Lumia 520 should have been sitting right alongside those shoddy Android devices, vying for that low end patronage. And now, Microsoft is getting low end phones in the $100 price range, out of the ying yang, they seriously need to be pushing the hell out of those low end Windows Phones into the pre-paid market space.  Including the devices by Nokia, there have been almost a dozen low end WP8 devices announced for 2013/2014.  If Microsoft were to get all of these devices (and I do mean all of them) into the pre-paid market space, so that any time a punter walked into a Walmart, a Target, a Best Buy, a Radio Shack, a Fry's, or any other big box retailer and saw a varitable cornucopia of Windows Phone devices - a Wall of Windows Phones, the psycological impact that would have on the mind of shoppers everywhere, would be a very positive thing for the entire brand.  And that is a positivity that is only going to grow as more people try them out, and spread their experiences to their friends, via word of mouth.   But the fact of the matter is, one of the reasons people think Windows Phone sucks, is because there is practically zero Windows Phone presense.  I mean just last summer, the WSJ (I believe it was the WSJ, it may have been the NYT) wrote a peice proclaiming that Windows Phone was dead, and the peice was based largely on the fact that no matter where you went, Windows Phone had zero presense at retail.  Sometimes people have to understand, that even if a thing is not true, people will make it real based on their own perceptions.  So if it perceptually appears to be dead, then it must be dead - so let's write it off, and put it out of our minds entirely.  And when you consider that the low end and pre-paids, are the true growth market in smartphones going forward. a strong presense there can turn around the fortunes of Windows Phone, almost over night.  Because the same principle that allows perception to kill off a thing, can be used to give a thing life.  So if you walked into a Walmart (America's #1 retail destination), looked at the phone wall and saw a dozen or so Windows Phone devices (just like you currently see a dozen or so Android devices), even if Windows Phone has not made it yet, it must mean in the mind of the punter, that Windows Phone is on parity with Android.  Creating that mindset to a perspective customer, makes it real to that customer.  And if it is real to them in their minds, their actions at the cash register will manifest that reality in the world.   Its a classic fake it until you make it scenario.  Back in the 70s and 80s, and even the 90s, the tech business used to be filled to the brim with stories of companies that are now giants in the industry, who back then did not have a penny to their names.  Many of the most successful among them (Apple, Microsoft, Atari, Amiga, et al.), faked their success initially, in order to make their success a reality. So Microsoft proactively cutting deals on the behalf of their low end phone OEMs (including their own Nokia devices), to get those phones featured prominantly with every pre-paid provider in America, is only going to pay off in the future.  A lot more pay off, if you will, than trying to get more devices into the stores of the major carriers.  Not that that should not be one of their short to mid term goals.  Just that far more people are walking into Walmart and Best Buy to get a new phone these days, than walking into AT&T and Verizon stores.  And having one Windows Phone for every Android phone in the pre-paid isle, is only going to give the right impression about the Windows Phone brand. Anyway, my $0.02

StraightTalk doesn't just sell Android phones, they sell iPhone's as well. Posted via Windows Phone Central App

StraightTalk has had a Windows Phone in their lineup for over a year now, the Huawei Ascend W1. However, I will agree that the Nokia 520/521 should've been in that lineup as well. I don't think a lot of people noticed the W1. Curiously, the Huawei has half the internal storage (4GB) of the 520, but offered a rear camera with flash, front facing camera, a notification light and a raised glass design as you'd find on higher end Lumias. Been tempted to buy one, but I am reading many complaints online about StraightTalk and/or Huawei not offering the 8.1 update, which is amazing if true. StraightTalk was also selling the BlackBerry Curve 9310 until just recently, so it's definitely not been just Androids.

Its true. i have the huawei W1 with straight talk. I love the windows phone but there is no update to 8.1

+1
Microsoft... Listen to this guy!

It's called "the race too the bottom."

Nope, race to the bottom

I hope Microsoft is reading this there not trying hard enough or bringing out devices quick enough shit droids winning this rat race

Thought this was a rant....but it makes perfect sense. Windows Phones need to be every where. I visit Walgreens alot and all you ever see is prepaid phones i.e. Trac Phones.
Windows Phones are like "out of sight out of mind"

Nope.  I agree with another user, this does seem like a race to the bottom.  However, the bigger picture is that Nokia and Microsoft are still considered personas non grata. I remember a couple of years ago going to a Virgin booth.  They advised me away from Windows.  I knew it wasn't that the products weren't good, just that Nokia/Microsoft weren't greasing any palms.  There are no incentives (in Canada anyway) to sell Windows phones so now, even companies that used to sell the 520, now have removed it from their list (maybe moved it to prepaid).  No marketing dollars = no salespeople talking it up and in some cases talking them down.  True, some people could theoretically pick up a Windows phone at Straight Talk, like the 520, Blu, 635, but it would be a random pull and with hundreds of Android models vs 3? 4? low cost Windows phone options, you still won't get the traction.  Companies like Samsung spend money to get sales people to sing their virtues.  Apple, because of the cost of the phone alone wins the hearts of sales people because of commissions.  1.  Nokia/Microsoft need to release and market premium phones, key here is MARKET. It's taking TOO long to release 1520/930 and others.  2.  They need to get a larger range of phones for all budget types 3.  They need to follow through. I'm talking to you Nokia.  You hype your coloured shells, even for the 520, but all you unleashed for some models is one colour and NOTHING else. 4. Rebuild the relationships with the various sales/kiosk companies.  Get them singing your praises because if the sales people aren't pushing (and EFFECTIVELY) Windows phones, you're just spinning your wheels.  Word of mouth of converted users can only last so long. 5. Market the tech press companies harder.  I remember a by-line from CNET comparing the latest Android phone to Apple 5s.  Really?  Not even a small effort for a 3 way comparison?  Nokia/Microsoft seem to still have some also ran / might have been funk with some tech companies.  The phones are worthy of comparison but prejudice remains.  I won't say Windows phones are the best, but definitely worthy of comparison.  You need to get the funk out.

So your suggestion is that they put prepaid sim cards in their stores?
Or that they pony up with WalMart?
Or that they markdown the phone from the onset of availability?
Or word of mouth trumps contracts?
You hit many good points dude but large organizations follow such a backwards system of doing things.

They really do not need a "Nexus type of device". WP doesn't have nearly the skinned interface that android has (Sense, TouchWiz, Ect). Posted via Windows Phone Central App

All phones not bought at carriers are nexus type devices anyways :O

They already exist as factory unlocked+sim free handsets.  They have no carrier bloat or influence.

i think it looks like a very colorful HTC one aka very nice. too bad there's no blue for blu.

I don't like the 5inch option I was waiting at least 1Gb of RAM and it's too much money for very small features between 4 and 5, just a bigger screen and not too much change in resolution.

The way the phones released by the other OEMs fill obvious gaps.... It appears to me that MS is working with OEMs to ensure a smooth, even spectrum of devices. They don't build devices because they want to, just sayin'

Resolution is the same, on screen/capacitive buttons

They should make 512MB illegal. Does it really cost that much to make it 1GB? All it does is annoy both consumers and app developers. I'm pretty sure it's a deal breaker for a lot of people.

It's so cheap to pop in 1Gb of RAM,anything less is a joke.

Or they could make phones upgradeable, if that's even possible.

I bet that would cost more than add another 512MB from the start.

Uhm...why? I'm a developer and unless certain gaming app I do not see any problem with 512 Mb RAM as far as the platform is suited and works well with such specifications.

I think the amount of RAM along with the screen resolution is used to separate WP tiers.  

If MS can put 1GB of RAM in the Nokia X they can mandate 1GB in any other "budget" phone... We've been sold a lie that's only making the user experience more frustrating for WP users.

Exactly. Well, I guess if they're still making them it means people are still buying them. Or maybe they're just wondering why Windows phone sales are so low. What we need is one solid low end phone with specs and price on par with the Moto G, and one solid high end phone with the latest specs, available on all carriers.

Nice.

I hate that these are Android rehashes but at least good to see some affordable options.

What does that even matter? They run on the exact same stuff. 

Meaning I like to see unique and new designs and not used hardware. I am sell aware they run the exact same stuff.

Why do you hate this? It's no different to installing Linux on a pc that shipped with Windows.

Good analogy.

This dude just hate hates Android and Samsung so damn much he trolls it every second he can. Same rhetoric bullshit. Different thread. Posted via Windows Phone Central App

I assume you won't be able to use them with Verizon?

I think these are world phones. Should work with everyone.

Negative. Because of the CDMA tech that both Verizon and Sprint use, they have to carry the device for it to be usable on their networks. Since they probably won't carry it, it won't be compatible with their networks (I.e., it either won't have the bands or they won't authorize it. 

They'll only work on carriers that use GSM.

Nope. Blu is just another GSM manufacturer. But I could see this being used for TMobile and AT&T or one of their MVNOs.

512MB ram is no good. I'm waiting on the Billy phone.

Look real spiffy

I'm not a big fan of their color choices, but the HTC One design is pretty nice

I guess BLU is Microsoft's perfered Low end OEM for the US and other markets

What makes you think "preferred"? Microsoft partnered with a whole slew of OEMs.

Don't count off YEZZ with their billy 4.7 and 4.0 (I believe will be $250 and $135 respectively) both had front end camera and uses quad core socs versus BLU with its dual cores. Interestingly, they are also from Florida and targets same markets as BLU

Nice really. I want to see all those big boys making windows phones!

Brilliant! I might get a couple just to give them away to friends.

Hi friend.....:P

+920

Lol

Hello fren...

Chances are you don't remeber me, that's ok and don't worry about that, most imprtant thing is that I am here to remind you we are good friends. (Notice I did not put very, so that you don't think I am pushing our friendship to hard)

Awesome. lol

Hopefully that 4Gb is expandable

I am getting so tired and to the point of getting real pissed off with all these windows phone announcement and or rumors. Why are all these slew of new partners' phones are not yet ready for sale. Stop all these useless announcements and for Pete sake start selling them, All I want to hear now henceforth is that they are for sale and no stupid exclusivity, The mid range specs and wp 8.1 are primed to compete like you would not believe, but darn it, they are not on the damn shelves.

Wah wah wah!

Henceforth, you hear me? Henceforth!

Well, you said Wah Wah wah! as response, but care to read all the latest postings above and you will be surprised that folks are voicing the same sentiment. I don't hate WP, I am an all around windows family guy (except my loving traitor wife with iPhone, our kids and I have found ways to love her and forgive her), My beef is that these phones needs to be in Walmarts, Bestbuys, where ever to purchase right now with WP 8.1 before Android start more stuff that renders all these cool features and multiple OEM designs old because they are late to market, and THAT is my greatest beef. I personnaly want to change my Lumia 925 (I am on JUMP) and love T-Mobile but there nothing to change to or in my case JUMP to (I want Windows Phones) and I am already over first 6 months that I can change phone. (Please don't tell me to try AT&T and or Verizon, I hate them so much for their bleeding money on family plans, I came from them and do not plan to go back)

Just pulling your chain

Get off the internet then

Pardon my rant, Its not easy for me get off internet and being tech junky, I am hooked. I just wish there are awesome varieties from OEMS with WP 8.1 that could be selling right now versus announcings and talking it to death.

Problem is wp8.1 is still obviously in need of last minute work judging by the way the preview has gone so far all the oems need to rewrite their fw/drivers for the OS

That's common sense as no-one upgrades their OS on a PC for example without dl the drivers for the hardware to work in unison with the new software changes. In this case it's painfully obvious that a new mobile OS upgrade should have firmware drivers for the hardware to work as anyone who expects their shit to work correct would.

I do agree with you, bad drivers equal bad experience and we sure don't want that. When I tell my mom sometimes when she says snap it up son you are dragging your fet too slow, I say I am working on it Ma, and that Rome was not built in a day. Bless her memeories, She would reply I know, but at your speed nobody is ever going to know a place called Rome. Just hoping MSFT and her OEMS would snap it up some.

Well, they LOOK great.

"The releases dates..." Oh Daniel. So close.

This made me laugh.

I wish Microsoft sold Lumia directly to consumers in US too, like in other countries, off-contract and unbranded. I so wanna get the Lumia 930, unbranded and off-contract :-/

Yeah, I don't see why Microsoft couldn't sell unlocked direct from their stores.

Yeah why on earth would they sell these phones through their store instead of the similarly priced phones that they actually manufacture themselves?

Will this influx of low end manufacturers degrade Windows phone quality, customer expectations?

I wonder which carriers?

Unlocked.

So with these new phones with in screen buttons, does the screen measurement include the area for the buttons? Or does it only count the USABLE screen space like a windows phone with hardware capacitive buttons? Because that could make spec comparison a bit ambiguous. A 4.8" phone with cap buttons may actually have a larger actual display area than a 5" phone with on screen buttons.

Looks like Htc One o_0

it does! except colorful. i think it looks really nice personally and wouldn't mind one as a backup to my cracked screen L925.

And the blackberry z10 Posted via WPCentral App.

I don't want blu, I want cyan!

then why post here?  it says BLU in the title...  Its not like you didnt know  what you were going to see before you clicked.  Also  OEMs are the only thing that stands between  Windowsphone living or dieing.    Get used to it.    BTW  480 x 854  vs 480x800   THATS not world a hundred dollar difference.  BLU has been losing thier minds ever since the whole "No kitkat update" thing.   People  been postin by the thousands and they wont respond. 

Erm......i think he was making a joke about Lumia cyan update....*gulp*

You two don't understand the joke. Lol he means to say he doesn't want blue but cyan instead.... He's talking about the theme color in WP. Is also very funny funny because this joke can also mean that he doesn't want a Blu phone but the Cyan update already lol

Thank you!

Too cheap. Low specs.

Low cost to match.

Another failed product.

Hasn't even started selling yet. Can I have your crystal ball?

who told you i have crystal ball? this is my comment. respect it dude.

This is gonna sell at least loads, Latin America will lap this stylish thing right up, are you from North America where WP is failing?

from philippines where 512mb of ram is ignore even it is android.

This is a stylish phone with beautiful colours, you have to remember that the average customer doesn't even know what RAM is lol it's a shame for people like us who do, watching good products fail and average products (iPhone, iPad etc) get bought by the bucket load

..so true! WP phones works well and that's it, rightfully average customers do not care or need to have an idea about tech stuff.

Average customers wouldn't even give Windows Phone a second look.

Did they just outright give up on 256mb of Ram since it wasn't as widely compatible? I would seriously like to see the cost of 16GB of storage go down enough to become the minimum soon... =[

Why would we want 256mb?

Why stop there? GIVE US 128!!!

I would only buy a 1GB RAM variant...please take note #MSJamaica .... Otherwise my 520 stays right where it is...

Waiting for Nokia blue. 512 MB of RAM is not wort buying, its not adequate for Windows Phone. L625 almost unusable for surfing. Runs out of memory all the time. Is this a US only kind of thing.

512 ram is to little at this point, It looks nice though, its like a colorful HTC One..

Nice looking phone

One of those would be awesome to have around as a backup.

Good to see theres an affordable choice other than Nokia, the specs though gotta put at least 1 GB of RAM in there. 

Why why why Delilah....512mb of RAM... It sucks...

Direct to consumers is great, but I wonder how it'll work in the US with our fragmented cell technology...

Micromax's windows phone specs are way better and it is ridiculously cheap..

Might as well start the complaints about some apps needing 1 gb now........

Its not the apps, but the system itself seems sluggish with 512, hopefully once the appropriate firmware rolls out, that problem will cease to exist, but till then, were gonna keep complaining

these used to be good deals but phones like the moto g and moto e have been killing it for specs/price.   microsoft needs to be able to compete at that level (maybe go in house with development) and they'd be the company i'd bet on to be able to do it if so inclined.      

Very strange, but that is why Microsoft is at the bottom of the mobile OS barrel, they don't sell their own phones that they spend millions marketing, but they will sell someone else's entry level phones unbranded.

Oh gosh not 512 mb RAM again. *Facepalm Posted via Windows Phone Central App

Uhm..you people should face the fact that WP works well with such specification.

No blue color! (BLU)

this seems to be cool!!!

Awesome

I'll just wait on the lumia McLaren this fall...

Me, I want the Lumia Mercedes or atleast Lumia Redbull or Lumia Ferrari. McLaren isn't good enough for me this season.

Will this work on T-Mobile?

Yes

These phones are meant to compete at the low end. One of my test devices is a BLU Dash 4.5, and its a cheap, but very usable phone. If the WP versions are just as snappy for the price, this could be a good thing for the WP market share. A $100 phone to pair up with BYOD PAYG services makes this ideal for many as an Android alternative.

5" Phone with THIS screen-resolution? Bulls**t...

They sound like crappy phones, I want a new high end phone released

Is it too much to ask for 1GB of RAM?!

Looks like BlackBerry Z10 for me.

512mb of RAM is just to limited. I'm not looking for a cheap WP. I want a top of the line WP that is sold unlocked, with all the radios for all U.S. GSM carriers. Something that compete with the iPhone 6.0

Its a good start anyway so I am not complain. It be more devices outside US, I like the new Xolo phone  that you can buy now: https://www.xolo.in/Win-Q900s   And I think we se Micromax, Prestigo, Allview and some other brands out in shops in august and september. Some of them have "flagship" devices to. I guess Nokia/Microsoft will put up something to compete with iPhone 6 later.

Design is similar to the HTC one...

They need to start selling unlocked phones like the 1520 at all Microsoft stores because Rogers refuse to carry it.  

Doesn't the Lumia 1520.3 (RM-938) work on Rogers? You can buy this phone from Newegg.com

512mb ram!?

5 inch display with 480*800 is bad enough

Just 4 GB of memory they need to have 16-64 GB of memory

We don't know the full specs yet. If they include a SD slot it shouldn't be a problem to update it to 64GB.

two things I would change, update it from 512MB to 1GB and a larger battery. 1500mAh is just not enough to get you through the day. Especially after 6 months when the battery starts to decline you will have to plug it in after a few hours of use.

Why there is so many low end WP smartphones and no highend one?

Microsoft what about Europe?? All the new OEMs just launch smartphones at India or America. I know that in some European markets you guys have already 10%, but with more choices could be even more.

Romanian company Allview will release some WP 8.1 models: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Allview-Launches-Impera-I-and-Impera-S-Windows-Phone-8-1-Handsets-in-Romania-448168.shtml And Prestigio is a European company to: http://www.prestigio.com/news/company_news/Prestigio_Univeils_Their_First_Two_Windows_Phone_Devices_eng  

They look cool, kinda like an HTC

Is it just me or do these look like the HTC One minus the speaker grille at the bottom? Look nice, though.

The BLU Windows Phone looks a lot like an HTC One m8. Posted via Windows Phone Central App

Nice looking devices and great price if they have expansion slots (why does Nokia/MS refuse to do this?) I might be a buyer. I really like that they are going with a smaller form factor I can't stand how large my 928 is, I liked my Focus much better that way. Suprising that they don't have a blue model.

Shame it only has 4 gigs of storage. Otherwise I would have considered it.

mass produce these for target/walmart.  theyre  catch up to apple this way.

Bring this to the Philippines!

The Blu Win HD looks nice, I like how the design looks like the front screen wraps around the sides. But I'm expecting more now. Why only an 8mp camera? And that cam bump on the back!?! Awful. I'm getting really really bored with Windows Phone designs. If Blu really just re-purposed an android model to run wp8.1 why not a better looking one? Check out Blu Vivo IV. Great design, super thin at 5.5mm, 5 inch display, 1.7GHz Octacore processor, 13 mp cam, 5mp front cam. And although I'm less a fan of the Blu Life Pure XL models' backwards Nokia design, it's still impressive with it's snapdragon 800 2.2GHz, 5.5 display, 16mp cam with improved sensor, 32G rom and 3g ram. Why can't these be run with wp8.1? I'm just expecting more from newer windows phone models, thinner, lighter, faster. sexier. Stop giving us more of the same boring rounded fat plastic stuff.