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Smartphone shoppers in India are the first ones able to purchase the new Nokia X handset.
Offered as of Monday at a price of 8,599 rupees ($141), the new Android-based smartphone targets the midrange market, according to the Economic Times. That range typically sees phones sell for between 7,000 and 15,000 rupees, and encompasses the best-selling mobile phones in India.
“Our primary strategy on smartphones is Lumia and the Nokia X will be a feeder platform into the Lumia,” Nokia India managing director P. Balaji told the Economic Times. “We see the opportunity for Nokia X in the affordable smartphone category where most consumers want the apps from Android.”
Though outfitted with Android, the Nokia X does not come with any of the usual Google apps, such as the Google Play store, Google Search, or Google Maps. Instead, the phone sports the Nokia Store where users can download Bing, Here Maps, and other sofware as well as access third-party app stores.
The Nokia X+ and XL editions are expected to reach India within the next two months, according to ET. Those two models top the Nokia X with more features and as such will be more expensive. But they’ll still ring in at under 12,000 rupees, keeping them in the midrange, affordable smartphone category.
