Lumia sales fail to set world alight

Outsold almost 100 times by Galaxy S II

Nokia's Lumia handset is barely shifting at all, according to figures from consumer price-comparison site Mobiles Please, though it still manages to be the best selling Windows Phone.

Mobiles Please bases the stats on more than 5,000 sales across its family of sites during November, and finds that the Nokia Lumia 800 made up only 0.17 per cent of devices shipped. Given Samsung Galaxy SII turned in 16.13 per cent, and the (white) iPhone 4 10.24 percent, that bodes badly for Nokia – which is betting its future on the Lumia and its Windows Phone platform.

It might seem very positive for Samsung, but the black iPhone 4S contributes another 5.5 per cent to Apple shipments, and once the white 4S is included along with the 3GS, then iPhones made up 20.78 of the devices sold, so Samsung might have the best-selling smartphone, but in these figures it has only one compared to Apple's four.

The only other Android device to make the ratings is the HTC Sensation, which clocked in 2.16 per cent, with the rest of the top nine are from RIM.

Mobiles Please accepts that it sells mainly to consumers – it even has a special "girls" section populated by pink handsets – so the Lumia might be selling well into the enterprise. The site used to offer deals bundling everything from widescreen TVs to an X-Box Kinect with a phone contract, a modern version of the never-never.

It does seem to be taking itself a little more seriously these days, but is still focused on people prepared to browse around online to find the cheapest deal on phone contracts. The Lumia was also launched during November, so the competition has a week or two's lead, which should be taken into account.

But even allowing for all that the figures are disappointing – and Nokia will be hoping this demographic's consumption isn't representative of how the phone is being received in other sectors. ®