As Windows Phone products from Nokia are now widely available in Kenya, WinPhansEA decided to investigate who offers the best deal for consumers for each of the three 2nd Generation Lumia devices: Lumia 920, Lumia 820, and Lumia 620. All of these 3 devices run Windows Phone 8.
These devices are offered by the four major retailers in Kenya: Safaricom, Airtel Kenya, MidCom East Africa and FoneExpress. Due to an exclusive partnership with Safaricom, the Nokia flagship device, the Lumia 920, is only available on Kenya’s largest carrier until June, 2013.
In summary, the best deal will depend on whether you want a device from a carrier and thus reap the bundled data and airtime credit or the ability to choose color (MidCom).
WinPhansEA also found that MidCom outlet on Kenyatta Avenue (around the corner from the New Stanley Hotel) offers the best buying experience out of all the vendors in Kenya. They have a Lumia 820 (running Windows Phone 8) and Lumia 510 (running Windows Phone 7) on display stands, allowing you to try out the devices.
Safaricom
- Safaricom is the only vendor that is offering wireless charging accessories (a wireless charging plate for the first 500 customers who buy the Lumia 920 and the optional wireless charging shell on the Lumia 820). The Lumia 620 “Bonga” points deal is proving very popular and thus has low stocks. If this the deal for you, be prepared to wait for stocks to be replenished.
- Be sure to ask the Safaricom sales team for their Data and Airtime credit bundles. I have found that some of the Safaricom sales associates are not aware of this offer.
- Safaricom does not offer any online sales of the Lumia devices at the moment.
Airtel Kenya
- Airtel offers the Lumia 820 and Lumia 620 at great prices if you include the bundled data and airtime deals Be sure to ask specifically for these deals, as I have found out that the not all sales associates at the Airtel outlets are not aware it exists.
- No online sales are offered at the moment.
Airtel Lumia 620
MidCom East Africa
- MidCom East Africa is the only vendor that currently offers devices in different colors (the three other vendors have the Henry Ford color options i.e. “You can get any color you want, as long as it is black”. NOTE: The advantage that MidCom has, should evaporate by the end of this month as Nokia’s supply chain improves to get more stock in different colors to the other vendors.
- MidCom is currently the only vendor that offers online Lumia sales on their Online Sales Website. You can pay with MPesa, Airtel Money without incurring a transaction cost. MidCom will also ship the device for free within 72 hours within Kenya.
FoneXpress and Other Independent Vendors
- As the chart shows, FoneXpress and other independent vendors offer the Lumia devices at higher prices than their competition, without offering anything else. For example: ZeTort Communications (Nairobi Hilton arcade) offers the Lumia 820 at 45,000 KES and the Lumia 620 for 25,000 KES.
This post is reblogged from the WinPhansEA blog.
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