JD.com, one of China’s largest online stores, has sold its complete stock of Nokia X handsets in just 4 minutes. In the run up to the device’s official release it was reported that JD.com had pre-orders for over 1 million devices. The new phone went on sale at 10:00 AM on March 24 (Beijing time) and by 10:04 it was all over.
Impressive as these numbers are, they do need a little explaining. The 1 million pre-orders weren’t exactly pre-orders, they were reservations. Consumers had the chance to sign-up and reserve a handset without actually parting with any money. When the item becomes available those with reservations get priority over other users.
It also isn’t known how many Nokia X handsets JD.com received from Nokia. It is thought that the company initially received 10,000 devices and that this first batch is what has sold out. According to the JD.com website the next shipment is expected on March 31st and that only those with reservations will be able to buy one.
The Nokia X is selling for ¥599.00 which is about 70 Euros or $97. The prices are a little lower than the 89 Euros (that is around $120) which Nokia mentioned at its launch event.
Whatever the actual numbers turn out to be, one thing is for sure the Nokia X looks like it will be a hit in China. Many users in the west dismissed the Nokia X as it doesn’t use any Google services and there is no official access to the Google Play Store, however in countries like China that isn’t an issue. China has dozens of popular third party stores and plenty of alternative online services. This is why the Nokia X will never come to the USA or the UK, it wasn’t designed for those markets. The phone’s target markets are places like China and India and it looks like it will be a resounding success!
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