Next Gen N-Gage on a budget

October 1st, 2007, 20:31 Posted By: wraggster

One of the criticisms levelled at the Next Gen N-Gage platform by users of the first gen N-Gage is that it seems awfully expensive.

At the end of its lifetime, the N-Gage QD was available new and unlocked for about €100 to €150, whereas the cheapest Next Gen compatible phone is the N73, which still retails for about €300 to €400 new and unlocked. The other Next Gen phones announced so far (N93, N93i, N95, N95 8GB, N81, N81 8GB) are even more expensive, costing up to €700.

However, this isn't quite fair. The original N-Gage launched in 2003 at about €300, the same price as an N73 at the Next Gen N-Gage launch in 2007. The QD launched at about €200 to €250 in 2004. It was only after sustained disappointing sales that the price of the N-Gage and QD were dropped to their lowest levels, but this part of the story seems to have been forgotten by many people.

In contrast, the phones selected for the Next Gen platform have had very good sales. The N73 and N95 are two of the best-selling smartphones ever made, and Nokia's inclusion of the N73 on the platform was no doubt partly because of the huge contribution it would make to the Next Gen N-Gage userbase. Because these phones are selling well, their prices are unlikely to drop very quickly, but (perhaps counter-intuitively) this is a good sign for the Next Gen platform because phones that sell well mean more people buying the games, which means more support from third party publishers.

However, the bottom line is that a lot of people are interested in Next Gen N-Gage who cannot afford to buy a compatible phone to try the platform. What are the options if you're in this position?

http://www.allaboutngage.com/feature...n_a_Budget.php

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