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Comment by ghshephard | Hacker News Reader

I travel a lot, and in addition to my iPhone w/AT&T International Roaming (Company picks it up - provides a constant phone number for people to call me wherever I am, and has all the smartphone goodness that is useful for a road warrior) - I also carry a Nokia 105 which I pop a local SIM into for all my local calling - Saves about $500-$1000/Month easily on calling charges. It looks like the Nokia 215 is the same price, with the addition of some basic Internet Connectivity as well. Same 30 Day battery life as well. Super happy to see Microsoft is continuing to make the super-low end Nokia phones, though hard to see how this fits their general business model, other than being "Mobile first"

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I am sad that they don't carry on the line of phones like Nokia 1202 anymore. http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_1202-2573.php For once, I liked the sunlight-readable monochrome display that doesn't have to turn off, the snappiness and lack of features. I guess the 105 and now 215 is the new 'lowest end' now.

Yes, i miss monochrome displays. If my Nokia 101 ever breaks, i'll probably order some refurbished device like an 8210.

Gates and Allen's original vision was "A computer on every desk at work and in every home." One of the first things Ballmer said to rankle the punditry after Gates' retirement is that Microsoft had to move beyond that. A computer in every pocket everywhere is part of that. That was how their strategic interests led them to Nokia. This is just the first part of a long play betting on the economic development of places where an iPhone is more than the yearly per capita income of most people.

The goal, in terms of business model, seems pretty obvious - get/keep people to use Microsoft services and don't lose any more of the low end to Android. While Facebook and Opera Mini are built-in, so are Bing Search and MSN Weather. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually add other services also.

If they can sell this type of device at or near cost (which it seems like they are), and increase Bing marketshare at the expense of Android/Google, it's a win for them.

Helping the brand stay a household name in emerging markets maybe?

I'm sorry for such a content-light response but:

I miss my 6310is.

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