Nokia’s Software Stumbles, But Payouts Coming

Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) Lumia 900 barely hit shelves this weekend, but the company has already discovered a software bug in the smartphone, but Nokia plans on giving the model away until it is fixed. The software malfunction has weakened Nokia’s comeback, and the company’s attempt to turn around its fortunes in the United States.

The software bug will cause the new 4G phone to lose its data connection, which is a memory management issue related to phone software. The blunder is not related to the hardware, network, or Windows operating system. Nokia has said that a software update will fix the problem and would be available around April 16. Nokia will also be offering anyone who purchased a Lumia 900 phone by or before April 21 a $100 credit to their AT&T (NYSE:T) bill . Currently AT&T sells the phone exclusively for $99.99 with a two-year contract.

Nokia lost to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and G00gle (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the smartphone market last year due to its weak performance in the United States. Despite being the world’s biggest volume maker of cellphones, Nokia smartphones have slipped to less than a 1 percent market share. The Lumia 900 running on Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone software was anticipated to be key to Nokia’s comeback in the United States. It is a shame that Nokia is off to a bad start.