The Nokia Lumia 1020 phone, released four months ago, is not selling. Most people have not seen the rare smartphone, and experts praise the phone’s technology but dismiss its sales as modest at best. Its sales fall behind the phone’s predecessors, such as the Nokia Lumia 920. The 41 megapixel phone has been described by many as bold, reckless, but one-of-a-kind. According to BGR, a website about mobile technology, the phone dropped from the 13^th most popular smartphone sold on AT&T by Amazon to the 25^th recently.  Compared to all contract phones on Amazon it doesn’t even place in the top 50.  AT&T smartphones on Amazon account for 10% of all smartphone sales in the US.

The phone is on par with other smartphones on the market. 41 megapixels can only be described as an astounding camera – and skeptics may brand this phone simply as a camera.  Compared to the new iPhone 5S, which has only an 8 megapixel camera, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is simply in a different category.  In other areas, the phones compare relatively the same. The Lumia 1020 runs on a 1.5 dual core GHz processor, which the iPhone runs on a slightly inferior 1.3 dual core GHz processor.  This means that the Lumia 1020 is faster. The Lumia 1020 has a display of 4’ 5 inches, while the iPhone 5S has a display of 4 inches. Battery life is another story. The Lumia 1020 has 606 hours of standby time compared to 250 hours to the iPhone. The Lumia 1020 has 13.3 hours of 3G talk time compared to 10 hours on the iPhone. The Lumia 1020 also has a 63 hour music playback time, and 6.8 hour video time. The iPhone only has 40 hours of playback but 10 hours of video. The phones specifications and performance are relatively similar, with the Lumia 1020, perhaps, being slightly superior.

“If you absolutely need the best camera on a smartphone and don’t mind Windows Phone 8 and spending a good chunk of money upfront, the Lumia 1020 is worth looking at, but I don’t expect it to be very popular.”  G van Veldhoven from Gadgetmania offers.

Why is this phone not selling? The first and most obvious reason is the price. Consumers complain that on a 2 year contract, they must pay $300. Arguably, the new iPhone 5S is similar in price, but also has already established its dominance in the smartphone market. The other reason is the unfamiliar windows 8 platform the on which the phone runs. The Windows 8 app store recently hit 50,000 apps in March, and impressive number in its short time of launch. However, compared to the Apple app store, which hit 900,000 apps in June, these are miniscule in comparison to consumers.

“The Lumia 1020 is a big step forward for camera phones, but the step isn’t complete. Nokia’s sensor and lens advances must be paired with a CPU and image processor fast enough to make shooting effortless, and Windows Phone’s creative app gaps need to be filled in,” remarks Jim Fisher and Sascha Segan from PC Magazine.

On another note, there is also an apparent issue of stalking. The phone’s camera prowess can promote stalking. A owner with less than noble intentions can be involved in predacious activity. In theory, the resolution on this camera-phone is so unparalleled one can zoom into any figure into the background and still produce a high quality picture.

In any case, some believe this is a step into more advanced technology in phones. The phone is looking towards a brighter future; it was recently featured in Katy Perry’s music video, ‘Roar’. AT&T also recently promoted the phone by putting it on sale, and it can now be purchased for only $74.99 on a 2-year contract.

“I think it’s fair to say that once again Nokia has basically set the bar for the rest of the smartphone imaging world – in terms of both hardware and software features.”said Brian Klug from Anandtech.