AT&T sets itself up for failure: Says Lumia 900 launch will be a notch above iPhone

9to5 Staff | Mar 28 2012 - 9:28 am PT

We are sure the Lumia 900 launch will be great for AT&T, but the carrier might be setting expectations a little high:

“At all levels, this is a notch above anything we’ve ever done,” AT&T device head Jeff Bradley said in an interview with CNET, noting that includes the launch of the iPhone.

Sure, Microsoft and AT&T will be throwing a lot of cash at this launch, and pricing their “Hero” device at $100 with plan certainly is aggressive, but does anyone really this launch will overshadow the 1 million-unit weekend of the iPhone 4S launch that AT&T itself said:

AT&T today announced it activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S’ as of Tuesday, making it the most successful iPhone launch in the company’s history. AT&T was the first carrier in the world to launch iPhone in 2007 and is the only U.S. carrier to support iPhone 4S with 4G speeds. “It’s no surprise that customers are clamoring for iPhone 4S and they want it to run on a network that lets them download twice as fast as competitors’,” said Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. AT&T’s speed advantage, and the unique ability to talk and surf at the same time, has been roundly praised by industry pundits.

If you are looking for advantages in the Lumia 900 over the iPhone, it has a bigger display and LTE—but so does just about every Android phone released in the past six months. On the down side, it has an AMOLED 480-by-800-pixel screen that was popular when the HTC EVO came out two years ago.

CNET added:

“Before you walk in to the store, you know this is our hero phone,” Bradley said, referring to the Lumia 900’s flagship status.

The campaign is expected to last about six to eight weeks, according to people familiar with the situation.