AT&T retires Nokia’s E62

In the primordial days of the affordable, multimedia/enterprise slab-say, a year ago-the Nokia Corp. E62 swiftly joined the fray initiated by the Motorola Inc. Q. They were soon joined by the RIM Pearl, along with a host of others. The space is getting more crowded by the minute.
Thus it would make sense to refresh one’s affordable slab. The Nokia E62 has been offered at AT&T Mobility for nine months now, according to AT&T’s John Kampfe, director of media and analyst relations, and it is set for retirement. The device has already disappeared from the operator’s Web site, although refurbished models may remain.
The real question is whether the E62’s SKU (stock-keeping unit) at AT&T will be replaced by Nokia. Nokia is making a concerted effort to increase its presence at all four U.S. top-tier carriers, most notably at AT&T. A loss of an SKU there would be a blow to Nokia’s plans. Conversely, keeping the SKU in Finnish hands would help cement Nokia’s position at the carrier.
AT&T’s Kampfe said that the carrier typically provides no information on upcoming handsets and their vendors until an official launch. Nokia had no comment.
“We will be offering several new and compelling devices in the coming months that will succeed the E62 in our B2B device portfolio,” Kampfe said in an e-mail. “We don’t pre-announce specific devices/manufacturers we will be offering prior to publicly launching them.”