There’s been a recent surge in news regarding launch plans for the Nokia Lumia 900 on AT&T in the US; last night, we talked about new support for the rumored April 9 retail launch date, and earlier today we saw a new coming soon page for the handset go live on AT&T’s site. The latest chapter in the 900′s saga arrives as the claim that Nokia is paying AT&T to feature the Lumia 900 as a “Company Use” phone to which its retail employees can get free access.

The CU phone program is designed to encourage employee familiarity with the models, so AT&T lets its retail workers get the phones for free, rather than just with the discount they’d normally have. Getting the Lumia 900 out into the hands of so many AT&T employees with this program is reportedly costing Nokia somewhere around $25 million. Considering that one of the recurring complaints we hear about Windows Phone sales is how little retail employees know about the platform, and how they often lack the enthusiasm to effectively promote it, we think this could be a wise investment on Nokia’s part.

Supposedly, AT&T is planning to finish-up training its employees on the Lumia 900 by April 7, just before the phone’s rumored launch date.

Source: WPCentral

Via: WMPoweruser