Ridiculously Pricey Lumia 800 Bundle Available Now In MS Retail Stores

We’ve talked about the Lumia line quite a bit in the past few months, but the series is finally starting to feel real. Just last week the 900 was made available for pre-order, and today we’re seeing reports that the staggeringly high-priced Lumia 800 bundle is just hanging out on Microsoft store shelves waiting for some new Windows Phone fans to stroll in.

Along with the phone itself, which is compatible with AT&T’s network, you’ll get a Nokia Play 360 Bluetooth speaker, Nokia Purity HD headphones and a Luna Bluetooth headset. Unfortunately, that means you’ll be paying $899 for a phone that should probably cost you around $150-$200 (with carrier subsidies) and getting a whole bunch of stuff that’s nice and all but that you never really wanted to begin with.

Ah, the joys of marketing.

And as if the price point wasn’t difficult enough, the phone (which is unlocked, by the way) can only be bought in stores, according to WPCentral. Oh, and not just any store — in Microsoft stores.

There are only 16 of them in the country, according to this store listings page, and six of those happen to be in California.

I’m going to try to keep this brief, but I feel I have to comment.

Nokia and Microsoft have a problem. Nokia fell from its throne last year, and needs more than just a pick-me-up to reclaim the title. Windows Phone has been a joke for most of its existence. Both companies, however, have enough resources to take a small hit in profits for the sake of building up customers.

So why? Why make it so damn difficult to buy what happens to be a really, really great phone?