Microsoft Lumia 530 Aims To Grab The Low-End Smartphone Market Amid Nokia Job Cuts

In the wake of 18,000 job cuts, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) unveiled the Lumia 530 Windows Phone, the company’s answer to the low-end smartphone marketplace.

The successor to the Lumia 520 Windows Phone was unveiled on Wednesday by the Redmond, Washington tech giant less than a week after it announced massive restructuring throughout all of its divisions. Running Windows 8.1, the Lumia 530 is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon processor and sports a 4-inch LCD display, 4GB internal storage, expandable storage up to 128GB through MicroSD, 15GB of free Skydrive cloud storage and a 5MP camera.

Also included is the WordFlow swipe keyboard and Cortana, Microsoft’s voice recognition app and assistant, which is comparable to Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Siri and Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Now.

While the Lumia 530 sports a faster processor, don’t expect be browsing the mobile web at lightning speed. The Lumia 530 only supports 3G speeds, but makes up for the shortcoming with 10 hours of talk time using a 3G signal.

The Lumia 530 will also be available in single and dual-SIM versions so you can use the Lumia 530 as if it were two phones.

According to Microsoft, the single SIM and dual-SIM Lumia 530 will retail for €85 (approximately $115) before taxes and subsides.

“We are moving quickly to help more people experience the uncompromised Lumia technologies, third party apps, and Microsoft services that we deliver on our flagship products, “Jo Harlow, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Devices Group said. “Lumia 530 underscores our commitment to making affordable smartphones for everyone, and introducing more people to the best of Microsoft.”

The Lumia 530 is the latest phone launched from Microsoft after it announced its plans on July 17 to scale back its line of Nokia Android-based smartphones in favor of its own Windows Phone 8.1 operating system.

Microsoft plans to launch the Lumia 530 in “select markets” next month.