Neither Nokia nor AT&T have yet given much guidance on how the vaunted Lumia 900 has been performing at retail in its first few days of availability, but a Wall Street Journal piece on Espoo's disappointing earnings guidance yesterday gives a bit of a clue. Paul Roth — president of AT&T's retail sales and service operation — noted to the paper that sales have "exceeded" expectations and that some stores have sold out of units, particularly the cyan model, something we observed ourselves. Roth went on to call Nokia's effort around the 900 "pretty bold," no surprise considering the importance Nokia has been placing in establishing a new foothold in an American market that it largely abandoned over the last several years.
Of course, "exceeding expectations" could mean just about anything — we don't know what AT&T's original projections were, or if they matched up with Nokia's — but it's a sliver of hope for a company that desperately needs a big hit.