Indian Windows Phone fans have been waiting for some months for the Lumia 650, with the handset going on sale in the region just a week ago.

The smartphone is an extremely attractive device, being held back mainly by having a low-end processor with the Snapdragon 212. Many Indian users assumed the device would be priced accordingly, at around the 12,000 INR ($180) mark.

It was therefore a surprise to see the handset debut at the much higher 16,599 INR ($250) price, especially given the highly competitive smartphone market in India, where well specced Android handsets are being sold at extremely low prices, and also because the Lumia 650 is in some ways less capable than the very cheap Lumia 640 it replaces.

The result has been a deluge of negative reviews for the handset, with it currently only having 1.5 stars on Amazon India. In contrast the Lumia 640 XL at 14,999 INR has 4 stars out of 5, as it is felt presumably to represent better value for money, and of course comes without the bugs currently inherent in Windows 10 on mobile.

Prices will of course drop over the next few weeks as has been the usual pattern, but it seems Microsoft will never learn the lesson that has been so successful for Chinese upstarts such as OnePlus and others – that it is better to surprise buyers by offering more value for money than they expect than to overcharge them just to make an initial profit followed by enduring resentment and a bad reputation.

Do our readers agree? Let us know below.