New devices are vital for mobile technology. The operating system is part of the mobile device – but only part. The demands of new technology and new mobile devices must be accompanied with due diligence, sex-appeal and innovation.
A few years ago, Nokia was it. It was the techno-gadget brandished by all. It was superior in design, quality and all over geek etiquette. The N95 was a revolution and everyone, their dog and their blog pushed it as a market leader.
Two years on, with innovation from Apple and Android, Nokia’s boat seems to be sinking. We see queues for the iPhone, Android phones and even the Orange Watch Phone. But where are these queues for the all mighty Nokia?
Quite frankly, Nokia’s own social media strategy is to blame. The core tech gadget guys usually get the phones sent from the company to test at an early stage. Hence key mind changers and authoritarians are forced to remain cool and not over-hype the new devices for fear of being accused of not being “independent”.
What happens then is that the technorati merely swap notes and ideas on Nokia without radical response or passionate love for the mobile device. Years of ensuring that a Nokia device is in the hand of the most prolific blogger are taking its toll…
In fact, it’s taking its toll to the extent that no one is passionate about Nokia devices anymore. They are there, you might buy one. You will probably get one for free if you ask nicely – so desire, will and passion all dissipate.
Nokia has tried to be the Borg with its social media concept and this is the root of its un-doing.
On top of that, it has gotten a bit too posh. I am not sure if it was the Vertu concept that started it but looking at the webpage for the Maemo N900 – it looks like a badly designed porn site. The black doesn’t work. The phone is still a brick, and you’ve actually already been there and done that. You want something fresh, freaky and ultimately geeky.
This is where the comparison to the Orange Watch Phone the Android and iPhone come in. Geeks use them. No. Geeks desire them because they are not flash.
Nokia (now) is like the flash chav type of handset design that knows it is leading the market, and has let the “lead” go straight to its head. This is proven by the toothless amount of “me too” devices penetrating the market (Booklet, N900 etc.)
Its efforts are all cause and effect and it has lost its core – ultra-simple technology. It has lost its backbone of simple phone design and the side effects are a wishy washy strategy. There is confusion as to whether Nokia is a manufacturer, an Internet player or a mobile phone… or if it even knows what it wants to be.
Last night in a beer garden in the heard of Darmstadt, I posed a question to several gadget guys over a beer. The question was “would you buy a Nokia?” Out of the 20 guys there, all of them bar one had an iPhone. But the response was, “no, not anymore”. When pushed on why that was, no one really knew. There was no resentment against Nokia, many had had one for several years – it was more of a “don’t want one” shrug shoulders kind of thing.
That for me was the icing on the cake. The passion for Nokia is being replaced because of the companies own control of the market. Typically Northern Europeans hate bad press – but this is killing its own growth. Designers need to hear that “slick” is out and “geeky” is in. Developers need to know that Android is the talk. That iPhone Apps are outselling. And that Linux… well Linux and Symbian are like yesterdays zeitgeist.
I believe that you got it wrong this time bud, but only time will tell…..the N900 and its successors (N920 already on drawing board) will put Nokia back at the helm.
Short answer: No, what a bunch of boohockey.
Long answer: as the iPhone user manual states it should not be used above a temperature of 35 degrees celsius.
This has now resulted in multiple reports of exploding iPhones coming out of southern europe as they seem to get too hot. Better warn your friends about that one.
for allthe hype that suurounds iPhone andAndroid,they have yet to prove themselves on the global market.
Honestly: if the whole world had an iPhone, how many of your friendswould still want one?
Fact of the matter is, Nokia is leading the market by several miles and there is a lot of envy about that, envy that shines through this author’s post.
I’ve never hadany other mobile phone than a Nokia and I cant wait to get my hand on the N900, its sweet as pie asfar as i’m concerned.
I think you misunderstand – my point is about the genuine hype surrounding the iphone and android and the lack of it surrounding nokia.
Do you really think that going down the road it will matter who the maker of the phone is? Eventually the hardware and the OS and even the software will be commodities. You can make your Nokia look and act like your iPhone. The killer will be the content and the services available. That is where the action will be.