SRK has the E90, but who else has?

Using celebrities to endorse a product does not always work. Even if the celebrity does manage to boost demand for the product. Nokia is discovering that to its cost these days.

The company signed on Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador and recently launched its first ad campaign featuring him on TV channels. The ad seems to have worked, according to many dealers, as consumers have been asking for the Nokia E90 in particular, which Shah Rukh is shown holding at the end of the ad.

The problem: getting an E90 is next to impossible at this time.

I visited a Nokia exclusive showroom as well as one of Delhi’s leading cellphone dealers and in both places, the result was the same – I could not get the E90. If I placed an order, I might get one in about a week. That is hardly an ideal scenario for such a high-profile product. Needless to say, not too many consumers are happy with this situation.

The lesson for Nokia: promote a product only if it is in stock. Why encourage consumers to buy something that is not available over the counter?

A touch of Navigation, Nokia style!

Think of an event to launch a phone and it’s a fair chance that the picture that will come to mind will be that of long and boring presentations and perhaps totally unrelated song and dance performances. Well, Nokia managed to surprise us pleasantly at the launch of its 6110 Navigator handset.

The company kept the yakking to a minimum and instead asked journalists to go on a treasure hunt of sorts, using the GPS-enabled handset to find their way. The journalists were divided into teams and each one had to go to different locations using clues being handed out and find one’s way using the 6110’s GPS navigation feature. The team that solved all its clues first won! No, it wasn’t us, but heck, it was still a lot fun and allowed us to experience the GPS feature of the handset for a solid hour – and that also meant seeing its weaknesses. There were no sales pitches telling us how great the device was without actually letting us use it. There was a small presentation when we had all got back (a few of us grumbling about having been let down by the phone) and a Q&A session, but nothing that seemed like a sales push! This was a product experience conference if there ever was one. We came out with not just news of the launch of the 6110 but also a fair idea of how it worked (and did not work as well).

We have often been harsh on Nokia but this is one time we need to tip our hats to them. Nice touch, fellas. Encore!

Nokia Internet Radio - for FOUR phones!

Earlier this month, Nokia created a buzz when it released its Internet Radio software that, as its name implies, allowed users to access Internet radio stations on their handsets. While similar software has been around for a while, this was the first time a major cellphone manufacturer had come up with software for Internet Radio. Naturally, our hopes soared when we heard of it. After all, it was from Nokia, the company that sold more handsets than anybody else. So logically, it would work on a lot of handsets!

Were we wrong!

You see, Nokia’s version of Internet Radio runs only on a sum total of FOUR devices – the N95, the N95 8GB, the N91 (is it still around) and the N82. Even the mighty Communicator cannot run it! Yes, you can install the application on more than a dozen devices and access some functions such as Nokia Music Store and podcasting , but you will not be able to use the Nokia Internet Radio function unless you have one of the four devices mentioned earlier! If you do not believe us, check http://europe.nokia.com/A4668051

Now, as all the three devices (we are not counting the N91 as it is almost out of the market in India) that support Nokia Internet Radio are rather expensive ones, we are tempted to accuse Nokia of being elitist and neglecting the masses that made it the market leader in the cellphone business. Prove us wrong, Nokia. Please! Meanwhile, if you want to try out Internet radio on your cell, you can try out Virtual Radio from http://www.vradio.org/index.php?js=a. It runs on most Symbian Series 60 (3^rd edition) and Symbian UIQ 3 phones – which is a lot more than Nokia’s product!

Company Stores - Cheating Customers!

My last post was about purchasing a phone from company owned store rather than a local retailer but my own recent experience was a shock to me. While reporting news for My Mobile magazine (where I work as a reporter), I came to know that a much hyped phone had made a silent debut in the market.

While enquiring about a GPS-enabler at Nokia Priority Store, South Extension, I learned that the Nokia N 82 was available at the store. When I enquired about price, the sales person disclosed that it is priced at Rs 28,000. It was news but I thought of checking the availability of this phone at other retail shops in the city just to be sure. A bit of research disclosed that this phone was not only available at Nokia exclusive stores but was with local retailers as well.

Bingo! Here was my news but there was something else too. There has always been a difference in the market-operating price at a company owned store and local retailers. So I was not surprised to see this handset at Beechams, Connaught Place for Rs 25,500. But when I stepped into another Nokia Centre in Connaught Place, I was stunned. Here the same device was available for Rs 26,500! This means that there was a price difference at the company owned exclusive stores as well.

And this is not the case only with Nokia stores. A similar thing happened at Reliance Web World. Samsung Max, is priced at Rs 9,000 at Reliance Web World, Nehru Place but when I enquired about the price of the device at the Connaught Place outlet, the price tag was announced to be Rs 7,500 (even though phone was not available at any of the two).

What else can I say? Next time you plan to buy a phone, just check the price of the device at various stores. You actually might land up paying a few grand extra at a particular store.

Buying a phone – the ‘where’ factor!

Buying a cellphone is not an easy task. One first has to choose a phone model and then to decide from where to buy it. Until date, I have purchased four cellphones and every time my only concern was where to pick the device from. Shall I go in a company owned exclusive store, who charge a bit more or pick a reasonably-priced phone available at other local retailers. There was not a huge difference between two but at the time of purchase even Rs 1,000 would make a huge difference.
My friends, Nimish and Charu, faced a similar problem recently. Both decided to go in for the same handset, the Nokia E61i. After doing a bit of market research, Charu decided to purchase the phone from a local distributor, who was charging Rs 1,000 less than what the device was priced at a Nokia Priority center. But Nimish was not so sure. He went to the Priority center and picked up his device.
Initially, both these devices were working fine but the battery of Rashi’s device used to get discharged by the end of the day, even though she used it mostly for calls and text messaging. But Nimish’s battery ended up lasting longer, even though he used his phone as a communication device – from surfing the Net to checking e-mail, he used to do everything over his E61i. And even after heavy usage, the battery used to last for a day and a half.
This is not just one instance. A similar incident happened a few months ago when two friends invested in the N 70 and the results were same. I don’t know what the moral of the story is, but I know one thing: I am going to buy my next phone from a company showroom. Never mind the extra Rs 1,000!

LG, RPG – whose Prada is it?

Guess what I saw in the Pacific Mall near the Delhi-UP border yesterday? Well, the PG Prada! Yes, the phone that was supposed to compete with the iPhone is finally in India. The problem is: LG does not seem to agree. The distributors of the phone, RPG Cellucom, however assured us that the phone was being sold perfectly legally.

Sources in LG, however, seemed none too pleased about this and there have even been murmurings that the Prada being sold in the RPG Cellucom stores is in fact from “the grey market.” But that claim seems to have been undermined by RPG Cellucom’s assurance that the phone would be backed by a one-year guarantee from LG. Another reason for the differences between the two parties could be the pricing of the phone. It carries a price tag of approximately Rs. 19,500, which many feel is significantly below what LG would have liked to charge for it.

Whatever the case, cell lovers in India have reason to celebrate. Not only is the Prada here, but it has come a price that does not seem to be over the top! My own impression was that it looked sleek, although I could get no idea of how it worked as the store owner would not allow us to switch it on. Incidentally, it was kept in a plain brown box with no significant LG markings on it, looking like anything but a designer phone.

Interesting, eh?