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!