Designers' Open 2008
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CERAMICS AND SOUND EXHIBITION
100 PERCENT DESIGN SHANGHAI
HAMBURG HARLEY DAYS 2008
BERLIN DESIGN FESTIVAL 2008
NEW YORK DESIGN WEEK 2008
MAKER FAIRE 2008
We have to disagree with PC World's recent article, "Why Nokia's 'Tube' Is the iPhone's Biggest Threat," purporting that Nokia's 5800 will provide close competition to the iPhone. And our stance does not come from some blind reverence for Apple; we're talking about a basic understanding product designers should all have--the importance of emotion when it comes to people, objects, and purchasing decisions.
The article points out that the $390 price tag of the Nokia is okay because it's simfree. They also say the phone
...will feature the Nokia's Comes with Music bundle, which will allow users to freely download an unlimited number of songs from Nokia's Music Store over a year after the initial purchase....Nokia's 5800 Express Music also features a 3.2-megapixel camera, with autofocus Carl Zeiss optics and a dual LED flash. All these blow iPhone's 2006 style 2-megapixel-no flash camera out of the water. Also, Tube records videos at VGA quality (640X480px) and has a frontal camera for video calls, something that the iPhone can't do at all. In this category, it's clear who's the winner.
Really, it's not. No one buys the iPhone for the camera. And are there a lot of bands people like on the Nokia Music Store?
The Apple hype did help Apple to sell millions of iPhones, but Nokia sells over 500 million devices every year, out of which almost 100 million are smartphones. If we take in consideration brand loyalty and the other advantages Tube has over iPhone, we're about to see a very tight competition between the two.
We disagree. People like the iPhone because it's easy to use, simple, and for better or worse, it's considered "cool." People ditched brand loyalty to get their hands on the iPhone, and the insane store lines proved it. The Nokia may have better features, but when it sees wide release and the two phones really go head-to-head in the marketplace, I think we'll all have an opportunity to learn something about product design.
Two more things: 1) Let's pick this conversation up again in a few months, when sales figures start coming out, and 2) right now, what do you guys think?
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Comments
Depends on the market, hipstomp. I know what you're saying and the iPhone is in the hands of virtually every designer i met on both coasts, however, its not been doing as well in the larger markets abroad such as India and China. The latest news has it that China Mobile might only provide iPhones without 3G or wifi, wtf?
So in terms of sheer numbers, Nokia might just have what it takes to pull it off in these markets where it holds a hefty market share already, somewhere in the 70% range. iPhone sales in India in its first week of release were around 5000 units. Need I mention what minuscule percentage of the population that is? Even when taking only high income smartphone buyers into account?
are you serious
Comes With Music is the usual DRM-infested rubbish. Labels have pushed the DRM-infested subscription idea and consumers have consistently rejected it for ten years now - it's not clear how wishful thinking will make it work this time around.
My blog rant: http://tinyurl.com/4m2tjt
And no-one buys the iPhone for its features. They buy it as the most usable phone ever. Even with DRM from Hell and a hideous price.
What do I think? I think that it won't sell because it doesn't have apple's simple, intuitive OS on it. But do they have a point about Apple's craptastic camera? YES. I wanted an iPhone, but I don't have one yet. Why? The camera is AWFUL. What is the point of a camera on a phone with such low quality lense, such low resolution? Apple used to be all about simplicity, and leaving features out unless they could do it RIGHT. This is why the iPod, which lacked voice recording and FM reception, dominated over players that did have them. It was SIMPLE, and well executed. The current iPhone is generally pretty awesome, but the camera is a huge, HUGE let down. If it can't replace a 3MP point and shoot, why put it on there?!
Why bother with an iPhone, it'll just break anyway, just like all other mac products. I'd rather see it in a Blender.
The iPhone is such a big success because it was such an innovative product. It not only had the accelerometer and kick-ass big display, but it is also so easy and fun to use. All other phones (including this new nokia) are simply rip offs of the iPhone. But they still aren't as easy and fun to use. Nokia does have the brand identity with them, and lots of people don't want an iPhone, because it is still to new for them, they don't understand it. And then you have the people who bitch about the specs. Well, good for them that this new Nokia comes out. Meanwhile: I love my iPhone!
yepp.. nokia tube is going to be a big hit in india.. there were a huge percent of the population awaiting the iphones release in india though, the hype was already there.. but wen they declared the price of 800$ ... the phone was no longer hip!
so the iphone fever might go well for the tube.. since ppl are already gung ho abt touch screen phones.. no onder the peepz at nokia thanked the apply guys!
cheers!
Iphone's cost too much to own. Sure they're $200 out the door but they cost a minimum of $1000 a year to use. Thats not worth it. It's not that cool. I'll stick to my cheap handout phone and paper notepad that I can really draw on.
Well, Nokia did a pretty good job on the hardware and features, like it usually does. The problem is, Symbian sucks. I remember a Nokia I had in 2002 same software, just with antialiased fonts.
Well, many people like me don't have iPhones simply because we care about specs and not about buying something just because it's supposed to be "cool". Please... don't be such blind sheep people!
I don't have the iPhone because it's way too expensive it you look at what it actually has. This Nokia looks like it has a more reasonable price and better specs than the iPhone so I will go and check it out once it hits the stores.
There is one very simple reason for the nokia's phone to not to be a threat to iPhone:
No one wants to have the SECOND one...
Tube is the second one... Is the clone...
iPhone is the REAL thing...
People worry more about the status of their product, than about its technical features
I spent my last 2 years working as a brand ambassador for nokia and in the last 6 months, all i seem to do is compare how nokia handsets compare to the iphone.
At no point do i degrade the iphone, i think its great for other reasons. I think nokia and the iphone pitch their phones at different markets. Nokia has always been feature focused and the iphone like all mac products looks great from a design perspective.
And if we are talking about clones, the LG viewty and the prada phone had touchscreens even earlier, some may say the iphone copied that.
And sure, lines were packed on the release of the iphone, why? because it was that cool, marketing from apple is that good, and everyone wanted to be an early adopter. But what happens when all the 'cool' people get the iphone, they will soon realize everyone has the same phone and again, it is time for change.
I think the tube is just the next step in handsets, perhaps the next trend. Chances are, a few months after that comes out, apple will come out with a newer and better handset.
Technology goes in a cycle and everything that comes out will aim to beat its predecessor.