

Nokia appeases angry mob, gains life-long loyalists - kemper
http://www.bgr.com/2012/04/11/nokia-appeases-angry-mob-gains-life-long-loyalists/

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taylodl
Are you telling me you can be bought for life for $100? Please. Aside from
that this is a good move on Nokia's part. They know they're the underdogs in
the market and this is what you have to do as an underdog to have a shot at
being a top dog someday.

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SandersAK
I remember when Nokia released the N770 Internet Tablet. I was so excited for
that is the beginning of some magical unified internet future that would be
extremely mobile and extremely powerful.

And it's clear that some in Nokia saw where the convergence was heading. But
as the N770 became the N800, you could tell that there were power rifts and
in-house fighting about whether or not they should just push the concept into
the phone.

Ultimately, as many people have noted, a mixture of arrogance, caution, and
faith in Symbian kept a great Nokia internet phone from really happening.

Then the iPhone came out, and that was that.

I distinctly remember the Maemo forums where people were defending the N800
and how it was so much better. There was a particular thread where people
brought up all the bits and bobs that Maemo did that iOS could not. It
reminded me of my friends who were trying to convince me that MiniDisks were
better than MP3s.

And that's when I sold my tablet.

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aChrisSmith
This looks essentially like Economic dumping. Nokia is _giving_ phones away in
order to game market share, and using this "PR coup" as cover. It's a good
strategy, but I certainly do not thing this is corporate benevolence.

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mindstab
Or Nokia doesn't have many more shots at getting back into the smart phone
market and their newest foray was beset by technical difficulties that could
bury it so they are dumping money on it until that problem goes away to just
have a chance to stand in the market and see how they do (assuming no more
technical difficulties arise)

They don't have a lot of choices. If this launch goes south, the whole company
is in deep trouble. Pouring even a lot of money on it now is smarter than
(further) risking the whole company.

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SlipperySlope
The company is _already_ in deep trouble. Former Microsoft employee - now
Nokia president Eltop gave up Symbian, fired a lot of developers, and is
losing market share worldwide.

Note that while Nokia is targeting first-time smpartphone buyers, since the
launch many AT&T sales reps have been suggesting that those customers buy the
iPhone as their first smart phone.

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fidotron
Indeed, they've just posted this: [http://press.nokia.com/2012/04/11/nokia-
lowers-devices-servi...](http://press.nokia.com/2012/04/11/nokia-lowers-
devices-services-first-quarter-2012-outlook-and-provides-second-
quarter-2012-outlook/)

Shares are badly hit.

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ge0rg
This looks like yet another desperate attempt to push WinPhone into the market
at any cost.

Fortunately, Microsoft is there in the back to make it possible. However, it
makes one wonder if that might be anti-competitive behavior...

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cooldeal
>However, it makes one wonder if that might be anti-competitive behavior..

This is a joke, right? I fail to see how it is even close, especially when
Google is dumping Android on the market for free just to buy marketshare.

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RedwoodCity
They are just trying to avoiding a class action lawsuit, like the one that
happened over the iPhone 4 antenna problem. I'm sure their in house counsel
came up with this brilliant idea.

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rubergly
Someone saying "I decided today to become a life-long customer of company X!"
does not mean that person will care at all about, or even remember, that claim
five years from now.

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melvinng
It's a good idea, they have a good product, now they just need the media to
give them a chance again.

