Mobile vendors are not shy when it comes to head on battles and throwing stones at each other rather than creating advertising to promote their own product advantages.
Now Nokia is trashing its competitors by drawing attention to their faults, branding other smartphones as ‘beta test phones‘ that are not complete or reliable on release.
In a series of ‘secret video recordings’ that are supposed to represent insider criticism of the leading smartphones available today, Nokia attempts to highlight the mistakes its competitors make.
Apple’s antennaegate comes up for a thrashing, “Stop acting like a spoiled child and use the approved grip”.
The brightness and visibility of screens also gets a dose of mockery. “The screen is fine, people can just stay inside.”
Casting 30 Rock’s Dr. Leo Spaceman (Chris Parnell) appears to be a way taking a crack at the ‘experts’ in the field of mobile telecoms, but given the character’s propensity for spouting the idiotic, it’s an odd choice that also looks as though Nokia have chosen an ill-equipped spokesperson.
Taking on the US market with the launch of the Lumia 900 is not going to be easy with both Apple and Android holding on to strong leads in the smartphone market. Though we have seen other companies sneer at the user habits of rival companies, those comments had an insider knowledge and approach.
Taking a pop at the most popular devices on the market and backing it up with ‘secret recordings’ of internal company criticism doesn’t really work. The comments may be valid but the dramatic licence is a bit lame.
Amazon notes that 3 Kindles cost less than an iPad, Samsung mocks Apple Fans and Internet explorer mocks…itself.
It seems we are set for a summer of stone throwing and inter-brand scrapping. Does this really serve the products and services available or would you rather see what a company can do rather than what it’s rivals cannot?
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