Noticing the leak of an internal memo from Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Nokia is looking to capitalise on the company’s new ‘Smart Phones, Smart Fun!’ initiative by stating that if they choose a Lumia 920, the company will throw in a free wireless charging plate.
The program, which will allow Yahoo employees to choose from an iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X, HTC EVO 4G LTE or Nokia Lumia 920 and have their mobile tariff paid on behalf of the company, is seeking to get staff using “devices similar to our users, so we can think and work as the majority of our users do.”
On seeing reports of Yahoo’s memo, Nokia’s head of media relations Doug Dawson tweeted:
Dear Yahoo! employees: The Lumia 920 is worth the wait…and we’ll throw in a wireless charging plate. Totally serious.
— Doug Dawson (@DougatNokia) September 17, 2012
The Nokia Lumia 920 launched just over a week ago, featuring a 4.5” PureMotion HD+ display, wireless charging and PureView camera technology. To charge the device, users can place the Lumia 920 on the company’s charging plate accessory (sold separately) and not have to worry about connecting charging cables to the device.
There’s no doubt that the iPhone 5 is the standout device on the list, and many employees are expected to choose the new longer, thinner Apple device over its rivals. However, with the Lumia 920 reportedly still a month from launch, Nokia is doing what it can to get consumers to wait for the device to become available instead of choosing a rival handset.
Nokia and Samsung even used the same “It doesn’t take a Genius” slogan to get people to switch to its Lumia phones.
You could call it desperation, you could also call it clever marketing. Yahoo has over 10,000 employees, Nokia knows it isn’t talking about pocket change.
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