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Will you line up for the N81 or the iPhone?

Posted in General, Media, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs August 29th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

It was only a matter of time before Nokia jumped on the bandwagon to launch its very own rival to the iPhone, so what’s so spectacular about the N81 in comparison to all the other MP3 enabled handsets?

The launch comes as a worried Nokia prepares to compete with Apple to maintain its position as handset market leader.

For the past 140 years, Nokia has prided itself on being market leader in all its enterprises from developing the first personal computer in the 80’s to being the driving force behind the launch of mobile phones – it’s simple vision is to “make the world portable” according to chairman and CEO Olli-Pikka Kallasvuo.

So why did it fall behind Apple? Apple happened to hit a spot of luck a few years ago when it launched the iPod. Not even Apple themselves had anticipated how popular the MP3 player would become and being as smart and as innovative as Apple is known to be, it saw the hottest and most desired pieces of technology were MP3s and mobile phones. It simply put two and two together.

It changed the way mobile operators and manufactures viewed music and then in turn, made it available. Music on your phone has been the biggest innovation by these companies in the past two years.

It would seem Nokia has been a little slow on the uptake, however, it may just be the most spectacular launch of the year, having waited to announce the launch just two months before its consumer release, where as we knew about the iPhone a whole year ago.

So are we over the iPhone already? Its downfall, especially in the European market, is that it launched in the US well ahead of the UK. Its hype is definitely over in the US and we in the UK are already hearing about its flaws. When it reaches our shores in December, we won’t be the only ones to have it, it won’t be unique and will consequently be old news.

Is the iPod’s success enough to ensure the iPhone’s success in the UK when there are so many rivals already launched?

Earlier this year Sony launched its new range of Walkman phones and not too long before Samsung launched its Ultra Music F300 handset, both offering built-in MP3 players.

With so many MP3 enabled handsets what will make us fork out £300 for the iPhone or Nokia N81.

To read the news story related to this blog, go to mad.co.uk

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Tags Nokia, iPhone, Telecoms, MP3, Mobile phone

Comments (3)

lcooperdesign’s comment is....

The thing that has to be remembered with the iPhone versus N81 is that the iPhones physical state is not fixed, in that the input method is touch based.
If over time the keys needed to be bigger, all apple has to do is issue a software update re-jigging the layout. This is akin to having Nokia get everyone who owns an N81 to bring it back in and have it swapped with the Nokia “N81.2″. This gives the iPod longevity and hence better value for money over time.

Not to mention that one of the flaws experienced by the American market is the lack of 3G support leaving them with slow internet over the Edge connection. This will not be the case here in Europe (http://www.9to5mac.com/apple-orange-ipone-details-43252450).

There’s only one choice for me as things stand.

Posted September 6th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

paolo’s comment is....

Nokia has usually been a close follower rather than a leader. They have the quality for sure, and when they put something in the market they have researched it. Its just that they seems to wait for the opportunity to launch.
They have plenty of concepts, that needs to mature and wait for the consumer to move forward. Are the consumer ready to take everything? a successful product has to be there at the right time.

Posted September 7th, 2007 at 7:20 pm

Peteb’s comment is....

I agree.

I have studied the iphone since release and there isnt a company that can provide the fantastic user experience with software and hardware and eas-of-use.

Apple is a unique company in the computer business.

I will certainly be one of the 1st inline for the iPhone when it is released in November in Europe.

Posted September 8th, 2007 at 9:51 pm

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