Teresa Telenovela - How do you make a winning product? Take something that has stood through the test of time, give it a nice make-over, throw in and out a few features here and there, and drop the pricing down to an affordable level. That's what seems to be Nokia's strategy with their new C3, C6 and E5 models. Let's start with the Nokia E5 for instance. Take a close look at the specifications, it matches closely to Nokia's currently flagship E series champ -- the E72. But look at the pricing -- 180 Euros converted to INR is roughly Rs. 10,900. That's almost half as much as what the E72 costs right now!
Next -- the C6. Its specs resemble the Nokia N97 mini. The good thing is that the C6 has much bigger and what seems to be comfortable QWERTY keys. It sells for Rs. 13,300 -- again a lot less than the N97 mini. Lastly, the cheaper C3 looks like a toned down version of the E63. But the Series 40 interface (as compared to E63's Symbian smartphone OS) would be the major differentiating factor between the two. It's quoted to be sold at Rs. 5000, half of the E63's current price.
But all three phones have one thing in common -- they are strong on social networking. It wasn't enough when Microsoft announced their 'kin' social networking phones the day before. This sudden surge to create social-phones is possibly to fight back brands like Micromax and INQ invading this space with their sub-Rs.10k so-called social networking phones. Most of these are just basic phones with apps like Nimbuzz, Twitter and Facebook pre-installed. The real trick is when you integrate social networking as part of the OS to make it a seamless experience -- which we hope Nokia has accomplished with the phones mentioned above.
I'm pretty sure other manufacturers are going to follow this trend soon -- if they aren't doing it already. But do you think these social phones are just a fad? Do you feel they are just refreshed old phones with a new marketing strategy? Will they last? I feel that with the way digital socializing is increasing by leaps and bounds, these could be the right tools for people who don't want to spend a lot of money on cell-phones.
Next -- the C6. Its specs resemble the Nokia N97 mini. The good thing is that the C6 has much bigger and what seems to be comfortable QWERTY keys. It sells for Rs. 13,300 -- again a lot less than the N97 mini. Lastly, the cheaper C3 looks like a toned down version of the E63. But the Series 40 interface (as compared to E63's Symbian smartphone OS) would be the major differentiating factor between the two. It's quoted to be sold at Rs. 5000, half of the E63's current price.
But all three phones have one thing in common -- they are strong on social networking. It wasn't enough when Microsoft announced their 'kin' social networking phones the day before. This sudden surge to create social-phones is possibly to fight back brands like Micromax and INQ invading this space with their sub-Rs.10k so-called social networking phones. Most of these are just basic phones with apps like Nimbuzz, Twitter and Facebook pre-installed. The real trick is when you integrate social networking as part of the OS to make it a seamless experience -- which we hope Nokia has accomplished with the phones mentioned above.
I'm pretty sure other manufacturers are going to follow this trend soon -- if they aren't doing it already. But do you think these social phones are just a fad? Do you feel they are just refreshed old phones with a new marketing strategy? Will they last? I feel that with the way digital socializing is increasing by leaps and bounds, these could be the right tools for people who don't want to spend a lot of money on cell-phones.
No comments:
Post a Comment