So what if Nokia is Remaking Apple's iPhone?

Authored by Scott Goldberg on August 30, 2007 - 10:15am.

A YouTube video demonstrating Nokia’s new phone is flying around the internet right now, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a spoof on the iPhone (see it here). No, it’s the real thing, and it looks awfully similar to Apple’s. But so what? It seems like a reasonable idea, especially if the iPhone really is the future. Shouldn’t everyone else get on board? In fact it’s really a page right out of Apple’s book. Steve Jobs didn’t invent the MP3 player, after all, he merely perfected it.

It's too early to tell if Nokia will beat Apple to the punch and keep the word "iPhone" from gaining the same status as that other Apple iProduct. But if you’re familiar with their gear you know they’re capable of some pretty powerful stuff.

And as my colleague Jay Baage pointed out yesterday, Nokia is a gaming guru. With the mobile games market expected to grow from $4 billion this year to $10 billion in 2010, according to London-based research firm Ovum, if Nokia’s new phone grabs a big chunk of that growth they might have another advantage over Apple.

Now for that little thing called marketing that Steve Jobs seems to have so dialed. Is it a problem Nokia's phone looks and acts like an iPhone? No. Is it a problem the ad for the phone looks like an iPhone? Yes.

Nokia needs some creativity beyond a female English narrator, which no one is complaining about. After all, don’t you think of Nokia as a smarter company now that an Englishwoman is the voice? No? Me neither. But it still sounds nice.

Scott Goldberg

Published in DMW Daily, August 30, 2007

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Comments

i like the phone

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on August 30, 2007 - 11:56am.

i like the phone

"advantage over Apple"? Now

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on August 30, 2007 - 12:50pm.

"advantage over Apple"? Now that's funny.

Apple didn't just copy...

Submitted by fog city dave (not verified) on August 30, 2007 - 3:30pm.

You justify Nokia's blatant "me too" rip-off of both the iPhone's design and interface (finger-flicking photos? puhleese) by saying "Steve Jobs didn't invent the MP3 player, after all, he just perfected it." No, Steve Jobs didn't invent the MP3 player, but he didn't just blatantly rip off the interface and look of another company's product either. Apple RE-invented the MP3 player and set a new bar (as they've now done with cell phones). Nokia is just clumsily copying the very device they've been ridiculing for nine months. Really, it's shameful. Many people think that Nokia, RIM, Motorola (and maybe Palm) will come up with a superior response to the iPhone, but if this kind of pedestrian apism is their answer, then Apple has already won.

Well said

Submitted by Scott Goldberg on August 30, 2007 - 3:55pm.

You know, Fog City, I think I agree with every word you wrote. Well played.

Raising the Bar

Submitted by BG18k (not verified) on August 30, 2007 - 7:55pm.

Interesting piece, Scott. I hadn't caught wind of this "hot, new" Nokia phone yet and hadn't seen the video commercial on YouTube yet either. I did catch the Miss Teen USA South Carolina piece today though on YouTube. Talk about classic! Companies like Nokia and Microsoft have likely felt nothing but embarrasement during the past few months. How is it that Apple, in 1.5 years, developed a product far superior than they put out during the previous 10? I recently started using an iPhone and, while it's not perfect, it's really damn good for v.1. That said, one area of improvement with the iPhone is the camera and photo upload features. I'd be curious to see what Apple has planned for that in future versions and it's prudent of companies like Nokia to be focusing on that area of opportunity in their future phones.