Nokia Misses the Boat with E71 Blogger Relations
There is no question that when it comes to blogger relations, Nokia is the undisputed heavyweight champion. No other handset manufacturer is as proactive in maintaining a good relationship with bloggers; in fact, no other company even comes close. Nokia recognizes that value that bloggers pose and as such, it offers multiple programs that provide open lines of communication, special event invitations and even trial handsets to bloggers. What’s more, these programs are hardly reserved exclusively for influential bloggers. Nokia values small and emerging blogger opinions as well and tries to include them as much as possible. All that having been said however, Nokia missed a real opportunity with the release of the E71. Sure, the company took its standard route and placed demo handsets with all of the usual Nokia-centric bloggers big and small. There was even a slight stray from convention with an unannounced and unpublicized “release event” at the Flagship store in Manhattan. The problem is that the audiences of all of these blogs have already been excited about the E71 for months. In fact, they had likely already made up their minds as to whether or not they’ll be purchasing one as well. The E71 is the perfect opportunity for Nokia to think outside the box and actually make a splash with the E71, especially here in the US. How? By specifically targeting BlackBerry blogs. Sure we gave them a taste and likely sent plenty of new customers Nokia’s way, but why should we do all the work? The E71 is the closest thing Nokia has to a BlackBerry competitor and coincidentally, BlackBerry fans recently learned that the highly anticipated Bold has been pushed back to September. Window = open. Do we need to keep spelling it out for you? Hit the BlackBerry blogs get them trial handsets. Get them writing about the E71 and get BlackBerry fans reading about it. Of course they’re not going to sing it praise entirely, but a Nokia handset would get great attention amongst new audiences and it might even boost sales a bit. Beyond that, Nokia would get some terrific feedback in terms of where the handset is lacking as compared to BlackBerry devices - beyond reception issues of course. Instead, Nokia is doing what seems to be par for the course here in the US and hoping that consumers do all the work themselves. /Marketing 101
Tags: Blogger Relations, Handsets, Marketing, Nokia, Opinions, Seeding
Sounds like a good idea. O yea nokia blackberry connect wouldn’t hurt also. I can’t wait for The Kid to give this one away maybe i’ll get lucky. Maybe he will keep this wonderfull phone for his self. Hopefully not I want to try to win it. Come on BGR
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Nokia will no longer offer blackberry connect.
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So they target BB users and their blogs yet they don’t offer BB connect anymore. They’ve failed on many levels of marketing. The software it uses shouldn’t be the competetor, it should be the device. They need BB connect or this will fail here in the U.S which is the largest market for these kinds of devices. Nokia needs to fire their marketing VP.
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I’m confused - didn’t you guys get an E71? So why the bitchin’ about not getting another free one? The E71 is a niche device, especially in the US. It is not intended to be a Blackberry killer, unfortunately.
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I’m not sure you’re catching the point here. No one is saying anything about whether or not BGR received E71s as it is irrelevant to the post. I’m saying that rather than target the “Nokia…” “I heart Nokia” and “Symbian rules” blogs with trial units, Nokia should have taken aim at BlackBerry-focused blogs and given them the opportunity to review it and talk about it. This strategy would have been beneficial.
As to the target market for the E71, yes Nokia is targeting business users. Eseries = “Enterprise” series.
Lastly, Nokia ended the BlackBerry contract in terms of BB Connect because it is working on its own push email / PIM sync app, in part at least. In my eyes it was a horrible, horrible mistake - but the goal is to make room for its own service and pull people away from BB server-dependent services. We’ll see how that works out for them…
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Not having BBC on the E71 is the deciding factor for me skipping it. We only have BES option at work and it’s stupid to carry 2 phones around your hip…
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I agree with SNP. No BB connect = no deal for us. We going to transition our fleet of 300+ E61i’s to …. Curves and eventually Bolds.
Nokia, you screwed the pooch on this one
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Sounds like whining on BGR’s (aka BGR “heart” iPhone) part.
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I agree with you Zach. Most people are going to probably think that you guys at BGR didn’t get your Nokia E71 early enough or long enough but how is that true when you did a video walkthrough of the device? I did my homework on this device and if I can find it for a good price, I’m probably going to buy it. I’ve seen it in person and it looks very nice and elegant.
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Yeah, where’s my E71 Ketchum?
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Retooling the blog are we Dave?
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This post makes no sense. I could see taking Nokia to task for it pathetic marketing of the e71, but that it wasn’t nice to bberry bloggers? Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t something like 75% of bberry users tied to a corporate email system? And killing bb connect means they can’t use an e71? Why the frak would a bberry user care about the e71?
Nokia, if they were smart, could promote the e71 as geek chic. Highlight the unlocked part. Talk about how cool the Psion was. But those wild and crazy finns have their own ideas…
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Personally I think BGR is spot on. Furthermore I am waiting for a post where he takes RIM to the cleaners for how they are handling the launch of the Bold….or should I say….for not launching the Bold.
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I’m not sure Nokia even did that good a job with blogger relations on the E71 myself. I know a goodly number of people who had the N-series for evaluation and every one of us panned the fallback as being utter failure to support business use of the phone, primarily due to lack of QWERTY keyboard. But there were a number of reasons.
I can name at least a dozen very influential bloggers, who aren’t rabid Nokia or Blackberry bloggers who are influencers in business, large and small. And these folks haven’t had a chance to evaluate the E71 at all.
Speaking for myself, I’m faced with an option ahead. I have every N-series phone, but they all fall short for business use. All of them. My primary phone right now is a Blackberry Curve and I’m happy with it all the way around. I can either replace it with an E71 or a Blackberry Bold in the near future. As much as I love Nokia, everything I read leads to to believe the BB is going to be the better choice for my needs and for most business users.
Killing BBconnect was premature and shortsigthed on Nokia’s part. I know they have a huge email initiative and there are some briefings going on in the next few days. That’s nice, but it hurt them in the business market in North America.
Yes, the blogger relations program is second to none. But until Nokia gets of the dime in the us, Blackberry will continue to own that market. I see Nokia marketing as badly needing a focus they don’t have today.
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Unless you are an IT admin, what do most of you need BB Connect for? Seriously, most who have a BB don’t even care to know what is going on behind the scenes. And the only reason why IT guys like it is because of the device admin. Fortunately, if these same IT persons would do some homework on the Exchange installations that they are running along with BES in many cases, they will see similar device admin options. Not having BBConnect isn’t an issue of anything more than familarity with a brand, and that is what’s uncomfy.
As for the device itself, the E71 holds its own very easily in enterprise settings. Too easily in fact. Its probably the best device of its ilk yet. The Bold is very similar, but needs to step up.
Nokia’s Blogger Relations is getting on with the E71, which is the reason I have one now. THey had to jump thru hoops, but they are getting there. The next step will be getting it in the hands of BB blogs, and then letting the devices speak for themselves. But considering how many BB users like everything served on a plate, much of the aspects of setting up the E71 will be a knock instead of a gain.
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I don’t know the real reasons why Nokia killed Blackberry. I could speculate, but won’t.
Can someone explain to me, in simple terms, why people like the Blackberry service over, say, ActiveSync or Intellisync Mobile Suite?
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