Marketing Communications (MARCOMM) - Amateur and Professional
<< Nokia seems to have some trouble with its PR folks. I recall some difficulties in Germany last year as respects EDGE handsets. >>
You recall wrong as usual. I documented changes that occurred on the Nokia website re the EDGE users group meeting as they occurred both here and on the TMF Nokia board.
Things go up on a corporate website, they get revised, they get pulled, they get replaced. Tactical decisions are made, then changed. Happens every day in any large worldwide corporation and even in medium sized ones like mine.
At Qualcomm things get pulled really quickly but in their case, perhaps there really is substantiation to the rumor that a pooper scooper patrol follows your idol around, cleaning up after him. I imagine the size of that patrol has been reduced since Sulpizio departed first the organization and then the States.
Last year, Nokia simply changed their mind on which forum to use for the release of the worlds first EDGE handset. It was, in retrospect, a very sensible decision, particularly in light of the numerous products that they released at the main event in Munich.
In addition they chose not to share their detailed EDGE and EDGE/WCDMA terminal roadmap only with carrier users and qualified prospects under NDA (which is the way I am used to dealing with roadmaps) and not to the general public or analysts. They have of course continued to continuously open the kimono on that roadmap bit by bit as they skillfully practice the art of rolling thunder.
Qualcomm, of course, flashes roadmaps around to shareholders and analysts indiscriminately and essentially unwittingly unveils their whole marketing and sales plan and strategy to stockholders, analysts AND COMPETITORS in roadmaps and whitepapers, just like they telegraphed their negotiating tactics to the Chinese when they were attempting to penetrate China. I can only opine that is because they have so few carrier users and qualified prospects or perhaps it is because they have simply neglected to build a professional sales or marketing organization.
I have noticed that soon to depart and "Always on Time Even When Late" Don Schrock and Thornley were evidently sent to "Solutions Sales 101" class sometime last year, because all of a sudden Qualcomm is into providing "Solutions," as in the "DW-40 Solution."
I do hope that Don's replacement not only has attended "Solutions Sales 101" but also matriculates from "Solutions Sales 102," and maybe Thornley will let Johan and Jeff hire some professional marketeers and perhaps even establishes a sales force that really knows how to sell solutions. Of course before you can sell a solution a solution needs to be created, and that solution needs to be more than slides and it needs to be integrated.
<< The recent pre-CTIA PR from New Orleans was a bit strange, and the subsequent PR even more so. Wonder what's going on? >>
That was interesting. In this mobile world of MARCOMM e-mail sign-offs SNAFUs can occur, and that may be what happenned.
I have, however, commented here and elsewhere, to the effect that what we witnessed may have been a well planned, intentional, tactical "mistake."
We will never know, but what we do know, is that although Nokia released relatively few new terminal products at CeBIT this year compared to prevous years, there is more to come (hear those thunder claps off in the distance), and we can at the very least expect 5 previously unreleased cdma terminals utilizing Nokia designed chipsets to be released at CTIA Wireless 2003, and we will, no doubt see new TDMA and GSM offerings as well.
Nokia's strategic partner Texas Instruments used to call it OST (Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics) - maybe they still do - but Nokia elevates the science of OST to an art form.
Last evening I posted the following to TMF documenting what transpired yesterday:
Nokia's CDMA Press Release SNAFU ...
aka Nokia's Incredible Shrinking CDMA Product Line.
In another forum, a diligent poster asked me why Nokia was publishing a Press Release from New Orleans that stated that "including five new CDMA2000 1X handsets introduced today in New Orleans, Nokia's current CDMA product line now includes 17 models .."
He added "I vaguely imagine a couple of Finnish guys in suits sitting around an empty presentation room in New Orleans. ;-)"
His point was that CTIA Wireless 2003 doesn't begin until March 17 and although CTIA is a more appropriate forum to release CDMA handsets than CeBIT it doesn't make much sense to issue a Press Release until Wireless 2003 opens.
Mysteriously a revised version of the Press Release was issued several hours later from Nokia USA's offices in Irving, Texas, which substituted the sentence "Nokia's current CDMA product line now includes 12 models ..." for the sentence that stated "Nokia's current CDMA product line now includes 17 models ..", and it dropped all references to 5 models being released "today" in New Orleans.
Today an article appeared in Dagens Industri, and they evidently claim that the original Press Release was a mistake and that the link at nokia.com is gone now. The information originated from WR Hambrecht who had time to read it before it was deleted BUt the original is still available elsewhere on the web.
Here is the Dagens Industri article:
di.se
Actually the original Press Release didn't give much away. It referred to "The new Nokia 2200 Series of CDMA phones which fall in the Basic category" and also to the "new Nokia 6585 [which] is part of Nokia's Fashion category, and is targeted towards an upscale, image-conscious user who desires a compact phone with features like a color screen and FM radio".
One might wonder if the mistake was a mistake, or whether Nokia intentionally whet our appetites in light of the fact that only 2 new handset models (one of which will be offered in 2 distinct versions) were released at CeBIT.
I guess we'll have to tune in next week for the next chapter and see exactly what the 5 new CDMA models look like and whether or not Nokia will release more EDGE models, a spruced up GAIT model, an EDGE/WiFi Modem card, and new GSM models for the Americas.
I have clipped below one paragraph from the original Press release and one from the Revised Press Release.
Here is the original Press Release (NEW ORLEANS, March 11 /PRNewswire/)
prnewswire.com
Including five new CDMA2000 1X handsets introduced today in New Orleans, Nokia's current CDMA product line now includes 17 models, each of which is based on a Nokia-designed chipset. This current lineup follows Nokia's successful product category strategy, with individual models designed specifically for a well-defined consumer segment. The new Nokia 2200 Series CDMA phones fall in the Basic category, and are designed for first-time, budget-conscious and pre-paid users as well as for customers in emerging wireless markets, while the new Nokia 6585 is part of Nokia's Fashion category, and is targeted towards an upscale, image-conscious user who desires a compact phone with features like a color screen and FM radio. Other models in Nokia's CDMA stable are designed for the markets in-between, including phones for younger, more flamboyant wireless users and models for business users needing a work-focused, feature-rich handset.
Here is the revised Press Release (IRVING, Texas, March 11, 12:23 pm ET /PRNewswire/)
biz.yahoo.com
Nokia's current CDMA product line now includes 12 models, each of which is based on a Nokia-designed chipset. This current lineup follows Nokia's successful product category strategy, with individual models designed specifically for a well-defined consumer segment. The new Nokia 2275 phone falls in the Basic category, and is designed for first-time, budget-conscious and pre-paid users as well as for customers in emerging wireless markets, while phones like the Nokia 8270 and Nokia 8280 are part of Nokia's Fashion category, and are targeted towards an upscale, image-conscious user who desires a compact handset. Other models in Nokia's CDMA stable are designed for the markets in-between, including phones for younger, more flamboyant wireless users and models for business users needing a work-focused, feature- rich handset.
- IC - |
