Coming Soon, Near You ...
.. new Nokia and Moto Retail Outlets.
• Motorola at 666 N. Michigan Avenue (June 8 Opening)
• Nokia at 545 N. Michigan Avenue (June 24 Opening)
Hopefully you'll wander down to the Mag Mile, give em a look after both open, and offer up a comparative review of them for us.
Maybe you'll run into Ed Zander who lives near Moto's "Destination Q" which means he lives near Nokia's 1st US flagship store as well., so Nokia's opening probably didn't sit too well with him. <ggg>
>> Motorola, Nokia set stores on Mag Mile
M. Hughlett
Chicago Tribune
June 2, 2006
tinyurl.com
The world's two largest mobile phone makers will soon unveil their first U.S. retail outlets on Michigan Avenue, Chicago's premier shopping thoroughfare.
With the stores, Motorola and Nokia are aiming to build brand awareness, focusing on image and experience more than they are on selling phones directly to consumers.
In fact, Motorola's store at 666 N. Michigan Ave. is temporary: It is slated to open in June and operate through the summer. The outlet is dubbed "Destination Q" after the new smart phone Motorola launched last week.
Destination Q will sell the Q--a rival to the popular BlackBerry device--along with other Motorola products sold through Verizon Wireless. The store will occupy the first and second floors of the former Terra Museum.
Finland-based Nokia, the world's biggest cell phone-maker, is scheduled to open a permanent store not far away at 545 N. Michigan Ave. on June 24.
Both stores represent the phone makers' efforts to make a direct connection with consumers. Mobile phones in this country are primarily sold through wireless networks like Verizon.
And those networks typically carry phones made by several companies.
With their own stores, Motorola and Nokia can bask in their own spotlight.
"It gives their products top shelf," said Roger Entner, a wireless industry analyst at Ovum.
Nokia plans to open another permanent store in New York City later this year.
Motorola does not currently have plans for a permanent U.S. store, said Timothy Whiting, a Motorola marketing director.
Motorola does anticipate more temporary stores, but the company declined to comment on where they would be.
So why is Chicago the site of the phone giants' first stores?
Chicago "has a very famous shopping district," said Keith Nowak, a Nokia spokesman. "It draws consumers from all over the world."
Did Nokia's decision have anything to do with the fact its main rival, Motorola, is based in suburban Schaumburg? "Total coincidence," Nowak said.
Whiting said the hometown angle--or as he put it, "the desire to do something new to the world in our hometown"--loomed large for Motorola. <<
>> Motorola's Mag Mile Store to Open June 8
Julie Johnsson
Crain’s Chicago Business
June 01, 2006
chicagobusiness.com
Motorola Inc. next week will unveil Destination Q, a retail store based in the former Terra Museum that’s designed to give Michigan Avenue shoppers an eye-popping look at its much touted smart phone, while giving Moto a leg up on arch-rival Nokia Corp.
The Motorola store, named for its Q smart phone, will open June 8.
Nokia plans to open a store one block south on June 24, the Finnish phone-maker’s first retail foray in the United States.
Moto’s Mag Mile venture, first reported in Crain’s Chicago Business (story below), comes as the world two-largest wireless phone manufacturers seek to better connect with consumers.
Destination Q will be the first in a series of retail outlets designed to give consumers a closer look at Motorola products, the company said. Visitors can soak up video, Internet updates and music at the Moto Q bar, or relax in the Moto Q lounge within the store. Motorola experts will provide hands-on demonstrations of the Q’s features, like music, video and emails.
Motorola will sell models of the Q, which is being sold exclusively in the United States by Verizon Wireless. It will also offer other products tailored to Verizon’s network, including the Razr V3c.
The store will only be open for a few months in the vacant museum, which is slated to be replaced by a condominium tower next year. It's designed to generate buzz around a product that Motorola hopes will provide a follow-up hit to the Razr.
"That's part of the magic, trying to create something that does not get old," says Tim Whiting, senior director of marketing with Motorola's mobile devices division.
Motorola is planning other stores, in other locales, to publicize other products.
Nokia, meanwhile, is holding a photo contest to tout its flagship store at 543 N. Michigan Ave. Passersby are encourage to post photos of the city and its neighborhoods to www.nokiausa.com/yourchicago. Three winners will receive N90 video phones. Nokia may also post their pictures on the giant cloth-covering obscuring its store entrance. <<
>> Moto's Hello to Mag Mile
Julie Johnsson and Sandra Jones
Crain’s Chicago Business
May 22, 2006
chicagobusiness.com
First-ever store opening in former Terra building; face-off with rival Nokia
Motorola, the world's second-largest maker of cell phones, behind Nokia, is close to signing a temporary lease for the former Terra Museum of American Art at 664 N. Michigan Ave., according to people familiar with the plan.
Marshall Field V, chairman of the Terra Foundation's board of trustees, confirmed that Motorola is looking to move into the space as soon as possible.
The vacant museum, which is slated to be replaced by a condominium tower next year, gives Schaumburg-based Motorola a chance to beat Nokia to the Magnificent Mile. Nokia's first U.S. store is set to open sometime later in June at 545 N. Michigan Ave.
Motorola has also looked at the former Sony Gallery space at 663 N. Michigan Ave., which has been vacant for about two years, according to a person familiar with the search.
Donald Ratner, chief financial officer of the Terra Foundation, which is leasing the museum property, declines to confirm a Motorola deal. But Mr. Ratner says he expects a tenant by June, and whoever leases the space will have at most a six-month agreement that will go to a month-to-month lease until Prism Development Co. begins construction.
Finland's Nokia opened its first store in Moscow's Pushkin Square in December and plans to open another five stores this year, including outposts in New York and Helsinki, Finland, according to a spokesman. Nokia plans to operate 18 stores worldwide in three years.
The Michigan Avenue face-off comes as cell phone makers look to make a more direct connection with consumers. Until the past few years, Motorola focused more on engineering than design, lagging Nokia and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in style and marketing savvy. But under Chairman and CEO Edward Zander — who lives near the proposed store — Motorola is emerging as a consumer electronics powerhouse, driven by its ultra-thin Razr phone and hip new designs like the Slvr, Pebl and Q.
"Opening their own branded stores allows them to take their best features directly to consumers," says Michael DeSanto, vice-president of Walker Information Inc., an Indianapolis-based market research firm.
Motorola opened an edgy design center, dubbed MotoCity, at 233 N. Michigan Ave. in late 2003 to put its designers closer to shoppers.
Details of Motorola's first showcase store weren't disclosed, and a spokeswoman declines to comment. But if the store is in line with Nokia's concept, it will resemble an electronic playland, featuring plenty of hands-on displays and interactive kiosks that will encourage shoppers to linger.
The risk for both companies: Stores could alienate cellular service carriers, cell phone makers' largest customers. But the carriers are losing influence as industry growth shifts overseas, where most consumers buy phones from retail stores. Consumers' loyalty to handset makers outweighs their loyalty to wireless carriers, according to a 2005 survey of consumers conducted by Walker Information. <<
- Eric - |
