Nokia Go Play - Impressions beyond the N81 and N95
by Debi Jones
Nokia needs to find someone other than their executives to put on stage for these launch events. Showmanship isn’t a Finnish strength. The devices and new direction of Nokia could have been an exciting event, and they’re talking about entertainment to the press. However, the execs struggled with the English language causing stutters and stammers, and they make Al Gore seem animated.
Ever watch someone totally uncool try to be cool? That’s the same awkward and uncomfortable experience of hearing a Nokia executive say that a phone made him think of “Funky, and ah, ah, and fresh.” These guys do a great job of running the market leading mobile device company, but when it comes to charisma, they are more Erkle than P. Diddy.
I had planned to continue live blogging through the Music and Game panels, but couldn’t hear the Music panel, because the first five minutes of the presentation contained repeated US industry bashing mostly from Rob Wells of Universal. The cliff notes version of the moderated discussion:
- Music Industry struggling
- US bad, UK/Europe good
- Digital only 10% of the market
- US bad, UK/Europe good
- Mobile is the answer
- DRM, DRM, DRM
- Not everyone wants only Britney Spears
- US bad, UK/Europe good
- iTunes no DRM solution?
- US bad, UK good
You’ll recall that Universal was the one music producer, and the world’s largest, who balked at Apple’s no DRM offering and single pricing model. Many people speculated about where Universal would go for digital distribution, and now we have that answer. The US bashing shut down my hearing and I couldn’t live blog the discussion. Sorry. Of course, there wasn’t any new territory discovered from the discussion or the Q&A, so the cliff notes version goes like this:
- DRM, no DRM?
- Stealing bad
- DRM good
- Why Windows DRM?
- Stealing bad
- DRM good
- Compete with Apple
- DRM interoperability?
- Stealing bad
- DRM good
- DRM device independence?
- Stealing bad
- DRM good
Got it? That pretty much characterizes any discussion of digital music with music industry executives.
Several money quotes from the presentations.
1) From the Q&A in response to a question on the similarities of the new UI and iPhone’s UI
We don’t know what is copied, but if something is out there that is good, we will copy it with pride and if we are the inventor, then we have the inventor’s pride.
Long ago, when asked about Apple’s use of Xerox Parc’s GUI invention in the Macintosh, Steve jobs quoted Picaso: “Artists copy, but great artists steal.”
2) The goal [of Xpress Music] is stated as providing a superior service to Stop Stealing.
While I understand that the phrase “stop stealing” is music to Universal’s ear, this is a false narrative. The size of losses from digital copying of music is dwarfed by the physical CD counterfeiting losses that have plagued the music industry for years.
3) Push back from operator customers and how have operators done with their own services of this same type?
Different operators have different strategies, we are definitely trying to help operators in their strategies. Phones, devices are not enough anymore - often service is needed including ease of use. The way we have cooperated with operators in the past we will cooperate with them with the experience. This has not happened in stealth mode. This is complimentary.
Apparently, Orange doesn’t agree. Most tier one operators have their own music stores, navigation and maps applications, and even gaming catalogue. The new Nokia - the software and services company - expects operators to abandon their own deals with content providers and buy devices that are preloaded with competing services? Really? Unless I’m reading this wrong, Nokia is taking a huge risk that operators are happy to become the carriers of Nokia services.
As Apple and Microsoft continue moving into the mobile industry from a PC base and Nokia moves into the PC space from a mobile base, a comparison of the strengths of their strategies and positions makes sense as a next step.
Ewan Spence a contributor to MM2 attended the event and caught up with Rob Sears, Chief Architect, Multimedia Experiences at Nokia USA, and has an excellent podcast interview with Sears on the implications of the new Nokia.
