Nokia Bans the Mobile Phone

Nokia's vice president of multimedia strategy and business development, Harry Santamaki vows to take a sip of cod liver oil from the bottle on his desk if he ever utters the word "phone". Which is odd considering what Nokia is most famous for making. However, the hairshirt approach reflects Nokia's move to selling internet devices which do far more than just make voice calls or send short text messages.

"We are forbidden to call them phones," said the vice president of multimedia strategy and business development. Instead, they're "multimedia computers." he told the Seattle Times.

What sounds like just a bit of PR spin is starting to become a very real change at the company. Their recent phone launches did not use the word phone anywhere in the release, calling all of them "multimedia computers".

Quite how this will play out in a market where growth is being driven more by basic handsets for the low cost market will have to be seen however. If Nokia loses the battle for the low-cost market by focusing on the high-end market, the upgrade route that consumers will take is less likely to include Nokia multimedia computers, but smartphones from brands which consumers are familiar with."

Posted to the site on 16th May 2006