Nokia gets social in US, musical in Europe
Nokia has unveiled new handsets which should appeal particularly to music lovers. But licensing restrictions mean that the U.S. marketing will likely be centered on a gimmicky Facebook “bonus”.
The new phones are the X6 (and a smaller sister named X3) and the N97 mini. The X6 is a pretty snazzy device with 32GB of memory, a 5 megapixel camera and a widescreen display. It’s the music which is the main selling point though: the phone has a billed 35-hour playing time, uses the same media player as that in the much-hyped 5800, and is compatible with the Comes With Music scheme.
This is a program which covers all four major record labels and gives phone users an unlimited number of free downloads during the first year (the payment to the record companies coming from a chunk of the handset purchase price). Once the free download period is up, the user retains the music they’ve downloaded, though tracks are copy-protected.
However, Nokia has just announced that the scheme won’t be available in the United States until next year. The main hold-up seems to be a repeat of problems in other countries where networks wouldn’t offer enough of a subsidy to offset the higher retail price of phones which come with the service.
The N97 Mini is, as you’d imagine, a slimmed-down edition of the existing N97. It has the same features, including slide-out QWERTY keyboard, WiFi and Bluetooth, but is 0.3 inches smaller.
One of the main points in the promotional material for the N97 Mini is Lifecasting, a service which will also be added to the N97. The firm says the tool will “usher in the next chapter of personal and location-aware internet” and has put together a flashy video explaining it.
So what’s the big deal?
It’s a Facebook app which automatically adds your current location to a status update. That’s it.
The idea certainly has some potential uses – if you send out an appeal for friend to join you at an impromptu afternoon in a bar, they can get automated directions – but it doesn’t seem like a good choice to portray as the most exciting feature of a new handset.
Related Posts:
