Wow. I found this interview on Mobile-Review and finally got a moment to really read through it. Mads Winblad is a Nokian in the Multimedia Division, specifically, N-series handsets. Eldar had a chance to sit down and fire off some questions and get some really fascinating and encouraging answers.
I won’t quote the entire interview here, cause that’s silly. You can click a link just as easily. Plus Mobile-Review is a fantastic site, so you should go discover it. However, I will pull out something fascinating that I saw towards the end:
Eldar: What do you think about premium shops in Russia – how many of these are you going to open next year?
Mads: I think we won’t have any more flagship stores. The interesting thing about flagship stores, and there are many examples of this, is that when you open a flagship store, the sales of Nokia-branded devices in all shops around the country increase as well. The next thing we have is Nokia Premium Partner service, what you just saw in here….
Nokia Premium Partners, eh? Sounds really similar to the Nokia Unlocked campaign going on in NYC and L.A. right now, and I have to say I’m a huge fan. What do you think? Would you prefer to see more Flagship stores, or do you think bringing in established retailers as “Premium Partners” is a smarter idea? I can’t help but recall the (mostly failed) agreement with CompUSA to have a Nokia area. It was a 3 foot wide stand in the camera/PDA area that showed off mostly aged unbranded handsets. Not all that impressive. Let’s hope this time around, they can get newer handsets in there and a better display.
