One of the unique things about the 2009 Mobile World Congress is that four major manufacturers all announced at least one S60-powered smartphone, in one form or another. We have the Idou concept from Sony Ericsson, which will be their first S60-powered device (they previously only used UIQ), the OmniaHD (i8910) from Samsung, the LG KT770, and Nokia’s 5 phones, the 6710 Navigator, 6720 Classic, E75, E55, and N86 8 Megapixel (is that really part of its name?). What I found particularly interesting, though, is the way in which each of these major players in the mobile arena announced their new smartphones. Let’s take a look:
LG: Just like last year, LG only had a single S60-powered handset, and its features are rather mid-level. The phone was not mentioned during the company’s major press event, at all. The single press photo was hidden in the ‘Other Images’ category on LG’s official Mobile World Congress press site, and even the reps did not have much to say about it, according to Michael of MobileBurn.com. I get the distinct feeling that LG is almost embarassed to have an S60 phone at all.
Sony Ericsson: There’s no denying that, on paper, the Sony Ericsson Idou is a killer device. You can get all the features here. Sony Ericsson definitely made quite a splash, publicly announcing the new phone, showing it off proudly, and even setting up a minisite. However, there are precious few press photos, no spec sheet, and it’s even admitted by Sony Ericsson that, at this point, it is merely a concept of a future phone. This gives me the feeling that Sony Ericsson will soon overtake LG as the 3rd major S60 licensee, but it will take them some time.
Samsung: The OmniaHD (i8910) is, like the SE Idou, great on paper. Samsung is quick to point out that they have done plenty of software customization for the OmniaHD, which runs S60 5th Edition, even bringing their TouchWiz user interface over from their Windows Mobile smartphones and regular feature phones. There were plenty of press photos available, as well as a full specs list, in the press release. Well done, Samsung is definitely improving their PR. I recall last year, when the i8510 Innov8 was announced, they were hesitant to let folks photograph it even.
Nokia: Even without taking into account the 5 handsets Nokia launched with S60, their PR is still top notch. High-quality press photos were readily available, as well as full spec sheets for the various models. What really puts Nokia over the top, though, in my opinion, is the massive amount of video content that Nokia itself produces, and the access to product managers that it gives even the general public. The Nokia MWC site livecasted the initial announcement, and hosted 3 different chat sessions that allowed anyone to login and chat with product managers for the various devices. Better yet, the Conversations.Nokia.com PR blog was able to post hands-on videos, unboxing videos, and my personal favorite, a video of the Product Manager for each phone talking about how the phone came about, what things were focused on, and more. This really gives a great personal feel to the products.
As you might have expected, Nokia is still the undisputed king of announcing and launching an S60-powered smartphone. However, I’m definitely glad to see Samsung making improvements in this arena, and I’m also pumped to see Sony Ericsson coming in as the new guy. I’ve met a few Sony Ericsson PR reps, and we all know from the Xperia X1 and other announcements that they know how to do marketing. We at Symbian-Guru definitely welcome SE to the S60 community, anxious to see someone else bring some competition to Nokia’s home turf. LG, well, they’re LG. I’d love to see them doing more, but year after year, they don’t seem to care.
What did you think? Wouldn’t you love to catch a video showing how the Idou came about, or the thought process behind the OmniaHD (i8910)?
