Saturday, January 06, 2007

How stupid can Nokia get?

I don't know whether to laugh or cry looking at Nokia's product strategy for India. It's funny how they think they can market mobile phones with Hindi keypads all over India! Most Kannadigas just hate to see Hindi on the handset (I don't hate it, but I hate paying for something I'll never use). What Kannadigas prefer - no points for guessing this - is Kannada.

Ironically, Nokia did come out with a decent phone (Nokia 6030) which has a Kannada keypad, user-interface and SMS capability. Although the phone has its share of bugs, it is one of Nokia's best phones. Funnily though, these phones are extremely difficult to find in Karnataka itself - retailers present you with one or the other stupid Hindi phone which nobody really cares for.

And of course, Nokia needs to understand that Kannadigas would like to have better phones with Kannada enabled on them - the latest gadgets and gizmos are definitely compatible with Kannada, aren't they?

Nokia, are you listening?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2006/10/23/stories/2006102300130300.htm

A spokesperson for Nokia explains, "We use software that addresses different regions in India"

purOhita said...

That's what they say, but what they do is something you can experience first hand. Sometimes I get the feeling that Nokia also subscribes to the feeling that all Indians speak Hindi. Or perhaps that all South Indians speak Tamil.