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Marketing FAIL: Nokia tries to get bloggers excited about the N97 Mini, but forgets to ship the device

Categories: Nokia
By: , IntoMobile
Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 2:40 AM

Remember the marketing campaign I mentioned last week, the one that Nokia was planning in London? It was supposed to be for the Nokia N97 Mini, but apparently Nokia could not finish the devices in time according to “Phat^Trance” from Daily Mobile:

Some of you guys may already know that I got back from Nokia’s “Secret Event” in London, which was OVI Maps with WomWorld, at 2am this morning. It was really nice to meet other Nokia bloggers, especially my buddy Ibrahim from The Nokia Review. The purpose of this short trip was to discover OVI Maps in London with the help of the Nokia N97 mini! However due to the delayed launch by Nokia we were all given the Nokia N97 instead.

This makes you wonder, how far ahead are these marketing campaigns actually planned, and is the company having trouble shipping smartphones on time? During Nokia’s Q3 2009 conference call, the Nokia E72 was brought up. It was supposed to be a Q3 product, but it has slipped into Q4. The Nokia N900 has the same story, it was supposed to ship in October, but has now been pushed back to November. The Nokia N97 Mini, even in prototype form, should have been at this event, but it wasn’t. Odd considering the Nokia Flagship Store in London told customers that the Nokia N97 Mini would be in the shop on October 24th, a mere 48 hours after this marketing campaign occurred.

Is something the matter in Finland? Yes, seasonal depression is kicking in for everyone, myself included, and the problem is only being exacerbated due to daylight savings time, which kicked in last night, but in this competitive landscape it is becoming mission critical that deadlines are met and projects ship on time.

Anyway, for those of you wondering why the Nokia N97 Mini was created in the first place, here is a brief, yet highly informative video created by Mark Guim from The Nokia Blog:

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About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Spiffo

    Yeah no wonder. I’ve been waiting for the E72 for ages but now gave up. I’ll probably go for a BlackBerry as I can’t wait much longer. Shame.. really liked this Symbian unit.

  • sojin

    I’ve been waiting for this E72 for the past 3 months… its really frustrating.. dont know what the hell goin on with nokia. Enough.. I’m going to check out with BB or HTC…
    To NOKIA: I hope you guys know that, you r losing the smartphone market to BB, HTC and Iphone. If you keep delaying this its gonna hit you more. Gone are the days when people just stick with you for a mobile. Now its aplenty in the market to choose from.
    I’m done with you… good bye.

  • tevada

    The hell with Nokia! They misled you and kept you waited forever! Take your phone and stick it in your butt. Sick and tired of your liers.