Nokia World kicks off today, and the Finns have come out fighting. Niklas Savander, Nokia’s Executive Vice President for markets started proceedings with a welcoming address, and a quick jab at Apple iOS boss Scott Forstall.
Showing a picture of Forstall taken from Apple’s iPhone 4 introduction video, Savander said: “One of our competitors recently had a launch where one of their executives said this…”
Savander then played an audio clip from Apple’s iPhone 4 video, in which Forstall says “… It’s all about connecting people,” Nokia’s own tagline. At the time, Forstall was describing the iPhone 4’s FaceTime video calling.
“That still makes me chuckle,” said Savander. “For Nokia, it’s nore than just a feel-good tagline. It’s a passion. The world includes 1.3 billion “Nokia people”. Our vision of connecting people becomes more relevant every day.”
The ribbing continued as Savander introduced the Nokia N8 handset, stating that it offers “great performance, day in day out, no matter how you hold it.”
And Apple wasn’t the only target of Nokia’s fighting talk. Savander reckons Symbian devices still sell more than Android and iOS combined.
“We’re not going to appologise for the fact we’re not Apple or Google or Samsung, or anyone else,” said Savander.
“We’re Nokia. Our market is the world, and when it comes to our customers we know that just one device will not satisfy all of them. Even in the high end, offering people just one model will inevitably lead to compromises, whether it’s compromises with the browser, the keyboard, the camera… so we will continue to offer a range.”
Savander wrapped up his intro to Nokia World 2010 stating loudly: “For me, today is about three words. Nokia. Is. Back. Thankyou.”
Do you agree? Is Nokia “back”? Shout up in the comments section below.
