#SWITCH
#SWITCH.
Pretty familiar to those who constantly keep tabs with Nokia Corporation, its
Official Website plus its social media pages. The strategic partnership with
Microsoft Corporation in February 2011 saw Nokia shift much of its attention to
the Microsoft molded operating systems and thus, the word #SWITCH was born. Perhaps
the word was selected to ‘poke’ people to have a go at the Windows based OS,
but how successful has it been? Has it really helped to impose that need for a
change in the minds of the public and save Nokia’s ‘sinking ship’?
This post is just based on my feelings and
what I have seen and experienced in day to day lives. My passion for gadgets,
specially cell phones, has led me to know a lot of things about the phones that
are ‘out of stock – coming soon’ in a mobile phones shop, phones that people do
not bother to even have a look at, and in some cases, I have seen people
judging others by the phones they’re using. If you use a high end smartphone
with amazing specs, your class is reflected in the public. In contrast to it,
if you use a low end phone with only the call and the reject buttons, your
class is again reflected in the public, but, people look away from you. Here in
Nepal, if you own an iPhone, you’re a superhero. A standout in the crowd.
Because, the devices from Apple Inc. are too costly for the public, and only
those with evergreen wallets can afford them. Nokia, Samsung, India-based
brands like Micromax, Karbonn, Colours as well as HTC, LG are more dominant,
and again, people often go for the no-nonsense low end phones instead of the
high end devices, because of the fear of their wallets being emptied for a
thing which doesn’t fill their hunger, or gives them shelter. I was going
through an article on the recently held Mobile World Conference 2013, and
happened to read this on the comments section :
‘’ I am not in the slightest bit interested in a 14 megapixel
technicolour whizz-bang screen that holds 32GB of largely irrelevant data and
to which I am attached with an umbilicus. All I want is a phone that
makes and receives calls, and on the very rare occasion I want to text someone
it will do that too. ‘’
- ‘bogwart 02/26/2013’ on ‘’ Nokia unveils £13 phone‘’ by Telegraph.co.uk
THAT is what I was trying to tell you
about. There are lots of people like Mr. bogwart, who think so and yes, the
older generation doesn’t need such a device. So how all of this is related to
#SWITCH thing that the topic mentions about? Follow me.
What Nokia has to decide is the type of
audience that it is directing its brilliantly brilliant Lumia phones. In my
opinion, #SWITCH word won’t help Nokia. From all of my experiences, people tend
to chose a phone that befriends them in their first meeting with phones of any
kind, low end or high end. I remember the first phone I owned, it was a Samsung
device with 2.4’ screen, with a 1.2 megapixel camera and it was a slider phone.
I didn’t like it. The first phone I saw was a Nokia 3310, my dad owned it, it
didn’t have a camera nor the 2.4’ screen, but yet, I preferred the 3310 to the
Samsung device. Why? Because it was the first phone I had seen, and I always
had a ‘dream’ of owning a Nokia phone, better than my dad’s. I grew to be a
Nokia fan. It is more like being a football fan. You stick to one football club
as a fan and you’ll remain a fan forever. People with mentalities like mine
don’t get affected by the #SWITCH, if they own an iPhone, they’ll stick to
iPhones and Android users will love Android. Yes, they may own two different
OS’, but they’ll vie for the OS or the Phone maker they trust first, if they
happen to be in need of changing their devices. Another factor is the Ease of
Use. If you feel easier to use Android OS’, you’ll be much more likely to go
for another Android device after the device you own gets outdated. Because you
won’t have to learn things from the grassroots, you’ll basically have to update
yourself with the OS’ version.
#SWITCH won’t help Nokia if they aim
their phones at people like us. We just won’t change. Nokia needs to aim their
phones at the younger people, who are yet to own a smartphone of their own, instead
of aiming at people who already own an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy SIII. Of
course I am a Nokia fan and my next phone will probably be the Lumia 720. I
wouldn’t even have cared about the Lumia 720 if I wasn’t a Nokia fan. As I
mentioned earlier, people tend to be loyal to the things they like, and it’s
inevitable. So, the #SWITCH must be aimed at the younger generation, and to
captivate them with the elegancy of the devices, so that they’ll remain fans
for their lifetimes, much like Mr. Bogwart.
