According to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Nokia is set to unveil not one, not two, but up to six new devices tomorrow during an event to be held in Abu Dhabi.
This will be the first devices unveiling from the Nokia devices unit after having been acquired by Microsoft. Stephen Elop, the former Nokia CEO, is now in change of running the devices unit as it gets absorbed by Microsoft. Elop, a former Microsoft executive, will return to the company once the acquisition is fully completed early next year.
The article mostly goes on about the moves between Microsoft and their new Nokia devices business with just a few lines discussing tomorrow’s product unveilings of phones, “phablets,” and a new LTE-enabled tablet. (We can only assume that the tablet offering(s) will run Windows 8.1 rather than the market flop, Windows RT 8.1.)
The interesting thing for me is the timing of this event. It’s to be held on Oct. 22. The same day Apple is set to hold their second fall event. It always amazes me when tech companies hold media events on the same day. I can kind of rationalize it during a trade show/conference, sort of, but outside of that environment it just blows my mind.
The Nokia folks have no doubt been working hard on their new products and are probably excited to show them off. But with Apple coming in with what is rumored to be at least two new iPad announcements, the Nokia stuff is going to get drowned out in the mainstream and tech media.
Not so fast, you might be thinking. It takes months to stage and line up these kinds of events so it will be difficult to plan around Apple’s secretive schedule. True, but if Holywood studios can move tentpole movies around the calendar to avoid colliding with another tentpole movie opening on the same day from a rival studio, then, surely, Nokia can do the same thing. If nothing else, it would help ensure that their message gets across clearly to investors, IT technology buyers, and customers.
[Via WSJ.com…]