Last week, GigaOm reported that Nokia is now suing Apple, claiming technology patent infringement. And on Oct. 15 CNET reported on Nokia’s dire slide in the US smartphone market.

According to GigaOm:

“Nokia is looking to collect patent royalties of 1 or 2 percent for each iPhone sold, according to a note from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, which — given the roughly 34 million iPhone units already in the hands of users — would amount to $200 million-$400 million. That’s not a lot of money to either company, of course. But Nokia is clearly hoping it can be more successful in the courtroom than it’s been in the marketplace.”

Nokia: Really? Is this what you’ve sunk to?

There are far better ways. Here are some options…

Nokia: How about finding ways to get the price of your smartphones phones down to compete with the iPhone?

How about offering smartphone service to your US users on reasonable terms? If my ultra-expensive Nokia phone breaks, don’t make me mail it back to you at my own expense and wait up to a month to get it back. Don’t tell me to drop by one of your flagship stores — because you’ve only got two (count ‘em: two!) US stores.

How about achieving both of those first two goals by finally cutting some deals with some US carriers? I know you don’t like the way they play. No one does. They all suck. But they do rule this market. If you want in on this market, you’ve got to play with them.

If you want to be accessible to most US smartphone consumers, they need to be able to buy, service, and replace their Nokia phones locally. Plus getting a subsidized price break for handsets would help a lot.

Yes, unlocked phones are nice…  IF they’re not outrageously expensive to buy, or exceedingly onerous or risky to repair or replace.

Also, how about releasing Android phones? Symbian and Maemo are OK, but just too geeky for most folks. I really don’t understand why you’re still fighting Android when you’re already losing in this market.

Nokia, if you care about the US smartphone market, then please start acting like you really want to be here. Work with us. Stop digging your heels in and telling us what you think we should want. Rather than snapping at Apple’s heels, why don’t you invest in building a real business here?

You make pretty good smartphones, Nokia. I like them. It’s just the recalcitrant way you do business that turns me — and a lot of other would be Nokia users — off cold.

If you don’t want to be here, then just bow out. You’ve got a strong market presence in the rest of the world. You may not really need to be a player in the US smartphone market.

The biggest challenge in business is deciding which business you’re really in. That’s partly about deciding which business you want to be in, and also not kidding yourself (and others) about what business you’re really in. Nokia, I suspect you need to ask yourself some frank, basic questions about the nature of your US smartphone business

Here’s the link for this video. If you go there, you can leave a video comment in response. And here’s more info about Tokbox.

This is a better deal for me, since generally I don’t talk on the phone much — except last month. I was working on a magazine feature story that required many interviews. And also, since I got known as a source on the role of Twitter in covering the Mumbai terrorist attacks, I was called by several reporters (including ABCnews.com) to give interviews on that topic.

Last night I got my cell phone bill. It was about $70 more than I expected — because I’d exceeded my allotted minutes. Ouch.

That’s the trouble with being in the media business, and many other fields: You can’t always control how much time you’ll have to spend on the phone in a given month. Which means you can’t always control the number or timing of the minutes you’ll use. Which is why cell-only folks need other options for making and taking calls that allow you to control costs.

Enter Skype…

I’ve used the VOIP phone service Skype for a couple of years, but mainly for conversations with people who also are already comfortable with Skype. But most of the time, the people who want to call me and talk for a while, or who I need to call, either don’t use Skype or prefer to talk by phone. Which means all those calls count toward my cell phone bill. And when too many of them pile up in the same month — Ouch!$!

It seems to me that these days everyone with broadband access should get a free Skype account and learn how to use it to make and receive voice calls. All Skype-to-Skype calls are free on both ends. It costs you nothing to extend this money-saving courtesy to your cell-phone-only, Skype-using contacts.

Once you’re set with that option, then when you’re scheduling or starting a voice call that might last more than a couple of minutes, you can ask people whether they prefer to talk by phone or Skype. Why should they end up paying for you to call them?

You can use Skype on any computer with broadband access (as long as the service isn’t blocked, which I suppose could be the case from computers at some companies, libraries, net cafes, etc.). You’ll need either a built-in microphone, or a wired or Bluetooth headset connected to the computer.

So far Skype not really something that will work from a cell phone. Understandably, cell carriers are averse to supporting Skype calls, since they can’t charge for those minutes. Skype and other VOIP services are a huge, looming threat to cell carriers and landline providers.

Quality and reliability: The sound quality of Skype calls is often startlingly clear. In my experience, Skype calls overall have far superior sound quality to cell calls. As for reliability, the frequency of sporadic problems (weird echoes, brief delays or audio gaps, or dropped calls) seems no worse than that of cell phones. I’ve found if Skype starts getting flaky in the midst of a call, if both speakers pause for a few seconds, the trouble usually clears up.

Here are some other ways you can use Skype to save money:

• SkypeOut. You can make calls from Skype to landline or cell numbers. This currently costs 2.1 cents/minute, with no limit on minutes. You can pay as you go by depositing money into a Skype Credit account (which you can set up for automatic recharge if you like). Or you can get a Skype subscription for no per-minute charges, which costs $3/month for US/Canada only ($6/month to include Mexico, $10/month to call landlines and cells around the world).
• SkypeIn gives your Skype account its own phone number which can be dialed from any landline or cell phone. This way, anyone can call you from any phone and you won’t have to worry about paying for cell phone minutes. It costs $18 for three months to get a SkypeIn number, or $60 for a year. You get free voice mail with this. UPDATE: It’s even cheaper than that. People who purchase Skype’s Unlimited U.S. and Canada subscription currently can save up to 50 percent on buying an online number (now called SkypeIn) for a year. Details.

Skype makes even more economic sense if you telecommute, travel to locations with broadband Internet access, talk a lot to friends or family who aren’t local, or are self-employed. Even if you want or need to keep your landline, no long distance or international calling fees apply to Skype calls (whether to other Skype users or regular numbers).

Skype also offers video calls, conference calls, and lots of other features — even with a free basic account.

You don’t need to use Skype for every call — just consider it an option to control your cell or long-distance bills, and to offer a courtesy to the people you call.

If you don’t like Skype, there are plenty of other voice-over-Internet (VOIP) services you can join. I’m sure some of those vendors will leave comments to this post promoting them. But Skype has a big advantage: the huge global popularity of free basic Skype accounts means you probably have more opportunities to make and take calls that are free on both ends (Skype-to-Skype) than with other services. Also, Skype is dead easy to install and use on any computer platform — so the setup and learning curve is minimal.

I can’t think of any reason not to at least get a free Skype account and learn it. Even if Skype someday dies or other free VOIP services become more popular, learning to use this kind of communication tool is as important as learning how to send and receive e-mail, or dial a phone number. Plus it won’t cost you anything — and it might help you control costs.

(NOTE: This is a rewrite of an article I originally published yesterday on Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits. That version was written specifically for journalists, and including information on recording calls via Skype.)

iPhone Rocket Launch and Interview (from MobileOrchard.com) from Mobile Orchard on Vimeo.

(Found this on the MAKE blog.)

I’ve been hearing the rumor, and Gizmodo claims it’s true: Apple is supposed to debut the next-generation iPhone on June 9, during the keynote address of its Worldwide Developers Conference. I would expect it to go on sale in the US pretty soon after that. (But of course, you never really know with Apple.)

Apparently this new iPhone will include 3G network compatibility. That’s really important for people who want a true multimedia content creation and distribution tool, not just a phone. It’s also likely to have real GPS — which is far more accurate and useful than the crappy fake GPS the current iPhone uses (based on cell phone tower triangulation). That’s important if you want to accurately geocode the content you create (photos, video, etc.).

BUT… the new iPhone is not likely to be the complete Max Headroom device that journalists and mobloggers really need. Because it’s not likely to get a much better camera (currently just 2.0 megapixels). And it’s not likely to support a Bluetooth keyboard. And it’s not likely to get a built-in video editor. So it’s still meant mainly for mobile content consumers, not creators.

In other words, the new iPhone still won’t be as good a product as Nokia’s N95 already is — at least not as far as journalists and mobloggers are concerned.

Nevertheless, I might soon end up settling for an iPhone — unless Nokia pulls its US service act together damn quick. (Specifically, before the new iPhone goes on sale in the US.)

Why? Because the new iPhone might be barely good enough for much of what I need a mobile device to do. More importantly, Apple has proven, through its service practices, that it stands behind its products and cares about customers’ experience after they buy. Apple understands and respects that users of high-end phones run their lives on those devices, and thus cannot tolerate being without them for more than a few days at a time.

Meanwhile Nokia’s dearth of US local service centers, requirement that customers ship damaged or dead phones to Nokia at their own expense, and warranty that allows Nokia up to 30 days to return a phone — plus its risky, clunky, PC-only firmware update process — convey the message that Nokia doesn’t really care much about its US customers. (At least, not after they fork over $500-$700 for an N-Series phone.)

And when it comes to must-have, multi-use mobile devices, service quality is at least as important as product quality. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that, for me, service is more important — since evidently I am willing to compromise (within reason) on the product I want in order to get the service I need. I doubt I’m the only journalist/moblogger willing to make that tradeoff.

That said, I know that Nokia has recently woken up to the fact that its US customers are so very displeased with their service, and they are starting to try to make amends. Here’s where that’s at so far…

Today, Nokia blogger Charlie Schick writes that Nokia Care USA (Nokia’s US service/support division) is now “interested in getting directly engaged” with discussing US service issues in public with US consumers.

Charlie’s helping Nokia Care craft a plan to conduct this conversation “over the next few weeks,” since “We here at Nokia Conversations have taken this discussion as far as we can. And I do not think we or this site are well suited to take this discussion where it needs to go.”

That’s some progress — but it many not be fast enough given Apple’s plans and US consumers’ impatience.

Charlie also noted “I do know that in the past three weeks the head of Care USA has been exploring and working on something concrete that she attributes to the conversation going on [in the Nokia Conversations Blog]. I do not have the details, so do not want to say anything further until the head of Care USA is ready to tell us the whole thing. Indeed, we are trying to give them some space so that they come out on their own and speak for themselves.”

That also sounds interesting — but once more, time is of the essence.

What I want to know is: Will Nokia take most of the risk of their fancy phones off US consumer’s shoulders? Specifically, will they devise a way to guarantee that they will repair, replace, or deliver loaners for damaged or dead N-Series phones to US users within, say, seven days? (For a start — 2-3 would be a better goal. Apple already moves that fast.)

Most critically: Can and will Nokia USA put that kind of solution in place by the time I can buy an iPhone? (Or very shortly after that launch.)

We’ll see. Meanwhile, tick, tick tick, Nokia… I still hope you succeed in the US, but it’s really up to how fast you’re willing to move at this point.

And BTW, Nokia (you’re still listening, right?) this NewsTools 2008 conference I’m out is a big reason why I bought my N95 last month — remember, the one that bricked after your firmware update and that you wouldn’t replace immediately for free? The one I don’t have with me right now? Grumble….

Across the US, many journalists (pro and amateur) and mobloggers could make great use of pro-quality, multifunctional reporting tools like the Nokia N95 and N82. However, right now, the very slow and limited service that Nokia USA offers — coupled with significant known flaws in Nokia’s clunky, Windows-only firmware update process (which can turn your phone into an unresponsive brick) — foists too much risk upon high-end US consumers.

Please join this conversation by commenting at Nokia’s blog and in their support forum. Let them know how they can make their US service good enough to warrant trust from would-be N95 and N82 users!

Earlier today Nokia’s Charlie Schick posted a thoughtful comment about how Nokia and its current and would-be customers might, through talking openly together, improve the situation in the high-end US phone market. (Also, Nokia director of corporate communications Mark Squires also just left a comment on this theme.)

Here’s my response to the excellent points Charlie raised…

————-
Hi, Charlie

Thanks for commenting. This conversation is getting very interesting, and I’m glad to see that Nokia seems willing to engage in a non-superficial way.

Thanks also for starting to raise these issues on Nokia’s Conversations blog. I posted some thoughts today on why discussing problems publicly is so important.

Despite vast time-zone differences, I think this could be a quite interesting and possibly constructive conversation.

To respond to your points:

1. “PLEASE, let’s together make sure that this isn’t a one-off ‘help Amy’ thing.”

I TOTALLY agree with you on this. My main concern here is that I want US journalists and mobloggers to be able to get ASAP the kind of pro-quality tool that will enable them to do their best work from anywhere, anytime — while staying connected to what’s happening elsewhere.

So far, Nokia’s N-Series tools (especially the N95 and N82) seem to offer the best shot at that. But with mobile tools, service is at least as important as product. If Nokia USA can get its service act together, I think we’d have a winner that ultimately would enhance the quality and diversity of news, information, and perspective available from the US.

Furthermore, until Nokia USA gets its service act together, I personally couldn’t bring myself to commit to owning another N95 — no matter how much I want one. By itself, a great product isn’t enough. So the only way to “help Amy” here is to improve how Nokia USA works, starting with short-term fixes and moving up to more substantive improvements (like widespread local distribution and service in the US).

2. “My comment on ‘intermediaries’ wasn’t to shift the blame. Tut tut. It was saying that your category of problem (service) was a complicated beast.”

I understand that your comment on intermediaries wasn’t intended to shift blame. However, I hope you understand that from the *consumer’s perspective* it could easily appear that way.

Nokia has pulled together a complex network of connections to bring its N Series products to the US market. This involves sales, fulfillment, distribution, support, service, and more. When you look out at that network, you see intermediaries. But consumers see Nokia. As far as we’re concerned, we’re dealing with *your brand*. So we expect Nokia to be accountable for our experience with your products and service.

I understand that building a coherent brand vs. managing necessary intermediaries is a tough balancing act for any consumer products company.

One thing I hope this discussion will do is help consumer’s peek behind the curtain of your brand to understand more about how Nokia really works — and who you work with. The goal of this is to reality-check consumers and Nokia alike so we can focus on getting to market the product-service package consumers really need, in a way that’s lucrative enough for Nokia to keep it up over the long haul.

3. “Wow. This was a great article. It has many aspects and I think it’s pivoting around your krappy experience with the FW update. I think you could make a deeper post in each of these items you list.”

Thanks, I’m glad my efforts are appreciated, because I am putting more energy into this than I expected. I’m surprised how much this matters to me — but if you saw the half-assed tools most journalists have to do their job, and how that hobbles their work, then my passion for this topic might make more sense.

To be clear — the firmware update that bricked my N95 was *only the trigger.* Don’t mistake that for the core problem.

The core problem here is that, through this technical snafu, I realized how woefully deficient Nokia USA’s service is (at this point) for N-Series users. I realized that Nokia USA was forcing consumers to assume an unacceptable level of risk, and I was relieved that by quickly deciding to ditch on the N95 for now I escaped that morass with minimal financial harm (but not without heartbreak)

And yes, if this discussion continues constructively I’m sure I’ll have much more to say on my suggestions for action.

4. “What pains me most is that you CARE and you have to suffer such an experience. But, it’s sad to think of all the people who don’t care that we turned off.”

Yeah, I know, that is a major bummer. Be glad that Nokia has developed a line of products that can instill such passion and also be so very useful to people in a position to do important work (journalists and bloggers).

The tricky thing about instilling passion is that it can quickly turn against you in a harsh way if you frustrate those passionate people. That’s one thing that concerns me here: Nokia has created a situation to engender passion, but Nokia USA has created a situation to engender frustration. Not good. I don’t envy you having to manage that conflict.

The good thing is that transparent, frank, public conversation can act like control rods in a nuclear pile. It provides a vital reality check that can keep expectations from spinning out of control, without leading people to lose hope and passion, and while finding solutions to thorny issues.

5. “It’s obvious that sometimes the firmware updater bricks a phone. Indeed, I hold my breath every time. But, it seems to be improving (it actually saved my son’s N81 user data — finally). And it’s been really popular. BUT, yeah the big BUT, maybe we should have been prepared for any of those rare instances when it BRICKS THE PHONE. Sigh.”

Regarding the firmware update process, you’ve got two big problems as far as the US market is concerned: It’s clunky as hell, and it’s Windows-only. Those are technical barriers that *can* be fixed.
Let your US users know what you’re doing to fix them — and involve us in the process. Offer us safety if we agree to be your beta testers as you improve this process. (Like maybe starting a registered beta program where, if the firmware upgrade bricks your phone, Nokia will overnight a new one to you. Just a thought.)

But in the short term (i.e., immediately) three things Nokia could do to improve the situation and gain US consumer confidence are:

• Post bulletins about what is and is not known about the firmware upgrade problems, and put them in an easily findable place that people can subscribe to by feed and e-mail. For instance, is the problem really due to trying to update non-US phone models with US software, as Nokia’s support reps told Beth Kanter? (Your comment to Beth on that indicates that may not be the reason.) Consumers want clarity on this point. FUD is bad for business.
• Train Nokia support reps ASAP about this issue, so they’re giving consistent information and advice.
• Reduce consumer risk. Update your warranty for US N-Series phones to unconditionally and immediately replace any phones bricked by your update process. No questions asked. I’m sure you can confirm though your servers whether a particular phone attempted or completed a firmware update prior to bricking. Since this is a known problem related to crucial Nokia-provided support, consumers need to know that Nokia is really taking responsibility for it, and not leaving them at risk.

6. “Well, yeah, if you pay a lot for a device, there are certain expectations.”

True. That comes down to understanding and respecting the consumer. No one wants to do business with a company that doesn’t show them respect.

Furthermore, US high-end consumers currently are weighing Nokia’s offerings against the iPhone, and the iPhone currently is winning that contest. Apple offers fast, great service for iPhones. You can buy iPhones or get them serviced/replaced at hundreds of US locations (Apple stores and AT&T wireless stores).

But the iPhone’s problem is functionality: It isn’t yet the best tool for a serious journalist or moblogger. It’s not 3G network compatible (slower data transfer), it’s locked into one US carrier, it doesn’t support an external keyboard, it only begrudgingly has begun to support 3rd-party apps in a negligible way, and it doesn’t have real GPS. Nokia currently has the advantage on all those issues. I’d like to see you use it.

One thing’s for sure — either Apple or Nokia will get the product/service mix right for the high-end US market, sooner or later. It’s just a matter of who will get there first.

High-end phone users are willing to pay a premium price for the right product/service mix. But we expect the very best in return for our money and their passion. Don’t let us down.

7. “As for sales price, distribution channels, etc, let’s see if we can split those discussion up instead of all on one place. Also, for me, at least, those are much bigger issues than I can respond to.”

Then maybe it might be best to start an online community focused on improving Nokia USA — something that addresses the technological, support, service, distribution, and pricing issues for this market as a whole.

I’d hate to see this discussion get too fragmented. (It’s already too fragmented, across various blogs and forums.) In order for all this talk to lead to action, we need coherence. And really, since it’s Nokia’s US high-end business at stake here, it makes sense for Nokia to host that discussion.

Thanks,

- Amy Gahran

Recently Nokia launched its Conversations blog, a good first step any company can take toward transparency and engagement with its customers, partners, and critics. Not surprisingly, most of the initial posts were “happy news” of one kind or another. I don’t begrudge them that — almost any company is doing some good things worth discussing.

But the real proof of how serious a company is about embracing public conversation is whether it’s willing to openly discuss thorny problems. Today Nokia’s blog took a first step in this direction with this post: When things go wrong with updating your device software.

There, Nokia staffer Charlie Schick picked up on the discussion that’s been happening here on Contentious.com, and on other blogs (like Beth Kanter’s and Jenifer Hanen’s), and via social media like Twitter concerning the myriad obstacles encountered by current and would-be US users of Nokia’s high-end N-Series phones. He focused on the firmware update problem I and other US users have encountered and mentioned Nokia’s support forums — which can indeed be a useful resource for solving some problems with Nokia devices.

Schick’s blog post is a good start. But I found his comment today on my blog even more to the point.

…All in all, I think this is a promising start to the public conversation. Of course, so far it’s all “just talk” — but real progress comes from action. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of action Nokia and its US market can muster together.

I left a couple of comments on Nokia’s blog — which will probably be approved for publication to the blog after people get to work in Finland. So in the meantime, here’s what I commented…

Charlie, thanks for raising this issue here. As I’ve written on my own blog, I really do want to see Nokia succeed in the high-end US phone market, mainly because I think your N-Series products offer the best potential so far to serve as an all-in-one mobile journalism/blogging tool. I know a lot of US journalists and bloggers who could use those tools RIGHT NOW. Getting those people what they need to do what they do is my core concerns, because we need the info they produce.

So to clarify, this isn’t a “help Amy” thing. As much as I’d love a new N95, I know it would only lead to more frustration unless Nokia USA gets its act together on service and support.

I’m encouraged that Nokia seems willing to address this in public. I think the combination of your blog and discussion boards is a good place to focus this conversation.

What I’d suggest is that Nokia make it easier to track discussion and progress on its current US problems. For instance, why don’t you set up some issue-related categories on this blog (with their own feeds) called:
- Firmware updates
- US service/support
- US distribution
- US pricing

You could set up similar directories in your support forums to make these topic areas easier to track there. Currently, your forum offers a section on N Series and S60 devices, which is global and mostly technical. You also have a forum for software updates.

But none of your forums have a US focus — and there’s nowhere to discuss your service, support, and distribution issues.

Categories and forum directories are powerful tools for focusing online conversations and communities aimed at consensus, collaboration, and problem-solving. Plus, they can be implemented quickly and inexpensively. Maybe focusing this conversation would be a useful first step toward both building goodwill with the high-end US market, documenting progress and setbacks, and making improvements happen.

It might even be worthwhile to start a separate blog or community for US N-Series users aimed at engaging this community in enhancing the overall service, support, distribution, and pricing experience. I think if your potential market here was more aware of what Nokia is trying to do to solve these problems, and that their input counts, then together we might find solutions that could help Nokia succeed in this market.

That’s the nice thing about online media — there are always lots of options for collaboration, as long as your goal isn’t to control the conversation.

…Also, to clarify, the point of my posts on Contentious.com about the N95 were not really about difficulties with your *product,* as your post today might imply.

As I’ve said many times, I think your N95 product is fabulous. It’s definitely far superior to your main US competition, the Apple iPhone.

Rather, my point is that Nokia USA’s poor business practices (inadequate warranty, too-long service turnaround time that requires shipping, lack of local distribution and replacement, inconsistent answers from support, and too-wide discrepancy in pricing between buying from Nokia vs. other outlets like Amazon) are sabotaging your own efforts to gain headway in the US high-end phone marketplace.

Before high-end US consumers are going to trust Nokia enough to pay premium prices for your premium products, they need to know whether you’ll really be there for them if they need you. Frankly, right now it’s not clear whether you’re really serious about serving the high-end US market. With mobile devices, service (in every sense of the word) is at least as important as product quality. So far, Nokia USA gets a B- on product (it would be an A+ except for the firmware update problem), but you’re definitely flunking on the service front.

Nokia could fix its clunky and risky firmware update process (which *does* badly need fixing) and STILL not succeed in the US high-end market because of these larger problems. That’s the 800-lb gorilla in the room, and that’s what you really need to be handling — ideally with transparency and public engagement.

- Amy Gahran