This is massively backdated, but it's been awhile since I've posted about pretty much anything. With the (relatively small) amount of beef I had with this particular event, I figured it was was worth a post in itself. C:

Anyway, on the 10th of February, my brother and I headed down to the Pavilion, KL to attend the Nokia Lumia phone launch. The event was to, well, launch Nokia's first-ever Windows phone, and promote the newest additions to their handphone line-up: the Lumia 800 and 710. My brother, techygeek he is, is still waxing eloquent about the non-lag interface, the Windows operating system and built-in GPS (although he does grouse about the state of the Market app currently). I'm not particularly savvy when it comes to phone specs and functions though, so I'll glaze over the specifics and apps and jump right into the event itself.

Now, we could have waited for the phone to hit stores before we went out and bought it -neither my brother and I particularly enjoy queues, humidity or boredom and as a general rule, one is bound to suffer from at least one of the above when looking to buy a product at a launch itself. But Nokia, wily people they are, know very well how to offer incentives:




First 100 people, you say?



As Boromir could have potentially said if he were living in the 20th century, one does not simply pass up a chance to get a good free headset. Toss in a sleek, ergonomic (and also free!) mouse and yep, we're totally there. The force of freebies-love is strong in this one.

New phone (and headset and mouse) in mind, we drove to the Pavilion with the intention of braving the sun and massive hordes eager to get their hands on the new phone.

But wait, what horde?

When we got there at 1.30 P.M, my brother was the 58th person to register for the purchase of the phone, or so said the registration card he was given. By the time the actual numbers (via tags around the wrist) were handed out, he was the 54-56th person. Prior to the start of the launch at around 5 P.M, we noticed people holding cards with numbers up to 116. By the end of the event, I think pretty much everyone standing in line qualified for the add-on gifts, meaning the number of people queuing had shortened to below 100 people.

Considering the emcee announced that the first person to register apparently came at 6 A.M, that's a pretty scraggly queue. Taking into account the extra goodies icing the deal, it's even a little baffling how short the line was.


credit goes to the various photographers)

The iPad 2 queue vs. the Lumia queue. Keep in mind that the picture is of only one of several iPad launch locations (other outlets entertained similarly enthusiastic responses) and was taken early in the morning. The Lumia crowd pictured was photographed near the launch time, judging by the length of the queue, and there was only one launch held for the Lumia.

Granted, pretty much any official Apple product with a 'i' in front these days will garner massive attention, so comparing the crowds might seem a little unfair on my part. Still, it takes quite a bit for a Malaysian to walk away from RM1000 worth of freebies. And people did walk away - how else would the line have shorten otherwise?

Personally, I think Nokia could have done a few small activities prior to the launch, just to get the crowd (and queue) going. A simple quiz to give away small doorgifts would have been fun, or a few games. How about interacting with the queue and asking some of them what they're looking forward to in the new phone? It'd be a cooler way of announcing your phone features, especially since the most of the people in the queue are tech-savvy and enthusiastic about unique features of the Lumia 800, if the conversations I overheard were anything to go by. I don't know about you, but I think I'd prefer to hear my brother nattering happily away about the specifics of the Lumia's operating system over the emcee's reading of the phone's special features (which were pretty generic to me, when put that way). As it was, the people in line basically nattered to each other for the 5 hours or so it took for the launch to start.

It's not to say that Nokia didn't make an effort though. I noticed a couple of promoters handing out free umbrellas to passer-bys, but simply handing out gifts won't generate interest in the item you're trying to promote. Sure, if I was walking by, I'd appreciate the umbrella (and it was a really nice, colourful one) and your large promotion area does looks really nifty from here, but I won't feel any urge or compulsion to check it out if you just gave it to me the way a rugby player might pass the ball to a teammate.



I also thought it pretty poorly done that the organizers hadn't arranged the layout of the launch in a way to enable the people in the queue to watch it as well. I had to leave my brother in line and move to the front to watch the flashmob and the flashy launch truck with its flashy confetti. I mean, you'd want to launch the phone for your customers to see, right? That's what they're in line for, y'know? Your phone? (And freebies, but yeah, the phone too.) The way things were, unless you were at the head of the queue, you probably didn't get to see much of the actual launch at all. Bit of a shame, that.


Drawing may not be to scale. Artist swears she's usually better at photoshop.

As to my thoughts on the launch itself, I thought the group of flashmob dancers was a bit disorganized and small. The little motorcycles were cute, but awkward as they had too little space to chootle around. The biggest highlight was definitely the huge truck, which housed phones in sleek compartments for the media to try out and small computer screens singing the praises of the Lumia.




Speaking of the Lumia, here's another bone I have to pick with the Nokia management. After waiting in line for ages and agonizing over what colours we wanted for the phone and the headset (Nokia does phone colors gorgeously and both phone and headset have the colour choices of black, pink or blue), we were told that the colours we wanted were out of stock when it was finally our turn. Of the phone, there was only the black version left, and there were only the white and pink headsets in stock.

DUDE.



We're the 54th customer in Malaysia to purchase the phone and you're already out of colours? That doesn't reflect well on your planning at all! You should have ensured that the stock on-hand was adequate enough to allow all customers to get the phone in the colour option of their choice - it's a basic privilege at phone shops, much less at launches. You've advertised all three colours in your posters everywhere, making it clear that there are indeed 3 options to pick from. We've taken the time to wait in line for this phone; naturally, we'd want to be able to get it in the colour we want. Yeesh. My brother had to forego the pink phone and black headsets he wanted, and we eventually went with the black phone and pink headset instead.

While this may seem like quite the rant post, Nokia did do some things right. Upon registration, my brother and I were given an umbrella and a bottle of water - a pretty considerate move seeing that we'd be waiting out in the sun (or rain should that have occurred). The Pavilion was a nice location for the launch, with enough people to generate a decent-sized passer-by crowd. While the number of counters open were fairly small (only 3 counters, with the salespeople writing out the receipts by hand), they were quite efficient.

And they threw in a free knapsack on top of the other freebies, hurrah! The headsets also work pretty darn well, and my brother is mega-pleased with the mouse. The cheapo spirit within is appeased, so all is right with the world.

Well, almost. Nokia still has to work a few kinks out the next time they have a launch or an event to make it a more satisfying experience. However, kudos to them for providing good-quality gifts for those willing to wait it out for their phones. The display area was nicely sized as well, with enough room to move in and out. Nokia's clearly invested a lot of time and money into making this launch happen.

Despite my non-tech-geekery, I have a special fondness for Nokia ever since I dropped my first Nokia phone into a drain and discovered it still worked. I hope the Lumia does well and that Nokia continues to keep their revenue up in this humble corner of East Asia.