The Nokia N-90 Experience

Introduction

Several months back I received a call from Andy Abramson of Comunicano , a public relations firm representing some of the products in the Nokia line. In short, Andy told me about a unique program he was starting with some strong support from Nokia. Andy was reaching out to a series of active “bloggers” and popular sites like Mobility Today asking if they would like to participate in this new program.

So what was this program about?

A pretty simple concept---get Nokia's products out to folks that use and talk about these devices and see what they have to say about them. He wanted us to use, abuse and put the phone through its paces and asked in return that we comment on them either in a review or as many have done, in comments on their blogs.

I was impressed with the concept because there were no restrictions. He wanted an honest evaluation on the product --- its pros and its cons. He was specific in saying that the phone was on loan and would have to be returned but that the length of time that I could keep the product would be based on my desire to use it. I liked that! I liked the fact that I could take my time and if I chose to write about it, I could and if I decided not to write about it, that was fine to.

I was clear at the outset that I was an avid HP fan but that I was starting to break out of my shell and was looking at other manufacturers. Coupled with that, I was a Microsoft devotee. I indicated that I had little experience with the Symbian OS and frankly, had little desire to learn anything about it. After all, if it wasn’t Windows….it couldn’t be good. To my surprise, Andy’s reply was: “that is exactly why I would like you to look at it”.

I was immediately impressed with his openness and willingness to loan a phone to someone that could write anything he wanted to write. He must have been pretty convinced that this phone was so superior that it didn’t make any difference who looked at it. I liked what I was hearing, I liked the openness and the honesty and I liked the fact that I could do it using my timeline so I said OK, I’ll look at it. Within a few days I had a package at the door so I was about to begin the Nokia Experience!