Educating Consumers About S60

I'm a little concerned about how our providers here in the states market certain phones.  At this time I'm not going to include T-Mobile because currently they do not offer any S60 phone, although the N90 and N91 are supported.  T-Mobile shares support in educating their consumers by including links to NokiaUSA.com for further assistance... and they leave it at that.  There are no restrictions.

What bothered me on many occasions is Cingular's in store sales reps.  I remember a few months back I was in a Cingular store and the 6682 was on display.  I had one at the time, however mine wasn't supported by Cingular because it wasn't raped with the addition of the Media Mall app.  No worries there.  A potential customer came in and inquired about the phone as he checked out the working display unit.  The only thing the sales rep mentioned was that it was a camera phone and could record video.  Boom... that was it.  No mention of the platform what-so-ever. 

I overheard the same rep lay down the list of features, functions and specialties of the Motorola RAZR like it was a rehearsed script.  In a more poetic manner... the words fell fluently from her mouth!!  I'm sorry, but I just didn't get it.

On several occasions at this particular store I've heard features and functions being spread while that poor little S60 6682 sat posted on the wall in the back corner of the store.  It lead me to question some of the employees. 

You may be wondering... "well why is she writing this now when the 6682 was so long ago"?  Reason being is because I'm noticing a pattern... the same thing happened with the 7610.  With the N75 hopefully soon to be released,  will consumers get a full knowledge of what S60 is?  Will they know what their device is capable of?  Lol, maybe Nokia can put a card in the boxes with my web address so consumers can find out for themselves (jk).

At the time there was no E62 in the store so the employees had to gawk at mine. 

Not every consumer goes online or does research before shopping.  Sometimes they in fact rely on customer sales reps for proper information, which in my experiences is not given.  Is this giving S60 a bad name?  Who is responsible?

The reason for my post today (well actually 10:35pm) is because I'd like to know what can be done.  If Nokia is supplying providers with their multimedia computers I hardly doubt that they are just doing it without providing the proper information and training.  And if these reps do receive proper training, why aren't they utilizing it?  I worked in retail for 6+ years and always made good on "secret shops".  I think its time that Nokia get someone to secretly ship these providers to make sure that they are in fact selling the product to its full potential.

Disclaimer... Santa's has taken all my energy and I haven't slept for 2 days... but I think I'm still making a valid point even if it does sound like I'm babbling!

Comments

[Ms. Jen]

Hi Darla,

You have made a valid point. And I think that is why Nokia is selling their phones online now, as many of the US carriers are not selling them at all or are doing an amazingly BAD job at it.

I had two friends buy 7610's after watching me use mine, but they could not get it at their local Cingular Store but had to order it online. This past year, 2 more friends liked my Irish 6680 and were unable to find the 6682 at Cingular and ordered it via Amazon.

When I recently went into a local Cingular to pick up a new car charger all the reps drooled over my N80 and I asked them when they would be selling it. "I wish!" replied the honest one.

All of my friends with Motorolas are very frustrated, esp. with the Razr.

Then again, Cingular has been making bad choice after bad choice, not just in the phones they have been pushing but also in their network. Have you noticed the decline of the 3G/data network in the last year? I have.

AT&T Wireless was so good. Someone, and not in a good way, needs to spank the Cingular execs.

Cingular, pull your collective corporate heads out of your collective bottom. Wash them and then get your act together.

I plan on picking up a few other carrier's sim chips and testing them in the next month to see where I get the best 3G/data coverage in LA/OC and who has the fastest. The winner will get my business.

[Alexandre Silva]

That's something that happens a bit everywhere. Here in Portugal it's exactly the same thing.. S60 phones are just regular phones for the sales persons, only would good camera qualitys.. nothing else.. I also don't see why nokia doesn't take a good look in developing the real possibilities of its smartphones.

[glenn]

Oh darla.. you are so corrrect and I've been whining about this for some time as well.. formerly in Canada and now from Colorado where I just moved. As far as I can tell Nokia S60 devices are not in the outlets and if they are they are not being sold. The reps are for the most part unskilled and can only sell what they know about... in this case its either the Razr or the odd clerk may tout the Blackberry Pearl.. typically its whatever they've seen on TV. Its really too bad and its quite confusing. Perhaps Nokia is depending on the consumer coming into the Nokia shops (great if you happen to live in New York)

[dthree]

At least the cingular reps I've talked to knew the 6682 was more than just a cameraphone, they referred to it as a smartphone. This term, however, scares people off because they just think of the expensive Windows Mobile devices and Treos.

[tnkgrl]

What really bugs me is that while ignoring Symbian, Cingular reps keep pushing Windows Mobile onto customers.

[Magnus, Iceland]

Nokia has an academy program where you can go to lectures on how the different OS on Nokia phones work. We had a guy here in Iceland, named Claus Bach and he came from Nokia in Denmark and he ran an extensive course on how S60 works and all the different benefits you can have in using this OS.

Seems to me that Mr. Bach needs to pay a visit to the States!

[Darla]

@Ms. Jen and Glenn,

I'm thinking that the trend might be that they sell what data plan matches the device. If you've notice the S60's that Cingular did carry, with the exception of the E62 didn't quite fall into any of the data plans that Cingular offered.

[Darla]

@Magnus,

I think I agree with you!

[Captainmicahp]

You are of course totally correct. It is not only a problem with S60 phones, but all smartphones. To Cingular an S60 phone or a Pocketpc phone is just a phone you can sync with your computer. Even though I personally prefer Windows Mobile, I really like the branding Nokia is trying for S60 calling them "Multimedia Computers" instead of phones. It is a much more accurate statement. Keep on preaching, the world needs Smartphone Evangelists like you.

[Gizmo Buddy]

Hey Darla,
I totally agree with you.

Just surfed onto your blog-- and I'd earlier posted something on my own blog, abt how it's possible the S60 platform might never meet it's full market potential; and how it might just share the fate of the Sony PSP-- I personally think the Sony PSP sold maybe one-tenth of the number it could have sold- but wasnt ever promoted properly by Sony.

-Gizmo Buddy