Nokia, Motorola--Wake Up & Blog

While picking up a new cell phone recently, I was reminded of a long overdue post. Over a month ago, B.L. Ochman shined a light on 10 companies missing the blog boat. Well, perhaps we should add an entire industry to the list—consumer electronics. Or, for the sake of a shorter post, let's simply call out cell phone manufacturers. Disclaimer: I surfed Nokia and Motorola's corporate sites. Neither site's search engine or site map shows a blog.

This hit my radar during a conversation with Intelliseek's CMO, Pete Blackshaw. I asked Pete which company he thought should have a blog and he immediately offered up an entire industry.

“Consumer electronic manufacturers, like Nokia, have tons of new product information that comes out on a near daily basis,” says Blackshaw. “The industry players should blog to create a sense of community with their top customers. The smart ones would test new product ideas and fold the best input into new products. People value companies that are engaged with their customers."

This would be easy enough to do, cell phones and other gadgets already have an established audience of bloggers. Just look at blogs like Engadget and Gizmodo and consider the amount of people frequenting those blogs to stay up on the latest. A blog from either company would instantly become an oft-linked, daily read.

N-Gage Your Customers: In the aftermath of Global PR Blog Week, I discussed this topic with eKetchum Digital Media Group's Anthony V Parcero. He added that Nokia should have tapped into the blogosphere when developing its N-Gage mobile game decks. Nokia could have enlisted its biggest fans to avoid a lot of the negative buzz N-Gage is receiving.

What is Nokia doing instead of blogging? Product development. Lifeblog software helps Nokia customers moblog. I was wondering why we hadn't seen RSS on cell phones. We're seeing some progress in this department too. Bringing RSS to cell phones makes the handy device even more useful. Now if Nokia could make my cell phone my wallet and eliminate the need for my debit card, they would have one happy customer.

Comments

[Kevin Dugan]

b2o updates us on nokia product development: http://tinyurl.com/5sx5m

[Jeremy]

Nokia sorta has a blog - The Feature (www.thefeature.com).

On the about page: Although TheFeature is owned by Nokia, the Espoo, Finland-based manufacturer of technologies for mobile communications, the opinions expressed herein are solely those of its writers and content providers, and are not official statements by Nokia or any of its business partners or affiliates. The TheFeature staff and its content partners are committed to editorial independence and to the openness of its forums. We think you'll enjoy your time exploring mobility on TheFeature, and that it will be time well spent.

So, they blog on greater issues than just Nokia. It's a great read if you have clients in the wireless / mobile arena, and I like that Nokia isn't just cheerleading, but looking to improve the space.

[Kevin Dugan]

Jeremy - Duly noted. I was afraid that may be the case when I posted, hence my disclaimer. While I could change the headline to Nokia woke up and blogged, I'll merely note I agree with your take. Focusing on the space does more for their thought leadership overall. And it is interesting to note how they are being subtle about the project.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[Heather Carle]

I think you aren't seeing RSS on cell phones because WAP services that feed news headlines already exist ...

[Joe]

Wouldn't is mean more bandwidth would be being used by phones with RSS?

[a1200 is Rocks]

thanks for the post!

[Satya]

Really good article. I have been following your blog for last 3 months. You have good knowledge
on Mobile(cell phone) Industry and happenings. Please continue the good work. Thank you.