On January 30, Research In Motion launched its new operating system, Blackberry 10, and two new phones that run on it. The company also changed its name to Blackberry and announced Alicia Keys as its new Global Creative Director. While Blackberry was busy doing all this in a glitzy New York event, which was then showcased via video across the world, Nokia’s social media team was up to its usual tricks. On that very day, Nokia tweeted the following from its official account: Blackberries make a great snack, but for the world’s best business smartphone, try a #Lumia. A picture of a yellow-colored Lumia accompanied this message, and the company went all out in making it as visible as possible on all digital platforms.
A dig like this one is definitely not something new for the Finnish tech giant. Last year, it had gone after the iPhone with a monochromatic video mocking the dearth of color options in the Apple’s portfolio. During the pre-launch promotion of Lumia 920 and 820, Nokia’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Chris Weber, had tweeted, “Samsung take note, next generating Lumia coming soon.” Nokia is currently infinitesimal in terms of market share, when compared with Apple or Samsung. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t take a few shots are the market leaders once in a while. Blackberry though is in the company’s league, as both struggle to score the title of third place.
Humorous jabs and direct criticism is not uncommon in the aggressively competitive smartphone category. Samsung has an entire campaign of ads mocking the iPhone for its lack of latest features, and also mocking the culture of Apple fans. Short impact periods and increased digital outreach are allowing the spread of these marketing tactics. A new phone is now like a Hollywood movie that must do well in the first week or it’s out of the consumers’ minds. Consumers in the U.S. are so loyal to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android phones that getting them to even consider an alternative is a feat.
Therefore, languishing companies like Nokia and Blackberry must try all forms of disruption – large like new technology and small like a funny tweet. HTC has already admitted that it lost out on market share due to lack of enough communication. Blackberry hasn’t responded to Nokia just yet.
