–

Get your hands on a Nokia N900, Nokia N97 mini
or Nokia Booklet 3G !!!
–

Following my recent Social Media work in Budapest, I’m pleased to announce that I can provide one lucky individual with their very own chance of Nokia goodness – get your hands on your very own choice of either the Nokia N900, Nokia N97 mini or the Nokia Booklet 3G – the prize will arrive in the form of a free product trial (hopefully before the official UK release dates but sadly this I can’t guarantee).

Please note that the winning entry will be selected at random but if there’s less than ten correct entries overall then the first correct entry will be deemed the winner. The competition closing date will be Monday 2nd November 2009 10am GMT.

–

Simply tweet (or leave a comment below containing) the following message word-for-word (with the blank’s replaced by the correct one-word answers) for your chance to win:

–

Missing blogger’s first name = blank. The boat sailed from Port number blank. A Star blank.
#Nokia #OnlineAsItHappens    http://bit.ly/3gahcC

–
–

Below are two ‘yet-to-be-released’ Nseries video’s… watch them closely because there were four bloggers in Budapest (I was one of them) but only three of them feature in both of the following video’s. You can find some additional clues in my blog posts if you need them.

–

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

–

IF YOU CUT OFF A SPIDERS HEAD, it dies; but if you cut off a starfish’s leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow an entirely new starfish.

Quote from Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom.
Authors of ‘The Starfish and The Spider’.

–
As some of you may know I was recently invited to Budapest to take part in filming and social media production for the new Nokia Nseries Campaign (currently code-named #budaviral it is perhaps a little presumptuous on behalf of the marketing department) but the invitation to join a select team of mobile geeks and bloggers was an awesome opportunity and too good to turn down.

–
When I boarded my flight to Hungary I was carrying with me a book entitled ‘The Starfish and The Spider’. I was also very aware that my iPhone was my primary mobile handset – so why had Nokia invited me? and what were they expecting from me?

–

Photo: Budapest
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

–

–
Before I continue, and for those that may question the sustainability of such a trip (900 mile flight each way) I would like to point out that my focus in this instance was positive ’social impact’ over ‘environmental change’ (although EasyJet do have a CSR Policy I have to admit I’m not an enthusiastic fan of corporate carbon offsetting, but I was pleased to see only one empty seat on-board my return flight, in comparison to the twenty or so available on my outbound journey).

I firmly believe that social media tools and technologies have the ability to connect, unite, empower and educate communities towards positive change (both social and environmental) – as Nokia themselves are demonstrating with their Responsiveness Campaign (exploring the positive impacts of responsive conversation) supported by TED Fellow Kyra Gaunt.
I myself spend most of my days joining dots between technologies and ideas to empower positive impact – hence SustainableWidget.com and my client list focused on training & development, education and entrepreneurship, and socially and environmentally positive enterprise.

–

However, getting back to the Starfish…

–
Nokia’s invitation in this case had me both intrigued and a little nervous for different reasons… given my design background I’ve been an Apple user (some might say fanboy) for thirteen years and a business contract iPhone user since August 2007. However, I personally think the iPhone camera sucks and I find Apple’s ‘corporate non-transparent ways’ and ’sometimes suspicious governance’ of its App Store ’specifically for video-streaming services’ extremely frustrating (and some might say non existent).

With this in mind and given the fact my Digital SLR just isn’t portable 24/7, I do tend to carry a Nokia N96 mobile in my bag, from which I sparingly record video footage, live-stream via Qik.com and take photographs of useful quality (5 mega pixels).

Over recent months I’ve also been carrying an Nokia N97 which is equipped with a slightly better camera lens (Carl Zeiss Tessar 2.8/5.4) and comes pre-installed with Qik.com live-streaming; but if I’m honest I do leave the real social media content creation and mobile geekness to entertaining and talented folk like Christian Payne and James Whatley (I’m more interested in how all this shiny stuff can be used at a global/regional/social/academic/community level to bring people and ideas together for positive change).

I prefer bottom-up, multi-channel ‘community focused’ mindsets (some might say web 2.0 principles) as opposed to those of one-way corporate governance and dictatorship – I choose Starfish over Spiders.

–
With this said, and given my recent experiences of Nokia, I’d like to voice my viewpoint to anyone who’s interested:

Apple design and manufacture solid consumer electronics that deliver intuitive usability to a mass and global market. Apple are undoubtedly best-known for their hardware products (including the Apple Mac, iPod and iPhone) but in my personal opinion the most impressive part about their diverse and ground breaking product range is often overlooked (especially by the mass market).

The combination of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system and iTunes media platform delivers an unparalleled and unrivaled user experience! Lets face it, the reason most people overlook beautiful simplicity is because its so simple they don’t need to (or even require time to) stop and think about it. I only wish Apple made ‘touch-tone call-center systems’ – the world would be a better place and I might actually be able to talk to my bank manager!

Apple’s product quality, intuitive user experience and developer community have made them a world leader. The App Store topped 1.5 Billion Downloads in its first year and with less than 3 years in the mobile industry its supposedly on target to be market leader by 2013.

But remember I personally think the iPhone camera sucks and I find Apple’s ‘corporate non-transparent ways’ and ’sometimes suspicious governance’ of its App Store ’specifically for video-streaming services’ extremely frustrating. And more importantly still, I know I’m not alone.

I might be an early adopter in the technology space but I’m confident that those who frequent my circle will agree that being able to upload a video to YouTube is not enough (especially when its sprinkled with targeted advertising later), and its certainly not enough when so much more is easily possible (I’m reluctant to believe its a matter of cost).

It may surprise some of you to hear me say, others will have heard me openly say it already, but compared to the iPhone I actually prefer the look and tactility of the Nokia N97, and I’d even go so far as to say the build quality is better – if only it had an intuitive OS interface and keyboard (?)

–

It is with the above ‘open mindset’ that I landed in Budapest…

A nagging voice in my head kept telling me that Nokia wouldn’t be able to live up to my Apple expectations. What I found made me re-evaluate.

I found Nokia’s team to be extremely ‘community and socially minded’ in there approach and very open in conversation; not just excited about their products but more interested in what I and those around me thought we could (or wanted to) do with them. They appear to understand why I carry multiple devices and they didn’t appear at all threatened by the presence of a competitors product or a non Ovi Store App (I fail to name another brand that would be so open to this situation – perhaps Google?). Nokia appeared to understand why I prefer the App Store to Nokia Ovi, and they appeared to recognize iPhone OS is more intuitive than Nokia’s current Sybian OS.

The independent bloggers I met all shared their own stories about how the Nokia Marketing Team had actively promoted blog posts that highlighted ‘traditionally negative’ product flaws and drawbacks. Nokia seem to understand that ‘learning through doing is key’ and providing an open platform for constructive criticism and negative consumer feedback is a strength not a weakness in today’s connected ‘bottom-up’ world. Inviting bloggers and Nokia fanboys to see the latest toys is one thing but to boldly invite an opinionated Mac Addict along shows confidence in product.

Photo: My hands on an Nokia N900 Prototype
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

–

The very fact that Nokia are developing innovative multi-channel Social-Media tools like Noise Cancellation Headsets and products like the Booklet 3G’s makes me feel they understand a growing audience and mindset; and better still I think they understand their competitor marketplace (especially with Google and HTC now on the playing field). The N97 and specifically the N900 demonstrate to me that Nokia understand that one button clad product doesn’t fit all but making an adaptable touchscreen interface can help. Sure their current standing is in mobile (especially in developing markets) but I’m encouraged by the fact its building upon its impressive audio and camera know-how to develop new legs in other markets like Netbook’s and VOIP.

I left Budapest impressed with a Starfish, and I keep my fingers crossed that Nokia sort out their OS Interface before a competitor releases a decent quality camera and signs-off on a live-streaming App. The fact that they are working in developing markets gives me confidence that not only will a more intuitive and useful user experience emerge on a Nokia device but its sense of social media and global connectivity/transparency will grow.

Nokia, if you are listening, thank you for making me welcome =)
I’ll leave you with three thoughts, imagine what you could do away from Ovi…

–

–

To read more content from our Budapest adventures here are some relevant links:

#BudaViral: Social Media Adventures in Budapest with Nokia
Nokia Nseries Campaign: A Storyboard of Secrets from Budapest #BudaViral
-
My Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905 (Probably the ideal freelancer/co-working headset?
-
My Review: Nokia Booklet 3G
Ben’s Review: TheReallyMobileProject.com – Nokia Booklet 3G
Stefanos’ Review (in Greek): Pestaola.gr – Nokia Booklet 3G
-
N97 mini and N900 stuff can be found here: http://thereallymobileproject.com
-

–
On a personal note I have also tried to inject my own viewpoint surrounding Nokia’s brand and philosophy. In truth the biggest surprise for me was not the revealing of a Nokia product, it was the revealing of a Nokia mindset…

-

–
The aim of this, my final #BudaViral post, is to reveal a little more about what is yet to come from the Nokia Nseries Campaign, and provide you with an insight into an as yet unfinished series of short videos, locations and storyboards…

–
I spent three days in Budapest, during which time I watched full-time tech bloggers like Stefanos Kofopoulos and Jeremiah Anway geek-out, I witnessed consulting professionals like Ben Smith from The Really Mobile Project not only demonstrate his skills and knowledge but also evolve at rapid pace into an acting luminary. I stood in the shadows whilst Ben showed off his stage prowess as ‘man drinking water at the office water cooler’, Jeremiah played ‘wannabe ticket taut’ and ‘man in church’, Stefanos became ‘master of his own ship’; and then finally I got my role: ‘man paying cash for hi-five‘.

I only have one photo related to the above, sadly I missed all of the other opportunities because I was offline at the time ;-(

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Director Osmo Walden and his awesome team. It was an absolute pleasure working with you and I look forward to seeing the final footage. Thank you for your patience given the retakes required on my non speaking part *doh!* ;-)

For the Nokia fanboys and girls out there you might be interested to know that four short films make up the Nseries campaign. All are now in post-production having special effects added and ‘hi-fives re-mastered’, I’m assuming they’ll be released to the public at some point in November (TBC). Until then then you’ll have to make do with the following images and videos, they certainly don’t give you the storyline or sequences because that would be giving too much away…

–

Below are clues for all 4 Nokia Nseries clips…

–

Click here to view the embedded video.

–

My final note (an additional extra):

The Nokia #budaviral team flew out of Hungary during the early morning of Friday 18th Sept 09. Thankfully I secured a seat on board an evening flight back to the UK. This means I got to spend a few hours exploring Budapest on foot.

Wandering the wide streets of the Hungarian Capital I pondered the yet to be disclosed Nseries campaign positioning statement (tagline). This led to a series of seemingly random tweets in my feed. Sadly I can’t tell you what the positioning statement is but I’ll leave you with these few things to ponder…

Click here to view the embedded video.

–

To read more content from our Budapest adventures here are some relevant links:

#BudaViral: Social Media Adventures in Budapest with Nokia
Brand Philosophy: Is Nokia a Starfish or a Spider?
-
My Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905 (Probably the ideal freelancer/co-working headset?
-
My Review: Nokia Booklet 3G
Ben’s Review: TheReallyMobileProject.com – Nokia Booklet 3G
Stefanos’ Review (in Greek): Pestaola.gr – Nokia Booklet 3G
-
N97 mini and N900 stuff can be found here: http://thereallymobileproject.com
-

–

The temperature is a reported 26 degrees, standing to my right is Director Osmo Walden who’s commanding a RED camera and a forty strong film crew; and I appear to be part of a four-man team of mobile fanboy’s and bloggers (and now padawan acting extra’s) for a set of Nokia Nseries video shoots.

–

–
Photo: Nokia Budapest #budaviral team (sadly too many people to fit into one photo)
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

–
The team (pictured above) includes Ben Smith of TheReallyMobileProject (left:1), Nokia fanboy and self proclaimed ‘Tablet Guy’ Jeremiah Anway (2), Tom Hall of Nokia WOMWorld (3), full-time Greek God and blogger Stefanos Kofopoulos (4), and myself (standing behind an N97 taking the photo).

All of whom landed at Budapest Ferihegy International Airport late last night to meet each other over a quick beer, grab approximately four hours sleep, before receiving a 4.45am wake-up call to our first location shoot (a Church found somewhere within the Hungarian capital). –

–

Photo: Nokia N00 prototype (which will become N900)
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

–
So how (I hear you ask) did I ‘a self-proclaimed iPhone addict and less than regular blogger’ find myself amongst these respected online folk and surrounded by a host of as yet un-launched (and even un-seen) Nokia devices? in Budapest of all places?

The short answer is I’m not entirely sure, except to say that only a few days ago I became the recipient of a slightly cryptic email from Nokia WOMWorld, stemming from my love of shiny things, my involvement in the social media space, and the fact I gained some networked support from Nokia in 2008 when I designed and hosted a ‘VITAL Event introducing Social-Media to Creative Students and Professionals‘ on behalf of my client University for the Creative Arts.

The email read:

“Nokia will be in Budapest next week shooting a new and exciting Nseries campaign. We wondered if you would be interested in coming along for a couple of days and perhaps take part in some filming?”

Photo: Port 46, River Danumbe, Budapest
Original photo taken and licensed under creative commons by Me

–
Never one to miss an opportunity, enticed by the words ‘exciting new Nseries campaign’, and somewhat wary of the words ‘take part in filming’ I now find myself at the second shoot location of the day. I’m on board a boat, moored at Port 46 on the River Danube, with my iPhone and trusty MacBook Pro in clear view of the Nokia staff team. I’m also equipped with a Nokia N96 and N97, and have a prototype Nokia N97 mini, a Nokia CityMan 450 and a prototype handset marked N00 charging from my mac USB port (otherwise known as a prototype N900). In the background I can hear discussions surrounding a DHL delivery of a Nokia Booklet 3G.

Knowing full well that the respected team around me will be providing reliable and technical geekery on the aforementioned hardware (devices and prototypes) I will avoid publishing such content. In addition to tweets, audioboos and Qiks (provided the new SIM starts to work), the content I produce in Budapest will likely focus on Nokia’s philosophy and approach to their Nseries campaign instead of the products themselves.

After all, I’m currently reading ‘The Star Fish and The Spider‘ as recommended to me by Dave Stone, and I’m extremely intrigued to find out why they’ve invited me ‘a primary iPhone user’ over to Budapest – so far the Nokia management have been extremely accepting of my Apple preferences for tweeting and blogging…

–

To read more content from our Budapest adventures here are some relevant links:

Nokia Nseries Campaign: A Storyboard of Secrets from Budapest #BudaViral
Brand Philosophy: Is Nokia a Starfish or a Spider?
-
My Review: Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905 (Probably the ideal freelancer/co-working headset?
-
My Review: Nokia Booklet 3G
Ben’s Review: TheReallyMobileProject.com – Nokia Booklet 3G
Stefanos’ Review (in Greek): Pestaola.gr – Nokia Booklet 3G
-
N97 mini and N900 stuff can be found here: http://thereallymobileproject.com
-

Budapest Location Photos
Nokia Nseries Products

I am under the impression there are 4 parts to clue 3, and the above is part 2. The accompanying email message read as below:

Hope you?re enjoying your weekend.

I noticed you?ve been getting involved with the Search for N and
thought you might appreciate receiving the next clue.

Actually, it isn?t the WHOLE of the next clue, just a quarter of it ?
you?ll have to find the other three parts before you can crack it!
This is something of a collaborative clue, and you?ll only be able to
solve it by sharing what you have, and making sure you find the other
parts. Good luck!

P.S. Clue number 4 will hit Twitter tomorrow afternoon, so keep an eye out?