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The Future of the N-Gage
Gamasutra has a talk with Jani Karlsson, senior manager for the N-Gage at Nokia. He talks about how Nokia sees the N-Gage, and what they plan to do with the little engine that could've in the near future. Sort of. Kinda. From the article: "GS: So the new handsets which are coming out with the N-Gage technology inside. What's the visibility of the brand of N-Gage within those? JK: I really can't comment on that because I'd be stepping on other peoples turf. Every single product that Nokia has a strong individual marketing message to it. The power to decide the visibility or non-visibility of any brand, external or internal, is really down to individual brand departments. GS: So... you can talk about the future of N-Gage? JK: Sure - that's all about expansion, into the smartphone areas."
The real problem with the N-Gage is the marketing. Instead of pitching it as a console that doubles as phone, they should sell it as a phone that also plays games. The features the N-Gage has dwarf a lot of phones that sell for the same price; thing is, no one thinks it's a phone. They sell it in stupid places like EB when they should sell them at the Cingular store. People pay outlandish prices for phones, but not for gameboys. Sell it as a phone that also plays games real well, has support for java and simbian and whatnot, and people will buy it. Maybe put a cam on it and a keyboard for two way sidekick type crap. How such a feature rich phone failed to sell when less feature packed phones sell like hotcakes for twice the price is really a mareketing problem.