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Nokia Chases Blogger To Recover N8 Prototype
boris writes "Nokia has approached Russian authorities to retrieve its N8 prototype from blogger Eldar Murtazin, in a case similar to Apple iPhone 4/Gizmodo fiasco. In its official blog, Nokia said, 'we formally requested the return of all unauthorized Nokia property from Mr. Murtazin and he declined to respond. As a result, we have contacted the Russian authorities to assist us in the return of all unauthorized Nokia property.'"
yeah!
Did they pay off the Russian authorities?
As that how things get done in Russia.
So, in 30 years from now, when the world looks back on current events and news stories as inspiration for movies - is this what they're going to be about?
If so...
COUNT ME IN.
Think Jason Bourne meets Verizon guy.
Maybe you shouldn't be drinking so much Vodka that way, Nokia.
On an unrelated note, the proper way to say Vodka ("Wodka") sounds awesome when a Russian says it.
Living With a Nerd
Actually in it's blog I believe Nokia wrote "please return our babies" or something like that. No lawsuit etc. They just want the phones back and avoid bad press.
And yes, the phone is an early N8 prototype (from march). The reviewers named it N9 and started a lot of false rumors on it, despite (at least my) posts indicating it was a N8 and early Symbian ^3 on it.
The N8 that will ship soon is slightly different hardware wise, and vastly improved software wise.
I actually read the articleyea yea blasphemy here on Slashdot.
The guy isn’t just a blogger apparently he also describes himself as a consultant to the mobile industry. I think Nokia has a legitimate concern that he will “consult” for their competition after he’s already seen their hardware, so they want it back.
Russians never give back. We steal, yes, of course, but this is not a crime. It is the Russian way.
How did this "blogger" (also being accused of being a mercenary consultant) get hands on the prototype? Was this a pre-release review unit provided to a media member? Found in a bar restroom a la iPhone 4? Corporate espionage?
I suspect it was the first case. It wouldn't be the first time a manufacturer pulled a review prototype after they came to believe the reviewer wasn't either (A) going to be particularly favorable, or (B) was going to do something beyond just reviewing the phone, like give competitors a peek.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
An individual comes into an unauthorized posession of a development prototype.
Nokia politely asks said invidividual to return their property.
Individual does not respond.
Nokia involves the authorities.
I am failing to find a story in all this.
Here's the relevant link on conversations.nokia.com:
http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/07/07/legal-action-against-eldar-murtazin-official-statement/
It pretty much boils down to this:
"To be perfectly clear, we have asked Mr. Murtazin for the return of all Nokia property in his possession. As he has declined to reply, we asked the Russian authorities to assist us. We leave it to the Russian authorities to determine the most appropriate course of action."
Well, if the free publicity stunts work for Apple, why cannot Nokia try them too? They will probably need to "lose" four prototypes, for Apple two, but in the end they will probably move a bit the interest of the people.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
It's a Nokia.
It's going to be boring, difficult to use, and feature a lousy API and app distribution system.
Who's going to care?
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
In a case similar to Apple iPhone 4/Gizmodo fiasco
Similar except for the fact that in this case that no one really cares...
Apple fan or Apple hater, no one can deny Apple's ability to generate free PR, even inadvertently.
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
But nobody really cares about your phone. This is still what most people think of when they hear "Nokia".
Hey... that was a great phone... :-(
I had one of those that worked after falling 3 stories high!
they don't make them as they used to
Nokia or Murtazin?
An individual comes into an unauthorized posession of a development prototype.
Individual politely asks Apple if they want it back.
Apple denies existence of property.
Individual sells property to Gizmodo.
Apple involves the authorities.
-]Phreak Out[-
IMHO there's been way too many leaks lately. I smell covered-up, underground marketing techniques.
IMHO there's been way too many accusations of underground marketing. I smell cover-up, karma whoring techniques.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
excellent post. very apropos for once! actually caused a chuckle to come out of this old man.
Nokia receives with YOU!
Too bad this version of events is both completely unsubstantiated and inconsistent with the actual actions of the person who "found" the phone.
Back in 1993 I invented an iPhone type device (larger, no multitouch, slower), and needed a cellular data part to test with. I contacted the dev group at Nokia and asked if I could sample a module.
They gave me that part and then 2 days later asked for a return. They mistakenly thought I was an employee... oops. I guess they do read those sign-out sheets though.
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
Yes, a terrible shape. It really sucks to only have a little over 35% of the worldwide mobile phone market. I'd really hate to be such an irrelevance.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
The individual did not ask apple if they wanted it back. But the truth shouldn't get in the way of a good apple bash
Hmmm that's a nice phone you have there. It would be a shame if something bad happened to it.
Yeah because a year ago, that number was closer to %50, rather than dropping towards %30.
RIM, Google and Apple are the future of smart phones, not Nokia. Nokia's smartphone marketshare's going down. A lot. There's also nearly zero buzz among non-tech, non-suit types about Nokia's latest; and even among the techies and the suits, Nokia's shine's going away. Nokia had a chance to put together great devices; and failed miserably.
(I've got my doubts about RIM, but they're a nimble and entrenched enough company that they can get by).
Nokia's going bye bye as the king of international smart phone sales.
The field isn't just phones that run Windows Mobile, Symbian or Palm OS anymore.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Their smartphone market share is constantly declining. And people who buy their so-called smartphones, are not using them as such, most don't even download a single application.
I'm a former owner of many Nokia phones myself, with N95 being the last one. Had to get rid of it after a few months of constant troubles. My hopes were high with N900 when it was released, but it also turned out to be a disappointment (got a Nexus one instead).
No idea why some moderator thinks decided my post was a flamebait. I'm following Eldar's story closely from day one, and I don't think Nokia is doing the right thing. They should focus on high end smartphones and better OS instead of creating bad publicity.
Truth hurts, eh Nokia fanboys?
I've owned Nokia phones. They were great in the 90s. Then they took forever to start shipping quad band handsets, and I switched to Sony Ericsson. Then they went through that period where most of their designs looked like they were put together by crack-smoking monkeys.
Then came Maemo. The N770 looked interesting. I saw them drop support for it and bring out the N800. I actually bought one of those, and they dropped support for it and brought out the N810. Then they dropped support for that and brought out the N900, with a smaller screen. Meanwhile, Maemo was GTK... then it was switching to Qt... and now it's dead, replaced by MeeGo. No doubt in another year they'll drop all support for fixes for the N900, and a year after MeeGo is released they'll drop it for something else, and all the while they'll be asking why developers aren't interested in their platform and users aren't interested in their phones.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Evidently, the person with the prototype is in Russia. I guess Nokia probably could pay for whatever police enforcement they would like to have on this, so that may be what is going to happen.
I would suspect the proper answer would be the same as if it was dropped into an active volcano - something along the lines of "Well, there it goes."
At their very best they got up to 39 % marketshare. Now they're down to 33 % or so. It's not like they've already lost the game and can just pack up and go home.
I smell cover-up, karma whoring techniques.
With all the trolls that Anonymous Coward dude posts, I don't think his karma is going anywhere.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
What's going on here? Why are all posts criticizing Nokia in any way moderated as flamebaits? Has Nokia taken over slashdot?
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Nokia's a European company, consequently, they can do no wrong and are subject to unlimited free passes on Slashdot. That's the best I can come up with. The sad thing is, Nokia is in serious trouble vis a vis the iPhone and Android. What they need is honest criticism not rabid fanboyism.
An individual is handed a phone in a bar.
Individual does not turn the phone into the bar owner, or tell them that he found the phone.
Individual takes the phone home from the bar
Individual plays with the phone at home and realizes it's not a normal phone.
Individual's friend allegedly calls Apple's tech support line
Tech support guy has no idea what friend is talking about
Individual reaches deal to sell phone to Gizmodo for a lot of money. In cash.
Several of individual's friends inform him that this is not the smartest thing to do.
Individual does it anyway
Gizmodo publishes huge expose
Apple involves the authorities
SOURCE: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/04/iphone-finder/
He wasn't talking about smartphones, but phones; where Nokia has been pretty steady , at 37% now (actually there was a slight growth in the last year IIRC); Apple has 2%, RIM likewise (rounding of from below 2.5...), HTC 1% (whole, that includes their WinMob and BREW devices).
Nokia smartphone sales are 45%, still much greater proportion than their overall share of phone market. With fluctuations to be sure, but you have to remember that it's not a zero sum game - the segment is simply expanding, also in places where it was prevented from that / phones were historically preferred to be castrated by carriers.
One that hath name thou can not otter
So, a support for sort of European (they of course have quite a lot of presence throughout the world, also in the US; and even one manufacturing plant quite close to Cupertino...) entity suddenly takes over /. just in stories about this entity? (are there not enough anti-EU types here? Not enough (largely deserved of course) Android fans?)
One that hath name thou can not otter
Well Nokia and Apple, knowing that you guys are willing to force policemen from preventing real crimes to recover a piece of computer equipment to me says a lot about your companies... Why bother at all? After its been shown online, you have nothing to gain except disrespect by taking tips from SCO or the RIAA.
No.
The rabid downmodding of anything criticising Nokia whether it be justified or not isn't support. It's zealotry. Personally, I love Nokia. They are very open source friendly and that is important to me. But, I'm not a zealot. Their strategy and products needs work. And they are facing real competition from Google and Apple. I don't want to see them go down into oblivion because everybody was so blinded to their flaws and refused to hear otherwise.
Naming of what presumably happens was very secondary to my post - it was, first and foremost, asking how it's supposed to be happening here?
One that hath name thou can not otter
He lifts a phone left behind at a bar.
Anyone who witnessed the incident would have called him a thief.
Individual politely asks Apple if they want it back.
Apple denies existence of property.
He shops the prototype phone around to Wired, etc.
He quotes a price that makes it perfectly clear he knows that the phone is hotter than a stove.
He has the number of the employee who was issued the phone but never calls it.
Instead, he covers his ass by claiming to have called a low-level tech support number out of the Cupertino Yellow Pages.
What he does not do - as California law demands he must do - is surrender the phone to the police.
Individual sells property to Gizmodo.
He has no right to sell the phone. Gizmodo has no right to buy the phone. To disassemble the phone. To use the phone for any other purpose than to contact the owner or dial 911.
Gizmodo was immediately exposed to the charge of knowingly dealing in stolen goods.
It edged very close to a plausible charge of extortion.
Apple involves the authorities.
and was well within its rights to do so.
"Level 1 tech support guy who has no knowledge of prototypes brushes guy off."
Which represents Apple.
The fact that the tech support guy was incompetent doesn't enter in to it.
you for got:
"The Apple throws a huge hissy fit and destroys peoples lives."
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Individual through a third party makes a call to the generic Apple support line inquiring about prototypes. Vaguely asks if there are any rewards for missing prototypes.
Level 1 tech support guy who has no knowledge of prototypes brushes guy off.
This was Gizmodo's story, and later contradicted. Via Wired:
Hogan didn’t know what he had until he removed a fake cover from the device and realized it must be a prototype of Apple’s upcoming next-generation iPhone, according to Gizmodo’s account of the find.
A friend of Hogan’s then offered to call Apple Care on Hogan’s behalf, according to Hogan’s lawyer. That apparently was the extent of Hogan’s efforts to return the phone.
After the friend’s purported efforts to return the phone failed, several journalists were offered a look at the device. Wired.com received an e-mail March 28 — not from Hogan — offering access to the iPhone, but did not follow up on the exchange after the tipster made a thinly veiled request for money. Gizmodo then paid $5,000 in cash for it.
Individual sells property to Gizmodo.
Apple doesn't confirm it's theirs
Apple involves the authorities.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
No that's not how I remembered it.
You forgot: Individual's roommate gets nervous over stolen iPhone and reports him to police.
So every Level 1 support person in your company of 50,000 people knows what the guys in new product development are working on even though they don't work in the same building, city, or even state? That's not their job and they often don't know.
"The Apple throws a huge hissy fit and destroys peoples lives."
The founder of the phone already knew the identity of the engineer Hogan who lost the phone. If he really wanted to return it, he could have just driven up to Apple's campus and left it at the front desk. He could have turned it into the police. He could have turned it back at the bar. No one forced the finder of the phone to sell it to Gizmodo for $5,000 and a contigency fee. Under California law, that's selling stolen property and Apple had no part in the finder's decision to break the law. The finder has to deal with the consequences of his own actions.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Perhaps it was the same person who stole Maemo 6 ... that's been missing for ages.
I smell... dinner... must go now! Bye!