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Android won't save Nokia or Blackberry
Nokia and Blackberry showed new phones this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The familiar, but faded brands pin their hopes on cheap novelty phones and Android.
Nokia played the retro card with a revamped 3310. It’s an expensive novelty for indulgent spendthrifts. There are also three ho-hum conventional Android models.
A Finnish start-up made the phones under license.
Nostalgia aside, the only remarkable feature is that they all cost well under €299. That implies they could land in New Zealand for less than NZ$500.
BlackBerry’s once prestigious brand and signature qwerty keyboard turned up on the Keyone phone.
Both Nokia and Blackberry are recent converts to Android. That is not going to save them. Gimmicks aside they are ordinary phones drowning in a sea of Android handsets.
At least half a dozen brands are now ahead of Nokia and Blackberry in the Android queue.
Android won't save Nokia or Blackberry was first posted at billbennett.co.nz
Bill Bennett
Freelance journalist.
Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.
Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here.
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