When Orange Kenya announced the launch of iPhone 4 yesterday, for a moment I thought of what impact it will have in the smartphone market in Kenya and also how it will affect the performance of Nokia N8 expected to launch locally on 20th October. All factors constant, Nokia N8 is going to beat iPhone 4 hands down in the battle for the market.
I say this because first, Orange Kenya marketing team rushed to announce the availability of the iPhone in the market just after receiving the shippment. They were so much anxious to get the news out that they didn’t know that the backlash might be catastrophic. Now every potential client is calling the announcement a bluff because Nokia doesn’t have the price and is not even sure how much it will sell the phone.
I talked to Delia Seif who is incharge of Nokia EMEA Communications. he quips that N8 is targeted at a totally different segment of the smartphone market and her tone was “Nokia is not scared”. I agree that the two phones will serve different audience of the market and considering the over-pricing of the iPhone, it might not sell much just like the 3Gs and 3G sisters.
As long as Orange will continue to fumble with their marketing, they will remain the fourth among the four
What do you think of the two phones? Any competition here?
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