In the last week or so, Nokia has officially unveiled two brand-new "interpretations" of its flagship line: the Lumia 925 and Lumia 928. As impressive as the hardware powering these phones is, though, Nokia needs to step up its PR game against the likes of the Galaxy S4 from Samsung and iPhone 6 / 5S from Apple.
After all, the Galaxy S4 is the follow-up to the hugely popular Galaxy S3, and Samsung is sure to sell the device by the boatloads. Apple is still Apple, despite recent suggestions that it's lost its way, and whether they call their next set the iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S, you know it's going to do well. That leaves us with the Lumia brand, which has so far struggled to get the traction it needs against its competitors.
If you take Nokia at its word, the company says it completely understands the situation, and it won't be resting on its laurels concerning the Lumia 925 and 928 launches.
"I think what you're going to be seeing, not only from Nokia but also from our key partner Microsoft, is that we're going to be much more aggressively going head-to-head with competition," Vesa Jutila, Nokia's global head of smart phone marketing, said to CNET.
"You're going to see that kind of attitude a bit more in the marketing," Jutila added. She then referenced the new Microsoft / Lumia 920 commercial that's been getting attention lately. It features a wedding devolving into a massive brawl between Apple and Samsung fans while two Lumia 920 owners sit back and watch. If only they know about the 920! Then they wouldn't be fighting.
"This is stuff that we want to do more and will be doing more, that really promotes to people who are considering their next smartphone that there is a choice outside Apple or Android," Jutila said.
While it's certainly true that Nokia and Microsoft should take on the competition more aggressively, they also need to make sure they're actually highlighting defining features on their phones. The wedding commercial is funny, but it offers no reason to actually make the switch. The Lumia 925 and Lumia 928 offer Nokia and Microsoft a chance to refresh their Windows Phone push, but this line between being aggressive and being helpful is one they'll need to straddle well in order to make some gains.
