Nokia is doing it again
So, i'm flooded with work this week, finals being next week and all but I came across this press release by nokia and was floored.
I don't know what air duct cupid used to get into Nokia's CEO's office but thank you Mr. air conditioning repairman for forgetting to seal the vent.
There are very few companys who really make decisions and big moves to help the end user. Steve jobs did it a while ago in pushing record labels to remove DRM from some itunes music. Google does it everyday just by being google. Nobody though, nobody, can compare to nokia in the recent couple months. Now, before you cry 'fanboy' (of nokia?) here me out. I really like my phone, but for everytime I say I love it I probably also complain about it. The mobile computing/entertainment experience is often difficult (in that I have to use lots of effort / tricks to get things to work) or near impossible. Anything these big companies do to bring 'ultra convergence' and ease into the average person's handset is a good thing. Google is thinking it with android (a more user friendly OS) and Nokia is now thinking it as far as the music experience.
Mr. Bob, lets call him, has his new cool smartphone. Mr. Bob works in an office, non-tech related and doesn't give a damn about computer 'mumbo jumbo'. Mr. Bob wants to listen to music on the way to work. (Mr. Bob is starting to sound a lot like my dad). Mr. Bob is unfortunatly totally left in the dark. Does he click the real one player on his phone and hope theres music there? Does he buy it on the phone? Does he even have to buy it? Oh he has to get it from the computer... how? Put in a CD and click and drag? Oh he has to get it from some store like iTunes. But then how can I get it on smartphone X? Bob switches from Palm to WM6. Can he put music on in the same way?
You see my point; this kinda stuff is murder for those who only have a casual interest and want it to 'just work'. Free music for a year (hopefully integrated into their on-the-phone music service, ovi for a simple experience) certainly help's make Mr. Bob's life easier. He can solve his questions himself in the second sentence of the above paragraph. "Do I click on this real player link? No, that didn't work, but this OVI Music Store link looks promising. Oh, I don't have to pay either and all I have to do is click and it works? Fantastic". How it should be.