VizualBusiness: Details Of Parallel Nokia World Events Start Popping Up: New York

Friday, August 17, 2012

Details Of Parallel Nokia World Events Start Popping Up: New York – Sep. 5

Details Of Parallel Nokia World Events Start Popping Up: New York – Sep. 5:

With this year’s Nokia World, Nokia’s decided to move away from the single, large-scale event that Nokia World usually is (was), to a ‘number of smaller, more intimate events with specific audiences in mind’. The first such event is scheduled to happen in Helsinki on September 5-6, and will be an invitation-only event that will cater primarily to Nokia’s operator and retail partners. This leaves no room for media announcements, and press presence. Therefore, it was doubtful whether Nokia would announce its first Windows Phone 8 devices, or would they just show them to their retail/operator partners in behind the door, hush-hush meetings.
However, details of a joint Nokia/Microsoft press conference taking place in New York on Sep. 5 have emerged. September 5 being the same day on which Nokia World takes place in Helsinki. The doors to the NYC press conference open at 9:30 am NYC time, fairly early for a press event of this magnitude, but also a good time if they were trying to hold it parallel events in multiple time zones around the world.
Ever since the official announcement of Windows Phone 8, Nokia’s been under pressure to keep selling its older Lumia devices, especially when they won’t be getting the upgrade to WP 8. Therefore it is imperative for them to refresh the lineup as quickly as possible and a September announcement is a very positive indicator indeed. Remember, Nokia’s flagship store in Helsinki is already promising that something amazing is coming on September 7th. If Nokia can announce devices on September 5th and put them on sale on September 7th, that would classify as something beyond amazing.
There are still a lot of ‘if’s’ in the equation, but all indicators to point to a hardware reveal on September 5th. Windows Phone 8 looks like a worthy upgrade and coupled with Nokia’s uncompromising Maps and Camera goodness, the new Lumias might just be the flavour of the holiday season.
Finally, the New York press conference is just one such event, don’t be surprised if we see something similar happening in other cities around the world, after-all London’s been a Nokia favourite in the past as well. Nokia World has always had all these tracks running simultaneously with Nokia’s CEO jumping in and out of each, but with parallel events happening across the word, what I’m curious about is, to which of these events will Stephen Elop go? What does he prioritise, press interviews and a public reveal of Nokia’s latest and greatest, or a heart to heart with Nokia’s operator and retail partners? Although if the new Lumias are to ship in September, deals with operators/retails would have been hammered out long before then.
[Image credit: TechCrunch]