The 2004 thriller Cellular features three stars: Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, and a Nokia 6660 video-phone. The kidnapped school-teacher played by Kim Basinger pieces together a broken phone and reaches a random dude, Ryan (Chris Evans) on cell-phone – this call literally becomes her lifeline.
Ryan effortlessly uses his Nokia miracle-phone in the middle of a wild race in his (stolen) Porsche, even produces the video evidence that will put the bad guys away at the Happy End.
But are Nokia phones really so easy to use in real life? Not if you ask CrunchGear’s John Biggs:
Symbian needs to leave. It is a strong platform that saw its day but now it is a major hindrance to the growth of the Nokia platform… When you picked up an iPhone there were no cues as to what to press to get your email. You just pressed the little email button. Try getting to an application in Symbian in one click if you’ve never used the OS.
Kim Basinger’s lifeline would no doubt be an iPhone today. But don’t for a minute think it’s only for the fashion-crazy stars:
At the recent Salesforce.com conference CEO Marc Benioff asked the audience what cell phone they used. 35% answered iPhones. That’s incredible. Apple has gotten HUGE market share among enterprise users, despite having a huge wall setup against them.
– reports Robert Scoble (hat tip: Vinnie). Robert is in Barcelona, attending or Nokia World. Apparently a Nokia exec dropped some hints about a super-secret major announcement that, unlike most new phones, has not leaked to the media at all. Scoble thinks it’s make-or-break time:
This is the week when Nokia either keeps its seat at the cell-phone-thought-leadership table or it will give up its spot to Apple and RIM alone… this is the week that Nokia either shines or moves to the B list of the cell phone market. Yeah, you won’t know how this week turned out for a year or two, but there is no bigger week for Nokia.
Not that we can write Nokia off: it’s still the cell-phone market leader, especially in Europe and Asia, but it’s increasingly thought of as brick-maker. I remember a few years back when if Benioff had polled his audience, the trendy answer would have been the Treo… and today Treo / Palm is on track to become a historical footnote. So the writing is on the wall. I, for one hope to see a miracle Nokia. Competition is good. 
Update (112/009): Nokia’s North America problem – Fortune Magazine.
