Nokia Australia is planning a major television campaign to promote its new N8 smartphone, introduced to the media yesterday and due to hit the market in November, local MD Emile Baak has said.
Nokia Australia is planning a major television campaign to promote its new N8 smartphone, introduced to the media yesterday and due to hit the market in November, local MD Emile Baak has said.
While by far the biggest vendor of mobiles in Australia, as elsewhere, Nokia has been struggling to keep up with the hot-selling Apple iPhone and Google Android-powered top-end – and high-margin – smartphones increasingly toted by both consumers and corporate executives.
The Finnish company has set a price of A$749 outright for the N8 in the Aussie market: more than the $719 iPhone 3GS, but significantly less than the newer, and wildly popular, iPhone 4, which starts at $859 in Australia.
All three major carriers – Telstra, Optus and VHA – will carry the N8, which Nokia is positioning as much for its abilities as a high-end camera as for a smartphone.
Yesterday’s launch, at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, featured a demonstration of the photographic and video possibilities by New York celebrity photographer David LaChapelle, known for his weirdo eye-candy shots of the famous and infamous.
The N8 has a 12-megapixel camera backed by a Carl Zeiss lens and a claimed large sensor to produce outstanding pictures. It also shoots HD-quantity videos which edited on the phone and viewed on a living-room HD telly or home cinema setup using a supplied HDMI cable – along with Dolby Digital surround sound.
