The flood of iPhone lookalikes continues, this time from Nokia.
“Nokia has confirmed that it’s developing a touchscreen-equipped handset to take on the Apple iPhone,” James Sherwood reports for The Register.
“The Finnish giant’s handset is codenamed ‘Tube,’ and Tom Libretto, VP of Forum Nokia, said the device will be the company’s ‘first touch device,'” Sherwood reports.
MacDailyNews Note: Touch. Not Multi-Touch. None of these fake iPhones have Multi-Touch.
Sherwood continues, “The device looks like the iPhone’s long lost twin, except for a Nokia logo stuck underneath the handset’s earpiece… Unconfirmed reports suggest Nokia’s would-be iPhone killer will run on the Symbian S60 platform.”
Full article here.
Joshua Topolsky reports for Engadget, “Tom Libretto, vice president of Forum Nokia, believes that the company can compete for the iPhone’s marketshare, though the phone-maker hasn’t set a street date for the device. Apple has sold more than 4 million units since the iPhone’s launch, but Libretto smugly noted that, ‘We’ve done that [volume] since we’ve had dinner on Friday,’ (though he failed to mention that it was 4 million low-end candybar handsets).”\
MacDailyNews Note: Nokia hasn’t said when their iPhone 1.0 knockoff will be available or what their price tag will be.
Full article here.
Nokia should be ashamed. As our own SteveJack just recently wrote: “It’s the same old, same old in an iPhone-inspired wrapper… You can judge the distance behind and overall cluelessness of iPhone’s future roadkill by the amount they copy the iPhone’s exterior… The question I’m left with for [all] of these companies rolling out imitation iPhones this year is: Exactly how stupid do you think your customers are?”
While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I find these copycat designs offensive. My guess is that the “look” of a phone cannot be patented. Otherwise, Apple would be sending “cease and desist” warnings to all of these “me too” clowns.
Unfortunately Macdailynews – most customers are REALLY ignorant.
By the way, am I the only one that thinks the guy in the photo is about to get hit by a truck while taking a picture of himself?
“our own steve jack” as i am our own ralph, the one and only one.
@steve
Actually the “look” can be protected. It is called “trade dress”, and Apple successfully went after a few companies that were copying the look of the original iMac.
However, I think it may be a bit harder to defend on a phone, as they are all pretty much the same size, shape, color, etc.
Nokia’s phones are sold with a razor-thin margin (well, most of them). Just like Dells, that barely make profit (mostly thanks to crappware pre-installed by OEMs). It is obvious that Nokia must make statements such as this to redirect the attention away from the fact that Apple caused a seismic shift in approach. How else can they explain that they (the single largest handset manufacturer in the world, dominating all markets) have to compare their devices with a virtual unknown (in the handset world, at least until last year), who’s been on the market for merely nine months, with one single device, and is already stealing market share from long-established, well recognised players? And as ‘Factorguy’ said, proper comparison is with Nokia’s smartphone devices, such as N95, and of course, that we won’t hear from Nokia’s executives…
MDN removed my post
I thought all those losers said, nobody wants a touch keyboard!!!!!!!
God damn copycats.
A classic sign of a company who is shit-scared of the competition.
Copy, copy, copy….
Well, if Nokia “innovate” so well on the outside, I guess it will be mess inside…
Tube??? As in, going down the…?
“Nokia has confirmed that it’s developing a touchscreen-equipped handset to take on the Apple iPhone, and has shown off pictures of the upcoming phone to drooling onlookers.”
Only to a handful of the unfit and Finnish. Perhaps the drool was from overmedication?
Yes, I want to be the guy that people come up to and ask “Wow, is that an iPhone ? They’re really cool!” and I have to say “No, it’s a Nokia. It’s better than an iPhone” and they give me that look.
When people ask to see my iPod Touch they usually are a little skeptical of my enthusiasm. After a minute of swiping photos and watching YouTube they look astonished.
These knock offs get the same reaction as other knock offs. You must feel like a chump.
It must be bad at Nokia HQ having to adopt M$ tactics and ripoff innovation.
Boy this is a bad sign for Nokia, and one that destroys any creative credibility that the company once had with its forward thinking handset designs.
If I worked at Nokia I would be embarresed like hell to show this design to anyone because the first thing people will say when they show it is “looks like and iphone, so how come you didnt come up with an original design?”.
They might as well sack all their creative teams if all they are gonna do is copy Apple.
Just thinking how most phones have the branding on their face like this. My iPhone sits on my desk most of the day. Anyone coming into my office wouldn’t know it was made by Apple unless they already knew what it was. I find it creates a kind of intrigue that other manufacturers don’t notice.
Just like the iPod, customers will first buy the similar phone because “it’s the same thing.” Only after they get stuck in a contract with a crappy phone will they realize that “next time,” they’ll get an iPhone. And they will. Give it time. Nokia had 15-20 years to get it right. Their time is over.
zune – rune – rube – tube. That’s how they came up with the name.
Looks fantastic. Much better than Apple’s dumpy I-Phone. Too bad it doesn’t run Windows Mobile—otherwise this is a great achievement by Nokia. Apple has its work cut out for them.
And if by “dismisses Apple” MDN really means “courageously telling the truth about Apple” they might finally be on to something.
Your potential. Our passion.™
How come the death-to-innovation suits run the f***ing world?
What’s their secret? Are they MIBs sent to p**s us all off?
Is Nokia a pride-free zone?
Gawd, it makes me feel quite, quite ill with sheer ennui, irritation, and boredom.
OK, rant over. S**t like this is roadkill.
I was looking a an iPod Nano in Best Buy, standing next to a guy and his college age daughter, who was shopping for an iPod Touch. I made a comment about how great the iPods were. The dad said he really like his SanDisk iPod. The daughter and I looked each other in the eye. I could tell she loved her dad anyway.
If there’s one thing I hate is when a company marginalizes a product (the Nokia’s sold more than iPhone since dinner crack) and then goes on to totally copy it.
The iPhone is a great product and I don’t expect competition to just give up and hail the mighty Apple but I do expect them to try harder, not copy faster
Notice that none of these iPhone knockoffs have been released. Don’t forget, Apple has patents filed up the wazoo to protect the iPhone, so all of these knockoffs will have to produce a phone which doesn’t infringe upon Apple’s patents.
That will be tough to do, especially with Apple legal scrutinizing every knockoff that comes out. Expect the patent litigation to fly fast and furious!
I will bet that people will want a real keyboard after typing on one of these iPhone wannabes They will never get them to work as well as the corrective system on the iPhone where the letter pops up so you can see what you are typing. Imagine trying to type a password on a touch keyboard where the letter doesn’t pop up and give you a visual? these wannabes are going to make people who have them not want to buy another touch device. The iPhone just works and I can type quite fast on mine and it auto corrects.
I Love my iPhone
Just when Nokia releases that thing, Apple releases theire next gen. iPhone and as allways blows the competitors out of the water
Hmmm. I guess one thing in defense of companies making phones that look a lot like the iPhone is, what other form factor could you use for a large touchscreen phone device. The device is roughly the dimensions of the screen.
On the other hand, I do believe that these folks are focusing heavily on Apple hardware design, where really it is the software and interaction of the device with other devices like computers and peripherals such as boom boxes and car interfaces that make the Apple iPhone and iPod special. Heavy integration is what makes the iProducts sell, and also it’s what keeps folks in the fold once they buy one.
I’ll be buying an iPhone and switching from Verizon to ATT because Verizon in their infinite wisdom inhibits my ability to synch my address books and calendars with most of their devices. I don’t need a spectacular phone, I just need one that does a few tasks well without purchasing additional accessories, software, and spending several hours to get it to work. You’d think that would be obvious to these companies!