Nokia Mobile did a great launch event in India for the Nokia 8.1

For most people, launch events and a lot of things we complain about in comments or articles don’t really matter. What matters is the end product, the announced phone and if the specs, price and reviews are good, a buying decision can be made. On the other hand, launch events, naming schemes, version of components, phones from which social media employees post on official company profile do matter because they show in what state a company is and make us understand better their plans for the future.

On 5th December HMD Global announced the Nokia 8.1 – a solid midrange device priced at 400 euros. The announcement was around 30 minutes long (which is enough) and it was overall nothing special. A lot of readers (and we too) noticed that the performance from HMD executives on stage wasn’t really on a “Stephen Elop” level – he might be a divisive figure inside the Nokia community, but go to YouTube and check the events he held and you will know what I am talking about.

So it came as a surprise when the local event in India started and the focus wasn’t exclusively on the Nokia 8.1, but also on HMD’s principles in general. The person who did most of the work on stage in India was Juha Werkkala, HMD’s Senior Product Marketing Manager. He started the presentation talking about Nokia’s strongest aspect – the build quality. He talked how HMD’s designers explained to him how thoughtfully the Nokia 6, HMD’s first phone, was created; how HMD’s Materials team needed to find new solutions to make the Nokia 7 plus the beauty it is and similar stuff in that sense. It was a bit longer than usual, but it was really nice the hear the impressive and interesting background story about some devices and processes. I also have to say that the presentation went smooth, without any stutters, reading and most importantly – using really simple language he managed to describe a lot of the tech and reasoning behind Nokia 8.1 and various aspects of the device.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that everything was perfect or that Nokia 8.1 is really that good (I mean, every company presents their device as the best, right?), but the inital monolog about the design, processes, challenges the team faced with some aspects of the device was refreshing to hear and quite frankly, more of that please, because that’s how you sell a product to those watching. I mean, I could’ve read the specs and saw the images without watching the announcement – tell us a story – a real one that’s also a good one.

Anyways, you can check the India launch event on Facebook here. If the link isn’t working, you might need to switch the region on Nokia Mobile’s Facebook page to India, but it worked for me in “Incognito”, so there shouldn’t be any problems. I also embedded it down below.

If you have suggestions for HMD’s press events or comments about the India event and in general, do leave it down below. 🙂