Gary Marshall: What's Nokia got to shout about?

Technology firms' keynote speeches tend to be boring affairs. The important news leaks days or weeks before, so you're left with a big room full of people mumbling "yes, yes, navigation, seen it before" as the CEO bumbles on for hours about each new feature.

Not Nokia.

Faced with a familiar problem - everybody knowing exactly what they were going to unveil - Nokia decided it was time to shake things up a bit. First, Stephen Elop kept pronouncing the company's name in a funny Canadian accent - "know-key-ahh" - and then, they let a madman loose on stage.

"Our ambition is to surprise you at every turn," said Kevin Shields, a man whose job title - senior vice president of program and product management for the smart device - is longer than many people's lives.

And then he started shouting.

"It looks AWESOME!" he bellowed, channelling his inner Ballmer and scaring the hell out of the first six rows. "It feels GREAT in your hand!" he added, frightening everybody again. "It SCREAMS premium!" he screamed.

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgYyWnrveO4We need to talk about Kevin

Whatever Shields was on, it didn't last long. Like an angry man in the pub who's just offered to fight everybody outside, his mood suddenly crashed and Kevin became a shadow of his former, screaming self. "You've got to give me some applause for this," he begged, his eyes moist.

The crowd clapped politely, afraid that if they didn't, Shields might eat them.

No, the keynote wasn't boring.

Pity the phones were.

I really like Windows Phone, and I really like Nokia hardware. Given that it's essentially an N9 running Mango, I'm sure that the Nokia Lumia 800 is going to be a perfectly good smartphone. The prices look OK too. But there are plenty of perfectly good Windows Phone smartphones with OK prices out there already.

Nokia and Microsoft have been working on this stuff for months. What were they doing?

It's great that the two firms are going to spend oodles of cash on promoting the devices, and by extension Windows Phone generally. But where's the magic? Where's the "lust" that marketing VP Steven Overman promised to inspire?

Where's the excitement that's going to make us see our iPhones and Androids for the overpriced toys they truly are, causing us to shove them on eBay and run, not walk, to the nearest Carphone Warehouse, two forms of ID including a utility bill in our trembling hands?

There was plenty of shouting, but was the Lumia 800 really worth shouting about?

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IPhones: What's Love Got to Do With It?

People have strong reactions when it comes to the iPhone, according to brain activity studies, but some question whether that reaction is a deep, soulmate-type love or a general feeling of disgust.

Former branding consultant Martin Lindstrom, writing for the New York Times, said some studies show people are addicted to their iPhones to the point they check them frequently, give them names and even sleep with them in their beds. But they might not be able to help it; instead, Lindstrom says, a brain reaction may be to blame.

He said some psychologists suggest the iPhone taps into the same brain pathways that trigger addiction for other compulsive behaviors, triggering a dopamine chemical driver.

"I carried out an fMRI experiment to find out whether iPhones were really, truly addictive, no less so than alcohol, cocaine, shopping or video games," said Lindstrom. "Most striking of all was the flurry of activation in the insular cortex of the brain, which is associated with feelings of love and compassion."

"In short, the subjects didn't demonstrate the classic brain-based signs of addiction," concluded Lindstrom. "Instead, they loved their iPhones."

However, another publication, Psychology Today, disputes Linstrom's claims, saying they're based on faulty science.

"The primary function attributed to the insula is disgust, not love," said Ben Hayden for the magazine. "The insula is activated by disgusting smells and disgusting tastes. Your insula is activated when you see someone do something, like cheating... It's also activated by gastric distension or full bladders, symptoms of needing to go to the bathroom. My advice: If a ringing iPhone makes you feel the urge to run to the bathroom, consider switching over to a Droid."

The two opinions vary so widely on how iPhones impact users' brains, but there's no question people are very attached to Apple devices, as evidenced by the wide attention given to today's iPhone 4S launch.

IPhones: What's Love Got to Do With It? originally appeared at Mobiledia on Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:20 pm.

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