January 15, 2008 at 12:57 am · Authored by Ricky · Filed under Mobile

I’ve been in the room several times when Nokia’s Vice President of North America Bill Plummer spoke, and I’ve watched countless Nokian speeches. One of the recurring themes, specifically around the successful N95 is the fact that “when you want it to be ____, it looks, feels, and acts like a _____.” You can insert whatever non-phone device you want in the blank, such as digital camera, MP3 player, etc. The key to the statement is that when you want it to do something, it looks, feels, and acts like that. This, apparently, is crucial for a converged device to be usable by the public.

Imagine my surprise when, watching this video from the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, I heard the Motorola presenter demonstrate the newly announced Motorola ROKR E8’s changing keypad by saying that when you press the phone key, it ‘looks, feels, and acts’ like a phone (roughly at 2:37), and continues with the same three words throughout the rest of the demonstration.

Is America’s biggest handset manufacturer taking cues from Finland’s own juggernaut? I tried desperately to get a video online somewhere of Bill Plummer or some other Nokian saying the same thing, but with no luck. It’s interesting that when the iPhone came out, Nokia praised it, saying that finally somone else was confirming what they had been doing through convergence in the marketplace, and I’m sure that’s what they would say about this new Motorola E8, and it’s obvious to me that Motorola is admitting the same.

I suppose, as the saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join’em.