Nokia readies iPhone-ish "Tube," disses Apple's sales

It appears that Nokia is readying its official response to the iPhone, a project grossly codenamed "Tube" that will feature a touch interface. The new handset -- which is said to closely resemble Apple's device (see above, we assume) -- was shown during a slideshow at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in Redwood City, California. The slide demonstrated the phone's UI, including a promotional shot featuring Shrek The Third. 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). He then put on a monocle, puffed on a Cuban cigar, and knocked back a tall glass of Cristal while chortling, "Oh, I do say!"

[Thanks, Alex]

[agroupofletters @ Apr 8th 2008 12:33AM]

absolutely hilarious ending, clearly engadget is one of the top 25 blogs on the web.

[a ham sandwich @ Apr 8th 2008 1:26AM]

correct me if im wrong, but i do believe that engadget's number one by readership!

[randompass @ Apr 8th 2008 1:40AM]

Oh I do say old chum! I believe that you are right about that

[Sati @ Apr 8th 2008 2:44AM]

My word! What an astounding entry, my good sir. Bravo! I find myself rolling on the hardwood, brimming with the laughter reminiscent of a child's glee.

[snitch @ Apr 8th 2008 2:59AM]

I can't remember a Nokia phone that's not free in europe including the N95 so they shouldn't be talking all that much. iphone is just 1 phone nokia has about 50 different models. if your wondering, yes T-Mobile in the UK has the N95 for free with a contract.

[Mr.Tech @ Apr 8th 2008 3:36AM]

The Apple iphone was a copy off the LG Parda so why does everyone think the iPhone is the very first? Everything looks alike these days so does it really matters?

[Dale @ Apr 8th 2008 4:52AM]

At snitch - 8800, 8600, E90 anyone? Even the N95 8GB has only recently become free on lower priced contracts. We may get "free" phones but we get raped on our tariffs - have a look at T Mobile USA's tariffs, they get twice what we get for the same price!

[Mike10010100 @ Apr 8th 2008 6:32AM]

Hey snitch, Mr. Tech, and Dale

Could you please take your fanboy argues elsewhere? The people who reply to the first comment don't really seem to care who is the copier of who. We just want to love the reference in the post.

Seriously, I'm tired of this whole argument. Whomever(because i do not know which came first) came up with the idea of the slab with no buttons does not matter. As long as it does not 100 percent copy the iPhone, then it cannot be legitimately called a "knockoff". I said it before and I'll say it again.

It is a new cell phone design, not exclusive to one handset. I don't think that every phone that came out was called a knockoff or copy of the original candybar or clamshell phone.

It's the equivalent to saying to someone, "Hey! How dare you copy my simian ancestry! Get back on four legs! You're not wanted here."

It is simply your own prejudice against the iPhone that causes this rift to exist. I'm not defending the iPhone, just hear me out. If the iPhone wasn't here, this would be one of the lineup of new phones that use the "slab" design. However, since there is a huge fanboi rift on the subject of the iPhone, this argument exists that one phone copies off of another. The only phones that copy off of the iPhone are the ones who blatantly use the same software elements as well as hardware ones.

Seriously. Read what roe has to say down further. That is a good example of how people should be responding to this kind of release. "This is cool, let's see what it has to offer" instead of "I hate it because it uses the same design as an interesting product that i may or may not hate"

Be happy people. Indubitably. *chortle chortle*

[MBS @ Apr 8th 2008 11:59AM]

@Sati: I'm suprised IFMROTHBWTLROACG hasn't caught on on the interwebs like LOL or ROTFLMAO...
Though, I do believe it's available as a quick entry on the vertu phones texting interface.

[Rex @ Apr 8th 2008 1:47PM]

Oh noes, the apple connection, better do something about it...

okey here is the deal people, let me sum it up for you...


Nokia ROCKS! no, not because i am a fanboi, but serious, because i have checked various markets...

in the middle east and asia markets, where phones are NOT subsidized by the service provider, nokia provides the best value for the buck...

nokia has made a reputation for best surviving the wears and tears of what we call life...i have seen nokia phones go through extreme rough use and manhandling, and trust me nokia comes first, sony ericsson a distant second (though current models are a bit more tougher, sony is learning and closing the gap quickly), and samsung and lg, for all their cheapness and fanciness, are runners up..

you see, mobiles are an expensive investment, for a thing so small, one crack and you may have lost your months pay worth of asset...

THAT is why nokia will always rock, because of their reputation of staying rock hard...


sorry for the long rant, but you NA viewers need to be updated of mobile situations outside your own zone...

[Rex @ Apr 8th 2008 2:06PM]

Uh, what the hell? i wrote my rant in rant tags, and engaget's comment system ate it up!
no really i did < rant > and < /rant >, and they didn't show, gee i wonder why

[Marc Jacob @ Apr 9th 2008 8:53AM]

ya, the iphone is a ripoff of the LG prada... why is everyone so infatuated with apple? anyways, here's a cool d800i hiphone "clone" for a lot less than the iphone and this nokia one as well... http://www.chinagrabber.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1531&HS=1

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 12:33AM]

The problem is Apple has iTunes and they don't. And people are already used to it.

[matthew @ Apr 8th 2008 1:50AM]

i stopped buying Ipods because itunes. i can't STAND that software.

[ByronGman @ Apr 8th 2008 1:55AM]

So?

The real excitement for people like me (college student), is that maybe I'll be able to get something similar to the Iphone for under $400.

That's the whole reason Nokia sells, and I'm betting that for the average joe freaking Itunes isn't make a difference if a $400 phone was out of their price range in the first place.

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 2:10AM]

The only people that really have a problem with iTunes are geeks who think they're cultured because they use Flac or Ogg or whatever exotic format that's so in vogue these days. But you ask my nine year old niece and her friends and the whole generations of tweens that are growing up now what they prefer, they will say iTunes because it's the only thing they know. And these tweens actually *gasp* BUY their music (with their parents money, but still they buy it)! They are the generation that are going to decide whether the iPod stays or goes.

@ByronGman

I can almost guarantee you Apple is going to release a iPhone Nano at some point. They're probably playing with a prototype right now. Apple isn't stupid. They know their best selling iPod is the Nano, so they're certainly going to drop it on the market like a bomb shell once the regular iPhone reaches a certain point of saturation.

[ByronGman @ Apr 8th 2008 2:19AM]

How exactly are you going to nano-fy an Iphone?


Make it smaller? (There goes the nice screen.)
Lower capacity? (Cripple music/movie storage options)
Remove features? (How exactly does that do anything worth while?)

Turning the Iphone nano is a bad idea because you're going to end up crippling the device while a less flashy phone will offer more storage or features.

[L @ Apr 8th 2008 2:34AM]

Clak, get off your American POV for a moment. In Europe, iTunes is pretty much pointless. I know nobody who ever bought a song on there. And even in America, the average person buys 20 songs during the years they have an iPod. Hardly an impressive number...

And yeah, iTunes on Windows sucks. BAD.

[caleb @ Apr 8th 2008 2:31AM]

@ByronGman,
I'm sure when the 3G iPhone is released you'll be able to find plenty of of perfectly good iPhones for very cheap. Especially considering they have already been going for as little as $199 through official channels. (http://www.google.com/search?q=att+refurbished+iphone+199)

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 2:39AM]

@ByronGman

You're forgetting. The biggest advantage of having an iPhone is that it's a phone and an iPod. So the people that don't want all the fancy features in the regular iPhone, and don't want to carry 2 devices and already have their music collection on iTunes, are going to buy an iPhone Nano.

So all Apple has to do is release a clamshell phone with 8 gigabytes of storage space ( even when Apple supported those popular phones from Motorola, flash wasn't as cheap or prevalent as it is now. This is a BIG advantage) a normal keypad and a screen that plays video. By the time the iPhone Nano is released, Apple will have a 16 and 32 GB model iPhone and they can drop the 8 GB line completely.

If they price that baby around $150, it will be perfect for all those people that don't want to fork over the cash for a full fledged iPhone.

[Mr.Tech @ Apr 8th 2008 3:41AM]

@ ByronGman | Sorry pal but Nokia doesn't really target poor college student with their high end cellphones. Nokia newest gadget in the US is the N95 8GB Black Edition and the MSRP starting price is about $650.00 so you might want to look somewhere else buddy. The up side to this is it will play Doom! That and it has 3G too.

[T-Bone @ Apr 8th 2008 8:04AM]

"The only people that really have a problem with iTunes are geeks who think they're cultured because they use Flac or Ogg or whatever exotic format that's so in vogue these days."

My problem is that iTunes is as slow as molasses even compared to WMP. I can only scroll one song per second while a song is playing in iTunes, WMP doesn't have that problem. If the iTunes window is inactive, I have to wait at least 2 seconds while it becomes active and, once again, this problem is limited to iTunes. iTunes is truly a crappy program.

[Nick @ Apr 8th 2008 9:55AM]

@ clak

"The only people that really have a problem with iTunes are geeks who think they're cultured because they use Flac or Ogg or whatever exotic format that's so in vogue these days. But you ask my nine year old niece and her friends and the whole generations of tweens that are growing up now what they prefer, they will say iTunes because it's the only thing they know. And these tweens actually *gasp* BUY their music (with their parents money, but still they buy it)! They are the generation that are going to decide whether the iPod stays or goes."

I make all of my purchasing decisions by consulting a group of 9 year-olds...iTunes sucks because the selection sucks (unless you're looking for the new Mims joint), the quality sucks (unless you're deaf), the speed sucks, and syncing sucks. And those file formats are not about being cultured, its about actually liking to listen to music as it was intended to sound, not a terribly compressed 128 kbps version. Hopefully, someday those "tweens" will grow up to appreciate a quality product and quality music recordings.

[ChrisG @ Apr 8th 2008 12:36AM]

Nokia should just back off and fight Sony Ericsson rather than Apple. I don't hate Nokia products but Apple products are really worth the money, a lot of time Nokia products are lackluster, get dull, or feel cheap. But I must say if it weren't for those adds about "open devices" we would have the iPhone sdk.

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 12:41AM]

That's baloney, Chris G. Nokia had nothing to do with Apple releasing the SDK and neither did the hacking community. I am convinced that this was Apple's plan all along, but Apple obviously underestimated the intense interest or else they wouldn't have had to come out and make an announcement just to calm everyone down.

[Namarrgon @ Apr 8th 2008 2:07AM]

So, I guess The Steve's original announcement that there *wouldn't* be an SDK and we'd all have to make do with web apps, was just to throw everyone off the scent.

If that's really true, then I guess he's not always as savvy at judging the public's reaction as he's made out to be.

[caleb @ Apr 8th 2008 2:35AM]

Agreed. The original iPhone "SDK" was Safari, and that is why Safari was released for Windows, so people could test code from either platform.

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 2:49AM]

@Namarrgon

When did Steve say that there would absolutely be no SDK? If you were in his position and you knew the SDK wasn't ready and you're at the biggest developer conference that Apple holds every year (WWDC), what the hell would you have done? Forget I asked that. You're not worth billions, so you probably would have ran off the stage like a girl.

By not announcing the iPhone SDK before it was ready, Steve was able to get hundreds of developers to develop web apps for the iPhone. Those developers would not have bothered if they had known an SDK was coming. This way, Apple gets the best of both worlds: native apps for the phone and a full spectrum of apps available on the web.

[Namarrgon @ Apr 9th 2008 4:41AM]

@clak: if I was in his position and the SDK wasn't ready, I'd say, "SDK for awesome native apps will be released as soon as we're certain it's secure. In the meantime, look at all the cool things you can still do with web apps!"

Yeah, maybe they got a few extra web apps this way. They also got a lot of negative publicity, a bunch of pissed-off developers, plenty of jail-broken phones (and extra tech support costs as a result), and more than a few lost sales. Doesn't sound like a real clever tradeoff to me, but hey, Jobs is the genius round here.

[John @ Apr 8th 2008 12:36AM]

iPhone 2.0 will already eating up more marketshare when this is released

[holycow @ Apr 8th 2008 1:32AM]

Not until they release an unlocked a version!

[Rich @ Apr 8th 2008 4:19AM]

Nokia's marketshare has INCREASED since the iPhone launched.

[Scott @ Apr 8th 2008 10:40AM]

Yeah, choosing to go with a single vendor was the dumbest thing Apple did with the iPhone.

I have an iPhone, but I only bought one after I was sure I could unlock it and keep it unlocked. I love it, but I can't recommend it to my non-computer geek friends and family because you either have to hack it or get tied to AT&T for life. I wouldn't recommend getting tied to ANY carrier (not just AT&T), and this is especially true now that Android is coming out soon.

[Zak @ Apr 8th 2008 11:22AM]

Scott - Why do you think it was Apple's choice to go with one vendor? Apple shopped the iPhone concept around to all the major vendors in the US, and AT&T was the only one was willing to redo their infrastructure to support visual voicemail and allow Apple to sell the iPhone with an unlimited data plan.

Verizon flat out turned Apple down when approached with the iPhone. They didn't have any foresight at all, which is consistent with their policy of locking features out of the phones they sell to their customers. Their CEO is basically a huge dumbass.

In any case, Apple was clearly trying to sell the iPhone through as many carriers as possible, but it's not really up to Apple if they get turned down, right?

[kashkha @ Apr 8th 2008 12:42AM]

"though he failed to mention that it was 4 million low-end candybar handsets"

Right, because everyone knows Apple is the world leader in the smart phone market. Oh wait, that's Nokia.

[Cindy @ Apr 8th 2008 1:08AM]

that's right. people seem to get all into the hype of Apple products and they forget that there were STUFF BEFORE APPLE. things in the iPhone weren't new, they're not even that great. Apple just have better luck advertising their products than most companies out there do. And after Apple miraculously became the standard of all things electronic... well lets just say there's a Before-Apple-Era that nobody seems to remembers!

oops, i went on a tirade... best wishes to Nokia's new toy!

[caleb @ Apr 8th 2008 1:15AM]

True. Apple is just lucky. If it weren't for their pesky luck, they'd have filed for chapter 11 by now.

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 1:48AM]

@Cindy

You Apple haters say the same thing over and over and still you miss the big point. It's not that Apple does something first. That's not important. They're the first people to do it RIGHT.

It's like the Altair versus the Apple II. The Altair came before, but it was just a box with switches and lights on the front. The Apple II had color graphics, an integrated keyboard, sound, and eight internal expansion slots and totally dominated the market.

Sure there were Mp3 players before the iPod, but the iPod had a click wheel and an easy to use interface. So you continue to repeat that diatribe all you want, but it won't change these simple facts.

[Nick @ Apr 8th 2008 1:50AM]

QED man. That was a hard burn lol when I read that I was like holy crap.

[Nick @ Apr 8th 2008 1:51AM]

kashka that is, not clak your an idiot

[Special_K @ Apr 8th 2008 2:14AM]

Well, to be fair, the first gen iPod didn't had a click wheel, just a scroll wheel. The click wheel didn't come out 'til the 4th gen.

Either way, yes, you are correct. What I think is more to the point is that Apple is also the first to make these products popular (no, not bad grammar, just weird tense). I mean, even if the Apple ][ or the Macintosh or the iMac or the iPod or the iPhone weren't the /best/ per se, or the first, they /were/ the most popular. People bought them in droves then, and they do so today. I mean, the Macintosh might as well have been a re-boxed Xerox Alto for all I know (I've never seen an Alto up close) but that doesn't make it any less innovative. What Apple does is takes amazing technology, makes it ergonomic (not just pretty, mind you, though that as well) and markets it really well. Just inventing the mouse isn't enough; you have to take it and make it widespread. That's what Apple does, and that's why they earn my props. At the same time, that's why the draw the ire of a lot of people. They're not the first, or even the best, but the most notable and the most successful. Take that as you will.

[ill trooper @ Apr 8th 2008 2:15AM]

"Luck" for 30 years, huh? Keep failing, haters. Number one music store in the U.S., number 4 computer manufacturer in the U.S., best-selling mp3 players, best mainstream OS, successful retail stores, top mobile browser share within a fraction of time in the market of all competitors... That's a long streak: I think you might want to redefine what you consider 'luck.'

It's just 'luck' that the mobile giant that sells Apple's phone sales "in a weekend" makes their new phone and interface look and act just like the competitor's phone they claim to be? Why not compare how many $399 Nokia phones sell in the same period as Apple's phone? How many N95s have sold again? Hmm.

Although they act nonchalant, Nokia betrays their concern about Apple mentioning Apple directly and indirectly (the 'unlocked' poster ads in major cities) and designing a device that clearly screams 'iPhone' - pull the 'Tube' out and people will think 'iPhone,' no matter how many times you wind yourself explaining to people that it's not an iPhone.

[Draaaainage! @ Apr 8th 2008 2:29AM]

Oh poppycock Clak! Apple doesn't do things "right" they just cater to the least common denominator, the people who want to be high-tech but couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel.

Most conversations I have with "Mac people" at the university where I work in IT goes like this:

"Excuse me, can you help me with a problem I am having with this computer?"
"Sure, just give me a sec to finish up here"
"My MacBook is SO much faster than these HP workstations! You should switch this library to Macs."
"Really? When did you buy it?"
"Oh, it got here last week."
"So, to be clear, you're comparing your brand new C2D MacBook with 2+ GB of RAM to this 4 year old AMD budget-tastic student workstation with 512 MB of RAM which is primarily here to allow people to check FaceBook and MySpace?"
"Dude, it's not about how old it is, Macs are just better, they just are"
"I don't understand, you're comparing a super charged Corvette to a Ford Focus, equipped with bicycle tires and the engine removed."
"Mac are just built better, they are faster and boot up in less time."
..............
"I'm sorry, I can't help you with what you're having trouble with."
"But I haven't even told you what's wrong yet."
"Yeah, but I am positive I don't know how to fix it, I mean, after all you're obviously the computer expert here, what with your knowledge of Macs and all. I'll recommend to my department head that we hire you ASAP."
"You're a dick!"
"Probably"

And that's why Macs sell at all, because ignorant douche bags are told, and thus believe, that they are faster and better. That or they are even bigger douche bags and think the design of their computer says something about them as a person.

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 3:10AM]

@Draaainge!

Why do Windows users think they're smarter than Mac users because Windows is harder to use? That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. I was a Windows user for 10 years. I switched BECAUSE Macs were easier to use. This isn't command line days. Personal computers became dominant and popular BECAUSE the graphical user interface dumbed computers down so that the ordinary public could use it, so you guys aren't smarter because you use Windows. You're actually pretty stupid, because you would rather use something that's inferior, something that Microsoft managed to make harder to use, despite the original intention for the GUI to make computers easy.

[nh @ Apr 8th 2008 6:27AM]

"This isn't command line days."

Funny you say that, because the command line in OSX is pretty much the major selling point for me.

[clak @ Apr 8th 2008 11:08AM]

My conversations with Windows users usually go like this.

"Hey, John, my PC is really slow. What can I do to make it faster?"
"You probably have a lot of malware slowing you down."
"But, John, I haven't even been to any bad sites. I don't even look at porn that much these days, now that I'm married."
"Have you visited the web more than twice this month?
"Yeah."
"Then you're screwed. Windows doesn't require you to actually visit bad sites to download malware, because of ActiveX controls...uh, never mind."
"Okay."
"Tell you what. Buy some more RAM and Norton Anti-Virus."
"Okay."
"And Spybot: Search and Destroy."
"Yeah."
"Ad Aware."
"Okay."
"And defrag your hard drive once a week."
"What day do you do it?"
"Oh, I have a Mac. I don't have to defrag my hard drive. OS X uses something called Hot File Adaptive Clustering."
"Huh?"
"Never mind, just buy the RAM, install those programs and you should be fine."
"Okay."

A month goes by and my Windows friend calls me back.

"John, my PC is running slow again."
"You buy the RAM and all those AV programs I told you about?"
"Yeah."
"And you're defragging?"
"Yeah."
"Re-install Windows."

Another month goes by. My phone rings.

"Dude."
"Buy a Mac."

Click.

[bibulb @ Apr 8th 2008 1:46PM]

@Draaaainage!

'Sfunny, but my interaction with almost all the Wintel users I have to deal with is that they know jack shit about how to use their system, so Mr. Mac User here has to give them their tech support.
Meanwhile, the MacOS people I meet tend to know how to do at least remedial troubleshooting and problem analysis.

Feels like your university population is the problem - both the students and the IT department sound like utter dicks.

There's jackasses and damnfools on every platform. Get over it.

[Jeff @ Apr 8th 2008 3:14PM]

@ clak: hahah totally.

But you forgot the part where they say "But my windows friend told me that macs r totally gay. ...because they only have 1 mouse button, and er, like 30 other stupid-ass reasons that are utterly false. Nevermind that they're completely ingrained in the windows-IT world, and anything not sanctioned by Microsoft makes them kick and scream and, really, scares the shit out of them, because it's different and scary, but also generally less broken and doesn't have built-in job security... but yeah, those windows-IT morons are telling me that macs are "teh suk" ...shoul i really buy one?"

[Nikos @ Apr 8th 2008 12:44AM]

That is S60 touch, more info including a demostration video can be found here:
http://www.mivadika.com/forum/software/1778-nokia-s60-touch-interface-launched.html

Some early information regarding Nokia's "iPhone" can be found here:
http://mivadika.com/forum/communications/1562-10-things-about-nokia-s-iphone.html

First Nokia devices with touch screens based on touch will come in many forms by the end of the year.

[aaron @ Apr 8th 2008 1:28AM]

Well, if the final product is as THICK as the one the girl is using....I'll pass.