It seems pre-production phones have developed a tendency to walk off and end up where they are least wanted lately, with not only Apple, but now also Nokia managing to lose top secret prototypes.
Nokia has written a blog post admitting that one of its new Flagship N8 models, or ‘children’ as the firm calls them, has managed to disappear, ending up in the grubby hands of an eager Russian blogger, who quickly reviewed it before Nokia even got a chance to officially launch the device.
Understandably Nokia is pretty upset by this, especially considering the Russian analysis rapidly went viral, with the blogger’s impressions about the firm’s first Symbian 3 device spreading across the net like wild fire.
To make matters worse, the prototype in question was as Nokia puts it “a very early, pre-production prototype with dated software that is not yet ready.” So not something the firm would ideally like bloggers to be reviewing and passing around then.
Nokia did say, however, that it was “confident that the products that make their way to our customers are going to be the best possible quality: Refined, tested, re-tested, evaluated, tested again, and then – once we’re all perfectly happy – shipped.”
“This wasn’t the first time a Nokia product appeared online before it had been announced,” the blog admitted, but lambasted the Russian site as one which “openly flaunts its ability to acquire our property.
“Yes, we have to take a look at ourselves, and we are diligently hunting down the source of these leaks. Frankly, we pride ourselves on trust at Nokia, and someone has greatly betrayed that.”
All’s fair in love and war though and Nokia did manage to handle the incident with some humor, even throwing a jab at rival Apple. Nokia, said the blog, did not actually have its own secret police, and whilst upset the device managed to get out, the firm joked that it wouldn’t be going into lock-down mode, or using an Apple-like veil of fear, secrecy and distrust from now on. Good to hear.
Also, rather than sending the police round to kick down the blogger’s door a-la Apple, Nokia used a rather more polite tactic:
“So now that the official news is out, we’d like our prototype back. Please.” Awww, sweet.
You can check out Nokia’s video of the now officially launched N8 below.
