Nokia 1100 and the AK-47

With all the hype around smart phones (iPhones and Blackberry’s and Android based phones), it’s easy to miss the fact that the world's most popular phone, by many miles, is the humble Nokia 1100! It has no speakerphone, no camera, no radio. It monochrome (did you even know they still make such phones?). So what does it do? This pic tells the answer:
And yet, it outsells every other phone in the world. Because it sells in the populous regions of South Asia and Africa.

Foreign Policy magazine said, “the Nokia 1100 will remain the telecommunications version of the AK-47 -- humanity's most rugged, efficient calling machine”.

Nice analogy that! It reminded me of Nicolas Cage’s dialog in the movie, Lord of War, on AK-47’s:
"Of all the weapons in the vast Soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do."

Does the similarity between Nokia and the former Soviet Union end there? Cage also said in the same movie:

"Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars."

Nokia, on the other hand, is trying to sell models other than the 1100 as well. Will it succeed? If not, Cage’s dialog could just as well apply to Nokia.






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