Recently, Nokia announced the launch of a replica version of the Nokia 3210 model mobile phone in Chinese mainland, called Nokia 3210 4G, priced at 379 yuan. This is a classic model originally released in 1999, after the release, the model has been sold out of stock in major warehouses, many consumers ask when to restock? This can't help but make people think of the "explosive" data of the original Nokia 3210 that sold 160 million units that year. In the face of this hot model, many consumers exclaimed, "Is Nokia mobile phone back?"
The classic mobile phone remake is sold out
On May 10, just two days after the release of the Nokia 3210 4G, the model has been sold out of stock in major warehouses. There are quite a few comments on Nokia's official Weibo asking about the replenishment time. On the same day, Nokia announced that under the urging of many consumers in need, it has begun to step up the replenishment of Nokia 3210 4G, and this popular senior phone will go on sale online again on May 31.
This situation is probably not uncommon if it were placed 25 years ago, given that the original Nokia 3210 sold 160 million units that year, even today, this is a figure that some mobile phone manufacturers cannot reach. But how can the Nokia Senior, which is far less feature-rich than smartphones, do it in 2024?
A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw that compared with the original version, the reproduced version of Nokia 3210 4G not only retains the classic appearance frame and "Snake" small game, but also adds a lot of selling points to adapt to the contemporary market. First of all, the exterior design of the fuselage adopts a more modernist metallic coating on the basis of the original, and expands the proportion of screen area, making its texture more in line with the aesthetics of today's mobile phones. Secondly, the Nokia 3210 4G is equipped with a 2 million pixel camera, which has obvious imaging advantages over similar products. At the same time, the charging port has been replaced with a more convenient Type-C type, and the Bluetooth function is built-in. Last but not least, the Nokia 3210 4G supports dual SIM dual standby, 4G network and VoLTE HD voice calling, as well as the indispensable mobile payment binding feature.
What's good about this phone?
As an elderly machine, the Nokia 3210 4G has almost all the basic functions commonly used in smartphones, and it is indeed the best in its class. For a mobile phone of more than 300 yuan, it seems to be enough to be worthy of its own price.
According to a survey by Beiqing Daily, many consumers buy this mobile phone out of nostalgia. The birth time of the first Nokia 3210 happened to be the most nostalgic era for the main young and middle-aged people on the Internet, that is, the so-called "millennium" - centered on the year 2000, including the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century - which is enough to make the post-90s recall their childhood, the post-80s recall their youth, and the post-70s think about their prime. Nokia's signboard when promoting the remastered version is also "Millennial Return, Retro Backup" and "Bringing Memories of the Y2K", grasping the Y2K nostalgia trend that began to emerge in different design fields around the world after 2020.
Facts have proved that in today's world, when many old things that people are familiar with are gradually being eliminated by the times, "feelings" are indeed a great weapon. After the news of the Nokia 3210 reproduction was issued, the number of recomments on Nokia's official Weibo increased by hundreds of times. On Nokia's official JD sales platform, the Nokia 3210 4G purchase link is full of comments such as "retro feeling, full of memories" and "buying feelings", with a positive rating of 98%. In addition, a large number of netizens have suggested that Nokia reproduce more classic old mobile phones, such as the Nokia N97 that can be folded horizontally, the Nokia E72 with a full keyboard and the Nokia 5230 with a touch screen. A variety of old Nokia model numbers have been mentioned, and it seems that everyone has one of the most impressive Nokia phones in their memory. In a sense, this recall effect is also one of the special brand characteristics of "Nokia".
"Elderly machine" and "retro photography style" have become the main ones
To make high-speed updated electronic products sell out in a short period of time, feelings alone are not enough. The Nokia 3210 4G is cloaked in a retro classic case, and the built-in features are still close to those of a practical phone, which is also an important selling point.
Beiqing Daily reporter saw that many consumers mainly buy for students who need to focus on learning or the elderly who are not suitable for new electronic products, because it is more flexible and practical than the old old machine, and the use and operation are simpler than smart phones, which reduces the temptation of entertainment software under the premise of taking into account mobile payment.
Ms. Wu, 45, said that if she wants to give it to her parents or children, it is easier to enhance her willingness to buy it by equipping it with radio music and mobile payment functions than the single and backward traditional elderly machine, and she is also willing to buy one as an emergency backup machine. "Nokia is also a time-honored brand, and seeing it launch this kind of elderly machine with rich functions, (I) feel pretty good." "And the advantage [of this brand] is that it's cheap and affordable, and it's not easy to break." ”
In addition, a reporter from Beiqing Daily also found that some young female consumers who are active on platforms such as Xiaohongshu are interested in the Nokia 3210 4G camera function. After the Y2K style became popular, retro-style photography gained more market, and sales of Polaroid and CCD cameras also increased. The essence of the Y2K style is the essence of old film, low-pixel blur and graininess, so the Nokia 3210 4G's imaging configuration also meets the needs, and its price is cheaper than some Polaroid and CCD cameras, and the body is lighter and more portable.
However, some consumers are very enthusiastic about this, sighing "Ye Qing Hui", willing to pay for their feelings, and there are still some electronic product consumers who are not optimistic about the current situation of the replica series and Nokia. This part of the people believe that Nokia is "opportunistic and promoting consumption downgrade" and "should stop selling outdated e-waste", and some people bluntly say that "it seems that Nokia's glory days have really passed", and all that remains is "the harder you try, the more bitter it becomes". Some people even believe that Nokia has iterated very thoroughly, and the quality of this Theseus ship is not as good as before, and "mobile phone smashing walnuts" and "mobile phone falling off the cliff intact" have long become unrealistic legends.
Nokia's peak moment
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that Nokia's mobile phone business has been acquired by HMD, and Nokia also collects patent fees from HMD. In 2019, HMD sold 70 million phones and claims to have sold more than 240 million phones so far. At present, every year, HMD will release a number of new Nokia phones, which are basically straight board "old people" phones.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw that Nokia 3210 4G is not the first time that Nokia has adopted a marketing model of replicating old models. As early as 2017, Nokia reproduced the Nokia 3310 that was listed in 2000, and formulated a series of sales promotion plans around the mobile phone, and invited the well-known network illustrator "Ding Ji huangding" to do the trendy painting design for the Nokia 3310, but because the function of the replica mobile phone is too simple, it is detached from practicality, and it has not achieved a good response. In 2018, Nokia launched the Nokia 3310 4G version, and with the update of the mobile communication network, the wind reviews of the replica series were relatively warm. In the years that followed, Nokia launched a number of replicas of the old models, but none of them made much of a splash. The Nokia 3210 4G is the first success of the series.
In fact, during the millennium, that is, the peak of Nokia, the company once occupied about 40% of the mobile phone market, with a huge market value of hundreds of billions of euros, leaving Motorola, Samsung and other companies behind, "every second, 20 Nokia mobile phones are sold in the world". In fact, until 2010, Nokia was firmly at the top of the mobile phone market.
However, in just two or three years, smartphones represented by Apple and Samsung rose at the speed of light, and Nokia chose to stick to tradition and refused to use IOS or Android in mobile phones. With this as the core, Nokia has made a series of bad decisions, big or small, including not reorganizing the board of directors in a timely manner, working at a disadvantage with Microsoft, and clinging to the much-criticized self-created Symbian system. As a result, by the end of 2012, Nokia had to sell its headquarters building in Espoo, Finland, at a price tag to ease the severe financial constraints. Since then, Nokia's status has plummeted, and the performance of the mobile phone business has plummeted, fading out of the public's field of vision.
Patent income becomes a stable source of cash flow
In 2020, Nokia remained on the list of "Fortune 500" published by Fortune magazine, with a market capitalization of $30 billion. A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that Nokia is still a large enterprise with its own influence and a relatively stable business. Today's Nokia is still engaged in the research and development of chips, and to a certain extent, it has moved to the back-end to make itself have a place in the market. At present, Nokia mainly has four business groups: network infrastructure, mobile network, cloud and network services, and Nokia technology, and patent licensing business has always been an important asset and a stable source of cash flow for Nokia.
In fact, patent revenue has become an important part of Nokia's revenue stream. In 2021, the financial report showed that Nokia's sales were 22.202 billion euros and the net profit was 1.623 billion euros. Among its revenue sources, the supply of telecommunications equipment accounted for 81.77%, the operation of enterprises accounted for 6.41%, and the licensing of patents accounted for 5.72%. Since the 2G era, Nokia has had a large number of related patents, and in the 3G, 4G, and 5G eras, Nokia is still the top 10 patent holders in the global telecommunications field. "Mobile phones are all in the same vein, and 4G mobile phones are also using 2G technology." Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the Mobile Phone China Alliance, once said in an interview that it has been difficult for global mobile phone manufacturers to completely bypass Nokia's patent "wall". As long as the patent protection period is over, those patents that seem to be eliminated by the times are still insurmountable.
For this reason, Nokia is also constantly fighting a "patent war", including Apple, Blackberry, HTC, and even Daimler, Toyota and other brands, have been sued. Most cases end with the parties settling and the other party paying royalties. Domestic brands such as OPPO have also sued Nokia in China and many places in Europe because they are dissatisfied with Nokia's high patent fees.
Recently, there has been news that HMD, the parent company of Nokia mobile phones, may abandon Nokia mobile phones due to poor performance, however, the news has not been officially confirmed.
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Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Wen Jing Intern Liu Zhiwu
Editor/Fan Hongwei