Almost a year and a half after the original 8800 model first appeared, in September ‘2006 the company presented its successor christened 8800 Sirocco. What stands for such a long gap between the two? The deal is easy to explain: 8800 maintained such high sales volume enjoying a total lack of competitive brands that there seemed to be little to no reason to issue a sequel model. Even in a year and a half later the sales were high enough to get to thinking about something cardinally new - the Sirocco gadget was just a revamped 8800 just intended to expand the product life cycle. Sirocco didn’t have any extra features as compared to the regular 8800 save for new looks and a slight increase in user memory and battery life. To make Sirocco look more exclusive and independent from its predecessor, the phone was bundled with a Bluetooth headset (BH-801), a tabletop cradle and a new model name. The 8800 ships with a full bundling similar to most premium class handsets. Like its elderly brother, Sirocco utilizes an exclusive user interface featuring brand themes. The original 8800 had its ringtones written by Ryuichi Sakamoto while Sirocco ringtones owe a credit to Brian Eno, another famous composer known as the father of ambient. The ringtones go well along with the rest of design theme. All the exclusive content is copy-protected, so there’s no way to extract the ringtones.

It’s rather unusual for a minor upgrade to get a brand name of its own, Sirocco being the first throughout the whole history of Nokia products. Sirocco stands for a strong, dry wind blowing from deserts of Arabia and North Africa that mixes with the colder air of the Mediterranean. The brand was chosen to underline the device’s natural harmony of looks, which was reflected in two ‘dunes’ on the surface of the phone casing, resembling the sand dunes of deserts.

Designing and launching Sirocco truly was Nokia’s big deal demanding new concepts to turn a somewhat obsolete cell phone into a brand new product with a new casing featuring virtually the same stuff inside. The only and main aim of the project was to expand the life cycle of 8800, providing for squeezing maximum profits out of the same product.

Meanwhile the intended successor of the 8000 series named Nokia 8600 was artificially delayed for a few months waiting to be launched into mass production and make it to the market when the stars are right. Obviously it was the 8600 which was originally intended to succeed the 8800 within its market niche - Sirocco could simply have gone no further than concept papers, should its forefather have been not as popular as it was. But the sales went the way they did and there was no way back luckily for Nokia, so Nokia 8600 was purposely transferred into another class within the premium segment since it was too late to make changes to the specs and besides that, putting the guise of a top model onto a handset sharing a striking similarity in specs to a two year old existing phone would not have made a perfect marketing decision anyway. So the recommended retail price of Nokia 8600 is lower than that of Sirocco, resulting in a number of speculative consequences:

Lowering the model index is not the only means used by the company to underline a relatively lower position of the model, the bundling is a bit scarce and there are no exclusive ringtones. Not much of a matter to get upset over, but it’s obvious that should Nokia 8600 have been released a bit earlier forerunning the launch of Sirocco, it would surely have been marketed as a top phone bundled with a complete range of accessories but today this idea is obsolete: Nokia now runs two separate series of phones, 8800 and 8600 formally being the flagships of those. The former is intended to be a more elite product while the latter acts as a mass product still staying within the premium segment. It should be noted however that it doesn’t mean a gap in functionality and quality between future products ranking below the 8600 model and those ranking above the 8800 Sirocco. The difference will mainly persist on the front of target marketing, finding its realization in design, bundling and price. Thus Nokia will occupy both the €1000+ niche and that ranging from €500 to €900, its top product being Nokia 6800 Luna.

Drawing parallels with Sirocco, the new premium model gets a brand name of its own, the suggestive Luna, with a number of possible interpretations, the most likely one being that of the heavenly body. While Sirocco design was inspired by the desert winds blowing over the dunes, the Luna model gives its owner an idea of the moonlight gently cutting through the clouds in the night sky forming a glittering moonpath on the sea waves - an association brought to you by the slowly flashing keypad visible through the smoke-coloured slide panel window. It’s a successful designer feat catching the customer’s attention, tempting to hold your glance for an extra moment, making Nokia 6800 a perfect image phone.

What the target audience of the Luna phone is going to look like? As we have already mentioned, it’s marketed towards people purchasing a top phone for the first time who are not content with Nokia 8800 due to some reasons while the new materials and price drives them towards the 8600, however these make only a small percentage of potential customers and no expansion in this limited market segment is seen ahead shortly. Luna is mostly targeted at the owners of original Nokia 8800 not willing to trade it in for the Sirocco edition due to a small number of actual changes. There’s quite a number of those considering Luna a reasonably priced upgrade to replace their 8800s instead of the once expensive Sirocco.

The actual amounts of Nokia 6800 Luna production be we shall see in the future, however one thing is absolutely evident here: it will make a new bestseller sporting a popularity comparable to that of 8800 or slightly less due to its exclusiveness. There are no potential competitors on the horizon to challenge Luna, save probably for its predecessor. Sirocco will be gone from market after a while, succeeded by a new image phone filling the top niche in its market segment. The release schedule provides for a period of 7-8 months between the launches of the products intended for the two subsegments - an optimal term resulting in a product life cycle of slightly more than one year.

As we are through the short theoretical introduction, let’s pass to the handset’s specs.

Design

New design tendencies come clear out of a comparison between 6800 Luna and its predecessors, Nokia 8800 and its Sirocco Edition. While Sirocco didn’t undergo a change in material or form, Luna is quite another deal. The 8800s were made out of metal, texturized for the original one and polished for Sirocco with a distinct metallic texture. Luna utilizes another material composition - the back of the casing is still made of stainless steel with a soft-touch coating (a corresponding mark is found on the back side of the battery cover, preventing the surface from slipping, soiling and scratching - a smarter and more practical option although obscuring the origin of the actual casing material. It’s up to the customer to decide on this point being an advantage or a drawback. When the first pictures of 8600 appeared on the net (the quality thereof left much to be desired) many people were inclined to think that it’s a low-end handset deprived of expensive casing material intended for the budget class of the premium segment. In practice the handset gives a feel quite different from the expected one, the phone is pleasant to feel in hand and sits in hand quite comfortably.

We purposely took a large number of comparison pictures featuring Nokia 8800SE, 8800 Sirocco, 8600 Luna for your consideration.

The slide mechanism has also undergone certain modifications - to be more precise, it’s the slide panel covering the keypad that was modified. Now it’s composed of thick semi-transparent darkened glass that allows the user to watch the keypad backlighting, this feature being what gave the model its name. There’s no need worrying for the durability of the glass, however it’s obvious that Luna is less fall-proof as compared to the 8800 supplied with a metal slide panel. The glass itself is rather dark, but another color options can be expected to appear in future, for example blue or moon white for there’s no technical limitation here.

Comparing the overall dimensions of the handset to those of its predecessor we should mention that Luna is almost as thick as the original 8800 while Sirocco is a bit thicker, however the three give the hand the same feel. While folded, the three models are equally sized, an unfolded Luna is smaller due to a smaller slide panel that doesn’t cover the soft keys which are always available, a parallel can be drawn here to the 8850 and 8910 Nokia phones, the latter still being larger while unfolded.

The two phones vary in the way they look when unfolded, too. Only a thin part of device extends from the casing in the case of 8800 and Sirocco while the 8600 implements a slightly different scheme that involves the upper part of casing forming a cavity while extended, the void can be clearly seen through the protective shroud covering the stereo speakers. At the same time the middle part of the casing that hosts the camera is exposed. The 8800 has its camera embedded into the sliding part of the casing while 8600 places the camera on the base part. Due to that the camera lens gets soiled while talking on the phone, being a minor construction drawback. The glossy material of camera tends to accumulate grease, being a considerably big detail.

The face panel of the device is composed of a glossy material (save for the glass slide panel) resistant to scratches but helpless against grease, Luna still being something better on this front than Sirocco. The display and control keys are framed with a silver line, a chrome line of the same kind encases the whole handset. A finger rest is located just below the display, noticeably protruding from the surface, supporting the finger quite comfortably and preventing it from slipping.

The left edge of the handset hosts a sole two-position button for volume tweaking; no other control elements are found here. The lower back of the device is where the battery cover is found, only detachable while the phone is unfolded due to its peculiar construction. A 900 mAh BP-5M battery rests underneath, keeping the device online for a period ranging between 36 and 48 hours, 2 hours of talktime included along with 0,5 hour of messaging and two hours of playing with the rest of the functions.

A microUSB slot similar to those of Nokia 6500, Motorola RAZR V8 is found on the right edge of the casing. We were unable to found a data cable to match, nor did we succeed in finding a standard USB slot adapter. The charger uses the same slot; the battery is also recharged while connected to a PC. The bundling doesn’t include an adapter matching the standard slim jack Nokia charger, however this can be expected to appear in the nearest future.

Two narrow openings run along the sides of the casing, used presumably for the stereo speakers. The openings are large enough, however they expose a void underneath while looking at the unfolded handset against the light. We were puzzled to learn this since there is no place for two speakers on the sides, which rather gives us an idea of a single speaker situated at the top of the handset. An unfolded Luna gives little space for the sound to propagate, this fact explains the presence of the two openings.

The keypad is separated in two by the slide panel - the control buttons block, two soft keys and a five-position navigation button stay within reach even when folded. Let us remind that the predecessors 8800 and Sirocco only left the two soft keys available when folded, while Luna retains a vast functionality in the folded mode save for typing. A similar system was inherent to Nokia 8810 and 8850 - somewhat more convenient than a lack of controls like in 8800 and Sirocco.

Numeric keys are large, grouped not in tiers like in 8800 and Sirocco but rather forming a tile array being easier to operate at the same time. The keypad backlighting is white and uniform. Let’s get back to the phone’s brand feature here - the semi-transparent slide panel. The keypad flashing time can be set by the user, and the backlighting visible through the panel produces an unusual visual effect, attracting watcher’s attention.

The build quality is near to perfect, quite typical of premium class phones. A combination of various materials including glass, metal and high quality plastic, a smooth casing, all the special FX and the brand click heard on opening the slider are sure to attract a picky customer who hadn’t traded his 8800 or Sirocco away yet.

The quality of the display is close to that of Nokia 6300, being one of the best on the market for the time being. The display dimensions are 31x41 mm, 2” (51 mm) diagonal, screen resolution 240x420. The display can show up to 16.000 colours, the picture is bright and distinct, the view angles are fine. The display is a great improvement over Nokia 8800 (30x30 mm) both in quality and in quantity. Frankly speaking, the display was Nokia 8800’s weakest point no longer present with Luna.

Wire data transfer via USB is possible with the microUSB slot (and the bundled cable), the data transfer speed is comparable to that of most other phones utilizing this type of connection. The protocol version is 2.0, Mass Storage support is also present, the user is left with the choice to choose between data storage, PC Suite and modem connection modes. If used as a storage device, the 8600 doesn’t go offline which is also an advantage.

The device is intended for usage in 850/900/1800/1900 GSM networks, GPRS and EDGE are fully supported. Nokia 8600 doesn’t belong to the third generation, a full third generation support will only be found in Luna’s successor.

As stated in the specs, Luna utilizes Bluetooh 2.0 + EDR, all the essential profiles are supported including A2DP which allows for a wireless stereo headset. The average data transfer speed via Bluetooth was as much as 170 Kbit/s

User interface

The active standby mode is one of the handset’s strong points, being one of the main features of a Series 40 3rd Edition phone. The number of standby mode tweaks available to the user is simply amazing, outreaching the best smart phones by the company. Literally everything is configurable. To start with, the two soft buttons and four joystick positions can be given custom functions. Nothing really specific about that here, save for an option to display an icon reminder indicating which applications will be run by pressing this or that button.

Then the very active standby mode itself is fully configurable. There’s an option to turn it off completely if the user doesn’t need a lot of information and application shortcuts on the screen, but if activated, the active standby mode as seen in Series 40 3rd Edition phones, looks like a row of iconized shortcuts bringing up five custom applications visible on the display simultaneously (the number of shortcuts is also configurable and scrollable as well), the user himself picks the applications out of a long list. Also there’s an option for shortcutting to a custom application instead of an embedded function. Another option is to display app info taken from up to three user-set applications simultaneously. By default those are the mp3 player, the radio tuner and the calendar. The calendar displays all of today’s upcoming events. It can be navigated through with no need to quit the standby mode with the help of the navigation button (left-right). A notice remains a simple text message popping up on the screen in the standby mode. Applications that can submit info on the screen during the standby mode include the timer, general indicator and the ‘my location’ embedded function. The order in which text lines appear can also be manually configured, the number of lines can be reduced. All in all, the 8600 allows the user to customize more than he could imagine - from a totally empty screen to a lot of diagrams and indicators in the standby mode. The Active menu is traditionally present and the font color is still customizable. The latter function proves useful when it comes to setting a custom wallpaper.

Similar to the rest of the new phone models by Nokia, the main menu has four display modes: list, icons, icons with text, tabs. While list and icons are found with most phones, the latter two options are a novelty. The submenu looks like lists with smaller icons, clear and simple. The font size is only customizable in three applications: Messaging, Contacts and Web. Voice dialing doesn’t require voice sample recording, the menu supports numeric keys shortcutting.

Finally it’s worth mentioning that all of the menu items can be arranged in any custom order you like (however submenu items don’t offer such a function). Almost any of the phone’s functions can be added to the menu or to the desktop in the standby mode, every application can be accessed through a few clicks. Navigation button functionality is fully compatible with the standby mode (up to three button position is configurable in this case, the fourth is reserved for navigation during active standby).

Likewise the majority of Nokia’s products, a number of interface themes are available to the user, changing not only the wallpaper and the background, but the very appearance of menu items, an animated screensaver, the sound of opening the slider. Similar to its predecessor, Nokia 8600 grants its user access to themes exclusively developed for this model. Those are four: AuroraHue, Feathered, Grey, Marble. The first, deep purple, almost perfectly matches the phone’s exterior design, the animated screensaver presenting sophisticated tangling of lilac-coloured lines against a dark background makes a fine match to the smooth keypad backlighting and the semi-transparent panel glass.

A simple check revealed that the total record capacity of the phonebook equals to 1000 of simultaneously stored records each hosting five phone number slots and an extended address line. The memory is not dynamic, the same limit of 1000 records persists even if some of the records only store 1 or 2 phone numbers. However such a loose limit would hardly be of any problem to the vast majority of users. Every contact stores up to five phone numbers of different types (common, mobile, home, video, work, fax), address (street, city, region, ZIP code, country), a PTT address, a e-mail address, a presence indicator, a short notice and a video clip. It was very nice of Nokia to include an option to bind a custom ringtone to every contact - not a custom ringtone per group only.

There three ways for viewing the phone book - name list, name + number, name + picture. The call picture size is large enough, occupying the most of the screen. Also the videoID function is present - if a video clip is set to a specific contact, it will be played in a loop when this person calls you. If both a picture and a clip are set for a contact, the priority goes to the video, also replacing the ringtone with its corresponding sound.

The user can create his own contact groups (up to 25), there aren’t any preset groups. A same contact may belong to several groups at the same time. If a custom melody is set for a contact residing a in a group with another custom ringtone selected for it, the phone will play the contact-specific ringtone and not the group-specific one, which stands to reason. The groups are displayed on the same list as the contacts and come with a special icon, which also seems quite logical. A quick dialup option is present with keys from 2 to 9 acting as hotkeys.

Unlike the Feature Pack 2 - based models, Nokia 8600 features a separated call log having different sections for incoming, outgoing and unanswered calls, the dialup button only brings up the outgoing calls log, which makes a problem here.

Messaging

The messaging service includes SMS, MMS and e-mail capabilities, supports voice mail and so called quick messages. Nothing has changed on the SMS front save for incoming and outgoing messages interface design. The sender can add smileys, contacts and change the message type (from SMS to MMS and alike). The T9 dictionary supports an intelligent input option.

A special contact book is used for messaging, all the recent contacts are displayed on a special list so there’s no need to look up a contact again in the phone book if they were recently sent a message. A whole contact group can be chosen as recipients of a message.

The MMS service is quite standard, the graphical appearance of the interface is changed in a way though. The message length is limited to 300 Kb, images are automatically compressed if the size exceeds the limit. Voice messages are considered as a kind of MMS messages, the voice recorder is automatically activated prior to creation of such a message, the only thing to be done then is to switch it on and record the message. Once the recorder is turned off, an MMS message is automatically composed, then you just have to choose a recipient and press the send button.

The integraded e-mail client supports POP3/IMA4/SMTP/APOP protocols. E-mail attachments are supported, the attachments are read by the phone itself. The principal issue considering e-mail functionality is still present - in some cases, the Cyrillic symbol table support goes wrong, however the phone does its best at interpreting KOI-8 and win-1251 coding. If the mail header doesn’t include a code table signature, expect problems. Viewing include ‘headers only’, ‘maximum message length’, ‘encrypted login mode’, ‘default code table’.

Another point not to be omitted here is the copy/paste function. First this function appeared on Feature Pack I phones like Nokia 6131, 6233. The function is accessible via the contextual menu, there’s no separate key for text processing (unlike the S60-based smart phones), probably a bit of inconvenience here, but still a strong feature.

Message settings include an option to save sent messages, change the font (up to four variants - tiny, small, normal, large), graphical symbols support. MMS also lets specify the maximum picture resolution (up to 640x480 for a normal message, no limits for MMS PLUS here though) and the slideshow period.

The messaging service quite corresponds to the usual standards and does not invoke any reprimands, Nokia 8600 is no worse than the rest of the brands by other companies.

PIM

The Personal Information Manager comprises a number of applications including Calendar, Schedule, Notice Book, Timer, Stop-Watch. The Calendar supports a few viewing options: by month or by week, the latter involves by-hour day scheduling. Up to five types of events can be bound to a specified date: meetings, calls, anniversaries, notices, reminders. A flexible set of options for recurring events and automatic events clearing are also supported (fully customizable)

The schedule book allows for traditional arranging of tasks with customizable priority levels and user-defined time limits for task completion. Notices are an even simple matter, a notice is a custom text up to 3000 symbols. The alarm clock can be set either for a single go or tuned to play the signal on specified weekdays at exact hours defined by the user. A custom ringtone can be chosen as the alarm signal, another option lets the user activate the radio instead (headset must be plugged in order to use this one).

The stopwatch, timer, a world timetable are quite traditional with nothing special about them. The currency converter supports up to seven currency types and is easy to operate.

Мультимедийные возможности

Nokia 8600 does not stand firm on the multimedia ground, being originally unintended as a multimedia handset. The user memory thus is limited to 128 Mb with no support for expansion cards, the player interface is something old-fashioned, as are the video player and FM tuner interfaces. The following multimedia formats are supported: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MIDI, AMR, WMA - this range should content most users.

A five-band equalizer has two user presets. An enhanced stereo mode is available in the multimedia menu. It doesn’t directly influence the sound quality, we have been having seconds thoughts about this one being just a generally useless feature adding only to the handset’s image.

A number of various multimedia options is available including sorting music by performer, album, genre, reshuffle and mixing. The sound quality of Nokia 8600 is fair, but the small amount of memory with no support for expansion cards results in it being a poor music player, however it is believed that the target audience of the Luna phone wouldn’t be too interested in that. A bundled headset (HS-47) is connected to the phone with a 2,5 mm microUSB adapter, its side position being a minor design flaw; although the adapter is rather small and doesn’t interfere with user’s comfort while listening to the music.

The FM tuner doesn’t have any special features besides those commonly found with all mobile FM tuners - a memory storing up to 20 frequencies, the headset acts as the aerial. No autosearch is available. As it was mentioned earlier, both the FM tuner and the music player can submit information to the display while in the active standby mode and stay fully functional in background mode, the sound can be played through the embedded speaker - the quality is not too bad, but it lacks stereo.

The voice recorder supports recording of phone talks, the only thing that needs being done is binding its activation to one of the positions of the navigation button. The voice recorder produces a beep sound audible to both interlocutors to warn them that the talk is being recorded. The recorder shares a simple and easy to use interface, the graphic side is somewhat plain, the same goes with the mp3 player.

The gallery is much similar to most of Series 40 v3 phones, it’s no more than a file manager allowing for browsing and viewing the contents of user memory. Three options for folder content viewing are available to the user, so you can customize it to you liking. The pictures can be viewed in a slide show listing all of the pictures found in a particular folder, which proves useful when it comes to making a small presentation involving a lot of pictures. The pictures and videos can be viewed in full-screen mode with screen rotated at 90 degrees? The following video formats are supported: H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 and 3GPP. A memory state check option is available, showing the overall size of each content category - from pictures in the gallery to application data. The Series 40 gallery displays a moderate functionality, especially as compared to their S60 smart cousins or analogous devices by competitor brands.

The pre-installed applications include a measures converter, a time zone converter and four games - Golf Tour, 3D Soccer, Highroller Casino and Sudoku. The first two games have good graphics and leave a positive impression, being rather involving and helping to relax. A number of favourite Flash Lite applications can be easily installed on the phone just by copying them into the corresponding folder.

Applications in general do not require installation, just copy the .jar file to the phone via Bluetooth, IRda, data cable or in the mass storage mode. Then open the gallery and activate the java applets like if they were text files or pictures. The weak point of java on Nokia 8600 is that you can’t minimize a Java window instead of terminating the process completely. No Java multitasking is available.

rd party apps which run well on Nokia 8600 include the Jumm client, the Mobile Purse service while ReadManiac freaks out, reducing its functionality almost to zero.

The performance is standard for the current generation of mobile communication devices built on the S40 v3 platform, comparable to that of Nokia 6300, 6280, no unexpected surprises await you on this field.

The user memory size roughly equals to 128 Mb which isn’t as much as one might want, however Nokia 8600 being a non-multimedia oriented handset, that could be taken as a kind of excuse - 128 is enough for storing quite a number of ringtones and pictures from the camera.

Camera

Nokia 8600 was not intended to be a camera phone either, the camera quality is very close to that of the 6223 or 6288 models. The photos look good on the display mainly due to its high quality, when they get onto the PC you’ll see for sure that the quality is above average. The camera interface... (альбомная ориентация). There’s no special button for activating shooting mode, the sound volume buttons are used to operate the digital zoom, pressing the navigation button to the left or to the right enables switching between photo and video modes.

The snap time is rather good, in most cases the picture is ready right after the camera sound, however it takes for about 3 seconds to get back to the camera menu.

The maximum video resolution is 176x144, the shooting quality is adjustable as well as the maximum length (unlimited by default). The quality of captured video is low, obviously being a minor extra function with no real support or need on this platform. The clips won’t do if viewed on the PC however look better on the mobile display. There’s an option for implementing special effects during video shooting. The low quality of videos makes a good illustration of product class segmentation. Nokia 6233, sharing a simila functionality, allows for VGA video shooting, which is today’s upper limit of cell phones. However the video quality was artificially lowered on 8600 Luna, the camera and the processor technically are up to the same capability, the only difference being the hard-coded software limit. High quality video recording would be senseless on a 128 Mb phone anyway...

Summary

The overall communication quality of Nokia 8600 Luna left us deeply impressed, the handset is riding on the edge of the latest technologies available. The speaker quality is high enough to understand your interlocutor even in a noisy environment.

The marketing perspectives of the new phone look very promising, but we really doubt its chance of achieving the same success as its predecessor, Nokia 8800. The tremendous marketing success of the latter was largely based on the fact that back in 1998 it had no competitors either among other Nokia products or in the product lines of rival brands like Samsung or Sony Ericsson. What we have to day is quite another deal: the classical Nokia 8800 is still present on the market, the new Sirocco edition of 8800 still enjoys considerable sales, in other words Nokia has worthy alternatives to the Luna among its own products. Other major brands, however, do not dispose anything coming close to Nokia 6800 – probably except SonyEricsson T650i, which at the first glance might look like it were going to challenge the 6800 in a way, boasting a quantity of special effects like keypad flashing in different pulsing colors depending on the type of event – looking more attractive than Nokia 6800, but in reality we think it won’t even make a minor competition with the 6800 because of the one well-known fact: it is not the looks that make a premium cell phone but the pricing and target marketing. The use of metal for casing no longer indicates that the product belongs exclusively to the premium class, it’s rather a sign of modern tendencies in cell phone design and nothing more. That’s why cell phone manufacturers are constantly looking for new materials to be implemented in their new products, as well unusual combinations of well-known materials are being developed, promising soon apparition of handsets utilizing hardened glass for details like the keypad framework – following the wake of 8800 which had sapphire glass for the display cover and Nokia 8600 which utilized this material for the slide panel – the next pioneer was Motorola featuring a flip cover made of glass, and a great many is sure to follow. Along with the sophisticated synthetic substances currently developed for future products we can also mention revamped combinations of ceramics, hardened glass, and even natural materials – leather, fabric, wood. The latter are likely to become a new element of cell phone design in a short-term perspective while the more advanced materials are only expected to appear in far future.

Nokia 6800 left us profoundly touched despite of its traditional, non-revolutionary functionality and a lack of new features, trading in exclusiveness for time-proved prestige. As we have already mentioned, Luna was intended to replace Nokia 8800 as its exclusive successor, but the unbelievable success of 8800 resulted in Nokia 8600 being delayed to give way to a revamped 8800, christened Sirocco. The would-be flagship was turned into a lower-ranking model instead, suffering a cut in bundling – the Bluetooth headset is gone and so is the tabletop cradle, but if we were into the target customer’s shoes, he wouldn’t care much for the absence of a couple of accessories as long as the handset keeps its unique design and a reasonable price. On the other hand, a person looking for a more prestigious phone to replace his lower class phone would find the cut bundling a bit suspicious for a premium class phone.

Nokia’s next step would presumably be that of launching two separate product lines, the 8600 and 8800 being the flagships: the 8800’s kin is intended to make part of the €1000+ segment while the line to which belongs 8600 would fill the gap in the €500-€900 range. Further marketing strategies may involve eventual demand saturation controlled through issuing new models intended to fill upper classes of upper classes of the premium and image phone segments.

Author: Ilya Solovyev, editor@smape.com

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