While we were at CeBIT in Hannover we were also running across booths to shoot some footage we could use to show the viewers what they were missing out. We were at different booths, where people were quite nice, offered to help and to show their products. A thing you’d expect at a place like CeBIT. Then there was a booth in hall 26 where Nokia, the not-so-famous cell phone manufacturer in Germany right now, was playing a big role, as their handsets were a big part of the exhibit.
We entered the booth as usual, like we did with every other booth on the exhibit. When we tried to capture some footage of the cell phones a security guy approached us, asking us to shut down the camera and wait for a Nokia person. The woman appeared and told us that we were stopped because someone with a faulty press permit tried to film the phones. Yeah right, being afraid someone would film your phones? Someone would steal your technology? The CeBIT is a public place, you don’t need to forge a press pass to get into the halls and film a stupid phone. Then we were told, not to film the Nokia logo in some combination with other logos. Of course. What a great idea.
We proceeded to do some shooting at the booth when – just a few minutes later – another security guy told us to shut down our camera. At that point we just decided it wasn’t worth the hassle with a stupid company that doesn’t like to get any press that isn’t totally negative these days.
Just as a reminder, Nokia let go some 2.300 people back in January. This created a public mess which called for legal problems due to subsidiaries and contracts with the state Nokia allegedly didn’t follow correctly. It created an uproar in the German press and public alike. Just a few days after announcing the layoffs, Nokia also announced a record quarter. Well, you see, this company really knows what to do to make people angry.
I really thought about getting a Nokia phone when I saw things like qik, ShoZu and other great software that’s build on Symbian OS. Now, after the past experiences with everything that comes to mind when I hear the name of that company, I really don’t feel like giving my money to them anytime soon.