Anybody that follows the mobile industry needs to be pretty adept at deciphering doublespeak (and a well-tuned BS detector helps too). But this quote is off the charts. Gizmodo points out how a Nokia spokesman explained the delay of the N91 music phone:
“‘The process of integrating Windows digital rights management solution into the phone happened faster than expected,’ the spokesman said. ‘We have therefore decided to delay the launch so that we can provide a better service.'”
Color me confused. Reuters has a little better one from somebody else, that pretty much sounds like it contradicts the first one: “What we basically decided is that we will postpone it a few weeks, push it out to Q1 and do this Microsoft DRM implementation solidly.” Hmm. That doesn’t really clear things up, either.
In any case, implementation of the Microsoft DRM is the sticking point. This is the DRM licensed in a deal announced back in February, a few months before the N91 was announced. It’s hard to believe Nokia’s had this much trouble getting the DRM to work on its Series 60 software, but if it is such a pain, why use it at all?
As Gizmodo also mentions, the pretty horrible reception the ROKR has gotten seems a more likely culprit. But if the N91 is as good as Nokia wants us to think, why not bring it out according to plan and essentially say “this is how it should be done”?
Image from Buzzword, the board game.
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