Windows Vs Android - Is it ethical ?

Nokia has been aggressively marketing their Lumia family of Windows Phones on a massive global scale, with events sporting 4D projections, augmented reality experiences, and live music performances the manufacturer appears to have extraordinarily deep pockets for the marketing budget, something that Microsoft needs from an OEM with its new mobile platform


As well as Nokia we've seen Microsoft pushing hard with carriers and the famous Smoked by Windows Phone campaign. Following on from this successful array of stunts, Nokia has kicked off "Blown away by Lumia" in India, which hasn't gone down too well with Samsung, who is backing the Galaxy family of devices.


The advertising campaign, which is basically a spin-off of Microsoft's own 'Smoked by Windows Phone' campaign, is being run in India, with similar marketing going on in the UK as well. Basically, contestants are picked out of a crowd in public places and compete against someone using a Lumia handset to see who can complete a task first. Assuming that the Lumia beats whatever the contestant is using, the contestant gets their picture taken holding up a sign that says “My phone just got blown away by the Nokia Lumia.”


As with the Smoked by Windows Phone challenges, contestants have to try and best the Windows Phone (a Lumia handset in this case) with general smartphone tasks, such as taking a photo and uploading it to Facebook. Which ever device completes the task first wins. Should the contestant lose, they have to hold up a sign that reads: 'My phone just got blown away by the Nokia Lumia'.


Reported by Tech2.com -At one of the events in Delhi, one of the participants was asked to click a picture, tag it and upload it to Facebook. The time taken by the two devices was compared with the eventual winner in that particular incident being the Nokia Lumia phone. Well, the guy did state that the Lumia phone won and that he was using a ‘Samsung Galaxy’ phone, but that’s not it. Once he lost the mini competition, the girl along with him got pretty fed up and said that his current phone was ‘the worst piece of sh*t’.

Samsung apparently isn't happy about this, with a spokesperson from Samsung India calling the campaign “clearly unethical.”


Nokia explains the challenges were validated by Nielsen, with Nokia India Director of Marketing, Viral Oza, commenting the following on the accusations of unethical campaigning. According to the ironically named Viral Oza, a Marketing Director at Nokia India, “the Lumia 800 emerged as a clear winner by winning 94% of the total 104 challenges timed by Nielsen. This challenge,” he added, “has not been created to target competition but to highlight the social media capabilities of the device.”


Microsoft's own Smoked by Windows Phone campaign garnered some criticism of its own after a contestant threatened legal action because Microsoft award him a promised $1,000 PC after his iPhone 'smoked' a Windows Phone.And just for the record, Samsung pulled a similar stunt of their own with the Samsung Street Challenge, so they really don't have much room to complain.


Mobile phone analysts feel Nokia's strategy to compare Lumia with competitive brands is a smart move since the company has been losing share in the segment."At the top-end of the smartphone segment, Indian consumers are showing bigger affinity for Samsung, BlackBerry or Apple rather than Nokia,That way, Nokia's campaign for Lumia 800 can help them since its comparing with competitors in social networking and internet capabilities which are the most important factors for younger consumers while choosing a handset",says Rahul Gupta ,Senior manager strategies at Mobile tech Research firm.But is it ethical on part of Nokia ? Debatable....Right ?