N-Gage - Branding, Image, Follow-Up Possibilities 68
Thanks to Costik.com for its in-depth discussion of the Nokia N-Gage's advantages and disadvantages, a post sparked by Scott Miller's weblog post on the same subject, in which the 3D Realms founder argues "Nokia means cell phones to consumers. So, when Nokia jumps into the games market, it doesn't make sense to people", and concludes: "Nokia needs to create a separate company to handle the N-Gage. The 'Nokia' name should never be associated with this device, much like the Toyota name is not associated with Lexus." Greg Costikyan's reply counters: "Launching N-Gage as a Nokia device wasn't a bad idea; the flaws of the device were, however", and ends: "I personally would not be surprised if, two or three years from now, Nokia decides to give it another go, with a new device."
Another factor: (Score:3, Funny)
and, in a somewhat unrelated way,
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-0
It wasn't the branding. It was the fact that Nokia chose to combine bad marketing with a bad product. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if Tycho and Gabe had something to do with it, either. Gaming culture in general backlashed against the N-Gage and that turned it into a non-product. And who wants to hold something shaped like a taco to their ear, anyway?