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Nokia Design Archive (2025)

253 points · 132 comments · pillars

  1. haritha-j · · focus · HN ↗
    I don't think Nokia deserves all this hate. Sure, they made mistakes, but it wasn't entirely unfeasible to assume that the mobile phone market had matured in terms of features, and the next big thing was going to be "phones as fashion statements." When you think about it, prior to the phone, everything people carried on them everyday was some sort of fashion statement. Clothes, glasses, jewllery, watches, handbags, backpacks etc. I think they assumed that the phone was like the watch; peaked functionally, but room to grow in terms of form.
    1. onli · · focus · HN ↗
      And in a way that actually happened with the iPhone. Yes, that was also a functionality boost, but it was also a fashion object. I did a (for university, small scale) observation study at the time and found it notable that some young women started wearing their iPhone on their purse while leaving the bus - that was a shift, a thing formerly seen as a functional device became a fashion accessory.

      Think about how different the target group for blackberry for example had been, or how little glamour the (mostly) cheap and small nokia phones of the past years had been.

      1. eru · · focus · HN ↗
        > some young women started wearing their iPhone on their purse while leaving the bus

        Sorry, what does this mean? Could you explain?

        1. onli · · focus · HN ↗
          Argh, I translated that wrongly. Replace purse with handbag.

          It seemed important. Instead of hiding a technical artefact it was presented to outside world by someone obviously placing a lot of importance on their looks.

          1. watercast · · focus · HN ↗
            The translation seems fine - purse and handbag are rather interchangeable. I imagine GP and I are both just confused about what it means to wear a phone on a bag. Like there was a see through window in the bag that the phone was placed behind? Or the phone could be adhered to the bag somehow? I am struggling to come up with possibilities. Interested in what you found!
            1. onli · · focus · HN ↗
              OK :) It was just a really big purse. I don't think the phone was clipped on or the purse see-through, just that it must have been stable enough to carry the phone a little bit when placed on top of it.

              I remember specifically being surprised that she didn't put the phone inside the bag.

              1. watercast · · focus · HN ↗
                That makes sense, thanks!
                1. eru · · focus · HN ↗
                  Thanks from me, too. That was exactly the question I had.
      2. creaturemachine · · focus · HN ↗
        Nothing tops the middle-aged man I spotted in the iphone 3g days, sporting his on his belt, screen out and always on to show off the fact that he had all the apps.
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