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NYTimes: On Release Date, Crucial Nokia Phone Is Hard to Buy in New York

AT&T said last month that when Nokia’s new Lumia 900 phone went on sale April 8, it would benefit from the company’s biggest product introduction ever, exceeding even the iPhone’s.

The big day is here. But nearly all 39 AT&T stores within proximity of Times Square in Manhattan were either closed for Easter Sunday or did not answer phone calls. The few that were open did not have the handset in stock.

This is probably the last chance Microsoft has to prove itself relevant in mobile space as the traditional desktop PC is pulled from it’s position as the computer for everyday use.
So what do they do? (I say they because former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop is running Nokia and made the decision to move all their smartphones to Windows Phone)
They launch their flagship phone on Easter Sunday. When everything is closed.
So smart.
When I see Microsoft/Nokia continue to make fumbles like this I wonder if it’s something deeper than the fact Microsoft was run by an engineer who doesn’t understand Human Experience and design until it was run by a man who knows neither engineers and developers nor design and Human Experience.
People half-jokingly have said Bill Gates has Asperger’s Syndrome due to his social deficiencies. He understands how computers and software work inside and out, but it’s the people who use his software he never seems to have a clue about.
So my theory is when Bill Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in 2000 he transferred his inabilities to communicate with and make software for humans to the rest of the company –via some hybrid human/computer virus — and subsequently, Stephen Elop and Nokia.
What else could explain such a fucked up product launch?
Actually, it could also be the people at Microsoft and Nokia aren’t humans at all. Remember how the alien at the beginning of Men In Black wore the skin of that farmer to disguise himself?
Yeah, something like that could be happening too.

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