Our guest blogger, Ya’akov Almor, of MarketDirect Business Communications Ltd. is joint communications director for CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation.
Nokia announced this month that during the next few months, it will release a “premium pair of handsets aimed at the most discerning and style-conscious consumers.”
According to a Nokia press release the new Nokia 8800 Arte and Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte feature “an elegant and sophisticated design theme that takes inspiration from nature and sets it apart from the crowd.”
According to the Nokia website “The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte adds to the sense of exclusivity by further enhancing its polished steel case with a genuine sapphire gem stone and an accent of soft leather, creating an even more rich, sensual feel.”
I immediately took a liking to the phone. A gemmy phone, wow. Also, it’s a slider, and sliders can be operated so easily with one hand. I like sliders. On the press website, a flash presentation sings praise of the new phones luxury features. (http://www.nokia.com/press/Nokia8800Arte). Under the header of “refinement’ it says; “The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte’s navi-key forms an exquisite centerpiece: a single sapphire. This coveted gemstone is highly valued around the world, both for its rich history and much admired beauty. The natural grain, coffee- brown leather panels are premium sourced from Eastern India – ensuring the no two phones are exactly alike.
Gosh, my first reaction was. What a boost for colored gemstones. Unbelievable, Nokia is going to promote brown sapphires!? How did they know that sapphire can also be brown! Great, wonderful, ICA must be doing something right!
But then, a second thought bubbled up: They must have a hell of a gemstone supplier. Where did he or she find thousands of natural, coffee-brown sapphires? Nah, that’s impossible, these sapphires must have been treated, or could it be that these stones are synthetics, manufactured on demand for Nokia? But Nokia says they’re “genuine,” and that means natural, doesn’t it? On further reflection (this was now becoming quite an intellectual exercise of proportion), I decided to simply ask them.
Since I do not have any friends at the top in Nokia – by the way, I will never buy anything else but Nokia, their phones are user-friendly, their batteries last and they are priced reasonably – I looked up the address for press inquiries and wrote an email, introducing myself as an industry communications liaison to ICA and in subsequent messages also as director of communications of CIBJO.
This is, among others, what I asked: “While you take care to explain the provenance of the leather used [for the phone], there is no information on the sapphire: Is this a natural or synthetic sapphire? If natural, where is the sapphire sourced (country, continent)?”
And then it started to become interesting.
Answer no. 1: “Thanks for your interest in our latest premium phone – the Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte. Indeed, the handset holds a real industrial sapphire stone. We felt that a brown sapphire stone best complements the leather accents of the Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte.”
Great! “A real industrial sapphire.” I felt this was clearly insufficient so I tried again, asking for a clear answer, citing that the information disclosed – that the sapphire is NOT a natural sapphire –formed in the earth crust millions of years ago – but a SYNTHETIC (lab grown/man-made) stone is of high importance. I threw in some professional advice as well (I cannot help myself, my wife keeps telling me not to try and educate every second person I meet, but….) saying that “you do need to declare that information in your product description – this is basic to proper corporate conduct. The designation ‘industrial’ is not only not sufficient, it is misleading.” I also referred to the CIBJO website (www.cibjo.org), and in particular, to the Gemstone Book in the Blue Book section.
And here came Nokia press officer’s answer no. 2: “As stated in my previous email, the sapphire stone on the Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte is of industrial origin. While being a real sapphire it is manufactured not mined.”
Any addition efforts to get Nokia to respond to my queries as how at Nokia they intend to correct this went unanswered. None of the information on the website was changed or corrected and meanwhile the misleading information is trickling down to the consumers.
The $64,000 question (but the firm’s ultimate damages may run much higher than that) is: will Nokia do the right thing or let it slide……?
