A few weeks ago, our guest blogger Ya’akov Almor, who serves as joint communications director for CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, posted “Nokia’s Coffee Brown Sapphire“. Here is an update on how Nokia responded.

It’s taken some time, as one can expect in a large corporation, but the Nokia press liaison came back yesterday with the following answer:

“Thank you very much for your email and your expertise. Based on your suggestion, we have revised our communication materials to reflect the usage of man-made sapphire. We will still keep the reference to sapphire (Mono Crystalline Aluminum Oxide) for the Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte but have removed the mention of gemstone.”

Well done Nokia was my first reaction. But hold on: while the use of ‘man-made’ is fine, what is it they mean by removing “the mention of “gemstone?” Does this mean they will now only call it a “sapphire” and not a sapphire gemstone? If that is the case it is obvious that Nokia may have missed the message.

Disclosure, after all, is about telling the consumer about the provenience and nature of the product or the products’ elements. In the case of the leather used in the phone, they did a ’sterling’ job.

Let’s hope that in the end, they do the same for the description of the sapphire: labeling it as a piece of synthetic or man-made corundum (they’ve proven they know it is Mono Crystalline Aluminum Oxide) or sapphire, whatever suits them better.

This is all academic anyway as a quick survey, albeit on line only, showed that the proclaimed changes could not be found.

This is what I wrote back: “I have searched for the updated material but do not see it anywhere, at least not online. Meanwhile, the November 13 release is still up: “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.”

So where are the changes? Also, none of the other materials such as the phone’s data sheet in the press kit have been revised. Please advise?”

No doubt, another round will follow soon.