TechPinas Interviews Nokia Philippines General Manager, Benoit Nalin, part 1

Left to right: Jing Garcia – Manila Times, Aaron Joshua Atayde - ANC, Paolo Manzano – HWM Magazine, Benoit Nalin - Nokia Philippines, General Manager, Badong Hilario – Manila Bulletin, Nick Tuason – Stuff Magazine, Vannie Hidalgo – Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mark Milan Macanas – TechPinas.com, Paulo Alcazaren – Philippine Star, Abe Olandres – Yugatech.com, Nathaniel Cezar Trinidad - ANC
(CLICK PHOTO FOR FULL-RES VIEW)

At Nokia Connection 2010 held in Singapore last June 14, media delegates from the Philippines got the chance to interview Benoit Nalin, Nokia Philippines General Manager.

Here's the first question I asked him:

"According to GFK Asia, 6 out of 10 Filipinos choose Nokia. Unfortunately, in the research, we don't have the reasons why Filipinos love Nokia. Why do you think Filipinos choose Nokia? Why are Filipinos so enamoured (with the brand)?"

Watch this video for Benoit's answer:



Transcript:

"I think it comes with what the brand has delivered for the longest time in the Philippines. [...] Nokia is a brand for everybody. We've been able, from a distribution stand-point, to get our products available not just in Manila but for the whole of the Philippines -- and at all price points. So we still have the widest [options for you] in terms of devices; offering the choice of price, of UI (user interface), of format for any consumer. We cater to [needs of the consumer]. We do that with the idea that we want to deliver quality, we want out products to be reliable. [And we won't launch] a product which hasn't passed the quality test, which is very stingent for Nokia. [Nokia has built], over the years, a reputation of reliability of our devices. And of course, they are pretty easy to use. I think people like Nokia because they are easy to use. They know that they can find basically anything they are looking for, whether they are old, young; whether they want touch, QWERTY or any kind of phone, at any price point. And they will have a product which is reliable so it's the best value for money in this point in time."

I agree.

Nokia has always been about the Pinoy consumer. The company has focused, from the very beginning, on what Pinoys need and want on their phones. When we needed an easy-to-use phone for texting that fits nicely in the pocket (back then), Nokia launched 5110. When we wanted better keypad, we had 3210. We wanted it smaller, we had 3310. When taking photos using a phone became hot, Nokia gave us 7610, the first megapixel cameraphone.

Nokia has always listened to us. And we felt that. Hence, our loyalty to the brand.

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