Nokia calls its E-series “Achieve Devices.” These are top of the line products designed specifically with the needs of business users in mind. E-series devices offer quick and easy access to key business applications such as e-mail. But somehow Nokia forgot certain requirements of E-series users. People who own an E-series device depend on that handset 24/7. Many E-series users have a couple of extra batteries available at all times because running out of juice for your handset is really awful when you’re in the middle of a crisis and away from the office.
Nokia hasn’t made available a tabletop charger to power up those extra batteries outside the phone. This has resulted in many E-series users getting less than optimal life out of their batteries since they rarely let them discharge fully. And then, this summer in the Eastern Province, agony set in when major mobile handset retailers ran out of E-series batteries. In Alrashid Mall, Axiom has had customers on its battery waiting list for four months and i2 is directing customers to try other outlets since it’s sold out as well. In desperation, some E-series users are turning to batteries of questionable origin.
Al-Shaikh Communication is selling E-series batteries for SR160 when the price from i2 is SR125.
For customers interested in E-series batteries, the salesman at Al-Shaikh whips out a plastic bag filled with bundles of rubber band wrapped batteries. Proffering a battery without packaging, he is full of assurance that this is a Nokia “original product.” Whether the battery is genuine, counterfeit or gray market, there’s really no way to be sure and desperate customers are forced into buying it as there’s no other choice - unless of course they know a journalist going to Finland.
So there I was, standing in the Aleksanterinkatu Nokia flagship store in Helsinki, surrounded by piles of batteries and accessories that would certainly warm the cockles of an E-series user’s heart.
Personally, I don’t own a Nokia handset, but it didn’t matter. I did’t need to know anything about the devices. The salesman was very well educated on what was available and what wasn’t. E-series batteries cost twice as much in Finland as in Alkhobar, but I had instructions to buy four. Then there were the lovely carrying cases for the E-90 and E-71, plus USB chargers and hand straps.
On my return to the Kingdom, I noticed that no one I shopped for was upset to have paid a premium price for the accessories. Said one E-90 owner, “I paid SR3,500 for the handset and then I couldn’t use it because the battery wouldn’t hold a charge anymore. How much do you think it bothers me to pay SR200 for a battery so I can make my phone mobile again? At least the battery will be fresh.”
What a pitiful situation! Why is it that retailers are allowed to push devices on the market and yet they don’t have a stock of essential items such as batteries to keep the handsets operational? There is clearly a problem in Nokia’s Saudi channel. When questioned about the lack of batteries, a local Nokia representative suggested that businessmen should try the Nokia store in the Mall of Dhahran.
Actually, that wouldn’t be possible since that shopping center is for families only and, frankly, why should anyone have to go on a scavenger hunt to buy a battery when the new devices are ubiquitous in the market?
And a heads up to all E-71 owners. Don’t lose or damage the protective leather sleeve that comes with the handset. Nokia must think that leather sleeve is indestructible and equipped with a homing functionality, because even in Finland they don’t sell replacements.
