without thought

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I was made aware of Nokia’s new concept phone, Morph yesterday. A quick login to the Guardian site will give you a very good idea of where they’re planning to go with this. Last October I was down in Bournemouth University, along with other class mates, at a talk given by Senior Design Manager Nicola Ralston. Ralston did, it seemed, hint at a new direction for Nokia, convinced that the future of design would become multidisciplinary (she’s not alone there). But it also became apparent that who Nokia are truly competing with now is of course Apple. With the new Apple iPhone becoming the object of fetish last year, it’ll be interesting to see what Nokia fights back with and if the Morph is any indication of what they have bubbling over in the lab, Apple may have a fight on their hands. The design of the phone makes constant reference to organic type materials: It boasts a self cleaning surface akin to the structures found in ‘nanoflowers’ ; ‘Using the same principle behind spider silk’ Nokia hope to created a phone that is more malleable; ‘Nanotechnology holds out the possibility that the surface of a device will become a natural source of energy via a covering of “Nanograss” structures that harvest solar power’ and lastly ‘Further, utilization of biodegradable materials might make production and recycling of devices easier and ecologically friendly.’ (which is what the future is all about). This all taken from the Nokia site. Taking the fight to Apple, Nokia are promising an exciting fusion of high hi-tech properties combined with sustainable organic features (please check up on my sister Blog ‘The Bottom Bracket’ for more info like this). However, it’s worth pointing out that this is still a battle of the brands, not technology. Apple, already strongly positioned as a life style commodity, may have upper hand over Nokia who’s brand currently fails to evince enough warmth and love. That said, it’s possible that a product like this, if it were ever to be realized, might well help Nokia to migrate into premier position and Apple, who so far have struggled with sustainable issues, might well be left behind in the fight for hearts and minds. (thanks to Neil Glen)