LinOSX TechnoMash

I’ve been having many problems with my Nokia E61, after the firmware upgrade. I’ve posted some of the issues on this blog as well as commented on some of the E61 or Symbian S60 specific blogs like NokMe and the E Series Blog. Apparently, there are many people having similar issues, though not exactly the same.

Though the E61 wasn’t designed or marketed to the US market, dealers are getting it and selling it in the US. Nokia, however, refuses to acknowledge that the device is used outside of its “home” country. I contacted Nokia UK today hoping to at least file a bug report, at best, get some help on my connectivity and rebooting problems. However, Nokia UK refused to support the phone because it was in the US. They suggested I contact Nokia US for support.

Ok, seems logical. I filled out a form on the Nokia US page, indicating the problems and received a response indicating that I’m basically SOL unless the dealer who I bought the phone from takes it back, or I take the phone to the UK, get a UK number and have Nokia UK look at it at that point.

This is the email I sent to Nokia UK, in response to their and Nokia US disavowing any knowledge of my E61.


Nokia USA has refused to support my E61.

The problems I am having are after the latest firmware upgrade (provided
by Nokia) has been applied. The location where I bought the phone is
not going to support this upgrade provided by Nokia.

This is not a great way to earn customer loyalty. I would appreciate it
if someone at Nokia (I don't really care which country) would at the
very least log bug reports related to the newest firmware upgrade for
the E61 and take into account that many other Nokia customers around the
world are dealing with a very buggy firmware release.
NokiaHelpLine@nokia.com wrote:
> > Dear Pankaj
> >
> > Thank you for contacting Nokia Helpline.
> >
> > You have addressed your email to the Nokia United Kingdom and Ireland team. Unfortunately we are unable to respond to queries from out with this region. If available, please direct your enquiry to Nokia's support team within your local region, details of which can be found at www.nokia.com.
> >
> > Nokia Service Professional
> > UK & Ireland Team
> > Nokia Helpline
> >
> > [THREAD ID:1-1KVU9D] Help Nokia improve the service we offer you! To take part in our short confidential survey, please click on the link below.
> > www.surveys.com/nokiasupport/ukandireland
> >
> >
> >
> > This response has been given based on the information you have provided us. The response is provided for general information purposes only. It is intended, but not promised or guaranteed to be accurate or complete, and it does not constitute any binding commitment.
> >
> >
> >
> > To ensure proper handling, please continue to use the current subject line.
> >
> >
> >
> > —–Original Message—–
> >
> > From:
> > Sent: 28/09/2006 16:06:41
> > To: NokiaHelpline@nokia.com
> > Subject: Subject Nokia Phones or accessories
> >
> > [Country: United Kingdom] [Language: English]
> > [Permission to Email: yes] [Permission to SMS: no] [Permission to Letter: no] [Permission to Phone: no]
> > [First name: Pankaj] [Last name:]
> > [Street address: ]
> > [ZIP: ] [City: ]
> > [Email address: ]
> > [Landline: ] [Mobile: [number removed]]
> > [Phone model: Nokia E61] [IMEI: ]
> > [CID: ]
> > [Contact topic: Nokia Phones or accessories]
> > [Message: I am having severe problems with my 3 week old E61. The phone is constantly rebooting itself. It cannot properly connect to WiFi Access Points. Email settings are constantly "changing" or getting lost. The ability to retrieve email or connect with a browser is intermittent at best. I am in the US but can't seem to pull my E61 on the US support site. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. My US service provider is Cingular.]
> > [Operator: Other/I don't know]
> > [Operating system: ]
> >


This is the response sent to Nokia US:

The problems I am having are after the latest firmware upgrade (provided
by Nokia) has been applied. The location where I bought the phone is
not going to support this upgrade provided by Nokia.

This is not a great way to earn customer loyalty.

nokiausa.customercare@nokia.com wrote:
> > Dear Pankaj,
> >
> > Thank you for e-mailing the Nokia Care Contact Center.
> >
> > We appreciate your inquiry in regards to your Nokia E61 phone rebooting itself, email settings and the ability to connect to a browser.
> >
> > Pankaj, you have reached the United States Customer Care Division at www.nokiausa.com. The information you provided suggests that your phone is not available in the United States (US). The Nokia E61 phone has not been released in United States and the information we have available allows us to support products available and manufactured for use in the US. The phone model you provided us seems to be from another country. If this is the case, we recommend contacting your point of purchase for support and repair options.
> >
> > Nokia warranties are valid only in the country of origin. To determine the customer care options for your area, please visit our global customer care contact page at www.nokia.com/contacts.
> >
> > If you have any additional questions, please contact us. To ensure proper handling, please continue to use the current subject line.
> >
> > Thank you for choosing Nokia for your mobile needs.
> >
> > [name removed]
> > E-mail Specialist
> > Nokia Inc.
> >
> > P.S. In an effort to continuously improve Nokia’s service to you, please complete our short 8 question E-mail Care Survey. Please copy and paste the following link into the address field of your web browser:
> >
> > https://digiumenterprise.com/query.asp?id=HPCC126H711I531
> >
> >
> > [THREAD ID:1-302XS]
> >
> >
> >
> > —–Original Message—–
> >
> > From:
> > Sent: 9/28/2006 02:07:55 PM
> > To: nokiausa.customercare@nokia.com
> > Subject: Technical Support
> >
> >
> >
> > [Email:]
> > [First:Pankaj]
> > [Last:]
> > [Zip:]
> > [Model:E62]
> > [Order#:]
> > [ESN:]
> > [Mobile#: [number removed]]
> > [Provider:Cingular]
> > [Subject:Technical Support]
> > [OS:]
> > [WebBrowser:]
> > [ConnectType:]
> > [NewsletterOptIn:no]
> > [Message:I am having severe problems with my 3 week old Nokia E61 (NOT E62). The phone is constantly rebooting itself. It cannot properly connect to WiFi Access Points. Email settings are constantly "changing" or getting lost. The ability to retrieve email or connect with a browser is intermittent at best. I am in the US but can't seem to pull my E61 on the US support site. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. My US service provider is Cingular.I have tried to get support from Nokia UK but they have suggested that I contact Nokia US with my problems.]
> >
> > [Server:daenusap18]
> >

This is a perfect example of absolutely inspiring customer service. I will post the email trails, sent to and received from Nokia for all the other Nokia E61 users that aren’t using the phone in the “home” country. What exactly is the point of getting a world phone if you can’t get any support for it by the manufacturer outside of its “home” country? I find it pretty silly that they won’t even acknowledge the problems that users are having.

Once I receive responses, I will post them as well.

Rajiv Poodar has a great post on Wireless Utopia: Open Source and Charity about his frustration in explaining open source business models to others in Bangalore. It’s not a problem specific to Bangalore, though.

Charity is a dirty word in business circles. Free Open Source Software is considered charity. Therefore FOSS == Dirty. Free Software Business == stupid idea. FOSS Entrepreneur == BIG LOSER.

Wireless Utopia: Open Source and Charity

I think it is impossible for most people to comprehend that OSS is not charity. Open Source Software is a way of increasing the value of software faster than proprietary software and it is a way of improving software development efficiency (some will say it improves software quality but I’m not so sure about this). OSS allows people to customize, build upon previous works, improve upon previous works, and add value faster than closed systems can do. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a place for closed systems but it is meant more to highlight that a company built on open source software (and creating open source software) can be much more valuable than a company building only closed source software.

Creating a technology business is more than creating software. Most people don’t understand that. They believe that the software is the secret sauce. It’s usually just a very important ingredient of the secret sauce. As most successful entrepreneurs will tell you, the secret sauce is the execution, not the software, not the team. These are all ingredients in having flawless execution.

Though the Linux source code is free and open source software, it is not charity. It is the underpinning of a multi-billion dollar software industry (RedHat, Novell, IBM, HP, Mandriva, etc). The source code for MySQL is widely available, though no other companies have been as efficient at building services around MySQL than MySQL AB.

Preach the open source business model to those who have a chance of understanding it. Those that can’t get it, will eventually be left behind.

technorati tags:OSS, entrepreneurship, FOSS, Business, Business+Models

Blogged with Flock

Google is making available video from the TED (Technology, Entertainment & Design) conferences. Among videos available are talks from former Vice President Al Gore, NYTimes Writer, David Pogue, and leadership trainer and motivational speaker, Tony Robbins. Some of the talks are funny, some thought provoking, and some just plain interesting. Check it out.

Official Google Blog: TED talks on Google Video

technorati tags: Google, Google Video, TED