In-fact companies wants leaks like a fallen movie star want to make a cheap sex tape to bring themselves on the front page.

It’s the perversion that makes people want leaks and want them more than the companies announcement. And you know that very well that it’s blunt free advertisement to start a buzz.

If the product is good enough to go on a hand of a blogger, put it on the press and address it properly and bring product out faster.

A leak is not a leak when the pipes are running properly. Open the hose and let loose all the good stuff.

You’re playing with devices planned for release 2 years later in the lab when they should be out right now. Everything Nokia done is right on but everything came out late.

Bring products out faster, sitting on the shelfs for 1-2 years and having folks test them out and then leak them don’t make it any better.

Bring out your cards and stop hiding Nokia… get the message.

Products leaks generate good amount of Buzz for a phone but then the enthusiasm fades away for low end devices as some one points out in the comments.

Personally If the Leak is a compelling Device like a Nokia 5800 or E75 . I would publish it to convince readers to stick to Nokia.

1.I know so many readers who skipped the iPhone just to get the 5800 its first Touchscreen from Nokia and Nokia is a very well respected brand in a country like India with over 60-70% market share.

So the leaks helped Nokia get new customers.

2. There are 2 types of consumers

a) restless – Want to Buy It Now Types – A leak is not going to stop them from purchasing a new phone. They pick from whats present in the market.

b) patient and well informed buyers – such consumer dont mind waiting for the next set of phones to arrive. It might be due to fact that they already have a primary phone and are looking for a upgrade / secondary phone whereas the restless buyers dont have a primary phone.

Such leaks can deter the well-informed buyers from making the purchase. and hence the current market devices might get stuck in the market.

Its practically impossible to prevent leaks as the no of ppl involved in the product development is not just a handful of folks.Probably you can stick to CodeNames until last minute .

When you mentioned ‘bugging’ phones…why not? Of course not the phone you actually launch, but why not put a small program or feature in the prototype models that reports to Nokia? It could use GPS where available to report the location of the phone (with an instant alert to Nokia when the product goes outside of a certain area) and/or it could send SMSs or emails every so often so Nokia know when the phone is on.

Seems a bit farfetched, but certainly possible to prevent leaks.

Sometimes it is really hard to tell what are real “leaks” and what is just plain old marketing. Leaking is a safe way to give out information, because nobody can hold you accountable for what you have promised – they are just rumors. Maybe they are right, maybe they are wrong. And the company can always deny them.

Even if the information is just a leak, it still has an effect on the customer. If I think that a well known mobile phone company is just about to release a wonderful touch screen device, maybe I postpone my purchase decision a little bit, just to see what they are really up to.

Excellent article! But still I’m in doubt! I’m just thinking on some facts related to this leak! Thinking of the timings of those leaks of E71. The pre-launch review was published by the same one who published the first leaked news on E71 in early January! And even the paid publicity managers of Nokia would hesitate to write such an over-praising review as it was written by the pre-launch reviewer! He called it The Best Nokia Ever! Was there any better way available to Nokia to make net-savvy nokia fans wait breathlessly for it’s release? E71 generated more than enough interest, it started selling /shipping within days after the announcement! N96 hasn’t generated that much interest, it was amounced but the release is being delayed! E71 is exclusively for the net-user segment, while N96 is not so!

There are so many methods of sending information to the target customer, like official, and sometimes, not-so-official!

This touches me as well as many other bloggers who “try to abide by the rules”, but the truth is, there are no rules when it comes to blogging. Only rules that the blogger sets for him or herself.

With me, its based on whether you value the relationship you have with the person that is trusting you with information that is given. I’ve been approached on several occasions with unannounced products or services with the intentions of providing feedback or input. Now I know how intriguing it would be to just sneak a pic and post it on the internet to grab readers and comments and pageviews and such, but in return I would end up ruining a trusting relationship. That’s not worth it.

But by the same token, the confusion lies on the fact that it might already be on the internet. Then what? The rules say, that if it’s already on the net then it’s public info. Even still… I dwell on the fact that I would be putting my own reputation on the line by repeating what I’ve seen. That’s when I usually reach out to others (usually within the company) to find out the proper procedure and if that means losing out on a popular post, then so be it.

The end result in this case… I doubt there will ever be a way of safeguarding information especially with a company such as Nokia who is watched closely by its consumers and enthusiasts. But if bloggers could come together in a matter of morals and ethics to the company that they value so much maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. I mean, you don’t need to sign an NDA to know to do the right thing.

1. if u planned on buying some other phone but you got the leak news and now you changed your mind, well then Nokia wins another customer.

2. if another company starts to copy the work and make their version of the leak, well thats a big loss for Nokia.

3. We at the end of it, we all are humans and we tend to do mistakes. not just any mistakes but mistakes that make history and a place in Nokia Conversations.

this is something that we should learn to live with.