Ideas & Opinions, Products & Services
What makes a flagship device?
By JBC on 20 April 2009
GLOBAL – We’ve been thinking a lot recently about flagship devices. What makes a device a flagship product, can a company have more than one flagship device are just two of the questions we’ve been asking ourselves. It’s an interesting topic. Looking for some definition doesn’t really help. The dictionary describes Flagship as “the best or most important thing owned or produced by a particular organization”. Which leads us directly to the next problem of what is the most important thing. Seen in different contexts, it could be any number of things. The most important thing for emerging markets, for example, isn’t the same as the most important thing for developed markets.
Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Nokia Conversations (we went live on April 21 2008) and so we thought this would be a good time to explore the whole idea of flagship devices. Tomorrow we’ll do a poll to have you guys tell us what you think the most important considerations are when it comes to defining a flagship device.
We have a few to get things going, but we’d appreciate your input so we can put together a comprehensive list, and then look at which ones come out on top. Features and functionality is an obvious one. To take the literal meaning of flagship (and the interpretation by many companies) the device with the most, and best, features would be the one at the top of the heap. Soon, we might describe the N97 as the flagship device (and there’s another one, should a flagship only be defined if the device is actually on sale, or after it has been officially announced?).
Price too, is a consideration. For some companies, it isn’t their most expensive device that gets landed with the flagship tag. How important is this, do you think? Sales success, too, could be an influencer. Is the most popular device the flagship? Certainly, in Nokia’s case at least, the most feature-heavy device isn’t always the most popular. It isn’t to say it’s unpopular, simply that other more basic devices frequently have greater adoption (witness the 1100, which has sold over 200 million units). The N95, by comparison (and one that would definitely be considered a flagship in my opinion) only sold over 15 million.
These are the key influencers we can think of, but we’re pretty certain there’s plenty more we should consider in the poll. So go ahead, tell us what you think and we’ll be back on our birthday (tomorrow) with a poll to decide the most important.
Photo by fontplaydotcom
Related posts:
April 20th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Aww an early “Happy Anniversary” to you guys
Reply
April 20th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Going by how the automakers do it, these look like the criteria to be fulfilled, in that order:
1) Firstly, its not a niche model
2) Its on sale and not in concept-phase
3) It doesn’t have to be a successful product, it has to be the best the company can offer, on a significantly large scale. Also the fact that it is the company’s offering implies that the flagship model shouldn’t differ by geographic region.
4) Once the above are fulfilled, its the most technologically advanced product
5) Once the above are fulfilled, its also the highest priced product
6) Its almost always not the highest-selling product.
7) Its often recognized by the bigger model number =D
Even going by those parameters, Nokia has 3 distinct divisions one can think of: Nseries, Eseries, and ‘the rest’. I don’t think its fair to mix them up to come up with one flagship device.
1) From the Nseries, it must be the N96 that qualifies. The N97 should soon be the worthy bearer of the tag.
2) From the Eseries, its obviously the Communicator model, so the E90 is the clear winner. (And I desperately wait for the next Communicator, but the E71’s doing its job right now:D)
3) Its hard to say from the rest, but they generally seem to get pooled with the Nseries devices. Plus there are way too many subcategories, ie the 7000 series, 6000 series, 5000 series, 1000 series all have a different design focus. This one’s better left alone.
Reply
April 20th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
in my opinion:
-it should be cheap
-it should get the most technologically specifications
-it should be available anywhere
-it should be nice-looking
(now I just hope that the n97 won’t be too much expansive)
Reply
April 20th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
1 – Has to be one of the top two phones on the market accross all brands.
2 – Has to be the best phone, (in terms of looks, specifications, and desireability), that the manufacturer has available.
3 – Must be actually available for sale. The hype about the N97 has really annoyed me. How can a phone possibly live up to that type of hype? It’s only going to lead to tears and let down customers. Nokia haven’t even released the full spec for it yet!
4 – Should be the first phone to have at least one of more of its features. i.e Break new ground.
5 – Should be cheap, (or at least affordable).
6 – Should be one per manufacturer – not one per series. (yes nokia, you only get one flagship per fleet!)
7 – lol – I should get one to review! Seriously though, the best way to make a newly released phone a flagship, and therefor more desireable, is to allow people active in online communities and sites such as this to play with the new toys and pass on their feelings of how cool they are to others. Word of mouth is THE most powerful marketing tool there is!
Reply
April 21st, 2009 at 1:11 am
A flagship phone is something that encapsulates the achievements of that manufacturer, i.e. having the best of EVERY great feature you have once included in previous handsets, but all in one device.
In the context for Nokia, the flagship epitomises the true meaning of convergence. The flagship leads the way; it is deeply recognizable to consumers as an example of the ultimate potential of Nokia handsets and sets the bar of innovation for which other manufacturers should aspire to reach.
Hardware wise, you guys have had every single component that if combined could have resulted in the most formidable handset ever made.
But, as a long fan of Nokia, you get to be aware that it’s part and parcel of that Nokia is number 1 BECAUSE they specifically divide up features for different markets. That’s been perfect for business, but bad for geeks.
The point of the flagship is NOT to be the most sold; it is to bring the confidence in the brand so that when consumers come to buy a different handset, they will know from the flagship that it’s a brand that they can trust; a brand that will deliver the particular requirements they may need in a phone; a brand that delivers the best.
Reply
April 21st, 2009 at 2:18 am
By definition the device should be made of all the best that Nokia has to offer. The largest battery, best camera MP/Lens, best display LCD/OLED, best built material, everything the best a company has under 1 device, priced the highest and is never really intended to make money! That is a “Flagship.” But if you want “flagged-ships” you can always built plenty of ships one with the biggest battery, one with the largest display and etc..
Again, the Flagship is not a product to make money! It’s a product to show off how technically advance you can make things. A Flagship is built to carry a company’s logo proudly to flaunt the company’s technological capabilities.
Reply
April 21st, 2009 at 2:48 am
FLagship- the best the company has to offer.
now the definition of “the best” is what the debate is all about. To me it is the phone that is most technologically advance and innovative.
Reply
April 21st, 2009 at 6:50 am
A flagship device must have a cutting edge technology, innovations in all aspect like photography, music, video, processor among others.
It must contain every possible feature, no less, spice up with something new and fresh.
It must be affordable.
Reply
April 21st, 2009 at 9:25 am
A flagship device, I think, should represent the direction where things are headed. It should create culture. It’s not all about every feature possible, but the extent of features and services available. It should deliver what the company has to offer. It should have a relatively long life span as a product in order to have some time for making an impact. The price should be such that it’s justifiable for people choosing between a mid-range device and a flagship device. People should still be able to afford the product if they agree on the direction where the flagship is leading them. A too expensive and thus largely inaccessible flagship can’t be truly visionary, because it generates no real movement in the user culture. Every owner of a flagship device is a possible future owner of a new flagship device, therefore the direction of where things are headed should stay constant.
Reply
April 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
n97 is questionable in its place to be the flagship…i dont like the dled flash for its average 5mp for many phones now..flagship should be an n86 8mp phone with 3.5″ AMOLED screen and dual slide for either half qwerty/ qweerty
Reply
April 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Some people mentioned the requirement of ‘nice looks’ and ‘affordability’. IMHO, these terms are relative and will only muddy up the definition.
I also understand the ‘One flagship per company’ point, but its necessary to drop the ‘The best of all’ criterion then; Nokia doesn’t have any device, out or planned, that meets that one. Because,
In terms of camera, N82 is the best right now
In terms of battery, I think its the E71
In terms of software version, its the 5800XM (?)
In terms of screen estate, N96
In terms of build quality, anything but the Nseries =D
It gets worse and worse with Nokia. It seems that the single flagship thing just doesn’t fit in with Nokia as a brand. Nokia’s whole point is to offer the widest range of products to find the perfect phone for the most number of people. Jay (scroll up) drives this point home.
Now, only if we were talking of Apple’s flagship device…
Reply
April 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
The Flagship handset should be the ultimate convergence device that can replace: 1) an ordinary cell phone (preferably a world cell phone with quad-band GSM and all of the North American, European, and Asian market 3G frequencies; 2) a point and shoot camera with at least 8-12 megapixels with a good xenon flash for night time; 3) removable battery and memory (SD flash); 4) a large touch screen with sliding qwerty keyboard and maybe a removable/flip numpad. Removable means the folks who want it can have it while the guys who don’t can take it off; 6) A small portable Internet device and multimedia player; and 7) PDA/organizer.
There is still no device that lets me replace my iPod (160GB), my 8mp point and shoot and camera, my pda, and my cell phone with one device. Nokia devices (N95 and N96) have let me replace 2-3 of them, but always at the cost of compromise when it just isn’t necessary (N95 and N96 with the poor night quality camera due to the LED flash).
For myself, I also most appreciate the ability (but not the requirement) to use my phone one handed for quick text messages and answer/hang up/dialing functionality.
For a camera, both xenon and LED flash would be appropriate for night time stills and video in poor lit areas. Battery issues are an enginnering or logistics issue for those of us willing to carry spares.
Reply