Nokias Comeback

March 3, 2017
The good news: The old school Nokia 3310 candy bar phone is one of the most talked about phones at the Mobile World Congress trade show.
The Bad news: The old school Nokia 3310, and not the new phones, is one of the most talked about items at the show.
The Nokia 3310, which first came out at the turn of the millennium, is the latest thing to pull at our hearts, bringing back one of the most iconic phones from our youth. The mini Nintendo Classic was a hard to find item during the holidays, and 80’s shows like “Full House” and “Voltron” are both enjoying brought back with new episodes on Netflix.
It’s an effective way to get people talking about your products at a crowded trade show like Mobile World Congress, which this year included attention grabbers like LG’s newest flagship phone and a apparent “Gigabit Phone” from ZTE.
“The frenzy of nostalgia around the updated 3310 will deliver some much needed consumer awareness that Nokia-Brnaded devices are back on the shelves,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight.
“Why not do it,” was a question constantly asked during the start of this project. It’s clear that HMD put some thought into the new 3310, which has more rounded curves and new bright colors but retains much of the DNA from the original candy bar phone.
“We thought: ‘What the heck, let’s do it,'” HMD CEO Arto Nummela said during an interview in a small hotel room off the main Las Ramblas drag in Barcelona on Saturday. “We wants to have fun with it.”