Nokia’s Misleading Video Dents Lumia’s Image

Taking the stage a week before Apple, Nokia had the chance to put on a bold and confident performance with its demonstration of new smartphones. Instead, a misleading promotional video has left the company looking a little desperate. Its underwhelming presentation and a big drop in its stock price added up to a less than stellar week for Nokia.

On Wednesday Nokia showed its new Lumia 920 smartphone with PureView camera technology, which is supposed to shoot exceptionally clear photos and video. To help explain the feature, the company posted a video demonstrating the Lumia’s optical image stabilization, a feature that reduces blur and camera shake in images and makes them look better in low light.

Too bad that the video wasn’t even shot with a Lumia phone. In the video, a reflection can be seen of a cameraman holding a camera that is clearly not a smartphone. The technology site Pocket Now was first to spot this. Nokia confirmed the use of a different camera and eventually apologized, explaining that it meant to demonstrate optical image stabilization, not give the impression that it was demonstrating the phone’s camera itself.

“In our enthusiasm, we showed poor judgment by neglecting to include a disclaimer that the video was not shot using a Lumia 920,” said Doug Dawson, head of media relations at Nokia, in a statement. “It was an error and we apologize for the confusion created.”

The company has since amended the videos to include a disclaimer. Stephen Elop, the company’s chief executive, has asked the company’s chief ethics officer to look into the matter, according to a Nokia executive who declined to be named.

“Stephen learned about the situation upon landing in Finland from New York,” this executive said. “One of the first calls he made was to our chief ethics officer who immediately started an investigation. We are dealing with the situation swiftly, fairly and privately.”

But for Nokia, a company that is struggling to get its mojo back in a phone market dominated by Apple and Samsung, the botched video presentation was a downer. And it helped add to the general perception that Nokia’s event was lackluster. On the day it unveiled new Lumias, its stock dropped 16 percent. That could be because Nokia failed to disclose a release date or price for its new phone, meaning people can’t even choose to preorder it before the next iPhone takes the spotlight. The stock has since recovered somewhat; Nokia’s American shares rose 7.3 percent on Friday to $2.64.

“I don’t think people were disappointed about the phone,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Ovum, in an interview. He said people were disappointed by the “lack of timelines,” similar to the way Research In Motion keeps delaying its new BlackBerry software.

This week was a window of opportunity for Nokia to get the media buzzing about a smartphone that was different, and perhaps even better than the iPhone or a Samsung phone. But instead, leading up to the next iPhone announcement, people are talking about Nokia’s misleading video and its sagging stock.