Nokia had the Moonraker and McLaren, but they couldn’t afford it
Nokia’s cancelled smartwatch and smartphone, the Nokia Moonraker and Nokia McLaren, have been seen and featured in many leaked materials, and YouTube videos before. However, there is always this missing question why these devices were cancelled despite their very promising set of flairs.
A past that never was (starring Nokia McLaren and Moonraker)… cc @SirKneeland @TomMessett @AdrianGHughes pic.twitter.com/qjHXV0jpuE
— Ev (@evleaks) August 30, 2021
In a tweet by Evan Blass, he revealed some never before seen materials (afaik) of the Moonraker alongside the McLaren, while tagging some familiar faces like Tom Messett and John Kneeland.
Both Tom and John have worked with Nokia before. Tom handled the digital and social media marketing for Nokia, whilst John is working as a developer project manager. Both of them knows the in and outs of the company during that period — even more so about the almost mythical Moonraker and McLaren.
Haha but here’s what you didn’t know… if me and @sirkneeland had our way Moonraker would have been the worlds first smart pocket watch!!!
— Tom Messett (@TomMessett) August 30, 2021
In a Tweet, Tom said that if he and John had it their way, Moonraker would’ve been the world’s first smart pocket watch. probably the guys would 3D print a special case for it :). It is unfortunate as we are seeing the Moonraker as a very capable device. It even integrates so well with the Windows Phone ecosystem.
When Moonraker was cancelled, Tom and his team were in New York, and is set-up to meet Makerbot (a 3D printing company) to plan out a campaign for the Moonraker. They want it to launch with a set of 3D print plans and a series of 3D printable designs (including a smart pocket watch) — pretty much like what they did with the Lumia 820 months prior.
Unfortunately, Tom and his team just landed in New York when he got an email telling him that the Moonraker is being cancelled. As a result, his team spent three days in the city without doing anything.
As for the photos posted by Evan, Tom said that these photos are from a sales deck used to pitch phones to AT&T. Basically, Nokia will try to present a marketing plan to convince AT&T to offer their smartphones and accessories, alongside all the money it will be spending in promoting these devices.
Also The pics you’ve got are from a sell-in deck used to try to sell these phones to AT+T, theyre trying to present the marketing plan and all the ads we will buy, but in reality we had 0 money to buy any! Part of the reason we never got flagships to the US. We couldn’t afford to
— Tom Messett (@TomMessett) August 30, 2021
Sadly, Nokia was just bluffing all these presentation because, according to Tom, they had zero money to afford anything — including all the marketing which may cost them millions of dollars.
This is also the reason why they weren’t able to get a new Nokia flagships to the United States. They just couldn’t afford a Nokia McLaren, and who knows what more. This reason, coupled with the injuries Microsoft’s acquisition have caused, killed off many promising projects that could have potentially been something else.
Via: MSPowerUser
