Pomegranate Phone

First of all, if you haven't heard of the Pomegranate, you need to click here.

Now that you've seen what it's all about, here's what I have to say about it. I am not so strong in my reactions as others are to this viral marketing scheme. It does have it's positive and negative aspects. Of course, I have to ask, was this really necessary? Did Nova Scotia tourism actually need to create a campaign advertising one thing and but actually selling another? Do you feel cheated or let down or just plain confused when you find out that this phone is not actually coming out? Hmm, I have to say that I was confused at first.

I watched incredulously as the phone brewed a cup of coffee and as the shaver buzzed. I thought that this was certainly not possible right now- and then - Oh, Nova Scotia... Weird, but hey! Go Canada represent!... But why is Nova Scotia on this website? Oh well, it must be that they paid to get some ad space because they knew that lots of people would be curious about this... -And then- Well, it's clever I have to say that much... -And then- Hey, wait a minute! There is no release date! This phone doesn't exist! Yes that was my thoughts when on the site. My next question is how much did this cost? From other blogs it seems that it cost $300,000 to create. And of course this is coming out of taxpayer's pockets, so they are not impressed. There is a lot of buzz about this in various blogs and on Twitter. People are not happy. There is a lot of skeptisicm about it's effectiveness and the cost.

So how effective is this? Who is this targeting? Well, the phone is similar to the iPhone (compare the harmonica with the ocarina on the iPhone) and it is a very advanced phone. It seems to me that it's well suited to the business man on the go- shaver, coffee maker... etc. So we're looking at those people who are looking for the next best thing to help them with their lives, those who have the money to afford this, and those yuppy types. But why market Nova Scotia to these folks? What can they get out of Nova Scotia? Maybe there's nothing right away, but a perhaps on of the hopes of this marketing campaign is that people will see Nova Scotia as more than a fishing community. It seems that they want to show people that Nova Scotia is "up" on technology and that this province can actually have everything you need- all in one place- just like the Pomegranate.
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