The Recap: Nokia Lumia 900 LIVE event in Times Square

So we just came back from Times Square here in New York City where Nokia was throwing a lil' party right in the center of Manhattan for that Lumia 900. Turns out, as you probably know by now, that superstar Nicki Minaj was performing live. In fact, she performed three songs to a fairly massive crowd that was certainly very receptive to the whole scene.
After the songs they introduced the Nokia Lumia 900 while a DJ spun some music -- it was similar to the London-Deadmau5 event, though obviously not as massive. To the side, while the music was pumping, a giant high resolution LCD screen showed off an exciting light show leading up the Lumia 900 finally appearing.
Times Square crowd image via Sokane1/Instagram
All in all in was a fun albeit short event (it lasted about 30 minutes). While not as wow-worthy as the London 3D projection, it will certainly grab a lot of attention and is certainly some great publicity. Oh and a lot of the footage shot there will evidently be used in an upcoming video with the liver performance showing up tomorrow on Facebook.
After the break, you can check two videos we recorded (the second one starts shaky, sorry 'bout that, but it gets better). Also, we have some photos to boot.
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Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.
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I was somehow hoping for more.
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Like some Dub Step? Or a 3D light show with Live Tiles?
She gave a short, but decent performance (that many got to watch via the live vid feed on earthcam); she's quite popular, the crowd was on fire, tweets galore, free autographed Lumia 900's....Not shabby at all.
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Yep - small enough event that it got no real press coverage, which means that by and large the only people this reached was some portion of the crowd in Times Square.
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And everybody they told about it.
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The photos and the videos turned out to be good, considering how you were standing in the crowd with people going mad to see the concert.
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Thanks. Yes, it was most certainly a challenge. Need a beer now... :-P
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Everything looked good except the performer
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Couldn't be more true
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Too bad her nipple didnt pop out like on good morning America.
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She looks better than your wife and momma.
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Leave it to an idiot to call a colored woman ugly
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Wait... you can't be black and unatractive??
Didn't know that!
EDIT: Just watched the video - I think she is hot! Not ugly at all. -
New Yorkers like this kind of music nowadays? Geez. Bring back the Ramones. Dammit Nokia is way too techno. I did like the scale of the event, though.
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Reading threads like this make me wish the internet was never created. so much dumb...She's a star, new product, lights, camera, action, spread the word. Marketing 101.
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Is there another way to spread the word without alienating people who think this "artist" sucks beyond compare? I don't want to be associated with a phone that is going to be used by the likes of Nicki Minaj. And how long will she be a star? Another month maybe? A year tops? Hey, whatever. I guess I'm just not in the target demographic. I wasn't gonna get this phone anyway.
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But you'd rather be associated with a phone used by the likes of Deadmau5 or some other artist that you find exciting?
You're comment is just ignorant, especially given that you said you weren't going to purchase this device anyway. If you are only going to purchase a device based on the parameter of who uses it, may I suggest that you go ahead and locate the artist that you find favorable and use the products that they use. Apparently, there are some people (lippidp) that base their purchasing decisions on that parameter.
No artist is liked and loved by everyone, and there are always some people that are going to find an artist that 'suck'; that is just a fact of life. From the video footage, tweets, etc. many people enjoyed the performance.
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People need to take seat and give these performers the benefit of the doubt, just because they don't like or agree with their "thesis" doesn't make them horrible. Real art has critics, I do understand that but realize that it is no less valid an artistic expression. It is no longer a simple matter of looking normal and having a generally accepted style...haters be damned! =P
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Yeah I mean it's just about building excitement for the product nothing more. Pick a popular artist and there ya go. If you seriously buy products based on celebrity endorsement lipp...i don't even know...
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I dig the techno. Bassnectar ftw
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Decent response for Minaj. Kind of lukewarm for Nokia. Place was pretty packed. Saw a group of women who had autographed 900s, that was pretty cool.
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IMO, these times square events are the biggest possible waste for marketing dollars. you're not demoing the phone, or giving really increasing the awareness of the phone that much, people are just looking at a free concert/event, and not really getting swayed by the phone itself.
doing smarter targeted adds in newspapers, magazines and on chiefly on TV is key; not limited promotions where the majority of the market that you're looking to tap into has no idea about. -
It's about mindshare; this stuff works.
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Agree, I'm sure most of the people didn't even know what was going on, they just saw a stage and a clock counting down. Now they know. That's a foot in the door. Good start Nokia.
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Mindshare is important, but events like this have a very, very tiny reach - and that means very, very tiny mindshare.
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waste of marketing? Billboards and MTV both have post on the event. It gets people talking and news of the even spreads.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/branding/nicki-minaj-teams-with-nokia-for-times-square-1006698552.story
http://rapfix.mtv.com/2012/04/06/nicki-minaj-takes-over-times-square-wish-special-show/ -
that looked pretty awesome. everyone knows of the nokia lumia 900 now
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everyone? what r u talking about? u consider everyone to the 500 people that were there? LOL
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You can downplay it all you want, but it's not all about how many people were there (there were way more than 500) but about the word of mouth. Even if all they say to other people something like "I saw Nicki Minaj, something about a Nokia phone..." Then they did their job.
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I was there. There was AT LEAST 20,000 people in the concert. EVERYONE was drooling over Lumia 900. EVERY single person I talked to said he/she was gonna ditch the stinky and shitty iPhone in favour of the Lumia 900. I saw hundreds of people literally throwing away the stinky, shitty and crappy iPhone right there. So, crApple must be shitting in their pants.
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YeAHH you keep smoking that Sammy. Only MSFT would bring a rock star to make it their primary intro instead if the product itself. Reminds me of how they lured people to their MSFT stores. Free concert! Heck yeah we,re there! What's a Windows phone? And get your spelling right. Here in America, we don't use the "u" you Brit twit. Don't care even if you're an expat.
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Wow calm down guy. Its called marketing, especially if people have no idea what you're selling, and MS isn't the only company that does it. Like Rafael said, its all about mindshare. Also, while I hate it, 'u' is commonly used in place of you, even here in America. And even if it was a British only thing, there are people outside of the states that go to this site. Please stop making all Americans look bad.
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I think he was meaning to highlight the "u" in 'favour' as opposed to 'favor' as is spelt here in the States. In any case I absolutely agree with you that who ever the douche bag is, he's giving Americans a bad name. Wait, Ari - is douche spelt with a "u"? ;)
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If we were in America, but we're on the Internet and the Internet is not IN AMERICA! Also, who gives a shit how he spells "favor" or "favour"? Stop being a douchebag you douchebag.
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NYC is the capital of the world. Bold statement but true as it is the port where....THE NATIONS will come to ground for America, or did, and pursue their business, lives, dreams, etc etc...so says the King of Siam! =P
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Of all people....Nicki Minaj??? And I don't say that as a hater. Not a huge fan, but I do like a few of her songs. Just not someone I would have pictured as the choice for an event like this. But I guess any kind of promotion is good promotion
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Curious...Who would you picture or would have chosen for an event like this?
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LADY GAGA or deadmou5 or guetta....... come on, it's microsoft, they could easily get GAGA for this show...... what's going on with this MS and nokia guys!?!?!?!?!?!
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David Guetta, Gaga and deadmau5 would have definitely gotten my toes tapping, lol
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Lady gaga is dirty trash
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Not even close to as trashy and full of herself as this slut that's right slut Nicki Minaj
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At least Nicki minaj doesn't look unclean
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Slut? Like, a real slut? Where does she find the time? Geez...
Why the hatred and disdain, JD Miles? -
obviously I would not know her well enough to hate her or for that matter consider her a slut in the true sense I have however seen her in enough interviews and lip syncing "poorformances" to have dis·dain/disˈdān/ Noun: The feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect; contempt. Verb: Consider to be unworthy of one's consideration.
I guess I was too fresh off of her terrible interview that A.M. on the Today show where she could hardly motivate her self enough to even do a half assed lip syncing for her millions of fans who have made her so popular and successful, she shows no respect for her God given talent and good fortune.
p.s. could also be that I am closer to seventy than sixty and remember even the non-conformist amongst us "in the day" were at least respectful, so I will retract slut and appoligize to those on this board, but I do indeed have disdain for her with the limited exposure I have had with her. Thanks for calling me out, figured someone would as soon as I clicked the save button earlier. JD Miles -
Yo! JD and "the man" need to chill, respect the women! No one has time for your turd century views, lest you forget that you were brought forth from a womb, regardless of their character. I'm sure my Lady will forgive you...REPENT! =P
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Don't forget Nicky Minaj has over 10 million followers on Twitter! She's one of the most popular artists of today!
In my opinion thought while this was good, they should have had Nicky Minaj and someone else to follow, like someone just as popular. Oh well. -
Lady Gaga: a setting star
Nicky Minaj: a rising star -
Both: suck
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I don't know who I would have chosen to be honest. Maybe multiple acts with songs that conveyed somehow what your trying to promote. I just don't know if Stupid Hoe or Roman's Revenge accomplishes that (Not saying she performed those exact songs). Again, not hating on Nicki at all nor downplaying her status right now
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Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga are one in the same.
/Have you ever seen both in one place at the same time?
//Both are much larger than most of us males here(if you know what I mean) -
How about throw a dart at a top 20 pop artist chart today.. Doesn't matter.
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Hmm...Niki's colorful costumes make a lot of sense with whole color tiles and colorful Nokia phones. Yeah, maybe not my choice, but a smart one nonetheless.
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this show was for the 100 people that were on the first 2 rows and that's it..... and the performer was nicki who? mmmmm
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I just came from the event....... wow this microsoft and nokia guys really have no clue about marketting! .... only the first rows could see the stage.... and 'nicki minaj' wtf???? the London event with Deadmou5 was tons better!..... I was in the middle of the crowd and nobody knew about the phone..... so this show was for those couple of hundred people who didn't have a clue about the phone and that they couldn't see nicki minaj, they could only see the cheap blue box and that's it...... wow.... as I said before, that's it for me with windows phone, I'm switching to iphone5 from my samsung focus..... I 'probably' return to windows phone 10.... I'm tired of being a WP beta tester.
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You're buying a new phone because only the first five rows could see a performer that you don't even like?
I doubt you were even there or that you even have a Windows Phone. Troll.
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So basically, if the show featured an artist or a show that you found entertaining, you would have stuck it out with WP7.5/WP8. But since it didn't, your next phone is the next iPhone?
Goodbye! -
I was in the show, and I was showing my focus to the people around me, and talking good about it as I always do..... but I'm getting tired of it since little time ago..... the OS is just so slow, all the apps takes about 5 seconds to open.... 90% of the apps are black and boring UI, so many few apps have an interesting Metro design, just go to the marketplace and you'll find tons of boring useless apps, I am tired of that, I went today just to see if MS and nokia are learning about making good marketting, well, they are not...... proof of that will be that this nokia will not sell...... and it will not sell because of the so bad marketing...... also yesterday we all found out that the lumia900 camera suucckkss, haven't you seen the camera tests around? well..... I love the WP metro idea, but it just isn't deliverying it..... they laugh about other phones with the smoked campaign and, hello MS, the phone experience is not just about taking a pic and posting it to facebook and twitter!..... just try ANY app tapping on it, and you will see whcich phone gets smoked ALL the time..... yes the WP.
ps: I'm not a troll..... I'm a tired windows phone beta tester..... they laugh about the other phone osers about being beta testers and they don't get it yet that WE wp users are the real beta testers.
ps2: how is it that the TITAN2 camera is tons better that the lumia900 camera?
ps3: remember NoDo or the 1st WP OS version? please guys remember that they made us use a useless OS..... that's what NoDo and before was..... and they sold it to us as the WOW OS..... can't believe they can't write a 100% decent OS..... and in case u don't know it, MS is deleting the whole WP 7.5 code and writing it from zero 'again' for Windows Phone 8 -
Please tell us how you really feel.
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Dude, do yourself a favor and get an iPhone or Android and STFU. Your a troll and you know it.
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Go suck a dick fucking idiot
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I agree with most of what you are saying, even though I still have faith in the OS. But I'm a recent user, so I just hope they pull it off before I get tired.
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Hey you f***ing loser, we're glad that a pathetic moron won't be using the greatest smartphone OS in the world, that is Windows Phone. You deserve nothing more than the shitty, stinky, fugly, crappy, boring, slow, laggy, old-fashioned and completely unusable iPhone from the pathetic little worm of a company called crApple. LOL!
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This comment just makes no sense. I don't want to go through it word by word...
I just don't believe you were really showing your Focus and praise it and then, after several hours, wrote this. Only a schizophrenic would be able to act that way.
And the WP Marketplace is actually LESS buried in rubbish than iOS and Google app stores.
etc., etc., etc. ... -
A bit on the ruff side for a comment. But i do understand your point, and i agree.
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Moron!
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That's spot on Will! MSFT should get into the concert ticket business. You gotta see this video of the same M.O. they use for their stores. Its pathetic marketing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KLwVfi0uaU
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That video was obviously made by an Apple fan and is, therefore, not objective. It was like a Michael Moore movie. There was an agenda. Only bits that support and further the agenda make the cut. Was it possible that people went into the store to get tickets liked it and came back at a later date?
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HAHAHAHAHA.. stfu.
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I was there. Lots of people, Had my 900 and a few ppl asked about it. loved how they basically took over all the screens in Times Square. Wasa bit short in my opinion though.
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Compared to previous marketing attemps (meaning: none), this is MUCH better. I'm glad Nokia and Microsoft are finally doing something. Even if the artist was not the best choice, I'm sure the point was more to grab attention, and I'm sure it did that.
Looking forward to much more marketing starting now. -
They gave out autographed phones?? When?? Where?? I was there from 7pm..I saw no giveaways, no interaction between Nokia execs and the crowd.
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I don't know when they did it, but they were doing some videos shoots with 3 chic's in the stands that had 900's. The back of the phones were autographed. The was a pr person with them with an agenda. Once they were done shooting they headed to the small stage to the left of the large stage. Anyone else notice the colors of phones those people had. It wasn't just black and cyan.
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Her real name is Onika - which obviously is an anagram of Nokia :)
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Nice catch, finally someone without something ignorant to say
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Only nokia
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Ok when is this coming to Chicago?
/It would be awesome if R. Kelly pissed on the entire front row.
// There is no such thing as bad publicity -
Ok that shit was funny!!
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Alot of people might think this is bad but a lot of the "hip stuff" comes from hiphop.
/Just ask your kids -
Right, like wearing your pants so low that you walk like an orangutan? Wow, what a great gift to society.
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I would have preferred the heavy metal band Arch Enemy perform for this event.
- Tom, HTC Titan owner -
Why not hire LMFAO and play I'm Sexy and I know it?
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lol Nokia should hire them as brand ambassadors
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There's a long term strategy and philosophy at play here. 2010 was big year for smartphones, so lots of contracts to pick up in 2012. MS have the pc os, they're dominating the cloud, azure is taking off, they shall spare no expense to complete the integration with the phone and tablet. This is nothing compared what we'll see at the launch of windows 8 / WP8. Can't wait for the seamless experience.
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I didn't hear her sing once!?? More like shouting or does she have tourettes? God i detest this kind of 'music'. Still tho times square looks awesome!
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"Times Square crowd image via Sokane1/Instagram"
obviously not using a windowsphone -
Wow, so many haters suddenly appear on this forum.
Guess Nokia must do something right to get this kind of heated feedback over here.
Feels like some Android and Apple fans are a little jealous over how Nokia markets theire stuff. When was the last time that Android or iPhone got promoted this way? ... Never:-) So rock on Nokia, If you get more haters to come over here and cry then you are doing it right! Lumia 900 FTW! -
Who the hell is Nicki Minaj?
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dannejanne...Bing really is your friend.
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I think this was a good effort by Nokia and they seem to have some strategy behind it. The news of the event even turned up in entertainment blogs like http://theybf.com/2012/04/06/nicki-minaj-shuts-down-times-square-for-sec... where they even say that footage from the event is going to be used for the video of one of Minaj's songs.
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The sign says "Its here", but its not. Its not being released until Monday. So its not here. Why not release it at the same time as the event. Pretty stupid to have this kind of show for a phone that isnt released yet.
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i was sorely disappointed when i realized that nikki minaj was the performer and it seems like i wasn't the only one because a lot of people left (i stayed, hoping against hope that there would be another performer and that i would miraculouslywin a phone). this was my first time seeing her perform and hearing her music and i was underwhelmed, surprised, dumbfounded and offended all at once. putting my personal gripes aside, it seems as if she's very popular (someone said she was on gma that morning) so that's a plus for just getting the lumia name out there in the zeitgeist, i guess...every little bit helps...so jealous of the london folks who got to see deadmau5
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If deadmau5 had performed, there would be people who would have been underwhelmed, surprised, dumbfounded, and offended all at once; and a lot of people would have left.
See how that works? -
why, yes, i do see how that works - and i see what you did there. thanks for that additional nugget of insight! did you happen to see my objective assesment of the event that began with the words "putting my personal gripes aside"? can you tell me where in my comment you read that people's reaction to a surprise performance by a mouse-headed electronic dj would have been universally warmer than mine to a grimacing blond rapper?
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Ewww, Nicki Minaj? That's disgusting. What a horrible performer to choose.
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She's better than your momma and ugly white crackwhore gf
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Joke's on you, I don't have a girlfriend.
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Crackwhore momma then
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I dug it. I think it'll kick off the promotional just right. Good job.
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Mist of you on this form are fucking stupid, sorry but they choose her because she just had an album released and she is promoting it. So why not. Plus she is from NY which makes it even better for Nokia to bring awareness to a new market for them. Anyway good choice or bad it will bring people over to wp. And for the idiots that said the she is ugly you must not like women cause she is far from ugly
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Didn't they hire new marketing folks? Why the same old marketing method? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KLwVfi0uaU Look at the scoreboard and repeat after me: 4.9% market share.
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4.9% share? Wait, isn't that crApple's stinky and shitty Mac OS's market share after THIRTY years in the business. What an epic fail that pathetic company is! Lol!
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You people finished with the personal insults over an inanimate object yet?
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So true..
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Are you trying to be funny? Because I could have sworn that Nicki Minaj was a human being.
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WOW AWESOME!!!! Much better than the absolutely zero advertising most of these people above seem to forget about prior to Nokia.... Definitely taking steps in the right direction!!! :D
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Remember the WP launch 2010 over on west coast: Katy Perry/Maroon5? I wonder if Nikki Minaj will be using the Nokia Lumia for tweeting etc. Think Katy Perry used BB...
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That's the right thing to do JD. I respect you for retracting that word. WP Central community is the most decent of all the tech communities around and some of us are very comfortable expressing our opinions here without the fear of being disparaged. There is absolutely no need to use foul language to register our dissension with one another.
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It's a bit surreal to watch Apple people charge into the Windows Phone forums and start talking about "low market share" and "no apps" make a platform useless, only to mention their Macs (a platform with lower global share than WP and far fewer apps) 10 minutes later.
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but theres a shiny apple logo on the back