[throwaway642012]

Nokia 3310 is going to fail in the markets it's being launched at, i.e. India. The biggest reason for it's (possible) failure is that the people have simply moved on to Android/4G.

Nokia's were a rage when the mobile market was nascent (2004-2010), and carriers flooded the market with cheap SMS rates. With loads of cheap Android phones available, and no WhatsApp on Nokia devices, it's a DoA device. And it doesn't even look as durable as the original classic.

[LostWanderer]

I guess not!

There is still a huge population which wants basic phones as a backup atleast. There are places in india where electricity is not so easy to get and the monthly salary is still under 100$ The senior citizens even though have migrated to smartphones stil are in the dire need of a durable small phone.

I feel apple may also jump in with a luxury feature phone,Just a matter of time

[vatotemking]

This! Low-end Nokia phones are not meant to replace Android phones, but as a backup(supplementary) phone.

Might not be apparent in Silicon valley but in third-world countries its:

* Snatcher deterrence. It would be less likely targeted than say an iPhone when used in risky public areas.

* Ideal for people who'd only use a phone for texting and calling (eg. older people, farmers, laborers).

* A phone that does not need baby sitting: long batt life, doesn't care if it falls on the floor, when it rains just wrap it in plastic.

* And the one thing that I miss the most in smartphones: Texting without ever looking at the screen.

[drfuchs]

Our teen could hold her iPhone under the dinner table and 2-thumb touch-type texts while keeping eye contact with us, hoping we wouldn't notice. When caught, she demoed that she could be almost 100% accurate even with the phone completely out of her sight. Dead-reckoning with no feedback! Necessity is the mother of invention, I suppose.

[johnchristopher]

I don't think I would have been able to do that as a teen.

[smackfu]

Had a friend who did this while driving. Not good.

[scottmf]

I often type without looking while walking. It's pretty accurate apart from the occasional autocorrect mistake, which can only improve with time.

And voice dictation is very accurate these days, and probably faster than most people type.

[vatotemking]

I could probably do that too on a smartphone in my teens. But its so much easier with the classic Nokias. The plain old keypads is way better than haptic feedback. The jutted part of the keys serves as your anchor. SImilar to the F and J on a touch system.

[fnordfnordfnord]

>There is still a huge population which wants basic phones as a backup atleast.

I don't just want a basic phone as a backup. I want real sim card portability/functionality. I want to have a smart-phone when I need it, and I want a lightweight, rugged, long battery endurance phone I can pop the sim card into for activities where I'm willing to compromise features for durability (or speed/ease of use).

> The senior citizens even though have migrated to smartphones stil are in the dire need of a durable small phone.

I still can't believe that nobody has done this. I attribute it to my cynicism about dealing with telecom middlemen (data providers).

[pizza234]

I have the same opinion amout that market segment, but bear in mind that the 3310 costs twice as much as the cheapest mobile phones; considering this, the lack of 3G (/4G,...) could be considered a significant omission.

I had to buy a cheap phone, and to be precise, the 3310 costs 3 times the cheapest (an Alcatel).

[mseebach]

It's not like Nokia are pioneering dirt cheap feature phone, they even have a few themselves. When people are bearish on the 3310 launch, it's not because there isn't a market for feature phones, it's because this market is already well served (including by Nokia), and most of the people who remember the 3310 fondly has owned fully featured smartphones for a decade.

[plainOldText]

I was talking to a friend, and I was making more or less the same points.

Also, a phone has now become an indispensable tool for the modern man, a tool which augments your capabilities and allows you to expand them via new software.

There are plenty of cheap Android phones to choose from, that give you a better camera, proper connectivity, and a worldwide app ecosystem; with the new Nokia 3310 on the other hand, you get a 2G, 2 Megapixel camera, 2 inch screen phone with no software ecosystem. To me this seems like a no brainer.

[pjmlp]

Many people don't care about software, they just want to make phone calls, send SMSs and take an ocasional picture.

[plainOldText]

They might not care about software per se, but they do care about having access to information, education, communication and getting things done faster and better; and networked software enables people to do these things. Provided one has no other computational devices, carrying a dumb phone in this day and age is tantamount to bringing a knife to a gun fight.

[pjmlp]

Not everyone feels like that.

[smackfu]

They don't want Facebook?

[lovich]

I'll assume you are being serious. Many people don't use or want facebook. The only reason it's still on my phone is because I've been too lazy to figure out how to delete the pre-installed applications

[JD557]

Most Nokia series 30+ do come with Facebook, though. That's probably also the case with other feature phones / social apps.

[pjmlp]

Why should they? Not everyone likes Facebook or any other social web sites.

[Nokinside]

Globally feature phones and dumb phones were still majority in 2015.

Smartphones still sell less than feature phones or dumb phones in India.

3310 market is poor people in developing countries.

[walshemj]

to be blunt who cares its a phone for those of us that want multi day battery life