Yahoo Finance Start-up HMD Global relaunches Nokia's 'Matrix banana phone'
Nokia has relaunched its “banana phone” – made famous by cult sci-fi movie, The Matrix.
First released in 1996, the Nokia 8110 took off three years later when Keanu Reeves’ character Neo used one in the blockbuster film.
It was dubbed a “banana phone” for its distinctive curved shape – and this time HMD Global, which has the intellectual rights to make Nokia phones, has drawn on that by making the launch model bright yellow in colour.
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Finnish start-up HMD Global is made of ex-Nokia executives that last year launched a remake of the Nokia 3310 and a portfolio of smartphones.
“The Nokia 8110 comes with the craftsmanship you expect from a Nokia phone, delivering durability and reliability as standard,” HMD said.
“With a familiar and easy to use interface, it features intuitive tactile mechanics, with slide to answer and end calls, as well as an addictive helicopter style spin on its axis.”
The company says it is pitching the 8110 as a “weekend” or secondary device – one to have fun with rather than use as work phone.
While it is ‘just’ a feature phone, it will have 4G and wi-fi through its Kai operating system, and HMD is working to get a Facebook app on board before it becomes widely available from May. It will not have Twitter, Snapchat or WhatsApp. The phone will cost just $97 (£69).
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Although much is made of the all-singing, all-dancing smartphones pumped out by market leaders Apple, Samsung and others, there is still a large market for simple, retro feature phones that are little more than old-school phones with basic internet connectivity.
Last year’s reboot of the Nokia 3310 created a real buzz and contributed to the 480 million feature phones sold worldwide.
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HMD said at its press conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that it had sold 70 million phones of all types last year.
Ben Wood from the CCS Insight consultancy said: “People love a bit of nostalgia, and the important thing is that it’s 4G. That should mean it’s more widely adopted by network operators than last year’s 3310, which was originally only 2G.”
HMD Global also announced the launch of number of high-end smartphones, including the Nokia 8 Sirocco, at more than $900.
