Photo: HMD
HMD, the company behind Nokia phones for the last seven years, hopes to repeat its success with a new partner: Mattel. The two companies are teaming up to launch a Barbie flip phone this July, a retro feature phone that promises style, nostalgia, and a digital detox. The Barbie phone is part of HMD’s summer lineup, which also includes a new retro-inspired Nokia phone and an HMD phone. The latter is similar to the leaked device that 91Mobiles reported last month, with an HMD logo replacing the Nokia one.
The Barbie phone is not just a rebranded Nokia phone. According to HMD’s global head of insight, proposition, and product marketing Adam Ferguson, it will be a completely new device. "Barbie’s is not the kind of brand that you go, here's an off-the-shelf solution," he says. He also hints that more big and prestigious partnerships are in the works, but he won't reveal them yet.
HMD, which now stands for Human Mobile Devices, is not abandoning the Nokia brand. However, it is expanding its portfolio with its own brand and other collaborations. Ferguson says this is not because of any loss of faith in the Nokia name but because of the opportunity to do more with a multi-brand strategy.
HMD also teased a new development platform called HMD Fusion, which seems to involve modular and customizable smartphone elements. However, it gave no details about the pricing, specs, or features of these upcoming devices.