SADev

In the last few weeks I got a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone which has been brilliant, and as the geek I am I have been playing around and trying out many of the functions on it. One area which has been an absolute fail, has been the GPS software: Nokia Maps. The phone comes with a  6 month license to get directions or have the phone speak to you as you drive, but at the end of the 6 months you need to pay for these premium services :(

I have no problem paying for it, but the costing model is retarded. This is the pricing when you select it from within the phone:

• 1 day costs R19.99
• 30 days costs R20.00
• 30 days with automatic renewal costs R66
• 1 year costs R512.99

Now I cannot imagine what person would choose 1 day, when 30 days is 1c more expensive, however the part that confuses me is that it is over three times more expensive for the same 30 days with the exception that you are telling Nokia you want to keep up to date with it. The year part is also odd, since if you purchase each month separately it is R240 which is less than half of the year subscription!

All of this screams that Nokia South Africa has ZERO clue about what they are doing to promote people to

• Buy in bulk or put another way: Pay more
• Setup a “contract” which will cause people to pay more

In fact it seems they, Nokia South Africa don’t want the business - because you can also purchase this using your browser online from Nokia Europe, which is a little more work than on your phone, but their pricing makes sense (see how it makes sense to buy the bigger packages or renewal options):

• 1 day costs €1,59 (in rands that is roughly R17.90 or 10% cheaper)
• 30 days costs €5,99 (in rands that is roughly R67.45 or 237% more expensive)
• 30 days with automatic renewal costs €5,19 (in rands that is roughly R58.44 or 11% cheaper)
• 1 year costs €39,99 (in rands that is roughly R450.33 or 12% cheaper)

When my subscription ends I will be sending money out of the country and helping Europe make their sales targets which just feels wrong :(