Nokia goes where no phone has gone before
Monday, May 11th, 2009
As a mobile technology enthusiast, I like to see how it’s used in popular culture. Perhaps this obsession harkens back to my days playing Captain Kirk in the trees of my elementary school in the early 1970s, pretending to use that futuristic device known simply as the communicator.
Sometimes the use of mobile technology in pop culture can be hilariously absurd, as is the case with Maxwell Smart’s shoe phone in the 1960s Get Smart television series. Other times the depiction of futuristic technology can be much more prescient, as was the case with the communicator.
So when I went to see Star Trek this past weekend, in addition to seeing how one of my new favorite directors interpreted the favorite TV series of my youth, I was looking forward to seeing how mobility “evolved” in J.J. Abrams vision of the future. Like almost everything else in the movie, I wasn’t disappointed.
In what will undoubtedly be one of my favorite product placements of all time, Star Trek features a touch screen Nokia phone, mounted on the dashboard of an antique Corvette in the sequence where the audience first sees how James T. Kirk grows up.
Watch this video to see the Nokia product placement in Star Trek
I must say, there is nothing earth shattering about a touch screen phone and media player; I have that in my car for two years with my iPhone and its dock (how did Apple, one of the kings of product placement, miss this choice opportunity?). Perhaps the most futuristic aspect of this Nokia phone was how its classic ringtone evolved. But it was still great fun, as is the rest of the movie. If you haven’t yet seen Star Trek, it gets two thumbs up from me!
