Reconnecting People

So nothing lasts forever.Neither highs nor the lows.However getting up from its recent low seems to be a little difficult for Nokia.Or does it?

From being  world's largest smartphone maker in 2010 to everyone talking about its downfall after its Q2 results in July this year (when it suffered an operating loss of €487m!), it was a big roller coaster ride for this Finnish firm & its rides continues(in the direction it hopes to of course) as the CEO Stephen Elop announced the beginning of the windows phase era for Nokia this October with Nokia Lumia 800 being on everyone's next-to-look-for radar.

Thanks to its biggest rival Apple which taught it a lesson on the importance of marketing, the company's Marketing Strategy has seen a complete makeover which now includes more focus on Digital & Social Media.So here we have the new  Nokia,which this time believed in creating a market for its product first before the product launch.

Charmaine Eggberry, Nokia’s senior vice-president of marketing focuses on Wow - Ways of Working which is about creating a market based on a particular local needs, empowering the local marketing team while keeping true the brand principles alive. A concept I could really relate to when I visited a local famous market at Udaipur in September & I saw Nokia’s Dual Sim Phone being flashed on an elephant with a drum blowing along.Trust me that was the first time I got to know about that particular handset!

Another concept it is banking upon is the Revamping of its stores towards being more customer friendly & interactive all throughout the Globe as it prepared for the launch of the Lumia 800 worldwide.As the experts say it definitely is focusing on the retail part of the advertising this way.The 'Connecting people' slogan finds a literal significance here as Nokia focuses more on building focus on the youth, useful specially in growing countries like India where the under 25 age group bracket provides a great opportunity, something its rivals like Motorola & Apple have long back taken care of.

Overall,with a move to bring back its lost shining position number one, Nokia has its eye fixed on the response Lumia gets as it looks forwards to a brighter new year.

C - Day Brief

Long time no see.October literally runs outta my blog post list as I gave my 4th & last attempt of CAT. I would have never given it, thanks to the almost nil amount of motivation & faith I have in the online CAT but then thank you God for the lovely friends (A Big Good Luck to them if they are reading this :)) who have more faith in you than you have yourself on your own at times! & phew had I not given it, I would have missed it coz as PC says, you may forget about your passion once & suppress it divert yourself to other things but deep down inside your heart reminds of your passion & all is not so well then.And so here it goes my experience of the C - Day copy-pasted from my debrief at PG.

CAT Centre, Date and Slot: Prometric, Hyderabad, 4th Nov, 3:15 pm

1) How many attempts you have made?
QA/DI-28 (1 last moment guess), VA/LR-29 ; OA 57

2) How was your experience of the test?
I always found the complete "online CAT" experience similar to taking a flight, right from check-in,starting the test at 3:15 & finishing exactly at 5:45 pm .But seriously a smooth experience.

3) What was the surprise element for you?
I was prepared for any changes (or surprises) in my slot even after reading the experiences of the previous slots, coz' last year I gave my test on 16th Nov, 2nd slot & there was a vast difference in difficulty level in QA even in the morning & afternoon slot which really took a toll on my final result.
& the surprise was QA again this year which was full of sitters.

4) Any tips to handle the computer based exam better?
Just make sure you don't miss out with any sitters which unlike in the paper based patterns are a little difficult to identify.

5) Your overall analysis of the exam. Toughness, new topics, sections etc.
QA as said above was full of sitters.A few hiccups in between which can be dealt with.
DI I found a set lot more calculative than the other two moderate ones.
Overall in Section 1, keep an eye on the clock!

VA was the most awaited one specially after reading the reviews here.Being prepared helped.RCs were difficult-moderate-easy I would say a mix bag.Other questions too were on the same lines.
LR totally doable.

6) Any other query or something you would like to share.
Be prepared for any changes in the difficulty levels of the sections.

Just my 2 cents.

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Hey! By the way did I tell you what I actually discovered about the so-called exam.It just re-affirmed by belief, what papa had told me long back - the longer & harder you worry about something, the more it makes you worry about it. My Post CAT partying can never match the Pre-CAT relaxers (read as - 3 movies & 2 novels at the last week of CAT! my fastest ever ;) )