Agree completely. Nokia 6190, 8290, 5190, 3390, 2190, etc etc were all very popular US phones between 1998 - 2003. Malls were covered in accessory stores selling interchangeable face plates to customize the look of the phone to literally anything the heart desired.
I'm experiencing the Gell-Mann effect in this comments section where HNers recollect events just 15 years ago yet say things like "Nokia was nonexistent in USA" and "people didn't really text / use flip phones much".
It makes me question any HN historian chiming in on the past when people are so wrong about such a recent era.
Man, this was the era that was so ubiquitous with flip phone usage that "free ringtones" were the biggest spamsite genre of the time and entire kiosks at the mall existed to sell you custom faceplates and vajazzling decor for your phone.
I think one thing at play is that people regularly extrapolate their microscopic local experience into broad wisdom about the world. Nobody in their social circle had a Nokia? It was dead in USA. Nobody in their social circle texted much? Nobody did. They don't like spinach? Kids would never eat salad (which I just saw in another thread). Maybe it's a bug in the human software.
See my comment below to sibling. I think the real problem here is lack of exact timeline memory. The RAZR didn’t come out until 2004, not early 2000s. That said, very much agree with what you said about folks insisting on things that they are simply misremembering (or never knew in the first place and instead apply own biases).
You're right, but from what I remember the RAZR was the phone that ended Nokia's popularity in the US. I had a Nokia 6133 flip phone (better than the RAZR in every way), and at that point I was the only person I knew who still had a Nokia. Everyone else had a RAZR, LG Chocolate, Samsung, etc.
The RAZR didn’t exist until 2004[0], which is mid-2000s to me, not early 2000s. Nokia very much owned the GSM market in the US from 1997-2003. The problem is they didn’t innovate and got left behind (personal opinion on that part, but I feel it’s a justified opinion). I personally stuck with Nokia because a “cool looking” phone was less important to me than having Symbian. Until the iPhone came out, Symbian was the best OS imho (but that isn’t saying much).
I think the issue sibling comment to yours was getting at but not directly saying, is that humans have a bad habit of not remembering exact time periods for non-important distant past things. It’s why I cross reference on Wikipedia or other sources before stating things matter of factly for anything I’m pretty sure about, but not positive on. Wish more folks did that!
