Nokia harnesses Times Square LED display for phone launch

Finnish mobile manufacturer, Nokia, took control of Times Square in New York last week to launch its latest smartphone, the Lumia 900.

The Lumia 900 is noteworthy in its own right for its use of a 4.3 inch Organic LED (OLED) display, which allows it to compete with similarly equipped rivals like the HTC One S and Samsung Galaxy S2.

However, the fact that the launch even took advantage of one of the world’s most expansive LED displays in one of America’s best known tourist attractions, was the real talking point of the show.

As well as utilising large outdoor displays, which required more than 80 miles of cabling to be laid ahead of the event, there were a number of celebrity guests and performers participating in the launch.

American rapper and emerging pop superstar, Nicki Minaj, was the main attraction at the launch and crowds lined the streets to catch a glimpse of her performance.

The content being shown on the LED display was generated by a team of CGI experts, who have previously worked on major Hollywood movies, including I, Robot.

More than 5,000 hours of effort was put into producing the advanced effects which were used to promote the new phone. Some of the images stretched more than 200 feet into the sky, thanks to the sheer size of the building-mounted LED displays.

The experience was definitely intended to be a pleasant assault on the senses and hopefully one which will be remembered for a long time. Of course, the regular harnessing of Times Square for similarly over the top expositions does mean that it has some competition.

Nokia’s bold use of celebrity supporters and LED displays has helped to bring the Lumia 900 into the world with quite a fanfare.