Entering the final stretch to SMW12, we’ve helped you meet Nokia LA’s Robyn Yoslow, Nokia London’s Mark Hindle and Edoardo Cassina, and Nokia Jeddah’s Abdullah Alghadouni and Adel Sartawi. We’re now featuring Pino Bonetti. Pino has a regular contributor in the relationship between Nokia and Social Media Week. We think you’ll love getting to know him as much as we have over this past year.

Pino, how long have you been with Nokia?
I joined Nokia 4 years ago with the acquisition of a startup of location-based services. Since then I have been helping Nokia shaping the future of this business in our Berlin campus.

 
What drew you to working with Nokia? How have you seen that evolve over the years?
Before joining Nokia I was already fascinated by location-based services and it felt just natural to be acquired because Nokia was and is investing a lot of resources to expand its location business. In fact, we are now basically the world’s largest mapping company and our aim is to answer all the “where” questions our consumers may have.
 

What gets you excited about your work with Nokia?
My work with Nokia is particularly exciting for three reasons. Nokia is a phone manufacturer, which means that I’m part of a fast growing business, billions of people all over the world are aware of. It is also fast changing and I never get bored But as I said before, Nokia is also a player in the location business. Whereas other companies have just recently discovered the power of location-based services, Nokia has almost a 25 years strong heritage in this space. This means that I’m learning how this business works from the best in class. And this is just the beginning, there is so much more to come from location-based services, it’s almost thrilling! Last but not least, I love Nokia’s approach to social media: human and authentic. Our consumers personally reach out to me on Twitter, via comments on Nokia Conversations, where I’m blogging, or on other tech blogs. The interaction they are having with Nokia is special and I’m part of it. And it doesn’t matter whether their feedback is enthusiastic or harsh: they know they can count on me to get answers to their questions. At the end of the day they may become our advocates, because on social media everyone counts, everyone is an influencer.
 

Nokia has been the major partner for SMW, with Berlin being a regular feature in that. How do you see the activities with your team taking a bigger stage this September?
This is the second time Nokia is taking a big stage in Berlin during social media week. You can see here what we have done last September (and perhaps you can spot me in the video

This year we are going to replicate some of those activities that have been loved by the attendees. We are also going to participate at keynotes and panels to create conversations around different social media related topics.
 

Many of the events and activities with your team in Berlin focus on highlighting the social components of technology, from the Silent Disco party to the Vintage Photobooth. How does this fit with the culture of Berlin and your team, and what else can we expect to see from Nokia during the week?
I’m sure you can find in Berlin more Djs than doctors. Or more photo booths than mail boxes. Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit, but you get the picture: both the music culture and the vintage photo booth culture are ubiquitous here. Not accidentally, Music and imaging are also two important aspects for Nokia. It feels therefore natural that we are partnering with Social Media Week to organize an event like the Silent Disco or to set up a vintage photo booth… with a twist.
 

What other Nokia campaigns would our supporters in Berlin be familiar with?
Back in June we launched ‘Nokia Connects:Go,’ the monthly competition that gives you the chance to win a Lumia 900 & Monster Headset by producing creative masterpieces on your Nokia phones. The community entries have flown into us by the bucket-load since the launch of the competition and both Nokia and non-Nokia trialists have sent in photos, feature films, music videos and blogs – to name a few! Nokia provides a unique opportunity for anyone to get involved and have a hands on experience with our products – it could be a new art project someone is starting, and edgy review with a twist of creativity.

We also find interesting the latest entry to the Nokia Connects: GO competition. This video shows off Paris in its best light! A true masterpiece from emeric:, who has made one of the most relaxing videos I’ve seen in a long time with the Lumia 800.

Another is an exciting short film by Pietro Malegori. Pietro filmed Sam Volery taking on an impressive tight rope walk up in the Italian mountains with his Lumia 900, if you are afraid of heights and you have no balance then I would look away now!

With a lot of the location-based services team based in Berlin, how does that impact your focus locally? What are some of the most exciting components of those services?
Berlin is a major European hub for new technologies and ideas, many startups are born here. Some bright ideas of location-based services caught the early attention of Nokia which acquired Gate5 and other startups to develop the first phones in the world with a GPS receiver and a mapping application. What now seems like an obvious feature of any smartphone, was an idea born in Berlin over 6 years ago that many people first billed as crazy. But this is Berlin, isn’t it? Nokia is proud to be based here and to continue following the path of innovation started years ago.
 

Nokia was the first phone for many people. How have you seen the landscape of mobile change in Berlin over the years and how has Nokia responded to that?
When I first moved to Berlin, from Italy, a mobile phone was just a phone for most of the people: a tool to help them connect with others. But now things are different. Many people, although less than I would expect, have switched to a smartphone. Which is, for me, not “smart”, but “personal,” it’s an extension of many people’s lives. In a smartphone people don’t only have their most important contacts, but also their music, their passions, their places they like to visit. In fact, Nokia likes to think that the smartphone is what enables people to access experiences in a fluid way: in the car, at home, in a restaurant, etc. And I’m really happy that the Nokia campus in Berlin is one of those leading this paradigm shift by recognizing the potential of location-based services.
 

Nokia and SMW12 will be taking Berlin by storm. We hope to see you on the dance floor with us and at our many events.