HELSINKI — Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, said Wednesday that it has asked the Russian police to help retrieve a smartphone prototype from a Moscow-based blogger who riled the company by posting information it calls confidential.
Eldar Murtazin, editor of Mobile-review.com, published a detailed review of Nokia's forthcoming N8 smartphone based on a working prototype April 26. Nokia then requested the unit back in a post labeled "one of our children is missing" on the company's official blog.
"Several weeks back, we formally requested the return of all unauthorized Nokia property from Mr. Murtazin and he declined to respond," Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson said in an e-mail. "As a result, we have contacted the Russian authorities to assist us in the return of all unauthorized Nokia property".
The increasingly competitive smartphone business has attracted a pool of bloggers and analysts scrambling to be the first with specifications of new products, which companies would prefer to unveil at a time of their choosing. Apple enlisted the California state computer crime task force in April to seize computers from an editor whose blog bought an iPhone 4G prototype the company said was stolen.
Murtazin did not respond immediately to an e-mailed request for comment. On his personal blog, Murtazin said he has made repeated attempts in the past two months to get in touch with Nokia and never heard back from the company.
"Nokia says there has been a trade secret infringement," Murtazin wrote. "But we have never signed any non-disclosure agreements with them and Nokia knows that very well".
Nokia said in a post on its official blog that Murtazin has identified himself as a consultant to other mobile-phone manufacturers. "Whether Mr. Murtazin's actions were as a blogger, or whether he is acting in the capacity of a consultant in order to provide information to his clients is an open question," it said.
