Nokia Lumia 1020: How to Leak a Gadget Like a Pro

The coming Nokia PureView Windows Phone, the Lumia 1020, has been
leaked more times than an NSA PowerPoint. Over the past few weeks,
we've seen a video of the phone's camera, a press photo, a photo of
the gadget in the wild and another press photo. Now comes apparent
confirmation of the phone's existence and name from none other than
the head of Windows Phone at Microsoft.
Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Windows Phone at Microsoft,
publicly posted at least two photos on his Flickr profile with
metadata that reveals they were taken by a camera called the "Nokia
Lumia 1020," which was first discovered by The Verge. Since no phone
yet exists with that model number, it stands to reason it's the phone
Nokia is planning to reveal at an event on Thursday in New York City.

Nokia wouldn't comment on the leaks, but the company appears to be
taking a rather lax approach to keeping its imminent product
announcements secret. A few days before the Nokia Lumia 928 was
revealed in May, a two-page ad confirming its existence appeared in
Vanity Fair.

Nokia's invitations for the Lumia 1020 event read, "Zoom. Reinvented,"
so there's already a little to chew on in the invite alone. Clearly,
the company is strongly pushing its PureView cameraphone technology as
a differentiator, and since Windows Phone is Nokia's smartphone
platform, the product is, in all likelihood, a PureView Windows Phone
— just as had been rumored.

Then came the leaks, which happen with many big tech reveals. But the
Windows Phone chief so brazenly outing the product takes them to a new
level. What's going on?

These could be genuine leaks, discovered by enthusiasts and intrepid
tech reporters in search of a good story. It's also possible that
Nokia architected them to drum up buzz for its product. Indeed,
Belfoire hasn't gone out of his way to take down the Lumia 1020 photos
from his Flickr stream.
When a product launch is imminent, a company doesn't have a lot to
lose if some details leak early. Competitors can't exactly pivot on a
dime, and the leaks will probably do more to cultivate interest in an
upcoming event rather than detract from it.

The leaks, if they do stem from Nokia (and there's no evidence that
they have), are a good example of how to make leaks work for you. Once
your event is confirmed (Nokia sent invitations out in early June),
slowly tease out a few details of the product as the event approaches.

Importantly, you shouldn't reveal too much, such as complete specs or
multiple hands-on photos. When that happened with Sony's "PlayStation
phone," the Xperia Play, a few years ago, it worked against the
product. It's not clear whether those were real or controlled leaks
(probably the former), but when the device was finally teased for the
first time during Super Bowl 2011, many people thought the product had
already been announced.

With the Lumia 1020, the leaks have so far worked in Nokia's favor.
Although we already know what the device looks like, that's not a big
deal because all Windows Phones look very similar. We still don't know
a lot about the specs of the most important feature, the camera —
although past PureView phones give strong clues.

We'll get the full picture Thursday, if you'll excuse the pun. And
thanks to a few leaks, planned or unplanned, we're probably a bit more
interested than we would be otherwise.