Nokia’s got a new promotional video out that mocks the bland black or white color choices of the iPhone 5.  The video makes it seem as though you really don’t have any choice when it comes to buying an iPhone should you want something more colorful and eye-catching.  It implies that everyone who has an iPhone is just mindlessly going along with the pack and has no interest in being unique.

In reality, the iPhone has some of the most widely available, unique, esoteric, colorful, and quite interesting personalization options out there.  They’re called cases and there’s a huge market for them.  Sure the iPhone itself is probably pretty bland and boring for many, but snap one of those crazy cases on it and you’ve got something special.

I think it’s pretty clear that beginning with the iPhone 4, Apple has intended to make colorful cases a significant part of the iPhone ecosystem.  In fact, the iPhone 4 really didn’t work very well if you DID NOT use a case.  You all remember the solution to “Antennagate“, right?  Buy a case!  You’re not even supposed to use it without a case.  The back is even made out of glass which cracks pretty easily.  If that doesn’t scream “buy a case”, what does?

The fragility and case requirements are seemingly continuing with the iPhone 5.  You’ve all seen how the metal back can easily get scratched or dinged.  Simple solution: buy a case for it.  That’s not a bad thing though since people love cases since they can find them in so many different colors and patterns.

I think if Nokia wants to stand out, I think they should show more about how you don’t need to buy a case for Nokia phones.  They’re pretty rugged by themselves as you can see in some of the videos on the Nokia Blog which show the Lumia 900 standing up to being frozen, baked at 200F, dropped from a moving car, and hammering a nail into a piece of wood while the iPhone 5 is easily scratched by a two year old girl and some average keys.