My mobile phone, a not-so-trusty Nokia, broke. I took it to the shop for repair. Nowadays, they don't do repairs on the spot. You leave your phone and get it two days later. In the mean while, they give you a replacement phone.
I submitted my phone and the CSR took it backstage to transfer my phonebook to the replacement phone. I waited for about 5 minutes and realized that the feeling is almost the same as the feeling you get when going to rent a car (at least for me, I'm a petrol-head): you are really excited to find out you are going to get. Is it any good? Maybe better than what you have? "Better than a deed, better than a memory, the moment... of anticipation!" (quote from the Simpsons, possibly my favorite).
The guy came back. Of course he had this crappy Nokia, looks like he fished it from a cereal box. I can't even write which model it is because I honestly don't know (and don't care). I took it and went on my way.
Then it hit me: what a waste.
Here I am, about to spend two days with a phone which is not mine. I have no other phone, so I simply have to get along. I have to use it. How many marketers get that chance? Get a completely captivated non-customer forcefully trying out your product for two days?
If I was a Sony-Ericsson or a Samsung marketing guy, I would pay to have my mobile carrier carry a stock of loaners to give out to Nokia customers. I would make sure these are the latest models. I would have the CSR ask me, at the end of the two days: "do you really want your phone back or would you prefer to get a new phone like the one you tried?"
