The 5 Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week: Sept. 14

5. Nokia's No-No

Question: If a picture is worth a thousand words then what's the value of Nokia's (NOK) misleading Lumia video?

Answer: One big fat apology and heaps of ridicule from folks like us.

Sorry for the pop quiz folks, but it is back to school season and we here at the 5 Dumbest Lab need to get back up to speed, especially if we intend to catch up to our friends at Nokia. Those flying Finns remain in full sprint, albeit in the wrong direction. Shares of the company have fallen 45% this year.

The flailing smartphone maker apologized last weekend for deceiving viewers into believing that it used the camera from its forthcoming Lumia 920 smartphone to shoot the video used in the gadget's promotional material. Nokia posted the video on sites like YouTube to highlight the supercool effects of its new PureView technology.

Unfortunately, as pointed out by a group of pesky bloggers, the video -- and a few still images to boot -- were not shot on Nokia's phone at all. Nokia confessed that it actually used a hand-held video camera and lighting rig to create the shots for the material, but not before boasting about how the Lumia will level its competitors' offerings.

"This video was produced when the Nokia Lumia 920 was in preproduction," said the company. "While there was no intention to mislead, the failure to add a disclaimer to the video was obviously a mistake, and we apologize for the misunderstanding it did cause."

On the other hand, Nokia did get one shot right and it was most certainly authentic. Too bad it was aimed squarely at its own foot.

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