Cheers… to Nokia for having something interesting to say at their press conference that they hadn’t widely leaked beforehand to friendly media outlets.
Jeers… to Orange for their increasingly corporate and bland public image. Mr Ahuja, talking ever louder does not make YOU APPEAR ASSERTIVE. Merely defensive, which you have no particular need to be. And your senior staff look almost as ridiculous in their co-ordinated black suits and Orange ties as your whole organisation does for attempting to sue an MVNO for using a colour it has been using in many other markets for years, and which isn’t even the same as your in any case.
Cheers… for Pascal Debon, giving a bravura performance in the graveyard slot at 6:30 pm, as Nortel’s European head attempted to pull his company back out from under the slough of accounting stories and non-appearing major 3G contracts. Never mind the bad news, feel the vision. Nice try, M Debon, although we think the “This is the way…” messaging is beginning to verge on the biblical. Perhaps next year will have the message “This is the Resurrection”
Jeers.. to the continued “see no evil” attitude of other suppliers, the GSMA itself and the press to the competitive position of some of China’s equipment manufacturers. Hey, we too could tender at nearly half the price of our nearest competitor if we paid our staff peanuts and had tens of thousands of people developing code that sometimes has looked suspiciously like that of the major established manufacturers (near enough to have had at least one be brave enough to slap a cease and desist order on the UK distributor of said equipment). That’s not mere competitive advantage, and the continued silence of their OEM competitors, operator customers, the GSMA and the press does not reflect well on an industry that pats itself on the back for producing a $50 handset, giving money to Unicef and bringing to wonder of communications to the world’s hungry and poor.
Cheers… for all the operator executives who were willing to turn up to a round table discussion to explain exactly how far they had and hadn’t got with the Simpay initiative. Anyone who wants to see how hard it is to get anything done on a cross-operator basis need only have been in the room, as the operators present, which included Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Telefonica Moviles traced out the history of how they had got to where they are. Nice to see so many operators in one room together talking (relatively) openly about an important subject
Jeers… to the obligatory “bag searches” at every entrance to every hall. For what it’s worth, a fleeting, cursory look inside every single bag makes me feel less, not more, safe, unless all the inspectors had X-Ray vision and sniffer-dog smell that I didn’t know of.
Cheers… to the Alcatel senior exec who could only get the adult section of Orange’s Pay per View Live TV service to work, as he sought to demonstrate the smooth working of his company’s convergent billing product. Never mind, sir, we’re sure you’ll get the other services working too, just as soon as they are installed in your favourites list, and we salute your dedication to supporting your company’s customers.
Cheers… to the demonstrator who managed not to laugh at our risible attempts to get her handwriting recognition technology to work. We’d like to say, as we have been told we have the handwriting of a six year old it was probably us, not your software, that rendered our scribblings to complete gibberish. I’m sure the application has a bright future in mobile.
Jeers… to the Motorola clone that walked out of its “Sunset Lounge”, took one look at a cold and thirsty party of people all with tickets who had been specifically invited, said “No” and then stalked off, presumably to find a mirror in which to practice further her air of superiority.
Cheers… to the ladies and gents staffing the press centre who seem to have realised that the world’s journalists are not merely a bloody nuisance (although we can of course be just that).