Link: Doug Richard: Exit the dragon - Independent Online Edition > Profiles

 But Richard, an American who has lived in the UK for five years, has high hopes that Hotxt can become a seriously big business. The start-up has already secured nearly £4m in funding, and its founder believes it can be a big hit with mobile users around the world. The Hotxt website says that the company offers a service that enables mobile users to send text messages to each other over the internet. But this is not a clue to what the company will become, according to Richard. “What it is now will not be what it becomes in the future,” he says.

Thanks for John and Tom for spotting this!

I invited Nate, founder of free texting service, TxtDrop.com if he’d like to do an SMS Text News Q&A. I always find it massively exciting to see how people answer these questions as it gives an excellent insight as to what mobile industry entrepreneurs (Nate, in this case) are thinking.

So let’s begin!

1. What was your first mobile handset?
It was an old Motorola. I actually can’t remember the model, but I remember that it was to big to fit in my pocket!

2. What is your current mobile strategy? (i.e. Handsets, devices, networks)
Right now I’m using RIM’s Blackberry 8703e with Verizon Wireless. It has everything I’m looking for right now in one device - email, voice, and data.

3. What price plan are you using right now?
I don’t remember exactly, but it’s usually around $100 a month. I have a pretty basic voice plan, along with an unlimited data plan and a tethering option, so I can connect my Blackberry to my laptop for private high speed internet access when I need it.

4. What’s your background?
I’m fascinated by technology and the internet. Always have been. I became interested in telephony around 2000 or 2001, when I started testing services like Net2Phone, which at the time, was so cool to me. I eventually became more and more interested in all aspects of telephony, especially VoIP, Open Source PBXs, and of course mobile phones and mobile technologies like SMS and MMS. I created my first successful mobile website, TxtDrop.com, in September 2005 because I really wanted a free text messaging application for my own use.

5. What sites do you regularly read to keep up to date with mobile?
Textually, SMS Text News, Ringtonia, press releases at PRWeb.com, and Jeff Pulver’s blog (http://pulverblog.pulver.com) is one of my favorites because he’s always talking about the next big thing. He blogs a lot about his traveling and what technologies the US is missing out on!

6. What was your mobile bill last month? What do you think is a fair amount to pay for your mobile service each month?
$130. I think my bill should really be under $100 a month.

7. Pick 3 people that you admire and rate in the mobile industry and give us 2-3 lines about each.
I really don’t know that many people in the mobile industry, so my list is limited, but here goes:

Jeff Pulver - Jeff has a great blog, which isn’t specifically related to the mobile industry, but nonetheless, has introduced me to a lot of next generation communications companies and technologies. He’s one of the most influential people in the telecommunications industry, in my opinion. It’s amazing that he even has time to blog as much, and as in depth, as he does! I really admire all he’s done in the VoIP industry (he was even a co-founder of Vonage).

Steve Jobs - Breaking into the mobile industry and trying to compete against companies like Motorola, LG, RIM and Nokia isn’t an easy task! Especially when your used to making computers and music players. But Steve Jobs seems to have put in a lot of time and effort into the iPhone and it looks like it will pay off for Apple.

Emily From Textually - Emily has a great site, Textually.org, which keeps me in touch with the mobile industry. I’ve been a frequent Textually reader for over 2 years now and it’s also how I found SMS Text News. Don’t know what I’d do without it!

8. Do you have any pets?
A cat.

9. What one issue or technological advancement would you like to see with the mobile industry? What are you looking forward to?
I’d like my Blackberry 8703e to have a camera! I’d like to see high speed networks rolled out in more cities, especially smaller ones, across the United States. I live in a very small state, and we ALWAYS get things last! It kills me.

I’m really looking forward to video calls, whether it’s with another mobile phone user or someone at their computer. Also, I’m looking forward to better video playback support on mobile phones, like the day when your able to play YouTube videos as well as Quicktime videos on the same mobile handset.

10. What’s your ringtone?
The CTU ringtone from ‘24′.

11. What’s the last movie you saw at the cinema?
300.

12. What services do you most use on your handset?
Email, the web, and SMS.

13. What’s the hottest mobile service to catch your eye recently?
Radvision’s PC-to-Mobile 3G video calls! Wow.

14. When did you last send a picture / video message — and who was it to?
About a month ago when I was testing out a picture messaging service I’m creating. The message was to myself. I’ve never sent a video message.

15. What new mobile companies have caught your attention this year?
Radvision and Loopt.

16. What is the best thing and the worst thing about the mobile industry?
The best thing about the mobile industry is that it keeps evolving, getting better and more sophisticated

The worst things about the mobile industry, in my opinion, are the closed nature of most mobile applications and the competing technologies in the US that are not compatible with each other, such as EVDO and EDGE, as well as CDMA and GSM. Also, it’s terrible when mobile carriers intentionally disable certain features or don’t plan to support features on the phones they offer!

—

Nate, thank you for taking the time to do this! Fascinating!

If you’d like to do an SMS Text News Q&A, drop me a note.

Link: Texting may sabotage women’s chances of finding love

The immediacy of SMS and email can also make us look overly keen - a guaranteed turn-off for blokes.

Dye cites the case of a woman who texted her boyfriend, and didn’t receive a reply for a day. “By the evening she had convinced herself he was having an affair, the relationship was over, and she was a single girl again,” she says.

When he called the next day he couldn’t understand the drama. His only problem was a flat battery.

I do agree with the points in this article. Worth a look if it’s at all of interest.

The immediacy of the medium really can screw things up, especially in a relationship’s infancy. Then again, if you’re both on the same page, it can very exciting. The moment someone has to go into an 8 hour meeting though, the fun ends … at least temporarily.

I’m a big fan of love letters. Given today’s email environment, I reckon they’re far more important and meaningful than they ever were.

When’s the last time you sent a love letter?

Right! Get your pen out!

“Dear Ewan…” and continue…

Now, this is a big one. It’s a two-in-one with both founders (Ed & Tom) answering the questions. Masbi is a secure mobile development company — I’ve used a screenshot from one of their recent Playtech mobile casino games there to the right.

Let’s take in a bit of background before shooting into the interview:

From their recent press release: The company is the leading developer of transactional software for the constrained environments of today’s mass market mobile handsets. It also has world leading experts in the fields of mobile usability, networking and security.

Founded in late 2001, Masabi began by launching a range of mobile phone games before moving into the mobile application sector with its ground breaking viral distribution and web interaction technology – as seen in the applications Pick the Prez (www.picktheprez.com) and the Iraq War Cost Calculator (www.iraqcost.com). The company has a number of high profile clients from across a range of industry sectors, publicly announced examples of which include: Playtech, the Tote, the Liberal Democrats and Vodafone WildLive!. Based in London, Masabi is wholly self-owned and self-funded.

That last bit got my attention If you’re looking to invest in mobile games developers…

Anyway, I put my favourite questions to both Ed & Tom. First you’ll see my question, then you’ll see their responses underneath. Let’s kick off with the first question!

–

1. What was your first mobile handset?
Ed - It was the Ericsson T10, nice size but as it could only display about 5 characters on screen at once, reading texts was a nightmare…

Tom - some kind of NEC analogue brick, I really can’t remember the model - the next was the Nokia 3210 though, an excellent phone which looked good and was easy to use.

2. What is your current mobile strategy? (i.e. Handsets, devices, networks)
Ed - I currently use a Samsung D600 on O2. I’ve had it for about a year and am due an upgrade, but haven’t seen anything recently that’s made me go wow.

Tom - in general I always advise other people to go Sony-Ericsson, but after my old K600 I switched to a Samsung Z400 hoping it would be as nice as my old D500 - sadly it isn’t, with terrible battery life. I agonised for ages about an SE W950 for the 4Gb flash, but bought an 8Gb iPod nano instead and I’ll wait until something gets me excited - like Ed, I haven’t seen much recently that’s really cool and I get to play with pretty much everything that comes out. Contract is with Orange, who I’ve stayed with since the NEC for no particularly good reason…

3. What price plan are you using right now?
Ed - err, I’m really not sure I think it’s a business price plan which weighs in around the £50 quid per month mark.

Tom - some business price plan which covers a few company phones and some test SIMs. I try not to look at the bills…

4. What’s your background?
Ed - I started working in PR and Marketing consultancy for mobile tech companies at an agency called AxiCom straight out of uni in 2000. My clients included the likes of Symbian, Real Networks, Trigenix as well as whole bunch of companies which make core network and RF technologies. In 2001 I saw a prototype Nokia 7650 at Symbian (their first smartphone) and thought that 1980s home computer games could work pretty well on it. From there I called up Tom (who’d just completed a computer science degree at Cambridge) and together we signed up the Rights to a number of titles from Superior Software who were the top publisher on the BBC Micro - making games like Repton, Galaforce, Strykers Run - and so Masabi began.

Tom - I started in IT with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) in my gap year which taught me that it wasn’t just amateur programmers who made mistakes. Then computer science at Cambridge, some great experience in the US at the tail end of the dot com bubble leading to my first redundancy (along with half the rest of the company), started an IT consultancy with some friends looking for a market we could tackle, got the phone call from Ed and here we are as Masabi.

5. What sites do you regularly read to keep up to date with mobile?
Ed - SMSTextNews is obviously a given also:

www.theregister.co.uk
www.theinquirer.net
www.tomhume.org
www.unstrung.com
www.mobhappy.com
www.kewney.com

Tom - stacks of them, from the obvious big IT/mobile sites through to more specialist feeds like Akihambra News and all the ‘new release’ sites and feeds I can get hold of like PhoneScoop, GSMArena etc. GSMArena need to do an RSS feed, that would make life much easier…

6. What was your mobile bill last month? What do you think is a fair amount to pay for your mobile service each month?
Ed - It was around the £50 mark. I think it’s pretty reasonable, as I do make a fair amount of calls and use a decent amount of data. Although I’m not particularly price sensitive on such things.

Tom - honestly no idea, it’s all mixed in with our test SIMs etc. The bill is pretty fair except for the roaming charges - I cannot see how anyone can justify £1.50/min when roaming in Estonia, it is just ridiculous, so I’ve got myself a PAYG SIM there too which is very cheap.

7. Pick 3 people that you admire and rate in the mobile industry and give us 2-3 lines about each.
Ed -

1. The folks at Issuebits who make AQA - I think this service is really neat because it just works across all handsets and anyone who uses SMS can use it. It’s also kind of ironic that it came from ex-Symbian folks as it’s basically the antithesis of a smartphone application.

2. Richard White at AxiCom - I worked with Richard for about 4years and he is still there working with an ever growing team of clients and his knowledge across the industry is massive. The funny thing about the mobile world is how everything interconnects and effects other pieces of the ‘puzzle’. He is completely connected to companies in everything from billing to mobile search to UMA and he’s my first port of call when I’m wondering what services are possible and what will and won’t work.

3. The Masabi Dev team - without wishing to make this sound like one big love-in, I’m constantly amazed by the quality of the apps that they make and how they get them to run even on phones like the Nokia 3510i.

Tom -
1. Michael Mace at Mobile Opportunity is very switched on and writes very knowledgable blog posts which I generally agree with, and he knows his US bias and acknowledges it. Too often people assume the entire world works the same, and when it comes to mobile it doesn’t.

2. Tom Hume runs a good blog, and FP put out some good stuff so I think he can code. He’s also a very nice guy and he knows akaido, so it pays to be nice

3. Steve Jobs. The man redefines paradigms. Before the iPhone, battery life was important - after the iPhone, we will all be happy with a fixed non-changable battery that dies after 16h of music (less with a few calls). Did you hear them cheer when he said how great this was? And he pulled it off whilst offering a mammoth 1 year warranty on a $500 phone that requires a 2 year contract; trully the paradigm has shifted and we should be very grateful Though I’m probably just bitter we won’t get to develop for it; my big hope is that the iPhone forces the incumbents to actually bring some innovation into phone interfaces, I see the unit itself probably selling several hundred thousand units which means it will go down in history as a niche phone with reasonable sales.

8. Do you have any pets?
Ed - nope.

Tom - no. I did consider trying to buy a robotic fish once because I could just drop in new batteries if it died…

9. What one issue or technological advancement would you like to see with the mobile industry? What are you looking forward to?
Ed - There are some neat handset things, which have been demoed for a couple of years but have yet to make it into a phone, stuff like micro-projectors and the wireless power thing that the Splashpower guys have. Also it would be good to see some innovation in user inputs/user interfaces - I think this will be the one thing that the iPhone will force the likes of Nokia, Motorola et al to do.

Tom - I would love to see JavaME properly integrated into phones, which would be an extremely difficult feat to pull off well but would allow it to break out of the Java/Games/Funbox Sub-menu ghetto and lead to serious improvements in phone functionality. SE seem to be making most progress in this area as their Java Platform 7 features true multi-tasking MIDlets and support for almost every API, but we need a whole step up to really fulfil the potential.

10. What’s your ringtone?
Ed - Airwolf - I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed by that.

Tom - always on vibrate. I have considered adapting the intro of Pitchshifter’s Microwaved but I don’t have the sound skills to do it properly…

11. What’s the last movie you saw at the cinema?
Ed - Mission Impossible 3

Tom - Borat, in Estonia so we got no translation for the Russian bits We don’t get so many films in Tartu, but I really wanted to see A Scanner Darkly as I enjoyed the book ages which I read in one session on a balcony in Positano when I had insomnia. Normally I pick stuff up on DVD though, which after the first 200 films is starting to become a storage problem…

12. What services do you most use on your handset?
Ed - It would have to be voice. I do use a wide range of other apps and services, but I think voice is always going to the main thing for me.

Tom - for me voice, SMS, Java. I use my EOS or my Ixus for photos (depending on how much alcohol I’ve consumed) as phone camera’s just don’t cut it yet, and after much deliberation I decided 8gb is the minimum amount of space I can get away with for a music player because I can’t be bothered with the hassle of swapping over songs on a daily basis - I never know what I want to listen to.

13. What’s the hottest mobile service to catch your eye recently?
Ed - Well I’d have to say the secure mobile casino apps we built for Playtech which are available from www.centrebetmobile.com and http://www.casinotropezmobile.com However, shameless plugs aside, I’ve also been impressed with Spinvox’s stuff.

Tom - Google maps Java client was nice.

14. When did you last send a picture / video message — and who was it to?
Ed - 2003 to my girlfriend. She still hasn’t received it.

Tom - I’m sure I sent one once, but I’m struggling to remember when. I did receive one the other day from a friend in Geneva, who was buying me a Ribcap skiing helmet substitute (http://www.ribcap.ch/) which you can’t really get outside Switzerland - I wasn’t sure whether to go with a Palmer or a Marley so I needed to see them on someone… that is a valid use for MMS, but I never really could think of many others. I went with an anthracite Palmer, if you’re interested, and it’s very nice but too warm for this season

15. What new mobile companies have caught your attention this year?
Ed - The mobile search and ad serving folks seem to be the folks getting the most attention at the moment. I think in this quite an interesting area, although it will be interesting to see how they all compete in the long term when faced with the likes of Google and Yahoo.

Tom - plenty have caught my attention, but not always for the right reason so I won’t name any. A lot of people are piling in to a number of industries (2D barcodes, SMS-via-java, …) and some of the ideas are good but they are hitting the same barriers we have always fought - not every idea can be achieved in the mass market, and one of our core philosophies at Masabi has always been that if you have a product that can only be achieved on Symbian/Windows Mobile you better have a very good reason why you want to throw away 90-95% of the potential marketplace else we won’t build it for you. We’re not interested in products which we know will fail and a lot of our work involves guiding clients through the options, even if we end up without a sale at the end of the day.

16. What is the best thing and the worst thing about the mobile industry?
Ed - The worst thing is Java network settings, but I’ll let Tom go into detail on that more eloquently than I can. The best thing is the opportunities for small, self-funded companies - if you take Masabi as an example, we founded a company with literally nothing more than time, effort and some computers and we just announced a deal to build a complete mobile solution for a listed company with a billion-dollar market valuation.

Tom - I’m not sure I have the energy to go into Java network settings in any more detail I’m afraid! Suffice to say, if you have spent many billions on a mobile network infrastructure and employ many hundreds of people doing… whatever it is they all do… I genuinely do not understand how you could fail to ensure that the phones you sell work properly. I could go on. Best thing? I love working in a market moving at such a pace, that can potentially touch every person in the world.

–

Absolutely fascinating! Gents, thank you both for taking the time to answer the questions!

By the way: If you’re working in mobile — or a related area, drop me a note (ewan@smstextnews.com) and let’s put the same questions to you?

I’m delighted to bring you this exclusive in advance of the LG Shine launch this afternoon. (You will need a bit of salt — perhaps just a pinch, for this post.)

Bending space, time and several currently unproven molecular continuum theories, David Blaine revealed today that his first mobile phone was an LG Shine. Whilst the rest of us had to wait up to 20 years from the advent of the modern mobile phone industry to even consider owning LG’s latest good-looker, Blaine, answered SMS Text News chief blogger Ewan MacLeod’s question, without even being asked it.

MacLeod described receiving the answer earlier this evening.

“I was just sat on the train coming back from Hartlepool when I developed a sudden urge to find out what David Blaine’s first mobile phone was,” explained a semi perplexed MacLeod, “I normally ask most people this question, because it’s rather interesting and it usually prompts further open-ended discussion.”

“I was busy reading the buffet menu when,” he pauses, uncharacteristically staring strangely into the air, “… When I, well I… I just ‘felt’ the answer. It was almost as though David was sending me the answer unconsicously.”

MacLeod, who has never met David Blaine face-to-face, and who didn’t ever throw eggs or Big Mac meals to starving Blaine whilst he was performing his stunt suspended above Tower Bridge a few years ago in London, was at a loss to explain how he found out the answer, “Especially,” he continued, “because I hadn’t even asked him the question. Spooky.”

The answer? Well, in MacLeod’s vision, David was shown holding LG’s newest handset, the LG Shine, and explaining to the gathered press that he had actually owned the handset since 1995. Some members of the press were shown in the vision looking rather skeptical, given the handset is only officially launched in the UK tomorrow, and, well, although it’s been out in the Far East for a while, was certainly a glint in the milkman’s eye in 1995. Blaine silenced all further comment with a stare and an ‘evil eye’ whilst muttering the words, ‘Time travel, you fools.’

All is explained with the video below…

And for some more magic, it’s time to turn to stage hypnotist, Kenny Craig…

More on the LG Shine and Blaine later!

Save me.

I’m sat whizzing across country on this GNER train on the way into London King’s Cross. There’s a lady at the table opposite me. Her mobile number is 07881… I’ve been sat listening to her sodding phone calls for at least 45 minutes.

Every single ONE of the calls, even the voicemails includes the sentence, ‘I’M ON THE TRAIN’, as if it’s some sort of achievement.

Hold on, refreshment trolly coming by…

Any suggestions? I’m thinking…. Irn Bru.

I went for Irn Bru and a chocolate muffin.

Then the lady was replaced by an ageing executive chap — M&S non-iron shirt territory — who made it clear to everyone he spoke to that he was TRAVELLING FIRST CLASS. He’d leave gaps.

The conversation went along the lines of:

“Martin? Martin? Yeah, yeah can you hear me? Yeah it’s Nigel. NIGEL. Yeah. Yeah I’m in the FIRST CLASS CARRIAGE. YEAH. On the train. ON THE TR..are you still, yes, … YEAH ON THE TRAIN.”

Goodness knows what it’s going to be like getting on a plane and having the same trauma. Of course GNER offer a quiet carriage where no mobile phones are tolerated.

I stuck in my headphones eventually.

Just in case you’d like a good example as to what I’ve been experiencing, check out this scene from Dom Jolly’s Trigger Happy:

I’ve talked now and again with Oren of mobile messaging services company, eMoze and I asked him to tell us a little bit more about himself and his company.

Here we go…

1. What was your first mobile handset?
I have to think about this for a moment because the only thing that stands out in my mind is that it came with it’s own luggage. It must have been a Motorola of some sort.

2. What is your current mobile strategy? (i.e. Handsets, devices, networks)
I’m thrilled with my current I-mate K-jam. It’s a little slower than I expected but I get a world of work done on it. I need more memory for this device I’ve got to sweet talk someone in the office into giving me a free MINI SD memory card.

If anyone has a free MINI SD card for me, You can send it to the “Needy Oren” Fund to help frustrated Imate users such as myself!

3. What price plan are you using right now?

4. What’s your background?
Online Marketing Manager with 6 years of Experience. Currently managing the online marketing for emoze.com a Free Push Email solution.

I’m also Married and the proud father of an incredible 4 year old girl named Shely and a 1 Year old girl named Lior who are the center of my world.

I grew up in Montreal but now living in Israel, raising my family here & enjoying the weather.

I updated a few blogs in my spare time.

http://oren-media.blogspot.com
http://pushmail.instablogs.com

5. What sites do you regularly read to keep up to date with mobile?
Mostly forums such as
http://www.modaco.com/
http://PPCSG.COM
http://mobile9.com

and the great people at
http://coolsmartphone.com

I’ve recently discovered smstextnews.com and you can now consider me a fan!

Mobilemonday is a must to stay up to date with mobile industry news.

And one I have to slide in here for good mesure, http://www.emoze.com cause I’m working so hard on it.

6. What was your mobile bill last month? What do you think is a fair amount to pay for your mobile service each month?
It must have been about $150 or so, I’ve been pretty good with staying within my data plan but once i’m out of the office on business this is going to double, easily!

7. Pick 3 people that you admire and rate in the mobile industry and give us 2-3 lines about each.
I’m still very fresh to the mobile Industry to give specific names of people I admire but there are some incredibly creative and talented service providers that make this industry so competitive and interesting.

I do have to give mention to Benny Ballin, emoze CEO who is the reason I’m on board within the mobile industry.

I’m finding that Mobile related bloggers and forums are Extremely open minded and supportive of eachother which makes work feel a lot less like well Work!

8. Do you have any pets?
Not at the moment, still waiting for my baby daughter to grow up a little more before we introduce a new dog to the family.

9. What one issue or technological advancement would you like to see with the mobile industry? What are you looking forward to?
The fastest technological advancement I’m looking forward to seeing within the mobile industry is price cuts PDA devices in order to make them mass market solutions. Breaking the boundries of where and how we stay connected & work is a change that will effect our every day lives. I’m looking forward to that moment immensely.

10. What’s your ringtone?
Let Me Hear You say Ya-ooo BY the Out there brothers.. But it’s constantly changing. I’m crazy about ringtones and any sound I could customize on my device.

11. What’s the last movie you saw at the cinema?
Arthur and the Invisibles: Luc Besson’s a genious, this is a very fun one to watch.
I’ve got to also mention Blood Diamon which is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.

12. What services do you most use on your handset?
emoze: Free Push Email solution - emoze pushes, in real time, all Outlook & Lotus notes content including emails, calendar, contacts and tasks directly onto the mobile device and vice versa.

Downloadable free at: www.emoze.com

13. What’s the hottest mobile service to catch your eye recently?
Hottest Mobile Service… I’ve been playing around with so many but Opera mini is one I’m using very frequently. Hubdog is a service that I enjoy alot as well, freshly generated blog content on my device at all times. No need to print articles anymore, I take them all with me.

14. When did you last send a picture / video message — and who was it to?
Not recently, One of the biggest drawbacks on my device is it’s weak camera, all the pictures come out looking yellowish and green.

15. What new mobile companies have caught your attention this year?
The one I work for, emoze, For a couple of reasons:
1. The staff here is very dedicated to distributing our free service, we all strongly believe in pushing the mobile world forward.

2. There are a few very impressive changes ahead that many of our users are anxiously waiting for.

3. The Free Toys. Theres a lot of devices running through the office and it’s always fun to get try them all out.

16. What is the best thing and the worst thing about the mobile industry?
The best thing is that on one hand it’s advancing quickly and we’re all in for the ride.

I’ll be at the 3GSMshow in Barcelona next month, That should be great!

The Worst thing about the industry is that data packages are tieing the industry down. Users are clueless when it comes to the plan they’re or that one even exists. A lot of clarification needs to happen from the providers for all of us to come out on top.

—

Thanks Oren!

If you thought SMS Text News readers were amongst the best, brightest, sexiest and most notable of the world’s mobile community, then you’d be dead rght. Well done.

Nice to see you here, by the way.

Pull up a chair.

I’m always surprised to meet, talk and interact with SMS Text News readers. It’s phenomenally exciting. Do you remember Whatleydude? You will. If you’ve been reading around the blog comments now and again you’ll have seen his comments. A lot of the time I talk with people and I don’t really know who they are or what they do as a day job or occupation. So I hadn’t actually engaged with Whatleydude (James) as to his background or profession, we’d just been knocking about some mails. I thought it would be good to get him to answer the standard SMS Text News interview questions and see where it went.

Well. Oooh it’s an interesting one. Have a read.

Without further ado, James….

1. What was your first mobile handset?
I honestly don’t know.
It was a horrific piece of machinery that I got given for Christmas in 1997!
All I remember about is that it had an extendable aerial (which I broke off pretty sharpish - whoops), no caller ID and a ‘design your own ringtone function!’

It was on Vodafone and it was PAYG. Shocking…

The same applies to the phone after that one - no idea what make -

But I can however tell you that my first memorable handset was the Nokia 3210 - ahh… the wonders of Snake!
And T9!

w00t!

But yeah - started off on Vodafone - dilly dallied with Orange and Three - but always came back to VF. Also - I’ve pretty much the same mobile number now for 12 years! That’s gotta be a record surely?!

2. What is your current mobile strategy? (i.e. Handsets, devices, networks)
My current mobile strategy?
Eh?
You what?

*emails Ewan*

Ah… I see!

I’ve got an N73 currently - I play around with a lot of handsets - on my desk right now for instance I have an N95, a Nokia 6680, N80 and another N73.
I really need a Java handset though - maybe if I steal someone’s K800i… Hmm.
Sorry!

Getting distracted!

Why do I have all these phones on my desk?

Well - I guess I’ll come to that later on in this Questionnaire!

My next handset will probably be the N95.. and I’m giving serious thought to moving Operator too.
Although VF have got ’til March (apparently - ahem) to sort out their data etc…

(I’m a Nokia fiend - always have been - although I once tried those NEC phones that launched with H3G - lets not talk about that though eh?)

3. What price plan are you using right now?
I’m on something stupid like 3000 mins pcm + STC
(I discovered yesterday that I’m on an 18mth contract - I am not amused)

*runs off to check*

Anytime 3000 3G STC 50 VC + 40Pds 3G Extras Pack for 34Pds - whatever that means… I know I know - I should pay attention - but I really don’t.

4. What’s your background?
I’m a fellow Essex boy like yourself chap - Canvey Island born and (in)bred.
What? Webbed feet are handy?!
Hahah - moved to London in my 20s to have a crack at working in the city.
I worked for LWT, GMTV, The Storm Trooper’s Gazette (sorry - The Daily Mail)

And then an amazing thing happened…

Bear with me - life story time!

I was tinkering along at The Mail enjoying life etc and - via a mobile forum http://www.talk3g.com - I discovered the BBC had a mobile service which was supposed to be better than WAP. So I thought I’d give it a go on my (then) N70.

I couldn’t get it to work.

So I emailed the BBC and told them it was rubbish and they were too (in as many words).

I got an email back from a guy called Kevin Cunnington at Refresh Mobile telling me that he could fix it and that the N70 was capable of the BBC (Mobizines!) Service and that I should try this.. and try that and and… etc etc.. but no matter what - I couldnt get the bloody thing to work!

Anywhoo - the long and short of it is - I ended up getting it working one weekend after lots of fiddling and playing with various settings - so I Kevin emailed back to let him know that a) I had got it working and b) How much I enjoyed the service.

So yeah - he emails me back and offers me a ‘mystery prize’ from their website (I’d give you the link but they’ve since taken it down), this website had all sorts of things on it - generally boys toys and various other firebox kinda stuff y’know?

At the very bottom of this website it said something along the lines of:

“Or - spend a day in the office and meet the team! If we like you - we may even give you a job - Refresh Mobile is always looking for fresh ideas from innovative people…”

So. You can see where this is going can’t you?

I went along - met the CEO, Scott Beaumont - had a really long (and kinda geeky) conversation about the mobile industry and the Mobizines product and where it was and where it was going and yeah - all was well.
Unfortunately I was doing accounts at the time (YES - ACCOUNTS - AARGH) and Refresh Mobile wasn’t looking for any accountants…
Hmph.

Three months later I decide to start looking for a new job - figured I’d drop Refresh a bell, see how they were getting on - Scott & Kevin were both pleased to hear from me and invited me in for another chat.

That was the evening of Wednesday 8th June 2006.

By Friday lunchtime I’d quit my job at the Mail and signed the contract with Refresh.

I am now currently ‘Mobizines Manager’ at Refresh Mobile - working on various projects such as WAP, CRM, Quality Testing, Product Marketing and general Product Management…

However - now here’s the big ‘revelation’ - my name is James Whatley - I have an online tag - it’s Whatleydude.

Go on - Google ‘Mobizines’ & ‘Whatleydude’ - have a look what you get…

Yup - that’ll be me - ‘posing’ as a user evangelising the service!

So yeah - time to come clean - I work for Refresh Mobile and I work on the Mobizines Service.

Thing is - I REALLY believe in this service and I think everyone should have it - so in my defence - I was bigging up the service before they hired me! So the use of the word ‘posing’ is kinda wrong really. I AM a user of the service - I’ve just been kinda neglecting to mention that I work for Mobizines..

*whistles innocently*

So yeah - I guess they hired one of their biggest fans - I’m a paid user!

…I hope no one hates me! I know I’ve been a surreptitious about my evangelising - but now it’s all out in the open I can be honest about who I am, what I do and who I work for.

Sorry - didn’t mean to go off on one - but I’ve been needing to get that off my chest for a while.

I spoke with my CEO about it this morning and he gave me the ok - I mean Whatleydude is my tag - so I need to reclaim it as it were y’know?
I’ve been blogging since March (www.myspace.com/whatleydude is my main one - but I have others) last year (when I buggered off to Thailand for two weeks and checked myself into a detox spa - http://www.spasamui.com - everyone should go!) …and I’ve had an online presence for around 10yrs now (as that tag).

I also run a gaming forum http://s8.invisionfree.com/ThePGF - gaming being my initial interest that brought me online in the first place… that has now developed to Mobile!

I think I now look at more mobile sites than I do gaming…!

*spots next question*

Ah ha!

5. What sites do you regularly read to keep up to date with mobile?
OBVIOUSLY smstextnews - but also

http://biskero.org
http://talk3g.co.uk
http://ringnokia.com
http://darlamack.blogs.com/darlamack (sometimes)
http://technokitten.blogspot.com
http://www.flash-lite.de

But I also read/use (not entirely mobile)

The Register - we all know this one
Talk3g.co.uk - that mobile forum
IGN.com - for films and sometimes gaming
spoNg - gaming news
http://www.rogerandjames.blogspot.com - comedy blog by me and my mate Roger
http://www.alondonsingtonwrites.blogspot.com - the dating scene in London (written by a buddy of mine - again makes me laugh)

Oh and obviously my own forum (which has a phone section!) The PGF - http://s8.invisionfree.com/ThePGF - where the main chat at the moment is all things Wii related.

I love my Wii - ahem.

I *think* that’s it - although I’m sure I’ve missed some…

6. What was your mobile bill last month? What do you think is a fair amount to pay for your mobile service each month?
I HONESTLY don’t want to say - it was a bit hideous - the good thing is I get my data charges back on expenses BUT - you do the math.

It’s three figures…

I’m kicking off at Vodafone at the moment because MMS is no longer part of my bundle - which, quite frankly is ridiculous… But yeah - I’m giving them two months.

7. Pick 3 people that you admire and rate in the mobile industry and give us 2-3 lines about each.
Personally - I guess Scott Beaumont for a start, (no corporate sucking up here - seriously) Mobizines was born out of a management buy-out at T-Mobile which he personally headed up.

And to give me a job based purely on my passion for the product and the mobile industry is something that I will for ever be in his debt for!

Secondly - I’m a big fan of most (if not all) mobile bloggers - there’s no real one that stands out for me but that whole ‘community’ (of which I hope to eventually be a part of) is growing. And people are sitting up and taking notice. The example being: Bloggers being invited to the big Mobile Industry events around the world. Nokia/Motorola/SE etc want YOU to use their product and enjoy it and then they want you to blog about it.

Over the past 6mths I’ve read a lot of articles regarding ‘How to get bloggers to blog about your product’ or in most cases ‘How NOT to get bloggers to blog about your product’ - its a tough one.

I guess that’s why I’ve come clean about who I am and what I do etc as I know eventually I would’ve been found out/discovered - which doesn’t do ANYONE any favours!

Thirdly?
I haven’t got one - I’m hoping to go to 3GSM next month - so maybe someone will impress me there!
:o)

8. Do you have any pets?
Nope. It’s a bit annoying really - I love dogs and I used to have one - but I’ve recently discovered I have a potentially fatal allergy to all kinds of animal fur.

I spend my time with my Wii.

Brilliant.

I s’pose I could get a tortoise..

OOO!
just remembered!
I’ve got a Nintendog called Bruno!
lol

9. What one issue or technological advancement would you like to see with the mobile industry? What are you looking forward to?
I must admit - I am intrigued about the iPhone. I’m itching to see if it will have the massive impact a lot of people think it will.. Now the dust has settled things are becoming clearer about the product.

The UI looks pretty special - but other than that - *shrug* - d’ya know what I mean?
I am a big fan of convergence - I recently filled in a Nokia survey in regards to the N73 and in doing so I gave away the fact that I only carry my phone. No Blackberry, no MP3 player/iPod, no PDA/Organiser, no Diary etc etc..

More convergence - that’s what I want.

Oh - and that thing they did in Japan? With the move to standardise every phone charger?!
WHY ISNT THAT WORLDWIDE?!

NOKIA! Please STOP changing EVERYTHING. Memory cards & Chargers being my key example…

Grr..

10. What’s your ringtone?
The Killers - When you were young
My phone only rings briefly as I pick it up sharpish - so that opening guitar is fine by me.

Message wise I had the ‘woo dini’ of a Jawa up until about two days ago - right now I’m experimenting with the ‘3D Tones’ - we’ll see eh?
Incidentally - I upgraded my N73 from standard to Internet Edition thanks to Stefan’s instructions over at Ring Nokia..
Good work fella.

11. What’s the last movie you saw at the cinema?
Casino Royale.

If you’ve seen it - ’nuff said.
If you’ve not - hit ctrl T and book your ticket now!

12. What services do you most use on your handset?
Obviously Mobizines first - I must admit that I HAVE to as part of my job but I actually READ it if you know what I mean?
Ok - so I might not read Shoewawa - but Pocket-lint for instance - I read everyday.

What else?

Agile Messenger - can’t be without this one.
Yahoo Go! - Great App.
MP3 player - I go spare if ever I forget my earphones.
Opera Mini - (although I use Safari sometimes)

My active standby is: Mobizines/Contacts/Calendar/Agile/Bluetooth/MP3 player.

13. What’s the hottest mobile service to catch your eye recently?
Yahoo GO 2.0 on Java - it’s about time they caught up with the Java users. Reporo & Widsets are doing well also - its good to have a bit of competition! Sky Mobile is also a very good idea - and that’s the kind of convergence I’m talking about. Setting your Sky+ to record from your mobile? Brilliant stuff.

14. When did you last send a picture / video message — and who was it to?
*check sent items*

I sent an MMS of me pulling various stupid faces to a friend of mine who I knew was feeling down. It made her laugh. Job done.

Before that - I sent a pic of my new cowboy boots (I love them) to a friend of mine… No really.

15. What new mobile companies have caught your attention this year?
Pass. I keep an eye on Widsets and Reporo (who’ve done well with their CPW deal). But that’s about it - I need to improve this area of my knowledge base…

16. What is the best thing and the worst thing about the mobile industry?
Worst - Data charges & unclear tariffs.
T-Mobile Web n Walk/X-Series on Three - THATS the way forward.
There’s your answer.

Saying that - something that me seethe recently - my mate’s Dad, been with T-Mobile for yonks - on an old one2one contract(!) his last bill was for something like £160-odd quid and he’d used 270mins and sent 10 sms’.

Ok - so he’s 65yrs old and isn’t that savvy.
BUT - T-Mobile should’ve seen this and recommended a new contract to him.

THAT really annoyed me.

Thank you James! Thanks for taking the time!

Link: Interview with AllFreeCalls - Folksonomy.org

Do have a read. This one question and answer caught my attention…

What are some useful things you’ve learned from working on startup companies?

I was asked this question recently and whilst I can’t think of the answers verbatim I will share a few:

Your team may not want to put in the same hours as yourself
Let the team share in the success
North America is an enormous market with an incredible high number of early adopters,
If your target is 3 months expect to multiply it by 25%
Triple your initial budget
Stop looking at that Bentley.

Doh. Bentley. Continental. GT. Racing Green. With 6ft supermodel please.

Collective wisdom required….

Hi Ewan,

Your assistance if possible… I’m thinking of getting a new phone.. For a mobile services specialist my pride in handsets and use of fucntionality is decidely un-mobilista.

I’ve been on Vodafone for a number of years, and am out of contract by 8 or so months, so easy to move/upgrade.

I need:

Around 500-750 voice mins per month. Around 100-200 texts (hopefully a carrier that doesn’t charge 24p to send to Australia, or allows you to use for example 2 messages out of your bundle to text out of the UK. I’d like a camera, and I access work emails on the fly generally via Wap - Imap. I suspect i’ll use the mobile internet/shozu etc more going forward than i have in the past.

Am thinking N73, but not sure what network works best for the international texting, and data rates. Vodafone does do nice itemised billing on excel which allows for easy expensing etc.

Please work your magic

thanks in advance
njar

Gosh, well, what do you think? SMS Text News reader njar has asked for assistance! Can you weigh in with your opinion and suggestions?

My first thought is to suggest Three, particularly their X-Series service. They’ve been getting better and better in my mind and yesterday’s news about roaming was just brilliant to read.

I’ve been having a rather good time with T-Mobile. I bought their £70ish/month Flext plan and it’s essentially been like having unlimited calls and texts. However, njar has been a Vodafone customer for years and is thus accustomed to being able to make calls in fast moving trains, cars and so on, without the call dropping all over the place. That is a key issue. I wonder if njar is prepared for the different audio qualities around the industry?

I had a look on the Three site and found this deal:

Nokia N73 on
Direct Talker 1000

* £17.50 for 8 months
(£35.00 thereafter)
* 750 anytime any network mins
* 150 texts
* 18 month contract

18 month contract though… you want to be sure that it’s the right network when you’re swapping from the likes of Vodafone. I’d also add on £5 a month for the X-Series silver.

Or you can get 1,000 minutes for an extra £5 a month with ‘Video Talk & Text 1300‘.

Hmmm.

Or there’s T-Mobile Flext which will give you a similar price plan to the above (Flext 35) for £30 a month plus your choice of handset (they do the N73 also).

What do you think?

Handset wise, njar has already expressed an interest for the N73 — but he could just as well consider the N93 from Three if he’s feeling a bit photo and near-DVD quality video inspired.

I’d be loathed to consider a Sony Ericsson K800 if he’s already indicated preference for the N73 — particularly since the K800 is really nearing the end of it’s lifespan — there’s gotta be a replacement on the way for it soon.

I reckon, njar, if you’re looking to move, Three might be a good option.

All suggestions and ideas appreciated…

Nokia’s number one fan, Stefan of Ringnokia.com is giving his N93 a good work out. Check out this video of him hunting for Darla of Darlamack.com — and see if you can spot the N93i…

Got this in from SMS Text News reader and frequent contributor, Jeremy:

For those who didn’t get my text message, I am delighted to announce the birth of our new gorgeous baby son, born on 31st December 2006 at 03:12.  He weighed a healthy 9lb 3oz.  Ravit (Mum) and baby are doing well.

Congratulations Jeremy and Ravit!

I wanted you all to be the first to read about my new TV show. Steve broke the news on this post, but I’ve reproduced it here:

You know, there is a reality tv show in all of this…..”How To Solve A Problem Like Data”…

It is hosted by the lovely Ewan MacLeod and his trusted assistant [insert name of lovely assistant here Sophie Anderton]. Various board directors from each of the mobile operators are the Z list celebrity contestants.

Each week the shows host (Ewan) and his TV crew go round to the house of one of the directors for a house party, together with two dozen ‘randomnly’ selected members of the public (chosen from a broad spectrum of user types based on background, age, mobile usage, etc as selected by a market research agency). Each invitee will actually pay to be in the group (because it gives them a chance to also be a z list nobody!!).

The director must put on display his entire drinks cabinet, including any special wines he keeps down in the cellar. Being from a broad spectrum of the public, each of the invited guests will of course jump in and choose a different kind of drink. Some will drink slowly, others soft drinks only (as they are only 14yrs old). Some will go straight for the expensive wine. Others will raid his kitchen garden and start making their own rhubarb wine, others will spot the directors beer making kit and start making their own brew ready to sell to the public. One guy will start carrying cases of beer out to his car. Others will decide they don’t like the decor in the directors house and so want to go into the garden and start chatting to the neighbours. One will even want to leave the garden and go next door to get to know the neghbours daughter a bit better! A couple of the “guests” will start copying the directors cd’s onto their mp3 players and one will begin ripping his dvd’s. A few of the guests (the preferred word for the invitees even though they are paying to be there!!) will use the directors phone to call the tv production company to ask them what the rules are again; they will spend the length of the entire live broadcast on the phone waiting in a queue.

At any point during the live show the director is allowed one “joker” - a chance to change the rules (also known in the game as ‘the business model’); which might include blocking either the food, drink, music or dvd’s; or perhaps banning people going outside, or even charging them extra to talk to the neighbours.

If the director has had enough he may at any point shout “I’m a director of a mobile operator, close the garden gate”. He and his company are then out of the competition.

The competition continues each week until only one mobile operator is left. They are then bought out by “a large global media company” for £15bn. Each of the guests still standing* will be given a free handset (from last years range) with ‘unlimited usage’**.

steve

* with a zero alcohol/blood level
** subject to fair usage policy

This is, of course, just a glint in the milkman’s eye.

But I like it Steve

Count me in! Especially if there’s any of those mini sausage rolls involved.

I’m going to be doing a lot more Q&A interviews shortly. If you’d like to do a Q&A drop me a mail. Don’t be shy about it.

If you work anywhere near the mobile industry, if mobile is a passion, or if you’ve something to say about mobile, then you qualify to do a Q&A.

It’s really easy: I’ll email you out a list of questions, (usually at least 10/15 questions), you return’em whenever you wish and I then publish the set of questions and answers, with a photo, if you’ve got one, or perhaps a logo plus a link to your site.

Just mail me at ewan@smstextnews.com saying you’d like to do a Q&A and I’ll shoot you out some questions. (If you’re able to tell me a bit about yourself in the mail, then I can try and customise the questions a bit more.)

Here’s a recent example featuring Stefan of Ringnokia.com.

Link: TechCrunch UK » Blog Archive » Putting TechCrunch UK on Hold

I have put TechCrunch UK on hold, and Sam Sethi is no longer associated with the blog. We will provide additional information shortly

I was sure TechCrunch UK was being run by Mike of mBites, but it seems I’m totally behind. However it’s all kicking off on TechCrunch UK.

Uh oh. I was really enjoying TC UK. It was building a super following as far as I could see — especially since it gleaned kudos and exposure from the main .com site, which, whatever your viewpoint is the gold standard in blogging (144,000 folk on it’s feedburner .. nice). There’s a run-down of what transpired from a Crunch perspective here.

I reckon TC UK needs an editor pronto. It’d be a shame to let it lapse.

As for Sam, I reckon he’s enough of a following to launch TechSethi.com right-away. I’d subscribe.

Link: Voice over Internet: A ‘founder’ takes stock and looks ahead - Technology & Media - International Herald Tribune

Jeff Pulver, a pioneer and promoter of Internet telephony, paused halfway through a sun-dried tomato and basil pizza to consider one of his favorite catchphrases - disruptive technology - innovations that can turn markets upside down and business strategies inside out.

Great overview article by Kevin J O’Brien of the International Herald Tribune.

Conventional “phone systems are dead,” he said. “Within seven years, all voice calls will be carried over the Internet.”

Bring it on….

I’m pleased to be able to bring you an SMS Text News EXCLUSIVE report from our man on the ground, Steve Procter.

EMBARGO — 4th December 2006

4th December 2006, LONDON - It was announced today at a clothing retail conference in Amsterdam that a brand new global clothes retailer is to launch early in 2007 with what is seen as a revolutionary new business model.

TatMart will not sell clothes but instead signup customers on 12 or 18 month contracts, during which time they can come in to any of the planned 200 stores worldwide and select an unlimited number of pieces of each item (tops, shirts, skirts/trousers, shoes, underwear) which will technically be rented for the duration of the contract (note that there is a fair usage policy to this which limits the total number of pieces to 23).

Customers will pay an attractive monthly fee for the service and at the end of the contract will be able to upgrade their items to the latest fashions and renew their contract for a further 12 or 18 months.

Only 3 fashion houses have been chosen to supply TatMart although it is rumoured that all of these are using the same OCM (Original Clothing Manufacturer) in China.

Initially each fashion house has produced just 10 pieces for each of the items to be offered but it is expected that throughout the first year this range will drastically increase and there will be options for customers to upgrade mid-contract to the latest styles.

At this time it is believed there will 7 different tariffs to cover everyone from small children through teenagers, young adults and even business people. There will be a seperate range of business suites and office shoes on the business package, together with a special business clothes advisor in each store who is fully trained in the art of power dressing.

Tariffs will range from £12 to £55 per month. It is not understood at this time how a pay as you go scheme will work although company officials have confirmed that they are investigating methods of making this idea work as “it is believed it will be very popular with many of the young people”.

Each of the initial 200 stores is to have a coffee shop; and curiously a strange clause at the bottom of the press release states that security staff will be told to stop people entering the shop carrying any other coffee or food items.

Cups of TatMart branded coffee will be priced at £7.50 per cup, although an “all you can drink” tariff will be available for £37 per month (with a fair usage policy we found in the smallprint that limits a person to 16 cups per month).

Other well known brands of tea and coffee will be available but a “corking fee” will be charged for these, making the total cost per cup £12.35 - and these will not be included in the all-you-can-drink tariff.

At ClothConf in Amsterdam where TatMart was launched yesterday, Tim Bryce-but-Wim, head of refreshment services said that:

Coffee and cake services are very important to us as they will help cover the huge costs of leasing the incredible centre-of-town landmark properties that we have taken on. Local councils and government, especially in the UK have levied huge taxes and retail licences on us and so it is important that we find a way to claw those setup costs back without hitting our monthly contract fees for clothing rental.

A retail industry expert listening in on the conference was heard to utter the words “hogwash” but as yet this rumour cannot be confirmed.

Whilst TatMart has leased 200 of the most incredible landmark sites around the world (one being the corner of Regent Street near Oxford Circus in London, one of the capitals most expensive retail properties), it is said by industry experts that security in the stores will be very “controlling”.

All clothes will be mere demonstration pieces, using similar looking materials but of a much cheaper fabric and sown together without the same degree of care that final items will have. They will also be tethered to the racks to ensure people cannot walk out with them. However TatMart confirmed that they will have a few pieces of the real merchandise held behind the counter for those customers who insist on trying them on.

All staff are to be on commission and it is rumoured that certain pieces carry better commission and so will be pushed harder.

Because the clothing items are technically being rented from TatMart, there will be an optional insurance policy that staff will be pushing. It will cost £78 per year and cover clothes for all risks worldwide; except countries where there is a current conflict or potential natural disaster or lots of rain. Items left in cloakrooms or lockers will also not be covered.

In addition, any items being worn by other people (for example if a customer lends a jacket to his brother) will not be insured. Customers should read the insurance smallprint because these clauses were only found on page 4 amongst half a dozen other rather revealing clauses.

Finally it can be revealed that whilst this is a new global initiative, UK customers who wish to go and shop in any of the TatMart shops abroad will have to pay an excess of £38 per item that they purchase in the overseas stores. Furthermore, we have discovered that all clothing items contain an RFID chip and the contracts clearly state that clothing is for UK use only.

TatMart intends to install RFID monitors at its Manchester, Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton airport shops as well as in all of its overseas branches. If anybody is detected wearing a TatMart item at the airport or overseas then their account will be charged an additional £4.50 per day that it is being worn outside the UK.

Customers who wish to signup for an account at TatMart will need to take full photo ID and a bill showing their address to their nearest store. The process is said to only take 30 minutes whilst TatMart check the persons credit and take all their bank details for the 12 or 18 month contract.

Once signed up they are then able to come into the store whenever they wish and take a ticket for the next free member of shop staff who can show them round the items of clothing and talk them through the seasonal fashions and which items of clothing they believe will work best for the customer.

[ends]

—-

Curious, it seems like Steve went to a similar conference to me last week…

Pure class, Steve, thanks for sending and allowing me to publish!

Stefan is a huge Nokia fan.

On the scale of 1-10 where 10 is ‘MASSIVE fan’, Stefan ranks, I reckon, around 11 or 12. For at least 5 years, he’s been obsessing over their handsets, the company, their employees, the strategy — so much so that he’s decided to funnel his interest on to an online blog by the name of Ring Nokia. If you haven’t caught his stuff, you can at ringnokia.com — and if you rank on 5 or above on the above scale, you should definitely add his feed to your reader.

He’s a friendly chap. I’ve been talking to him across last week in particular about Nokia World. If you’d like to get an opinion on anything Nokiaish, stop by Ring Nokia.

I asked Stefan if he’d be up for doing a Q&A interview — I reckoned it would be interesting to find out more about the man behind the machine. So here we go. I began with the usual questions…

1. What was your first mobile? (and network?)
Nokia, but I can’t seem to recall the model number. My first network was T-Mobile and still is. I’ve had T-Mobile for about 4 years now and they simply haven’t let me down. You can’t beat unlimited GPRS for $6 a month.

2. What’s your current mobile configuration? (devices, networks)
I don’t leave the house without my Nokia E61 (T-Mobile) and IBM ThinkPad X40 (WiFi or T-Mobile via BlueTooth via E61)

3. What price plan are you using right now?
1000 minutes a month + unlimited internet costs me $70

4. What’s your background? Where were you born?
I am Romanian, born in the city of Ploesti. I came to America when I was 5 years old thanks to the United States being kind to my father; he was apart of an anticommunist movement. When we got to America we arrived in Florida. The climate was nothing like that of our home land so we moved after less than a year to a place that had a similar temperate zone. New York. The bulk of my childhood was spent in this state. We moved to Texas about a year and a half ago riding on the real estate boom that was occurring in the north east. Life is easier here, and cheaper, but I dearly miss the pace that New York sets on your life.

5. What motivated you to start ringnokia.com?
I’m a news junkie. I love trends, and always follow them. What I was tracking a year ago isn’t the same as what I’m reading now. From the open source movement, to search engines, graphics hardware, processing power, web 2.0, I’ve done it all and now my main focus is on the mobile telecommunications sector. Obviously with a huge preference to Nokia hardware.

I’m at that stage of my life where I need to deicide on a career, and I know I want to do something I’m passionate about. When Microsoft rolled out Channel 9 I became hooked. The sheer concept that this large company let some guy walk around walk around with a camcorder and interview everyone was brilliant. I can’t even begin to tell you how many emails I’ve exchanged with Microsoft employees. I would like to recreate that connection between passionate users and Nokia, and I’m hoping they like me enough to give me a call one of these days.

As a passionate user I want to know what goes into designing a phone, the operating system it runs, the mobile applications being built for it, what research is happening, how and why the techniques of the marketing department are the way they are now. Once I fall in love with your company you have to watch out since I scour the net to dig up everything and everything I can about it, even if that means contacting employees.

6. You get a phone call from Nokia and the nice lady at the end of the line Says, “Choose three Nokia handsets and we’ll send them to you tomorrow.” Which three current (or announced) would you select?
I’m going to have to cheat on this one a little; I want 2 handsets, and the Nokia 770 tablet. I would definitely, without even thinking about it, have the Nokia N95 and an 8800 Sirocco Edition in black. The internet tablet just because that would be just about the handiest thing to own while on campus. The N95 because a 5 MP camera + GPS would be freaking amazing in one little device that I think finally deserves the title of Mobile Computer. The 8800 since style is important to me sometimes, and nothing on the market screams sex like the Nokia 8800 Black Sirocco Edition does.

7. What’s your ringtone?
I keep my phone on vibrate for most of my day, and I’ve never been a huge ring tone fan. However I must admit, after getting my Nokia E61 I’ve been slicing my favorite parts of certain songs and using them as a ring tone. The Exorcist soundtrack, the Terminator soundtrack, Spice Girls, Rod Stewart, Abba, Enigma, I’ve definitely grown attached to audacity (audio editing application).

8. What’s the last thing you saw at the cinema?
I saw SAW III with my friends, and one of them actually left since he couldn’t take the gore. I enjoyed it very much. I don’t go to the cinema often however as I depend on my Netflix account for a constant stream of entertainment.

9. Complete the following sentences:

Samsung is very skilled in making televisions.

Sony Ericsson phones are the number one competitor to Nokia.

Siemens phones are always difficult to find in the states.

Motorola handsets really need to be abolished off the face of the earth if they run that proprietary in-house operating system.

10. What mobile blogs do you regularly read?
mobile crunch, mobile burn, mobile review, bright hand, Engadget mobile, the boy genius report, slashphone, sms text news of course, all the S60 blogs, WOM World, Howard Chui, and Darla Mack, and I think that’s all I can remember off the top of my head.

11. What’s the best mobile application or service that you’ve tried recently?

This is difficult to say, it would have to be a tie between opera mini 3.0 and the google gmail application. I loathe the fact that the Gmail application however won’t let me send attachments, nor will opera mini 3.0. If I want to send an attachment via Gmail I have to use the built in browser on my Nokia E61.

12. Name three people you rate in the mobile industry and say why?

Tero Ojanperä is the CTO of Nokia and is a bit of an icon to me, he knows what Nokia is going to be releasing in 5 years and I’ve always been one interested in research. At his position in the corporate hierarchy he must track many projects that relate to devices that we won’t even comprehend for another year or two. I admire that.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is next up on the plate, CEO of Nokia; he is the man in charge of the direction Nokia heads in. He can make or break the company, and he shares the same vision as me of a world where everyone uses the internet via a mobile phone.

Ed Colligan is the CEO of Palm, which makes some of the best smart phones on the market today. Their operating system may be showing its age, and they might not have the latest wireless features built in to their Treo line, but they really are the gold standard of what a mobile smart phone should be. I only wish their devices were a little bit sexier, thinner, and less crash prone if you’re the type of person like me who wants to get under the hood of my device.

13. I like your Trekkie picture on your blog. Best series of Star Trek?
The Original, hands down, Deep Space 9 had sexier actors, but in the end you want content.

14. What about the paper planets?
It’s the 60’s, they had to do with what they had.

15. Right but now they’ve got the technology to do it better?
In the end it’s about the story telling mate, props can be used to enhance it a bit sure, but even the Iliad from a few millenia ago is still riveting.

16. Ok, would you thus rather have a Nokia 1110 than a Nokia N95?
No, I need more than the basics.

17. Favourite Star Trek character?
Data, I love him.

18. Ah me, too, he’s wicked — and favourite Star Trek babe?
It’s got to be Marini Sirtis.

19. Nice! Back to mobile: What mobile related company or companies do you think we should be watching?
I think we really should watch ALP and see what they do with their recent purchase of PalmSource. I also think we should be watching Microsoft who is set to release a Mobile OS code named Photon that is supposed to be the most revolutionary thing ever … or so I hear. RIM is starting to slack, they’ve enjoyed the number one spot too much with their BlackBerry line and has stopped innovating. Nokia launched their first QWERTY BlackBerry form factor device this year, and I highly look forward to future updates to the E series line.

20. List the most used features on your handset?
My browser bar none, I’m always buried in a Wikipedia page or doing a quick googling of a question. Next up would be email. Then text messaging, and lastly phone. Phone calls have become something I only do when I need a direct answer from someone immediately or it’s an emergency. An email or text message gets the job done.

21. What really annoys you about the mobile industry? What really excites you about the mobile industry?
Carriers that subsidize phones and lock you into 2 year contracts. Outrageous fees for a la carte services such as MMS and mobile internet. Locking devices so that they only run a specific carrier. What excites me however is coming to the realization that what I have in my pocket is essentially as powerful as the computer at my desk less than 10 years ago. While computers will get faster, so will phones, and it really will come to a point where the pc is just that thing that lets you manipulate data in a richer way then on your mobile due to screen size constraints. The advancements in epaper really have me excited as to the possibilities of how we will consume data in the future. I can not tell you as a college student how much I want a device that lets me access all the knowledge of the world, including those ever expensive textbooks. I played with the Sony epaper device earlier this year and I was left very impressed.

Read the rest of this entry »

I first met Rafe, All About Symbian founder, at Swedish Beers in October and it was super to catch up with him today at Nokia World 2006 — especially as I can now remember who he is as I completely forgot that we’d met

Right, let’s get to the first question:

1. What was your first mobile & network?
It was a Phillips pay as you go and I can’t remember any more — I can’t even remember what network it was on! I didn’t get a phone until quite late on — probably about 2000/1999 or thereabouts.

2. What’s your current mobile device strategy?
I always have lots of different mobiles for testing or to see what they are like. Although recently both the Nokia E61 and the Sony Ericsson M600 are working their way into my current affections on a regular basis. That said the E50’s a great can’t-be-arsed-to-carry-a-brick-smartphone-device.

3. And what network?
Orange and o2. But I am likely to change to one of the networks with unlimited data shortly?

4. What do you think of Three’s X-Series announcements — would you join them if they did a proper unlimited data plan?
I think what Three has done is not particularly unique in the technical detail but they have made a compelling consumer offering by bundling in a number of services. I’d be interested in getting an X-Series device once I have Three reception at home!

5. What’s your background?
I’m the head of All About Symbian which is the leading source for information on Symbian S60/UIQ phones. I started the site as a part time thing — it really began to take off as mobile devices became more sophisticated — it’s growing with that trend.

6. What’s your ringtone?
I’ve got no idea. I mean it’s whatever is on the device at the time really — I don’t get into the customisation thing, most of the time i have my devices on silent. I have themes and stuff, but I don’t really see the appeal of having my phone go off to the Bond theme tune. It’s in my jacket pocket. It vibrates. I answer it.

7. What’s the last thing you saw at the cinema?
Casino Royale. I’ve certainly got no problem with having a blonde Bond.

8. What’s the best Symbian mobile application you have ever seen?
I don’t think it’s possible to choose one ‘best application’ — the best thing is being able to add any application to your device — the ‘killer ap’ is being able to install third party applications to your phone.

9. What applications have you seen recently that caught your eye?
[Scrolls through his handset, 'Can't talk about that one..... or that one... or that one...] Hmm, he says. Any one of the GPS navigation applications. I think they’re impressive. We’ve seen sales of standalone GPS units skyrocket — why buy one of them when you can get just the same facility on your phone.

On a smaller scale: Oval Racer shows what can be done with games. Applications like Gmail and Widsets show what can be done with Java.

10. Most used feature of your handset?
Making phone calls. No, actually thinking about it, I probably use it more for browsing now.

11. Are you not getting nailed for your data costs?
Yeah. When I was in the hotel last night, I elected not to use my data because of the charges. In the conference today I’ve been using the wifi network — incidentally, I actually think having WiFi in the phone only makes sense for some customer segments. I generally only ever use WiFi when abroad (and at home).

12. How can you tolerate not using something like T-Mobile for unlimited data when you’re in the uK?
Simple: It’s a combination of the inertia factor of switching and getting a signal in certain places.

13. So if T-Mobile PR phoned up tomorrow and offered to swap you to their best unlimited data plan, you’d say….
I’m always open to trying new things and product pitches — it’s part of what I do.

14. What’s the best site built for mobile that you’ve used recently?
With these third edition Symbian handsets, you’re not really limited to just mobile sites nowadays — but just as on the PC, I use Google a lot.

15. Pick three random blogs from your feedreader?
Well SMS Text News, OBVIOUSLY

But I suppose that the others are alright too. For example, just naming a couple: MobHappy, the S60.com blogs and quite a few friends and family blogs.

16. How have you found the Nokia World 2006 conference?
It’s always a good opportunity to meet people face to face to hear about the latest trends and strategy — plus Amsterdam is a nice city to hold it in. I’ve had a super time.

Thanks very much, Rafe!

I’m sat in the Q&A with the Nokia CEO. He’s a really intelligent chap. You know what, I couldn’t have identified him from a line-up an hour ago. He comes across very well.

There was an opportunity to ask him questions — some of them were getting a bit heavy, so I decided to lighten the load and asked the chap standing with the microphone if I could put two questions to Olli-Pekka. He agreed. Get in!

So here we go, EXCLUSIVE to SMS Text News (and every other blogger/journalist in the room):

SMS Text News: Olli-Pekka, what was your first ever handset?
Olli-Pekka: ‘You had to carry it around, it was a 5kg ‘handset’ — this is back in 1985, I think. It was ‘hand luggage’!

Woosh!

And my second follow-up question…

SMS Text News: Which handset - from the ones that you showed earlier would you pick? An E-Series or an N-Series handset?
Olli-Pekka: I use a Nokia E61 [he brings it out of his pocket]. I use this as a business phone and to read my email during the day.

I thought that was it, but then he continued to explain that in the evening or at the weekend, he uses an N-Series multimedia computer to listen to music and the like. Wicked.

I was sat on the train home last night. It was completely packed on account of ‘One’ losing a train. (Yes, my local train network is honestly called ‘One’. What STUPID branding agent came up with that?)

Eventually the 2345 to Southend Victoria left at about 0005. I sat and read the paper whilst everyone around me stuffed their faces with Big Macs and Whoppers. It was that kind of journey.

All was good until a drunk builder chap came through from the other carriage and yelled, ‘Tickets please!’ I stood up to get my ticket……. heh, then I noticed it was a chap in a paint smeared sweatshirt and overalls doing the yelling. Arse

I sat down and continued to read the paper until, alas, the chap came and sat in front of me. It was the only seat left. All is fine until he began to manhandle my jacket which was hung-up against the window. Although clearly a bit sloshed, since there was a good looking girl sat next to me chatting animatedly with her boyfriend, in order to try and get her attention, he quickly decided to play the ‘drunk-commoner’ to my pinstriped ‘businessman’. As the train rocked, my jacket moved toward him now and again — he pushed it away with theatric care.

‘Lovely material,’ he said, as he did so — making the girl next to me chuckle. Now that he’d got a rise out of her, he continued a few more times, until I put down my newspaper, looked him straight in the eyes and asked if he’d like me to move the jacket.

‘Er, yes please guv,’ he replied.

I moved it.

‘What do you do then?’ he asked, still looking at the girl, trying to see if his interactions were still being noted. I explained I was an entrepreneur and that I worked with the internet and mobile.

‘Brickie,’ he said, thumb pointing back to himself. I nodded.

‘Ow does that iPod thing work then?’ he asks, ‘If I buy one, it don’t come with no music on it, right?’

The whole carriage is listening in now, many of them sitting and waiting for this chap to pick a fight (ideally with me) and then begin exploding. However his question was reasonable so I put down my newspaper, sat forward and engaged him.

I explained that you had to use a computer to transfer music to the iPod.

‘I ain’t got no computer mate, ow much is one o’them?’

I can feel the whole carriage visibly wilt, worried if this is about to set the chap off into an argument. But no. I’ve got the make of him and I see he’s genuinely interested in getting an iPod and how the whole thing works. That and he’s had at least 5 pints. He’s still operational though.

I explain that a new computer is £400-600. He exclaims a few expletives. We both knew this was coming. Although I think he thought I was going to say £2,000 or similar.

He’s not going to be buying a computer any time soon, ‘Can’t work the keys mate, me fingers R too big,’ he says, showing everyone his huge Brickie fingers.

I then happen upon an idea: ‘What phone have you got?’ I ask him.

He laughs and brings out a 5 year old Nokia. Sturdy, big keys, just the sort of handset that’s ideal for him.

‘Right! I’ve got a solution for you and we’ve saved you £600 quid, right?’ I tell him.

He’s visibly impressed. The whole carriage is now listening in.

I explain that you can now easily download music to your handset to the phone without having to use a computer.

‘Can you?’ he asks, visibly astonished.

‘Yup. Go into the Vodafone store tomorrow and get them to show it to you. Better still, get yourself to a Three store and have them show you their MusicStore service,’ I tell him.

‘Check out the Sony Ericssons and the Nokias,’ I continue. He asks me to write down the names on a piece of paper for him. I do so.

He’s delighted, ‘Thanks a lot mate!’

I tell him no problem. Nice chap!

My only concern for him was that most of the new handsets nowadays have such small keys — e.g. the Nokia N73. Huge screen. Minature keys!

Now, this experience really made me think. This guy had no computer. He had no interest in buying a computer, or learning how to use one. But he wanted music on an iPod — or, failing that, music on a phone — as I described to him. I was going to write about the Three MusicStore the other day. I downloaded some tracks to test it out and I was slightly disappointed at the quality. Now and again, the compression kicked in and spoilt some of the higher and lower tones in the track. Spoilt? No. It didn’t spoilt it. It was just there. I noticed it. However if I’m honest, it didn’t really spoil the experience. Obviously since the tracks I was downloading were about 1.5 meg in size — and your standard Mp3 music file is, what, 3-4 meg — then, sure, some compression-led quality loss is to be expected.

I was going to do a piece here about how I was slightly disappointed with the Three MusicStore — how I was accustomed to super high quality music on my phone/iPod. No need to write that now. It’s all about serving the right markets — the mass markets. This chap on the train would have been delighted with it, I’m sure. No need to arse around with a computer.

Link: Ten Things I Want From You « Tech Evolution In A Wirefree World

Ian Hay is a strategic advisor to telecoms companies — and in particular, Orange, at the moment. He recently posted a wickedly interesting blog to document the ten things he wanted from a mobile operator…

I thought it would be useful to get in touch with various people I have met over the last year or so and ask them what they actually want from a Telco. The idea being to promote a conversation with the community that could then be presented to my management and of course posted here

It makes good reading.

He’s come up with a list thus:

Improve the Basics
Transparent pricing
Embrace internet and don’t compete or lock out
Business and Personal
Open Handset
Flat rate Data
Open development environment
Open Source Technology
Open Data
PC integration

Most of these things should have been solved years ago. I mean YEARS ago. The warning sign surely should have been network operators promoting the hell out of ‘MMS’ that didn’t actually ever work. It was absolutely crazy. Anyway it does work reasonabl reliably now, and this kind of ’should have’ talk doesn’t help much.

Do take a read of Ian’s post (link above) and then I also recommend having a read of his follow-up.

We’ve a lot going on with our new data centre business, DCMI. Part of the range of activities is, of course, a publicity and marketing campaign. On the conference call earlier I said I’d hunt for an article that The Guardian wrote about one of my older companies, Liv4now.com, and send it over to the PR team.

All I could remember from it was that the author — I think it was David Teather — described me as a ‘rangy 21-year-old’. I wasn’t sure what to think. I had to look up the word ‘rangy’. The first definition I found was ‘having long, slender limbs’. Nice. However the second and more prevalent definition was ‘tall, thin, and awkwardly built’. Riiiight.

I just found the article thanks to The Guardian’s rather wicked comprehensive archive. If you’re bored and would like to read a wee article from Wednesday October 6, 1999, here we go: The Hard Work Behind Taking It Easy.

Update: Just found another one. Geez. Heady days.

What were you doing in October 1999, besides enjoying the huge dotcom surge? ADSL was a glint in the milkman’s eye at that point. I don’t think I even used text messaging much. I know my girlfriend at the time was texting like no tomorrow. Even when you were sat trying to eat a meal with her. But I didn’t text much back then. I THINK I was walking about with a Motorola v90 (the mini version of the popular Startac?)

Link: techype

Seems that Mr Doug Richards of Dragon’s Den fame has been meeting with the great and the good of the mobile technology blogging world (see Mr Hume, The Mobhappy folk and SMSTextNews - BTW read the comments on this one, they are brilliant) but no invite for myself and Raddedas Our great sadness aside (we actually prefer the wannabe Simon Cowell that is Peter Jones) Hotxt is something that we’ve been looking at for a while.

If you haven’t added techype to your feeds yet, it’s definitely required reading. Authored by Thelf and Raddedas, Techype publishes regular and incisive market commentary that brings a wry smile to my face every time I read. I’ve only recently noticed that they’ve put names to the blog, although whether they’re real or not, who knows? I wonder if I could get them for a Q&A interview?

They’ve been a bit quiet of late, however today’s article laments the fact that Doug and David of Hotxt haven’t contacted them yet for an interview. I reckon that’s because they possibly weren’t sure if the Techype chaps were up for it. But now that they are? I think they’d find it an interesting meeting — as I did (more on Hotxt shortly, I’ve been letting our meeting germinate in my mind…)

Anyway, put http://techype.blogspot.com/ into your feedreader and it should automatically resolve to get the RSS feed.

Link: Favorite Gadget: Nvidia CIO’s BlackBerry - vnunet.com

There’s a quantum shift happening in the marketplace. We’ve done Blackberry. We really have. Been there. T-shirts. Got’em. It is no longer cool, nor slightly hip to tell Forbes magazine that your favourite gadget is an 8700 Blackberry.

Check out George’s interview at the above link — I cut and paste this choice paragraph.

What would you change about it [the Blackberry]?
There are three things I’d suggest for improvements. First, I’d love to get satellite radio on it. Fox News, Bloomberg and BBC would be great to listen to on demand.

Get a Nokia E61. Put on Good Mobile Messaging. Buy a $30 2gb MiniSD card. Put your MP3s on it. Job done. If you really want to get whizzy, use ShoZu to send pod/videocasts directly to your handset.

Second, I’d want the ability to download and play news clips and videos

On a Blackberry? Get real Get a Nokia E61. Real Player is factory installed. Job done.

…and perhaps do some interactive gaming with others. With 3G, the world is moving toward mobile devices with high quality video and online games. Having this in the 8700, RIM would really round out its capabilities.

Get a Nokia E61. Job done. The Blackberry’s only ‘capability’ is email. It did that very well, for a time. Then, enter Good Mobile Messaging = next generation Mobile Messaging. Job done.

Finally, I wish I had a voice recognition application on it that would let me dictate e-mail in the car and also read aloud e-mail that I’ve received on the speakerphone.

Get a Nokia E61. Put Nuance Talks on it. Job done.

Seriously George, put away your Blackberry, phone up Good.com, tell’em you’re with Nvidia and you’ve seen the light, they’ll surely send you out an E61 with their Mobile Messaging system on it to test.

Then convert. Next!

(Just using the E61 as an example, you could very well use Good on Windows Mobile or the like)