01 August 2002

Mr Advice's Nokia R&D hit factory Nokia's decentralised R&D operation (many people at local R&D sites, with little hierarchy), led by "Mr Advice", allows offbeat ideas to hit the market quickly. Hits: hiding the antenna in the phone, the one-button navikey; misses: the sms/games/mp3 phone shaped like a games controller. And interestingly engineers have to be able to sell their ideas. 6:18:06 PM     comments

Sony Ericsson's guerrilla marketing for new cam-phone 60 actors to ask passers-by for holiday snaps with new SE cam-phone... And SE gets criticised for misleading consumers. But their marketing gurus (speaking from their natural environment?) are unrepentant: "We got the idea from sitting at a bar in a hotel and playing with our mobile phones". 5:37:16 PM     comments

BBC: Desert tests expose British military weakness Tanks, choppers, guns, boots and radio systems failed ("troops could not resort to mobile phones, because there was no cover in the desert"). 5:35:28 PM     comments

BBC: Flight delays risk air traffic reputation 217,000 minutes of delay last week alone. 5:23:18 PM     comments

BBC: Orange axes 300 call-centre jobs Apparently not a cost-cutting exercise. 5:12:31 PM     comments