NOKIA GRACIOUSLY loaned me its EUR 750 Irish-approved N95 today and after a few hours of use, I can see and feel business telephony features that anyone depending upon a mobile phone to reduce their daily workload should consider seriously. I used it in one use-case scenario: to interact over WiFi with Jaiku, a free group texting service. I updated items on Jaiku's Podcamp channel during the course of a phone conversation with three other planners. My updates complement a set of meeting minutes prepared during this conference call. I was able to text with one hand with the N95 while talking on another phone. I kept texting until the free WiFi node went down in the Guinness Lounge, a nomadic meeting point and watering hole near Heuston Station, Dublin. I know this isn't a typical scenario in a meeting--unless you're the dedicated scribe and expected to contribute while writing summaries during conversations. The N95 let me do that task. I don't think the iPhone will be able to operate effectively in this kind of setting. But maybe it's an apples and oranges scenario and those buying iPhones will perch them on meeting tables in front of their note paper and contribute to the conversation that way.
As I was writing my thoughts, news arrived in my feed aggregator (powered by FreeNews on the Series 60 Nokia phone) that Apple’s shares slumped 6 percent on news from AT&T that the early surge of iPhone buyers starting service on its network was smaller than some analysts had anticipated. AT&T reported this news in its second-quarter earnings, saying "146,000 iPhone owners activated service in the day and a half between the phone’s debut and the quarter’s end. Given the frenzy around the phone’s introduction, some analysts had predicted that AT&T would report as many as 500,000 to 700,000 activations in that period," writes Laurie Flynn in San Francisco.1
In financial news, the report sent shares of Apple down $8.81 to $134.89, while AT&T’s shares fell 35 cents to close at $39.68.
Sent mail-to-blog using Nokia N95 over WiFi in Hanover Quay, Dublin, Ireland.
1. Laurie Flynn -- iPhone Use Disappoints"
2. David Pogue -- "iPhone: The Missing Manual" [56 MB PDF]
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