We are most definitely BACK this week — back in London after the international shows we’ve been publishing over the last two weeks. The team is in one place. In fact they’re positively beaming with excitement.
In this week’s show:
- We visit the LG Renoir launch and take a look at the handset ( 00:27 )
- We talk to some LG chaps about the Renoir ( 09:23 )
- We chat to some other bloggers at the LG event ( 12:09 )
- We head to Helsinki to hear Rafe Blandford discuss the Samsung Innov8
(The S60 Samsung handset) ( 16:10 )
- James Whatley flies to Las Vegas and brings us his view of the Nokia E71 ( 13:52 )
- We preview the G1 Google Phone (we’re seeing that this coming Wednesday) ( 22:18 )
- And, of course, we’ve got *FREE STUFF*. Lots of free stuff. ( 28:02 )
Carphone Warehouse are hosting a Christmas Press Show next Tuesday. It’s a preview of their hottest handsets and product announcements that we can expect to see hit their shops toward Christmas.
And we’ll be there, with bells on. Unfortunately there’s no filming allowed — so we can’t produce a MIR Show from the event — but we’re allowed cameras. So expect some news next week plus a segment in the following week’s MIR Show about it.
Kudos to Matthew Bennett who has already sent us three different videos, filmed, if I’m not very much mistaken, on a Nokia N95. Stands to reason as Matthew runs NSeriesUS.com.
Matthew has pointed the camera at himself and filmed the following lines:
- “You’re watching Mobile Industry Review, not SMS Text News”
- “And now for something totally different”
- “Fascinating!”
We’re going to integrate Matthew into the upcoming Mobile Industry Review shows.
I’d like to feature other readers so if you have a camera nearby, record some sentences as Matthew has done — and we’ll put you into the show. Feel free to put a little promo in for your site or company.
I’m looking forward to meeting the Sony Ericsson chaps. Whilst they make some really good handsets, I’m thoroughly depressed by their lack of perceived innovation. Candybar after Candybar after Candybar. Show me the innovation! And that doesn’t mean putting Windows Mobile on to a Sony. We shall be addressing these issues and more tonight.
The MIR Show team — Dan Lane, Ben Smith and James Whatley — will be there in force to produce next week’s show.
As far as content goes, I’m thinking normob-walk-about. I think we might be able to get an interview with their Marketing Director. We shall find out.
I’m wondering if there will be any Sony Ericsson handsets that we can put into a competition. You never know. Or maybe some pens!
If you’ve any requests, questions or ideas for what we should film/do at the Sony Ericsson party (aside from trying to keep James Whatley from shoving his N95 8Gb in peoples’ faces), let us know?
This week we’re bringing you an absolute WHOPPER of a show. A veritable whopper.
1. We’re committed to bringing you our show from different, unusual and picturesque locations around London. I think we’ve beaten everything so far by filming from the Tower of London. Special thanks to Tim at the Historic Royal Palaces publicity department. As you might imagine, with almost 1,000 years of history to play with, Ben had a field day with his facts segment. ( 00:47 )
2. We take a look at the 3 Skypephone S2. ( 02:19 )
3. We’ve got lots of news and commentary on last week’s happenings. ( 05:15 )
Lastminute Labs, Google Gears ( 05:16 ), Orange hiring iPhone-fans ( 08:40 ), Nokia Maps
4. James Body of Truphone makes an appearance. ( 07:03 )
5. Review of Etymotics Headphones. ( 13:47 )
6. Mobile Industry Review website news… including quick overviews of our upcoming jobs section. Plus: We’ll be at the Future of Mobile conference coming up soon. ( 17:20 )
7. Future of Mobile Conference. ( 18:58 )
8. Special Sony Ericsson News. Very special stuff. ( 19:18 )
9. The first EVER Whatley Goes Wild segment. Including a special N95 8GB-protective-strap. ( 19:40 )
10. We announce the winners of our competitions. ( 22:48 )
11. Dan get’s his present. There’s almost a tear shed…( 24:37 )
We’ve been getting super feedback about the changing locations for the filming of the Mobile Industry Review show. This week we chose the Tower of London. I didn’t expect that we’d be able to film *inside* the Tower itself. As you may have seen on previous posts, Tim from Historic Royal Palaces (the organisation that supervises the Tower) asked me to give him a call. I’m pleased to say we came to an arrangement that resulted in the production crew arriving at 5.30pm at the Middle Gate of the Tower to begin shooting.
The original tower — the White Tower (shown above in a photo by James) — was built a few years after William The Conqueror took posession of the country in 1066. Construction began in 1078 to help solidify the Normans’ base of power — and it’s prominent position at the mouth of the Thames where old London began made it a perfect defensive keep. 930 years ago. The majority of the walls and other related buildings were added later on — if you take a walk around you’ll see the various dates displayed (e.g. 1200 and beyond). Fantastic and visually arresting.
It’s always fun visiting the Tower with tourists. The sight is jaw dropping. Especially when you consider folk were going about their business here almost a millennium ago. £16.50 for adults and just under a tenner for children. Excellent value. You can definitely spend a whole day — or a long afternoon — exploring the place.
Tim took us down to the moat to do our video introduction. You’ll see the team standing before the Tower’s outer wall, on some rather well manicured grass. That’s where the moat was originally. This year the team at the Tower are demonstrating the status of the Tower as one of Europe’s best Fortresses with a series of events. Right now — and until September — if you pop down to the Tower at 12.30pm and 2.30pm, you’ll see some siege engines being demonstrated.
We actually filmed next to the mini-Trebuchet (a ‘Perrier’) and next to the ‘Springald’. Although we weren’t allowed to shoot some RAZRs off the Perrier. That could have been fun.
After the intros, we headed into the Tower and shot a few pieces. Look out for James’ mobile handset interview with a rather iron-faced guard on duty. Then it was down to the Wharf beside the Thames just outside the Tower for the main features of the show.
Thanks to Tim and his colleagues for facilitating the visit. If you’re heading to London, do not pass Go. Go straight to the Tower. And remember, the Tower gets no financing from the Government or local authorities. It’s all maintained through donations and ticket sales. So buy a few. I’m going to talk to their events team and see if we can hold an Unlimited Drinks there.
We’ll have the Tower episode up on Monday morning. Standby!
We’ll be producing a special report Mobile Industry Review (“MIR”) show from CTIA. I’m hoping to include Sybase, Sierra Wireless, Nuance, Zumobi and Cell Trust so far. There’s a lot more on the schedule.
If you’re heading to CTIA and you’d like to feature, drop me a note and we’ll sort schedules.
To qualify, you have to have something interesting to say and show the MIR audience. Special priority goes to the smaller startups.
If you’re PR or marketing for a company heading there, we’re PR friendly so get in touch as soon as you can.
