My Favourite Nokia: Ben Roome
It's a real privilege to bring yet another 'My Favourite Nokia' post to you here on Mobile Industry Review, this time from industry legend Ben Roome. I think it must have been back in 2000-and-something when I first connected with Ben. I've been following his career across the years - he's now the CEO of the EE/Virgin Media O2 / VodafoneThree owned mobile industry association, Mova.
But to business. What was Ben's favourite Nokia?
Over to Ben...
I bought the N-Gage in October 2003, the moment it launched. I wanted the latest flagship device from Nokia: Tomb Raider on a combined games console - phone was a thrilling combination. It was also an indulgent treat to myself at a rough time.
A long-term relationship had ended a few weeks earlier. I was working for Nortel, the global telecoms giant that was already in terminal decline. Back then, though, it still felt possible that things might come good. Buying a strange, futuristic gaming phone leaned into that possibility.
I took the N-Gage to show-off to colleagues at ITU Telecom World in Geneva. The atmosphere on the exhibition floor was absurdly positive, defiant even. People were passionate about the future of telecoms, despite the industry still reeling from the burst bubble. Nortel demoed “quad-play” - integrated mobile, fixed, broadband, and TV - as if the next chapter were just around the corner. Careers depended on that optimism, so it was genuine, but also a tad performative. Everyone needed it to be true.
The N-Gage looked ridiculous as a phone. Holding it edge-on to make a call was awkward and faintly comic. But as a console you carried with you, it felt radical. Playing Tomb Raider took me straight back to being a student, before careers and breakups and responsibilities had congealed into place. There was also comfort in its familiarity and futurism. Progress was measurable. Puzzles could be solved. That probably mattered more than I realised at the time.
A few days after the conference, Nortel announced it would restate its earnings from 2000 to 2003. I didn’t fully register its significance then. Life kept moving.
I only owned the N-Gage for about a month. After a rugby match (a good result, too much drink, another night drowning sorrows) I lost it on Hammersmith Bridge. Skittering across tarmac, lost against a green cast-iron pedestal. I went back the next morning to look. How absurdly hopeful.
The ‘taco phone’ - brief, flawed, faintly ridiculous - worked.
Thank you so much Ben!
Now, if you're wondering about Ben's experience with Tomb Raider, here's a rather helpful YouTube video to help you remember: