S60 Summit 2007: Failed PR event according to Richard Bloor
By Stefan Constantinescu on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 at 9:54 PM PST In S60 Summit 2007
I take offense to comments made about me in this article, but a valid point has been made: Should Nokia (NYSE: NOK) have made more announcements at the summit and why wasn’t the event covered in greater detail?
The summit wasn’t meant to be a PR launch platform, but a gathering of people in the mobile industry to get the scoop on where S60 is right now and how other people are using it. This was more of an executive’s event than an outright techno-news-explosion, but isn’t that why we have 3GSM?
It would have been nice to see some phone announcements being made or major revisions to the S60 OS, but that wasn’t the point Richard. If you really want to see the powerpoint slides that we [the press] saw then feel free to look at my Scribd account.
My coverage is going up in bits and pieces and everything should be published by tomorrow night.
Back to your question: What was the point of the S60 Summit?
For people in the S60 ecosystem to connect with other members within the same industry. Nothing fancy, nothing really crazy to blog about, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks the summit was a waste of time. Yes we all enjoyed ourselves, yes Nokia could have made it more about themselves, but it was made very clear to us from the start that this is more of a gathering than an actual conference. It wasn’t about "what to blog," but more like "who to meet."
Why don’t you stop by in 2008 and see if you can muster a better job than the rest of the blogosphere? I’m sure you can, but you would be missing the entire point of the event.
Connecting with people.
It seemed like he was taking personal pop-shots at you. I find that offensive as well. I read your blog because you do a great job at taking something that could be rather boring and technical (GSM Mobile phones, specifically S60 Nokia stuff, that apparently only die hard mobile junkies can differentiate from that “really cool” RAZR that Verizon wants to sell me *VOMIT* ) and put a little life with it.
I can tell you that more than a dozen people that I work or interact with are now happy S60 users (E61’s, N73’s, E50’s) and they can’t understand why ANYONE would buy the crap they sell in the Cell showrooms, and I consistently reference your and others blogs when explaining that they don’t have to be tethered to the crap the carriers sell.
It’s not like your being paid for your research and opinions. Sure they paid for your trip, but unless you signed a work contract with Nokia, seems to me it comes with no strings. I have lots to say about Nokia and my obsession with S60, but I don’t have the time (jobs and kids) so I like probably like many others live vicariously through other’s blogs.
Maybe he is more world traveled than I, but your descriptions of the travel and the event made it as though I was traveling with you. Keep up the good work and blogging!
TheFixer
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haha… dear oh dear…. someone doesnt like poor old Stefan enjoying himself it seems.
Sure, it looked like Stefan enjoyed his trip to and from Spain. Maybe a bit too much. But so what?
Sure, he was amused and impressed with his hotel room. But so what?
And sure, there was more content of being out and about in Madrid rather than the summit itself. SO WHAT?
I dont think Stefan is being paid by Nokia to write up a blog in the vociferous fashion that he does. That is all his own passion. Nobody paid for his trip to Spain so that he could put in work for S60. They did it because of what he has already been doing.
Maybe a certain someone is jealous?
Stefan buddy, I dont think you have to worry about being the asshole anymore
Peace.
Maybe then the “S60 Schmoozing 2007″ would have been a better name for the event than Summit.
Stefan, don’t give this blowhard a second thought. It probably pisses him off that you can do somthing much better for free (and much greater passion) than what he gets paid to do. I also thinks he’s also a bit jealous of the free E61i you got from Nokia because as a professional (and this is now in question as well) he wouldn’t be allowed to accept such perks.
You do a great job with this site and although I only discovered it a few months ago, I visit daily. You, my friend, were single handedly responsible for my purchase of the E61i this week. Your news, links, and pictures pushed me over the edge, very happily thank you.
Keep doing what you do, and keep doing it the same way. Don’t allow others who you don’t even know affect what you do. Except for me that is…
The summit wasn’t meant to be a PR launch platform, but a gathering of people in the mobile industry to get the scoop on where S60 is right now and how other people are using it. This was more of an executive’s event than an outright techno-news-explosion, but isn’t that why we have 3GSM?
Yes, exactly. They purposefully didn’t make any big announcements at the S60 Summit. And like you said, it’s more of a gathering of professionals working with S60.
However, I’m with Richard on this one – Why can’t S60 do both? Boost PR and press announcements while still keeping the gathering aspects to it? Maybe our COMMS people think that big announcements would take away from the true purpose of the event? Dunno.
Stefan, if any offence was given in providing SymbianOne readers with an insight into your blogging from the S60 Summit I apologize, as none was intended.
As you say the event was about connecting people. S60 and the third-party developers that build applications for it, provide the technology to achieve those connections. The coverage of S60 Summit was, as I said, an opportunity lost. It should have been an opportunity to showcase the value of S60 by sharing your passion and the passion of the ecosystem.
Stefan,
I just posted my coverage a couple hours ago and think Richard should give people a couple more days before passing judgement. I was personally out of town working on a marine salvage case, came home for one day, then flew to Spain with my wife (I paid for her ticket and my extra time myself) for a little vacation, then attended the S60 Summit, flew home after 15 hours in the air, celebrated my oldest daughter’s 13th birthday, and then finally had a chance to put together my coverage. I know you and I write about mobile devices as a passion and not as full time press so it is extremely tough to find the time to write as much as we want to and hope that people understand this. I also think if someone is flying 12+ hours each way to an event then they deserve to have a little time to actually enjoy and see some sights as well.
It was great to meet you in person and I wish you all the best with your continued work on the site.