Disqus
Okay, now before anyone launches in to a tirade in the comments, this was an unscientific test. Very unscientific. But the results were rather interesting, so I think.
As I mentioned, I’m travelling this weekend, and have had the great pleasure of air travel within that. Waiting to get off the plane, during what seemed to be longest disembarkation ever, I was fascinated to listen to the variety (read: cacophony) of mobile ringtones/message alerts/start-up tones that formed some kind of freakish orchestra, as people turned their devices back on, in the plane (isn’t there some kinda rule on that….).
As I heard the tones, I realised I recognised them – and that oddly, they fell into three categories, at least in from the multiple tones that I could hear in the surrounding 40 or so seats. So what were they?
- RIM BlackBerry Message Alert & Ringtone
- Apple iPhone Message Alert
- Nokia Start-up Tone
Bizarrely, all the tones I heard fell in these three categories. Now admittedly, this is totally unscientific, but could we make some guesstimations about the kind of users?
- Well it was mostly business travellers on the flight – so could we say Businesspeople use mostly Nokia and RIM, apart from the tech-rebels who use iPhone?
- Could we say perhaps that Apple, Nokia, and RIM are the brands of the moment for Mobile devices?
- Or could we perhaps say Apple, RIM, and Nokia devices users are the most keen to get their messages?
Probably none of the above – but perhaps we can say that users of these brands have their devices turned up the loudest- any maybe ought to think about a bit of silent/flight-mode/power-down modes for their devices 
Ben
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
