Surface

So the Microsoft Surface comes out tomorrow (or if you are really excited in less than two hours). This is something that is very interesting. For one, I am really interested in this device, however at the same time, I don't know why people are paying for this one, the Pro version is just around the corner. I think that people need to realize that the Pro is the key device that is needed. Yes, I did say the word needed. It is something that everyone needs to own. I can say that I will be one that will get one of those. No matter what reviews say. Speaking of reviews, don't trust what you read. Remember that people are going to compare this to the iPad. Most people just compare it to something that is already out, not taking into account what is new with something that is released. Good luck Microsoft.

Good old days of mobile...

It is interesting to reflect on the past. Knowing of how things happened and how we have gained knowledge from the past. I'm taking a Marketing class for my MBA. It's cool, call me crazy. But anyways, one of assignments for the class is to create a marketing plan. It could be based on anything and everything that we want. For this, I decided to go back and discuss the N-Gage. For of those that don't remember the Nokia N-Gage was a pretty unique device. Not too many people realize that what Nokia was doing at the time was so far in the future it was crazy. They wanted to have one device that could accomplish many tasks. Anything that you could need a portable device for, the N-Gage was there. You wanted an MP3 player it was there. You wanted to get email on a portable device, it was there. You wanted high quality games, that was there as well. You wanted to play with people from all over the world, that was there as well. Funny how to think that most phones these days have the same features that Nokia did with the N-Gage. People complained when the device was first released for $299 (after the $100 price drop 17 days after launch), but do you realize that you easily pay around $200 for a device these days? Sure the technology has changed a lot. N-Gage had a 106 MHz processor. These days we have dual and quad core that are just over 1000 MHz. Crazy how fast technology changes. Not to mention that the release was in 2003...9 years ago... So you may be asking why I care so much about the N-Gage. Well I spent about a year and a half working on games for the N-Gage. I worked on 6 games and one that was never released, but had approval from Nokia. Crazy to think that. Believe me, seems like yesterday. Anyways, that was one of the highlights from my career. I don't know if I would be where I am today with out it. I will always have a special spot in my heart for the N-Gage. I wonder what would have happened if it caught on. I mean what would have happened? Would the iphone have been released? Would Google have entered the market? Would Microsoft have entered as well? I wonder if there is a parallel universe where those answers could be answered... Anyways, those were some good times. Valuable lessons were learned and experienced. I'm sure that there will be more posts about the N-Gage, more about Nokia as a whole. --gsmguy