Day 2
Another splendid morning with perhaps one of the best dawns I’ve witnessed for a while as the sun peeks over the Med horizon and drifts up though the towers of churches. Very inspiring. I do love this city. The streets around hotel and event venue remind me of the smarter arrondisements of Paris only a little wider and marginally less traffic. Clean and efficient tube system as well. Could get used to this.
09:00
First interview after 30 mins of attempting to delete spam PR messages from work inbox. Dull I know but…time leavened by amusing face off between PR girls setting out agenda for day and giving each other that mirthless grin that means my ‘arse is smaller than yours bitch’ or ‘that dress is too short for you dear’. Blokes just look scruffy; they stand out a mile. Even the more notoriously lax dressers of the fourth estate have scrubbed up and are suited and booted. Even the free paper distributors look good. You gotta be smart here.
First interview with BT Movio. They took a bit of a pasting last month from the nationals over the first subscriber numbers for the DAB mobile IP system that that launched in late summer last year. Service offering is pretty much what you’d expect - sort of Freeview minus the arty stuff - plus goodish handset apart from it’s not a name brand and I think that matters.
Figures are on the low side but to be honest would anyone have expected anything different? It’s all v early days for mobile TV and at least they have something out there to buy. Good one to one with BT guy who’s’ not trying to bullshit. Comes up with gem of spin line that he says he wanted to use – they have sold more in the same initial phase than Apple did with the iPod of RIM with the BlackBerry – but perhaps wisely says he won’t just in case people think he’s taking the piss. Could have a point. Answers honestly and friendly and gives god pointers to article.
10:00
Second interview about internet services on mobile. Drifts off into games territory rather than MTV or business aps per se. good pints about the opportunity to improve games on phones; my girls would second that one for my E900. Demo looks good; hope they sell to Vodafone in UK sometime soon.
10:45
McAfee releases survey about mobile security. V clear business implications on this as nobody is caring what comes over ‘normal’ phones as they are all concerned with protecting firewalls and smart phones which McA guys helpfully points out comprise only 5% of market. Good points we’ll made; this type of stuff writes itself. McA can count on a few bob in this arena.
11:30-12:30
Back to press office to write up. Literally waded through the crowds from McA stand to get here. The place is heaving and I’ve heard a final total of 57,000 delegates in all. Even more press than ever and there’s people who look like they haven’t moved since 8 30 – go do some work on the floor. Noticeably none of that applies to UK chums, aren’t we so hard working? Things have changed since the days when exhibitions meant a glass of wine on every stand and the trick was to have legible handwriting suppose thing have changed for the better- the dot com crash saw off a lot of the old guard as the publishers who survived took charge. As Lionel Bart said things ain't what they used to be
12:30-13:00
LG arrives with more details on yesterdays’ launch of the Shine range of phones and the deal with Prada. They’ve done such a good job in making phone s look good and the technology is al there (Shine locks better than Prada one but don’t mention it); cast envious glances at the new range and go for a blag with no positive outcome sadly. Hope they make a real go of it ; the technology going forward will support HSPA so business apps will fly and you won’t be embarrassed getting it out of your pocket at a meeting which, let’s face it, is what it’s all about when it comes to mobiles. Note to self: may need to introduce ‘reviews’.
13::30
Interview with market analyst. In place of real food for dinner, he blags the fruit in media centre; I do can of Red Bull. Wise? Good bloke who knows the score on his mobility, as you may expect. Fact that he’s Dutch means he is human rather than of the ‘I’m so clever aren’t I’ world weariness thing that some analysts have. We actually chat. His company is a good one and responsible for a great expo last year in Portugal. For some strange reason they have chosen Scotland this year. They have good PR as well and arrange to meet later between interviews to catch up on industry gossip which to be honest is the real story.
14:00-15:00
A round table. I love round tables just for the wonderful discomfort factor of those who have to organise them and those who participate in them. Show me a round table and I’ll show you a US tech company who thinks it’s a great way of looking clever in front of his or her peers to a crowd of journos. Well welcome to Europe mis amigos and here’s’ what happens., one: hardly anyone turns up because if there’s a real story the panellists are not going to say it in front of a would be rival so you’re left with juniors or even better perma-bored local press plus US journos who can’t resist the chance to look smart by asking a ‘really great question’. Two: within five minutes panellist realise the boredom and would rather be stapling eyelids disposition of who’s in the audience; disappoint almost palpable but they should know better. Three: old local journo (wherever to be honest…) who has come on the promise of free drink and maybe food will fall asleep at the back. Four: by the time the interminable panel intros are done there’s about 5 mis to say something, only serves to increase discomfort of panellist who now look they are there under duress: Five: anyone with a laptop is not writing down what you are saying; he or she is almost certainly surfing/doing real work that should have been done day earlier/or anything but note down the lesson in uncomfortable self-aggrandisement that is unfolding. Six: half way through a really important point someone is going to walk out. See you later.
3:30
Meet up with analyst’s PR to get low down on what’s really going on. Great to see her. Known here for years since she was a cadet basically, she’s on the up deservedly and knows the score here. A pleasurable 30 minutes providing some interesting things that I didn’t know.
16:00
Oh oh. Waste of time. Shoe horned this meeting with traditional IT player trying to break comms into schedule. Mistake. The two men I speak to are basically talking press releases. Hope they’ve convinced themselves coz they’ve not convinced me. They have that bizarre thing that middle class middle aged English men have of wanting to come across as knowledgeable despite lack of knowledge: done too manta of these gigs to buy it. Hope boredom isn’t coming across so obviously.
16:30
Do not operate heavy machinery or drive a car following an interview with a billing company. Main man arrives late thankfully. Red Bull or insanity kicking in as I’m hit by a wave of energy that is surely not connected to what hey are showing. Think of pending feature that hasn’t been written yet. Anything else to be honest
17:00-18:00
Last official gig of the day with Nokia. Always a pleasure to see what they have up their clever Finnish sleeves. New multimedia devices look great but sadly beyond my pocket. Don’t need the Red Bull to stay awake for this and again story writes itself. Hour flies by.
18:00-18:45
Meeting with PR that I’d promised last week. Good lad just moved over to new company and hope he does well. Knows the score and knows how to talk to people so chat useful as to what his targets will be doing.
18:45-19:30
Travelling and shopping for daughters’ prezzies. Well you have to …why else do I go abroad? Apartr from work I suppose
20:00 – 00:30
Sponsor’s dinner. 20 minute walk through Barca to get to venue. Cool. Wonderfully up its arse venue and a fine selection of Catalan nueva cocina. Great company and night flies past. Lack of earlier food makes it all taste better. Again well done to Liberty PR, they have excelled this year. I could live here.
No gifts though. Jouralistic greediness attemptst to hijack good vibe. Nothing today so far even a promise of a teddy bear in a security company t-shirt doesn’t happen.
