The MoPR Blog

If you’re not convinced that mobility technology has become intrinsic to our daily lives, this post ought to convince you. Not only do people want any data (i.e. e-mail, music, research, databases, conversations, etc.) anytime they need to have it, anywhere they are, they also want it in style.

Mobility form has now met mobility function.

Apple of course achieved the technology-as-fashion-accessory with its iPod, designing a device for music to be worn and held as an accessory (people want to be seen with an iPod; how many people want to be seen with a calculator?). Coach accessorized the accessory (remember our trip from Vancouver to Seattle when Melissa stopped at Coach?) with a whole series of iPod cases (Melissa’s is faux fur).

And lets not forget Stacy’s hot pink Razr phone.

But now get ready for the new wave in ultimate technology-as-fashion-accessories: designer notebooks.

And why not? The notebook computer is no longer a tool for the traveling executive; every demographic uses one. Kids have them. Great-grandparents have them. There are four in my household.

And just as other “things” from purses to cars communicate something about who we are (which is why I’ll never have a minivan), why shouldn’t the notebook computer?

If you like big bad-ass SUVs, then Hummer has a notebook for you. The shock resistant case can withstand a drop from 10 yards up and can work in extreme temperatures. Hummer makes these laptops sound really cool with statements such as “Designed for the person with superior computing and geospatial positioning information needs.”

I have always said there was a market for geospatial positioning information needs. (Free advice to Hummer marketing: be the first to enter a Wikipedia entry for geospatial positioning information.)

Hummer says “the HUMMER Laptop is a go-anywhere wireless computer to keep you connected while pursuing life’s adventures.” These adventures include having a spot of tea and a scone whilst enjoying the sun at an outdoor cafe, as pictured in this publicity still from the Hummer website.

In all seriousness, this computer has some very cool features like a built-in work light and a rugged handle. But this computer is not just built for function, it is built for style and will appeal to people who love outdoor adventures and, um, big bad-ass SUVs.

For people who think the ultimate computer accessory is a leather laptop bag from Coach, Asus Tek may have the computer line for you. The Asus A6 luxury laptops are bound in leather and sport a more professional look than its ruggedized cousin from Hummer. Just as with cars, luxury comes married to performance. The leather-clad A6 notebook uses the new Intel Centrino Duo chipset, comes with 1GB of memory, 100 GB hard disc and a CD/DVD recordable drive.

Form and function don’t always have to possess right angles in the mobility world, and Dutch computer company Tulip Computers has a new notebook line to prove it.

These handbag shaped computers sport a fabric and leather exterior and truly are a technology-as-fasion-accessory.

If you’re not ready to commit to a brand new computer or spend the extra money for ruggedness, leather or art in order to express your personal sense of technology style, don’t worry, a company called Schtickers may have the solution for you. A glossy sticker — I mean schticker — you can apply over the top of your notebook or iPod.

Of course there have been other notebooks before the haut couture models showcased here to be sure. Acer has had a Ferrari notebook that sports a shiny bright red case with a the Ferrari logo. Alienware created a line of notebooks to appeal to gamers. And there are others.

Some have said that blending fashion with technology is a way for second tier manufacturers to create a differentiation from leaders like Dell, Lenovo, Gateway and HP. I don’t think fashionable high-tech is a fad. I’m certain it’s a trend.

Mobility is a part of our daily lives, so why not customize your technology to fit your personality? We do it with our MP3 players and mobile phones, so why not laptops? Some people will pay $3000 to $5000 for a handbag; is it hard to imagine people won’t pay a little extra money for a sense of style around their computers. No one has to worry too much about designs going out of style either. The computer will likely need to be replaced within three years anyway, just to keep up with the new technology.

The MoPR team wants to hear your thoughts on fashion technology. What do you think of the trend? Have I missed other cool designs? Let us know what you think…

technorati tags: MoPR mobility public relations PR media relations
del.ico.us tags: MoPR mobility public relations PR media relations
icerocket tags: MoPR mobility public relations PR media relations

“Okay, you guys… [ cell phone rings; he pulls out a tiny cell phone ] Hold on. Hello? Yes. Really. Splendid. [ hangs up ] We’re going to the Dolce & Gabbana show. How fast can you have your bags packed for Milan?”

As the boss at Jeffrey’s, Will Ferrell (making his third MoPR blog appearance) demonstrated for America the marriage of fashion and mobility technology. In February 2001, with his super-mini cell phone, Ferrell helped us understand that the glitterati wanted technology compact and gilded; a sort of functional jewelry.

By Fall of that year, the boss at Jeffrey’s was placing a call on a phone not unlike the 1973 model held up in this picture of Martin Cooper, the inventor of the cell phone. “Big is the new small,” Ferrell’s character informs us, after he hangs up from his call with Cami Diaz.

Mobile phones, (aka cell phones and portable phones), began to flourish in the 1980s. But research and development into mobile phones dates back to the 1920s.

Built long before the transistor, imagine the size of the wooden box filled with vacuum tubes used to house the first mobile “phone” (like the one shown in this 1924 picture). Likewise, imagine the size of the batteries used to power it. Walking around with such a phone was not only impractical, it was impossible. So the first mobile communications devices were built into vehicles, primarily for military and public safety use. They also worked on radio frequencies (VHF) and were never part of any phone system.

The technology concepts for true cellular networks were not conceived until the 1940s (see MoPR Mobility Minute: US Patent 2,292,387). With transistors replacing vacuum tubes and better networks becoming available, cellular car phones were introduced – once again battery size keeping true mobile communicators out of the pockets of the glitterati.

By the 1970s mobile phones were portable enough to be carried around like a briefcase. By the mid 1970s, at last a phone that can fit in the palm of one’s hand. Martin Cooper, a former general manager for Motorola, is widely considered to be inventor of the cell phone. Placing the first call over a portable phone — to his rival Joel Engel, head of research at Bell Laboratories, where he began his conversation by saying “Hello Joel, guess where I’m calling from?” — Cooper not only invented the mobile phone, but also the phrase most widely used by people with new mobile phones.

With the cost of cell phones and cell phone calls making adoption prohibitive for most people, many calls were made for only two reasons: first, the person being called had to guess where the caller was calling from; second, the caller had to inform the person being called that a second call would be placed once the caller got to a landline.

By the 1990s the cost of phones and calls were making mobile phones attractive to the general population. Today many cell phones, now able to fit easily into the palm of the hand, a small purse or even the pocket of tight-fitting jeans, come free with an annual service plan, and lower per minute rates and prepaid plans make it possible for a much wider swath of the world’s population to enjoy getting their friends to guess where they are calling from.

Now state legislatures are taking up anti-cell phone regulation to keep people from talking while driving and cell phone etiquette guides would become widely available, and widely ignored.

Text messaging allows people from all over the world to send short instant messages from phone to phone and helps people learn to type with their thumbs using only 10 keys. Amazing.

As adoption increases so do features. Sharp Electronics of Japan put a camera into phones in the early 2000s, and now camera phones are included on a very wide variety of cell phones, including those given for free with annual subscription plans. Suddenly people all over the earth were taking pictures of themselves with camera phones to send people visual clues to help guess where they were calling from.

Ringtones helped personalize phones by allowing a ring to sound like your favorite song or to have different rings for different people. For example, when my wife calls my phone plays “Don’t You Love Her Madly,” by the Doors. When I call, the “Darth Vader Theme” rings over hers.

By 2006, with low-cost phones and plans making it possible for Americas teenagers to have their own camera-equipped cell phones, text messaging became a disruptive nuisance in the classroom. Fortunately, the mosquito ringtone was invented, which produced an obnoxious sound like the buzz of mosquitos that adults cannot hear but are audible to obnoxious teenagers. Now these teenagers can text one another in class without disrupting the lecture with rings or buzzes from vibrating handsets.

Okay fine, you kids go and play with your phones and send text messages about how lame the grown-ups are. But in the end, we’ll have the last laugh. Grown-ups are taking over MySpace (subject of a future post).

By the way, our much-beloved Will Ferrell wasn’t the first comic genius to teach us about the marriage of fashion and mobility technology. 35 years before Jeffrey’s opened its SNL doors, Agent Maxwell Smart was placing calls from a shoe.

technorati tags: MoPR mobility public relations PR media relations
del.ico.us tags: MoPR mobility public relations PR media relations
icerocket tags: MoPR mobility public relations PR media relations

Net Needs to Escape Its Computer Cage, But Best of Luck Freeing It in the U.S.

It’s a longstanding maxim of this column that the future generally doesn’t arrive with a lot of flash and noise — instead, it sneaks up on you. One day you notice you’re reading your news online, banking via PC and downloading stuff from eMusic, and try to remember the last time you flipped through the physical newspaper, wrote a paper check or bought a CD.

By Jason Fry July 3, 2006
CLICK FOR COMPLETE ARTICLE