The laptop is the new mobile phone [BT broadband office]

The laptop is the new mobile phone

Posted 17 March 2008 at 2:12PM by Hannah Gilchrist in Connecting to the Internet

The phrase, "the laptop is the new mobile phone" sounds a bit odd, especially as we're in the noughties not the nineties, but it is precisely that suggestion that has got me a little confused. Ok, so I'm a little bit new to technology, but even I know that this isn't the sort of thing you'd expect from the CEO and founder of the Carphone Warehouse.

So what is the CEO Charles Dunstone actually trying to say? Coincidentally, and perhaps unsurprisingly this little techie-gem comes at a time when the high street retailer is looking at ways to expand their business in the form of subsidised laptops. An interesting move, but are they taking steps in the wrong direction?

If laptops were about to become the new mobile phone, why would hoards of people queue around the block at the Apple store on Regent Street for 10 hours to get their hands on an iPhone?

But back to Charles and his peculiar statement it's interesting that at a time when phones are becoming sexier he's concentrating on a commodity. It's something even he recognised himself when he said that the iPhone would be the top-selling product last Christmas (it probably was) and even suggested it could sell 10,000 devices in the first day alone. Are we talking about the same man?

Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, iphone, laptop

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Comments

1. At March 17, 2008 2:54 PM, vincent mcmahon wrote:

I cant believe that of all the ISPs they made a deal with AOL. Wtf mate.

Although it sounds like a good way to get a cheap laptop, i doubt the specs for the laptops being supplied by carphone warehouse on this deal are good at all.

2. At March 17, 2008 11:12 PM, James wrote:

The answer to your question about queuing for i-phones, Hannah, is simple - its the power of marketing! As for Mr Dunstone, I wonder will the laptop launch work as smoothly as the broadband one a couple of years ago?

3. At March 18, 2008 10:39 AM, Dark Djinn wrote:

I for one cannot wait to hold up my laptop to my ears to answer my calls.

Oh the joy of it! I can boast too cos my laptop can be held up in one hand. It can also shield the wind from the conversation i.e. wind buffer, cover my head to protect from rain and snow and be used in place of skis on the alps.
So there!

4. At March 18, 2008 12:54 PM, mike wrote:

Don't you mean hordes rather than hoards?!

5. At March 18, 2008 4:56 PM, Dark Djinn wrote:

In Hannah's defence, I believe she meant to say hordes. Or did she? It might have been a pun intended to make you think of loads of people hogging laptops to themselves, instead of sharing with the rest of the free thinking (sharing) population in this place we constantly refer to as the civilised (and more recently Wi-Fi champions) world but do not do much to show it.

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