The PhoneBoy Blog » pr

At Least Get The Name Right

PhoneBoy — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:33:04 +0000

As I’m trying to process all the email in my inbox right now, I ran across something that I thought would be cool to write about. However, the PR firm made a big mistake: they didn’t get my name right. It wasn’t spelled wrong–a problem I’ve constantly had to deal with throughout my life, thanks to whatever drugs my dad was on when he named me–but it was just flat out the wrong name.

If you can’t at least get my name right when you pitch me in email, I’m not going to write about your (client’s) products, simple as that. It’s not hard to figure out what my name is, or even how to spell it right. Getting it wrong on the first go, that’s just sloppy, sloppy PR.

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Bloggers: Apply Critical Thinking Skills

PhoneBoy — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:01:27 +0000

Back in May, I wanted to write about Hop-On and their $10 mobile phone. However, one of my blogmates on the blog I was writing on at the time beat me to the punch. Good thing, as it appears this handset may not really exist.

Pat Phelan has been trying to connect with Hop-On for over a year to, presumably, get signed up to distribute the thing. Pat Phelan claims that both phone numbers were disconnected and emails to them go unanswered. While I did get a PBX that answered the phone (sorry, Pat), I have no reason to test their email system out.

Pat Phelan called out a number of bloggers that wrote about Hop-On basically regurgitating their press release without doing any investigation. While I can’t claim I’ve never done that before, in this case, all one has to do is apply a bit of critical thinking skills.

While I currently work for the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, I don’t do a whole lot with phones. However, I’ve done some research on what it costs to make mobile phones–just in terms of raw materials. Based on the confidential information I’ve come cross, I would call into question the ability for Hop-On–or any company–to make a phone that sells for $10 and makes a profit without some kind of subsidy.

Most bloggers don’t have access to that kind of information. Instead, let’s just look at a comparable product, say an extra handset for your wireless phone system in your house. For all intents and purposes, they use similar materials: plastic casing, a speaker, a microphone, a battery, some kind of PC board and electronics to drive it, and some kind of radio. Some kind of LCD screen is optional. Retail price: while it varies based on a number of factors, these handsets can be had for as little as $25, though it is generally more.

The two functional differences between a handset for your home phone and a mobile phone handset are: the size–mobile phones are usually smaller–and the radio used. My horse sense tells me that the cost differential of the radio is probably negligable, but making a phone smaller does increase the cost.

And then, of course, there is the small issue of manufacturing enough of them that the cost of production is low. Nokia has cranked out 200 million of the Nokia 1100 series phones, and the price has not come anywhere near $10–except when it is subsidized by Tracfone and similar carriers.

No matter how I look at this, something just doesn’t add up. While I’m not exactly calling Hop-On a bunch of shysters trying to sell me a bridge, I am highly skeptical of their claims that they are able to make a $10 phone. All we’ve seen from this company are press releases. I don’t think any actual product has shipped.

But of course, Hop-On isn’t the point of this story. The point is: far too many bloggers don’t do their homework. They simply take statements–or press releases–at face value without thinking it through. And no matter how I approach this Hop-On thing, I just can’t help but think something doesn’t add up.

Now, if the Hop-On folks want to prove me (or Pat Phelan) wrong, by all means, do it. We’ll be the first to admit we were wrong. What about the rest of you bloggers out there?

Comments

27 October 2008, Hop-On Claims To Have $10 Mobile Phone at Joy of Gadgets writes: [...] The phone is available in both European (GSM 900/1800) and Americas (GSM 850/1900) dual-band configurations. As the graphic says, the price is $10. To whom, though? And is this price even realistic? I don’t think so. [...]
27 October 2008, Pat Phelan writes: Nice post Dameon Seriously I would absolutely love to be proved wrong, I think this is pure vaporware designed to jump the stock price and bloggers not doing their homework is plain wrong, I have learned a lesson here myself as well, I will never again post a candy press release without testing. If you look at link above me, the last word is the post is the part where the blogger calls the bluff, its just pure sloppiness. A basic candy phone has a minimum cost including packaging of somewhere around $30, I have my sources also, this would be for a minimum 100k order, this is definitely only workable at carrier level with subsidies as you point out.

Engage Your Audience Or Lose It

PhoneBoy — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:40:19 +0000

Image of Ken Rutkowski

For the longest time, one my favorite podcasts has been KenRadio. It isn’t one of the longest running daily “media entertainment technology” news shows for nothing. However, I came to an important conclusion about the show and how it interacts–or doesn’t–with it’s audience.

Let’s be clear. I don’t expect someone like Leo Laporte, Cali Lewis, or even KenRadio’s Ken Rutkowski to necessarily respond to emails I send to them personally. I know these guys get hundreds of emails a day and couldn’t possibly do it. I also don’t expect them to necessarily respond to everyone who sends them a message on a service like Twitter, either.

However, I expect these “stars” or “media personalities” to make an effort to participate–especially if they sign themselves up for service like Twitter. Or–worse yet–set up a forum on their own site! More often than not, over the years, the forum on KenRadio has either not worked or when it has, has almost zero participation from the host.

Ken Rutkowski often calls himself a broadcaster. He’s right–in the very old sense of the word. He broadcasts. There is very little attempt at engaging the audience directly. In fact, I think that’s the reason Ken doesn’t get Twitter. He doesn’t want to engage the audience.

Contrast this with someone like Leo Laporte or Cali Lewis. They interact with their audience, or at least they make a very honest attempt at it. Again, there’s no way I would expect them to be able to respond to all the emails they get, Tweets, or whatever. They actually try, though.

The bottom line: Ken asks us to engage him, but he doesn’t really engage us back. That’s old school broadcasting at it’s worst, and quite frankly, I’m done with it. I’ll miss the Ken and Andy banter–as well as some of the insight they offer. On the topic, though, there are plenty of other shows out there that cover similar topic and do a much better job at actually engaging with the audience.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to engage me on this topic because I’m either right or full of it, you know what to do. Unlike some people, I’ll respond!

SSPR? Blackholed.

PhoneBoy — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:18:10 +0000

SSPR pulled the same stunt on me as they did on Ken, for exactly the same company that Ken got spammed, I might add. I am not going to bother reprinting the email–it’s the same as Ken’s for the most part–sending them an email about it, nor give the company they emailed about any bits on my page. Or any other company they represent for that matter. At least not any more. Pity, because VoSKY, a.k.a. ActionTec has some decent products.

Look, I don’t mind PR firms sending me emails on relevant things, I really don’t. When you try to lie to me saying I had requested information about a company when I didn’t, that crosses an ethical boundary. PRs firms that do that, along with the companies they represent are persona-non-grata.

SSPR, you are officially the first PR company I have blackholed. Email from your company will go directly to the bit bucket in the sky. Consider yourself honored.