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You are entering the Nokia Mobile World

By Dweep Chanana ⋅ January 21, 2006 ⋅  Email this post ⋅ Post a comment

My poor soaked mobile phone is breathing again. Hallelujah!!!

If you remember, it left me in the lurch, to face life’s vagaries alone when I was thrown into a pool at the new year’s eve party. I had all but given up but then, 2 weeks later, its back. Now I can take photos, listen to its melodious ring, and enjoy the other innane pleasures of owning a Sony Ericsson K300i. I rejoice, because without a phone, or with the replacement Motorola (why are those things still selling?) I was like a chicken with its head cut off.

At Dorman’s two days ago (Dorman’s - along with Java Coffee House - is the Starbucks of Nairobi), my friend’s Nokia battery died out - and she freaked out. Then, a stroke of genius - she went to the attendent and asked if they had a charger. Not surprisingly - they did.

There is a good reason you can find a Nokia charger here in the most unlikely of places. People here don’t change their phones every six months, and many phones are bought used. This means batteries are weak, and the phone must be charged frequently. Nokia rules the roost here, though. I’d be hard pressed to find a Sony Ericsson charger in the developing world. They should add that tip to the tour guides.

Today, at the same Dorman’s, a man was walking around with a Thuraya satellite phone - one of those fancy, bulky phones that can be used anywhere on the planet (more or less).

Just an observation. As we push the limits of innovation to move out into the world - adventurous and independent - how dependent we have become on this small device. The Wired World is dead. Long live the Unwired World!