Nick Jones

I’m in Orlando for Gartner’s US Symposium and ITxpo where I’ll be talking about mobile / wireless trends and mobile collaboration / social networking. Symposium is held at the Disney resort which means I’m staying in a Disney hotel where there’s no escape from the Disney Magic. Hash browns plus Goofy at 8AM on a Sunday morning gives a cynical Brit indigestion.

Goofy originally appeared in 1932 and hasn’t changed much, and that traditional attitude seems to have permeated other aspects of this hotel. I’m posting this from a room whose default option for “high speed” broadband is 384K and if I paid more I could to upgrade to a warp-speed 700K or so.

The mobile space is a bit Goofy-like too, some things like the strange attitudes of mobile operators are amazingly persistent. I was hiding behind the New York Times at breakfast desperately trying to avoid eye contact with not one but two Goofy’s when I noticed an AT&T ad extolling its 3G network. One of their key sales points was: “The only 3G network that lets you talk while emailing or browsing the web”. Is this supposed to be a benefit? I don’t know how American spouses behave, but I can imagine my wife’s reaction if I weren’t paying sufficient attention because I were emailing & surfing the web while talking. It wouldn’t be pleasant, and I couldn’t blame her. At this moment AT&T would be far more likely to impress me by pointing out that they’re a lot faster than in-room hotel broadband.

I’m looking forward to Symposium and will be talking with lots of people during the week. The meetings already in my diary show a pretty even split between technology and business mobility topics, but I’ll post some updates in a day or two reporting on what clients and vendors see as their hot mobile issues. If you’re attending and want to meet me face to face there are still some free slots on Wednesday and Thursday.