S60 Open to new features

So ever since Steve Jobs announced that he'd be coming out with a phone in the US, my friends and neighbors have inundated me with questions about what Nokia is going to do. I tell them the truth: Nokia welcomes Apple to the industry, and we thank them for validating our vision of converged devices. Indeed, since the iPhone has come out, sales of S60 devices in the US have gone up. The N95 and N75 are selling well. Some look at me askance when I say this, others "get it" and move on to the next topic of conversation.

But some don't move on. They are enthralled by and cannot stop talking about the PR and product phenom that is the iPhone. One of these guys is a good friend. He has been an Apple fan since forever. When we go to his house his iBook is on slideshow mode. When he hosts parties he shows movies through iTunes. Every product that Apple comes out with, he buys. And since June, every time I see him, he finds a reason to take out his iPhone and either make a call or show me some "feature".

On Saturday, I was helping this guy set up for a community meeting. He had brought his Bose Wave radio to play tunes while we were setting up. He whips out his iPhone and says to me with a smile

"Did I ever tell you my phone plays *music*?"

I laugh and tell him "no, really? that must be some pretty advanced technology! -- I wish Nokia would think of something like that..."

He laughs and goes over to plug his iPhone into the Bose. Then I hear him say

"Oh shoot, the adaptor doesn't fit into the iPhone..."

At first I think he is kidding...this is too good to be true, right? My wife also overhears him and she pipes in, a little loudly so that everybody at the meeting can hear:

"Hey Dan, does your *NOKIA* N95 need a special adaptor to work with a Bose".

I shake my head. All eyes are on me as I walk up to the Bose. Sure enough, it takes a standard headphone jack. I plug it into my N95, go to the gallery, and select press "play". The room is awash in mellow Belle and Sebastian tunes. Eyes shift from my phone, to me, to my friend. Again, loudly, my wife says

"Hey, what kind of phone is that?"

I duly reply "It's a Nokia N95. Running S60 software."

My friend, for once, is silent.

We've had new sign ups, and new activity from some of the "sleeper" Ambassadors who signed up but didn't submit reports for the first few weeks. Great to see so much activity from the Ambassadors overall. Here's the latest Top 10, in order of the most active and best quality Ambassadors.

1. Eric Brodeur
2. Alex Huf
3. James Robillos
4. Jivan Kulkarni
5. Pablo Jimenez
6. H.A. Geisendorfer
7. Amir Allatabakhsh
8. Jon Chua
9. Mike Macias
10. Patrick Peres

If you want to sign up, pls visit the Ambassador Sign up page.

Some encouraging research from Nielson on the power of word of mouth as an influencer in purchasing decisions...this Ambassador stuff works...thanks for the good reports and keep them coming...

Hello S60 Ambassadors and other fans of S60! I'm looking forward to meeting many of you in San Francisco at the Element Lounge. We've had an overwhelming response (thanks Stefan for mentioning the event more than once!) and closed the registration as of Monday. If you got in before then, there is good news: We've managed to get all the "Evening" invitees an additional invite to the MOSH party later that night. Note that you should have already gotten your invitation to MOSH -- and don't forget to RSVP or you won't be able to get in. We'll have our hands full Tuesday night so get on it! :-)