AUSTIN, Texas – SXSW is one of the most influential events in North American (and probably, the world), so naturally Nokia is in attendance. As it’s not your typical conference, we’re doing things a bit differently.
Day 1 of SXSW on Friday kicked off with a Nokia party just across the street from the Convention Center. Nokia social media guru, Molly Schonthal, rented the outdoor area of Moonshine, a trendy little Austin restaurant. With around 100 in attendance, the intimiate setting gave me the opportunity to meet a very dynamic bunch of people, all of whom are various creative backgrounds, and not the typical mobile geeks (like myself) I’m accustomed to. And after six months of frigid Finnish winter, there’s nothing better than an ice tea on a warm sunny Austin afternoon. (either a lemon tea, or Long Island)
From 5-7pm Saturday and Sunday nights on the roof of the upscale bar, Fogo de Chao, Nokia hosts a VIP lounge. Music, drinks, discussions and even a Nokia trivia contest hosted by Molly. She asked the first trivia question, “What was Nokia’s first wearable product?” and I whisper-yelled, “rubber boots!!” to the girl next to me …but she didn’t believe me.
Guests during our events have been most excited about the new Nokia Booklet 3G, and it doesn’t surprise me. Compared to other netbooks, the Booklet 3G is sexxy. It’s sleek, solid, and the Finnish minimalist design makes me proud to have it in my lap. This is my first trip abroad with the Booklet; I haven’t had to use “my regular laptop” once. The battery lasts all day, I can get online from virtually anywhere thanks to 3G. In fact, I’m writing this post from an Irish Bar on Austin Sixth Street. If the Booklet 3G could rid the sounds of the terrible country singer in the corner. Oh wait…it can…headphones!
Here’s a funny Booklet story: A few weeks ago at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I asked Conversations readers to tweet in questions, then asked those questions to a Nokia VP while filming the session. In the video you can see “my regular laptop”, a MacBook Pro (I need it for video editing!), and received some, uhh, interesting comments in YouTube for my use of a Mac. So I showed the comments to the Booklet’s Communications Manager and within minutes, had a shiny new Booklet. Score!!
Now off to the VIP Lounge…