3GSM Diary: Social responsibility, killer apps and a giant toaster

The pace has barely let up. I haven't even been able to take a nap at the top of the massive main arena here. Come on - don't tell me no one else tries. Isn't that what the high seat-backs are for?

Behaving far more responsibly is a range of mobile giants. NTT DoCoMo's CEO told us in a 'fireside chat', minus any kind of fire, that his company is being held to ever higher standards by its subscribers. They want social responsibility - and DoCoMo is doing its bit to provide it. Witness an i-mode-based early warning system and a research centre, all following on from the time the company helped saved lives in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake, now a full 11 years ago.

Nortel, on the other hand, has had image problems in the past couple of years. Two CEOs and a handful of results restatements have come and gone, and what shone through in its main press conference wasn't a new partnership with IBM or even its lead, seemingly, with its advanced cellular network equipment sales. Rather it was the language execs used.

Ahead of the ever-impressive Pascal Debon, head of Carrier Network Operations, was the de rigeur opening video montage, replete with a soundtrack of talking heads that ended up multiplying on screen, a bit like the end of Love Actually, a film I thought I'd never admit to watching. (I just caught the end once. Let’s leave it at that.)

And like that ensemble piece, Nortel executives could be seen and heard saying how the company is now all about making the world a better place and "holding ourselves to a slightly higher standard than we did before". Could this have anything to do with the recent accounting naughtiness, by any chance?

Anyway, I was swayed by the time their CMO started talking about "a solemn trust, a vow" with customers. Or was it with society? With regulators??

Of course this all harks back to yesterday's thrust by the GSM Association to get mobiles in poorer parts of the world and Motorola's involvement there.

Nortel's Debon also, for a split second, gave the impression he believes there is such a thing as a killer app for mobile. Then he went on to tell assembled hacks the killer app is "end user experience". Thanks for that.

Another good speaker but someone that may make for depressing listening at the HQs of operators without a killer app (OK - I accept they all have voice, a pretty good app for the past 30,000 years or more) is consultant John Strand. His presentation looked at the effects low-cost service providers have had on Scandinavian markets. They forced consolidation - Orange even exited Denmark after spending a packet on marketing - and the lesson is clear: learn from the last 10 years in the airline industry.

Of note again, and not for products or spreading mobility, was Motorola. Of all the gimmicks employed to get people to a stand or make a brand stand out, this one - a mobile DJ - stood out for me today. (Though maybe not as much as yesterday's clip, when I was seen off by storm troopers.)

My question: Does he look like he's popping out of a giant toaster?

And finally let me leave you with this hardly earth-shattering prediction. When HP brings out a smart phone later this year - as it said it would, two weeks ago - it will be based on Microsoft's smart phone-centric Windows Mobile operating system.

Many have guessed the same thing. But I don't think a Microsoft representative would have told me "we're excited about the product they have coming out" if it were based on anything else.

Back tomorrow.