The Phone Guy

Dug up an old New Yorker article by Michael Specter about Frank Nuovo, "the phone guy" who designs Nokia's phones:

Suddenly, Nuovo stopped speaking, and his breathing slowed. His eyes fastened on a tall woman who had just broken into a run, about fifteen yards away. She was clearly angry. We could see her moving fast in high heels, screaming into her telephone, and carrying a large bag. It's not easy to do all that at once. "Look at her," Nuovo said with genuine delight, as if he were an anthropologist who had stumbled upon some new tribal custom. "She has a 6110 rigged with a strap. I have never seen that in Europe." The 6110 has an illuminated high-graphics L.C.D. display, an infrared link to compatible devices, and thirty-five different ring tones; what it doesn't have is a strap. Yet, as the woman ran past us, we could see it fastened comfortably to the palm of her hand. "I'll be damned," Nuovo said. "The Japanese do this. So do the Koreans. They all have straps, and they decorate them in every conceivable way. But I have never seen that in Finland. I guess I'll have to start paying more attention."

The phones and technology referred to in the article are no longer current, but many of Frank's ideas are interesting and the overall article is very interesting for anyone who cares about mobile phones, or consumer electronics in general.