It had to have one heck of a roaming charge
A news report caught my eye about a week back for two reasons. One, as far as publicity stunts go, this was a whopper. Two, it struck home exactly how small and interconnected the world has become.
In a nutshell, a mountain climber climbed Everest and made the world's first mobile phone call from the summit--on his splendid new Motorola phone, no less. He was able to complete his call thanks to a cell tower that was put in place on another mountain by China Telecom. The guy got the headlines, and Motorola got some nice publicity since they sponsored his climb.
Here's a link to one of the many stories written on the climb: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/wl_uk_afp/nepalchinabritain_070522085615
Some news reports also indicate that his first call was actually to check his voice mail, then he called his wife. He also had to strap his phone battery to his body so it wouldn't freeze, but thank God he made that call! Technology infringing on nature's majesty is what we all aim for, no? (All this, however, doesn't explain why my calls drop walking down the street in downtown Chicago, but that's another matter.)
Okay, so up next--what marketer is going to send the first mobile advertisement to be received by climbers on the mountain? Will it be an ad for air tanks? Blankets? Emergency sherpas? Tropical vacations?
