Arranged by Parys Communications, one of 3’s PR agencies, the meeting was an informal get-together to exchange some views and hear 3’s thoughts about their plans for 2008.

I have a connection with 3 as I’m one of the group of bloggers and journalists who are trying out 3’s new Skypephone. The phone’s on free loan for three months courtesy of 3. I’ve already written a bit about the Skypephone and I may well write more in future.

So, to the meeting.

An immersion into a disruptive company’s business thinking, is how I might summarize it. We heard thinking and received detailed information on the types of handsets 3 might be offering during 2008 plus a glimpse into 3’s roadmap ahead.

Adam Davis, 3’s Head of Marketing and Product Management, is a man whom every gadget geek would envy as he pulled from his case prototype phone after phone from Nokia and Sony Ericsson that may end up in 3’s handset lineup.

Much of the talk was about the Skypephone and 3’s plans for it next year.

It’s quite apparent that 3 want this phone to be a big market success. Indeed, they said the greatest attention will be given to improving aspects of the Skypephone such as a better camera, HSDPA connectivity and maybe the ability to make and receive SkypeOut and SkyepeIn calls respectively.

The latter is extremely interesting. I wonder what we’ll see there. If you can make and receive low-cost calls via Skype to and from normal phone numbers, where’s any incentive to use the Skypephone to make regular calls via 3’s cellular network?

While we were talking about the Skypephone, I took the opportunity (somewhat cheekily, I admit) to go on a bit about the very poor coverage of 3’s 3G network where I live, which is the place where I most use the Skypephone.

Not sure what will come from that although Carl Taylor, Director of Network and Application Technologies for 3’s X-Series phones, did ask me questions. Maybe a new cell mast for 3 in my neighbourhood is in the offing

Reality, though: the success or otherwise of the Skypephone will rest to a great extent on a user’s ability to just use it. If you can’t get a 3G signal most of the time – my experience, and you need 3G for Skype to log in and synchronize – this phone will not succeed.

Ken Young, a journalist and one of the bloggers who was there and who writes The UK Mobile Report, has an excellent commentary on the meeting, recounting and describing just about every aspect of it, and in some detail.

My overall focus was a bit different to Ken’s and the other bloggers, all of whom are immersed in mobile technology and the telecoms industry.

I was mostly thinking about the meeting, the people involved and what it might mean to 3 from a public relations point of view.

Better still, from a blogger relations point of view.

Since I first got to know a bit about 3 and its PR approach from being present at the press launch of the Skypephone at the end of October, two words have stuck in my mind when I think about 3:

1. Nimble
2. Disruptive

(I was going to add a few more words – poor 3G network – but that wouldn’t really be fair.)

The way in which the press event was organized, and the way in which invited bloggers like me were treated, was impressive. Professionally organized and run. I even managed to interview John Penberthy-Smith, 3’s Marketing Director, for an FIR podcast.

It is a pleasure to be involved with smart communicators in such a setting, which then sets a good framework for relationship development.

And so it also was with last week’s meeting with 3.

I gather such outreach to bloggers is a bit of a new thing for 3. It’s actually new to a lot of organizations. There’s no manual or handbook yet on how to do it. And it’s quite disruptive.

I’m doing it, too, working with one of my own clients where part of my work is doing that, ie, identifying and reaching out to influencers in the social media space.

As one being reached out to, I’m observing what 3 and their PR agencies are doing which, frankly, is good learning for me as well.

Guy Middleton, 3’s Head of Corporate Communications, and our meeting host, deserves full credit for enabling this outreach. I don’t know whose idea it was – an initiative within 3 or suggested by Parys Communications – but I think 3 will gain measurable benefit in the long term for connecting with individuals who have some influence in their own niche areas.

If this is complementary outreach to traditional outreach including media relations, which I suspect is the case, then 3 are making a good start in gaining ground in a big area of attention – ground where I don’t see much, if any, action from competitors like Vodafone or T-Mobile.

Disruptive is good.

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As I mentioned before, I love its slimness, it’s light weight, it’s appearance. It sits comfortably in my trouser pocket most of the time. It goes with me wherever I go.

Which is great except that I can hardly use it because 3’s 3G network footprint where I am is, basically, useless.

Unless, that is, I’m almost anywhere other than my home base – but that’s where I’m likely to use the phone most.

So I’ve still not explored the phone’s capabilities in any area other than using it as, well, a Skype phone (it doesn’t need 3G for that, just 3’s 2G which has good coverage where I am).

And it’s unquestionably a great device for Skyping on the go, whether voice or text. All you need is a cellular connection.

It’s not perfect, though.

Here’s my initial list of six seven things including ‘I wish it did this…’ items that I hope will be part of a system upgrade (and there will be one, I have no doubt):

1. Improved 3G network coverage where I can start the phone with a default 3G working connection so that Skype can log in and synchronize first time. If the phone only finds a 2G connection, Skype can’t connect (it seems that Skype needs 3G to connect and sync but only 2G for calls and text once you’re connected and sync’d).
2. Let me see my contacts’ profiles. Can’t do that. I find it helpful as some of my contacts have cryptic Skype names and I like to check their profiles just to remind me who they are.
3. Let me see profiles of people requesting a Skype connection. Can’t do that.
   
4. Auto-status indicating. With Skype on the PC, my status automatically changes to ‘Away’ and then ‘Not Available’ if I haven’t used the mouse or keyboard for a while. Useful when you’re actually away from your PC. It doesn’t do that on the Skypephone so anyone looking at your status sees you as constantly available (or constantly away or not available, etc).
5. I was using the nifty Twitter4Skype hack until a few days ago. This lets you send/receive Twitter messages via Skype and, thus, free, ie, not via SMS so no cost. But whenever a stream of texts came in (more like a torrent, actually), the Skypephone had problems handling the volume flow and so crashed and auto-rebooted. Shut off Twitter4Skype and no more crashes or reboots so clearly there’s a relationship there. Either the hack or the phone software needs fixing.
6. Notifications of new texts (called ‘chats’) on the Skypephone are a bit hit and miss. If I click the big Skype button, invariably I get a blank screen saying ‘no chats.’ I cancel, then get another notification. This time, I see the chats.
7. Did I mention improving 3G network coverage?

More to come as I think of them…

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I remember thinking, when I first started using Skype back in 2004, that here’s a small, nimble company that will drive a massive wedge into traditional telephone service business models.

From a user perspective, the model is dead simple and highly compelling – free phone calls via your computer to other users of the service, and very low cost calls via your computer to ‘normal’ telephone numbers, literally anywhere on the planet.

Skype (and its later competitors) has changed the way millions of people around the world communicate where prohibitive costs of using a phone service are no longer a huge barrier – a barrier erected by the big telecommunications operators.

Arguably, Skype has played a not insignificant role in the changes we’ve seen in the past few years in many countries, notably in Europe and North America, with those very same telecommunications companies, what they offer, and how they price it.

Parallel to all this are continuing advances in technology, especially the rapid growth in broadband internet penetration in many countries and changes in people’s behaviors in terms of what they want, how they want it and when they want it.

This is especially the case with the so-called digital natives, the younger generation who dictate change through their own insistent and influential behaviours.

There’s no better way at the moment to drive this point home about changing behaviours (and expectations) than The Rise of the Mobile Super User, a thought-provoking 49-page white paper written by Will Harris and available on free download from Edelman.

These reflections were going through my mind yesterday during the press launch of the Skypephone (pictured above), a joint offering from Skype and UK mobile operator 3, which I attended.

It says to me – this changes everything.

We’re moving up a big notch, from broadband tied to computers and so the geographical restrictions on the things you can do (like make and receive free phone calls), to broadband untied, on mobile devices.

Some would argue that this isn’t new – you can get net access on mobile phones already, and have been able to for some years; and, depending on the device, install and use Skype.

True, but not like this.

Not an offering from a mobile operator – one of the perceived ‘bad guys,’ if you can take that expression in positive context – that gives you a device that’s centred around Skype which simply lets you connect with people in whatever way you choose: free via Skype, as well as with any other mobile phone on a cellular network.

No, what 3 and Skype are doing with the Skypephone is driving another wedge firmly into the next generation of communication – mobile.

I can’t think of anything that would have prevented any other mobile operator – Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange… take your pick – from doing something like this other than maintaining the high pricing status quo.

Skype would be willing – in the briefing, Skype acting CEO Michael van Swaaij quipped that Vodafone can call him any time for talks.

But who in their right business mind would offer a handset and associated services that includes making and receiving calls for free via their network? A crazy notion, isn’t it?

Well, if it’s crazy, then welcome to the asylum!

It gets better when you think of business use of a product like the Skypephone.

One of the questions I asked Kevin Russell, 3’s CEO, in yesterday’s press briefing was how he saw business opportunities for the Skypephone, given that it’s being positioned right now as a consumer product.

His said if (I’d day more likely ‘when’) 3 were to target businesses, it would be the small- to medium-size business sector (which is a classic Skype business target).

But he mentioned anecdotally that his first sale of a Skypephone was to the CEO of a large company who wants to communicate with his 10,000 employees.

That’s the thin edge of a very wide wedge.

I was also interested to hear Kevin say that experiential marketing and word of mouth will play significant roles in 3’s marketing and communication of the Skypephone and engagement with users and influencers.

So don’t expect any 30-second TV spots. Instead, look for blogosphere and related online commentary.

Following the press briefing, I spoke with John Penberthy-Smith, 3’s marketing director. Our conversation included this topic.

That interview will be posted soon as an FIR Interview podcast (and I’ll add a link in this post when it is).

The Skypephone goes on sale in the UK on November 2 for £49.99 (talk about affordable) on pay-as-you-go, and free if you take out a contract.

It will roll out elsewhere in Europe and Australia in the coming weeks. There are no current plans to offer the phone in the USA.

I have not one but two Skypephones to play with for the next three months, courtesy of 3. Review to come (taster: this is one very cool gadget!).

Meanwhile, you can follow what other Skypephone players are doing with their phones at 3mobilebuzz.

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