S60 Ambassadors Site Launches, Dan Talks To Saara
So, it’s been soft-launched for a few weeks, but today at the S60 Summit in Barcelona, the new S60 Ambassadors site was officially launched! As you know, a few months ago I joined on with the S60 Ambassadors program, as the lead point of contact for Ambassadors in North and South America. There are quite a few of you that have already joined up with the program and are submitting reports, which is awesome!
If you’re not familiar with it, you can check out the new site here: http://www.Ambassadors.S60.com, but basically the program is designed to encourage S60 fans to talk about it to anyone and everyone. We’ve got campaigns, which are focused on a particular service or product, and you can accumulate points for each report you submit. You can get the full details here in the FAQ.
If you don’t feel like reading anything today, you can also check out the latest Voice of S60 podcast, hosted by Saara Bergstrom of the S60 team. Saara’s chatting with Dan Shugrue, the director of the S60 Ambassadors program. Dan gives some background on the S60 Ambassadors program and explains it a bit more in depth. Here’s a direct link to the MP3 file.
Also, don’t forget about the Evening with S60 in Boston next Thursday, June 5th. I’ll be there, and we’ve got some REALLY cool stuff planned, so if you’re in the area, be sure to RSVP and join us!
Btw, someone pointed out in some forum.. I think it might have been the M-R one, that you should not be reviewing other manufacturers handsets on Mobileburn given that you “work for” Nokia as a S60 ambassador (if I am not mistaken you are not getting paid to do it by Nokia.. or are you?). I meant to point out there that S60 is strictly speaking not the same as Nokia.. but anyway, you might want to discuss with Michael about at least disclosing that too in your MB postings.
I am in fact not merely an Ambassador, but was hired on by S60/Nokia to moderate the reports and be a point of contact for the Ambassadors.
It was on the AAS forums that they decided that, basically because of my negative review of the SE W960i. (I did check in on that thread, as well). What’s funny is that I’ve operated this site, and proudly proclaimed myself to be a Nokia fanboy since before starting at MobileBurn, and reviewed several handsets there, such as the Motorola Q9m, Sidekick LX, Helio Mysto, LG Shine, Palm Centro, and several other handsets, with varying final assessments, and no one cared. I suppose you shouldn’t mess with the SE fanboys, lol.
I’ll speak with Michael, but I think he would agree that my current position at Nokia has no effect on my reviews, just like it has no effect on the opinions that I post here. If something sucks, I’ll say it, simple as that. Likewise, if it’s good, I’ll say that, as well.
I do appreciate the feedback, though, and will see what Michael wants to do.
I think Ricky is balanced enough to maintain his prespective Nokia job or no Nokia job. Those comments I agree are fan boy stuff.
Moreover its even better for the readers if someone bashes their would have been handset:
A) Because they now have an accurate picture, or
B) Now they know before buying something, all its minuses already!
PS: The good thing about Nokia Fanboys is that they themselves point out if Nokia screws up something, unlike the SE ones who either blame the reviewer or turn a blind eye or even worse attempy to defend the blunder!
You’r doing a killer job Ricky, keep with the awesome work!
Yep, I agree. I do think it might be good to disclose it though, like you do with regard to having this blog.
I appreciate the feedback, genuinely, and I didn’t think that Viipottaja was asserting that as his own opinion.