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The power of text

Introduction to clip from Stuart Newstead

I was at O2 until 2002, when my wife, Vicki, had a very serious horse riding accident.  The accident caused a broken neck and a stroke that resulted in loss of the power of speech and spelling, and paralysis down her right hand side.  She was in hospital for nine months.  Thanks to her great willpower and the support of the UK Health Service, Vicki slowly gathered strength and recovered some of her capabilities.  It was – and is – simply a question of one day at a time.  Short-term goals leading to short-term progress and a sense of moving forwards.  Although she has no use of her right arm, somewhat limited leg mobility and somewhat limited short-term memory, Vicki now leads a full and normal life.  She works, she drives, she even rides a horse.

For my part as family support and chief information office to the outside world,  I found I could deal with everything I had to during the day.  However, I found the endless repetition of phone calls in the evening a real challenge.  Saying the same thing again and again, and using energy that I really needed to conserve for the next day, was very difficult.  By accident – ironic since I am from the mobile industry – I stumbled on the idea of sending a text message at the end of each day to family and close friends.  The attached one-minute sound clip, based on an interview I did for a BBC Radio 4 programme, explains how powerful the creation and distribution of this daily text message was for me, for family and for friends.

  500kB 64kB resolution mp3 file. Duration 1 minute

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Episode 2 - 3G or not 3G. July 2006

Chaired by Ed Williams (T-Mobile)
with Steve Reynolds (TBS Mobility), Bob Brace (Nokia),
Paul Lee (Deloitte) and Adam Oliver  (BT Research)
Music: John Williams 'Steam Train ' mp3 track courtesy of Magnatune

   16MB 64kB resolution mp3 file. Duration 35 minutes

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Chapter 1 (0mins)- Overview
The auction, statistics, early services and content

Chapter 2 (6mins 45s) - Pieces of the Jigsaw
Lessons learnt, devices, speed, applications, coverage and timing

Chapter 3 (15mins) -  3G in the Enterprise
Early poor experience, data cards, security, costs, applications, EDGE and WLAN, further market segmentation

Episode 1 - Mobile Messaging. April 2006
Chaired by Ed Williams (T-Mobile)
with Steve Reynolds (TBS Mobility), Bob Brace (Nokia) and Ian Tomson-Smith (mxData)
Music: John Williams 'Steam Train ' mp3 track courtesy of Magnatune

   16MB 64kB resolution mp3 file. Duration 35 minutes

To play, left click on the podcast symbol
To download, right click on the podcast symbol and select 'save target as' to choose the location on your computer to save the file