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Since t68 is old I think it's time to give you some insight of the history. Some of the facts are not 100% checked but they are accurate enough to give you fairly good view on the case.
I use name t68 for all t68x models.
Ericsson was in trouble with it's mobile phone unit and at that time a Finnish startup was gathering power and resources. Ericsson wanted to make a killer phone that would lift the troubled unit. So they turned to this aggressive company from Finland who had massive reqruiting campaign going on near Nokia R&D facilities. They offered double whatever Nokia was paying. That's how the talent behind t68 was created since Ericsson at that point didn't have such R&D competence. This caused similarity of features with Nokia phones (that were not released at that time) and delayed on some parts of Nokia development.
Now Ericsson had a partner with competence to go through such a task. History proves they actually did make one magnificent phone, troubles at first but eventually it turned out to be _the_ phone in the market. Meanwhile Nokia showed Ericsson that it can play dirty also, Nokia secured supplies of some critical components in the world and when t68 was ready to ship the volumes stayed low and production lines empty. When shops were crying for t68 all they could offer was 3310 and other Nokia models, Nokia increased market share significantly during that time. This cost Ericsson so much that Sony was brought into the picture -> SonyEricsson was formed.
Now most of you are waiting for t68 successor but unfortunately the talent that was bought for making t68 has been moved to different tasks. As subcontracting project ends new project starts, that's life. SonyEricsson will be eventually able to produce successor for t68 but it will not be revolutionary phone like t68 was because of this. There is not enough talent when this Finnish company is creating something strategically more important than successor to t68... (3G perhaps?)
I believe that SonyEricsson can make successful devices once the initial "ice" breaks and teams become confident in releasing the phones. I'm just waiting for that, but meanwhile don't expect miracles. Whatever you say about the P800 the fact is that it is mostly Symbian code with a lot of added functionality. Target market for P800 is not very wide and it will not bring SE back to black. All SE phones are too few and too far... they need to make the release cycle faster like Samsung and Nokia. Until that happens hope that Sony and Ericsson have enough money and patience.
In case you doubt my words feel free to do some research on this matter and find out about Nokia dominance in sourcing and also check aggressive Finnish companies in mobile phones field that were growing significantly during that time.
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Posted: 2003-02-21 00:55:00
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Interesting reading that. i`d be very interested to know what "vital componants" Nokia bought up to slow the t68 sales, i got the impression when i bought a t68m in autumn 2001 that i had an early released phone which was crying out for the "i" upgrade to make it a complete feeling handset. obviously i was unaware of the "i" version in the wings when i bought the phone, but did feel the t68m had a "prototype" kind of feel.
I bought a Nokia 8310 in october 2001 & a week later gave it back in favour of the t68m, i just couldn`t beleive the giant void between those two "latest" handsets. no wonder Nokia took to dirty tactics.
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Posted: 2003-02-21 01:18:00
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Quote:
On 2003-02-21 00:55, anon123 wrote:
When shops were crying for t68 all they could offer was 3310 and other Nokia models, Nokia increased market share significantly during that time. This cost Ericsson so much that Sony was brought into the picture -> SonyEricsson was formed.
I don't know about this statement. You are saying that low sales of the T68 made Ericsson bring in Sony?
But Sonyericsson was formed on 1st October 2001, the T68m was released on the 24th october 2001.
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Posted: 2003-02-21 01:28:00
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Hmm.. the T68 was/is an Ericsson product. And the R&D competence for making that phone comes from within Ericsson. Besides the T68 is basically built on the same platform as earlier phones like T39/R520.
AFAIK the limited supplies of T68 in the beginning was due to manufacturing issues not shortage of components.
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Posted: 2003-02-21 02:40:00
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Ok, i dono where i heard this, but from what i heard was
There were 2 design specialists who were working for Nokia. In their own private time, they were building their "dream phone", which they would later unveil to Nokia.
Then suddenly they were fired, for some unknown reasons.
They contact Ericsson and tell Ericsson about their "dream phone".
They get hired by Ericsson. Ericsson unveils the T68m!
Then Sony and Ericsson partner up to form SE. SE takes the T68m one step further, by making the T68i.
Yup! thats what i read somewhere...sorry dont remember where.
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Posted: 2003-02-21 02:57:00
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The T68m designer was Nikolaus Frank a swedish industrial designer.
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Posted: 2003-02-21 12:34:00
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If that were true, then Nokia owns the rights to the T68 (aka your dream phone).
Because, European patent law states that any ideas/designs that come from an individual during his employment in a field to which those ideas are linked, are owned by his employer.
So if they had the idea's at Nokia, they couldn't go to Ericsson with the plans, they'd be violating patent laws, and if Nokia really were the dirty players we think they are, they'd be all over this!
Sounds like a nice story, and I'm sure there's some truth in it, but somewhere there are some innacuracies!
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Posted: 2003-03-13 03:21:00
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This is the true story. Once upon a time there lived a young prince in a faraway castle. One day he got tired of yelling to call his servants, so he called his brightest inventors to help him with his problem. And to make the story short, they came up with the t68. But the problem was that there were no cellsites then so the t68 was useless. The prince got very mad. He sent the inventors to prison and had them killed. Unknown to the prince, the schematics were kept. (end of part 1)
[ This Message was edited by: maorivera on 2003-03-13 03:53 ]
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Posted: 2003-03-13 03:56:00
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lol....
All those who reckon there's as much likelihood of mao's story being the true story as that at the start of this thread???
Come on mao, where's part two?!
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Posted: 2003-03-13 03:58:00
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But another said they were fired b4 they could present their dream phone to their employer.so i think that european law doesnt apply.On the other hand,no wonder Nokia flooded the market with its colord phones:7210,6610,3650,7650,3650,8910i,3530,3300,etc.I am pretty sure Nokia got hurt when the t68 was release by Ericsson.
With re 2 dos finnish companies,is Benefon one of them?Thats d only finish mobile company i know.
This message was posted from a T68i
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Posted: 2003-03-13 03:59:00
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