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One Nokia N96, one suitcase, one world tour, lots of welcoming hosts
By Charlie on 21 October 2008
GLOBAL – A few weeks back I wondered what would happen if a phone went hand to hand, streaming wherever it was, slowly accumulating a story of its own travel. Part of this was inspired by The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (of which I’ve watched a trailer) and Flat Stanley (which my children both participated in). But, also, part of this was wanting to tie together a bunch of interesting people I have met and known, over the past few years, with something fun.
Next thing that happened is that I wondered aloud to one of my colleagues, Ben Lampe, and he took the idea and ran with it, goading me to work with him to make this so (so, many thanks to him).
So now we have the Nokia N96 World Tour. Read on to learn about what we’ve done.
The people
First and foremost, I wanted to pick a range of people, hosts, as it were, from different fields and countries, folks who might use the device in varied ways. The first three are a musician, an educator, and a media techie (well, they are all a bit techie). One lives in the UK, the other Australia, and the third in Brasil. We are in the process of contacting the next folks in my list, but I expect the World Tour to go through Canada (eh?), France, USA, and maybe even Ghana. Let’s see.
The traveler, an N96
We packed a nice black valise with an N96, a cool headset to listen to tunes, and some cables and chargers. We’ve set up the phone so that folks could Twitter (on behalf of the phone), upload images and videos, add music and games and videos, add apps, and so on, such that at the end, the device would have a physical and digital story to tell. In addition to taking pics and vids, the ‘hosts’ might even add stuff to the device, such as their favorite apps, their own music (for which they have rights, of course), stickers, bookmarks, or voice recordings.
After they play with the kit for a week or so, they just send it to the next host.
Be a voyeur or participate
There are a few ways you can follow the World Tour.
We’ve set up a Nokia N96 World Tour – Center Stage, where you can see the Ovi and Twitter streams from the device. We’ll be tweaking and updating the page as the Tour goes on, so bookmark it and keep coming back.
You can also add the N96 to your feeds:
- N96 World Tour on Share on Ovi
- N96 World Tour on Twitter
- N96 World Tour on Sports Tracker
Just for fun
Let’s see what comes out with this. I wanted to start small with one device traveling. But Ben already sees the fun in this and wants to send out other devices circulating. Heh. Let’s see how this goes.
Oh, and Steve has already added his first video!
Image of the N96 World Tour Kit from schickr (that’s me)
Related posts:
- Follow the N96 World Tour! (now in Brasil)
- Nokia Mobile World Congress round-up: N86 8MP, E55, Ovi Store and lots more
- Mobile World Congress: Nokia booth tour
Tags | N96, travel, world tour
October 21st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
That really is a NICE black valise ! If you start selling N96s in that, I’m sure more people are gonna pick it up
Oh and if you need the tour to pass through India, I’m your man Charlie !
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October 21st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
thats a hell of an idea charlie.
definitely will digg this
good luck with the thing.
thats right CJ is our man from India. hope you add him to the list.
i wud love to give it a go, but right now im not as impressed with N96 as i am with N85, so, ill let this pass for now
PS.
next time try something completely different like sending it on a space tour or the moon maybe…
“Headlines – The first Smartphone to tour the earth”
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October 21st, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Is a good idea but be careful with the import duties.
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October 21st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
great idea! go n96 go! love to participate in the future in something like this!
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October 21st, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Nice! Really.
However, that set couls have done well with a coupla extra batteries too!
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October 22nd, 2008 at 12:49 am
Love the idea! How fun, am now now looking forward to following the Suitcased N96… ;o)
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October 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
Charlie, I wonder if you have anything/anyone lined up for Christmas, but I AM going back to Lebanon on Christmas, and I think it would be a nice add to the N96’s World Tour.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Awesome idea Charlie..
BTW.. Am up for USA Atlanta.. Undergrad College Student.. Hyper Active S60 Ambassador (rnb89)..
So yeah .. Do consider..
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October 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Following this, very interesting!
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October 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I love CJ’s spacePhone idea. That case looks like it is ready for some space travel!
How does one become a part of the N96 world tour? I’ve just sold my house and will be traveling from Miami, FL to Austin, TX with a possible stop to Cleveland, OH along the way. All that in mid-Novembeer, I think the N96 would love to go on tour with me.
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October 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Dude,
I remember when you spoke about this idea in the Saunas back in Finland. Nice to see it come to fruition.
Will follow with interest.
J
PS – Keep it up man. Great things.
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November 2nd, 2008 at 4:10 am
For a world tour, in some venues WiFi offers better coverage than GSM, as well as real cheap roaming.
So remember to pack your internet telephony app
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November 7th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
spare batteries will be needed for a world tour, i wonder what cellphone ill bring if ill make a tour, N82 or N96 what do you prefer? both of my phones are actually styled up with fantastic designs and applications.
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