It may not actually be an iPhone, but Telecom is inviting comparison between its latest handset, the Okta Touch, and the much-hyped Apple handset.
We don’t have to see the Okta to know the answer to this one.
I watched the video. TVNZ interviews David Gray (Grey?) Telecom’s Head of Consumer Marketing, which is just the title of the person you’d expect Telecom to send. Why not send the CEO, if this is so important?
David answered the first question (Why Okta?) by saying that the brand
Resonates with consumers as a name that has technological expertise and is accessible.
I’ll refrain from commenting.
He later said that the Okta Touch is aimed at business users. This is clearly not the iPhone market.
David reiterated 3 times that the Okta has Windows Mobile 6, but I’m not sure people care.
Finally he got caught trying to nuance the distinctiveness of the phone – “does this exist anywhere else? was answered by “This product does not exist with the Okta branding”. The interviewer drilled and got a more honest answer in the next question.
Nobody talked about the path beyond obsolescence when Telecom changes their high speed network next year
Lance Wiggs 
I was at the Okta launch in AKL last week, and the same (or similar, made by a probably non-tech journalist) quesiton came up:
“Is this going to work on Telecom’s new network?”
The answer, clear as before: no. He continued on “Telecom’s current CDMA network has another five years in the market”.
We all know most high tech handsets are swapped every few years, so this will be obsolete before their network is decommisioned.
Or so they say.
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Oh that is one of the funniest tech stories I’ve ever seen. Brilliant. Like a Monty Python skit.
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