The cellular executives and gadget gurus can generally get any phone they want – something which makes them a special breed in the mobile phone arena. <\/p>\n
The freedom to pick and choose means that they will generally select the best phone on the market to suit their needs and we’re hoping that their choices signal which devices are the hottest and most usable gadgets around.<\/p>\n
Here is what the guys in the know are currently using<\/p>\n
Current mobile devices<\/strong><\/p>\n MTN’s resident gadget guru Brian Seligmann – who also manages the company’s mobile broadband service – is currently using a Nokia 5310 Xpress Music phone as his primary voice device. Seligmann says that he is also ‘playing with’ a Nokia N95 8GB, a Sony Ericsson P1i, an HTC 7500 Advantage and an HTC Shift.<\/p>\n Other MTN top choices are the Nokia N95 for MTN Executive Buckley McGrath, the Nokia E90 for both MTN NS CEO Mike Brierley and his colleague Esrom Madonsela and the Blackberry 8310 for James Rutherford, MTN SA’s head of corporate sales.<\/p>\n Cell C’s Executive Head of Marketing, Simon Camerer, currently uses an HTC Vox S710. “I love this phone – it’s small but also has a full slide out keyboard. The next phone I want is the updated version of the phone,” says Camerer.<\/p>\n Harri Rauhala, Cell C’s Chief Strategy Officer, says he typically carries 2 phones around: “One for mainly calls (small and sexy), one for email (big and still sexy).” His emailing phone is HTC Touch while his voice phone is a Nokia N95.<\/p>\n Vodacom executive Dot Field shares Rauhala’s sentiment regarding two phones, and is also using the Nokia N95 as well as the BlackBerry Curve.<\/p>\n Toby Shapshak, editor of the recently launched gadget magazine Stuff South Africa, is well renowned as one of the most knowledgeable gadget junkies out there. Shapshak is currently using the Sony Ericsson W880i as his primary phone ‘because it is so small and so useful’.<\/p>\n “I gave up my smartphone (Sony Ericsson P1) for it, but it was mostly a lifestyle choice. I have been using smartphones from their earliest incarnations, but I wanted to get away from the deluge of email and the sheer size of the average smartphone for something smaller and simpler,” Shapshak pointed out.<\/p>\n What is in the pipeline?<\/strong><\/p>\n The industry leaders are also in the privileged position of having insight into what the future holds in the mobile device market, and here is what these guys are looking forward to.<\/p>\n MTN’s Seligmann says he is eager to get his hands on the Nokia N96, the SE W960, the HTC Touch Dual (which was launched recently), the Samsung i780 and the 3G Apple iPhone.<\/p>\n Stuff editor Shapshak says that he is “drooling over the Sony Ericsson W890i, which is the upgrade of my current phone.” He is also keen to see how Sony Ericsson upgrades their P1 range and what Apple can do with a 3G iPhone.<\/p>\n