T-Mobile Knows How To Host A Launch

I just got through watching the T-Mobile G1 launch event, which was livecasted here. As a blogger, I’ve sat in on several product launches, most of them over the internet, which is awesome. However, not a single one from either Apple, Nokia, or anyone else has come close to the quality and enjoyability of this T-Mobile G1 launch, for a number of reasons.

First, the entire thing was livecast with full video and audio, and it didn’t stutter once. You’d think for massive companies such as Apple and Nokia, they’d be able to get a handle on streaming live video over the internet. Nokia at least tries, but most of the time, the feed continuously stutters and buffers, so that you end up giving in and just watching the archive. Apple, on the other hand, doesn’t even livecast its events, forcing you to watch the video archive a few hours after the event. It’s really neat to be able to log-on and watch, live, with better than TV-quality.

Second, the T-Mobile G1 has been leaked countless times on various sites and blogs, just like most Nokia smartphones, and an increasing number of Apple things. Fuzzy photos, rumored specs, etc. While Nokia complains about these leaks, and maintains the official ‘it doesn’t exist’ policy (even for the Tube, which was showcased in The Dark Knight), T-Mobile not only referenced these leaks/rumors/fuzzy photos in this launch event, but somewhat joked about them, saying they would be no more. Brilliant.

Third, those on stage directly answered questions, and not with vague, canned PR responses. You can re-watch the video, and no one on stage is glancing around to get the nod from PR, they answer questions directly, knowing that if someone asked it, they’re interested in the answer. In the case of a few questions that they legitimately couldn’t answer, they blatantly stated that. No messing about, no dodging questions.

Overall, I’m really impressed. The only thing that I would’ve like to see is interactive options for those tuning in over the internet, such as myself. A chat room, or forums, like Nokia has grown accustomed to doing, would have been a great addition. Nokia is stellar at including everyone in their launches, but need to seriously work on the actual event itself.