Judie: It stands to reason that our last post about CES would be about the last meeting Jerry and I attended; and as the title above this text reveals, that meeting was with i-mate. Here was an opportunity for us to enjoy some hands-on time with their long promised Ultimate line in the privacy of an off-convention site, and I have to tell you - I honestly didn’t know what to expect. digital-fingerprint@geardiary.com
As you may recall, when the Ultimate models were first announced they all had matte golden metal bodies, completely impressive specs, and there were several projected models which as yet have never come to fruition. I was so excited about the line when it was first announced, but as time went by I began to read increasingly negative postings by people who had spent a few moments with some of the early models. Needless to say, I was starting to think that the loss of HTC as their OEM might have sounded the death knell for i-mate. I was eager to see the Ultimates in person and find out for myself if i-mate needed to be written off, or if the naysayers had been premature.
But let me back up for just a moment, because a lot of funny stuff happened on our way to the meeting and during…
Jerry and I were picked up in front of the Hilton by our driver Eddie, who had already called twice to coordinate. At first Eddie seemed like all the other hired guns who had been sent to get us for other “off-site” meetings during our stay - dark suited and very professional, so I was surprised when he started asking questions about Gear Diary. I honestly figured that he had just read our site name off his clip board and was being polite, but it soon became evident that he was truly interested. Pleasantly surprised, I asked if he was a “techy”.
Holy mistaken identity, Batman!
That’s when we found out that Eddie actually works for i-mate…and not as a driver. After laughing over my mistake, we had a great conversation about i-mate, Dubai (the company’s headquarters, which Eddie has visited a few times), and yes - a bit about Gear Diary and the things we like to cover.
When we arrived at the MGM Tower, we ran into two guys that Eddie obviously already knew. They had thick accents - one was Scottish for sure, and I couldn’t place the other’s accent; in all honesty they reminded me of a couple of characters from a Guy Ritchie caper movie…think Snatch. They were joking around, really at ease, and asking about badges to get into CES. The two guys came up to the i-mate suite with us and made themselves at home.
This was where we met Hector Lopez, the American Director of Sales. After a bit of banter, I was given a seat at the main table and the demonstration got underway. If you look closely at the monitor below, you’ll see that it is showing the screen from a Windows Mobile Professional device - that’s because each Ultimate device has a VGA out connection for easy hookup.
Jerry: I honestly was tired and ready to be underwhelmed. Then the devices came out, and I woke up.
all pictures taken by Jerry
