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Tenda commercial director Jamie Plumridge tells PCR what five pieces of technology shaped personal and professional life…
AMIGA 500 PERSONAL COMPUTER
This is where it all started for me! Or should I say for my Dad, and therefore inadvertently for me. Our very first ‘educational’ piece of tech. He had somehow persuaded my Mum that a PC would be an important investment for the kids, then proceeded to purchase a football game called ‘Kick Off 2’ and spent endless hours hogging the joystick while us Kids watched, and waited, and waited some more for our turn. Just a few years later I would start my career in the technology industry. So in a roundabout way my Dad’s plan worked.
NOKIA 5110
And so it began. The new era of having a mobile phone glued to my ear. This phone was my very first mobile. I didn’t have a lot of money as an apprentice, and so when I saw they were basically ‘giving them away’ (subject to an expensive monthly contract), I eagerly signed up for two of them. One for me, and one as an extravagant gift for my then girlfriend. Needless to say the monthly contract payment lasted a lot longer than the girlfriend! What a product though! The world would never be quite the same again.
SATNAVs
During my first field sales job for one of the UK’s biggest mobile distributors I covered the whole south of England (including London) visiting the thousands of mobile phone shops that sprang up. I would have to print off routes using ‘multi-maps’, memorise the main turn offs, and constantly stop to consult my maps, particularly the London A-Z. Then in-car SATNAVs came along. Suddenly I punch in the address and seamlessly follow the route on the screen. This simultaneously decreased my stress levels greatly, while also allowing me to improve my car karaoke skills (very slightly).
SKYPE
For most of us online video conferencing has recently become an increasingly important part of our lives due to the necessary separation created by Covid-19. Skype played a similarly important role in my life a number of years ago when my wife and I had to maintain our relationship while being more than 5,000 miles away from each other for the majority of a two year period. Skype enabled us to see each other daily, share meals together, and even to have movie nights together. Without it, both of our lives would have looked very different today.
TENDA NOVA MW6 MESH WI-FI
During almost 25 years within the technology sector I have always been most passionate about tech that just works. That just solves a problem for the customer in an easy way. This is when I get my ‘Eureka moment’ Upon talking to Tenda about joining the business to set up the UK market, they sent me a Nova MW6 to test. Five minutes later, once I saw the impact it had on my home Wi-fi network, I had that ‘Eureka moment’ and instantly accepted the job. It proved to be a great career move!
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