Mark Bridge writes:

I remember the 1980s. In fact, I rather enjoyed them. Hang on a sec, hear me out. There really was some good stuff there – not least the renaissance of 'sisters doin' it for themselves'. Oh, and the launch of the UK's first cellular mobile phone network.

Thirty years later and time seems to have moved backwards. We now appear to be living in an episode of Mad Men scripted by R Kelly and Wilma Flintstone. Samsung's Taiwanese business unit has just released a pink 'Femme' version of the Galaxy S in partnership with Aveda. Lovely. But why didn't they also release a blue one that came with a football?

Girly geeky gadgety stuff is all over the internet. Arguably a female focus has been needed to offset the male dominance of the mobile phone industry (and most other industries) – but do we really still need it?  More to the point, isn't any pink/fluffy/compact theme a tacit suggestion that standard mobile phones – normal mobile phones – are the ones created exclusively for men?  Isn't any 'mobile phones for girls' messaging more likely to keep women as a niche market, not liberate them from it?  Of course I'll accept there are differences between women and men. But is there really such a difference in their purchasing of consumer electronics?

I know this is a subject I've mentioned before. And I'm certainly inclined to agree with the suggestion that men and women tend to think in different ways. So maybe the marketing messages for mobile phones need to be broader or targeted differently. But that doesn't mean setting your pitch in a kitchen or a shoe shop.

Perhaps this type of female focus on technology was needed once. But not now. Surely not now. Germaine, please tell me it ain't so.