Mark Bridge writes:
Unboxing is - or was - the new geek porn. We know this because The Register told us so in 2006, when the practice of video recording the unpacking of new consumer electronics products started to become popular. Just over two years later The Independent tried to tell us that unboxing was still the new geek porn but, by then, conventional porn had probably returned to... er... pole position.
Why do I mention this? Well, Sony Ericsson has just published its own unboxing video featuring tennis player, model, charity worker and Sony Ericsson brand ambassador Maria Sharapova.
She reveals the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro, describing it as "a little bit more unique" than the X10 Mini. The X10 Mini Pro has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and claims to be the world’s smallest Android smartphone with a full QWERTY keypad.
The celebrity involvement is bound to attract attention – heck, it's got me writing about the event – but it's not done anything to convince me that unboxing has much relevance to real life. It has, however, taken geek porn to a new level. Surely it won't be long before the 'cover girls' that used to grace the pages of What Mobile get in on the act.