What is in a name?

At Nutshell we are constantly aware of the changing face of the mobile computing landscape.

As device makers get smarter, the technology that they use gets smaller, faster and increasingly more complex.

Add to that an array of shapes that fit the hand in an amazing variety of ways, and every user is faced with a staggering number of amazing mobile devices, all offering smaller, faster, longer life and better performance and abilities.

All this is great news for the cognoscenti and the technocrats amongst us; things that were mere dreams a few years ago are fast becoming everyday realities; video phones with hi-res cameras, screens that sparkle, dazzle and present realistic images, more space on which to store stuff; better and increasingly better means of staying in touch with one another. As someone once said - "The list goes on."

Of course, this presents a constant challenge to a company like Nutshell; focused on delivering products that meet and exceed the user's expectations. It is the old 'what do we do next' syndrome. A constant hunt to make our products better and more attractive, while maintaining quality control and deliver-ability.

But we constantly have a niggling worry in the back of the head that what we do may actually turn off some customers; our use of natural materials offends some folk who would rather we lived in trees, ate nuts and shoots and rooted around for our daily sustenance. The merest whiff of a suggestion that we may even contemplate delivering products that incorporate natural materials can be a turn-off, to some people. And nobody needs a turn-off.

The challenge then is to deliver products which entice the senses; after all, until you purchase you cannot touch, feel and fully experience any product that is presented online. It is all in the mind, and in that sense of expectation and belief that the product you are purchasing will fit your lifestyle, like a glove.

So we are searching for a name. A word. An expression of timeless elegance, wish-fulfillment and good taste. Coupled with our users' expectations of a product that not only looks like a million dollars, it will actually deliver what we, as designers and creators, have set ourselves as the challenge; the creation of that ultimate product that will better protect its contents against most all of what our users will undoubtedly throw at it.

And you thought you had problems. :-)