"I just got a chance to try out one of the slickest looking #Nokia phones I have ever seen. Soon, you will too! #wp7," read that micro-message from Joe Marini. He followed it up with subsequent Tweets praising the "solid feel" and "nice little touches on the body construction." His one criticism of the device: "I'd like a larger screen."
Microsoft's been touting its alliance with Nokia for months. Back in June, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop flashed a smartphone running Windows Phone at a crowd of people, seconds after asking them to put away their cameras. "I'm going to share something with you," he said at the time, "something that is super-confidential and we do not want to see out in the blogosphere."
Of course, it took roughly a millisecond for photos and video of the smartphones to find their way onto the Web. So it's not exactly a closely-held secret that Nokia's developing these devices, the first of which will reportedly appear by the end of the year.
But that didn't stop Microsoft from terminating Joe Marini with extreme prejudice for those Tweets, at least according to a report on the blog GeekWire. "As we understand it from people inside the company ... Marini resigned after learning that he would be let go for improper use of social media and disclosure of confidential information," read the Sept. 20 posting.
Microsoft has confirmed to multiple sources that Marini is no longer with the company, but has roundly refused to cite the reason for his departure. Officially, Microsoft encourages employees to "use their judgment" when using micro-blogging services like Twitter.
If this is true, I think it's ridiculous. When a CEO "accidentally" offers a glimpse of an upcoming device, it's called viral marketing; when an employee posts about something everybody already knows, apparently it qualifies as insubordination.
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