Last night, I went to a dinner Gen-i chief executive Chris Quin hosted for media at Auckland restaurant Clooney (packed on a Monday night, incidentally, recession watchers).

Due to the setting, my notes were restricted to those I could scribble on a Burger Wisconsin voucher in my wallet during trips away from our table. So you get spared the usual 5000 word essay in favour of some impressionistic jottings. To wit:

* Chris Quin, who was totting a dual mode BlackBerry, plus an iPhone running live on Telecom’s new 3G network, will get his first permanent 3G SIM card today. He’ll use it in a Nokia E71 (Good call. The E71 is perhaps my favourite business phone of the past 12 months).

* Will Telecom replicate Vodafone’s netbook offer, which sees a Dell Inspiron 9 sold at zero up-front cost with a two-year 3G data plan? Definite possibility. CQ says Telecom is in talks with two or three netbook makers.

* CQ makes repeated references through the evening to “institutions who’ve noted we could launch early,” and hints that Telecom could have the wherewithal to bring “T Day” forward (the 3G launch is officially scheduled for an un-named day in June; Vodafone pledges to have its 3G network finished by May 31).

* Is CQ just messing with Vodafone’s head? Or will Telecom really go early?

* For Gen-i, it doesn’t really matter. The Telecom IT and telco services division targets NZ’s 3500 or so largest companies; those who spend between 150K and $35 million a year. Ever since the 3G network was announced, Gen-i has been able to use Telecom’s pending mobile upgrade as a beach-head to help it secure broader IT contracts (including one for NZ Post, stolen from Datacom, 41% owned by NZ Post ... )

* CQ acknowledges that he’s playing catch-up. Vodafone currently has a big lead in higher-end customers, reflected in the stat that, today, Telecom holds 47% share of the mobile market, but only 35% of the revenue.

* “We’ve been killed on roaming” says CQ, conceding that services, as well as the narrow range of handsets, are not so hot on Telecom’s current CDMA mobile network. Business travellers want 3G phones. And Vodafone holds around 90% of the $100 million in-bound roaming market, by ABN Amro’s count. Yup, killed.

* CQ says he expected Telecom’s mobile revenue to “tank” over the past year. Instead, it’s stayed more or less flat - indicating it could really fly with the new 3G network and, finally, a decent line-up of SIM card packing phones.

* Paul Reynolds has both a Mac and a PC in his office, but usually works on the Mac.

* CQ talks down the iPhone. He says CIOs don’t like Apple’s handset, because it complicates their lives when it pops up in the workplace  (and personally he hates the lack of physical keyboard). But you’ve also got to suspect there’s some self-interest involved: Vodafone seems to have a lock on its distribution for now.

* Gen-i recently hosted Microsoft COO Kevin Turner - a direct report to Steve Ballmer - who talked to 14 of Telecom’s biggest customers about hosted unified communications; just the sort of high-end business that CQ reckons he can win on the back of the new 3G network. Returning the love, CQ is about to head up Seattle for three days with Microsoft.

* GPS: a gimmick, or central to business? The later, says CQ. GPS will be huge. Gen-i is working closely with the AA’s Geosmart on location-based services.