T3 - Tech 100

UK tech reporting bigwig.

A stalwart in the UK tech industry, Charles is a hard-nosed journalist who won’t just find the truth in a story – he’ll also set it aflame.

Big stories he’s seen in the Guardian from the last year include Google’s Chrome OS announcement, the Windows 7 launch and a piece on music downloads killing the music industry. On that note, he told us that Spotify “seems to have gotten people to stop illegal downloading almost single-handedly” but “all the music industry needs to do now is to figure out how to get it to make some money”.

Google’s Android platform obviously interests Arthur, mainly because “it’s the beginning of Apple and Google really competing. Nastily.” Nonetheless, he told us the iPod Touch is one of his favourite gadgets, describing it as “the iPhone without the expensive contract and annoyance of O2’s flaky data network”.

Along with several of his Tech 100 neighbours, Arthur agrees that Apple is working on a tablet, but that “it will disappoint because it will be expensive. But it will be interesting for how it makes people react”.