“[Sony Ericsson] this week announced a Bluetooth headset with a press release that looked designed to set gender politics back by several decades.

Billed as a ‘must have handbag accessory’, the HBH-PV712 Style Edition (for her) is, apparently, the Bluetooth headset “with the female touch”. Since we’re mired in 70s TV cliche here, that presumably means it wants to know why you’ve been out so late and looks like it’s had one too many home made gins and tonic. So you give a heartless laugh, tell it “You’re a bloody mess, love”, and fix yourself a stiff scotch.

It gets better: “Throughout the design process, women have been thought about, from the considerable amount of talk-time available and the user-friendly technology, to the comfortable swirl ear hook which makes the headset easy to apply.”

So there you go, Sony Ericsson has based this product on the premises that women chatter like monkeys, have trouble operating basic consumer electronics and need Bluetooth headsets that don’t challenge their limited motor skills. Bless ‘em.

[via Telecoms.com]