TRICKS OF THE TRADE

"There seems to have been some confusion at Orange around yesterday's launch in Poland of the 3GiPhone. Newswires reported that actors had been paid to stand outside its shops to create excitement after a lacklustre response. Orange claimed that it was all a misunderstanding and that "things got a bit misconstrued". Or maybe not. When I recounted the story to a British mobile phone retailer, he said that it was a common practice in the industry to pay people to bulk up queues. "We do it all the time." (Times, 23 August) RD