Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Who would have predicted this: 16 months after its introduction the iPhone is #1 in sales in the US displacing the RAZR, beating Windows Mobile in smartphone sales and still going strong.  Now, we learn there is no bubble of interest in the iPhone applications that can run on the phone, demand continues to grow.

“It’s unbelievable,“ says Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. “It’s a differentiator. We think in ‘09, it’s going to be a $1 billion market place and Apple will probably take about 30 percent of that. There’s virtually no operating expense for them. They just approve the apps. It increases our confidence that” Apple can make these numbers.

For those slow at math like me, that is $300 million Apple will make off the app store by doing nothing than keeping the electricity on for the servers to hum.  If I were Steve Jobs, Apple’s #1 man, I’d sit next to the servers and laugh demonically.  Maybe he does that, I won’t judge.

But what intrigues me is the community Apple is building around the phone.  Lately, big businesses are creating iPhone apps to reach customers.  Obama had his iPhone app (I’ll refrain from suggesting it is what won him the election).  If everyone and everything is on the iPhone, why get any other phone?

And this could lead to my very favorite thing: car integration.  Yes, the BMW has iPod integration, but I want to dock my iPod on the dash, charge/play/talk/navigate etc. all on the iPod all at the same time.  All these users and infrastructure could give folks the inclination to help integrate the iPhone into our car.  I am tired of the wires, hokey docks, too few cigarette lighters, blah blah blah.

This stone is rolling and continues to pick up steam.  It is only going to go faster if Wal-Mart really does have a $99 iPhone up its sleeves.

Read [CNBC]

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Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack, Features

This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity. 

Here’s what I am calling out this week as whack:

• AT&T wants Symbian on every phone?
• Sprint points out Instincts weaknesses for us
• Verizon gets all paranoid about Omnia’s pricing
• Nokia’s nutty new entry

AT&T’s one OS world

Sure, supporting all these OSes isn’t easy.  Your tech’s knowledge has to be limited by all the myriad of OSes they’re supposed to know. News came today that you blue-sky-guy says Symbian would be good choice for a company-wide one OS to offer and support.  But consolidating down to one OS?  And you think Symbian is that OS?  Really?

Whispering sweet nothings into Symbian’s ear isn’t going to get you anywhere.  Stop worrying about a Nokia take over of the US market, that train isn’t leaving the station.  A much better idea, at least in my mind, is to convince Apple to license its software onto other devices.  Hitch your train to that engine, crackheads. 

Sprint says, “Hey, did you know the instinct couldn’t support your work calendar?“

Sometimes, all that is needed is an email to customers.  Something quiet in the night that says, “hey boys, go here and download this and you get Outlook Calendar support, sweet huh?“.  But no, you had to go and issue a press release telling everyone our out-of-the-box expectation of calendar syncing was off.  Thanks for pointing this out, as I’ve not made fun of the Instinct in a while.  I feel better now.  iPhone killer? LOL.

Get the Verizon Omnia price ticker gadget on your desktop?

I watch the stock market.  I watch the price of light sweet crude.  And now, I am watching the daily price of Verizon’s Samsung Omnia.  This thing is more volatile than a barrel full of gasoline next to a Sony laptop.

Jump beside me in the way back machine, we travel back to 2008, a cloudy November day, the 25th if you are taking notes.  The shiny Omnia is introduced at $249.99 after a lame $70 mail in rebate.  Now, as we are chased by the bizarre inhabitants of November 25,  we land on Dec 2nd of the same year.  Here we find the same Omnia, now priced at $199 after the same lame mail in rebate.  Nervous much?

Did you wake up, presumably strung out, in December and say to yourself, “Holy cow!  Have you heard about this economy stuff?  And this Apple phone, who knew about that?  Quick, slash the price before these phones end up at Odd Lot!“  Lay off the dope.

Nokia disappointments with the N97

I believe we all keep expecting someone else to “get it” with phone software and it clouds are judgment and/or enjoyment of an otherwise snazzy phone.  The new Nokia entry is beautiful, well-built with lovely screen resolution.  But.  And then things start flowing.  The biggest “but” is Nokia refuses to update its OS for the touchscreen times. 

HTC gets it.  Their Windows Mobile skins walk the line of needed Active Sync support mated with something actually functional and close to fun to use.  But not Nokia.  And the N97 is a bit brickish.  Keep at though, your getting warmer.  Appletell’s Josh Holat, while espousing his love for Apple’s device sums up his look at the N97 with:

“Although companies like RIM and Nokia can try to beat out Apple, I don’t see it happening anytime soon, that’s for sure.“

That’s my list for this week.  Let me know in the comments what crazy things I missed and stay off the crack kids.

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Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Man, would I have loved to be in the crowd at the Symbian Partner Conference when AT&T’s Director of Next Generation Services, Roger Smith, stated the telecom’s lofty goal of having the company’s smartphone offerings on the same operating system.  You know what is coming: he said Symbian is “a very credible and likely candidate” to become that one operating system.

Symbian who?

Symbian, which garners 45% or so of the worldwide smartphone OS market, owes much of its success to Nokia.  The platform is stable, works well, and is loved in Europe.  As of late, Symbian was purchased by Nokia and is committed to going open source. 

iPhone effect

Other news this morning from Bloomberg states Apple’s iPhone is recession-proofing AT&T thanks the steady line of new customers for the device.  The company is expected to be the only carrier to post accelerating growth this quarter as companies hunker down for the economic storm.  While AT&T has announced layoffs, subscribers are not detered from obtaining these luxury phones.

“People still want those iconic devices and are willing to pay up for them,” said Will Power, analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co..  “Look at wireless and consumer behavior generally, this also applies to the lower- income demographics.”

Additionally, iPhone buyers are among the industry’s most wanted customers, those that pay 1.6 times what the average customer pays for phone and data services.  In a time where carriers are running out of new customers, they are looking to steal or hold onto these higher-paying customers.

Sucking up?

Perhaps Mr. Smith was sucking up the Symbian crowd?  Certainly a unified OS would make AT&T’s life easier.  One OS to support would be a welcome task to AT&T’s customer support team who currently deal with Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Apple, and then the home brew jobs from Pantech, Samsung and lots more.  Is it possible AT&T could narrow that list down to just one?

Perhaps, but at what cost?  When you remove consumer choice, demand will typically lessen.  Unless other carriers adopt similar rules (and who wants to be the first?), AT&T’s dream of one OS is just pie in the sky thinking.

Source: [Bloomberg]

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If we believe what is being rumored now, Apple is further going to strengthen its hold on the smartphone market. Well, the latest news in the air is that a new 4GB iPhone 3G is coming to Walmart store in the U.S. for a mere $99 with a 2 year contract. Although, BGR is saying that the tipster can’t be believed for sure, but this is something that can really happen. Anyone would love to spend $99 for one of the best selling smartphones, even if it has lesser built-in memory. “Lesser” is not an appropriate word here, right? Let’s wait and watch if the rumor sees the day’s light. In fact, it must!

Via: BGR

Google’s open-source Android cell phone operating system can be found on the T-Mobile G1, but soon the G1 will no longer be alone. The Agora from Australian cell phone maker Kogan will be the next to feature Android.

Sure, it looks like the lovechild of a Blackberry Bold, and a Samsung Blackjack, but that just means that phones are getting smart enough to mate and swap good genes. It will feature a 2.5-inch touchscreen, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G, and a nice Qwerty keyboard.

Expect a January 29, 2009 ship date, but it’s now available for pre-order.

[Obsessable]

Section: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile

The boys at BGR announced they are hearing word that Wal-Mart will have a 4GB version of the iPhone and sell it at a Wal-Mart-y low low price of $99.  A couple of commenters suggested they’d heard the same thing inside Wal-Mart.  If this is true, we are about to see some major changes.

Certainly there are those that suggest the data is fee is too high for Jonny Consumer, and that may be for some, but not most.  Here are the facts: the iPhone currently bests the Razr in volume; the iPhone is outselling Windows Mobile phones; 10,000 apps in the app store is a big draw all on its own.  Now, drop the entry fee to play and this party gets rolling.

4GB is what my first iPod Mini sported for memory.  It is still going, though handed down after purchasing 3 more iPods.  4GB is enough for those seeking a cheap iPhone.  We suspect, the current iPhone costs $173 to manufacture.  But it wouldn’t take much to strip out GPS or perhaps a 3G radio?  And in the shady world of telecom phone deals, who knows what AT&T would be willing to cough back to get the lions share of new phone activations.  And that is just the impact a $99 iPhone would have.

We all are forced to sit through (or at least fast forward through) iPhone advertising.  The reach is there, all they need is a low dollar entry and away it goes.  Forget AT&T’s line of texting phones like the Matrix.  Forget silly little flip phones.  Who won’t be drawn like moths to the flame to be able to swipe, pinch and tilt?  If this happens, other makers have just been put into a corner they may not be able to come out of.

Jobs and the Apple marketing team don’t even need to hold a conference for this.  Just put the products out on the shelf at Wal-Mart complete with the security cord (maybe two) and stick the $99 price above.  The lines are going to be huge.  Mark your calendar for December 28, Christmas may really be a few days late this year.

What do you say?  $99 iPhone to take over the world?  Let us know in the comments.

Source: [BoyGeniusReport]

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Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Web, Web Apps, Websites

Genius.  Why trust the ability of the pizza franchise worker to jot down your order correctly when you can simply SMS your order in and be assured you get mushrooms and meatballs, not anchovies and steak tartar?  Apparently one out of five of us already are and this has forced Papa Johns, pizza purveyor, to start to focus on their new mobile site.

The mobile site is now optimized for the iPhone (boy, what isn’t these days?) and brings pizza, coupons, and directions all in one spot.  Papa John says $1 million in sales has come from mobile devices so far so there is considerable excitement from the Papa Johns team:

“As these devices are getting more powerful browsers, we’re able to take advantage and offer upgraded features and better designs,” said Richard Wise, vice president of operations at wiseOutlook, the company that developed Papa John’s mobile ordering service.

Convenience is big in the pizza business and this trend shows a good application of our devices and technology to advance it even more.

Source [Intomobile]

 

 

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Found under: HTC, Windows Mobile, Microsoft, 4G, WiMAX, HTC MAX, Pocket PC, Smartphones,



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Found under: palm, news,



Bad news continues to come to embattled smartphone maker Palm with Standard Poors downgrading the companys credit rating. Citing lower sales SP downgraded its Palm rating from B1 to CCC. SP also said that the companys outlook is negative and likewise lowered ratings on Palms secured term loan and revolving credit facility from B- to CCC from B-. MarketWatch quoted an SP analyst as saying that the downgrades reflect Palms announcement that sales in the November 2008 q

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