Cellphones
New Willcom Phones for Japan
Some pretty sweet announcements out of Willcom:
The black QWERTY slider (the Willcom 03) has a touchscreen that allows you to draw designs/notes and send them live to others during a conversation. It runs Windows Mobile.
The neon yellow phone is called the Honey Bee 2, and comes armed with a 3MP camera and the Opera browser.
Nobody is going to use
this. Ever.
Fail.
I was considering shorting their stock a year ago. I really should’ve.
A Gentleman Loses An Item
“A gentleman makes sure to cast his net far and wide so that a town is – literally — littered with a strong web of valuable social connections. [A gentleman is owed favors.] Over the course of painting the town red one evening, should a gentleman lose a priceless item from his deep pockets (be it a golden scepter or a gold and diamond encrusted cell phone), he can rely on one of his many friendly contacts to promptly return said item.”
A Gentleman Benefits From Keeping Good Company - The Foggy Monocle
BlackBerry Bold On AT&T
One of the most anticipated devices from RIM finally has a release date at AT&T: November 4th.
For those of you who didn’t know, the Bold has been a complete failure so far. It’s been going through network testing on AT&T for months, and keeps on failing because the software stack is too buggy, among other things.
Other carriers that rushed it to market this summer (Orange in the UK) have recently halted sales until the phone’s problems can be fixed.
Now, the Bold has a new problem: its price.
It’s going out the door for $300 (after rebates), a full $101 higher than the iPhone. Steve Jobs just announced that Apple sold 6.8 million iPhones last quarter, compared to 6.1 million BlackBerries. If this isn’t a sign that RIM needs to discount its devices or innovate better ones, I don’t know what is.
This intro is looking to be a failure.
New iPaqs
This design is hot:
It’s thicker than the iPhone, and runs a weaker OS as well. But the keyboard looks pretty useful.
Sprint is getting back in the game
I’ve been buying, selling, and writing about Sprint over the last year quite a bit. The firm was losing customers at a rate of ~ 1M/quarter. Their customer service was the worst. They bought Nextel, which uses a completely different, incompatible, and decrepit iDEN voice network. Their new CEO, the very seasoned Dan Hesse, has been trying to turn things around.
Now he’s got a minor victory to trumpet.
The latest poll by Pali Research indicates Sprint is now on top with regard to wait time, measured by percent of calls answered by a real person within 30 seconds of calling. Sprint, on average, answers 91% of calls within 30 seconds. Verizon Wireless came in second with 85%, T-Mobile - 44%, and AT&T brought up the rear at 33% (OUCH!). Improvements at Sprint have also been measured in other areas, including the number of customer issues resolved the first time they call, and how long it takes to handle a call.
The real test will be the next comprehensive poll from JD Power. If Sprint tops that poll (or even marginally improves), it will be indicative of the new CEO’s good execution on customer service, an area in which he’s really focused on in his short tenure at the helm.
Sprint soars from last place to first place in customer service poll
Best Buy
Just so you know, I’ve begun accumulating shares of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY).
I think they’ll weather the storm of lower consumer spending more than admirably. They’re expanding their Best Buy Mobile division, which they (and I) have high hopes for. It’s a retail store where you can buy a cell phone and contract from any carrier. Beats the Verizon stores, where you can only look at VZW devices. Their stores are small and often located in malls, making them more accessible than typical Best Buy stores, which are often stand-alone.
Best Buy Mobile has 30 locations at present, and they’re one of the few retailers that is in the process of expanding during the economic downturn.
Best Buy stock has been trading in the $40-$50 range for years, but in the past month, shares have taken a hit, now trading just under $25. They’re down 40% in the last 30 days! Forward P/E is hovering around 14, significantly lower than the S&P’s average of 18. It’s not yet in deep value territory, but it’s a stock you should at least be watching.
Photo by Flickr user djcn0te.
Set’cha Fone on Vibe
Nice sign-off phrase to end your review of a device with (emphasis added):
When you take the battery cover off the G1, the first thing you might see is the vibrate mechanism. It’s actually the first time we’ve ever seen one exposed on a mobile device and it gives off a weird vibrate feeling. It’s sort of a rough-ass vibrate that makes you feel like the phone is going to explode. Ok, well maybe not that bad, but we guess a stronger vibrate is better than a weak one? That’s what she said.
From T-Mobile G1 Review @ Boy Genius Report.
Txt Msgs
(After being directed to [redacted]’s voicemail and leaving him a voice message)
[Redacted]: “I’m in a meeting till 10:00. What’s up?”
Me: “I left you a voice msg.”
[Redacted]: “I can’t check it till 10:00. Text me nutshell…”
Me: “nutshell…”
Sounds like he’s in one boring meeting.
The Google G1
The G1 on T-Mobile USA has been formally unveiled, check the video:
Gore Created Internet, McCain The BlackBerry
McCain’s policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, claims that McCain’s efforts on telecom regulation in the Senate birthed the BlackBerry.
The BlackBerry is Canadian, not American, and its development was a result of both consumer demand for mobile email devices and stellar technology innovation, things having little to do with telecom legislation.
McCain has acknowledged that he doesn’t know how to use a computer and can’t send e-mail, one of the BlackBerry’s prime functions.
[...]
The Arizona senator’s handling of regulation and deregulation of [the telecom] industry in particular left him with the skills to help revive the economy amid a mortgage crisis, an energy crisis and a Wall Street meltdown, the adviser said.
How could McCain’s regulatory skills revive our economy amid three crises?
Keep in mind, this is coming from one of his crackpot advisers, and not him, so I guess we shouldn’t knock McCain for this. However, he should ensure that his posse sticks to the script when talking to the media.
It’s not like politicians are known for embellishing or anything.
Taking A Look At Palm
Palm, the smartphone maker, might just be making a comeback.
Over the last year or two, they’ve had a management shakeout, 25% of the company was bought by U2’s Bono and some ex-Apple execs, and the company’s aging product line was refreshed (on the low end by the Centro, and on the high end by the 800w and the Treo Pro a.k.a. Treo 850).
From a product competitiveness standpoint, Palm is in the best shape it’s been in since the launch of the Treo 700 and Treo 750 in 2006. Their new high-end Treos have all the specs needed (WiFi, GPS, HSDPA) to compete with RIM (BlackBerry) and the other Windows Mobile devices (Motorola Q9, Samsung Blackjack II). The problem is that in 2008, the smartphone market is more competitive than it was in 2005 and 2006 — the last period of time that Palm performed well. Palm products now have the iPhone to compete with, as well as a line of BlackBerries that has more depth (different models to serve more niche audiences) and more enterprise adoption (many firms have been running BlackBerry Enterprise Server for years and are unlikely to switch).
Clearly, Palm’s new products are not a ‘perfect storm’ scenario. In fact, if anything, it’s a truly sad situation: Palm finally came out of the gate with some really strong products, and their competition has already decided their fate by having cooler products (Apple) and a competitive moat (RIM).
Let’s look at Palm stock for a moment. Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) is down 49% in the last 12 months. By comparison, its northern competitor, RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) is up more than 65%. Palm stock has followed a pattern since November 2007 of occasionally rallying to $7, and then falling down closer to $5. As recently as a month ago, shares could be had for $5.33. Since then, we’ve seen a stronger-than-usual rally, with the stock surpassing $7. Shares today are selling for $7.76 (a gain of more than 40% in only 4 weeks!). Now, if you look at previous rallies from earlier this spring and summer, you’ll see that this one could very well subside just as the previous ones did. Palm’s income statement and cash flow numbers don’t look very promising, which lends to the idea that share purchases will be contained, and share sales would perhaps outpace purchases. But if you believe, as I do, that Palm’s new products will propel them to higher sales numbers during the 3rd and 4th quarters, perhaps buying Palm shares makes sense.
I’m still trying to figure out where I stand on Palm.
I guess it doesn’t matter if Palm makes a sensational comeback or not. They’ve at least proven that they can take on powerhouse RIM, which may be consolation enough.
Edit: Wired GadgetLab and a telecom analyst at Global Crown Capital seem to agree.
KDDI au’s Musical Mobiles
KDDI au’s concept phones also work as instruments. A trumpet, a harmonica. Your imagination is the only limitation.
iPhone Now Tethers For Data
My Motorola Q9C tethers easily to my MacBook running Vista so that I can browse the internet at broadband speeds from anywhere, even on a Metro bus. The iPhone didn’t allow this sort of tethering (in fact, it’s banned in the service agreement).
That’s changed as of today. The hack isn’t convenient, but it works.
Check it out over at http://cre.ations.net.
Intel Wants LTE Dead
The two competing fourth-generation high-speed wireless technologies, WiMax and LTE, are prepared for war. Intel is decidedly behind WiMax, having committed to building WiMax into its next generation of chipsets for computers large and small. Intel has also financially backed Bellevue-based Clearwire, which is rolling out WiMax in the US, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, and Mexico.
The cellular carriers, AT&T and Verizon included (as well as myriad players all over the world) have committed to LTE (Long Term Evolution), a superfast wireless network standard primarily to be used for voice but also for superfast data and video.
Basically, WiMax is going to get massacred.
Each technology will have its own installed base of customers to market to. With LTE, you’ve got hundreds of millions of cellphone customers, and the networks will be rolling out some LTE-compatible devices as early as 2009. People carry their cellphones with them everywhere, so why not just use the high-speed data in the device you already carry?
Currently, WiMax has no installed user base. They’re taking a different tack, and trying to ensure that WiMax comes built-in on all new laptops. They’re hoping that WiMax becomes as ubiquitous as WiFi has. That’s a long-shot. Remember that it took 6-7 years from its broad introduction in 1999 for WiFi to become standard on most laptops.
LTE already has hundreds of millions of customers waiting in the wings, many of them with contracts to stay with that particular carrier. WiMax has no broad customer base to speak of, and its poster-child Clearwire has already encountered difficulty trying to hawk wireless broadband to an unwilling populace. The competition on price that cable internet offers is just too strong for Clearwire to defeat, and Clearwire’s slow speeds compared to fiber-optics (Verizon’s FiOS, for instance) won’t win it any converts at the high-end of the market.
Intel realizes that WiMax is dead in just about any country that already has cable/fiber infrastructure. Now, they want a truce. Intel wants WiMax to MERGE with LTE so that they don’t compete against one another.
It’s too bad such a merger won’t ever happen. Sorry, Intel, you’ve already backed a horse — the wrong one.
LG Decoy for Verizon
The LG Decoy has the honor of being the only phone with a built-in bluetooth headset, so you don’t lose it.
Thoughts?
Via Engadget Mobile
The Sony-Ericsson XPERIA X1
I’m not the biggest fan of Sony-Ericsson phones (with the exceptions of their fantastic high-resolution cameraphones like the K850i, but they’ve certainly proved me wrong today with the introduction of their new XPERIA X1 mobile phone.
This is a huge step for Sony-Ericsson because it’s a departure from their usual OS (UIQ/Symbian) to Windows Mobile which is one of my favorite phone operating systems due to the large amount of software available for it.
This isn’t just any regular old Windows Mobile phone, however. Sony-Ericsson took the road paved by HTC with their touch Touch of customizing the user interface running on top of Windows Mobile to make it more usable with fingers. Their proprietary “Panel Interface” looks quite a bit like Seattle-based Zumobi’s UI, with shrunken representations of program windows so you can see what programs are running and switch between them.
It’s got a 3.2MP camera, a 3 inch WVGA touchscreen (that’s more pixels than the iPhone with a little less screen area), A-GPS, Wi-Fi, EDGE/UMTS/HSPA data on all bands you’d find around the globe (oddly including 1700 MHz, which matches up with T-Mobile’s AWS spectrum for HSPA in the United States, a truly rare frequency offering on a global mobile phone).
Microsoft Fails
All of my contacts on my Motorola Q9C were deleted today by Microsoft’s own software.
This is ridiculous.
A few months ago, I plugged my Q into my MacBook running Vista, and couldn’t sync any contacts between my computer and the device. That’s called failure, Microsoft.
I found out that I had to install Outlook in order to sync contacts. So I downloaded a trial, installed it, and synced my contacts from my previous Verizon Q onto my new shiny Sprint one.
A few days ago, the Outlook trial ended, and, when I plugged my phone into my computer, Windows Mobile Device Center (another piece of utter failure) couldn’t find any contacts on the computer to sync, so it DELETED ALL OF MY CONTACTS OFF MY PHONE WITHOUT ASKING ME.
WHAT THE !@#$?!?!?!
I honestly feel like this is theft. Digital theft. Somebody is responsible, and I want my contacts back.
Microsoft, try harder next time. I won’t be buying your garbage that doesn’t work anymore, I’ll just move 100% to BlackBerries.
Sprint’s ‘Unlimited’ Plan That Isn’t
Today, Sprint has made its unlimited plan available beyond the initial trial markets it launched last year, and for $120/month, subscribers across the U.S. will get unlimited voice minutes, web access, email, MMS, and SMS.
Why is it that I get roughly the same plan through Sprint for only $49.99? And why would Sprint announce this after MVNO Helio just anounced an unlimited plan for $99?
This shows how out of touch Sprint is with the marketplace. When you launch a new offering, you make it better or cheaper than the competition, and adoption will soar. Sprint’s offering is $20 more expensive than Helio’s, and offers the same or perhaps less services, considering Helio phones all have free, built-in GPS and EVDO 3G data.
Another gripe about Sprint’s new plan is the farcical statement on their microsite, sprintunlimitedaccess.com, that plainly states that the $119.99 plan with unlimited data/email is “Available on all Sprint phones.” This is a bold-faced lie. BlackBerry users are out of luck; they’ll have to tack on $39.99/month extra to this (and indeed any) Sprint plan to get wireless data/email.
That’s ridiculous.
If Sprint wants to sell more BlackBerries and stop hemorrhaging customers, they’ll have to stop penalizing BlackBerry users.
KDDI au Outs Spring Phones
(click to enlarge)
Whenever NTT DoCoMo or KDDI au launch new phones, I crack a smile. Their handsets have fantastic design and are executed perfectly. About a year ahead of handsets that make their way to this side of the pond.
Engadget’s got a good rundown of the new goods.
Click over:
KDDI au Announces Spring 2008 Collection - Engadget
Research In Motion’s Gambit
Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), the Waterloo, Ontario-based maker of BlackBerry smartphones is one of my favorite firms, and I’m addicted to their products. They always seem to make the right moves.
One area that RIM could improve on, however, is customization and luxury stratification. The 8800-series phone for executives/enterprise customers along with the more consumer-focused 8100/Pearl are their bread and butter, and their 8300/Curve is their entry on the modern design front. Of all these, the 8800 series carries the most cachet; it makes a statement that the user is an important person who needs to be constantly in touch. No wonder business-savvy stars like Paris Hilton, John Mayer, and Lindsay Lohan are die-hard fans.
However, more could be done here. The 8800 series is pretty boring…it’s metallic/black/grey reflective finish is all business, and RIM could take cues from Vertu in the styling/materials department and offer BlackBerries made from carbon fiber and leather to satisfy the highest-echelon of luxury buyers. It could be a halo product, just as we see in automobiles.
Goldstriker just answered my prayers with its platinum and nightfire leather edition housing for the BlackBerry Pearl. It’s not cheap, however, at $1,600.
Really, RIM, you should jump at this. Think Black MacBook (charge more just for a subtle design change that only a few will notice), but in your pocket. Instead of $1,600, charge $100, and mint money with it.
Goldstriker Blackberry pearl platinum & nightfire leather edition - LuxuryLaunches
CES Highlights, Day 1
Here are some of the sweetest things intro’d today at CES:
Sandisk 12GB MicroSDHC card, instantly turns your MicroSD-slotted mobile phone into 1.5 iPhones, in storage at least.
Alienware Curved 900 x 2880 OLED screen
Motorola gives us the scoop on two phones (widely expected, but nevertheless cool devices). The Z10 banana-slider, the first of its form-factor, was made famous recently when used in the highest-altitude call made on Earth, atop Everest.
Nothing of importance really from Nokia or Sony Ericsson, but Panasonic made up for them by intro-ing a 150″ plasma. Hotness.
OQO Outs Sprint’s Lifeline: Embedded WiMAX
Sprint, notorious for poor customer service, its historical poor reception (I’m aware they have a top-notch EVDO data network), and being an also-ran in general, may have just had its prayers answered by a niche UMPC manufacturer, OQO.
OQO’s announcement of it’s Model02 coming with integrated Sprint XOHM WiMAX service offers Sprint an opportunity to bundle WiMAX service with devices, a major coup over Clearwire, it’s WiMAX competitor, which has had trouble selling WiMAX service to consumers through traditional channels.
Intel (who is planning on including WiMAX on its premium laptop chipsets) and Motorola (maker of the WiMAX modem hardware are also pushing XOHM, and are working with Taiwanese ODM ASUS to include WiMAX as an option on most of its laptops.
If Sprint can pull this off (launching XOHM to fanfare, winning consumer and enterprise clients), it’d certainly bolster Sprint Nextel’s stock price, which is in need of a shot in the arm. Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S) is down more than 43% from its high of $22.87 last June, and it’s sold off so hard that many value investors have been calling the fall an overreaction. Today, Sprint closed higher, a major development considering this has happened only 4 times in the last 20 trading days. Perhaps the value investors will be right on this one. Sprint sure has fallen hard.
OQO Demonstrates World’s First Ultra Mobile PC with Embedded Mobile WiMAX for Sprint Xohm Network
New Handsets Leak: Bhupinder Panesar, You’re Fired.
The Boy Genius was sent a boatload of screen captures from a confidential Vodafone Powerpoint presentation of their future product pipeline. Bhupinder Panesar, Vodafone’s Enterprise Portfolio Manager, has either had a security leak, or leaked the Powerpoint for publicity. Either way, it’s done wonders for our understanding of what’s coming up in the global handset market. The highlights:
The big announcement here is fast connectivity - and lots of it. Plenty of these devices support HSDPA at 3.6Mbps and a few even 7.2Mbps.
Also, this confirms the direction that RIM’s 8800-series replacement is going in, and it’s not good. They just bred an 8800 an an iPhone, and got this ugly thing. That’s not innovation, RIM. Perhaps I’m a bit biased - I believe that the 8830/8820/8800 is the best looking phone RIM has ever produced.
I’m really excited about these HP phones - HP recently put out some gorgeous PDAs (I secretly wished they were phones!) and HP came through! They seem to follow the same design language. If only they could hire their designers out to RIM and keep the enterprise handsets beautiful.
Wi-Fi On The Motorola Q9C?
I’ve been playing with this demo unit, and I found this menu under Settings –> Connections.Could Moto have planned Wi-Fi into this device, but carriers nixed it? Could it be in there already and be unlocked with a software update/hack? The Boy Genius’ post on a WiFi-enabled Q9H with AT&T branding hints that possibly all these handsets have WiFi built in.People on the forums over QUsers.com seem to have found email marketing materials from Verizon before the launch of the Q9M that would indicate it had built-in Wi-Fi as well:
What do you think happened? Is there a WiFi-capable chip in there? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time carriers shipped phones with hardware that’s able to be unlocked later with hacks/updates (iPhone, iPod touch, Treo 750 HSDPA, et cetera).
Edit: Looks like I was kind of right….just not on the Q9C. Turns out Q9Hs on Rogers have dormant WiFi that can be turned on with a little update.
Got Some New Toys…
I’ve been reviewing these for the past week or so. Keep your eyes peeled for the written and video reviews.
(click to enlarge)
The LG Shine: Coming soon to AT&T!
I first saw the LG Shine in Las Vegas at CES, and I immediately fell in love with it. It’s as revolutionary of a design as the famed Chocolate, and it takes the shine to mirror-levels. It’s so chic, so metallic, and so beautiful. I’m so glad that AT&T is finally bringing it to our shores. It seems AT&T has gotten exclusive deals (or is first to launch) with just about every important handset of late. It’s like they’re trying to have a monopoly on sweet phones so that they can charge whatever they want for plans and people will pay it. Seems to be working.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Categories
- Politics (147)
- Business (118)
- Finance (105)
- No F***ing Way (102)
- Technology (81)
- Quotes (66)
- Economics (59)
- Seattle (57)
- Philosophy (53)
- Humor (51)
- Europe (49)
- Emerging Markets (46)
- Cellphones (39)
- Travel (33)
- Photography (31)
- Fashion (29)
- Must. Have. (26)
- Out and About (18)
- The Web (18)
- Gotham (16)
- Sports (15)
- Responsible Population (15)
- What I'm Reading (15)
- City of Angels (12)
- Health (6)
- Music (6)
- Conversations (6)
- Restaurants (5)
- F1 (2)