AT&T's wireless data networks in the Southeast and Midwest U.S. are down, causing BlackBerry and iPhone users to be without data services.
The EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) services in those regions began having problems around 6:30 a.m. EST this morning, said Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman. Voice calling has not been affected, but people trying to use wireless data services might have "difficulty," he said.
Several users of a BlackBerry newsgroup have reported being unable to receive data to their handsets. A systems administrator in Kansas reports that BlackBerry devices there are displaying a message that says "data connection refused."
AT&T is still looking into what exactly caused the failure, but technicians found a solution to the problem and expected the service to be restored by around 3:30 p.m. EST, Siegel said.
The iPhone runs on the EDGE network, so users of the phones, as well as any other mobile device that receives data from either of the networks, will have problems using data services.
In early 2007, Research In Motion implemented a software upgrade that caused its systems to crash, resulting in a BlackBerry service outage that started in the evening and lasted through the night. This time, the problem appears to be with AT&T's network and not with RIM's infrastructure.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
AT&T Data Network Fails for BlackBerry, iPhone Users
Apple's iPod sales figures
From October to December 2007, Apple sold more iPods than in any quarter since the introduction of the mobile music player six years earlier. Record quarterly sales of 22.1 million iPods helped Apple tally $9.6 billion in revenue and a $1.5-billion profit for its fiscal first quarter.
And financial analysts and media reacted by clobbering Apple’s stock, partly because Apple offered projections for its second-quarter performance that were below what Wall Street was anticipating but also because the record iPod sales failed to meet expectations. Headlines proclaimed that sales of the music player were a warning bell for investors, that the shine was off the company , and that iPod sales totals were plodding.
What gives? The disparity between Apple’s reported iPod sales and the strong reaction to them boils down to what aspect of the iPod results you’re looking at.
As is readily apparent from glancing at a chart showing the number of iPods sold, unit sales have never been higher. “Apple’s results are actually quite good compared to the rest of the category,” said Ross Rubin, director of analysis at market research firm NPD Group. Apple moved more than 22 million iPods last quarter, keeping the company lodged securely in first place in the digital music player market in December with a share of 67 percent, according to NPD.
All about the growth
But what the analysts and the media were reacting to was a lack of growth in iPod sales over the previous year. For the fiscal first quarter 2007, Apple sold 21 million iPods, meaning that year-over-year, the iPod unit sales grew only 5 percent—still an increase, though not the kind of robust growth Wall Street had come to expect.
Over the last few years, iPod sales numbers have shown dramatic growth, particularly in the quarter that encompasses holiday purchases. The 21 million iPods Apple sold in the 2007 first quarter was 50 percent higher than what it sold in the previous year. In the 2006 quarter, iPod sales grew 207 percent while 2005 first-quarter iPod sales shot up an astounding 525 percent from the year-ago quarter.
iPod sales are affected by a high degree of what analysts call seasonality, meaning yearly sales figures typically follow the same pattern. In the iPod’s case, the highest sales peak typically comes in Apple’s fiscal first quarter, which coincides with the holiday buying season. While total unit sales grew over the 2006 quarter, sale growth rate had fallen. Most analysts attribute that slowdown to market saturation: MP3 players in general, and the iPod in particular, have become so popular that the market of people looking to buy one is dwindling.
That’s not the only potential reason for slowing growth in iPod sales, however. Tim Bajarin, president of consulting firm Creative Strategies, thinks the strained economy could also clamp down on iPod sales growth.
“In the holiday quarter, consumers were very cautious on buying technology that’s not mission critical, such as music players,” he said. Many analysts were looking to Apple’s results for good news about the economy and were not reassured by the lower growth rate of iPod sales.
But the holiday quarter wasn’t the only one to see slower growth in the past year. For Apple’s 2007 fiscal year, fourth-quarter iPod sales grew 16 percent over the previous year, third-quarter sales rose 21 percent, and second quarter figures rose 23 percent—again, all positive numbers, but in 2006 those quarterly iPod sales grew by 35 percent, 31 percent, and 60 percent, respectively. Clearly, iPod sales growth has been slowing for at least the past year and, even though the numbers of iPod sold each quarter continue to trend upwards on the whole, they’re increasing more slowly than they have in the past.
Then again, slowing growth isn’t really a surprise. Apple would have had its work cut out for itself if, say, it hoped to sustain that 525-percent growth of 2005’s first quarter: that would have meant selling 28 million iPods in the first quarter of 2006, more than 174 million for the 2007 quarter, and an outrageous 1 billion iPods in the most recent quarter.
Keep in mind that, as of April of last year, Apple sold its 100 millionth iPod. Given the runaway success of iPod sales in the past several years, growth was bound to slow eventually; it was just a matter of when and by how much.
The touch emerges
Even as iPod unit-sales growth slows, it’s hardly the end of the world for Apple. During a conference call with analysts last week, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer pointed out that the holiday season is just one of two major sales drivers for music players; the other is product launches.
Oppenheimer repeatedly stressed that Apple was concentrating on creating innovative products, and both he and Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook cited the iPod touch as a specific example of how the iPod’s market is bigger than just playing music and videos. According to Oppenheimer, the touch is an “entirely new type of iPod,” one that Apple sees moving the iPod beyond its roots as a mere media player, becoming “the first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform.”
Apple doesn’t break out individual product lines when reporting its quarterly results, so there are no specific numbers on iPod touch sales. But the impact of the widescreen iPod first introduced last September is definitely being felt.
For one thing, Apple reported that the average selling price of an iPod in the most recent quarter was $181, the highest that number’s been in the last year and a half. It’s likely that the touch, available for either $299 or $399, is helping drive that.
Another sign of the touch’s impact comes from the growth in revenue for Apple’s iPod and music segment—up 147 percent in the fiscal first quarter from the previous quarter. That number also compares favorably to the same quarter from last year, in which the segment grew just 120 percent in revenue—another indication that the iPod touch has bolstered the iPod’s bottom line.
“Consumers have been very familiar with what Apple has in the iPod line,” Bajarin said. “They’re waiting for the next level of innovation. There’s still a market for the nano and the shuffle, but there could be greater pent-up demand for something like the touch.”
Since that’s the direction in which Apple clearly intends to push the iPod line, it bodes well for the continued success of the iPod segment. “The touch did quite well for a premium-priced product, particularly one with low capacity in its price range,” NPD’s Rubin said. “Even though the iPod is known for its media playback features, the promise of the [forthcoming Software Development Kit for the iPhone] is to turn it into a platform for future development.”
MacBook Air ships in UK
Apple confirms MacBook Air beginning to ship in UK
Thursday evening and Apple UK has confirmed the MacBook Air is shipping here.
The company explained its thinnest portable Mac "is now shipping", and let potential customers know the product "will be available" through its usual retail sales channels.
The entry-level 1.6GHz MacBook Air costs £1,199, a faster 1.8GHz model equipped with a 64GB solid-state drive is also available. The latter option costs £2,028. All prices include VAT.
Build-to-order options and accessories for MacBook Air include the ability to upgrade to a 64GB solid state drive (for £639), MacBook Air SuperDrive (£65), Apple USB Ethernet Adapter (£19), Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter (£29), and the Apple Remote (£9).
Mac users in the market for a MacBook Air should be aware that the product doesn't ship with the £9 Apple Remote, despite the inclusion of Front Row software on the machine and the £1,199 price-tag.
Mac users should also note this Mac lacks a Firewire port for ingesting video to edit using iMovie or their choice of video editing software.
PC Makers to Adopt Chips Used in MacBook Air
Processors specially developed by Intel for Apple's new MacBook Air laptop will soon be used by other PC vendors in systems, possibly creating competition for what Apple calls the world's lightest and thinnest notebook.
Two PC makers will use the miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors used by Apple in MacBook Air, said a source familiar with Intel's plans. Systems powered by the chips will be released soon, the source said.
The companies' names weren't revealed, but the chip could bring smaller and lighter notebooks that could compete in size and performance with the ultra-thin MacBook Air, which weighs 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms) and measures 0.16 inches (0.4 centimeters) at its thinnest part and 0.76 inches (1.93 cms) at its thickest part.
Apple asked Intel to develop powerful chips for MacBook Air that are 60 percent smaller than the normal size, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during a keynote address at the Macworld Conference and Expo earlier this month. Intel obliged, which led to the development of smaller Core 2 Duo processors.
"All you have to do is check out the size and shape of the MacBook Air to see what the shrink enables-- smaller, lighter form factors that were physically not possible before," said Connie Brown, an Intel spokeswoman.
The MacBook Air comes with miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at either 1.6Ghz or 1.8GHz, with the Intel 965GMS chipset and integrated graphics. Manufactured using the 65-nanometer process, the chips belong to Intel's Merom family of processors.
Intel shrunk the CPU and chipset for a 60 percent reduction in total footprint to comparable Merom processors, Brown said. While delivering similar performance, the chips use 20 watts of power, lower than comparable Merom chips that use 35 watts.
The miniaturized chip was designed for Apple, but other PC makers can use it, Brown said.
PC manufacturers could adopt the miniaturized Merom CPU in mini desktops or subnotebooks, but the Mac OS X Leopard operating system gives MacBook Air an advantage, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64. Other systems could be based on Windows or Linux.
Apple also has a leg up in product design, which potential MacBook Air competitors will find hard to emulate, Brookwood said.
"What has resulted from Apple's move to Intel chips is its forcing other OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to pay more attention to the styling of their systems, which is clearly an advantage for users," Brookwood said.
This was the first time Intel developed a small form-factor chip from a normal-sized mobile processor, Brown said.
However, Intel has talked about developing chips with smaller form factors in the past.
At the Intel Developer Forum last year, Intel talked about shrinking the size of chips by up to 60 percent for its next-generation Montevina mobile platform, which will include the new Penryn processors manufactured using the 45-nm process. The small form-factor chips will be released shortly after the normal-sized chips, due to ship by the middle of this year.
It's not a coincidence that both Intel and Apple have talked about a 60 percent size reduction in chips, Brookwood said. Apple has taken a step ahead by adopting the Merom processor for the MacBook Air, and a natural path of progression is to upgrade to the small form-factor Penryn processors that will be part of Montevina, he said.
Apple doesn't comment on future products, a company spokesman wrote in an e-mail.
Apple's Mac moves in on broadcast industry
Thanks to the move to Intel, Apple is no longer dismissed by broadcast facilities. Autodesk senior product marketing manager Rob Hoffman has revealed that his company, the maker of 3D animation software Maya, is seeing more and more interest from Mac using professionals.
According to the figures, Apple’s Mac business is indeed growing. The Mac has enjoyed increasing popularity over the past year and figures from IDC show that Apple's PC shipments in the US grew 30.9 per cent to 1.06 million during the fourth quarter of 2007, with a 6.1 per cent market share, behind Dell, HP and Acer. But these figures don’t necessarily reflect growth in the broadcast market.
Apple, however, has identified growth in the pro segment. Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook told analysts: “The Macintosh business is on fire. The pro segment itself, the part that we can measure the best - around pro audio software and video - pro audio was up very significantly year over year and the video business continued to perform very well.”
While at Macworld San Francisco, Macworld caught up with Autodesk’s Rob Hoffmann. Hoffmann spoke at length about the growth he has seen in the video and broadcast markets.
“If you'd have gone to any broadcast facility four years ago and asked them if they wanted a Mac they'd have looked at you like you were mad because despite the elegant hardware and beautiful solutions, the performance just wasn't there,” he explained.
“But now that that argument is gone. With the move over to the Intel side, the performance is on par with anything you can get anywhere else. And the operating system is better than anything you can get because it's based around Unix core. Facilities are now purchasing Macs and as a result we are seeing our sales increasing with the adoption rate of the Intel based hardware. Apple is selling a lot more computers and it trickles down to us,” he added.
Looking to the future, Hoffman said: “Adoption has moved from a very design centric market to broadcast and it won't be long before you see film and games companies and other non traditional markets, utilising Mac hardware. It's not a matter of if, but when.”
Converting video for iPod
Reader Ward Patterson is interested in adding more videos to his iPod touch. He writes:
I have videos on my Mac in QuickTime and WMV formats and I would like to load them onto my iPod touch. Drag and drop doesn’t want to work. The error message says that the videos are not viewable on the iPod. Is there a way to convert these files to an MPEG-4 file?
Sure. For QuickTime movies you’ll find a solution within iTunes. Just drag your QuickTime movie to the Library entry in iTunes’ Source list and it will appear under the Movies heading. Select it there and, from the Advanced menu, choose Convert Selection for iPod/iPhone. Once you’ve invoked the command, iTunes will do exactly as it promises and convert the movie to an H.264-encoded MPEG-4 video file, playable on your iPod.
Windows video files can’t be converted for playback in iTunes. Apple’s $29 QuickTime Player Pro in league with Flip4Mac’s free Windows Media Components for QuickTime can do the job, however. After upgrading QuickTime to the Pro version and installing WMCfQT, open the movie in QuickTime Player, choose File -> Export, and in the Save Exported File As window that appears, choose Movie to iPhone from the Export pop-up menu. Your file will be saved as a .m4v file, suitable for playback on your iPod.MacBook Air's CPU in Windows notebooks soon?
The MacBook Air's custom-made processor should soon be licensed for use by other PC builders, say claims by PC Advisor. A contact allegedly aware of Intel's plans expects at least two unnamed computer builders to use the special Core 2 Duo in systems to be released "soon." The technical details of the notebooks are not described, though the smaller packaging around the processor die is designed to allow smaller overall systems without sacrificing as much performance as the ultra-low voltage chips typically required for subnotebooks.
Lenovo is not expected to use the processor for its upcoming ThinkPad X300, which will use a standardized 2GHz low-voltage Core 2 Duo instead of the unique 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz models used in the MacBook.
Though described by Apple chief Steve Jobs during his introduction as specially designed for Apple's needs, the processor is ultimately based on a combination of reference designs that can theoretically be used by anyone, according to Intel. The packaging is based around the same S-series design used by some processors for Intel's upcoming Montevina mobile platform while the processor itself is based on the older Merom architecture. The combination allows Apple and other companies to take advantage of one of Montevina's key benefits ahead of its mid-2008 debut without waiting for the mainboards or processors that make up the new platform.
The practice of building first for Apple and later for other PC makers is increasingly common for Intel. The first eight-core Mac Pro in spring 2007 was discovered to be using an ahead-of-schedule 3GHz Xeon processor that was exclusive to the workstation roughly two months before other companies were able to use the processor. A similar option was made available for the aluminum iMac, which launched with a then-exclusive 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme option.
Sex To Spice Up U.S. Cell Phones In 2008
Size matters in pornography, except when it comes to tiny mobile phone screens, the next frontier for erotica.
If the adult entertainment industry has its way, Americans will soon get a choice of free porn on cell phones -- or at least some photographs of good-looking girls in bikinis.
Unlike in Europe, mobile porn has yet to take off in North America as carriers have been afraid of offending political and religious groups and parents concerned about children being exposed to adult content.
That may change this year as phone companies plan to loosen control on their networks to allow a wider variety of gadgets and services, while introducing new tools to shield minors. More advanced phones with better Web browsers like Apple's iPhone also offer higher quality pictures and video.
"It will be impossible to stop the adult business exploitation of mobile entertainment," said Gregory Piccionelli, a lawyer specializing in adult entertainment at law firm Piccionelli & Sarno.
He predicted that U.S. consumers may soon be offered free porn on mobile phones alongside paid services like live video or "adult dates," a term for prearranged sex with strangers.
A conference being held in Miami this week is devoted to discussing mobile opportunities as the porn industry seeks to find a new driver of growth. A surfeit of free online porn sites has cut into profits that have so far come mainly from DVDs, videotapes and pay-per-view or subscription-based Web sites.
To survive, adult entertainers need to be on top of phone trends, said Jay Grdina, president of adult entertainment provider ClubJenna, which he co-founded with his wife, world-famous porn star Jenna Jameson.
"If you don't evolve you're going to die. ... We need to make sure we're ready," Grdina said in an interview before his keynote speech at this week's Mobile Adult Content Congress, where adult entertainment and technology companies are brainstorming over how to make mobile porn a viable business.
Popular video-sharing site YouTube.com's plan to expand to about 100 million advanced cell phones may help the cause, even if it means some ClubJenna content -- which includes everything from glamour photographs of scantily clad models to hardcore videos -- is seen for free on phones. ClubJenna was sold to Playboy Enterprises in 2006.
"It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's giving away content. ... On the other hand, it's expanding the brand," said Grdina, adding that ClubJenna needs a boost in the U.S. market, where it generates "pretty much zero" mobile revenue compared with "very healthy" revenue in Europe.
While he has had trouble winning deals with U.S. phone operators so far, Grdina hopes for a deal within 18 months to sell photographs of bikini-clad models without nudity.
TITILLATION TO GO
Pornography has made inroads on cell phones in Europe, where it was a $775 million industry in 2007 that will grow to $1.5 billion by 2012, with the global market reaching $3.5 billion in 2010, according to Britain-based Juniper Research.
In comparison, North America generated just $26 million last year as carriers shied away from porn sales. Canada's second-largest phone company Telus Corp, for example, withdrew a mobile porn service last year after complaints from hundreds of customers and criticism from the Catholic Church.
Gartner telecoms analyst Michael King said he expects mobile porn to be more prevalent around 2009, when there will be more phones that can show high-quality graphics.
Porn is "one of the bigger pieces of Web revenue. You would assume the natural extension would be on mobile," King said.
Piccionelli said the iPhone -- which Apple has forecast to sell 10 million units by the end of 2008 -- is ideal for viewing porn due to its graphics and Web browser that mimics computer browsers. Most phones have stripped-down browsers.
A new phone system being built by Google may also boost consumer choice as the Internet company has pledged to support any type of mobile software.
But the key to development of mobile porn may be willingness by carriers to open their networks to more content. Even if they don't sell porn they would benefit from additional fees paid by consumers if mobile Web-surfing increases.
Verizon Wireless, the second-largest U.S. mobile service, has promised to let customers use any device or software that can work on its network this year.
Similarly, Sprint Nextel Corp said it will support a wide array of gadgets for a fast wireless Web service it kicks off in 2008.
Spokesman John Polivka said customers of the service would be able to view anything they like. Sprint will also provide Web filters to help keep minors from adult sites.
NeuStar sells an age-verification system for which it aims to have both a U.S. carrier client and a content customer within six months.
"Two thousand eight is when the first people are going to be sticking their toes in the water," said John Ticer, a NeuStar marketing executive.
Piccionelli said mobile porn will always face uncertainties, such as a possible privacy backlash against age-verification systems as consumers need to give personal details.
"However, that does not mean that uncertainty will prohibit enormous profits from being made in this business," he said.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
9 (More) Smartphone Alternatives To Apple's iPhone
Motorola Q9h
AT&T; $200.
Motorola Q9h
The Moto Q9h, or the Moto Q Global as AT&T calls it, has the ability to access high-speed cellular data networks through its built-in 3G technology and it's the first Moto Q smartphone sold in the United States with worldwide roaming capabilities.
The Moto Q9h incorporates quad-band EDGE technology that works around the world. The smartphone can be used in more than 135 countries for e-mail and Internet access and in more than 190 countries to make or receive phone calls.
The smartphone uses Windows Mobile 6 operating system. Other features include Opera Software's advanced mobile browser, Documents to Go for document editing, seven shortcut keys, a 2.0-megapixel camera with flash, and built-in GPS. AT&T is providing two location-based services that take advantage of the smartphone's GPS capabilities: TeleNav GPS Navigator for turn-by-turn voice and on-screen driving directions and TeleNav Track for managing mobile workforces.
Verizon Wireless and Sprint also offer Moto Q models with 3G, but they don't come with global roaming. Sprint's Moto Q9c costs $150, while Verizon Wireless' music-centric Moto Q9m costs $200.
The smartphone operates on Verizon Wireless' third-generation cellular network and it also can act as a modem when connected to laptops through BroadbandAccess Connect, a Verizon Wireless service for sending and receiving data. As another option, users can access the Web via the smartphone's built-in Wi-Fi technology.
The XV6800 has a slide-out qwerty keyboard and a touch-sensitive LCD screen that can switch from portrait to landscape view. The phone's memory can be expanded through the microSD memory card slot, which supports up to 8 GB. Other key features include a 2.0-megapixel camera with flash and video capture, stereo Bluetooth, video messaging, and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for playing music and video.
Sure there's a 3G iPhone expected this year, but why wait? There are plenty of phones already available that have 3G and everything else the iPhone has: 8 GB of storage, a built-in music player, a touch screen (often accompanied by a qwerty keyboard), and even add-on features like visual voice mail.
As a follow-on to our story of last June, Nine Alternatives To Apple's iPhone, here are some additional selections to consider. From the top four carriers in the United States: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Since T-Mobile hasn't widely rolled out its 3G cellular network yet, subscribers will have to opt for phones which use a slower data network. However, even in this case, there are some solid iPhone alternatives to choose from.
Verizon Wireless; $299 with contract.
One of the most-talked about iPhone knock-offs this year is the LG Voyager. It has a large external touch screen for easier phone and Internet navigation, a built-in music player, and Shortcut Menu icons that appear on the Voyager's touch screen and another set of icons at the bottom of the screen -- all the features that bear resemblance to the iPhone.
What makes the Voyager slightly different are some additional features, such as a full qwerty keypad that slides open sideways, expandable memory that holds up to 8 GB, and 3G connectivity for high-speed Internet access.
The Voyager also comes with multimedia capabilities, including an HTML Web browser; Verizon Wireless' V Cast mobile TV, video, and music service; and the ability to play MP3, WMA, and unprotected AAC files. For more storage room, the phone has a removable microSD memory slot that holds up to 8 GB of memory.
Offering a mix of business and pleasure, the Tilt is the first AT&T smartphone to run Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile 6 operating system. It also includes Research In Motion's BlackBerry Connect 4.0 software, which offers features found in BlackBerry smartphones such as push e-mail.
The Title has a slide-out qwerty keypad and a 2.8-inch color screen that tilts up, making it more convenient to write e-mail, browse the Web, and play videos. It also includes Bluetooth 2.0 technology, which allows up to six Bluetooth devices to be simultaneously connected to the smartphone.
A feature that any mobile user will enjoy is the Tilt's GPS-enabled mapping software from TeleNav, a provider of mobile location-based services. TeleNav GPS Navigator provides turn-by-turn audible and on-screen driving or walking directions in addition to 3-D maps and traffic alerts.
The Tilt uses AT&T's 3G network to connect to the Internet and has tri-band UMTS/HSDPA capabilities, which means it can work in other countries. Alternatively, the smartphone's built-in Wi-Fi provides access to hotspots and wireless local area networks.
Sprint, Verizon Wireless; around $200.
The thin, cell-phone-like BlackBerry Pearl sports built-in GPS technology and uses 3G cellular for high-speed data access. It also comes with BlackBerry Maps, RIM's mapping application for BlackBerry smartphones running software version 4.1 and later.
The Pearl has many of the features demanded by business professionals, such as calendar management, "push" wireless e-mail, the ability to view documents, and the ability to use the smartphone as a modem with a laptop. But it's considered a "prosumer" device that appeals both to professionals and consumers because of its multimedia capabilities.
The smartphone is small enough to fit in a pocket, but perhaps too small for some mobile users. For those who want a more traditional BlackBerry look and feel, there's the BlackBerry Curve 8310 from AT&T. It also comes with built-in GPS and provides a personal navigation service through TeleNav GPS Navigator, which includes turn-by-turn voice and on-screen directions, moving maps, and traffic alerts.
The Shadow is stylish. It has a large glossy screen, a metallic finish, and a small form factor -- small enough to be tucked away in a pocket, in fact. T-Mobile teamed with HTC to eloquently integrate the phone's form and function. Its user interface contains a combination of a spin dial and sliding icons to interact with the phone in an enjoyable and intuitive way.
Other features include built-in Wi-Fi, a 2.0-megapixel camera, a music player, expandable memory through a microSD card slot, as well as e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, and picture messaging capabilities.
Unfortunately, the Shadow shares the same flaw with the iPhone: lack of 3G.
T-Mobile; $300 with contract.
The Sidekick LX is a more feature-packed, improved version of T-Mobile's popular Sidekick device. The LX is thinner, has a large WQVGA screen with high-definition LCD technology and iconic swivel display, a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash, multimedia messaging, and mood lights that go off when a user receives a phone call, text message, or an e-mail.
The phone does have a Web browser but lacks Wi-Fi and 3G, which means you'll have to rely on T-Mobile's slow EDGE network for data connections. It may not be as revolutionary as the iPhone, but it does have a full qwerty keyboard that's a lot more comfortable to type on than a touch screen. The Sidekick LX is a fun multimedia phone for consumers, but isn't recommended for business use.
Don't worry, the LX wasn't affected by a recent defect that caused T-Mobile to temporarily halt sales of the Sidekick. Some customers experienced their Sidekick Slide phones powering off when the slide door on the front side of the phones was opened or closed. The Sidekick slide is manufacturer by Motorola, while the Sidekick LX is by Sharp.
Youth-oriented wireless carrier Helio, which runs its business as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator or a reseller of wireless services, offers a mobile phone that has it all. Helio's Ocean has a dual-slide screen, and comes with messaging capabilities, a media player, built-in GPS, and a new YouTube application that allows subscribers to capture video on the phone and upload it to YouTube, GPS-tag videos, as well as rate and comment on videos posted on YouTube.
The iPhone also comes with a YouTube application. However, users only get the option to watch videos (that are categorized as "featured" and "most viewed"), bookmark videos, and share them with others. iPhone users can't comment on YouTube content or upload their own content directly from the application. Additionally, the Ocean comes with 3G, so the video-streaming experience is a lot faster.
For business users, there is an Ocean-like smartphone running Windows Mobile 6 available from AT&T. The 3G-powered Pantech Duo, which costs $200, is both smaller and a little lighter than the Ocean. It comes with two keyboards: a standard phone keyboard, and a qwerty keyboard that's a bit too small and uncomfortable to type on. The Duo is flimsier than the Ocean, especially the sliding function that reveals the qwerty keyboard.
The Nokia N95 is the ultimate multimedia device and it can be purchased directly from Nokia online or at its flagship stores, which fortunately exist in the United States. It's got an impressive list of features, but even beats the iPhone when it comes to its hefty price tag. Read on if you're willing to shell out nearly $800.
The N95, with 8 GB memory, offers up to 20 hours of video or up to 6,000 songs, according to Nokia. The smartphone can slide two ways. It slides to one side to reveal a keypad for dialing and typing, and to another side to reveal controls for playing music or video.
It also boasts a 5-megapixel camera, built-in Wi-Fi for accessing the Internet using hotspots in public places or enterprise wireless local area networks, and built-in GPS. The GPS feature is especially functional when used in conjunction with the phone's Nokia Maps application, which offers maps for more than 150 countries.
Putting the high price aside for a moment, the N95 offers some advantages over the iPhone, including 3G support, integrated GPS, and stereo Bluetooth. Additionally, the smartphone comes with a built-in RealPlayer for listening to music and watching videos. Then there's the browser, which lets a user zoom in or out of a page with a single key press.
The Touch has plenty of entertainment features, although it's best suited for mobile professionals. For example, it uses Windows Mobile 6 with Outlook Mobile, which allows IT departments to easily integrate the phone with their Microsoft Exchange servers for "push" e-mail. The Touch also comes with Office Mobile, Windows Live, and support for thousands of third-party applications. The phone's home screen features one-touch access to e-mail, text messages, calendar appointments, and contacts.
Since Touch has been so closely linked to the iPhone, here are some features it has that the iPhone doesn't: A microSD card slot that supports up to 4 GB of expandable memory, stereo Bluetooth, and high-speed data access via Sprint's 3G EV-DO cellular network.
HTC's product line also includes the Touch Dual with a combined touch screen and keypad and the recently launched Touch Cruise with built-in GPS for personal navigation. However, the phones aren't currently available in the United States.
Apple updates iWork 08 apps
Apple has shipped a collection of software updates for iWork 08, accompanied by scant information on what's inside.
Updates for Numbers, Keynote and Pages have all been made available.
Keynote 4.0.2 "primarily addresses performance issues while playing or exporting presentations," Apple explains, while the updates for Pages and Number "address compatibility with Mac OS X," the company helpfully explains.
Apple iPod wireless plans emerging
The future for iPod is as an internet-connected handheld media-savvy computer.
Apple's future strategy to maintain its hold on the portable media player market is beginning to emerge in the form of analyst speculation.
Why?
Munster believes the company is in position to transform the portable music market into a portable computing market.
Acknowledging that growth in sales of personal media players such as the iPod is beginning to slow, Munster speculates that Apple will introduce cheaper iPods with WiFi access and multi-touch technology, essentially expanding the iPod touch family.
"We believe that the iPod touch is the first of several internet-connected iPods that Apple is currently developing,' Munster said in a research note as reported by CNN. These devices will include email and web browser applications, the report claims.
AppleInsider adds speculation on the part of Munster that Apple will enable iPods in such a way that users will be able to use them to order food or drink from coffee shops while on the way to that shop, paying for the items through the iTunes store.
Munster also speculates Apple may introduce new ways to wirelessly stream music, a notion that was also ruminated upon by U2 manager Paul McGuinness at Midem this week.
"Personally I expect that Apple will before too long reveal a wireless iPod that connects to an iTunes "all of the music, wherever you are" subscription service. I would like it to succeed, if the content is fairly paid for. "Access" is what people will be paying for in the future, not the "ownership" of digital copies of pieces of music," McGuiness said.
The confluence of rumour combined with Apple's 2007 introduction of the iPhone and the iPod touch suggest the company has been stealthily putting together the building blocks for its long term strategy to maintain momentum in the iPod market, despite growing competition.
While many competitors are still attempting to catch up on the iPod or iPhone in terms of usability, Apple seems set to respond with added use and versatility.
And it's not taking any of these strategic moves lightly. "Apple knowingly gave up as many as 1.5 million iPhone sales during the holiday quarter to establish the future of the iPod as a mobile device," reports Apple Insider in repetition of statements recently uttered by Needham & Co. analyst, Charles Wolf.
Wolf argues that the more affordable iPod touch may be securing sales at the expense of the iPhone. Wolf also notes comments made this month by Apple chief operating officer, Tim Cook, who stressed the company's aim is to turn the iPod touch into a "mainstream WiFi mobile platform."
"If the company is successful in this endeavor, it would provide a compelling upgrade path for the estimated 85 million people who already own iPods," Wolf says.
The analyst expects a 3G iPhone in summer and anticipates summer price reductions in existing iPhone models.
One Million iPhones Unlocked Last Year
More than a quarter of iPhones sold worldwide are being used on networks other those that of Apple's exclusive partners, leading to significantly reduced revenues for Apple, a market analyst concluded Monday.
Sanford C. Bernstein researcher Toni Sacconaghi suggests that about a million iPhones — 27 per cent of the total sold — have been unlocked, allowing them to run on unauthorized networks.
As a result, Apple is missing out on its share of monthly fees — estimated to be between $10 and $20 per month per iPhone — it would get if the phones were run on designated networks.
The figure is significantly higher than the previous estimate of 750,000 unlocked iPhones, and could contribute to as much as $500 million in lost revenue, making it a "significant strategic dilemma for Apple," Sacconaghi wrote.
Apple has said that the number of unlocked iPhones was "significant" but has declined to give details.
The iPhone, which was launched last summer, is tied to a single network in the U.S., France, Germany and Britain, with carriers agreeing to share a undisclosed portion of customers' monthly bills with Apple in return for being the sole national distributor of the device.
Sacconaghi based his analysis on figures from Apple which suggested that the company sold 3.75 million iPhones in 2007.
Subtracting the 2 million devices that AT&T said it had activated, and an estimated 315,000 activated in Europe, that left 1.45 million phones "missing in action," Sacconaghi said.
Assuming 480,000 of those were being held by Apple and AT&T as inventory, that left about a million that had been "unlocked," meaning that their owners had downloaded a piece of software which allows the phone to operate on almost any network they choose.
The figure was astounding, Sacconaghi said, given that an unlocked iPhone generates about 50 per cent less revenue and about 75 per cent less profit for Apple than one running on an authorized network.
If 30 percent of the 10 million iPhones Apple hoped to sell in 2008 were to be unlocked, then the company's earnings might be about 37 cents per share lower in each of the next two years, he said.
Apple has declined to comment on the report.
Another analyst firm, Piper Jaffray & Co., estimates that just under 850,000 iPhones — or 25 percent of the total sold — were unlocked last year.
[Yet another analyst, Technology Business Research's Ezra Gottheil, argued that the unlocking of iPhones may bother Wall Street more than it does Apple itself.
"Every iPhone sale brings profit to Apple, and many of them also bring in new customers for other Apple products," Gottheil wrote.
Percentages of monthly service fees are "generated at no cost to Apple, on top of the profit from the sale of the iPhone itself."
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told The New York Times that his spies had noticed something interesting at Apple stores in New York, San Francisco and Minneapolis: the first step in a gray-market pipeline of iPhones to Asia.
"The majority of the people who were buying more than one phone were Asian, and they were bringing small buses of people who all buy more than one phone," he said.
The iPhone, reasonably priced by Asian standards, is not yet officially available in Asia.
Sacconaghi told The New York Times it was possible the Asian gray-marketers had themselves overestimated demand and were sitting on their own backlog of iPhones.
In October, Apple conceded that 250,000 iPhones sold in the U.S. had not been activated on AT&T's network. A week later, it stopping taking cash for iPhones at its retail stores, and limited sales to two per customer.]
Apple shares closed unchanged at $130.01 Monday.
The stock has fallen by more than 25 percent in the past two weeks amid concerns that a slowdown in consumer spending may affect sales of electronic goods such as computers and media players.
Millions of iPhones Go AWOL
It's been dubbed the Mystery of the Missing iPhones. On Jan. 22, Apple reported that it sold 3.7 million units of its smartphones worldwide through the end of 2007. But AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone reseller and by far the largest buyer of the devices, reported that its subscribers activated fewer than 2 million units last year. The big question on the minds of Apple watchers is: Where have the other 1.7 million iPhones gone?
The uncertainty has helped sink Apple's (AAPL) stock price to $130 a share, down 34% since the beginning of the year. That is far worse than the 13% drop for the tech-heavy Nasdaq index. Apple shares were already under pressure over concerns about how weakening consumer spending would affect the company's shipments of iPod music players and notebook computers. Now the worries about iPhone sales have entered the mix. "In the past week the stock has fallen further because of potentially lower iPhone shipments," says Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst at Caris & Co.. A story that recently surfaced in a Chinese newspaper claimed that Apple's iPhone component suppliers are cutting back on production in anticipation of lower U.S. demand.
A January falloff isn't unusual in the cell-phone industry; the holidays are typically when sales peak. But investors who examined the discrepancy between Apple's and AT&T's (T) numbers figured that, with handset sales to European carriers Orange, O2, and T-Mobile Germany (DT) just ramping up, many of the missing iPhones may be languishing in inventory. And an inventory buildup is always dangerous, particularly amid slowing demand. Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, figures Apple's first-quarter iPhone sales could be down as much as 30% compared with daily sales rates last year.
So where are the missing phones? Two industry insiders confirm what is only now becoming apparent to analysts: that Apple is selling far more "unlocked" iPhones than previously expected. Those phones are adapted by the user with unauthorized software and phone cards so they run on nonapproved wireless networks.
A Swarm of Do-It-Yourselfers
Some 800,000 to 1 million iPhones had been unlocked by the end of 2007, the sources say. The high end of that range far outpaces most analysts' assumptions of 750,000 unlocked phones. The vast majority of those phones are trickling into nations around the world where Apple has yet to sign up a local carrier—especially China, say industry sources (BusinessWeek.com, 12/4/07). "In my travels around the world, two out of three iPhones I've seen outside of the U.S. have been unlocked," says Richard Doherty, director at consultant Envisioneering Group. "In China, nine out of 10 phones are hacked."
Financially, unlocked iPhones are bad news for Apple. While its revenue-sharing agreement with AT&T is kept under wraps, Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Co., believes the carrier pays Apple $10 per iPhone-brandishing subscriber per month of the two-year contract. While Apple still earns admirable margins on each iPhone it sells, missing out on this cut of monthly phone bills would cost Apple $300 million to $400 million in revenue and profits for every million unlocked phones sold. Although Apple posted sales of $24 billion in 2007, such lost revenues could become more significant as the iPhone becomes a bigger part of Apple's overall business. This year consultant Technology Business Research expects Apple to sell 7 million units, booking $1.7 billion in revenues and $340 million in operating income.
But are unlocked phone sales really so bad for Apple? In countries where the iPhone isn't yet legally available, unlocked devices may function as part of the company's hype machine. Every time someone flies home with an armful of iPhones purchased at a local shop or online, it revs up awareness of Apple's brand. That, in turn, could make it easier for Apple to strike more carrier distribution deals and make a case for better revenue-sharing terms. After all, unlocked devices sell for as much as a 70% premium to Apple's retail price on foreign gray markets.
Indeed, it's possible that Apple has had a change of heart about the unlocking question. Soon after the iPhone was released last June, Apple issued an update to its iTunes software that rendered some unlocked iPhones useless. While the company has continued to add similar code into recent releases of iTunes, it clearly isn't looking too hard for ways to foil the efforts of its million or so unlocked customers. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster notes that Apple could simply up the price of the device for anyone who didn't sign up with an authorized carrier—say, to $800 instead of the regular $400. "That would put the nail in the coffin on all of this [unlocking]." But he figures that Apple realizes it's a smart trade to give up incremental near-term profits to get a leg up in vast new markets it hasn't even officially entered. "The best thing for Apple to do is to get as many of them out there as possible," says Munster.
Factoring out the unlocked phones leaves 700,000 to 900,000 iPhones unaccounted for. About 350,000 of those—and possibly more—were sold in France, Britain, and Germany over the holiday season, analysts estimate. Another hundred thousand or more customers may not have activated their phones yet with authorized carriers, either because they haven't gotten around to it or because they're waiting for their current contracts with other carriers to expire before jumping on board.
That leaves as many as 480,000 iPhones in inventory, according to various estimates. Chris Whitmore, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Equity Research (DB), which may own equity in Apple and may have advised the company in the past, figures that Jobs & Co. typically sell 20,000 iPhones a day. That means the company has 2½ to 3½ weeks of inventory. But if sales slow, that same inventory may take eight weeks to move, Sacconaghi says. That's not overly much by AT&T's standards, since it typically carries four to six weeks of cell-phone inventory, though it's sky high by Apple's lean standards.
Chasing a Big Target
The real concern is what this says about overall demand for the iPhone. At this point, Sacconaghi and others feel it's unclear if Apple can reach its target of 10 million iPhones sold by yearend. That's "achievable, but not a sure thing," says Bill Shope, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase (JPM). The economy is slowing, after all. And with a next-generation iPhone rumored to be in the works and due for release this summer, some consumers may hold back on buying an iPhone just yet.
Perhaps Apple will need to cut prices to revive sales—a painful move if the percentage of unlocked iPhones continues to rise. Selling a cheaper iPhone while also losing the cut of a carrier's monthly take could bring the iPhone's lofty profit margins closer to earth.
The best resolution would be for Apple to pick up the pace of its overseas expansion. That would probably give those unlocked iPhone owners an opportunity to sign up with Apple's chosen wireless partners. And it would help Apple tap into all those other potential customers who haven't wanted to monkey with the hassles of unlocking a phone. Indeed, some industry experts expect the company to announce more carrier deals by the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, in mid-February.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Startup sets full mobile browser free
A growing set of developers is setting to work making Web browsing on a phone match the experience on a PC.
Skyfire, a startup in Mountain View, Calif., joined the fray on Monday when it unveiled a free browser intended to support everything a PC browser can. That includes Flash video, Quicktime, Javascript, Ajax and more, though not everything may be there right now, according to Nitin Bhandari, Skyfire’s CEO.
The browser is now in a private beta test for U.S. users only. The software was demonstrated at the Demo conference in Palm Desert, Calif.
Apple’s iPhone changed the mobile browsing world last year when it drew a huge following with its Safari browser. Unlike most browsers for phones, it lets users view a full, standard Web page all at once and zoom in to make up for the small size of the screen, though it doesn’t support Flash video and some other standard Web features.
Meanwhile, more opportunities have opened up for third parties to get any sort of application onto a consumer’s mobile phone. Parts of Google’s Android development environment are already available to developers, and Apple is preparing a software development kit for the iPhone. Both Verizon and Sprint Nextel, two of the biggest U.S. operators, have outlined plans to allow any device and any application on mobile networks.
“The iPhone has pretty much settled the debate. People want a rich, full Web experience,” Skyfire’s Bhandari said. “There’s a lot of consciousness that that’s the bottom now, and everything now has to be there or above it.”
Since the phone’s June debut, Mozilla has started developing a mobile version of Firefox, which looks somewhat like mobile Safari in screenshots on Mozilla’s wiki. However, Mozilla has been vague about when that software will come out. Norwegian browser vendor Opera has its own mobile browser, Opera Mini.
Skyfire’s product will be set apart from Opera Mini and others by supporting the full browsing experience, Bhandari said. It does so by relieving the phone from some of the heavy lifting of presenting a Web page. In fact, a server transcodes every page into an efficient protocol that Skyfire has developed over the past 18 months, he said. The additional exchange of packets between phone and server to make that possible isn’t a problem, because the server can carry out tasks much faster than a phone, according to Bhandari.
“The delay added by the server is actually such a small percentage of the time we’re actually saving … that it’s actually a huge benefit in the end-user experience,” Bhandari said. Skyfire operates the servers in its own data center.
Skyfire can deliver full versions of popular Web sites such as YouTube and ESPN, as demonstrated in a YouTube video. The zooming function, the critical tool for viewing full-size Web pages on a small screen, is different from the iPhone’s “pinch” and “unpinch” gestures. A gray box appears over part of the Web page, and users can size that box to cover the area of the page they want to see full-screen, then tap on it to zoom in, Bhandari said. The browser also features a search bar and a tab with featured links in categories including news, sports and video.
The browser is available only for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 today, but a version for Symbian, as well as an international beta test, are coming later, Bhandari said. Skyfire might also develop versions for Android and for the iPhone once Apple’s SDK becomes available, he said. It is talking with handset makers and mobile operators about having the browser built into phones, but also sees search and advertising as possible revenue sources. 
Analyst: A quarter of iPhones 'unlocked'
More than a quarter of people who bought Apple's iPhone are using them on wireless networks other than AT&T's, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., a "stunning" number that will pressure the company's business model, an analyst said on Monday.
Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi said analysis of sales numbers from Apple and AT&T Inc revealed about 1.45 million phones were "missing in action" at the end of 2007.
About 480,000 of those were believed to be held by AT&T as inventory, leaving another 1 million phones, or 27 percent of the total, that Sacconaghi said were "unlocked" so they could work on non-AT&T networks.
Apple executives said last week the number of unlocked phones was "significant" but declined to give an estimate. Most analysts had estimated the portion of unlocked phones at under 20 percent.
Spokespersons for Apple and AT&T declined to comment.
The higher number is worrying for Apple because the company receives a cut of AT&T's iPhone service fees, revenue that carries a high gross margin and has fueled optimism over its earnings potential.
For example, Sacconaghi said, if Apple hit its sales goal of 10 million iPhones by the end of fiscal 2008 but 30 percent of those don't result in any carrier payments, its revenue and profit would be $500 million and 37 cents per share lower than expected.
If Apple cracks down on unlocked phones it could preserve its high margins but miss its sales target, whereas allowing them could erode profitability and make it tough to sign more carriers to similar revenue-sharing deals.
"Besides the financial implications, we believe the prevalence of unlocked iPhones presents a significant strategic dilemma to Apple," Sacconaghi wrote.
Apple shares closed unchanged on Monday at $130.01. Over the past month the stock has fallen 35 percent on concerns over consumer spending and what some analysts say are a lack of must-have products Apple has lined up this year.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Apple Unveils Super-Thin Laptop, Movie Rentals
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs took the wraps off a super-slim new laptop at Macworld Tuesday, unveiling a personal computer less than an inch thick that turns on the moment it's opened.
Jobs also confirmed the tech giant's foray into online movie rentals, revealing an alliance with all six major movie studios to offer films over high-speed Internet connections within 30 days after they're released on DVD.
Always a showman, Jobs unwound the string on a standard-sized manila office envelope and slid out the ultra-thin MacBook Air notebook computer to coos and peals of laughter from fans at the conference.
At its beefiest, the new computer is 0.76 inches thick; at its thinnest, it's 0.16 inches, he said. It comes standard with an 80-gigabyte hard drive, with the option of a 64GB flash-based solid state drive as an upgrade. The machine doesn't come with a built-in optical drive for reading CDs and DVDs, a feature Jobs says consumers won't miss because they can download movies and music over the Internet and access the optical drives on other PCs and Macs to install new software. They can buy an external drive, however, that will retail for $99. Trading in Apple stock was heavy Tuesday, the first day of the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. Shares fell $11.85, or 6.6 percent, to $166.93 in late afternoon trading. Caris & Co. analyst Shebly Seyrafi said the MacBook Air's price tag "may have been higher than people would have hoped for." Investors also may be "incrementally" concerned that Apple's iPhone was not updated so that it can connect to faster cellular networks, he said. The new laptop, which has a 13.3-inch screen and full-sized laptop keyboard, will cost $1,799 when it goes on sale in two weeks, though Apple is taking orders now. The company's Web site is already touting the machine. The price is competitive with other laptops in its market segment. The machine helps fortify Apple's already-sizzling Macintosh product lineup and burnish its polished image as a purveyor of cool. Apple's Macintosh business hit record sales of 7 million units in the company's fiscal 2007, up more than 30 percent from the previous year. After hovering for years with a 2 percent to 3 percent share of the personal computer market in the United States, Apple's slice has grown to almost 8 percent, making it the nation's third-largest PC vendor, according to the latest figures from market researcher Gartner Inc. Other revelations during Jobs' keynote address reflected the Cupertino-based company's intensifying efforts to push deeper into consumers' living rooms with technologies that blend Internet technology into home entertainment devices. The movie-rental announcement capped months of speculation that an Apple movie-rental service was in the offing. The service launched Tuesday in the United States and will roll out internationally later this year. Apple will have more than 1,000 movies for online rental through iTunes by the end of February, with prices of $2.99 for older movies and $3.99 for new releases. High-definition versions of movies will cost $3.99 and $4.99 respectively. Users can watch instantly over a broadband Internet connection, or download and keep the movie for 30 days while having 24 hours to finish the movie once it's started. Titles will be available within 30 days of their DVD release. Apple is partnering with 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony on the service, which will work on Macs, Windows-based machines, iPhones, iPods or Apple TV set-top boxes. Jobs also unveiled a string of new features for the iPhone, showing how users of the combination iPod-cell phone-Internet surfing device can now pinpoint their location on Web maps, text-message multiple people at once and customize their home screens. Jobs also said Apple has sold 4 million iPhones during their first 200 days on sale. The crowd applauded when Jobs demonstrated mapping upgrades to the iPhone. Other features rolling out Tuesday included the ability to switch around icons on the iPhones home screen. Users also can create up to nine home screens. Jobs also unveiled new software for the iPod Touch music player. New models will have be able to process e-mail and perform new mapping functions. Apple's languishing Apple TV set-top box also got a software update, giving it the ability to download content directly from iTunes without an accompanying PC or Mac, and a price cut from $299 to $229. Jobs began his keynote address with the introduction of Time Capsule, a stand-alone networked hard drive that also functions as a wireless router. Macs and PCs can use Time Capsule to store and share files, and multiple Macs with the Time Machine backup utility can automatically back up to it. aldedicated backup hard drive that can connect to several Macs via wired or wireless networks. It works with Apple's existing backup utility, Time Machine, but can also back up Windows-based PCs. It also functions as a wireless router, eliminating the need for one more box in the house. The Apple Store was selling it for $299 for a 500GB model, $499 for a 1-terabyte (1,000-gigabyte) model.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Iphone not arriving any time soon
THE iPhone will not be arriving on Australian shores any time soon, according to an independent phone retailer that has reviewed the product.
Crazy John's, Australia's largest independent phone retailer, reviewed the iPhone in a recent promotional magazine distributed in Australia.
Unfortunately the reviewed device does not indicate an impending release, according to Crazy John's head of sales and marketing Stephen Morley.
"I don't believe the product is imminent here in Australia," Mr Morley said.
Mr Morley said the handsets reviewed were not Australian models and that they were sourced from "partners in other markets".
"We've had several staff testing the product over the past 6-8 weeks.
"We test lots of products, regardless of if we'll be selling them or not."
The iPhone is already in Australia unofficially, due to consumers importing the device and performing unauthorised modifications for use on local networks.
In most countries where the iPhone has been released, Apple has chosen a single phone network to provide service for the handsets. iPhones can be "unlocked" to work on other networks, but doing so will void the phone's warranty.
Another type of software modification, known as a "jailbreak", allows users to install non-Apple software such as games on their iPhones – but also voids the warranty.
The handset pictured in the Crazy John's review appears to have been modified, as it has third-party applications on the screen and displays "Vodafone" in the status bar.
Apple has confirmed the iPhone will be released in Australia this year, but no further details about the date or the network have been provided.
The company is currently working on a second-generation 3G iPhone which would offer faster data transfer on local high-speed networks.
Vodafone said it expected the Australian release date to be delayed until the 3G model was available.
"Most handset manufacturers’ range of devices in market are designed to provide customers with high-speed access to content, such as mobile music, mobile TV and entertainment, within coverage areas," Vodafone said.
"Vodafone would be surprised to see an iPhone released in Australia before a 3G or HSPA-enabled model becomes available."
Last October Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo said the carrier had been in talks with Apple, but there have been no confirmations from Apple or other networks about an Australian deal.
"Almost every supplier has big plans in the next six to 12 months with their version of an iPhone in response," Mr Trujillo said.
Spokespeople for Telstra, Optus, Three and Apple had no further details.
Mobile phone radiation 'interrupts sleep'
MOBILE phone radiation causes headaches and interrupts vital sleeping patterns, according to research funded by some of the world’s biggest phone manufacturers.
Researchers from the US and Sweden discovered during the study that participants exposed to mobile phone radiation experienced headaches, change of moods, confusion and trouble sleeping.
In their findings, published in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), the researchers said 38 of the 71 participants showed symptoms of mobile phone radiation.
“The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals, components of sleep, believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear, are adversely affected,” the researchers said in the PIERS article.
“Moreover, participants that otherwise have no self-reported symptoms related to mobile phone use appear to have more headaches during the actual radiofrequency exposure as compared to sham exposure.”
The researchers from Wayne State University in the US and Sweden’s Karolinska Institute found mobile phone radiation extended the period of time it took for participants to fall asleep – and even then they were still affected.
“Under the (radiofrequency) exposure condition, participants exhibited a longer latency to deep sleep,” the researchers said.
The Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF), made up of industry giants like Nokia and Motorola, funded the study.
A MMF spokesperson was quoted by UK newspaper The Independent as saying the “results were inconclusive” and “the researchers did not claim that exposure caused sleep disturbance”.
Study leader Bengt Arnetz told the newspaper that mobile phone radiation decreased participants’ ability to wind down and fall asleep.
“We did find an effect from mobile phones from exposure scenarios that were realistic,” Professor Arnetz said.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Apple's latest laptop
San Francisco - There's never been a laptop as skinny as the new MacBook Air from Apple. At its thinnest, it measures just about four millimetres. "When you first see MacBook Air, it's hard to believe it's a high- performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display," gushed Apple CEO Steve Jobs while presenting the new laptop at the keynote speech of the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. "But it is."
The excitement at the Moscone Centre was also sparked in typically reserved observers like Michael Gartenberg, research director at the US market research firm Jupiter Research:
"This will become the object of lust for all tech fans this year," Gartenberg told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
In advance of the MacWorld Expo, the chatter on many websites was focused on a potential combination of the iPhone and a normal laptop - more or less a retooling of the "Newton" PDA concept that Apple phased out 10 years ago. The MacBook Air is instead a full-value laptop with a robust aluminium casing with a 13-inch display and a full sized keyboard.
During his presentation, Steve Jobs compared the MacBook Air, which costs about 1,700 dollars, with the Vaio TZ series from Sony.
"The thinnest part of the Vaio is the thickest part of the MacBook Air," the Apple CEO told the cheering crowd. What he didn't mention in his comparison is that unlike the MacBook Air, the Sony laptops come with a DVD burner, a modem, and an integrated UMTS module.
With an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1.6 or 1.8 gigahertz (GHz) of processing power, Apple has certainly sent its new laptop out into the world with a significantly stronger CPU than the Japanese devices against which it is competing.
The standard model contains a 1.8 inch hard drive offering 80 gigabytes (GB) of storage space. Users willing to hand out another 900 dollars can upgrade to a 64 GB Flash hard drive. Flash memory works more quickly than a hard drive and consumes less power. The battery in the MacBook Air lasts five hours when working with a traditional hard drive.
The second major MacWorld Expo announcement centred on a second attempt at the "digital home" market, as well as launching an online video rental service. To facilitate all of this entertainment, Apple introduced an improved version of its "Apple TV" TV set-top box. It will enable HD video films to be rented from the Internet without having to connect with a computer.
Steve Jobs gained the support of all significant Hollywood studios for the "iTunes Video Rentals" platform. In the United States, DVD- quality films will cost 3 or 4 dollars for a rental limited to 30 days. High definition (HD) films will cost 1 dollar extra.
"This is going to turn the video industry inside out the same way the iTunes store changed the music industry," says Jupiter analyst Michael Gartenberg. Ross Rubin from the market research institute NPD disagrees, seeing Sony and Microsoft as enjoying the better start position:
"Both of those Apple competitors have already placed their Trojan Horses in the living room through the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360." Each game consoles is capable of downloading HD content online.
It's unclear how the Apple movie rental model will work outside the US. Jobs indicated plans to launch the service in Europe "later this year."
Smartphones were the most returned holiday gift
The Opinion Research Corporation has released a study that shows that smartphones were the most returned gift item this year from the past holiday season.
The study shows that a whopping 21% of the smartphones given as gifts this holiday season were returned to the store.
The survey also notes that the iPhone and RIM Blackberry were not included in this study.
Our Expo keynote re-enactment
Sure, you could join the mob that masses outside the Moscone Center every January for a chance at a seat inside for Steve Jobs’ annual Macworld Expo keynote. Heck, you can even go to Apple’s Web site and watch the keynote in its entirety.
But who has the time to do all that? Instead, in this Macworld Video, I’ve boiled down last week’s keynote to its essential bullet points. And I’m assisted in this dramatic re-enactment by Sophie Schultz, the daughter of Macworld art director Rob Schultz.
Download Macworld Video #35
• Format: MPEG-4/H.264
• Resolution: 320 x 240 (iPhone & iPod compatible)
• Size: 8.2 MB
• Length: 1 minute, 18 seconds
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Fold a phone
As you may have noticed, Gadgetbox was AWOL last week. As much as I’d like to take full responsibility and say that it was completely my fault, that’s simply just not true. The truth is I was being worked to the bone, forced to tramp around a crowded convention hall until I broke into tears and fled the scene. They found me hours later, curled in a fetal ball, hidden in a niche of the Crumpler Castle. So, you see, totally not my fault in the slightest.
Never fear: we’re back with a special Thursday edition of everybody’s favorite gadget blog—we are your favorite, right? We’ve got plenty in store for you, too, from a foldable cell phone, to Spider-Man’s power strip of choice, to a hard drive enclosure for the truly paranoid.
This cell phone folds like a bad poker player
I thought we’d mentioned the Readius concept cell phone a while back, but I could find no record of it in a painstsking search of the official Gadgetbox archives (er, rhymes with Schmoogle). Had I written about it before, in some parallel dimension, I think I almost certainly would have thrown out an ill-advised reference to Earth: Final Conflict. You never saw it? They had these foldable…screen…
Never mind.
The Readius, developed by Philips spin-off Polymer Vision, features a 5” foldable e-paper screen capable of displaying 16 shades of grey, similar to Amazon’s Kindle. The device is intended as a combination e-book and cell phone, which might seem like a curious mix of functionality until you remember that at one point, cell phones and cameras probably seemed like a weird combination too. Frankly, I say that if the British can eat—and like—beans on toast, pretty much any other combination is perfectly valid.
The foldable screen on the Readius is far and away its most interesting feature, but since it’ll lack color at the outset, and won’t be able to play video, it’ll be interesting to see how this device fares against most average cell phones. Polymer is touting 30 hour battery life for reading, which sounds good, though I wonder how much cell phone usage will eat out of that, especially as they’re using 3G HSDPA technology. Just for kicks, they’ve also thrown in an MP3 player for music and podcasts and support for Bluetooth 2.0 and USB 2.0—all in a package weighing in at just 115 grams.
If this device seems like vaporware, don’t fret: it’s going into production now and is due to ship in the middle of the year. There’s no news on whether it’ll make it to the US or what the price will be, though the company’s CEO said it would be comparable to “a high-end mobile phone.” We’re thinking in the $500-$700 range.
HP signs up Sony Pictures for made-on-demand DVDs
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has become the first major studio to license niche and older DVD titles for production and distribution through Hewlett-Packard's year-old DVD manufactured-on-demand service, the two companies said Thursday.
The MOD service allows Sony to offer a wider choice of catalog titles to consumers because
Sony has not released some of the content--including classic television shows, foreign and independent movies, specialty programming such as religious or food shows, and local sporting events--because of the cost of maintaining inventory and the difficulties of gauging demand, said David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
"We know there is strong consumer demand for these titles, and by working with HP we can monetize our deep product library and help give retailers the means to bring a wider offering of Sony Pictures products to consumers without a significant investment in inventory," Bishop said in a statement.
HP has signed up 40 other content providers and digitized about 5,000 titles for its electronic library since the service became available a year ago, said Doug Warner, vice president of HP's digital content services business.
The companies were mum about which would pay to digitize the Sony titles, how many would be offered and about how revenue from the sales would be shared.
Consumer pricing would not be known until the list of titles was finalized, Warner said.
HP typically presses the disc, prints the packaging and drop-ships DVDs the same day consumers order them through wholesalers or third-party retail Web sites, Warner said.
Although Sony, a frequent HP partner, is the first to link its library to the micro-manufacturing service, Warner said its potential application is broad in the media industry.
"We believe a significant portion of the 80,000 content libraries out there would fall within the sweet spot of the demand curve for (manufacturing on demand)."
Sony Pictures home Entertainment is a division of Sony.
Apple's best-ever quarter is no disappointment
Let’s get one thing correct right from the start: Apple’s results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2008 are no kind of “disappointment,” nor could anyone rationally call the company’s guidance for the second fiscal quarter anything but “positive.” Once again, Apple posted its best quarter ever in terms of iPod and Macintosh unit sales, in addition to posting record revenue and record profitability. Apple has never sold more products in a single quarter throughout its 31-year history.
While the March 2008 quarter should have seasonally lower sales that everyone expected (people buy lots of iPods to put under Christmas trees, not in Easter baskets, or Ostara baskets if that’s your thing), Apple’s projections for the quarter are still an impressive 29 percent higher than in the year-ago period. We suspect that this week, there are CEOs who would sacrifice children to get 29-percent year-over-year growth.
So how in the name of Phil Schiller did this narrative about “disappointing” results, or “warning” about future results get started? For that, turn no further than CNBC, the 24-hour business cable news channel owned and operated by NBC Universal with input and news from News Corporation (via its recent acquisition of Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal). CNBC is to stock traders what chocolate is to Augustus Gloop—they just can’t get enough of the channel’s obsession with everything to do with the stock market.
On Tuesday, that was not the best choice of obsessions, as worldwide markets tanked amid fears of a recession in the U.S. economy. CNBC was desperate to find “signs of strength” immediately after the end of an otherwise gloomy day.
At 4:00 p.m. EST, just after the markets closed, CNBC anchor Melissa Francis started the post-market coverage by noting “signs of strength,” and the surprise 0.75-percent rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve, and then said, “Now, attention switches to tech. Apple and Texas Instruments [are] scheduled to post earnings after the bell today. What they say could dictate the mood of the market tomorrow.”
CNBC’s first post-trading report from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange came from reporter Bob Pisani. In case Francis’s attempt to pin the market’s hopes on Apple were too subtle for you, here’s how Pisani ended his live report:
Still waiting for those Apple numbers. If we get a good number from Apple, and — [unintelligible, sounds like “off print,” but apparently means “if not,”] to the downside, the bears will have an argument that we’ve still got some ways to go. But Melissa, this may not be the bottom, but at least we’re in the process now, we can argue, of putting in some kind of bottom.
In other words, a good number from Apple will make it much easier for Wall Street to pretend that everything is going to be fine, but a bad number reinforces the view that the economy is in trouble. The hopes for the next trading day, according to CNBC’s first four minutes after the close of trading, were all on Apple.
Good is bad
Apple put its results on the newswire half an hour later, at 4:30 p.m. EST, just a few minutes before the permanent press release went live on Apple’s own Web site. When it happened, CNBC went live to its Silicon Valley bureau chief, Jim Goldman, who blogged last week that “this time, the company’s numbers will be followed more closely than ever before.”
Why? Worries about a recession, concerns over a lackluster holiday shopping season, insecurity about how the company’s products are selling. And there are questions about whether consumers will reach deep to pay for Apple’s pricey products even as they worry about whether they’ll have a job this quarter or next, leaving some head-scratching over Apple’s precipitous decline these last few weeks. Are you kidding me?
Apple reports earnings next Tuesday, and while the shorts and naysayers continue to beat the uncertainty drum, the company is probably sitting prettier than any other big name in big name tech nowadays. We can harp on recession worries, though Steve Jobs himself tells me that it’s a non-issue for his company…
Further, he scoffed at my suggestion that Apple is pricing itself out of competition with high-priced Macs, the iPhone and Apple’s iPods since all have seen noticeable price drops and the company, for the first time in its history, offers a broad array of products with a broad range of price tags. It’s a good and fair point.
Goldman’s blog entry is well worth reading in its entirety as he goes on to defend Apple’s value, but there it is once again—the narrative that the business press will not abandon, no matter how many times its proven incorrect and laughable, that Apple makes “pricey” or “high-priced” products that Joe and Jane Six-Pack can’t afford when the going gets tough, that Apple is some kind of boutique or luxury brand that doesn’t deliver solid performance for the price of its products.
The press has had to hide this narrative for several years because Apple is doing well, and they all love their iPods and iPhones, but they think they’re “luxuries” that ordinary people shouldn’t consider in hard times. (Apparently, during a recession, only the wealthy are entitled to convenient ways to listen to music or watch videos.) But it’s always there, waiting to burst through one day at the slightest sign of trouble. Tuesday was that day. CNBC probably thought it was being fair by saying, in essence, that if “pricey” Apple was still doing well, the economy must be in decent shape after all. On a broader scale, the cluelessness was just staggering.
On a financially precarious day, stock professionals were glued to CNBC’s coverage as if they were politicians watching election returns. When Goldman gave the first take on Apple’s results at 4:30 p.m. EST, he was creating the narrative, live and in real time:
All right, Melissa. We are digging through these numbers. They’re coming out on a headline basis, but right now, at first blush, it looks like a very good report from Apple Inc. The company, on the top line, reporting $9.6 billion, way ahead of the Street, and I should also tell you that that beats—or actually, meets the “whisper number” of $9.6 billion. The Street was at $9.465 billion.
The EPS number that we’re looking at here is $1.76; we’ll confirm that that number is solid. The Street was at $1.62.
But the reasons that [Apple] shares may be in the midst of a pretty significant 10-percent sell-off right there, that you see there on the screen, that the company is warning on its second quarter results, and that comes as a significant surprise. There was a lot of optimism that Apple would at least meet Wall Street expectations for its fiscal second quarter, but indeed, it appears to be warning. We’ll get the exact numbers on what Apple is expecting here in just a few moments.
But let me dig a little deeper here, because the Mac number was substantially better than anyone had anticipated: 2.391 million Macs on the quarter. The Street was at 2.2 million. I’m going to read through here really quickly so I can get to the guidance. The company is looking now at—hold on one second here, let me just get through here—the company is looking at $6.8 billion and earnings of 94 cents for its next quarter. The Street was at $6.96 billion; Piper Jaffray, for one, was at over $7 billion, and the EPS number was $1.08.
So if you look at where the company is guiding vs. what the expectations are, this is substantially lower than what Wall Street had anticipated, and certainly not the jolt of confidence that tech investors were indeed looking for. Let me get you an iPod number as well: the company [says] 22.1 million iPods, again, well below the 24.7 [million] the Street was anticipating. An iPhone number: 2.315 [million], and that’s actually ahead of where the Street was, but only slightly [at] 2.26 million iPhones sold on the quarter.
So we’re going to dig a little deeper into these numbers, and this is going to make for one heck of an interesting conference call, which begins at 5:00 p.m. EST. Let me remind you that I will be live-blogging that call, but there are a number of questions. I should remind you that Apple always tends to sandbag Wall Street when it comes to guidance, but “sandbagging” in terms of Apple usually means “slightly below or meeting Wall Street guidance,” as opposed to raising guidance or providing numbers that are significantly higher than what Wall Street anticipated. Numbers like this? They’re going to cause a tremor, big-time. Back to you.
At 4:40 p.m. EST, 20 minutes before Apple’s conference call would start, Goldman was back on CNBC talking about Apple’s results, continuing to create the narrative that something was “wrong” with Apple’s second quarter projections:
When you look at this, you know, the real question is “when is ‘best’ not good enough?” Apple is characterizing its past quarter as the best quarter in the company’s history, but that is so last quarter when you’re talking about guidance for the upcoming quarter that just does not meet expectations. Again, Apple beating the street by 14 cents per share, a buck seventy-six vs. the $1.62 that the Street anticipated, but look at the share price now! Down $18 a share from the close. You’re talking about almost $14 billion in market cap[italization] that Apple is essentially giving back in a heartbeat. The guidance [is] 94 cents [per share], the Street was at $1.08. Revenue [guidance is] $6.8 billion when the Street was closer to US7 billion, and many on the Street [were] over $7 billion.
The real surprise here? Apple missing its iPod number during the holiday shopping quarter. If they were going to miss, most people thought maybe it would be on the Mac side, or even iPhones, but to miss on the iPod number is a big surprise: 22 million instead of the 24.7 million that the Street anticipated, and—wow. When you see a stock that’s already been down 25 percent over just the past three weeks, giving back more than 10 percent now just because of these earnings, you gotta wonder whether this sends a message to the rest of tech. We’ll check the rest of the sector through today and certainly into tomorrow, but again, this is just not the news that weary tech investors were hoping for—some kind of optimism from certainly the biggest name in the sector.
At that point, anchor Melissa Francis asked, “But Jim, you mentioned before, I mean, Apple is notorious for sandbagging when it comes to their future guidance. Is there any chance that’s the case here? People are obviously taking this news not very well.” Goldman responded:
I think it’s a really good point. I think there is the risk that Apple is sandbagging once again. But given the current climate, with all the uncertainty around technology, you’d think that Apple would sort of err on the side of what’s more of a “reality” expectation, if you will, not sort of sandbagging as much as the company has in the past. Even if Apple is sandbagging, in the past, when the company’s done that, it has sort of met expectations or been slightly below expectations. This is 14 cents below what the Street anticipated, so clearly, if they’re sandbagging, it’s much more significant than we’ve seen from the company in the past.