Kodak's new little black media player. I'm not sure whether I should call the new Theatre HD Player Kodak's answer to Apple TV , but that's the best analogy I can come up with on short notice.
Nokia announced today that it has completed its acquisition of NAVTEQ , a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information.
The rollout came in advance of Apple's release of the new iPhone 3G on Friday. MobileMe will let subscribers store and automatically synchronize e-mail, contacts and calendars between iPhones, Macs, PCs and iPods. The service includes 20GB of storage, double the amount available under the .Mac name.
Compatible with Exchange
Apple is positioning MobileMe as the answer to Microsoft Exchange for enterprise iPhone users. The service at me.com is compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2003 or newer, Outlook Express, and Windows Contacts. For Macs, the service works with Mail, Address Book and iCal.
"MobileMe is suited for the 3G network," said Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research. "Coupling the rollout of the iPhone and MobileMe is more than marketing. Consumers who get 3G iPhones will upload and download a lot of rich data like pictures and e-mail attachments; on the 2G iPhone the end-user experience would be painfully slow if it's not over Wi-Fi. The combination of the 3G iPhone and MobileMe, both optimized to run on a fast 3G network, makes a difference in their experience."
"A challenge for Apple is to migrate consumers who use core features of Exchange and already manage their calendar and contacts on their computers in an integrated way," he added. "For those not currently using Exchange, it might be more difficult for them to understand the core value proposition for syncing the management components of their life digitally."
Encouraging a Switch To Macs?
MobileMe might also appeal to Mac users and even encourage others to become Mac users, said Shiv K. Bakhshi, director of IDC mobility research. "MobileMe...
"We expect the release of the heavily subsidized 3G iPhone 2.0 on July 11th to catalyze a healthy spurt in touchscreen volumes during the second half of the year," said Strategy Analytics analyst Bonny Joy.
The only question is, which version of the iconic phone will you own? Doubtless, many first-generation iPhone users are likely to upgrade to the latest 3G model. But some analysts are suggesting that, unless you want the speed boost and the GPS capabilities, you may not need to spend money on the new device.
"Most of the original challenges with the iPhone were software-related, not hardware-related," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "Yes, people would be happier with longer battery life and a replaceable battery, but Apple fans can deal with a non-replaceable battery. With the software update Apple is issuing, you don't necessarily need to buy a new iPhone."
Examining the 3G Possibilities
Gartenberg is not saying the iPhone 3G doesn't offer some compelling upgrades. The new iPhone 3G is twice as fast with built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services. But the iPhone 2.0 software that includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs hundreds of third-party applications is compatible with first-generation iPhones.
More than 500 native iPhone applications are available for immediate purchase and download at Apple's App Store, and more than 125 applications are being offered to iPhone customers for free. Many of these new applications take advantage of the iPhone's large display, multi-touch user interface, 3-D graphics, built-in accelerometer and location-based technology.
The iPhone 2.0 software update includes enterprise support, contact search, complete iWork and MS Office document-viewing support, the abilities to delete or move...
The initial board members of the Symbian Foundation have welcomed continuing support from mobile industry leaders for their plans for the Symbian Foundation and the evolution of Symbian OS as the leading, open ...
CBS News and CNET.com, now part of the same CBS Corporation family, struck their second content-sharing arrangement in as many weeks with planned coverage of this Friday’s highly anticipated launch of the iPhone 3G.
CBS News and CNET.com will begin covering the unveiling starting at 7:30 AM on CBS’s THE EARLY SHOW, with CBS Tech Correspondent Daniel Sieberg live at the Fifth Avenue Manhattan Apple Store.
Cheeze.
Hey CBS, what’s happening with your hotspot “Mobile Zone” plan? Clear Channel Outdoor is going to eat your lunch, if’n you don’t watch out.
The mobile web has reached a “critical mass”, reports the BBC.
According to Nielsen Mobile, the US is the most tech savvy nation with nearly 40 million Americans - 16% of all US mobile users - using their handset to browse on the move. The UK and then Italy come a close second and third in the 16 countries surveyed by the analyst firm.
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The firm found that 82% of iPhone owners access the mobile internet, “making them five times as likely to do so as the average mobile consumer”.
ComScore M:Metrics confirms that the iPhone users consume more mobile content; they’re twice as likely to send photos or videos than the market average and twelve times more likely to listen to music.
Prices End in 99 Cents
Developers can reportedly select any price they want for their products, as long as it ends in 99 cents -- $1.99, $49.99, and so on. Developers can also offer their products for free. To track sales, developers will be able to use iTunes Connect, just as bands and artists do. Payment will be made by Apple when the amount reaches $250 or more.
Already, the store has hundreds of apps, a number of which are free. The free ones include AOL's AIM instant-messaging client, Google Mobile, Typepad, an iPhone version of Twitter, and Apple's Remote for controlling iTunes remotely.
Other applications include a MySpace updater, which allows you to see changes in your MySpace friends' activities or to post photos from the iPhone directly to the social-networking site. Pandora has an app that allows the creation of customized Internet radio stations.
eBay has an auction app that allows users to browse auction photos and place bids from the iPhone, using its multi-touch capabilities. The Super Monkey Ball game enables a player to roll and tilt the action with the iPhone's built-in accelerometer, and Loopt lets you find where your friends are on a map, using location feeds.
According to USA Today, the store's offerings number more than 500. The paper quotes Apple CEO Steve Jobs as saying that with those many products, the store's launch "is the biggest launch of my career."
Some observers have noted that the proliferation of third-party apps, together with a centralized channel for sales and distribution, could strengthen...
Gadget lovers are already camped out at a Tokyo store ahead of the global rollout Friday of the next-generation iPhone.
Florida's Attorney General in recent weeks struck settlements with 10 phone-card companies accused of such practices as false advertising and assessing hidden fees. As part of the agreements, vendors will have to overhaul everything from fee structures to marketing methods. Other states are likely to follow suit. IDT, one of the biggest players in the prepaid-card business, says it knows of roughly a dozen other states that are conducting similar investigations, and the Federal Trade Commission brought enforcement actions against seven companies earlier this year. "We believe this will significantly alter the way the industry works," says Sandi Copes, press secretary for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.
Effect on Immigrants
In Florida at least, the settlements come as a boon for the millions of immigrants who rely on these cards to call relatives back home for as little as 2 percent a minute. Among them is Mario, a 30-year-old Honduran who lives in Atlanta and uses prepaid cards to talk with his daughters in the Central American country. Mario, who declined to give his last name, says he's long suspected he's getting shortchanged on minutes. "No, I don't get all the minutes" promised by the cards, he says through an interpreter as he purchases a $5 card at Plaza Fiesta, a local mall popular with immigrants.
Neither do many of his peers, according to the Hispanic Institute, a research nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. In a survey of 45 prepaid cards conducted last November by Washington [D.C.]-based Network Analytics for the institute, the card companies delivered only 60 percent of the minutes they promised in voice...
America Movil will sell the 8-gigabyte 3G iPhone for as little as 773 pesos (US$75) in Mexico for buyers who agree to a two-year, 799-peso (US$77) monthly plan that includes 400 minutes of calls and 200 text messages.
Its 16-gigabyte version, with double the memory, will sell for 1,877 pesos ($US182), according to an announcement by America Movil, Latin America's largest mobile phone service provider, which is owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
The price of the phone rises with cheaper monthly plans.
In contrast, AT&T plans to sell the 8-gigabyte model in the U.S. for US$199 and the 16-gigabyte model for US$299. Its cheapest monthly plan will cost US$70 per month, including 450 minutes of calls and unlimited e-mail and Web browsing.
The new iPhone -- which has a faster 3G, or third-generation, Internet connection and GPS navigation options -- was unveiled by Apple in June and debuts Friday in 22 countries, including the U.S. and Mexico, where Apple has never before officially sold the phone.
The rollout signals the latest battlefront in the feud between billionaire Slim's America Movil and Spain's Telefonica -- two global telecom giants that have been dueling for control of Latin America's mushrooming market of more than 300 million mobile-phone customers.
The first iPhone debuted in the U.S. last year for US$599. It was sold without a contract, but AT&T would only activate it if subscribers signed on for two years.
But many U.S. phones ended up being "unlocked" from AT&T's network and shipped overseas -- including to Latin America, where users enabled them to work on local networks.
Now AT&T is subsidizing the new phone's cost in the U.S. to draw subscribers...
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