THE MOBILE HORNET … for those who get turned on by mobile devices

Over 100+ millions smartphones are sold every year and according to UMPCPortal, 95% of the market share goes to Nokia Symbian (65%), Windows Mobile (13%), Blackberry (10%), and Apple (7%).  LiMo, Android and others (mostly Linux offsprings) formed the balance 5%.

If you look at the above statistics, and if you are a developer (hardware or software), it will be wise for you to focus on the top 4.   You cannot be wrong there.  Open source OSs like Linux and Android will take sometime to create any impact. 

Linux is making a mistake by creating so many versions (LiMo, Moblin, Meamo, Mobilinux, OpenMoko etc) of their mobile OS.  Now that Nokia has taken over 100% control of Symbian, you can expect to see further increase from their present 65% share. And if Nokia Symbian become an Open Source OS, the rest can kiss goodbye.  Microsoft cannot sit down and watch.  Their focus on their Windows Enterprise OS will definitely slow down their Windows Mobile growth further.

Many people (including the many Malaysians that approached The Mobile Hornet) want to know how to circumvent the tie-in telco contract with the iPhone 3G and of course just as many want to buy the iPhone 3G unlocked.

Macworld has compiled some frequently asked questions about the new iPHONE 3G and hope that will help to clear your doubts on what to do next.  The FAQ has reference to AT&T iPhone 3G plan.  Other telcos in other countries may have similar kind of arrangements and pricing as Apple try to have a global standard :

• SO THE iPHONE COSTS US$199 (RM656) OR US$299 (RM986), RIGHT?
  • Sure, Steve Jobs has touted the US$199 price tag for the iPhone 3G, but as with anything where a non-Apple company is involved, the truth is not quite that straightforward. If you’re a new customer to AT&T, you will pay US$199 for the 8GB model or US$299 for the 16GB model, as long as you also sign up for a 2 year contract.
  • If, however, you are an existing AT&T customer, the price you pay for an iPhone 3G will depend on other factors. If you bought an iPhone before July 11th or you are eligible for an upgrade discount at the time of purchase (check your My Account page AT&T’s website to find out if you qualify), you can also take advantage of the US$199/US$299 pricing. Otherwise, you can purchase an “early upgrade” which will run you US$399 (RM1,316) for the 8GB or US$499 (RM1,646) for the 16GB model. Both of those cases will require you to extend your current contract for another two years, and you’ll have to pay an US$18 (RM59) upgrade fee to boot.
  • Just anecdotally, let me add this: I switched to AT&T from Verizon for the iPhone last year and signed up for a two-year contract. My account page says that I am indeed eligible for an equipment discount, so if you’re in a similar boat to me—and I suspect that many of you are—you may qualify for the cheaper pricing.
• CAN I GET AN iPHONE WITHOUT SIGNING UP FOR A TWO-YEAR CONTRACT?
  • No. Well, not yet anyway. According to AT&T, a “no-commitment” version of the iPhone 3G (perfect for those of us with commitmentphobia) is “coming soon”, and will run US$599 (RM1,976) for the 8GB model and US$699 (RM2,306) for the 16GB model. Yowch.
• WHAT ABOUT PREPAID PLANS? CAN I SIGN UP FOR ONE WITH THE iPHONE 3G?
  • ‘Fraid not. According to AT&T’s cutely named iReady checklist, prepaid plans are not available for iPhone 3G.
• I WANT TO BUY iPHONES FOR ME, MY DOG RALPHIE, AND MY AUNT MARGE; CAN I DO THAT?
  • Nyet. AT&T says you may purchase only 1 iPhone per person in line. Your Aunt Marge and Ralphie will have to wait in line for their own.
• IF I BUY A NEW iPHONE 3G, HOW DO I TRANSFER DATA FROM MY OLD IPHONE?
  • Fortunately, iTunes will take care of that. Make sure you sync your existing iPhone with iTunes before trying to sync your new phone so that all your data is current.
• WILL MY NEW iPHONE 3G BE ABLE TO RETRIEVE MY EXISTING VOICEMAILS?
  • Apparently not. AT&T says “Check and clear your voicemail. Any existing voicemail messages will be lost once your new phone is activated.” So if you were hoping to retain that hilarious message your friend sent you from their bachelor party, you might want to find some other way of recording it.
• WHAT DO I DO WITH MY OLD iPHONE ONCE I’VE GOT MY SHINY NEW iPHONE 3G?
  • Well, whatever you want, really. You can hand your old phone off to your friend or family member who can then activate it themselves via iTunes. AT&T provides full details for how to do so at their site. If you decide not to pass your old phone on, here are some suggestions for what to do with your old unit.
  • Alternatively, there are software programs out there that will probably let you turn it into a pretty functional iPod touch.
• CAN I ADD AN iPHONE 3G TO AN EXISTING FAMILYTALK PLAN?
  • Heck yeah, you can.
• HOW ABOUT ADDING AN iPHONE 3G TO AN EXISTING FAMILYTALK PLAN…THAT ALREADY HAS AN ORIGINAL iPHONE ON IT?
  • Sure, no problem! Anything for family.
• SO, SAY I HAVE AN ORIGINAL iPHONE, AND I BUY AN iPHONE 3G.
  • That’s not really a question, but you intrigue me. Go on.
• IF I GIVE MY iPHONE AWAY TO A FRIEND, FAMILY, OR STRANGER ON THE INTERNET WITH LOTS OF MONEY, AND THEY ACTIVATE IT, WILL THEY HAVE TO USE THE NEW iPHONE 3G DATA PLANS, OR CAN THEY STILL SIGN UP FOR THE SAME ORIGINAL iPHONE PLANS?
  • That’s quite a long question, but the answer is clear: the existing plans for the original iPhone (i.e. the US$20 (RM66) unlimited data plan) will still be available to those using the original iPhone plan. AT&T will not force you into using the 3G data plan—which, frankly, makes sense, right? I mean, that would be evil.
• SO WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THAT NO-COMMITMENT OPTION FOR THE iPHONE? IT’S NOT AN UNLOCKED iPHONE, IS IT?
  • Indeed not. The “no-commitment option” that AT&T is providing, whereby you pay US$599 (RM1,976)for the 8GB iPhone 3G or US$699 (RM2,306) for the 16GB iPhone 3G, basically allows you to snag an iPhone without the 24-month contract. But you’re still pretty much tied into getting an AT&T plan if you want to use it as a phone; you won’t just be able to pop in a T-Mobile SIM card. However, should you wish to cancel that AT&T plan, you will not have to pay an early termination fee, since you have no contract.

The $15,000,000.00  Apple Store was opened on 19 Jun 2008

“It’s pretty incredible; far more than I expected,” said Brisbane inventor and self-confessed Apple geek Moyzschya Belle, who slept out overnight with scores of other enthusiasts and was among the first wave to enter the store.

“But right now, I’m going home to have a hot shower and snuggle up to my sweetie.”

Gary Allen from Berkeley in California, who writes a blog about Apple Stores and has attended some 30 store openings, also camped outside the store overnight.

He rates the Sydney store as among the top five in the world in terms of design and presentation.

For Anthony Agius from Melbourne who runs the MacTalk forum website, the best part of the overnight experience was the camaraderie. “We just spent all night talking about Macs,” he said.

Apple’s executive were also very pleased with themselves. The turnout had been better than expected and was achieved without any large-scale advertising or paid promotion.

“They all magnificent, but there’s something very special about this [opening],” said Steve Cano, Apple’s senior director of international retail, as the crowd poured in to the store. “There’s a real energy.”

I just wonder whether we can see something of that magnitude coming from HTC.

NOKIA: PLUG THE LEAK?

Nokia, the giant phone manufacturer is complaining about its own product leaks on their corporate website. Charlie of Nokia cited the Nokia E71 as the most leaked product in Nokia. According to him “The whole history of some product leaks in the past few months is a mixture of dumb moves, broken NDAs, maybe some thievery,..There are a lot of folks behind a product and leaks really screw up all the efforts.”

ARE LEAKS ACTUALLY GOOD FOR THE COMPANY?

Leak is a double-edged sword. It can help make or break an organisation. Leaks stimulate customer purchasing decisions like whether to buy some existing product now or to wait.  It also stirred up the competitors to come our with better products. Companies get it wrong when they said they lose out because customers put off buying the current products.  This is not true. For example, if a loyal iPhone user needs a 3G or GPS feature in his phone, his loyalty might just get thrown out of the window and may opt for another brand which have this feature.  Will he wait if he knew the coming of the iPhone 3G which has the features he wanted? I guess he would.

Correct me if I am wrong, HTC pushed forward their launch of the Touch Diamond because of the iPhone 3G leak.

I think Charlie is getting paranoid about the whole leaking issue.  I can’t blame him if he associate the leaking to the Osborne company, a company that was destroyed by product leaking!  On the brighter side, if your company is of no value, no one is interested in any of your leaks and furthermore most of the new features that companies want to incorporate into their new products are already public knowledge.  Sooner or later Nokia, Htc etc will be coming out with TV phones, projector phones. Is that a leak or an answer to customers’ wishlists?

It will be a nice if companies “leak” it themselves and benefit from this kind of forward announcements. Everyone knew that Apple is coming out with their 3G phone many months ago and yet the launch is such an anticipated event.  The leak did not kill the customers’ desire…it only enhances it.

When you are as big as HTC, you are always being challenged.  When Apple announced the US$199 price for the new iPhone 3G, HTC stock took a beating.  This forced HTC to have a relook at their price structure by lowering prices of their existing models for the Asian markets.

HTC entered the UMPC market with their SHIFT model without expecting a so-cheap model like the Asus Eee PC to be produced.  The increasing popularity of Asustek Computer’s Eee PC has resulted in a significant impact on the development of UMPCs (ultra mobile PCs).   The Asus Eee series come cheap and it may force HTC to adjust its deployment of UMPC products. 

HTC will have to strengthen users’ Internet experience through mobile devices like the Shift and their up and coming new MID (Mobile Internet Device) products, which will be using Intel’s Atom and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset platforms.  On the new MIDs, HTC should place emphasis on how they are going to be priced.   One wrong move, and the MIDs will be collecting dust in no time.

Among all the excellent features that come with a device, the wrong price can just kill it on the spot.  I am sure Apple spent hours brainstorming on the right price for the iPhone 3G long before it was launched. 

PRICE is the weapon that will be used over and over again.

DO YOU HAVE A REASON TO UPGRADE YOUR ORIGINAL iPHONE?
Before you rush out to buy the iPhone 3G, please read on….

The difference that all of us knew between the new iPhone 3G and the original iPhone are 3G networking and GPS. So how about the engine that makes it work.  What kind of CPU and GPU are inside the iPhone. I did post earlier that the iPhone 3G is using a new motherboard.  I have my doubts now because the fact that Apple never publicised the improvements inside means we are still getting the  same CPU and internal components.

The camera is the same, and so is the screen and the memory. Even the design only shows slight cosmetic changes.

If you think the new iPhone 3G has longer battery life, your original iPhone will not be left behind as the new 2.0 OS will tweak it to have better performance and longer battery life.  Do take note that the improved battery performance in the new iPhone 3G is entirely software-based.  And when 3G is turned on, you get shorter talk-time over the original iPhone .

If your reason to upgrade to iphone 3G is because of 3G, then don’t.  The performance benchmark of 3G over 2G may not be so significant to warrant a change.

Those who think the AT&T plan of US$199 (for iPhone 3G) is cheaper than US$399 (for original iPhone) check out the chart below and think again:

I can only see 2 reasons to upgrade to the iPhone 3G :

• You upgrade because you need 3G
• You upgrade because you need  GPS

Are these reasons good enough?

Those who are having the original iPhone, don’t sell it off.  The future is already built-in.  Just upgrade the software to 2.0.  And since Apple has halted production of the original iPhone, you are actually holding a collector’s item.

iPHONE 3G
FINAL FANTASY OR FINAL VERSION 
“This is the final version. It’s got everything on it, including a little apple symbol, so there’s no way a better one will be in the shops by Thanksgiving.”  
Steve Jobs on the iPhone 3G at WWDC

WHAT MAKES THE APPLE 3G iPHONE TICKS?

On the outside the iPhone 3G doesn’t look much different from its predecessor.  But on the inside, Apple did make some signigicant upgrades.  You get to have a new motherboard and the new GPS chip.

Basically the new motherboard feature support for 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, 2-megapixel camera and NAND memory. But the next-generation Apple iPhone 3 will see 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, HSUPA, NAND memory support and possibly an improved camera.

The GPS chip in the iPhone 3G is one of the best available in the market providing faster signal searches, improved tracking sensitivity and low average power consumption.  You can quickly get a time-to-first-fix (TTFF) of your position because the GPS is combined with features like Assisted GPS (AGPS) and Long-term orbit (LTO) extended ephemeris assistance.  Apple doesn’t stop here, it also make use of Wi-Fi networks when available for a  smooth fix of your location.

You can expect to see many software optimising the GPS chip in the iPhone 3G.  There is a very useful software “Loopt” which is basically a buddy list with GPS locations. So, you can see where your buddies are on a map. If Loopt links up nicely with the major online social networks, you can start adding all of your online buddies to your Loopt buddy list. The best part is that Loopt is platform independent, so it will also work on other phones too.

On the memory side, there is no further upgrade after their previous upgrade of 8GB or 16GB flash drives. Prior to the launch, I was expecting anything higher than 32 GB.  The 8GB and 16GB small price difference today gives no reason to retain the 8GB.  If you check out the market, many manufacturers are moving to higher capacity for their high end devices.

The new iPhone 3G has enough battery power to keep you going the whole day without running for a rechargen.  You get up to 10 hours on 2G, 5 hours on 3G, 7 hours of video playback and 24 hours of audio playback.  

Of course, $199 isn’t the real price.  Don’t be misled.  You, the customer, will be locked in a 2-year contract of monthly payments to the telco of your choice.

In the UK, O2 is offering the following:

• £99 (US$194 or RM640) for the 8GB handset,
• plus 18 months x £30 (US$59 or RM194) equals £639 (US$1250  or RM4,125).

So the iPhone 3G doesn’t come cheap if you get the calculation right.

iPHONE 3G SPECIFICATIONS 

• Size and weight:
  • Height: 4.5 inches (115.5 mm)
  • Width: 2.4 inches (62.1 mm)
  • Depth: 0.48 inch (12.3 mm)
  • Weight: 4.7 ounces (133 grams)

• Color:
  • 8GB model: Black
  • 16GB model: Black or white
• Capacity:
  • 8GB or 16GB flash drive
• Cellular and wireless:
  • UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
  • GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
  • Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
  • Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• GPS:
  • Assisted GPS

• Display:
  • 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
  • 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 163 ppi
  • Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
• Audio:
  • Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
  • Audio formats supported: AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 1, 2, and 3), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
  • User-configurable maximum volume limit
• Headphones:
  • Stereo earphones with built-in microphone
  • Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
  • Impedance: 32 ohms
• Video:
  • Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
• Camera and photos:
  • 2.0 megapixels 
  • Photo geotagging
  •  iPhone and third-party application integration
• Language support:
  • Language support for English, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, and Polish
    International keyboard and dictionary support for English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France), French (Canada), German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Korean (no dictionary), Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, and Polish

• Connectors and input/output:
  • 30-pin dock connector
  • 3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack
  • Built-in speaker
  • Microphone
  • SIM card tray

• External buttons and controls:
  • Sleep/wake
  • Ring/silent
  • Volume up/down
  • Home
• Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Proximity sensor
  • Ambient light sensor
• Power and battery:
  • Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery3
  • Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter
  • Talk time:4
    • Up to 5 hours on 3G
    • Up to 10 hours on 2G
  • Standby time: Up to 300 hours5 
  • Internet use:
    • Up to 5 hours on 3G6
    • Up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi7
    • Video playback: Up to 7 hours8
    • Audio playback: Up to 24 hours9
• Mac system requirements:
  • Mac computer with USB 2.0 port
  • Mac OS X v10.4.10 or later
  • iTunes 7.7 or later
• Windows system requirements:
  • PC with USB 2.0 port
  • Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
  • iTunes 7.7 or later
• Environmental requirements:
  • Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
  • Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
  • Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
  • Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
• In the box:
  • iPhone 3G
  • Stereo Headset with mic
  • Dock Connector to USB Cable
  • USB Power Adapter
  • Documentation
  • Cleaning/polishing cloth
  • SIM ejector tool

MALAYSIA WILL NOT RECEIVE APPLES
ONLY DURIANS !

It looks like Malaysia has been sidelined by Apple.  Why is the iPhone not coming to Malaysia, while our  Singapore neighbour is having a bite of the apple?