In honor of today launch of the iPhone 3Gs (s is for speed), we wanted to let you know about this awesome pictorial history of all things iPhone over at The Telegraph.
And if you forgot, this is how it all started:
cnet's Crave blog offers up some rumors regarding the potential for a new iPhone model. Once can hope:
Details include 32GB of RAM, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and much more. Regardless, the the 3.0 firmware update (copy and paste, turn-by-turn directions) is definitely coming soon.
Read more @ cnet.
Engadget spotted some video of Samsung's new Alias 2 (for Verizon). What makes this phone so special is that it has got a dynamic e-ink keyboard (think Kindle):
And the very cool video:
The other day we learned that Apple is in talks to bring the iPhone to Verizon. Now we hear that they'll be bring not one, but two models:
While exciting, this just doesn't sound right. As the same article notes just a couple of sentences later, AT&T's current exclusivity period doesn't expire until the end of the year. Perhaps this iPhone lite gets around that, as it would be a 'media pad,' not a phone:
"The media pad category might go to Verizon," said the person who has seen the device. "We are talking about a device where people will say, 'Damn, why didn't we do this?' Apple is probably going to define the damn category."
The new iPhone-like device is slightly thinner and smaller than the existing iPhone, people say. The reason the device is much cheaper than existing iPhones is that it relies on a so-called system on a chip, which incorporates many types of chips and drives down the cost of silicon in such devices, says one source familiar with the design. This new chip could also potentially be used in the media pad. "It will have a much lower cost that will blow away the margins on the BlackBerry and the iPhone," the person says.
Read it all at BusinessWeek and decide for yourself.
It would be at least a year off, but USA Today is reporting that Apple and Verizon have been talking about bringing the iPhone to Verizon's 80 million customers:
Assuming Apple decides that its worth it to produce a CDMA model (which at about 375 million global subscribers doesn't come close to GSM's 2.5 billion or so subscribers), then the biggest loser will of couse be AT&T:
Read more @ USA Today
It's taken a while, but the news that many have been waiting for, has finally broken:
Read more @ The Boy Genius Report
Cnet's Crave, one of our favorite technology review sites, has a honest and somewhat disappointing report of the Blackberry Storm. For all you iPhone owners who are avid texters (about half our office), be glad you read this as we are sure you seriously considered switching at one point:
The Storm, which is Research In Motion's first touch-screen device, was supposed to be Verizon Wireless's iPhone killer. Verizon is the exclusive carrier for the Storm. Apple's iPhone is sold exclusively by AT&T. Verizon and RIM had supposedly been working on the device even before AT&T launched the original iPhone two and a half years ago.
The Storm launched in November, in time for the holiday-shopping season. And while it sold well initially with about 500,000 shipping the first month, the Journal reports that many customers who bought the device are complaining of buggy software and hardware glitches.
Read the whole post here.
The New York Times released an interesting story on the state of mobile technology in the US versus other countries, notably Japan and the UK:
Imagine a technology that lets you pay for products just by waving your cellphone over a reader.
The technology exists, and, in fact, people in Japan have been using it for the last five years to pay for everything from train tickets to groceries to candy in vending machines. And in small-scale trials around the world, including in Atlanta, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area, nearly everyone has liked using this form of payment.
But consumers in the United States won’t be able to wave and pay with their cellphones anytime soon: The myriad companies that must work together to give the technology to the masses have yet to agree on how to split the resulting revenue.
Read the full article here.
AuthenTec recently sponsored an independent survey of U.S. mobile phone users (men and women, ages 18-25) indicating that the vast majority would like to see widespread availability of fingerprint-enabled phones in the U.S. between now and 2009.
According to the consumer survey conducted this month, a vast majority of mobile phone users (89 percent) use the device for short message service (SMS) text messaging and transmitting photos and files, and nearly half send more than 5 text messages a day. In spite of the privacy of these messages and files, only a small percentage (14 percent) use a password to protect the phone or its stored files and messages today.
“For mobile marketers this technology can be helpful because it think ensures that the user on the other end is who they say they are,” said Brent Dietz, director of communications for AuthenTec, Melbourne, FL.
Tom Limongello asks a very important question:
FOR YEARS, THE MOST POPULAR content viewed by mobile web browsers has been weather, news, and sports. But how is this changing and what is the next wave of mobile content?
And the answer is?
So where is mobile content going? The answer is deeper and richer. Where mobile content used to just be about the headlines, publishers are now providing a richer experience. Instead of just offering the latest headlines, news sites are providing video clips, image galleries, and deeper coverage of critical issues such as political primaries.
Let's take ESPN for example, sports fans can still get real-time scores and stats but now they also have one-touch access to other ESPN content like news, columnists, Gamecast, and videos as well as customizable information about your favorite teams, players, columnists and news topics.
Local content also becomes more relevant as mobile local search evolves and content is more accessible off-deck through sites like Google News. Now, mobile consumers can get not just national headlines, but find out what is happening in news and sports in their own home towns. Another great example of accessible mobile local search is New Jersey Transit which has a very user-friendly and lightweight mobile site that provides easy-to-use station and train schedule information for commuters on the go.
Read more at Online Media Daily.
