Archives for November 2006

There’s trouble on the horizon

November 22, 2006 by Michael Boyle

There’s trouble on the horizon

for traditionally inept telcom pirates like Rogers and the rest of them as more and more handset manufacturers start gleefully selling unlocked devices directly to consumers. The latest challenge (added to the speculation that any iPhone offering from Apple will be an unlocked DTC offering) comes from Palm, who are selling their new Treo 680, unlocked, for US$399.

Compare that with the best offer from Rogers: a two-year-old Palm Treo 650 model, which even with a three-year contract comes out at C$399 before the mail-in rebate.

So I can get a better, newer, slimmer phone and not be locked in to an over-long contract.

It’s even worse if you compare apples to apples – Rogers wants C$600 for their out-of-date Treo 650 product with no contract.

iPhone hysteria has heated up

November 17, 2006 by Michael Boyle

iPhone hysteria has heated up

with the post this week at Engadget that (possible) manufacturer Hon Hai [has copped] to [having the] iPhone contract. I don’t know where this is really going to go, but the seemingly most reliable reports are that Apple will eschew marketing the device in the traditional manner – through the cellphone carriers – and sell direct to customers who will just put in any SIM card and go.

If this does indeed prove to be the case, it will be a very interesting development. And long overdue.

As far as features are concerned, that might be a tougher sell. I would love a good quality phone that was also a top-quality music machine, but I don’t think that’s enough to really distinguish the device in the marketplace. It seems that a great proportion of the market are current smartphone users – and while I agree with Jobs that phones aren’t necessarily the best input devices, having robust input functionality built in is nevertheless quite important. Synching with a larger device isn’t always possible, so foreclosing on a user’s ability to, say, compose and send a short email or make a quick grocery list would, for me, totally rule out the adoption of an iPhone, even if the “stick it to the cell providers” part does appeal to me.

Daring Fireball:

November 14, 2006 by Michael Boyle

Daring Fireball:

‘Beta’ Is Not an Excuse. The changing concept of “beta” has been a problem for some time, but it doesn’t seem to be getting better; it seems to be getting worse over time. I haven’t tried Disco yet, but from what I’ve read, it clearly sounds like an alpha or dev release – not a feature-complete, let’s-get-the-last-bugs-out product.

The NHL is finally doing

November 1, 2006 by Michael Boyle

The NHL is finally doing

what they should have been doing for a long time – making all of its games available to view on the Internet: NHL on Google Video. So now I can watch the Habs any time, even though CBC would have us focus exclusively on the Leafs. Check out some of the classic games as well.