Some websites with themes, wallpaper, and ringtones. All free of coarse! 
www.mobile41.com
blackberrythemecentral.com
www.tuneusin.com
www.deviantdigital.ws
Mobile Software
www.shozu.com
Beyond411 (aka Berry 411)
Yahoo! Go
Google Maps
I got the first one available in the store. Love it so far and it is a much needed upgrade from the old 8700 and 7100 series I have been using. It includes a nice 2MP camera and it has a flash. The media player portion is sweet! I can pretty much use it to listen to music, once I get my MicroSD card from Newegg.com. It even has a new headset connector, which is 3.5mm. This is the same as your standard headphone connector for a walkman or PC. That means I can use quality headphones! The speakerphone is extremely loud, and the rings are very crisp and clear.
I am still getting used to the rollerball, but I am starting to like it. I am not fond of the themes, as I was using a Vodafone theme on a 8700 recently and loved that. Hopefully a few months will bring some nicer themes from the community. I am happy with my purchase, and hope Cingular’s service is reliable enough. I moved from T-Mobile, after being there for the last 6 years, because my co-workers and family are on Cingular and that enables free mobile-to-mobile. I waited to switch for the last 2 months because of this device. I would have waited for T-Mobile’s if I hadn’t had that factor.
All deference to the folks that believe in the omniscience of Steve Jobs, but there is almost no way that Apple is going to be able to sell 10 million iPhones in 18 months. Just to show that I’m not a naysayer, I do agree that 1 million iPhones in 2007 is completely reasonable.
Here’s the rationale:
With AT&T/Cingular being the only announced carrier to date, getting to the 10 million number would require 1 out of every 6 CURRENT AT&T/Cingular customers to buy an iPhone. The people that will buy iPhones are the small subset that are currently paying well over $100 per month for wireless service. With AT&T/Cingular’s current ARPU at less that $50, a standard distribution would suggest that substantially less than 1 in 6 are currently paying more than $100/month. Compound that with the fact that many of these people (myself included) have already upgraded to Cingular’s 3G network, and we won’t want to lose all of that network speed just to have a slightly slicker form factor. (Side note: I was going to wait for the iPhone, but ultimately decided that the Blackjack was plenty feature rich and also had 3G, allowing me to watch my slingbox from anywhere - something you just can’t do on the EDGE network that the iPhone will have).
Wait, you say, the iPhone will attract people to leave Verizon and Sprint. I definitely agree with that point, which is why I believe that the iPhone was a huge coup for Cingular. It will attract many of the high ARPU, fashon-savvy customers away from the competitors. But if you’ve noticed, Cingular remains the only carrier in the world that has done a deal with Apple. The reason for that is the eggregious terms that Apple forced on Cingular. Apparently Verizon was going to get the iPhone, but couldn’t stomach the terms. The terms are so difficult that AT&T’s board of directors had to sign off on the deal - something that has never happened before for a single handset deal. Because Apple got AT&T to fold like a lawn chair, they are expecting other carriers to do the same, but the European carriers are not biting.
There have been well over 1 million people that have signed up in Apple stores and online to get an email when the iPhone is generally available. Let’s be generous and say that all those people buy the phone in the first 6 months it is out. That gets you all of the early adopters. Then what? Who buys it next? With a $500 price tag, very few people will be able to unless some kind of payment plan is offered (which there won’t be for all of the reliability issues highlighted by others).
In all reality, the main reason this is a coup for Cingular is the fact that 1) they will be able to attract the very high end customers from the other carriers, 2) they will be able to retain their own high end customers, and 3) they will drive consumers into their Cingular stores just to look at and play with the iPhone. The reason #3 is so critical is that Cingular has a teriffic selection of phones that have pieces of the iPhone functionality (MP3 player, video, etc) at a fraction of the price. Cingular’s bet is that for every 100 people that come in to look at the iPhone, 1 will buy it, 9 will buy something else, and the other 90 will just leave the store. Hey, that’s 100 people that wouldn’t have walked in the store that day, thus 10 sales that wouldn’t have been made. Smart move if you ask me.
A the end of the day the iPhone will do very well and Jobs will again be touted as a consumer products/marketing demi-god. However, given the current information we have, it will take time for it to get to the 10 million plateau. Unless, of course, Jobs has a couple other carriers up his sleve, in which case my entire analysis is out the window, which (as a shareholder) would be fine by me.
Okay where are the Windows Mobile 5 phones for Verizon and Sprint? My CEO loves Verizon’s coverage in NYC, but hates the battery life of the new Blackberry 8703e. The standard battery only lasts 3hours of talk time, and there isn’t an extended battery available currently. He had a Motorola E815 with extended battery and liked it, but it eventually got worn out and he wanted to go for a combined device. Sprint and Verizon both offer Windows Mobile 5 PDAs with full QWERTY keyboards, but no simple phone WM5 devices like Cingular and T-Mobile. Does that mean people don’t want the Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition? I don’t think so, since I know several people who own the T-Mobile SDA, Cingular 2125, Audiovox SMT5600, and Motoral MPx200 and 220.
Recently, I’ve been borrowing a Nokia 6682 smart phone from my current employer in order to test out some of the new software that has been developed for these high-end handheld computing devices. This will be the first in a series of posts about these software applications and my thoughts on them.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to pick up a phone call when I have no idea who might be calling me. Today, the limiting factor is whether or not that number appears in your address book. As I’m sure has happened to many of you, when I receive a phone call from a number I don’t recognize, the first thing I do is ask the people around me if they happen to know the location of the area code. Unfortunately, the list of area codes that I have memorized is short and limited to places I have lived, have family, or major US cities.
As early as six months ago, I started suggesting that this would be a great thing to have on cell phones. Sure enough, within the last month, a Seattle-based company, Cequint, came out with just such an application.
First, I would like to caveat my comments by saying that this is an early stage company with the first release of their software, so a few bugs are guaranteed. With such an application now installed on my borrowed Nokia, you would think my problem would solved, right? Well it is, sort of.
Sling Media Launches WM5 Smartphone SlingPlayer App Gallery (MobileBurn)
While the quality of this video is amature in nature, I think this shows the power of the mobile networks that are being deployed. Also, I think it is a good representation of how all of our entertainment lives are going to eventually converge into an on-demand model. Slingbox is showing the world how powerful having on-demand access to your entire entertainment library is for a consumer. Now, with devices like the Motorola Q, the Slingbox mobile application and Verizon’s CDMA 1xEV-DO network, you can get your content anywhere. Check out the demo below!
If you ever owned a blackberry, you will know there are tons of ways to accessorize your crackberry. Ever wonder how people walk and type at the same time? They cheat! Most of the time they aren’t looking for the obstacles that exist in front of them! Check out this useful accessory that Rick Mercer from the CBC put out. I sure hope they start making one of these for Palm Treo, iPods, PSP, and a kids version for the Nintendo DS. These days kids need something like this!
via Steffen Nork from Frankfurt, Germany
One of the highlights of last week’s CTIA show in Las Vegas was the introduction of a new technology from Qualcomm - MediaFLO. This new service is designed to allow users to watch live TV on their cell phones. Qualcomm had a demo system up and running in Las Vegas with 9 channels of sports, news, stocks and more.
Having seen this technology first hand, I must say, it is one of the more impressive demonstrations I’ve seen on a cell phone of late. Imagine, you’re waiting for the bus, so instead of reading the paper, you can just watch CNBC live, or catch ESPN SportsCenter while you’re waiting for your next flight. This will really bring new meaning to anytime anywhere access to your entertainment.
For more on this, for this link: Light Reading - Mobile/Wireless - MediaFLO Demos CTIA - Telecom News Wire
Twenty four hours in a day. Work eight hours, sleep eight hours, but what do you do with your ExtraEight?
