I honestly think that the iPhone will and has already begun to shake up the smartphone market (for the time being) and that means pretty much everyone but blackberry who have a loyal following are in trouble. Especially palm who make probably the ugliest phones on the planet. I know you took the external antenna off palm but if you think thats so great, take a look at how many other phones have had antennas in the last few years (except verizon’s new LG TV handset with a telescopic arial). If you gave people a treo 750 and an iPhone next to each other and they were the same price, which one would pretty much everyone buy? Exactly.
Obviously there have been many different blog posts and articles on more well known sites speculating about what Steve will unveil on Jan 9th at Macworld. The one I want to talk about really does sound so likely that I had to post it. In fact, it’s got me excited but also speculating myself. It’s more than likely that it’s been engineered to produce traffic for the site. It is also easy to be sceptical about the fact that many things in the list are either expected or rumoured, and therefore easy to predict things that are believable.
Here’s their list:
- Introduction to audience members
- Sales/Stores Numbers and Results
- iTunes Store: Movies are introduced in UK (Disney movies), while 20th Century
- Fox movies are added to US store.
- iTV discussion. Stress that iTV is still the internal code-name and it will change by launch date.
- The iTV is revised and is now taller, and includes an iPod dock at the back. At the back of the iTV unit there is a small gap of about an inch that has the dock connector inside. This is to ensure the iPod is connected securely. Browse files using iTV.
- iTV will allow ANY files in iTunes to play on your TV.
- Leopard: Explanation of features that were released in the seeds (Such as Resolution Independence and iChat Answering Machine).
- Introduces new Black Cherry theme to replace Aqua. Discussion and Video.
- Announces Both iTV and Leopard will be launched on Tuesday March 27th.
- New Displays announced: HDMI and iSight built in. 17? is introduced. Jobs then announces that price is not compromised, even with the added iSight and HDMI. All displays are $75 more than previous generation.
Steve’s One More Thing…
New iPod is released. 3.5 Inch screen, Bluetooth. NOT a touch-screen. Controlled through invisible “touchstrip” on the top side of the iPod that corresponds to symbols that appear on the upper portion of the iPod screen. 30GB $300, 80GB $400
THERE IS NO “IPHONE” at this event.
Ok so that’s supposedly what will happen. As we all know Apple doesn’t like to spoil a good surprise so I have to say this is probably just fairly clever guesswork. I’m not going to dismiss it totally because it does seem very faesable to me that this will be along similar lines to what will happen at macworld.
Obviously these guys don’t think the Apple phone (almost said iPhone) will make an appearance at Macworld. They essentially say that they don’t think there is a phone or phones in the works if they don’t appear at Macworld. I wouldn’t say that. I believe that Apple are working on a phone but they either need more time to finish up the project or they want
What is for certain is that we will see leopard and iTV make their debuts. It’s also well noted that Apple will never pass up the opportunity to excite everyone with that “one more thing” this year just as any other before it.
Via digg - direct link to story.
I know it’s possible someone photoshopped this image based on what Kevin Rose gave away about the phone on the latest episode of diggnation. However, It’s hard to not believe it when you see how cool this product can look. It simply looks like a nano with a slide out keyboard. With the keyboard hidden it’s probably not going to be easy to distinguish between the two products, except I’m not sure how small it is, and of course the two phone buttons above the click wheel. I hope it is as small as a nano, but it’s hard to see how they can make something that small into a slider and still fit everything in. Especially when you consider that this thing will have all the functionality of a nano packaged with two batteries, possibly a camera and of course all the functionality of a mobile.
How cool is this thing. The whole design looks so futuristic and stylish. The blue fuel is an interesting concept that probably wouldn’t see the light of day but as a style statement it would be nice to keep it in there even if it was purely decoration. The screen also looks really nice. It looks like there is hardly any bezel on it. From the picture it looks like there might be one about 3mm thick which is nothing.
via engadget.
I know a lot of people know about the DS browser add-on. It’s a nice addition to the DS for the times where a laptop isn’t ideal. However, I’m not talking about that.
Nintendo are now close to launching a DS mp3 player in europe. Actually it’s not a DS addition only because it uses a GBA cartridge that fits in any GBA (GBA, SP, Micro) and the two DS versions.
It works by plugging an SD memory card (presumably mini or micro SD) into a slot on the side of the GBA sized cartridge before it slots into the gameboy / DS. One of the nice things about this is the fact that SD memory capacity is going up all the time it seems like, and while this is happening, the same thing is happening with price, only in reverse.
I think it’s safe to assume that DRM’d music won’t work (iTunes) unless you burn it to a cd and re-rip it to the system. The fact that you can just drag mp3’s onto the card means that it will work with most OS’s (Mac, Windows and possibly Linux if your distro can read SD cards). You will need an adapter to plug in whatever type of SD card it is. The card will typically slot into an SD sized adapter, and that will then go in either a built in memory card reader or a usb add-on style one like I have. I use mine to transfer pics from my phone over to my mac to import into iPhoto. I could use it to transfer mp3s to it too but I never do since I have a nano.
I’m not sure what Nintendo will be including in the pack, it may have an adapter or it may not. It may even be SD sized and therefore not require an adapter.
Going back to SD memory, one of the advantages of this is that you can upgrade the memory at any time, or you could carry muliple cards with you (as long as you don’t lose them). At the moment you can get 2GB cards with adaptors for around £40 which is pretty good. You can carry around 500 tracks on one so they will be enough for a lot of people.
The release date in Europe is set to the same day as the Wii launch, December 8th priced £20.
Now that the US launch parties for the Wii and PS3 have come and gone, the focus turns to first the Japanese Wii launch, then finally the UK launch on December the 8th. Judging by the US launch, the Wii will be well recieved over here, possibly better due to the fact that Sony aren’t competing this Christmas and the 360 has already been out over a year so a lot of people will already own them.
Among all the positives in the news regarding the Wii, already there has been at least one negative. A guy who bought the Wii and was playing with it all night with his friend broke a TV with the remote while playing Wii sports bowling. The guy went to bowl the ball like he had done many times in the night up to that point. As he was doing so the remote slipped out of his hand. As anyone would have, he expected the strap to stop the remote from flying away but unfortunatly it broke and the remote smashed into the TV causing a large crack.
Now I have to say this is probably going to become commonplace. I’m not saying this guy is looking for a new TV from Nintendo but some people out there will be. People are speculating that he wasn’t wearing the strap and cut it after it broke, or maybe even broke it before he got the wii, then cut the remote when he got it to make it look like it’s Nintendo’s fault.
Then again, if he is telling the truth and he actually did wear the strap, then that’s fine, but how unlucky is that. I mean even if you did do the bowling motion too hard, what are the chances of the remote slipping out of your hand, the strap breaking and if it did break, the remote fly directly into the TV. I suppose as you play it more and more it becomes more and more likely but still not that probable.
This although it’s pretty amusing also makes me more wary of throwing the remote around too hard, and especially making sure I wear the strap when I get it (although in reality I probably won’t).
In 7 short hours from now, the Wii will launch in the US. I hope it does well against the PS3 and Xbox in the run-up to Christmas and the same goes when it launches over here on December the 8th, minus the PS3 for competition for another few months. I’m feeling confident about Nintendo’s chances this time round as I believe the Wii to be a far more enticing proposition for a far larger audience than the gamecube was. The GC really just catered for the most part to kids and people who grew up with mario and other Nintendo favourites. There’s no escaping that fact.
The Wii on the other hand not only looks a lot sleeker and generally cooler but also caters to a far larger audience. Nintendo have not only aimed themselves at their usual target market but also previous non-gamers and more serious gamers who would have previously gone with a PS2 or Xbox. Nintendo have made the games not only easier to play for the people who want them that way, but also more immersive than ever before for the people who want that.
When you factor in the cost of the system (half the cost of the core PS3) the Wii is guarunteed to succeed where the GC didn’t do much more than exist and lag behind the other two in sales by quite a margin.
It truly is a console that can be all things to all people.
TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (2317.TW) has secured contracts from Apple Computer for 12 mln mobile handsets that also function as music players, the Commercial Times quoted industry sources as saying.
Apple will launch the mobile handsets in the first half of next year, the newspaper said, without providing financial details of the contract.
The daily also reported that Hon Hai won orders from Apple for its new 15-inch ‘MacBook’ personal computers which it will deliver starting next month or in January.
The Commercial Times, which also cited industry sources, did not provide the quantity or value of the MacBook contract.
Apple’s existing contracts with Asustek Computer Inc (2357.TW) for other MacBook models will not be affected by the new orders made to Hon Hai, according to the report.
Officials of both Hon Hai and Asustek declined comment, the daily said.
Hon Hai is the world’s leading manufacturing services provider for information technology devices.
Taiwan’s Hon Hai wins Apple orders for mobile handsets, notebook PCs - report - Forbes.com
We know how Apple like to keep secrets. But if they do they either havn’t been trying as hard recently, or it’s getting to the point where it’s almost impossible for them to keep anything secret no matter how hard they try now that there always seems to be some way of information leaking onto the net.
I have to take this as true because forbes are a pretty big site so I doubt they would publish unfounded rumours. I’m not really sure what my view on the iPhone is but I’m slightly sceptical of a 15 inch macbook. For me it would blur the difference between the consumer and pro laptop models too much. I mean the only difference I can spot between a 15 inch macbook and a 15 inch macbook pro is the difference in thickness which isn’t much at all, possibly a slightly faster processor and a bigger hdd. A difference in RAM is also likely but it can be upgraded pretty cheaply.
Anyway, I can see an advantage of a 15 inch macbook. Because of the similarity to the macbook pro there’s a pretty good chance we will see a significant price cut on the consumer models, especially the 13 inch macbook.
Unfortunatly the iPod doesn’t yet allow people to fly by holding it but Apple have done the next best thing in my view. Starting some time mid next year, you will be able to hook up your iPod video to a connector next to the seat when you’re flying with one of 6 airlines. This will enable not only the ability to charge your ipod while listening to / watching stuff, but also allow you to relax and not have to worry about conserving your iPod’s battery life at all. The best part of this is the ability to watch video on the screen in the back of the seat in front of you.
There are 6 major airlines already signed up to offer this service. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see others like Virgin take it up soon too.
I don’t believe anyone who says they havn’t heard anything about the upcoming reheating of the console war with the imminant launch of the PS3 (although not here) and Wii in the US a month before the UK. Both US launches will be within two days of each other. PS3 first on the 17th, very closely followed by the Wii on the Sunday (19th).
Engadget have posted a picture of their nice console collection. I have to say the size of the Wii is very welcome and surprising despite the fact that I knew it was small. It’s only when you actually see it compared in this way to the competition it becomes clear how compact it is. Especially when you consider all the functionality it has such as gamecube controller and memory card slots, SD card slot, USB and Wi-Fi (which Sony can’t manage on their “core” machine.
Engadget have posted some pics and videos showing the Wii and the PS3 being unboxed and the Wii’s navigation system. Engadget along with IGN always seem to have everything covered perfectly.
It’s pretty re-assuring to know what to expect in the box when I hopefully get mine on launch day in the UK. The familiar red, white and yellow AV cables are good to see as I know how easy they are to use with modern TVs. My mind casts back to when we got the Gamecube on launch day and it was horrible to set up on our old TV which didn’t have an AV cycle function which meant you had to tune it in. When that TV packed up and we replaced it with a better one, I was shocked at how simple it was and how much time we could have saved.
I was also pleasently surprised by the size of the sensor bar. It’s tiny when I was expecting something much more long and bulky. The final thing would have to be the most insignificate thing of all. Batteries for the Wii-Remote included in the box. Now that’s good service. I would have probably got it to realise I had no batteries around.
Wii Unboxing video
Wii setup and menu features walkthrough
PS3 Japanese packaging unboxing (stills only).
I’ll keep posting my thoughts on what happens up to and post launch of both consoles, and where Microsoft and the 360 are left when the dust settles.