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Content Tagged with sprint + iphone
Sprint Samsung Instinct is great but the videos suck!
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There are bunch of videos on how to use the new Sprint Samsung Instinct but there’s NO VIDEOS on the browser of the Samsung Instinct.
If Sprint is serious about competing with the iPhone (from a marketing perspective), they gotta get rid of all that voice activated live search crap and make some videos of YouTube playing on the phone OR loading Zedomax.com on the browser.
I think whoever is managing the video marketing section of Samsun Instinct need to be fired. That’s what I’d do. Hire someone who’s capable of making good vids.
I personally HATE voice-activated commands because my Blackberry 8830 always ask me, “Say a command” like 10 times a day, it’s annoying and people don’t need voice activated stuff. I wish manufacturers start focusing more on the internet browser of the phone instead of voice activated technology I’d never use.
Great phone + bad marketing, Sprint better get their act straight soon otherwise people will laugh at them. (if they are not laughing now)
Will iPhone spark wireless wars?
Roy, a doorman for my apartment building, stopped me this morning to chit chat. Knowing my affection for all new mobile phones, I wasn’t surprised that he asked to play around with my Nokia N95. “Are you going to buy the iPhone?” he asked, seeking a second opinion since he has already made up his mind and is going to buy an iPhone.
Though he doesn’t have an iPod right now, he thinks an iPhone would give him two devices in one, despite the high price tag. He is seemingly undeterred by the questionable battery life. (One of the reasons why I have a more wait-and-see attitude towards this Apple device.) He isn’t the only one - as the interest in iPhone seems to be on an upswing.
Even if you disregard the rumors and fan sites - the population at large seems to have a considerable interest in the iPhone, indicated by the total search volume for keyword “iPhone.” According to Hitwise, a research group that tracks Internet traffic trends, iPhone related searches represent over 0.002% of total Internet searches per week for past three weeks, with iPhone release date and price being the specific information folks are looking for. (In comparison, MySpace was the #1 query and had 1.16% of the total search volume.) Just as an unscientific indicator the search volume is a good indicator of increasing commercial appeal of the device.
The big question, however, is how does iPhone impact the wireless market at large — and whether it will result in a market share shift, putting AT&T at an advantage.
AT&T is betting big on this device and is hoping to pull ahead of its rivals by riding the iPhone express. AT&T and Apple are going to be launching a big media blitz to promote the iPhone, and according to UBS Research, it will be a major reason why AT&T will be able to add approximately 2.8 million gross postpaid subscribers in the third and fourth quarters of 2007.
If Apple’s guidance of 10 million units in 18 months hits the target, UBS estimates that 2 million iPhones will be sold in the U.S. in the first six months of the launch. That works out to about 18% of AT&T’s post-paid additions and upgrades, UBS estimates. But these 2 million will have to come from somewhere - probably switchers from other wireless services.
At the end of Q1 2007, there were about 170 million postpaid wireless subscribers in the U.S., with Verizon the largest carrier (56 million) with AT&T at #2 with about 51 million, followed by Sprint (41 million) and T-Mobile bringing up the rear at 22 million. (These numbers don’t reflect wholesale and prepaid customers.)
So 2 million units don’t mean much in market share — a little 1.1% market share gain for AT&T in the first six months, but it is the residual impact that might cause the big upheaval in the wireless market.
There are some who believe that since iPhone isn’t going to get as much subsidy as other devices, AT&T can pass those subsidies to even further subsidize non-Apple phones, and making its service more attractive. That would be one way to capture the increased foot traffic to AT&T stores.
Will Verizon and Sprint take this lying down? Of course not, and will launch their own price subsidies, discount plans or whatever it takes to hang on to their subscribers. And whatever happens, consumers will come out ahead — nothing wrong with that. And even if Roy doesn’t end up buying the iPhone, he still might get a good deal somewhere else.
Photos by Niall Kennedy via Flickr.
CTIA Phones: Some Hits & Misses
CTIA 2007, Orlando: It seems like the iPhone and the hits-driven handset business has prodded cell phone makers to move a bit further out of their comfort zones. And it is all on display at the CTIA wireless trade show that started Monday.
As we walked around CTIA’s opening-night party, we checked out some of the new handsets - some destined for the charts, and others well, into the discount bin. Here are our two cents (and hands-on reviews) on some of the new phones.
Hits:
LG Prada — It might be the iPhone’s slightly less cool twin, but the touch screen LG Prada phone’s user interface is just as smooth. It reminded me of some of the newer Web 2.0 services, and in a few minutes makes you aware the truly bad state of the mobile UI. Anyone who passed the LG booth paused, and got a demo spending a few minutes gawking at the fluid interface.
Sony Ericsson’s Z750 — Despite being a basic feature phone, the HSDPA clamshell has a few nice touches that could make it a hit. It has a display with a hidden mirror effect when the clamshell is closed. It is also one of the first of Sony Ericsson’s phones that can post video blogs to Blogger.
LG VX9400 for Verizon VCAST – Broadcast TV may be old media, but it makes compelling viewing, especially if you have a soft spot for the TV show lineup. The phone’s design is far better than the rival Samsung offering, with a nice swing bar screen with built in automatic landscape switching mode. I’ve been watching Letterman for an hour or so. My parents wouldn’t be able to read the type on the screen, but if you insist on watching TV on your phone - this is the way to go.
Misses:
UpStage — Samsung’s device for Sprint’s network is like a mullet — business in the front and party in the back. Or vice versa, however your mood fits. It’s got two sides: one for calls and productivity and the other for music and entertainment.
The problem is that the side for calls is way boring and the side for music has a not-so-intuitive navigation pad. Both sides just didn’t seem good enough and the phone feels a bit schizophrenic. I was also always worried that I was getting the other side’s screen all oily with my greasy fingers.
HTC’s Advantage — It’s a laptop, its a phone (or at least has 3G and Wi-Fi) and you can use Microsoft Word and Excel for your productivity tools. Sounds good right? But the keyboard’s keys and angle just didn’t feel right for any kind of sustained typing. I tried to type like on a regular laptop as well as thumb texting. It just falls short on both accounts. Though the idea of the converged device does appeal to our sense; maybe the HTC Shift will prove better suited to my blogging-on-the-go needs, though it was safely under glass at the CTIA party.
Kyocera’s E5000 with the S-hinge –The E5000’s stainless steel S-hinge would look nice on a shelf with my grandma’s pewter Hallmark frames and silver kitty trinkets. And that’s not a good thing. Kyocera calls the hinge “a sculpted elegant look — the first of its kind.” More like a boring and basic design add, that adds nothing.
Top 5 Trends to Expect at CTIA
CTIA 2007 PREVIEW: While you’re checking out this 5 points user guide to the CTIA convention – the Super Bowl of mobile conferences – I’m likely trying to find a comfortable position on a redeye headed for hot Orlando. Hopefully it’s not too bumpy.
Like Helio’s ads “Don’t call us a phone company,” the rest of the mobile industry will try to rally the market around mobile data — mobile TV, cell phone entertainment, mobile social networking, and mobile ads - at CTIA which opens in a few hours from now.
Too bad, as analysts at Informa Telecoms & Media point out: “the vast majority of revenue growth – both for the operator and vendor communities - is coming out of developing markets where mobile is fulfilling a basic need for voice and text-based communications.” Yeah, but that’s not as much fun to show off in a demo booth. Anyway, on to the top 5 trends:
1) Mobile TV – Qualcomm’s broadcast mobile TV network is finally live in the U.S. and mobile TV vendors and video content companies now have a working platform to tout their efforts. Chip companies will showcase mobile TV chips, while media companies will announce new video content.
Verizon Wireless is the first US carrier to sell the service, and Cingular will follow soon. Hopefully AT&T COO Randall Stephenson will give us an update on the status of the rollout. Monday morning we’re picking up one of the handsets used for Verizon Wireless’ VCAST Mobile TV service. Yay.
2) Mobile Ads – Declining future voice revenues are forcing the mobile business to look at mobile ads as a way to give the bottom line a quick boost. Informa predicts mobile advertising will be around $11.3 billion by 2011. Which means, an announcement overload.
AdMob, a San Mateo, Calif.-based company will announce that it has raised $15 million in fresh funding in a round led by Accel Partners. Other startups like Xipto are showing new mobile ad-driven services like their endorsement-driven mobile advertising platform, and Millenial Media announced some new technology for rich media mobile ad campaigns.
3) iPhone and mobile UI:– We’ll see if the iPhone makes an actual appearance (or an update from AT&T’s COO), but its presence will no doubt be felt on the UI front. We should expect more companies to showcase the fluid user interface and prototypes of touch screen phones. It looks like the much awaited iPhone and the LG Prada phone will have some new competiton.
4) Lack of compelling new handsets: Moto CEO decided to cancel his keynote, a sign that Moto’s having an uh-oh moment! But is also is indicative of how quickly winds change in the handset business. Cell phone makers can’t rest on the laurels of big hits like the RAZR for too long and are trying create the new hits of 2007.
We’ll search for innovation, but we’re not too optimistic. For some reason Chinese handset maker TCL thinks Alcatel-branded handsets are a good idea and Sprint’s getting a new music phone from Samsung, the m620 or UpStage. Though Helio’s Ocean does look like a pretty nice messaging device.
5) Mobile User Generated Content – There is going to be a lot of buzz around mobile services that help subscribers create and share mobile content. StreamVerse is talking about Mojo, a service for creating mobile content that it hopes will help wireless carriers make money. Mobidia is announcing its mobile application called CUBuddy that lets users create video calls between cell phones. This is actually one part of the mobile ecosystem which could turn casual data users into 3G customers, and help goose up the carrier ARPU.