We were owned for a few hours but everything seems to be okay. Once again apologies for the inconvenience. The love fest may now continue.
Sprint can’t handle growth Looks to kill Boost Mobile
It appears after spinning off the newly formed Embarq, Sprint is now is planning to stop the spin for Boost Mobile. The company recently announced intentions to slow the growth of the wholly owned subsidiary as Boost Mobile’s growth has been reported as outpacing more financially viable areas. In fact close to half of newly acquired Sprint customers are from Boost Mobile.
The Real Reason the iPhone will Be a Success.
Alfredo Padilla over at the Unwired went thinking aloud about Apple iPhone concepts. I suggest you take a break from the rumors and mindless Photoshop and video mockups and read it. He raises a few questions about what Apple may do in regards to OS selection and features sets.
Centuries ago in blog years we ran the iPod is Dead series, which itself is a fascinating read. In that, we covered why Apple must ressurect itself as the Phoenix if it plans to withstand the mounting onslaught of devices and competitors collapsing onto the mobile media market.
Thus far Apple has not done much, but zealous speculation from the media and popular websites have allowed the device to remain on the throne amidst false prophecies of ‘iPod killers’, unreleased heirs or supposedly valiant challengers, such as the Nokia NSeries or one of the Sony Ericsson WalkMan phones and most recently the Microsoft Zune. Still, the media is not the real reason. More►
Zune $299 Price May Kill Sales
Zune seems to be making all the moves. Just not the right moves. At least to us. No video? No on the go music purchase? Ads? It seems to be Zune is going to cost a bit more than the number one selling device in the category. Rumors and speculation are suggesting a price tag of $299, which would be fine for a device with all the features we were told about initially, BUT it seems features are falling off one by one as the days go by. Most importantly, no music purchases on the go.
Cingular to Launch Mobile Games Expo
Cingular is set to launch a ten-city tour called “Games Gone Mobile” starting August 11th dedicated to mobile gaming. The event kicks off in Chicago, IL and stops in Los Angeles, CA on October 15th.
EA Mobile, Oasys Mobile, and Sony Pictures Mobile are just a few of the companies scheduled to showcase their mobile games. LG looks to be the winner so far as games will be preloaded on LG handsets. Some titles mentioned were Doom RPG, Tetris Mania and Texas Hold’em by Phil Hellmuth.
Other tour stops include Boston, New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
101 Groovy Gadget Sites
At a time when many are doing just the opposite, Red, over at the Red Ferret Journal reminds us what this is all about. Sharing resources, ideas and finding great stuff. The Red Ferret Journal has provided an awesome list of sites for those of us with a fetish for gadgets and technology.
We here at BigBerries were already familiar with quite a few names on the list, but also surprised by the number of sites we had not come across. Our hats off to Red for the mention and for providing a resource for both the newly addicted and old timers. Groovy Gadget Sites
Nokia Multimedia Computers and My Perspective
When Nokia held the Open Studio in Berlin back in April (1,2), I must admit I didn’t really know what to think of the verbage Nokia was so intent on throwing around. The term “multimedia computer” was unloaded over and over again. Here we are in July and today the Nokia N73 and the N93 multimedia computers have been released. While the NSeries devices are wonderful, I think the term “multimedia computer” is going to be confusing for buyers, especially with UMPC’s being released and the basic fact that when people think Nokia, they think phones. Using phrases like “multimedia computer” is not going to change that. More►
Links – The Places We Visit
Another spectacular addition to the pages here at BigBerries. Links – The places we visit. Currently located at the bottom of every page, Links is a representation of where we go when we cruise the web. If you feel your site or a site you know about should be on the list, Contact Us.
Since BigBerries covers a lot a phone news we couldn’t start if out without adding Phonescoop and MobileTracker to the list.
Phonescoop is like, well it’s Phonescoop and even if they don’t race to bolt out every story, when they do provide coverage it’s pretty indepth. Plus the phone database kicks some serious butt.
MobileTracker is a site I visited often before the makeover but I could never remember the name of it. Since the change the site is even better.
As far as style goes BigBerries pretty much flies independent. We don’t run across a lot of sites that we like that cover the stuff we do. We do like sneakers though and there are plenty of kick sites out there.
EUKicks jumped onto the scene and caught our eye. Hopefully we’ll see big things from them.
So visit those sites and check Links for more additions. By all meanss if there is a site out there we should visit more often: Contact us
Codename: Argo – The Microsoft Zune and My Perspective
I can see the need. A cool 1 syllable name with few letters, something that can become a catchphrase, the advertisers thoroughly abusing the letter Z. Zune it all makes sense. Can’t you see it? Zune. The last word in your mobile experience. Don’t just tune in Zune in. Hmm, it just may work. Zune, if that is to be the final name of the Microsoft multimedia player to me seems a bit overly masculine, hard and cold.
Perhaps inadvertently you’d be watching or listening to zunes and for some reason that just sounds too much like something else. Where do you go to download your zunes? That sounds too much like something else as well if you were going to use the name Zune. I do hope Microsoft doesn’t name the online destination of the yet to be released multimedia player some polysyllabic nightmare tech-guru of a name like the Microsoft Zune Multimedia Player Media Download and Information Center. It has to be something cool, something easy to remember, something tied specifically to the product. Are people not paying attention to what is working? After having utilized a name like Origami, which had the whole of tech-Earth abuzz you’d think we’d get something with a little more punch.
Enough of that I have more to share. The unreleased Argo / Zune as it is called thus far has unfortunately been labeled as an Ipod-killer. However, the Ipod is dead already and many consumers either don’t know or won’t accept it. Obviously the industry doesn’t either and while so many spend time imitating a dead device, wasting money in R & D, Apple in all its wisdom is preparing the resurrection of something entirely different yet the same. Apple can bask in the desires of other companies as they imitate their dead device and unwittingly continually conjure up thoughts of the Ipod upon consumers. How can companies ever expect to surpass Apple if all they ever do is copy?
The Nokia 8800 and the Nokia N90 both Win Red Dot Awards
The Nokia 8800 mobile phone has won the “best of the best” prize from red dot. The Nokia 8800 received the award because of its’ design qualities, use of precious materials (stainless steel and mineral glass), usability and features. The Nokia N90 with unique clamshell design also received a red dot.
My Perspective
We were going to cover the Red Dot Awards yesterday but had to ponder over the Nokia announcement and their win. Here’s why. This is really great and all for Nokia but winning this award struck me as odd provided the phone was announced over a year ago and even has several variations in theme. There has been a 24k gold version and versions based on automobiles such as the Aston Martin. The Nokia 8800 is sexy, shows individual confidence and glamour but is considerably old when it comes to both design and technology. Maybe I just have higher expectations.
It really perplexes me how Nokia wins for a device well over a year old, that by all I can see could have been entered in last years Red Dot competition. In fact just to show you how old the 8800 is, the Nokia 8801 which is the US version based off the Nokia 8800 was expected to begin shipping during the 3rd quarter of 2005. This phone is stylish and shiny but it just seems like Nokia is doing everything they can to make this phone a runaway success or at least justify whatever went behind the production.
If you are only buying a phone for looks the Nokia 8800 is a great bet. Big spenders however should go all out and purchase a Vertu. If you like the idea of owning a Red Dot award winning phone that you can use as a conversation piece, but still want current / next generation technology in my opinion go with the Nokia N90.
