Smart Phone Wars: Apple vs. RIM vs. ...the Android Operating System? [Telecom]
|
Bookmark this page:
 Yahoo!
 Google
 Windows Live
 del.icio.us
 digg
 Netscape
|
|
||||||||||
|
Posted by Monty Solomon on April 5, 2008, 1:31 pm
Please log in for more thread options
Smart Phone Wars: Apple vs. RIM vs. ...the Android Operating System? By Paul Carton April 1, 2008 The release of the Apple (AAPL) iPhone rocked the cellular industry last year, and some analysts are now asking if the pending release of Google's (GOOG) Android cellular phone operating system may have a similar impact. The answer: Not likely. According to a March 17-24 ChangeWave survey of 3,597 consumers, the smart phone industry continues to transform into a two-horse race between Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry and Apple's iPhone. While RIM currently dominates smart phone sales among consumers, the Apple iPhone has had tremendous success and continues showing momentum in this market. Meanwhile, the longstanding woes of Palm (PALM) and its Treo are accelerating. ... http://blog.changewave.com/2008/04/smart_phone_apple_rim_google.html ***** Moderator's Note ***** <RANT> I haven't bought a Blackberry or an iPhone, and I probably won't buy the Google version, either. What gets my goat with these products is how they're not content to sell me a device, but instead demand that I subscribe to a "service" provided by someone they're in bed with, and pay a monthly fee for the rest of my life when I'd be perfectly content to do without mobile email and just have an address book. It seems to me that every company in the consumer market is drooling at the thought of getting an annuity from every product they sell, be it a "service contract" or an "extended warranty" or email forwarding to a cell phone. Nobody wants to sell _things_ anymore: they want to attach themselves to my bank account and automatically withdraw tribute like an electronic leach that I can never remove. I'm still stuck in the "dark ages" of having a separate Palm Pilot and an ordinary cell phone, but I'm content with it because I'll be damned if I contribute to someone's retirement annuity just to get an address book built into the phone. </RANT> Bill Horne Temporary Moderator (Please put [Telecom] at the end of the subject line of your post, or I may never see it. Thanks!) | ||||||||||
|
Posted by Geoffrey Welsh on April 6, 2008, 10:05 pm
Please log in for more thread options  why I bought a Motorola RAZR and, using Motorola Phone Tools, synchronize my contacts between my computer and my telephone. No data plan with the associated costs. It's no Palm Pilot, so I don't recommend it for people who want a serious PDA, but it means that I don't have to type all my phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and appointments into my phone. It also means that I won't lose that list if I lose or break my phone. Also, although I can understand that mobile operators would want to sell you a data plan and would assume that you'd want one, but I'm surprised that there is not a company out there somewhere that will sell you a PDA/phone combo (e.g. Treo) with just a voice plan. -- Geoffrey Welsh <Geoffrey [dot] Welsh [at] bigfoot [dot] com> ***** Moderator's Note ***** I'd like a Treo, but Virgin Mobile won't support one: they only offer a proprietary device running windoze. Sprint (which provides the network for Virgin Mobile) will support a Treo, but I don't like the commitment involved. In the end, I'm not so mad about the packaging of phones and services as I am about the change in business philosophy behind it: all the MBA's cranked out of Wharton tell their boss that to maximinze its harvest for the upcoming cycle the firm must prioritize cash flow and maximize the tie-in value of horizontally integrated service offerings. They know that everyone will, eventually, have an attack of common sense and tell Apple and Google and Christ-only-knows-who to stuff it and just sell the phone. The whole game is to scam as much money as they can as quickly as they can, future loyalty or word-of-mouth advertising or quaint ideas about quality be damned. Bill Horne Temporary Moderator (Please put [Telecom] at the end of the subject line of your post, or I may never see it. Thanks!) | ||||||||||
|
Posted by Tom Horne on April 8, 2008, 11:09 pm
Please log in for more thread options Geoffrey Welsh wrote:Well that's what Verizon sold me although they seemed totally puzzled by my having the Palm Treo and not wanting any of their enhanced services. The salesman finally got the idea when I began carefully annunciating the word "no" in response to each successive query. He started to look annoyed but I said I was beginning to think he didn't understand me when I said "no" the first time. The amusement flashed across his eyes and he relaxed and finished the transaction fairly quickly. I was doing him a favor, you see, by not letting him waste his selling time on a 'no sale' result. I give him plus marks for appreciating the courtesy I was showing him. The true robots get annoyed and stay annoyed. -- Tom Horne Well we aren't no thin blue heroes but we aren't no blackguards to. We're just working men and women most remarkable like you. With apologies to the Kipling trust for the paraphrasing. | ||||||||||
|
Home Cabling Guide
Finally, an instantly downloadable book that saves you thousands in home improvement dollars! Enjoy living in 21st century technology-advanced home while increasing its selling value and competitive advantage on the real estate market. Whether your cabling is for home office or high-tech leisure, you can wire your home yourself or learn "wirish" to speak with your cabling contractors in their language! Click Here to learn more |
> <RANT>
> I haven't bought a Blackberry or an iPhone, and I probably won't buy
> the Google version, either. What gets my goat with these products is
> how they're not content to sell me a device, but instead demand that I
> subscribe to a "service" provided by someone they're in bed with, and
> pay a monthly fee for the rest of my life when I'd be perfectly
> content to do without mobile email and just have an address book.