Blackberry Storm In 4 Days

It looks like the wait is over.... let the holiday iPhone - G1 - Storm battle begin!!

Meet The Designers Behind The G1, XBOX, And More

In a world where gadgets and technology are commonplace as everyday utilities, I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at the masterminds behind the aesthetics of our favorite toys.

Allow me to introduce Mike and Maaike, designers extroardinaire.  Maaike Evers is a Dutch designer, and Mike Simonian is a California soul.  Together, they have crafted some of todays most exciting electronis, as well as furniture, household items, and sports equipment.  Think T- Mobile G1, Microsoft Xbox, and so on.

T-Mobile G1 Coming To Wal-Mart, But Not Yet

Shipping delays have left Wal-Mart shelves bare of the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1. It was originally reported that the mega-retailer would begin selling the G1 at a discounted price of $148.88 this week, but BetaNews has learned that this is not the case.

“We’ve experienced a few shipping issues, but we’re working with T-Mobile on that,” said Wal-Mart’s Ashley Hardie.

On or around November 3, the G1 phones will be for sale for $148.88 -- approximately $31 less than T-Mobile is charging for them -- at about 550 of Wal-Mart's roughly 4,300 stores, according to Hardie.

In a quick check by BetaNews today, the anticipated G1 phones weren't yet mentioned on Wal-Mart's Web site.

"But we're working with out Web site to put up a list of the stores where the phones will be available, before we starting selling [the G1s]," Hardie told BetaNews.

Blackberry Storm Demo Video

Blackberry's touch screen competitor, the Storm, will definitely shake up the market for touch screen phones. The demo below shows it is a legit competitor to the iPhone and G1, and Blacberry loyalists will be happy to stick with RIM.

T-Mobile G1 Is Finally Here

The release date for the T-Mobile, HTC built G1 finally has arrived.

T-Mobile said pre-order demand for the new G1 is three times what it had expected and many stores are opening early tomorrow in anticipation of high interest. The company declined to disclose the phone's unit sales projections, but research firm Strategy Analytics estimates G1 sales would reach 400,000 units in the fourth quarter, for a 4% market share.

The G1 has been relentlessly compared to the iPhone; yet beyond their similar touch-screens, there is little else these phones share. The G1 comes tightly knitted to Google services, and a Google account is required for using the phone. At $179 with a two-year voice and data plan, the G1 phone is $20 cheaper than the entry-level 8-gigabyte iPhone. The iPhone has a broader appeal than the G1, analysts said. The iPhone has been positioned as a fashion accessory, as all things Apple are. A testament to its hip but mainstream pedigree, 30% of U.S. consumers who purchased Apple's new iPhone 3G from June through August switched from other mobile carriers to join AT&T, according to market researchers NPD Group. T-Mobile declined to disclose projections for its expected conversion rates with the G1.

Marketing Has Trained Me To Be An Optimist

In the under- statement of the century, I’m generally sarcastic and wry. While it doesn’t always really affect my mood, it’s a skin I’ve developed to help keep myself entertained and humbled, (sarcasm allows you to constantly turn humor back onto yourself).

In the face of a struggling economy, stock market and the “new economy,” I’m truly flooded with jokes about the failures of current presidential administrations, economic policies that are laughable, and the general panic of the financial media. But I bought stocks last week. First time in about 7 years. And I did it because of marketing.

I bought Deutsche Telecom, owner of T-Mobile in the wake of the G1 arrival news. On a personal level, I think the phone is rather basic and is just an iPhone competitor, nothing revolutionary. But I genuinely believe it has the potential to take digital advertising to the next level. As TV and print budgets continue to get cut in the coming year or so, that money will continue to come online and whether we like it or not, it’s going to partly go to Google. Search continues to make up 40% of most online budgets, and with mobile search taking off, the G1 is going to send millions of searches to Google a day.

Did I drop the bank on DT stock and plan my retirement around it? Of course not, but I did feel I was playing my part in keeping this economy moving forward, and not yanking all my money because that is how the market crumbles. I felt it was symbolic to place some trust (and funds) into companies that are looking to grow in this time period, and online advertising companies are at the top of that list. Granted we are in a bit of a cocoon because major brands will always spend advertising dollars, and right now online happens to be the least expensive medium. And it’s growing. Online opportunities are not going backwards, they are going forward.

Maybe it’s selfish to be thinking solely for my own industry, company, colleagues etc., but I think we are going to be ok as a whole in this country. I think things will stabilize in time and I think we will all find ways back on our feet.

Bottom line, I think their is a right time and place for everything, and digital advertising is poised to support lotsof dollars in the coming year.

Blackberry Storm To Battle iPhone and G1

Considering the coverage I’ve given to both the iPhone and G1, I’ve neglected to consider the effect the Blackberry Storm will have on the touch screen phone market. The phone is contracted through Verizon, the next carrier to make an exclusive deal to try and catch some share from AT&T (iPhone) and potentially T-Mobile (G1).

Blackberry has done very little to promote the phone so far, and could be waiting for the hype over the G1’s coming release in a couple weeks to slow down.

The new touch-screen, which also works as a keyboard, supports single -touch, multi-touch and gestures to easily navigate in applications. The haptic touch-screen will let the user distinctly feel the screen being pressed and released with a gentle click, and the experience is said to be similar to that of a physical keyboard or a mouse button. Some of the other features include an inbuilt accelerometer to auto-orient the screen between landscape and portrait modes when the handset is rotated by the user.

RIM has said that it is very fast and easy to navigate web sites with the Storm's touch-screen interface letting users double tap to zoom in and slide their fingers to scroll and pan.

Mike Lazaridis, RIM's president and co-CEO has said "We are proud to introduce the first touch-screen based BlackBerry smartphone together with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone. The BlackBerry Storm is a revolutionary touch-screen smartphone that meets both the communications and multimedia needs of customers and solves the longstanding problem associated with typing on traditional touch-screens. Consumers and business customers alike will appreciate this unique combination of a large and vibrant screen with a truly tactile touch interface."

CBS Creates iPhone App...And Supplies Porn

Who said CBS had lost it's cutting edge?

In a classic case of citizen journalism gone awry, CBS’s iPhone application Eyemobile has created a big stir today in the application market. Eyemobile provides users an easy link to CBS’ user generated news platform CBSEyemobile.com where citizens can upload photos and short pieces as their version of “news.” Straight from the AdAge presses:

Karl Johnson, chief operating officer of BrandContent, a Boston-based agency, uploaded the app last night and saw a picture of a young woman bent over her kitchen stove, her skirt hiked up. Later he saw video of three women performing sexual acts on one another. A visit to CBSeyemobile.com turns up a few photos that walk the line of not-safe-for-work, a jarring juxtaposition with CBS's storied news brand. What's more, Google is advertising on the clips via AdMob.

As a huge supporter of the application movement and the Mac community, I will be jumping on the bandwagon of calling out CBS’s moderating system as faulty. The same way Facebook and other massive user initiated sites are monitored, there is a built in system to track content uploads and safety of said content.

CBS does have a moderator, but it seems the system isn't working, or perhaps not as well as they would like. "We've been posting user-generated content since April, and this is the first known incident along these lines," a CBS spokesman said. "It was removed promptly and we will redouble our efforts in this regard."

While CBS’ debacle will probably only leave a temporary stain on the growing app market (enter T-Mobile and G1 stage left), we should all remember the potential pitfalls of putting the word “news” in front of the UGC acronym.

Sidenote, could you ever turn on the TV for your 6 o’clock news and accidentally get porn? No, which is why everyone loves the Internet; it keeps you on your toes.

Adobe To Bring Flash To iPhone

Apple Insider reports that Adobe has said they are close to releasing a version of their Flash player for the iPhone.

Sr. Director of Engineering at Adobe Systems Paul Betlem made mention that the program is nearly finished, however Apple's closely guarded App Store system would have the final say. Should Apple approve the software, it would be available "in a very short time," Betlem added.

Betlam was speaking at the Flash On The Beach (FOTB) conference.

As an iPhone user, I’m sure I’m not alone in saying there needs to be a video capability of some kind for the iPhone beyond the YouTube application, which in my opinion is subpar.  Now that the G1 is on its way, despite its wholly unimpressive build and features, there is now competition for the basics that the iPhone provides.  The first in the video race will truly set themselves apart as a viable media channel.  Until then, the market will continue to stutter in the face of technological roadblocks and a growing content base.