Here we are. It’s the eve of the iPhone 3G S launch, and the excitement is growing. In just a couple handfuls of hours, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will let loose the iPhone 3G S on the US. Come tomorrow morning (June 19), Apple stores across the country will open their doors, applaud the die-hard fans waiting in line, and proceed to dole out Cupertino’s latest smartphone hotness to anyone with the right number of greenbacks.
So, to continue our tradition of camping out for an iPhone bringing you live coverage of iPhone launch-day crowds, IntoMobile will be broadcasting live from the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade Apple Store in beautiful Southern California.
With a little luck, you’ll get a first-hand look at what Apple fans look like in their natural habitat (the Apple store, of course), and you might even get to chat with the IntoMobile team! The feed will go live shortly, so make sure to keep checking IntoMobile.
[Update]
Okay, we’re live! Hop in the chat room and let us know what’s on your mind.
Consolation prize - you see that fancy schmancy IntoMobile t-shirt that Will is rockin’? Well we’re giving away a couple IntoMobile shirts as consolation prizes. It’s no iPhone 3G S, but they sure are darn comfortable tees!
Remember: We’ll be announcing the third and final winner in our iPhone 3G S giveaway at midnight tonight! Make sure to enter in time!
Okay, okay, roll in those tongues ladies, this is about Rogers (NYSE: RCI)’ first Android-toting smartphones, the HTC Magic and Dream, not your beloved Joshua Jackson of Dawson’s Creek fame, however dreamy and/or magical he may be. As mentioned, Rogers has announced the first Android devices in Canada for $149.99 on three-year contract, and are offering a promotional $30 6 GB monthly data plan. You can pick ‘em up in storesnow.
One of the biggest questions that lingered after their launch event in Toronto was “why did it take so long for Android to get to Canada?” I’d like to think that Rogers was taking the high road and waiting until Exchange support was available, but it seems more likely that they didn’t hop on board last fall like T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) US did because the iPhone 3G was still fresh out of the gate and they didn’t want to cannibalize any sales; even now, based on some of the ads they showed us, it’s clear Rogers is pushing the slider Dream more than the newer, more impressive, full-touchscreen Magic.
Hit the jump for some first impressions of the HTC Magic and HTC Dream from Rogers, and a bunch of pictures both of the handsets and Joshua Jackson, if you’re into that kind of thing.
RIM’s biggest BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) show of the year is now officially on and the the keynote is gonna kick things off. We aren’t expecting anything big (like the a device announcement), but will probably have some cool stuff for enterprise and admins. Woop! Show’s starting. Time to liveblog.
8:44 - Mike Lazaridis talks up BlackBerry’s birthday, success and growth.
8:47 - Mike intros BES 5.0. Web-based console, end-users get remote access, e-mail flags and folders. Same ol’.
8:52 - Beta testers give their testimonials. Glowing all around - high availability, failover, easy upgrade, solid security.
8:56 - Mike talking about making BlackBerry an all-in-one connection back home while staying secure. Now talking about Chalk Media. Hmm… I’m listening… Dang, moved on to Mobile Voice System. Was hoping maybe there was some announcement with Chalk there. Podcast software bundled with OS might have been cool.
9:00 - Wireless Presentation Solution for projecting PowerPoints gets mentioned. Would like to have seen more of it, though.
9:03 - Mike goes off stage. More peppy video testimonials.
Y’know, MWC, CES, and CTIA might be bigger shows, but Research in Motion’s Wireless Enterprise Symposium really lets you focus on one platform: Blackberry (NSDQ: RIMM). Everywhere else you have to keep an eye on a bunch of different carriers, often to the detriment of anyone else trying to grab your attention. This is my second year here, and after hooking up with fellow bloggers and innovative developers on press day today, I’m already looking forward to the official start to WES tomorrow. On top of keeping a close eye on our WES 2009 category, you can follow yours truly on Twitter for a personal look, as well as IntoMobile’s official feed which will feature 12seconds clips from the show. Tomorrow I’m hoping to go booth to booth and force exhibitors to condense their pitches to fit in 12 seconds - should be fun! (Remember, anybody from the UK should follow @IntoMobile anyway for a chance to win an Xda Zest from O2!)
This afternoon, I took part on a little predictions panel as part of BoxTone’s set-up. Al Sacco from CIO, Kevin from CrackBerry, Kyle from BlackBerry Cool and Howie from Port3101 all had their own 3-year predictions to make - my most outrageous claim was that RIM would make a slider, but there was a lot of talk about whether or RIM could (or would ever) acquire Palm (NSDQ: PALM). Overall, a great discussion about the smartphone sphere and how BlackBerry fit into it. Pics below, along with shots of the show floor. Stay tuned for more news this week from WES!
CTIA Wireless 2009 wasn’t an especially stunning show, but Will and I run down the main device releases from Samsung and HTC, followed by an interview with RIM Manager of Developer Relations Mike Kirkup on their App World launch. I’ve been hearing some anger from abroad about the UK, Canada, and U.S. limitations on the App World, nevermind the 1.0 bumps expected in a product launch. Still, App World is overall a good thing for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), and we all wait with bated breath to see how it evolves. We’re going to have another go at giving away those Z.buds - just leave a comment and you have a shot! This week’s poll has to do with restriction on Skype for the iPhone imposed by carriers. Are Wi-Fi-only versions of the software fair, or should the carrier protect their role as a service provider rather than just being dumb pipes?
They might get a bad rap for cheap phones, but ZTE is bigger than you think - number 6 worldwide, though you might not be too familiar with them since they only have three handsets in North America, and they’re on metroPCS (NYSE: PCS). ZTE is working to crack the tough nut of the U.S. market after seeing plenty of business back home in China and abroad in Europe, but based on some of the phones they were showing off, ZTE has a reasonable shot at some market share.
Out front, ZTE was showing off some concept tech, like a slider with tiltable speakers called Xer, two USB modem watches (Rotta and Agate),and an MID with a removable power button dubbed Pure. Of their, y’know, actual phones, the D300 looked absolutely awesome, with its brushed aluminum face and sharp lines. The D300 just a simple CDMA flip, but apparently it one a design award of some sort. The D92 looked pretty cool, with letter keys in between the standard numpad - it landed on Telus not long ago. Samsung might still be working on Blue Earth, but the ZTE Solar-S312 at least has the charging part of that equation already implemented and ready to go.
On the higher end, they’ve three Windows Mobile devices (like the E810 and U990) that, if priced right, could be a cheap alternative to the upcoming HTC Snap. Talking with ZTE was actually really interesting since they’ve got so much stuff that might actually be finding its way to our shores, but combined with their transition from feature to smart phones, they’ve got an uphill battle.
Research in Motion had their hands full at CTIA with the BlackBerry App World launch, which is ostensibly the biggest announcement of the show. Of course, RIM was showing off their full assortment of devices, but even the latest, the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 8230 Pearl Flip, wasn’t anything more than a CDMA twist on the GSM version. RIM’s partners populated the booth in usual style, including the freshly-acquired folks from Chalk, some fellow Ottawa homeboys from Magmic, and plenty of others. The Movela Netflix manager looked especially cool, and they’ve got a Craigslist app coming sometime this summer based on the same platform.
Accessories were seeing a lot of attention at the booth, namely the car visor first spotted at the CES. The visor is yet another fine addition to RIM’s growing accessory lineup (although I have a thing or two to say about their “premium” earbuds), which shunts music from your BlackBerry to your car stereo via Bluetooth and FM tuning. Hands-free functionality lets you answer calls over your car stereo as well - very nifty. They went public with a $99 price point for the visor and it should be on the market in late June. The Remote Stereo Gateway, Unify4Life and Slingbox had a solid presence at the home theatre demo area, showing you just how many ways BlackBerry plugs into your home. Overall, RIM had a good show, but excitement was cut short since we’re still holding out for a BlackBerry 9630 announcement at WES in May. For more info on the BlackBerry App World, be sure to tune in to this week’s CTIA Wireless Edition of The Signal, where we chat up RIM VP of Developer Relations, Mike Kirkup.
HTC’s Snap made a reasonably big splash in a generally quiet show here at Las Vegas, packing a slim form factor, nice keypad and Windows Mobile. Yeah, sure, we saw the code-named “Maple” coming several thousand light years away, but it was good to have it out in the open for playtime. The HTC Snap proved to be a truly competent messaging handset that may just give BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) looky-loos a reason to choose Windows Mobile. We know, that’s why we said “may.”
That’s not all HTC was showing off, however - the HTC Touch Pro 2 and Diamond 2 were both available for hands-on oogling. As cool as they are, a lot of their value is waiting on the release of Windows Mobile 6.5, which will really take advantage of what’s under the hood of these upcoming handsets.
Poor old Motorola (NYSE: MOT) really disappointed us at Mobile World Congress without a single device release, but since then they’ve released the the QA4 with a physical number pad and a virtual landscape keypad, the QA30 Hint, and the Stature i9. On top of that, Motorola was showing off some decent stereo Bluetooth headphones fresh to their lineup, and they’re hoping to offer them cheap, $60 or less. In the back, I got to arse around with the luxury Motorola Aura, and after being left unattended for a few scant moments, I was tempted to make a break for it. Surely a dramatic chase scene would ensue, finishing with explosions and me getting mowed down by heavily-armed CTIA Wireless personnel in a blaze of glory. Cue orchestral music, fade to black, aaaaand scene.
So, Motorola’s booth kind of makes up for the lack of awesome in Barcelona, but things were still feeling a little downtrodden on the device side. Their back-end infrastructure services and products took up a solid half of their booth, however, and looked positively hopping. We might spend all of our time looking at Sanjay Jha, wondering what he’ll do to turn Motorola’s handset situation around as if the whole company depends on it, but really, Moto’s got a whole other business to keep them afloat.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) didn’t have too much to show off at CTIA Wireless that we didn’t see in Barcelona last month - namely the AT&T (NYSE: T) E71x and even that is nothing more than the same ol’ E71 with a gold star to make it feel special. Of course there was the very cool flip that was launched just last week on Verizon, the Intrigue. The Habitat interface for managing contacts and correspondences is really compelling, and the Nokia 7205’s form factor is really slick - it feels like it sits apart quite a bit from their usual design. The N86 and N97 were both nice to see again after Mobile World Congress, but not to dismiss a phone that isn’t even out yet, but… been there, done that. Didn’t have a chance to ask the Ovi guys about what’s happening with Mosh, so it may be worth a second trip to their booth before the show is done.
Here we are. It’s the eve of the iPhone 3G S launch, and the excitement is growing. In just a couple handfuls of hours, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) will let loose the iPhone 3G S on the US. Come tomorrow morning (June 19), Apple stores across the country will open their doors, applaud the die-hard fans waiting in line, and proceed to dole out Cupertino’s latest smartphone hotness to anyone with the right number of greenbacks.
Okay, okay, roll in those tongues ladies, this is about Rogers (
Well, that was underwhelming. 
Research in Motion had their hands full at CTIA with the 
Nokia (
