Recently proposed legislation in the EU that would have seen mobile phones reclassified as “multi-functional devices” and would have raised taxes by as much as 14% has been killed. Mobile phones shipping with TV receivers, would have received an increased tax of 14%, and mobile with GPS functionality would have become 3% more expensive. A Nokia (NYSE: NOK) spokesperson said “Nokia is very pleased that the Commission is taking this view and that the uncertainty surrounding the issue is now being removed.”
“We need more products and businesses free of tariffs, not less, and therefore today’s decision and the backing that was achieved is a very positive signal,” Swedish Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling said in a statement.
This doesn’t change the fact that a Nokia E71 is $300 on Amazon.com, yet in Finland the same device is 370 EUR or $518.63.
Where is that extra $220 going? Do you live in a country in the EU? What does a Nokia E71 cost you?
Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Ovi Maps 3.0 just launched, and I’d love to tell you what it’s like, but I’m such a huge fan of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps that I see no compelling reason to switch. For those of you living in nations that have expensive data plans, Nokia Maps is for you since you can preload maps. For those of you who need turn by turn navigation, Nokia Maps is for you. For the rest of you, the majority of you, just go to google.com/gmm on your phone, download, and enjoy.
Why all the negativity? You need to download a file on your computer, to install an application on your phone. How silly is that? Even more silly, the file you need to download to get Maps 3.0 on your device will only work with a PC. Sure Google Maps may not have “3D landmarks for over 200 cities, rotation, tilting, night view, and fly-overs and fly-throughs” or “enriched POI information by Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities, as well as a weather service that provides 24 hour and 5-day forecasts”, but the search works remarkably well and when I’m trying to find a bodega at 4 in the morning in a rough neighborhood, I want to see accurate results and fast.
A memo has just leaked from AT&T saying that the day the iPhone 3GS launched, it broke almost every record AT&T has ever had. Along with that, the day Micahel Jackson died, AT&T’s network was processing around 65,000 text messages a second. Crazy stuff:
1. Fact of the Week: On June 25, the day Michael Jackson died, text messages sent on our network spiked at 65,000 messages per second — the largest volume ever recorded — surpassing events like American Idol voting and New Year’s Eve, when millions of our customers wish their friends and family a happy new year via text.”
2. “iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.
Here’s a look at some of the milestones we achieved:
* Best-ever sales day in our retail stores
* Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores
* Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day
* Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day
* Largest order day in att.com history
* Largest features sales day in att.com history
On this year’s launch day, iPhone sales exceeded sales recorded on 2008’s iPhone launch day, Black Friday 2008 and Dec. 26, 2008 — all heavy-volume sales days. In fact, this year we surpassed 2008’s launch day sales at about noon Central time, and sustained our previous peak hour record, also set in 2008, for 11 straight hours.
Palm (NSDQ: PALM), with webOS, has shown the market that making a platform based on standard HTML, CSS, and web hooks that tie into system level components, was possible and could be done elegantly. Ian Hickson, the man writing the HTML5 specification, who now works for Google (NSDQ: GOOG), would like the browser to be the platform of choice one day. Millions of people around the world use an email client, or social network, or other service that can be accessed from any computer that has access to the internet. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) wasn’t going to sit still and watch the connected world progress toward web based applications and keep on trumpeting the notion that the operating system underneath is irrelevant.
Helen J. Wang, senior researcher in the Systems and Networking group at Microsoft Research Redmond, is working on Gazelle; a browser that isn’t really a browser that runs on an operating system that isn’t really an operating system. The concept she and her team are developing is currently just a research project, but the fundamental question they’re trying to answer is: what if we built a browser with the best parts of an operating systems?
“Everyone accepts that applications need to run on operating systems,” Wang says. “However, this has not been the case for Web applications; they depend on browsers to render pages and handle computing resources. Yet browsers have never been constructed to be operating systems. Principals are allowed to coexist within the same process or protection domain, and resource management is largely non-existent.”
I’d be more excited if a product group was working on this instead of a research group. Microsoft has the worst track record when it comes to supporting internet standards, so why would they want to mature this into shipping software? Still, cynicism aside, this only confirms Google’s best on the internet as the platform for the future, Palm’s webOS as the ideal way to build an OS, and the growing importance that software that connects over the internet will be to our daily lives. Expect to see browsers on mobile phones only become more powerful and have access to more of the local data that sits on your device.
Just received note from our friends at Bplay that ALL products are on sale at Bplay… 30% off that is. All you need to do is enter coupon code ‘JULY‘ on checkout. This sale is on now, through July 6th, so go ahead and check out all of the BlackBerry gaming goodness before it’s too late!
Important Note: This offer is not eligible for Bill to Phone (direct billing) or in-game purchases… and Bplay tells me some products are not eligible for this offer. Bummer I know. Bottom line, add what you want to your cart, enter the coupon code, and hope that the discount applies
Ad agency T.A.G (a unit of McCann) has apparently been chosen to work with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on what they openly referred to as the Pink project. It does exist! The rumours of Pink have floated around like vapourware for a long time now, but this certainly helps to cement its reality. The last we heard about Microsoft’s Pink was a list of preliminary specifications of the device, but it was still unclear if that encompassed the whole scope of the project. How it incorporates the Zune brand, if at all, and Windows Mobile 6.5 (or even 7) remains something of a mystery, but it would be no surprise to see all of these things come together somehow with Pink.
Two minutes of blurtastic video have bubbled up which give a basic tour of Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard running on a Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Q9h. One would easily expect that the newer Windows Mobile handsets are built with 6.5 in mind, but it’s great to see even older hardware can handle the new OS, too. There’s not much that especially catches the eye - in fact, the whole thing looks pretty samey, but we all know 6.5 is more of a facelift than anything else. The SDK for the “new” Windows Mobile has already been released, so you can expect the software soon - maybe late summer/early fall if the hardware rumours pan out.
I’m currently rockin’ the Jawbone PRIME, but whenever a new bluetooth headset arrives, I always take notice. While the Nica Bluetooth Headset is just a concept at this point, the design by Maverick certainly made me stand up to take notice. You can’t help but notice the overall roundness of the device, a device that promises to bring ‘a breakthrough in acoustics for maximum comfort and secure attachment’. I have to admit, that earloop does look comfy. The Nica will also attach magnetically with its car and desk docking unit.
Well done Maverick, the Nica is certainly one stylish and modern looking device… if solid sound quality and noise reduction technology could be built-in to this bad boy, it could be a winner. More images below.
Woohoo, we have some new coverage areas to report in T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s magical quest to expand their 3G network. The latest cities to be graced with T-Mo 3G are Springfield, Cape Cod and New Bedford (all in Massachusetts). Congrats to everyone in the area, and I hope the 3G speeds do you right. In the meantime, T-Mobile must be hard at work as there are many, MANY cities left on their list for the remainder of this years’ 3G expansion. Keep on keepin’ on T-Mobile, and best of luck the rest of the way.
Now this is an odd one. Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) New Zealand has reportedly pulled the HTC Magic from their website. Calls have been put in to Vodafone in the region, and the response was somewhat ominous: the Magic can be purchased for $1,099 NZD, but no more are in stock and it isn’t clear when more will be available. Very strange indeed. Blogger Ben Gracewood has also reported that not only is the device no longer available online, but all stock has been removed from stores. If you’re in the region and are hoping to pick up a Magic, looks like your best bet would be to either call Vodafone or pop down to a local store to see if you can nab the now elusive device. (Either that or catch a flight to Australia).
Something isn’t right here for sure. The Magic was launched only last week in New Zealand at a large party with many celebs in attendance. One thing is for certain, time will tell us what’s going on here.
Note: It’s interesting to note that the HTC Magic in New Zealand is a ‘Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Experience’ device. I suppose it’s possible Vodafone is having some issues with Google? Who knows. Let’s wait and see.
Just received note from our friends at Bplay that ALL products are on sale at Bplay… 30% off that is. All you need to do is enter coupon code ‘
Ad agency T.A.G (a unit of McCann) has apparently been chosen to work with Microsoft (
