Entries from November 2008 ↓

Singaporeans awaiting for an alternative to SingTel’s iPhone price plans might have to wait a while longer, as StarHub announced that they would not be bringing in the iPhone 3G anytime this year.

Basically, the decision not to bring in Apple’s latest in mobile communication is a combination of Apple’s differing priorities towards signing on distributors for the iPhone 3G, as well as the current doom and gloom surrounding the world economy.

Similarly, MobileOne also showed no sign of bringing the iPhone 3G in, contrary to popular word when SIngTel announced that they’d secured first mover rights in bringing the iPhone to Singapore shores. Obviously, this leaves SingTel as the sole distributor of the iPhone 3G here in Singapore.

On the other hand though, another reason why StarHub decided as such could be that Apple’d cut production orders for the iPhone 3G by as much as 40% in the fourth calendar quarter of the year, despite having sold as many as 6.9 million units in the third quarter alone. Some are pointing to that as Apple simply working through existing inventory in light of weakened tech spending worldwide.

Whatever the real reason, this much is clear: Singaporean consumers are stuck with the expensive iPhone 3G contracts/price plans for the time being, with no competing offerings in sight.

Wishful thinking-cap on, might it be that Apple’s simply prepping the market for a 32GB iPhone in time for the upcoming MacWorld expo in early 2009?

So Google just announced they’re walking away from a proposed deal with Yahoo worth hundreds of millions of dollars (USD, of course). It was pretty obvious that Yahoo was hankering for the deal, simply because the money would have been huge, even after deducting off Google’s share of the loot, potentially increasing Yahoo’s revenue by up to 25% in the first year of the deal. Eventually, Google decided the deal wasn’t worth it, what with antitrust fears and regulators breathing down their necks throughout.

It’s widely presumed that the deal was initially cooked up as part of efforts to block Microsoft’s offer to acquire Yahoo, with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang holding out for more than the US$33 a share offered by Ballmer and gang. Microsoft eventually backed off.

Now, Yahoo’s taking another beating in the face of their breakup with Google, their share prices in a continuous tumble. Not unexpectedly, Yang’s singing a different tune now. Speaking at the recent Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, he openly indicated his willingness to sell Yahoo to Microsoft.

To this day, I have to say that the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo. I don’t think that is a bad idea at all…at the right price, whatever the price is, we are willing to sell the company.

In the wake these developments, would Microsoft be keen to restart negotiations to buy Yahoo’s search business? It certainly looks like Yang might be willing to accept a price less than the US$33 initially offered. Who says you can’t find great bargains in tech anymore?

The general consensus is…that when Google sets its sights on something, its competitors tremble.

Now that Google’s gunning for mobile domination, how is Nokia going to keep its own predominant OS, Symbian, relevant and competitive?

Well, first Nokia acquired the OS in full…and gave it away. Yes, Symbian’s going to go open source but later rather than sooner. The plans are to eventually (via the newly setup Symbian Foundation) release the code under the Eclipse Public License but that won’t come to fruition until 2009, earliest.

The question is: can Symbian afford to wait?

It’s a question easily deflected – after all, doesn’t Symbian.com already offer SDKs and developer tools for download free? Well, so does Microsoft with its Windows Mobile platform but as to adoption on more phones – sorry, MS, we just don’t see it.

What Symbian needs is the apps or at least a phone exciting enough to get more people developing cutting edge or exciting apps. We need only look at Apple and the developers clamouring to sell their wares on the App Store to wonder just what’s missing as far as the other mobile phones go.

Apple changed the rules of the game in the mobile space. It’s time that Symbian step up to the plate and offer up an alternative to the iPhone’s dominance, or at least manage a close copy.

I’d like to see more stability, more speed. A different sort of UI experience – something I caught a glimpse of on the Nokia Xpress 5800.

And word to the mobile phone companies – when a PC company does touchscreen better than you, then let me tell you the problem. In Lolcat: UR DOING IT RONG.