Filed under: Cellphones
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment.
In the 1999 geek classic, "Pirates of Silicon Valley", an Apple employee watching the famous "1984" commercial with Steve Jobs points to the Big Brother character -- intended to represent IBM -- and then points to Bill Gates of Microsoft, whom Jobs has just introduced as part of Apple's family. The silent message is that the real threat to Apple is Microsoft, not IBM, and indeed the following scene depicts Jobs confronting Gates after Jobs sees Windows 1.0 running on an NEC PC.
That scene, set in 1983, could be easily recreated 25 years later, substituting the iPhone for the Macintosh, Microsoft for IBM as the iPhone's perceived threat, and Google for Microsoft as the iPhone's more serious threat. Like Microsoft in 1983, Google is a key Apple partner in 2008. The iPhone features Google Maps, GMail and Google as its default Web search engine, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt even sits on Apple's board of directors. And also like Microsoft in 1983, Google is working fervently to create a wide range of competitors to Apple's iPhone. None of these may ever match the integrated experience of Apple's iPhone, but it's clear that the first
Android phone has come closer to the iPhone experience than Windows 1.0 did to the original Macintosh operating system.
Nevertheless, Google's task is a lot more daunting than Microsoft's was at the dawn of Windows for several reasons.
Continue reading Switched On: With friends like Google, does Apple need Microsoft?
Switched On: With friends like Google, does Apple need Microsoft? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video
If you can't get your goods into China via
the front door, there's always the back. Apple is now selling its iPhone 3G
unlocked via its on-line Apple Store in Hong Kong. The 8GB model sells for HK$5,500 (about US$694) or HK$6,200 (about $797) for the 16 gigger. Already available
since July 11th with a local Hutchison Telecommunications contract, this is the first time that Apple has sold its device unlocked in Hong Kong:
"iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. Simply insert the SIM from your current phone into iPhone 3G and connect to iTunes 8 to complete activation."
Unfortunately for the 1 billion mainland Chinese, the terms and conditions limit sales to those in Hong Kong only -- not that the gray market cares about T&Cs. It'll be interesting to see if Apple extends the unlocking more broadly (presumably as exclusivity deals expire) or if this is strictly a local phenomena, perhaps in direct response to having its WiFi and the imperialistic 3G
gutted from handsets sold
under Apple's rumored China Mobile deal.
[Via
PC World, thanks Twins N]
Apple now selling iPhone 3G unlocked in Hong Kong originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments
Filed under: Cellphones
Currently, over 400,000 unlocked iPhones are roaming around China. Now that
China Mobile is about to officially launch Apple's latest handset in the world's most populous country, we can only imagine that figure going up. In a bizarre twist of trying to keep a homegrown 3G standard (
TD-SCDMA) alive, the carrier has announced that it is intending to launch the mobile with WiFi and 3G disabled -- a move that would make it less appealing to those who may be considering buying one, unlocking it and using it on the expected W-CDMA network from China Telecom. Uncool, China Mobile. Very uncool.
[Via
mocoNews]
China Mobile could deactivate 3G / WiFi on iPhone 3G launch originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read |
Permalink |
Email this |
Comments
