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BT, normally known for pricing on the high side is offering one of the cheapest rates on the much-praised Asustek Eee PC. Priced at £218.99 inclusive of VAT. Only downside is it warns of a 3-4 week delay and there is a £7 delivery charge. BT Shop is here.
According to a range of sources Google and Dell will unveil a phone at the forthcoming Barcelona 3GSM conference. Marketing Week appears to have broken the story citing insider sources.
Maybe the phone will be called the Doogle?
Hard to get hold of in the UK at present, so why not check out the video reviews in the meantime? This one from CNET has it about right. It points out that if you can live with the limitations, it might just be the ultimate travel laptop.
I was clock-watching until O2 or Carphone started doing something to shift more iPhones.
Today O2 appears to have cracked and significantly improved the tariff terms:
£35 tariff goes to 600 call minutes and 500 sms (up from 200 and 200)
£45 tariff goes to 1200 call minutes and 500 sms (up from 600 and 500)
A new £75 tariff offering 3,000 minutes (1800 before) and 500 texts (the £55 tariff is scrapped)
Existing customers will automatically transfer in mid-March.
OK, it's not a price drop as such, but it's clearly an attempt to make the hefty cost of the phone a bit more attractive.
A film is a film is a film. Right?
Probably not. There seems little doubt that the rich and powerful look that little bit more important when seen on big media than when they are videoblogged. In other words, when videoblogged they look more like you and me, not something image consultants encourage them to do.
Look at this interview of Tory leader David Cameron at Davos to see what I mean. He is being interviewed by US blogger Jeff Jarvis (working for Reuters) and there is something in the cheapo camera technique that makes him look just like any other bloke. Ironically it is an interview where he is saying how much he is happy with all this YouTube-esque public presentation, but I am not so sure some of his minders would really agree. Notably he is talking about where he controls the output.
But perhaps even more significant is that on big media (BBC et al) we are used to seeing David Cameron being surrounded by minders and other media - that 'donut' effect makes anyone look more important. On this video he stands strangely alone, perhaps with a minder off camera. It makes him look like any other delegate. You also notice that he isn't being pointed out by those off-camera, something that would undboutedly happen at a UK conference.
But hats off to him for doing the interview, hopefully it will encourage others to follow suite.
Today Google's logo morphed into this.
So a hundred million or so people will have been exposed to a version of the Google logo that blatantly advertises Lego. Apparently it's some sort of anniversary for lego but is this a new revenue stream for Google? It seems to good to be true to be given so many free eyeballs on your brand just because Google felt like it on that particular day. And if Google isn't getting paid to do it shouldn't it ensure that it only carries such subliminal advertising for non-commercial operations?
This week I'm having a look at this ultra-mobile PC. It costs around £1300 and only weighs 1.3Kg (almost 3lbs, and about the same as the MacBook Air). It's the lightest UMPC that includes an optical drive and conveniently has a webcam. The only compromise seems to be a slightly smaller than usual keyboard, which isn't too much hassle. Here's the company promo video (lasts 3 mins), review to follow next week.
IDC has just sent out its list of the top five mobile phone manufacturers for the final three months of last year:
Nokia shipped more units in the fourth quarter than the next three vendors' shipment volumes combined. This, Nokia executives pointed out, was the result of its streamlined operations, which produced on average nearly 1.5 million units each day during the quarter. This number could have been even higher if the company did not have to deal with component shortages during production. Regardless, it still marks a significant accomplishment. Nokia's volumes were primarily driven by entry level products from its 1100 and 1200 device families, but its biggest revenue and profit generators came from its premium Nseries devices.
Samsung achieved several noteworthy accomplishments to end 2007: It took the No. 2 position worldwide for the year, posted its third consecutive quarter as the No. 2 vendor worldwide, and recorded its sixth consecutive quarter of shipment growth. In the process, Samsung realized double-digit profit margins during the quarter, resulting from an emphasis on its premium Ultra Edition phones and converged mobile devices. Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2008, the company plans to top its 46.3 million shipment volume while maintaining profit margins.
Motorola spent another quarter addressing its challenges, the most significant being a slowing demand for Motorola's products. CEO Greg Brown pointed out that the company had missed out on significant growth areas, most notably in 3G, China, and emerging markets, and that gaps in Motorola's current product portfolio had to be addressed. Recent announcements of its ROKR E8, Z10, and W series reflect Motorola's attempts to revive its handset business, but recovery is expected to continue into 2009.
Sony Ericsson broke through the thirty million unit mark for the first time in its history. As in previous quarters, EMEA represented the bulk of the company's shipments, but it also improved its presence in North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Even with greater attention and resources going towards emerging markets, Sony Ericsson still recorded the highest ASP among the leading vendors. Key devices for the quarter included the K550, W200, W300 and the W580.
LG Electronics took another step towards breaking the 25 million mark, and with the success of premium devices in developed markets and cost effectiveness, the company also realized slight operating margin improvement. Key to its success were several models released during the quarter, including the Voyager and Venus in the United States, and the Viewty in Europe. Despite its positive results during the quarter, LG saw the distance between itself and Sony Ericsson grow to more than seven million units, reversing the progress it had made in previous quarters.
Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Worldwide Q3 2007 Results | ||||||||||
| Vendor | 4Q07 Unit Shipments | 4Q07 Market Share | 4Q06 Unit Shipments | 4Q06 Market Share | 4Q07/4Q06 Growth | |||||
| Nokia | 133.5 | 40.0% | 105.5 | 35.2% | 26.5% | |||||
| Samsung | 46.3 | 13.9% | 32.9 | 11.0% | 40.7% | |||||
| Motorola | 40.9 | 12.2% | 65.7 | 22.0% | -37.8% | |||||
| Sony Ericsson | 30.8 | 9.2% | 26.0 | 8.7% | 18.5% | |||||
| LG Electronics | 23.7 | 7.1% | 17.7 | 5.9% | 33.6% | |||||
| Others | 58.8 | 17.6% | 51.5 | 17.2% | 14.2% | |||||
| Total | 334.0 | 100.0% | 299.3 | 100.0% | 11.6% | |||||
Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors, Worldwide Full Year 2007 Results | ||||||||||
| Vendor | 2007 Unit Shipments | 2007 Market Share | 2006 Unit Shipments | 2006 Market Share | 2007/2006 Growth | |||||
| Nokia | 437.1 | 38.2% | 347.5 | 34.2% | 25.8% | |||||
| Samsung | 161.1 | 14.1% | 113.7 | 11.2% | 41.7% | |||||
| Motorola | 159.0 | 13.9% | 217.4 | 21.4% | -26.9% | |||||
| Sony Ericsson | 103.4 | 9.0% | 74.7 | 7.3% | 38.4% | |||||
| LG Electronics | 80.5 | 7.0% | 63.5 | 6.2% | 26.8% | |||||
| Others | 202.9 | 17.7% | 200.6 | 19.7% | 1.1% | |||||
| Total | 1144.1 | 100.0% | 1017.4 | 100.0% | 12.4% | |||||
Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
My 2 minute review of this nifty £800 tablet PC. Sorry it's a bit short on details, but you get the general idea. The full review is further below.
Along with the new Apple MacBook Air super-thin laptop, Steve Jobs also took time to launch a video rental service last week. Sounds great, but as you might expect there is no UK launch date yet.
But wait a minute, according to Toby Young writing in the Independent on Sunday, you can start downloading your favourite films right away. How come? All you need is an American credit card apparently. This fools the system into thinking you are a UK resident, perhaps, or maybe Apple are quite happy for such activity.
The good news is of course that you can watch some films before they are even on public release over here. Nice one.
The tough bit is how you get hold of that American credit card. Sadly we are not all as flash as Toby Young are we?
Young thinks it will eventually lead to studios releasing films simultaneously worldwide but I'm more sceptical. Surely they use this time-lapse release policy to ensure their stars can travel the globe doing the all-important flesh-pressing to get the audience off their backsides and into the cinemas? Blockbuster may be on its knees, but audience power has a way to go yet. After all DVD's aren't even in one global format yet.
(Ken Young)
Comments
Ken totally agree with you.
There's no way the studios will be doing what Toby suggests.
What they're likely do is simply use it as another way to get trailers of films out to people. The more ways they can get to people the better for the film. (Ron)