RIM posted another beautiful financial quarter, but the launch of the iPhone 3G will give the blackberry a fight in the coming year.
Integration of Microsoft Exchange in the iPhone 3G and features like GPS,Youtube and iTunes will slowly bring the corporate group to this assume smart phone.
On Friday, Samsung Electronics began selling its touch-screen Instinct handset for $70 cheaper than Apple’s iPhone 3G. The newest smartphone is offered by Sprint Nextel for $130 after rebate. Sprint has said it will spend more than $100 million to market the touch-screen Instinct in hopes the cellphone can recover from steep customer losses.
This was about three times the marketing budget for the biggest phone launch in 2007 by Sprint, which has been losing subscribers to rivals such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group.
Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, said the $130 price for the Instinct includes a two-year service contract and a $100 rebate by mail. First announced in early April, the Instinct is expected to go on sale June 20. More—>
While Apple slightly disappoints with a familiar-looking iPhone v2, Nokia has more interesting phones to introduce June 9. These aren’t official releases just yet but the Flickr photos have appeared and along with very credible specs from a few blogs.
Nokia 5800 XpressMedia – Nokia “Tube” will be the first t use the S60 Touch user interface. The name suggests this could be Nokia’s next multimedia powerhouse. The Vodafone name also suggests Nokia has already found a European distributor. Risky model for Nokia given that this will be the first phone all-touch phone to use a stylus (i.e. don’t try losing the stick). Hopefully, it also supports finger-tapping. More—>
| By Saul Hansell Tags: Apple, AT&T, iphoneApple doesn’t chat too much about the iPhone service fees AT&T shares with it. But the good folks at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (who make rules for how companies keep their books) have forced it to give us some clues. The accountants say that if someone promises to pay you money in the future (as AT&T does for each iPhone activated), you have to report this “deferred revenue” to investors.All this makes Apple’s financial statement into a rather complex algebra problem. Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, has tried to do the math.
His bottom line is rather shocking: AT&T appears to be paying $18 a month, on average, to Apple for each iPhone activated on its network. That adds up to $432 over a two year contract. In other words, Apple will receive $831 for each iPhone it sells. (It’s a little less for iPhones sold in AT&T stores.) He can’t tell, of course, what makes up that average. Apple may, for example, receive higher payments for customers new to AT&T or those who buy more expensive monthly plans. More —–> |