Results tagged “iphone” from Birmingham Mail - Technobabble

The latest handset to challenge the market supremacy of Apple's iPhone is hoping to attract users with one of the biggest screens on the market.

The HD2 will hit UK shops later this month and its manufacturer, Taiwanese firm HTC, hopes to attract buyers with a 4.3 inch touch screen display.

HTC Corporation chief executive Peter Chou said he was "excited" about the handset's launch.

A version of the social networking site Facebook is being developed for the latest Apple iPhone, it has emerged.

Software engineer Joe Hewitt wrote on his Twitter page: "Just uploaded Facebook for iPhone 3.0 to the App Store for review. :)".

I see the new 3G iphone has come out in the shops to a host of supply problems.

Main supplier 02 has revealed that each of its stores will literally have a 'few dozen' of the handsets to sell.

This means a lot of people desperate to get their hands on the 3G enabled phones will be disappointed for some time.

Is this situation in any way related to the fact that 02 had thousands of onsold original iphone handsets left on their hands the last time?

Readers will recall that I blogged on this at the time, and railed at the mega-high price plus crippling monthly charges.

Would it be cynical to suggest that 02 might have decided it would be better to create a 'buzz', with headlines about shortages and keen consumers left empty handed?

After all it has become standard policy in the electronics industry. Every console launch is accompanies by shortage of supply with queues of parents trying to get it in time for Christmas.

Below: not coming to a store near you - the iphone 3G.

Mobile phone retailers have announced that the price of the iPhone is to be slashed for the next month.

This means cuts of around £100 for the much-hyped device.

The Carphone Warehouse and mobile phone operator O2 said they would sell the 8GB iPhone for £169 until June 1.

This is a cut of more than a third of the gadget's original price within five months of its much-anticipated launch.

But Apple stores will continue to sell the 8GB phone for £269.

So has it been a runaway success? Clearly slashing the price soon after launch has nothing whatsoever to do with disappointing sales, say the shops.

In fact O2 today described it as their fastest selling device. But they don't qualify the statement - so it might have been the fastest selling ever on launch day, for example.

After all, anyone waiting in anticipation for the launch would probably have bought it immediately. Also consider that in your average 02 shop there must be 30 phones on sale at any one time - so a standout product like the iphone would be expected to perhaps out perform other mobiles which have many rivals.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised that people haven't been flocking to buy a device for £269 with a minimum £35 monthly contract, data limits and functions that most people wouldn't ever use.

I suppose this probably breaks some sort of convention, but I just thought I'd attempt to set the scene on this new Birmingham Mail blog.

I won't do a Stephen Fry and write a colossal first post extolling the virtues of some new tech (in his case an iphone).
In any case, as an impoverished journo this would probably end up being an attempt to induce some company to give me one for free, instead of having actually gone out and bought one, before knocking out 10,000 snappy words in an onanistic appreciation.

The aim of Technobabble is to provide an account of my thoughts, experiences and frustrations with technology - mostly home computers.

I've built my last two desktops - mainly designed to run games as fast as possible - and needless to say have had to endlessly troubleshoot any problems which have arisen.

I love computers. I hate consoles, even though I have several. I have always had an eliteist view of this kind of thing and harbour suspicions about anyone who only games on £300 machines through their telly. Why - a new graphics card alone can cost more!

And so it begins - I can't promise to be balanced - but hopefully it won't be dull.