arvino’s posterous

iPhone launch and events never ceased to excite me. From the way the product is being designed, prepared, and announced, it create and aura of excitement that people would never easily forgot.

Below is a series of photos, of the great exciting/staggering event that many people around the globe feel and experience, from the launch of iPhone, in 2008.
 
Amazing. Wonderful. Awesome.

                     

Click here to download:

Beautifully_Awesome.zip (4195 KB)

Perhaps this pictures effectively explain why:

   

Click here to download:

Why_iPhone_So_Fascinatingly_Di.zip (847 KB)

How does Cingular (with its memorable Blackberry service) eventually transform to become the "new AT&T" (with its distinctive iPhone service) it is today?

Here is a quick fascinating relook at the brand:

In the early beginning, Cingular pioneer the great Blackberry service to the marketplace, ...

A few years later, they acquire AT&T wireless, their parent company acquire the original AT&T, ... and the combined entity morph everything into "the new AT&T".
They initiate their iPhone campaign initially under the (transitional) Cingular brand ...

.. then on the release date of the new groundbreaking device, they rename and rebrand everything under (the new) AT&T ...

That's why today -- as history records it all -- we experience iPhone exclusively available from AT&T, yet we would still notice the "Cingular orange color theme" in AT&T's website today!

The "new AT&T" is the old chic friendly Cingular company and service after all! ;-)

These past few years I always wonder why the exciting Motorola interactive pager that I experienced sometime in 1997 or 1998 in the US ceased to become anything big that dominate the marketplace.  From personal experience, I still crisply remember how the Motorola interactive pager was really a great device. It was impressive. 

Back then, the device was about the size of a 'pager' (a 'slightly thicker pager' we call it), and -- in a very useful way -- we can use it to interactively update, communicate and coordinate our activities in organizing  big conference events that involves thousands of people.

While wondering about that Motorola 'interactive pager' (and what lead to its 'demise'), I also always wonder when (and how) Blackberry get started, in which market it penetrate, and how it creep up the marketplace.

These question stays at the back of my mind for a few years. I am totally 'clueless' about it. I always wonder about it. Throughout the years, I seriously wonder why the Motorola great product ceased to mature in the marketplace, and where/when 'suddenly' RIM/Blackberry appear ...

... until today I found this info:

"Prior to the manufacture of the BlackBerry, RIM worked with RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson to turn the Ericsson-developed Mobitex wireless data network into a two-way paging and wireless e-mail network. Pivotal in this development was the release of the Inter@ctive pager 950, which started shipping in August 2000. About the size of a bar of soap, this device competed against the SkyTel two-way paging network developed by Motorola.

 

Oh! Now I understand where the RIM/Blackberry root's come from. Now I can see -- a bit -- of the picture of what's going on (in the past). The two things -- the Motorola interactive pager I am talking about, and the RIM/Blackberry device I am wondering about -- actually correlates to each other! 

Not only they are related to each other, they competed to each other too!

Seems that somewhere in the past, Motorola innovate and rules, then RIM comes into act. Eventually -- as the future goes -- Blackberry is the one that becomes more able to take idea forward, own it, innovate it further, hence eventually dominate the market almost entirely, especially as the platform switch from pagers, ... to phones ... to smartphones!

Some more facts:

In its early stage of development and presence in the market, Blackberry was available on RAM Mobile Data (originally founded by RAM Broadcasting Corporation as American Mobile Data Communications, Inc. in 1988) & Ericsson Mobitex wireless data network. Later on, RAM Mobile Data was sold and renamed BellSouth Wireless Data in 1995 and later became Cingular Interactive when BellSouth and SBC formed Cingular Wireless.

 

Such gives us a strong background root and understanding of where Blackberry come from! It also gives an idea why initially Blackberrys eventually always appear in Cingular ads! As the history shows: BellSouth and SBC formed Cingular Wireless.

As the history later fascinatingly goes: 

Cingular Wireless later on acquired the old AT&T Wireless; SBC later acquired the original AT&T and re-branded as "the new AT&T". Cingular became wholly-owned by the new AT&T in December 2006 as a result of AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth.

and ...

Cingular -- in January 2007 -- confirmed it would itself rebrand under the AT&T moniker. The corporate name change occurred immediately, although, for regulatory and brand-awareness reasons, both brands were used in the wireless unit's signage and advertising during a transition period. The transition concluded in late June, just prior to the rollout of the Apple iPhone.

It is this (new) AT&T that later on brings us the iPhone!, the 'exclusive device' that consumer (in the US) can get only from AT&T, very similar to the way 'Blackberry' was Cingular's 'exclusive device' in the past.

Oh, how these tiny innovators in wireless portable working device -- RIM Blackberry (and its underlying 'Blackberry carriers') -- have transformed in the past 10 years, and become huge, in the process!

This is how the Android site looks like when you buy the G1 Phone -- Developer's Edition.
Happy coding everyone! Keep those fascinating ideas (and those daring, exciting innovations) coming!

The wait is over. Those that live overseas can still buy G1 Developer Edition now.
There'd be one-time setup fee of $25. The device will cost $399 (free shipping in the States).
For G1 developer only for this time ... but still .. Yikes! It's seriously cool approach!

Latest news according to Gartner and Endgadget:
 
- Nokia maintaining its numero uno status with 42.4% market share, though it did recognize a rare decline in sales of 3% year-on-year.
- RIM, its BlackBerry phone sales increased an amazing 81.7% in Q3.
- Finally, "for the first time (meaning in this quarter), iPhone sales exceeded sales of Microsoft Windows Mobile devices worldwide and in North America,"
- and beyond that, "open-source initiatives like Android and Symbian Foundation [are set to] challenge Windows Mobile's licensing model in the short-term."
 
It is proven again and again that Mr. Ball*** can not just 'pooh pooh' the competition like he did couple of months ago (see: to see how bad and unrealistic Mr. Ball** 'pooh pooh act' was!). He need to answer with real innovation in hand.
Consumer truly knows products that increasingly getting 'complicated', ineffective, retarded, 'arrogant' and 'sucks', ... versus products that truly passionate and great.

Can you believe this? This is NOT an iPhone. It's Meizu M8!
 
Take a look at some of its feature: http://www.meizu.com/cn/Taste.html
 
My first experience with Meizu product happened around 2 years ago. At that time, they still produced an 'iPod' like MP3 player, with the following twist:
 
- It is almost perfectly resembling an 'iPod'.
- Yet even thinner.
- In some aspects even more complete/powerful.
- And the price is unbelievably competitive too!
 
Would be intriguing to see what they come up with this time, and how they plan to proceed next, with this M8 product.

So, now we understand that currently iPhone is eating up Palm's market share, while Blackberry is relatively floating stable (for now).

It would be interesting to see how the trend goes, ..

• As more and more Android-phones start to appear in 2009.
• As cheaper high quality smartphone devices being introduced (the likes of Nokia E71).

.. and as these new 'genes of devices' penetrate the market across 'any network' and across 'any devices' even more.

The Blackberry Storm is coming. This one seems much much better and greater than the Blacberry Bold the precedes it.
 
Now the equation is complete:
 
1. BB has Storm.
2. Apple has iPhone.
3. Google has T1.
 
When traditional Microsoft manufacturers (HTC, Samsung) start migrating from the boring complex complicated Windows Mobile to the simpler, friendlier Google Android OS, then we'll see something truly great and exciting is happening.
 
I seriously wonder, WHY M**sft under Mr. Ball** leadership seriously can not change those cluncky complicated antiquated interfaces that is more suitable for modern human being.
 
What's really happening at Redmond??
 
Have they loose their competitive edge and ability to simplify things and make things workable??
 
M**sft under Mr. Ball** seems getting more and more slow, less innovative and retarded as ever. Perhaps we need Bill Gates back then M**sft would become as exciting as it was, once more.
 
I seriously wonder, and 'puzzled' :'(