Last week, months of speculation came to an end as Vodafone announced that it had won the support of Apple to distribute the iPhone in Australia as well as the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey later this year. For those keen to snap up the what some say is an overrated device, it looks like you may have to wait until Christmas to get your chance. Surprisingly, there was no mention of a 3G iPhone in any of the press releases, but logic would say only a 3G version of the iPhone would be released on this country… wouldn’t it? Respected tech reviewer Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal has predicted the 3G iPhone will go on sale in June. It could be rolled out by Apple chief Steve Jobs at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9 in San Francisco or possibly on June 29, the phone's first sales anniversary. The iPhone has certainly put Apple on the map. Last week on Tech Talk Radio, we spoke of the top 100 brands for 2008, in which Apple sat comfortably at number 7 and worth $55.206b. Of all the top 10 companies on the list, Apple’s brand value change was 123%, more than double anyone else, including the number 1 brand – Google. So it’s fair to say the iPhone has something to do with it. So does this mean Apple has made the best phone ever to date? Many skeptics and pundits say companies that diverge in their product range tend to become jack of all trades and masters on none – but is this the case with Apple? Some Apple purists, or as Adam calls them – slobbering Mac fanatics - were heard to say that this was the phone for them as soon as the device was released last year, and without even seeing it. Others were not so sure. And what of the Nokia’s, Motorolla’s, and Sony Ericsson’s of the world – as manufacturer’s of only mobile communications devices, would they stand a chance with Apple’s iPhone? After all that’s what they do. They don’t make computers, they don’t write Operating Systems, they just make phones. Consequently the question needs to be asked – what’s in a brand? Are people so blind to the product that they’re buying because of the manufacturer behind it? Do some people just trust a brand that much, OR, have we all just become so blasé about technology that we just assume it works, it’s too complicated, or we just can’t be bothered researching another gadget? Only time will tell. There's some new ways of doing things on the Microsoft horizon. Everyone can have 5Gb of cloud! What I hear you say? We'll talk to Harvey Sanchez - Online Services Strategy Manager for Microsoft about Microsoft’s Live mesh! Also on This Weeks Show Adam Turner talks looks at the long awaited iPhone Adam takes a call from Steve Jobs Harvey Sanchez - Online Services Strategy Manager for Microsoft talks to us about Microsoft’s Live mesh and Tasmanian’s seem to be the victims of poor internet access

[ Mon, 12 May 2008 23:01:14 +1000 ]

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