Its seem very positive to that price will drop for iPhones in Singapore after M1 and Starhub announced that they are  joining the competition of offering iPhones.

Cheaper iPhones on the way

Tue, Nov 10, 2009
my paper

WITH the last homegrown telco StarHub now on the iPhone bandwagon – it will launch the gadget by year-end – consumers will get to enjoy even more competitive prices.

Industry experts whom my paper spoke to yesterday agreed that all three home-grown telcos would be spurred on to roll out promotions to draw customers, which would probably translate into cheaper deals.

Market-research firm Gfk’s regional senior account manager, Mr Kevin Huang, said: “With the (wider) availability of the iPhone…it is inevitable that there will be a downward pressure on the final retail price of the handset.”

Each telco will not be able to “rest on its laurels and will need to concoct packages to hold consumers’ attention”, he added.

This could mean more creative options in terms of price plans and bundled packages, experts said. For example, exclusive and purpose-driven customised applications could be preloaded on the phone.

This, however, may not bode well for non-iPhone supporters shopping for other brands.

Mr Aloysius Choong, research manager at technologyanalyst firm IDC Asia-Pacific, explained: “StarHub and M1 now have a lower need to subsidise rival products to compete against the iPhone.

“Not so good news, perhaps, if you’re looking for a Nokia, HTC or Samsung smartphone.”

But joining the market this late in the game will probably not do StarHub or M1 any favours, said industry experts.

Said Mr Marc Einstein, an industry manager at market-analysis firm Frost & Sullivan: “Sing-Tel has a significant headstart in the market, so most of the early adopters would have already been locked into a contract with them.

“I don’t think StarHub and M1 will get too much of a windfall.”

Still, giving subscribers the option of owning the iPhone will save telcos from potentially losing existing ones.

Mr Foong King Yew, research director of market-research firm Gartner, said: “The strategic aim is not one of attracting a large base of new customers from their competitor.

Those who truly desire an iPhone would have got one already.”

Apple is reportedly already working on the next version of the smartphone, which will be usable anywhere in the world, to be released in the third quarter of next year.

Visually rich and with a stunning user interface, dubbed Sense, it is arguably one of the most intuitive and powerful smartphones in the market.

Wed, Oct 07, 2009
The Business Times

HTC Corp’s Hero, the Taiwan phone maker’s third device to run on Google’s budding phone operating system Android, is the device many seeking an iPhone alternative have been waiting for.

Previews of the Hero on various blog sites, which highlighted its raft of new applications and bespoke user interface (UI) have teased gadget lovers for months. After testing the phone over the past two weeks, it is easy to see what the buzz is all about.

A relatively compact (112 by 56 by 14mm) but stout (135g) quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) candy bar phone, the Hero impresses with its good looks straight out of the box.

It sheds the plasticky feel and curves of older siblings Dream and Magic for a more metallic look and cleaner lines. The grey-brown model comes with a suede-like surface which coats the back and sides of the phone, making it comfortable to hold and banishing greasy fingerprints. The white model has Teflon coating to help keep dirt away. It is altogether very chic.

The only downer in the looks department is the angled-up bottom of the phone. While its older siblings sport the same design quirk, the ‘lip’ on the Hero is more pronounced. To me, it unnecessarily makes the phone feel more clumsy in the pocket.

The much-vaunted new UI from HTC, dubbed Sense, is an absolute stunner. Visually rich and intuitive, it improved on the already excellent Android UI and added many new useful functionalities to boot.

The changes are subtle – for instance, the tiny toolbar at the bottom of the desktop for easy access to applications, widgets and the call functions. But this makeover significantly enhanced the Android platform’s look and feel.

An especially nice touch is a slider icon that shows users which desktop, out of the seven, they are at.

The Sense also includes Scene, which lets users configure and save their own different desktop configurations. A rolling menu, ala HTC’s Windows Mobile-based TouchFLO UI, now appears on some applications. And multi-touch has been added, meaning you can pinch and flick on pictures and webpages to zoom in and out, like the iPhone.

Like the Magic, flicking on Hero’s screen to scroll long lists and webpages is a joy – serving up a free-spinning and responsive experience.

One of Android’s best feature is its support for widgets, which are applications that can be docked on the phone’s desktop. HTC has included a bag of well-crafted ones. Among them: widgets for calendar, email, SMS, contact, music, twitter, photo gallery and settings.The music widget, along with the improved music application, deserve special mention for their simplicity and uncanny ability to display album art. The settings widgets, which lets users easily switch on or off connectivity features such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Global Positioning System (GPS), are terrific conveniences.

Another useful refinement is the contacts application, which now consolidates your friends’ Facebook status updates, Flickr photos, text messages, emails and call history in a single place. Very neat.

On the hardware front, the Hero comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA (320 by 480 pixels) touchscreen that is among the best I’ve seen. It supports High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and is no Web surfing slouch. The one-two punch of excellent display and good mobile broadband performance begets stunning results when playing high-definition YouTube video clips.

The 5-megapixel camera is surprisingly good – producing sharp and natural-looking photos. The video-camera is so-so. A 3.5mm headphone jack will be welcomed by music lovers.

Up to this point, the Hero has been a near-perfect experience. But there are several foibles that could dissuade potential buyers.

Perhaps the most serious among them is the phone’s laggard performance when pushed hard. To be fair, the Hero, which sports what appears to be the same class of processor as its older brother Magic – a 528MHz Qualcomm CPU – is generally nifty on bread-and-butter chores such as making phone calls, sending text messages and Web surfing. But performance slows when widgets are added. Playing music also drags down other functions.

Being right-handed, I also quibble at the placement of the front control buttons, more suited for left-hand operations given two of the most important buttons – back and search – are located at the extreme right bottom.

The soft keyboard can be frustrating, and my chat sessions have been typo-ridden. Battery life could be better. On my regular diet of music listening, email checking, chatting and Web browsing, I often find myself starring at a battery alert towards the end of the day.

The bottomline: foibles aside, the Hero is a breakthrough phone. If HTC’s Dream and Magic hinted at the potential of the budding Android platform, the Hero has fulfilled its early hype. It is arguably one of the most intuitive and powerful smartphones in the market.

The HTC Hero has a list price of $898, which includes a 2GB microSD memory card.

A global survey has found that most people can’t live without their mobiles, never leave home without them and, if given a choice, would rather lose their wallet.

Are you one of those that can’t live without mobile phone ? I am confess that I am one of them, I own more than one mobile phone. To be exact, one of them is smartphone with features of  internet access, mp3,  games, movies etc.

Three-quarters of the more than 8,000 respondents polled online in 11 countries said they take their phone with them everywhere, with Russians and Singaporeans the most attached.

More than a third also said they couldn’t live without their phone, topped by Taiwanese and again Singaporeans, while one in four would find it harder to replace the mobile than their purse.

Source : Asia One

Microsoft had just announced that smartphone running the next version of Windows Mobile will hit store shelves worldwide on Oct. 6.

Windows Mobile 6.5 includes a new version of its Internet Explorer browser for phones, and changes that make it easier to use on touch-screen devices. Microsoft also has developed a free service called My Phone that lets people synchronize text messages, contacts, photos and other phone data on the Internet, where it can be edited or transferred to a new phone.

Microsoft is also launching a mobile application store similar to Apple’s store for iPhone apps on iTunes.

Microsoft is betting the updated smart phone system will lure more consumers .