Posts in Mobile Phones

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iPhone exclusivity days over?

John Chan | Nov 09, 2009

You can pay the full price for an unlocked iPhone from Apple's Hong Kong online store.
(Credit: Apple)

With the iPhone 3GS of late, Apple has been shedding its one-operator-per-country model and working with multiple service providers in countries like Canada and Australia. Today in Singapore, StarHub announced it will be selling the coveted smartphone at the end of the year, making it a perfect three out of three network providers for the island-state.

Aside from giving customers more choice, we feel this arrangement makes perfect sense for Apple, too, as this will increase the reach of the iPhone. What we would really like to see is the option to purchase the device unlocked directly from Apple. Already, the company is doing this through its Australia and Hong Kong online stores--a great option for those who don't mind paying the full price so they don't have to get locked to operator tariff agreements. But is it all positive? Are there any advantages of exclusive operator availability deals that you will miss? Let us know what you think.

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StarHub to offer iPhone, too

John Chan | Nov 09, 2009

Singapore operator StarHub this morning announced that it will be offering the Apple iPhone for sale later this year. In its press statement, the network provider said it has reached an agreement with Apple and will be offering the device and "a range of tailored service plans" to customers on the island-state. This will make the iPhone available from all three operators in Singapore by the end of the year.

Last month, M1 also announced that it will be working with Apple in the same capacity in a statement that sounds almost identical to StarHub's. As with M1, StarHub hasn't much information to share at the moment. The company did tell us it will be offering current models--the latest version is the iPhone 3GS. Other details such as price, tariffs and specific dates will be revealed later.

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An iPhone case with a built-in LED light

Michelle Meyers | Nov 09, 2009

Beamer, an iPhone case with a built-in LED light, will only be available for purchase if at least 500 people preorder it. (Credit: Quirky.com)

It's not like us to get too excited about an iPhone case, but this one shines--literally--because it's the very device I was wishing for last month while traveling in Europe.
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Apple may be working on hybrid iPhone for CDMA, GSM networks

Jon Skillings | Nov 09, 2009

There's long been speculation that US carrier Verizon would sooner or later be offering the Apple smartphone, which since its launch has been solely in the hands of AT&T in the United States. (In some other countries, Apple has deals with multiple carriers.)

The latest posting to suggest an imminent rapprochement between Verizon and the iPhone comes from the AppleInsider blog, which on Friday said that it's gotten wind of Apple having contracted to build a Verizon iPhone that would debut in the third quarter of 2010.

More broadly, according to AppleInsider, the new "hybrid iPhone" will work on both the GSM/UMTS and the CDMA systems, meaning Apple will be able "to sell a single global handset to all carriers, and specifically to Verizon Wireless in the US". In the US, carriers AT&T and T-Mobile are in the GSM/UMTS camp, while Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel are in the CDMA camp.
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HTC's product excellence "tip jar"

John Chan | Nov 06, 2009

HTC CEO Peter Chou unveiling the "quietly brilliant" tagline.
(Credit: John Chan/CNET Asia)

We pointed out recently that HTC changed its tagline from "HTC Innovation" to "quietly brilliant". What we did not know then was that it was part of a large marketing push which includes a few TV commercials with a focus on the word "You". The 30-second spot was quite well-executed, as you can see from the YouTube clip after the jump.

In 1963, car rental company Avis started using its "We try harder" slogan, which has become one of the most recognizable taglines in advertising history. Bill Bernbach, co-founder of DDB, the advertising agency that conceived the idea, recommended that Avis first improve its services, saying: "It's always a mistake to make good advertising for a bad product."

Almost 50 years on, this statement still makes a lot of sense. Now that HTC has a fancy advertising campaign, will it continue to have great products to back that up? Well, going by what we heard about its CEO Peter Chou in a recent interview, it seems like he's trying hard to make sure of it.
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