SmartNet (Netphone) running on iOS 5

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 4th, 2011

The telco industry is always exciting. And when the competitions exchange blows, there’s always the aftermath of awesomeness that, in the end, gives more choices to consumers. In the end, they win.

This is a photo of SmartNet running on iOS (Yes, the iPhone 4s now has Netphone capabilities). Way back in February, I talked about my trip to Barcelona and divulged the whole deal with SmartNet and the Netphone which is essentially Smart’s plans to turn itself into one big social network and make mobile Internet more affordable via smartphones. You, like me, might be thinking “Hey I already use mobile Internet on my phone!” but the truth of the matter is, the Twitter and Facebook we see everyday is one big bubble of the same social circles we have in real life. There are still millions of Filipinos who do not have Internet access but amazingly have found the first entry into cyberspace not from a computer, but from a phone. This credit is actually due to Nokia who sold many GPRS/EDGE-enabled phones in the last 5 years. And that’s the hole SmartNet tries to fill.

SmartNet is rather ubiquitous on Android right now — the 5.3″ version for the Samsung galaxy Note just came out. Another juicy development is that Smartnet is also coming to iOS5 via the iTunes store so that’s a lot of added value if you’re a Smart Subscriber. So the “grand plan” is showing signs barely a year into the Netphone project with Smart releasing the SmartNet platform for both Android and iOS, the top two smartphone platforms in the world. Other platforms coming.

Oh and this company I work with is pretty damn agressive. Just take a look at Social Mention:

Pre-order the iPhone 4s now with SMART. There’s a lot more added value with this telco. Plus the data network is much better.

SMART Communications to offer iPhone 4S by end 2011

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 9th, 2011

The Inquirer reported this evening that SMART Communications would be offering the new Apple iPhone 4S come end of 2011.

Quote:

MANILA, Philippines—Wireless telecommunications giant Smart Communications is set to heat up competition in the offering of telco services bundled with Apple products with the rollout of Apple’s game-changing smartphone iPhone to premium subscribers within this year.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of Smart’s parent firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., confirmed that Smart was in talks with Apple to launch the latest version of the iPhone—iPhone4S—before yearend.

Similar to what happened to bigger markets like the United States, Germany and Canada, consumer electronics giant Apple has abandoned the regime of exclusive iPhone distribution.

With the lapse of the exclusivity deal with Globe Telecom, the original iPhone official carrier in the Philippines, Smart is now getting ready to launch iPhone4S as well.
[source]

The article also mentions the possibility to bring in Apple iPad tablets with data plans.

It seems that a Twitter hashtag campaign has started called #smartiphone. You can try to follow this for more developments. This development is rather interesting as SMART has already cornered exclusivity deals with HTC for their Android phones. WIth the iPhone 4S deal, has SMART locked in the smartphone business for both Android and iOS?

Aside: During the launch of the Netphone 701 and SmartNet platform at the Jump store, one of the execs did hint of being in talks with Apple for something related to smartphones. It seems like the cat is out of the bag. Are we going to see a SmartNet app pretty soon on the iTunes Store?

[N.B. There is a general disclosure on my blog's about page on who I work / consult for.]

Lourd de Veyra on Steve Jobs’ Death

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 25th, 2011

As always, Lourd isn’t afraid to say what should be said. Kind felt bad too when just days apart, Dennis Ritche, the inventor of C and UNIX passed away. In terms of contribution, that guy did more for computing in this generation than Steve. Not that mourning for Steve is bad.

So, over ba?

New MacBooks at PHP 54,990

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 31st, 2009

MacBooks are getting cheaper and cheaper. This is the most affordable MacBook in recent history. Although I’m a big fan of the aluminum finish, I figure that Apple really needed to distinguish the MacBook line with the Pro series as they were both starting to look alike. So the 13 inch MacBook is back to its white roots with more rounded corners. From the product photos, the new portables look “fatty” but as seen in this size comparison with my aluminum portable, it’s really just the same thing with a polycarbonate finish.

The new MacBooks retail for PHP 54,990. I wonder how much they go for at dealer’s price!?

Steve Wozniak on Dancing with the Stars

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 14th, 2009

Gotta hand it to him — he may not be the most elegant on the dance floor, but he sure can kick up a storm. Go Woz!

MacHeist gives away free Mac apps this holiday season

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 29th, 2008

What? You mean you still haven’t checked out MacHeist’s latest list of freebies?! This holiday season, MacHeist is making app giveaway time more thematic by revealing free gifts underneath the Mac Giving Tree.

If you’re a Mac user, MacHeist’s giveaway for Christmas 2008 is a must have. I especially recommend 1password, Headline RSS reader and Enigmo 2 from Pangea.

Don’t forget to download the apps from the MacHeist Giving Tree to get them for free (check the serial numbers on the gift boxes)!

Nokia to launch “Comes with Music” soon?

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 2nd, 2008

Phones come cheap because the price of the unit is subsidized by the telco (they make up with the monthly plans). In the same light, digital music will now come free (hopefully!) because the cost will be subsidized by the price of the phone.

Reuters has an interestingly new article on the Nokia’s new Comes with Music offering (apart from their new touch screen phone):

I heard about Nokia’s Comes with Music plans during a dinner meet up with some of the online tech media a few months ago. Not a lot of details were released but the plan to go for a subscription-based model isn’t new. It just hasn’t been implemented on a wide scale yet (the only guys I know doing this is the Microsoft Zune online community for a price of a CD a month – unlimited song downloads!).

Nokia’s package will differ from others on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded during the 12 month subscription period. There are no charges for tracks downloaded, since the cost is bundled to the phone price.

“‘Comes with Music’ could potentially bring free music to millions of consumers, radically changing the music industry, and offering a significant threat to Apple’s dominance,” Strategy Analytics’ David MacQueen said in a research report.

“In a market where price and selection are so much more important than brand to consumers, Apple cannot count on retaining users when competing with an offering which seems free to the end user,” MacQueen said.

I think it’s come to that point where everyone in the market already has a phone, and changing mobiles every 3 months is turning to be a logistical nightmare. So even if Nokia has still been steady with the phones, entering these new avenues (games, music, maps, photo sharing) via Ovi will definitely peak interest.

What I really want to say is filled with irony: The key to keeping your customers is to not make anything exclusive. This isn’t the 1970′s anymore. Great job to Nokia for going pro-consumer!

What a GENIUS this iTunes 8!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 10th, 2008

So along with the hot iPods, iTunes released the new Genius feature for iTunes 8.0 that does two things. First, the new version allows you to make on-the-fly playlists based on one song that you choose. The choice is heavily dependent on the genre, artist and I even think it has something to do with the cadence of the song. iTunes chooses similar beat counts for that playlist.

The second part of Genius is the iTunes recommendations sidebar, which is their monetization model. When you’re playing songs, iTunes can recommend songs from their library which you can click to purchase. It isn’t available in the Philippines, sadly (see first image).

The Genius concept is not new. Online services such as Last.FM and Pandora have implemented this related playlist scheme for quite some time. Of course, sometimes you get really off recommendations.

I tried a few playlist creations based on KENNY LOGGINS, JAMIROQUAI and RICK ASTLEY and got pretty good results (hmm there are one or two out of place songs, but hey, sometimes Geniuses make mistakes too!). The first song in the 25 song countdown is where all the songs are based from.

Share your Genius Playlist Mix?

P.S. And yes, I listen to BARRY MANILOW, OK? Mandy, FTW.

4th Gen iPod nano colors (Cute naman!)

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 10th, 2008

The rumors are true – the 4th generation iPod nanos are out. Apple has gone back to the roots of the nano, foregoing the fatty design for the gum stick form factor of the 1st and 2nd generation + the curved edges. And they’ve upped the memory too at 8GB and 16GB. Sigh. Flash memory just gets cheaper and cheaper. Every year, a new iPod owner gets at least twice the memory for the same price. It goes the same for all tech gadgets.

They did a great job with the colors – these aren’t the typical shades you’d find in your everyday gadget. According to Technograph, the rumored pricing is P12,000.00 for the 16GB version.

Apple, where’s the FM tuner?

iPhone 3G: $199.00 for 8GB

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 10th, 2008

The second coming of the Jesus Phone is nigh. Just moments ago, Steve unveiled the iPhone 3G at the WWDC 2008 conference. I managed to do a Live Plurk of the event. You can click the link to see my comments and some responses. I also have an initial post up at Cellphone9 for the coverage. Nothing fancy. More of a first impressions look. As a follow up I also wrote a piece on what a $199.00 iPhone does to the cellphone industry.

With Windows Mobile devices costing in the close $600.00 and above, what happens when the world’s most talked about phone get a huge price cut by half? What happens when the world’s most talked about phone acquires Microsoft ActiveSync and Exchange and push email? What happens when it acquires GPS and maps as well? All for the price of an entry-level phone from Nokia or Samsung.

Regarding the latter, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Overall, a lot of the new services announced won’t make huge waves in the Philippines. But the price point of the new and improved iPhone will. At less than P10,000.00 the 8GB iPhone will probably kill most of the competition. That is, if people don’t start charging more for unlocking it