Tech Talks & The iPhone 5

The Most Amazing iPhone Yet

Yes the phone is amazing. It’s the best phone Apple has made yet. Its thinner, lighter and faster while delivering a taller screen. Congrats iPhone lovers, I’d like you to meet my friend Evolution! Seriously, over the years I’ve come to appreciate Apple for what they are. A device company that prides itself on delivering a stable and intuitive user experience with the caveat that you have to give up all practical thoughts of ever leaving neverland. Want to hear a direct quote from my wife on why she’s getting the iPhone? Wife: “You should’ve learned by now that I’m not all into the science and tech behind it, I just get what I want to get!” There you have it folks. It doesn’t matter what else is out there and if the iPhone is no longer the most innovative or compelling phone. Someday I hope my business demands this kind of blind, blissful loyalty from my clients. BTW, notice how Apple has gone from comparing the iPhone to competitors and comparing the iPhone 5 to previous versions of iPhones? I’ll leave you with that.

Did You Hear About RIM and The Outage

During the hoopla of iOS 6 and the Maps disaster RIM experienced an outing that affected Europe, the Middle East and Africa. At a time where there services are still being held up as the best reason to stick with BlackBerry until 2013 the last thing you want is to have services go out. This brings up the always interesting philosophical dilemna “if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, did it fall?” My guess is yes it (RIM) fail and no noone was around to hear it. Everyone else has moved on to the present, beautiful lands of the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

Picking HTC 8X over the Lumia 920? Good Luck With That

Admittedly I was very skeptical HTC could deliver any compelling reason why they would still be in the Windows Phone conversation at their September 19th event. I was pleasantly surprised when they unveiled the colorful devices with sleek design and moderate screen sizes that the mass market will love. The thing that’s lost in all of the hoopla on how they brought something unique to the Windows Phone hardware design scene is HTC cutting corners where its just tacky to do so. Things like no gyroscope in the 8X and 4GB of memory in the awesomely two-toned 8S. This isn’t even my biggest reason for chuckling at people fawning over the 8X. Remember that HTC is the same company that hasn’t delivered any type of value added app or service to the Windows Phone lineup.  I still haven’t gotten my disappearing keyboard bug fix. Nokia on the other hand is simply best-in-class when it comes to customer service and value added apps and services. So much so that I dare say not even Apple adds as much to their iPhone as Nokia adds to their Lumia line of Windows Phones. Oh yeah, and all the great apps that Nokia, not HTC, has managed to bring to Windows Phones are Nokia exclusives. So while I live it up this holiday season with the best apps the platform has to offer 8X users will be shooting me disdain with their comments. On the plus side, I’m glad HTC brought something compelling enough to compete with Nokia and make sure Nokia keeps the envelope pushing advancements coming. Good stuff for all of the Windows Phone ecosystem.

Windows Phone Explosive Growth?

Starting with HTC’s announcement that they will be releasing the 8X & 8S on over 50 partners right off the bat in a large number of countries the availability of Windows Phones seems set to rise in dramatic fashion. Now Verizon roadmaps leak, supposedly, that shows the big three flagships of Windows Phone 8 (ATIV S, HTC 8X, Lumia 920) arriving on Verizon tentatively scheduled for the November timeframe. Thanks to HTC we know the 8X is also coming to T-Mobile and combined with this report and it seems the chances of rapid adoption of the Windows Phone OS is set to take off. I’ve long held the belief that the moment Verizon gets serious with Windows Phone and offers compelling devices that marketshare for Windows Phone would triple in a matter of 6 months. Why? Verizon is the largest carrier based on subscribers in the U.S. If both AT&T and Verizon are pushing ads and promoting the phones it causes an accelerated effect and fringe users now have a compelling reason to buy in. Of course having awesome hardware certainly helps.

iOS6 Maps a disaster

DId you hear about the time when bridges and London Underground transportation melting and even disappearing? Welcome to your new user experience if you’re one of the tens of millions of iOS users who updated yesterday to iOS6. Despite clearly lacking the experience or, more importantly, data to offer a compelling, premium experience the company is known for they have forged ahead and delivered a beta level app to their users. If you’re in cities like Chicago, London, New York City, L.A. and the like and depend heavily on up-to-date transport information I’m afraid you’re probably back to square one until Google releases their Maps app on iOS. Siri still isn’t out of BETA either so I’m perplexed as to why iPhone users can continue to view an Apple experience as premium and pay premium prices and accept such limited, behind the times offerings from Apple.

Share your thoughts in the comments and be sure to tune in next week for the next rendition of Tech Talks.