Filed under: Apple, Music, Song of the Week, media | Tags: Air, indie, Macbook, Music, Regina Spektor, Song of the Week, Yael Naim
This week’s Song of the Week is not a new release, but is another in the line of cool songs popularized by major corporations as part of their ad campaigns. Yael Naim’s ‘New Soul’ crashed onto the scene this month as part of Apple’s ad campaign for the Air laptop. Naim’s eponymous album was released in Europe last October, but has now gone mainstream and released in the US in March…. The single evokes Regina Spektor’s sparse vocals and piano work.
Yael Naim’s MySpace page and website.
Filed under: Apple, EMI, Music, Nokia, Sony, Sony BMG, Sony Ericsson, Universal, Vivendi, Warner Music, iPhone, mobile
In a clear response to Nokia’s recent launch of a music portal with PC and mobile storefronts for purchasing and downloading tunes, Sony Ericsson has announced that it too will have a full-fledged music store for its customers by Q2 2008. S-E has always been able to sell tunes from the Sony BMG Music Entertainment, but has now reached agreement with the other three major labels (Universal Music Group (Vivendi), EMI Group PLC and Warner Music Group Corp). All of which means that Sony Ericsson customers will now be able to purchase the vast majority of the major label music that they can purchase through iTunes, Rhapsody, Nokia Music, etc.
The announcement yesterday was apparently timed to respond to both Nokia’s announcement last month, and the launch of the iPhone in Europe which takes place today.
Sprint today launched Touch, the latest addition to its product line. Manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC, the phone has a full touch screen, an mp3 player, and e-mail support, and was touted as an answer to AT&T’s iPhone offering. Some of the phone’s features are very competitive with the iPhone in its first incarnation. The EVDO Rev. 0 network is a substantial advantage for Sprint, but the half Gig of SD storage in the base configuration is uncompetitive with iPhone’s 8 Gig onboard, and Pocket Internet Explorer is not a competitive mobile browser.
Sprint has a competitive product line overall, and Touch will certainly help, but it’s no iPhone.
Verizon today unveiled it’s version of the LG Voyager, an iPhone like touch screen candy bar/clamshell which opens to a full keyboard. Verizon retails salespeople were positively giddy today to be able to point to an iPhone-like device which they will have available “in a few months”. “We’re getting 5 million questions a day about the iPhone” according to one…it’ll be nice to have something to offer. In addition to the QWERTY keyboard the Voyager will also benefit from Verizon’s EVDO data network, which sports speeds often 5X that of AT&T’s EDGE, the only available option for iPhone owners in the US.
Full announcement at InformationWeek among others….
Filed under: Alternative, Apple, Feist, Music, Nano ads, apple ads, indie, ipod
1234 by Feist appears on her latest album, The Reminder. This indie rocker from Calgary has produced a string of sweet, melodic songs with simple, clean arrangements, and 1234 is from the same mold. The single has caught the attention of the digital crowd, with significant traffic on iTunes and elsewhere online, largely because the video of “1234″ is highlighted in the new iPod ads from Apple highlighting the Video Nano.
Check out the video….
You can catch Feist live in concert this Fall. She’s touring Europe through the end of October, and has dates in the US in November.
You can give it a listen at her MySpace page, and her website “ListentoFeist”
Forbes reports that Orange has won the contract to distribute the Apple iPhone in France.
The full story here: Forbes Story
Filed under: Apple, Microsoft, Nano, Sandisk, Sansa, iPhone, ipod, mp3 player, zune
In the constant battle to keep the iPod ahead of the mp3 player clones, Apple today introduced new models of its iPod and Nano, incorporating new technologies such as WiFi access (much like Sandisk’s Sansa Connect and Microsoft’s Zune) and a touch screen based upon the same technology employed in the iPhone. Having the coolest new technology incorporated into the iPod is essential to Apple’s product strategy, even its corporate aura. With Microsoft working on its second generation Zune player, and countless competitors cranking out cheap mp3-playing glorified storage devices in a variety of innovative packages and economic ranges, Apple no longer has an advantage in distribution or for that matter innovation. Apple hasn’t become the safe, boring alternative yet, and that means that the iPod brand is not yet in decline,… today’s announcement doesn’t restore it lost technological lead, but it does maintain the spectacular marketing lead that Steve Jobs has built.
Read more at Bloomberg
Apple has signed its first three deals for European distribution of the iPhone according to the Financial Times. O2 in Britain, Orange in France and Vodafone in Germany are the lucky partners who have agreed to hand over 10% of the voice and data traffic revenue from the iPhone customers in exchange for exclusivity in their respective markets.
The story was broken by FT Deutschland. The complete article at FT.com
OMG! Study finds iPhone texting 2x slower than QWERTY by ZDNet’s Larry Dignan — A study has determined that iPhone’s touchscreen is two times slower than QWERTY phones when it comes to texting. OMG! This study was conducted by User Centric, a Chicago-based usability consultant. User Centric concludes: It took QWERTY users almost twice as long to create the same message on the iPhone as it did on their QWERTY phone. [...]
Reports from Germany claim that T-Mobile will be the official German partner for distribution of the iPhone. Ads apparently appeared on the T-Mobile website for the device, but were quickly removed.
Apple could release a smaller, cheaper version of the touchscreen iPhone later this year, JP Morgan analyst says.
As reported by the BBC, mobile phone company O2 win right to sell Apple’s IPhone in the UK.
Vivendi’s Universal unit appears to be set to challenge Apple’s terms for distribution of its catalog through Apple’s popular iTunes application/service just as Apple’s market importance gets a boost from the first weekend sale of over half a million iPhones.
Universal has notified Apple that it will not renew its contract with Apple, leaving its distribution relationship on an ‘at will’ basis. This is in contract to Sony BMG which recently renewed its contract for another year.
Estimates of Universal sales through iTunes place the number at approximately $200 million annually.
Read more in the New York Times article by Jeff Leeds.
While the entire digirati and most mass media outlets remain obsessed with the phenomenon that is iPhone, life moves on in the mobile universe. Other phones that deliver the features promised in iPhone continue to ship and new advanced models are appearing. HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung all have some awesome phones on the market and more are coming….
The Motorola MotoRIZR Z8 is now available in Europe with 30fps high def video, true 3G HSDPA connectivity, and a full suite of multimedia applications including mobile access to BSkyB and podcasts courtesy of Podcast.com (disclaimer: the blogger is an employee of Podcast.com) Great little phone that fits easily in your shirt pocket, activates easily with a variety of carriers (subtle dig), and packages exceptional phone performance along with full video functionality in a small kick-slider package that actually fits your face.
AT&T is working to to remedy an activation problem that is preventing an estimated 2% of new iPhone customers from getting their phone working. Business account users attempting to move over from other carriers were among those having special difficulty with the AT&T activation process
Rumors abound about the European launch of iPhone which may be a true 3G phone… overcoming some of the objections to the US model….
The reports are flooding in: many people are delighted with their new iPhones. However, many are also having a very hard time getting their phone activated using the AT&T/Apple activation process. And without activation, none of the major functions of the device can be used
Be prepared for a long wait these first few days….
Story here about troubles with activation
Another blog post here
And another….
There’s an interesting little piece over at Endgadget about an apparent spike in speeds on the EDGE network that has customers pulling down data at speeds in excess of 200KBPS. Speculation is that AT&T is boosting the performance of their EDGE network to counter the flood of iPhone users who will be jumping on AT&T’s EDGE network expecting to be able to surf.
Customers of EDGE are delighted as some report they are able to use web applications for the first time on EDGE.
[Given that I am seeing speeds between 700kbps and 1Mbps up and down the East coast on Verizon's network, it's kind've sad to see such excitement over 200Kbps.]
Apple’s iPhone may open up both Hollywood and cellular carriers to the mobile phone as a platform for media. This is a very US centric piece from the NY Times which seems to credit Apple for advances in multimedia and technology that have been pioneered by Nokia, Motorola and others. The major US carriers are blamed for delays in advances, but Apple is riding in to the rescue…..
Please. The Apple iPhone will be far from the first mobile phone to incorporate Wifi, to use a touch screen, to play full length movies or incorporate Hollywood content in the phone. U.S. carriers are delaying the adoption of much of the technology that has already rolled out in Europe and Asia, but they’re also rolling out multimedia features the iPhone doesn’t have and are providing comprehensive multimedia offerings like live TV, combined with full featured music and video stores with one click ease.
Yes, it’s a beautiful phone. Yes it has some unique design elements, but come on people. At least look at what is already on the market before you crank out insipid articles about innovative features that aren’t actually innovative/
The noise cancelling champion Jawbone bluetooth headset will be offered for sale alongside the iPhone at Apple stores and at Apple’s online store. This is great news for Jawbone, as the high end Jawbone will likely appeal to trendy mobile fashionistas.
Filed under: Apple, Blackberry, Good Technologies, Motorola, RIM, iPhone, media, mobile
Corporate IT and Telecommunications departments are resisting employees’ attempts to bring the iPhone into the corporate infrastructure. Integration with RIM’s Blackberry enterprise servers and Motorola’s Good servers is one issue. But consumer familiarity with Apple and its hip appeal may still win the day for Apple…or at least a beachhead.
…and up to 250 hours of standby time. According to Apple PR. Apparently, the engineers at Apple had some breakthrough on power consumption, as they are touting a significant improvement in battery life, but it doesn’t appear to be battery technology….
The NY Times’ venerable John Markoff recaps the raging debate about the virtual keyboard designed into the iPhone, and it’s keys to success or failure.
