Who needs a cell phone carrier?

According to a study by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), one out of every four American families does not own a landline phone. Instead, 25 percent of American households are only using mobile phones. Further reinforcing the primacy of mobile devices, the study found that 15 percent of families that do own landlines receive all or almost all calls through cell phones.



The study was carried out between July and December of 2009 and included information from more than 21,000 American families.

We are now in 2011 and the percentage of households without landline might be already close to 40%.

We still have a landline (VoIP) but only for my mother in law. We seldom use it. Most of our calls are done via our cellphones.

But my sister is a proof that we don't need anymore even a cellphone carrier.

My sister and her family are right now visiting us from Germany. They stayed 5 days at our house and then went on a sightseeing tour through Florida. We were trying to buy a prepaid SIM card for her iphone 3, before they went south to Key West. But we had no luck, nobody had just a prepaid card (it was Sunday and ATT not open). They had either offers to charge prepaid cards or to buy a phone with minutes but not just a SIM card with no contract.
Eventually we gave up and they went on their trip, with the hope to find a card in a store on the way. This was the goal.

After three days she called me on my cellphone to tell me she does not need a card. Every hotel, they went to, had free wifi and she uses her Skype account to make calls either to other Skype members or to landlines. She called a couple of times Germany over Skype for just 1.9 euro cent (2.3 us cent) a minute.

She is not a geek, she is far over 40 and everything but computer savvy. However she is very good in saving money (she is an accountant) and she used to Skype for many years. Therefore (after she figured out that free wifi is almost everywhere) she looked in the iPhone app store and found Skype. Bingo.

She told me she downloaded as well an app which finds for her free wifi. Guess what, the app is called "free wifi finder". And it seems pretty good. It is an already 2 years in the app store but works great.



You even don't need to have wifi to find free wifi spots. You just need to download their DB to your iPhone or iPad.





My sister told me that they now scheduled their route around wifi hotspots like Panera Bread or McDonalds.

I was totally impressed, not that she does not really need a carrier to be still able to make phone calls, but how easy it was for her to do so.

Sure she is not all the time reachable, but do we really need to be? Landlines did not allow us to be reachable, when we have been not in our home.

She is absolute happy, because she is saving a lot of money. She made one call to Germany using roaming (before she had Skype on her phone). She paid $12 for three minutes. Can you imagine this?

Traveling with Skype can go even better. She could have her cell phone routed to her Skype account to receive free landline calls which are placed to her cellphone. Or she gets a Skype number that people could call her. And when she is in a wifi dead zone, which means Skype won't work, the calls would go to her voice mail. There is a price for this, but less than $10 a month.

She can do almost everything with Skype but no emergency calls. However the iPhone would let her make free emergency calls anyway.

My wife and I are paying $150 a month for two iPhones. This is for data, voice and SMS. We could save so much money, if we would have just 2 iPod touch.

Why do I need an expensive voice contract and data plan? When I am at home I have perfect fast wifi. I have wifi when I am in the office. I don't have wifi when I am driving my car to work and back. I don't have wifi when I meet friends to play golf. I don't have wifi when I am doing outside activities. But do I need to have a phone connection all the time? No.

Less than 10 years ago, we all were used calling somebody and this person might not answer the phone. When we have been lucky we got an answering machine.

Why do we need to be today 24/7 reachable? I don't think we need. But even if we don't need, we will in a few years again 24/7 available, because wifi will be everywhere.

Landlines lost the race against cell phones and I believe carriers will lose the race against wifi.

Maybe cell phones never go away (which I doubt), but at least we will see a dramatic drop in the costs in the next 24 months. Same as what happened with landlines.

In 2001 an average annual landline costs was around $700 in 2007 it was around $500, a drop of over 22%. On the other hand the annual cellular phone service did dribble from 2001 to 2007 to $600. In 2009 the average cell-phone user spent about $600 a year on mobile service, while families that talked, texted, or used other phone features more than average spent upward of $1,800. And the bigger the bill, the more get tapped for service taxes and surcharges, which tack on an average of 14.5 percent. Some people are saying that the current average cell phone bill is $81 per month ($972 a year).






And the cellular costs will even go more up. Maybe the voice part will go down but data 3G or 4G will get even more expensive. The average costs for data are Today $360 annually which I believe will go up around 40% Carriers are understanding that the consumer will use more data than voice minutes in the near future. But they understand as well that free wifi hotspots are a problem for them. Therefore they will try in the next year to get as much money as possible from their consumers before they (consumer) switch data off.
ATT and Verizon are so smart that they sell only certain smart phones with data plan. You are not able to get a voice only iPhone. I am not sure if this is even allowed. May e we should try to sue them.

My sister showed me that the non cell phone future is already presence.
And with the new iOS 5 is even SMS possible over wifi using iMessage.

I might try the test and will use for 4 weeks only an iPod touch as my phone.


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Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Brooksville,United States

No iPad 3 this year and new iPhone in October

If the rumors are right then we will not get a new iPad this year but a new iPhone in October which can be preordered in late September.

Of the news is disappointing and the other is very good.

The iPad 3



I think it is really good news not to bring an iPad 3 this year. Rumors were out that the iPad 3 will be available in September, but honestly two iPads in one year would be too much. The price is much higher than a smart phone and buying two iPads in one year is not cheap. And as we know, always when a new version comes out, Apple is reducing the previous version in price. I would not find it cool to see after 6 months that my iPad is now 20% cheaper. One thing I always liked at Apple was the long product life time and price stability. A new iPad would have not been good. If Apple keeps a 12 months cycle then it is much more likely that the new product will be much better than the previous with more new features. The next iPad should be at least 2 mm thinner, should have retina display and maybe cable less charging. Apple does good not to offer a new iPad this year which has maybe just a faster processor. The time is not right yet. Maybe in a few years where not many new features can easily build in, or when it is not anymore possible to make the iPad lighter or thinner and we are all moved from notebook to iPads, then Apple can start to offer every 3 months an iPad with faster processor and bigger hard drive. And to be clear, that Apple can keep up such high demand is only possible if they can get a lot of media hype when a new version comes out. Reducing the cycle to 6 or less months will not guaranty media hypes. Compare it with DELL or all other computer manufactures, they bring every three month a new version of their products on the market, but really no press cares. We might find info in special review websites, but there is no prime time press coverage. When was it the last time that CBS reported a new DELL computer in the evening news? You can't answer? Me neither, but I know since 2007 every new iPhone or iPad was in the big news.
If the rumors are right, then I am happy to save money. However if an iPad 3 is coming out this year, then it has better a faster processor, better cameras and retina display or I would be disappointed by Apple.

I believe in two years you can order the iPad online with not only the ability to choose provider and memory but as well to choose the processor and color of the iPad (not only white and black). I can see that we can choose between four processors and up to 256GB with eight frame colors. This would be awesome. The smallest iPad for $499 and up to $1299 for the really fast quad core processor and 256 GB memory.

The iPhone 5




Rumors are out that the iPhone 5 release date will be later than previously expected, due to software that otherwise won’t be ready.

The news comes from AllThingsD, and is at odds with earlier reports that indicated that the device would actually be available earlier, during September. Next generation iPhone rumors are pouring in these days, as we’re getting closer to the launch of the device. That conflicts with a report from tech blog Gizmodo, which has passed along a supposed email from an AT&T employee claiming that employee vacation requests for late September have been denied. “Historically the only time they’ve done this was for an iPhone release,” reads that email. “So we’re looking at the last two weeks of September.” “I don’t know why AT&T’s calling for all hands on deck those weeks, but it’s not for an iPhone launch,” one source said.

I tend to believe AllthingsD. But at the end is disappointing. Not only that we had to wait 18 months for a new iPhone but as well that the new iPhone will not have 4G.

Either way, Apple seems to be ready for a new iPhone. At least it looks like they are working on the redesign of the iPhone page. And accidentally showed a lot of text layered on each other.




The only selectable layer reads: “Only iPhone gives you one-tap access to the world’s largest collection of mobile apps.” Underneath the text layer, other fragments can be seen, such as “retina,” ostensibly from the usual slide that rotates on the iPhone page. Found by the iphone5newsblog.com

The question is, what will be different with the iPhone 5 than iPhone 4?. First of all it will hopefully have the A5 or A6 processor and a slightly bigger screen (4inch). The screen might not be wider but longer. The home button might be now integrated into the screen instead of being a button. Steve Jobs never liked buttons. Maybe it has (what I doubt) conducting charging like other phone built in. It might have an NFC chip and Stereo speakers. It is expected that the new iPhone can handle GSM and CDMA, to allow Apple to build only one iPhone. Most likely (as you can see on the image above) it might be thinner and not flat anymore. However I hope it does not change it's form factor, I am tired of buying all the time new accessories. Maybe (to be fancy) the iPhone has no buttons at all anymore and everything as the front, sides and back are touch screens. But this is very unlikely.
it seems that iPhone will not have yet 4G. Apple is testing LTE right now (rumors are saying) but if so, then there is no way it will have 4G in October. Apple would be done with testing in August when the first iPhone went onto the assembly line.
Not having 4G is the biggest disappointment for me. Because all other enhancement are ok but not really the hammer for selling. The only other reason besides 4G for me to switch to a new iPhone would be the processor. My iPhone 4 has already issues with simple games like Angry Birds. Many times the game slows down, of course one reason is the poor coding execution.
I have friends at ATT and Verizon and none of them does know what features the new iPhone will have and if screen or case will be different. And these guys are usually informed enough to know 2 months earlier what features their new phones in stock will have.

Regardless of features or form factor, the release day of the iPhone 5 will be exactly the same day iOS 5 comes out, there is no way that Apple would release one or the other first. Because iOS is perfectly build around the iPhone 5, this is for sure.

Regardless what the next iPhone 5 will be it is already a bit in China.
At least one online coupon website and more than 100 online shop owners on Taobao.com, China's biggest online auction website, have provided pre-order links online for the next generation of the iPhone (source china.org.cn)

Many Taobao sellers said they would start shipping the iPhone 5 between September 5 and September 7, which is around the time most industry insiders expect the smartphone to debut.
Most iPhone 5 for pre-order are being sold on Taobao from 4,000 yuan (US$625) to 7,000 yuan each.
Apple Inc, whose iPhone 4 and iPad tablets have wowed consumers around the world, declined to comment on the issue or the iPhone 5 release date.
Meituan, a Beijing-based Groupon-like website, announced that it will hold a lucky draw with the top prize being an iPhone 5. Users registering on the website or following the website on Sina Weibo will have the opportunity to win the iPhone 5, according to Meituan.

In July, Apple reported its China revenue grew six times in its fiscal third quarter ended on June 30 due to booming sales of iPhones and iPads.


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Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Brooksville,United States

iCloud - no music streaming - so what?

When Steve Jobs presented the new iOS 5 and talked about the iCloud and how cool it will be, he mentioned that we can listen to our music through the cloud on any iOS device. In a side note he said that the song will start to download a few seconds before we can listen to and we are even able to listen to the last 30 or so songs when we are in the airplane and no wifi or 3G is available.



So how does this work?
Pretty simple, instead that Apple streams the music, the songs will be downloaded to your device. The iPhone will keep the last 30 songs in full on your device and the last 200 songs (or favorite songs) only 30 seconds. This saves memory and allows to start a song before it is downloaded. Therefore you will not be able to listen to your music through a web browser only through iTunes.

It is no streaming but is it bad? Actually not, this allows you to listen to music when your Internet connection is bad or the Internet connection is shortly interrupted.
I assume iOS 5 will reserve some of your free memory to do so, otherwise we are getting in trouble when our memory is full with games and other apps.

The sync through iCloud still works, even if the music is partly downloaded to your device. Apple will apply to music the same methodology like for all other apps and documents in the icloud.

But why is Apple not streaming the music?
There could be multiple reasons. First of all, because Apple does not stream the music, it does not need to pay such high fees to the record labels. Streaming would fall under other rules. Apple would be similar like a radio station. As an example the biggest problem for Rhapsody are the high fees to the record labels because of their streaming, surely Apple want to avoid this.

Second, Apple is taking something from ATT and Verizon away when iMessage starts. But gives something back with their music download.
I am assuming Apple had to make a deal with the phone service providers. The network is already today extremely heavy used since the iPhone went on the market. We all can remember how people were not able to use 3G in big cities like NY or LA because too many users were on 3G. There are right now around 100 million Apple 3G users, if everybody would stream music the network would break down. For streaming, the connection must be always good and fast otherwise the music does not play well. Doing it over downloading the speed is not so important, the provider can slow the download when the network is too much stressed. If they slow down steaming then listing would not make fun. And most of the people might listen only to 100 songs if most of them already to your phone downloaded and you listen to them multiple times then it does not use any streaming bandwidth.
Even only having the first 30 seconds of a song stored would save a lot of streaming, if you listen to the same 100 songs 10 times a month. This is 1000 x 30 seconds with 256kb quality is already 937.5 MB. This is half your data plan for a month.

Third, this allows Apple to give a better user experience. By not streaming Apple does not need to work on complex caching which would slow the iPhone down. Neither would listen to music slow browsing or other apps down. When I listen sometimes to rhapsody, I can tell that either my phone slows down or the music does not play well.
We should not forget we are not always on Wifi.
I have met people who are listing at least 3 hours to rhapsody over 3G through their iPhone on a daily basis and their data plan bill is always at least $50 more a month because of this.

Streaming is great, but if Apple's methodology is working out, then not streaming is better. It will need to be tested how much delay we will have till a song starts if not streamed but downloaded (when loading the first time)


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Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Brooksville,United States

iPhone coming soon as a different form factor?

We read a lot of rumors about a new cheaper iPhone and it makes sense.

Let us go back in time. The first iPod came in 23 October 2001.






It took almost 3 years till in June 2004 the iPod mini was introduced.






See wikipedia for all models.
The first iPhone was available in June 2007. This year is the third year of the iPhone and as we know usually Apple keeps release dates pretty consistent. If so, then we need to expect this year not only the iPhone 5 but as well the iPhone mini.

Smaller form factor, less memory.
The iPhone mini will be then available in 4 and 8 GB memory with much smaller screen than the iPhone or iPod touch to a smaller price break. Which means the iPhone mini will be available for free at all telecom providers. And for all girls, women and fashion guys, the iPhone mini will be available in 8 different colors, from yellow over pink to blue.

It might be that the iPhone mini (at the beginning) does not allow to install applications like the iPhone 2G. Like the iPod nano today. It has a iOS base but does not allow to install software.

I believe the iPhone 5 will be available in 32GB and 64GB like the iPod touch today, with a dual core processor a bigger back camera and but unlikely a 3D screen (just because others have it now like LG). But for sure the iPhone (both) will have a short distance transmitter to use the iPhone as a credit card.

Back to the iphone mini, after six months will be a software upgrade which will allow to install games and apps for the iPhone mini.

The iPhone mini will have Bluetooth, wifi and data plans but maybe no camera or only front camera to allow FaceTime.

I know this is all speculation but by just following Apple it would make sense. The only part which does not fit is that Apple is relying on telecom providers which might for Apple not a reason not to build a different form factor. For Apple it is not important to have number one OS sold but to be number one sold phone. Multiple form factors and offering a phone for all providers would raise the risk of too many problems and user complains, especially that usually the providers want their own special version of the OS.
Apple always prefers to be market leader for a specific product than to satisfy everybody. Apple believes consumers should buy what Apple offers and not that Apple has to offers something consumers are asking for. This is, was and will be the big advantage of Apple. All other hardware companies seem not to understand this methodology and therefore are offering every 3 months a new version of their phones and over 20 different phones (vice versa with PC and notebooks). As a result the products don't look as esthetic and are losing very fast in value.

Possible ideas of iPhone mini:



























I personally would like the iPod nano form factor as an iPhone nano. Would be awesome as a second phone.

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The Daily - first magazine only on iPad

The daily was long in production and had some delay, but is now available in the app store for download. The daily costs $0.99 per week or $40 a year. The first 2 weeks are free - sponsored by Verizon. Which is an irony because 3G version of the iPad does only work with ATT.

The magazine is taking a lot advantage of the iPad OS. You can rotate the iPad to see different content.



If you rotate the super bowl article you will get movies to watch which you would not see if you don't rotate.

When loading the app it connects to the Internet and loads the latest articles. The main page is a carrousel where you can swipe through all articles which are grouped by news, gossip, Opinion, Arts & Life, Apps and Games and Sports. I am missing technology and international, but I guess I am not really the audience.




The app allows you to save articles if you want to read them to a later point.
The app has a lot of interactive features. There are polls within to see instantly results or even live twitter feeds about the super bowl game.







Even the weather is always up to date. Games like crossword and sudoko is in the app which counts the time how long you need to solve the crossword.

Overall there are many special effects and a lot of thoughts how to make the magazine more interactive. It is almost too much. The design is nice and easy to read.
However there is some weird things going on, sometimes you have to swipe from left to right to get to the next page, sometimes you swipe from top to down. I am still not clear when which approach is the correct one.

The app has a lot full page ads which are very interactive and informative and sometimes it is hard to tell if it is an ad or an article.

The amount of articles is limited, a lot of high resolution photos and videos, but not much to read. The best part is gossip. Apps and games are only featuring a few apps for the iPad or iPhone for direct download. I am not sure with the selection of the apps, it seems more likely that they are paid advertisement.

The app takes too long to load, especially if you have only 3G and no wifi. Unfortunately the app crashes often, at least twice a day for me.

The content is very load intensive, it takes sometimes 20 seconds to go from one page to another and the content page shows half of the time only a part. All videos are starting almost instantly when the page is finally loaded, but sometimes it takes up to 30 seconds till the video reaches best quality.

Not sure if i want to pay for it. It is great look and feel with a lot of cool features but the selection of articles is not my main interest.

It is no wonder that the daily has a low rating. People are rating it either as 5 stars or as 1 star. Either you like it or you don't. Many people are reporting to long load times and crashes, same problems I had.

I am disappointed that a magazine which had so much hype and support from Apple has such a low quality in terms of stability.

Please test it as long it is free, maybe you might like it.




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ATT fears losing customers and pushes with ads

Only a few days left till Verizon will offer the iPhone and ATT gets cold feet.
ATT is sending to all their iPhone customers an email to show that only ATT customers can surf the Internet during taking a call. So simple but true. Everybody at Verizon will miss the feature. To compensate this problem, Verizon is offering for a limited time unlimited data, but don't be fouled, it won't last forever. I lucky wise could grandfather my unlimited data plan ATT.

The email from ATT offers as well 25% off on iPhone accessories.



My Tip, regardless of discount, you should stay with ATT if most of your friends are with ATT, if not still stay with it. I love the rollover feature, this allows you to use the lowest minutes plan, keep a few months under and you have enough minutes left for the rest of the year. And reading email or receiving an image during call is awesome and often in use. If you play a game which gets info over data, you don't need to stop it to take the call.

The pricing at ATT is actually around $5 better and the 3G (when it works) is even faster than Verizon. I had no problems yet but I don't live in NY or LA.

And if everybody moves to Verizon then the network might go down as well. Verizon website was down when the iPhone was announced, same for ATT when iPhone 4 came out at ATT. I heard Verizon did learn a lot from ATT mistakes, but I assume not enough to know that there might be a lot of website traffic when the iPhone is announced, so why should they then learned more in terms of updating their towers?

And one slight very unimportant thing if you are not a traveller. Verizon iPhone will NOT work in Europe and most other countries besides US, Korea and 38 other countries. 75% of countries are on the GSM network, but 20% on CDMA, and guess what network Verizon is on?

it is good that there is a Second Provider. Because i can reduce my iPhone bill by $20 (already did) by telling ATT I would move to Verizon. I stayed and got discounted. I love open market.

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Verizon is starting in February to sell iPhone, so what?

Everybody seems happy that now Verizon is selling the iPhone, because many people are complaining about ATT.
But here is my take on it.
ATT had and has issues with receptions but i believe Verizon will have some too. iPhone users are know to have much more heavy data usage than Android or blackberry users.
Verizon 3G is not as fast as ATT there will come complains too. But the biggest part we should not forget, Verizon is not able to deliver voice and data at the same time for 3G. The beauty of the iPhone with ATT is that you can surf the Internet during taking a call, and trust me this one of the best features ever. I had many situations where i needed to read an email somebody did send during call or i did use my iPhone for navigation and got a call in at the same time. Verizon said they are working on this issue but did not hear yet that they allow vocie and data.
Apple will sell much more iPhones and it was time that there is another provider, but it comes with some limitations which users will complain about. The Verizon costs are the same as at ATT, i would not recommend to switch from ATT to Verizon only because Verizon has now the iPhone.

The only reason to switch as an iphone user (in my opinion) is to get 4G access, but unfortunately the current iphone does not support 4G. Therefore we have to wait a few months till iphone 5 comes out.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Wireless plans to sell Apple Inc's iPhone for as low as $200 starting next month, putting the smart phone at the center of its high-stakes battle with AT&T Inc for wireless customers.


I do not believe that as many users are switching from ATT to Verizon and if they do so, they will lose speed and data/ voice usage.
Article from yahoo:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110111/wr_nm/us_verizon_iphone
Verizon's announcement on Tuesday that it would start selling the phone on February 10 puts an end to AT&T's three-year old status as the exclusive U.S. provider for the iPhone. Pre-orders start on February 3.

Verizon Wireless said the phone, a version of the Apple iPhone 4 designed to run on Verizon's network, will sell with a two-year agreement for $199.99 for the 16-gigabyte model or $299.99 for the 32-gigabyte model.

The prices are the same as what AT&T charges for those models.

Verizon, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, said the phone would be available at 2,000 of its stores around the country. It declined to comment on service price plans.

AT&T, which loses its cherished spot as the exclusive U.S. provider for iPhone, is expected to face its toughest year since 2004 as a result of the Verizon deal with Apple.

"The real question isn't how many iPhones Verizon will sell, but what AT&T does in response," said Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett, who attended the Verizon event.

Analysts, pointing to years of pent-up demand among Verizon Wireless customers, expect the company to sell 9 million to 13 million iPhones this year.
The new deal will hurt phone maker Motorola Mobility, which has made a comeback as the flagship phone vendor at Verizon Wireless for the past year.
Motorola phones run on Google Inc's Android software, which has become Apple's most formidable rival in cellphone technology.
Shares of Verizon were down 2 percent at $35.16, while AT&T shares were down 1.3 percent to $29.97. Shares of Apple slipped less than 1 percent to $341.50.

iPhone at Verizon but why not Sprint or T-Mobile?

Since a while are speculations that the iPhone will come to Verizon and ATT loses exclusivity here in the US.
Assuming this is correct (at this point fair to do so, everybody has no doubt), then i am wondering what is the whole deal behind. We know ATT paid a lot to be the only iPhone partner for the first 3 years.
But to get iPhone running on Verizon, Apple has to build a new iPhone which supports CDMA. T- mobile as an example has GSM like ATT, would it not easier to sell the iPhone at T-Mobile without the need to produce a new iPhone?
ATT and t-mobile are both on GSM and both using 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) for their 3G.
Verizon and Sprint are both CDMA for calls and 3GPP2 for data. This means Apple could already sell to t-mobile and when the Verizon iPhone is released they could sell it through Sprint.
I am, by no mean, a techie, and maybe to get 3G running on t-mobile, Apple would need to produce a new iPhone, and maybe the same if it should work on Sprint.
But if not, why only Verizon?
It looks very likely that Verizon did pay a big $$$ amount to block Sprint and T-Mobile. Or in nicer words: Verizon paid a premium which limits the rights to Verizon and ATT, for now.
Or maybe Apple is speculating to offer on Verizon only the 4G iPhone (which does not yet exist, the iPhone 4 is still only 3G). The good part is that Verizon will switch sometimes to 4G LTE like all other big providers, which means very good times for us consumers.

We will see soon. Maybe only ATT and Verizon will offer The iPhone in the coming year, maybe it is still only ATT or maybe all four providers will carry the iPhone.

What I don't understand is, that it is only 4 weeks left till Christmas and still no iPhone at Verizon. All and everybody it reporting that the number one and two Christmas gift will be the iPad and smartphone, and that 35% of Android users would switch to the iPhone if it would be not only at ATT.
Is Apple not losing a lot of money by waiting too long, should they not try to get the Christmas rush? Or can't Apple produce fast enough? We are still waiting on the white iPhone 4. Which is now over six months delayed.



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QR Code the last missing piece between mobile, brick and mortar store, social and web

History:
QR does are two dimensional codes which are usually black and white and in a form of a square. The pixel within the square have data encoded, most likely an URL.
Smart phones with cameras can scan this code and display the encoded content. If it is an URL it will open a website.
The user needs to use either a QR scanner software or can use google goggles to scan the code.

QR codes started in Japan in 1994 when Denso invented the system. Since then the QR code usage in Japan grew extremely and is almost a standard feature on Business cards. Mostly these codes link to a page with a virtual business card which then the user can download to the phone. Japan has much longer than the US phones with cameras which is most important part to scan barcodes.

Today in Japan everybody from Mickey & Co. to Nike are getting in the act, and revolutionizing outdoor advertising in the process.








The Japanese standard for QR-Codes devised by Denso Wave is JIS X 0510 which was released in January of 1999. The corresponding ISO International Standard, ISO/IEC 18004, was then approved in June of 2000. The standard was then updated back in 2006. (ISO/IEC 18004:2006).

QR codes in Europe for advertising are since 2004 very common when camera phones started to be popular.
A Portuguese wineyard (Cortes de Cima) is printing QR codes on all their wine labels. Consumers can scan them in the store to get more detailed information about the wine.






In the US QR codes just now coming for commercial use and advertising. However companies like Philip Morris are using them since years on their cigarette packages for inventory counts and shipping. We don't have in America yet a standard for these codes like in Europe or Japan. Even Microsoft has their own code method.
The consumers here in the US get more and more interests as we can see in the search statistic at google for qr code search.





The future of QR codes
We are right now in a QR code hype and three years behind Europe and Japan. But finally we are understanding that QR code is the missing piece between on the road (mobile), brick and mortar store and Internet.
These little codes don't take a lot of space an can be scanned in any direction. But the underlying URL can bring a consumer to web pages with much more information than a store could display for each product.

Would it not be great to go to Target and find a toy for our son. But we are not sure if there are enough accessories for this toy available. We scan the code and on our smart phone opens a webpage with all accessories we could buy for this toy.

Or we scan the code, because we like the product so much, and automatically we are fans with this product Facebook page.

ItWowed.Me, a new smartphone technology platform developed by Majestic Media Ltd., allows businesses and brands to drive audiences to Facebook fan pages and convert them into fans.
"Like" something in real life? By placing a Quick Response (QR) code on real world objects, smartphone users can now scan these codes with their iPhone, Android, BlackBerry or any smartphone device and instantly "Like" the real world product or business on Facebook, thus sharing it with their friends on the social media site.

Verizon teamed with scanlife to promote a campaign to show how many apps are available for droid devices. It was an integrated campaign with print ads, banner ads and even ads on iPad. Within only three months they counted 150,000 scans. See the results here. This is a great success.

We read almost everyday about QR codes printed on walls in subways or QR codes in magazines. Polo Ralph Lauren was one of the first companies in US in 2008 who did a nation wide QR code campaign. All their print ads had codes which a consumer could scan to get directly to the product page of the advertised product to buy.

QR codes are as well perfect to combine augmented reality with real life and Internet.
Imagine you are at Walmart looking for a game and want to know the ratings and want to know what your friends are thinking about the game? Just scan the code and you instantly see the main character of the game in the screen in front of you telling you the average rating and who of your friends talked about it on facebook. The background of the screen is the store image live from your camera and the character is following your movements.
Or you want to buy a new bed, you take at home a picture of your bedroom. At the store you scan the code of a bed you like and it will instantly show up on the photo of your room. You move the bed a little around till you like the position. You save the image and send it as multi media message to your spouse who is 3000 miles away. Would this not be great?

Bottom line, the technology is easy to understand. Open the bar code scanner software and make a picture of the code and then everything else works like magic.
Brands can advertise and educate consumers without the need for more space than 2 inches of the product packaging.
This is all needed to connect the consumer with social, to offer the consumer more important information to make the buying decision or just to wake interests for the consumer to do something.

QR codes are so new and still rare in the US that even having QR codes on Internet ads will increase clicks on banners because the user wants to know what is behind this weird looking square.
The ad below got an average CTR of 1.34% which is 400% higher than industry standard and a scan rate of 0.47% which totals the interaction to 1.81%



In two years we don't talk anymore about QR codes they are just a part of our life.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.
Please visit my blog http://www.new-kid-on-the-blog.com

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

iPhone prototype with CDMA is almost ready

Gruber is reporting that a prototype of an CDMA iPhone is supposedly ready for January launch. Unfortunate the CDMA version will not have GSM. Consumer need to make the decision to either go with ATT to have GSM or with Sprint or Verizon to get CDMA. If you are a traveler like me, you have to stick with ATT even if you would like to switch to Verizon. Most European countries do not support CDMA

The mythical Verizon iPhone could become reality this January, as Apple is reportedly finishing the prototype for a CDMA smartphone. The news comes from Daring Fireball's ever-scoopful John Gruber, who says that N92 is the codename for an engineering verification test unit of a Verizon-bound iPhone 4.

In the wake of the recent batch of countless Verizon iPhone rumors, Gruber, usually reliable for Apple-related scoops, speculates that the Cupertino company will unveil its CDMA version of the iPhone 4 at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011, with sales starting at the end of the month.

Sources told Gruber that the Verizon iPhone prototype is not in production yet, but it is still at engineering verification testing (EVT) stage, a step before the device verification test (DVT) status (like the lost iPhone 4 prototype) -- the stage prior to mass production of the device. Gruber says the EVT stage is "right about where you'd think it would be if it were scheduled to go on sale in January."

Yes to CDMA, But Verizon-Only? Maybe

The CDMA version of the iPhone 4 is not necessarily Verizon-bound, Gruber says. In the U.S. it could be released on Sprint as well, and it would also work with Canadian CDMA carriers.

There are more than 164 million CDMA subscribers in North America, more than 36 million in Latin America, and more than 300 million in the Asia-Pacific region, according to figures from the CDMA Development Group. Instead of targeting only the U.S. Verizon subscribers, Apple could target the huge CDMA market in Asia, whereas Latin America's CDMA subscriber figures are not negligible either.

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20100812/tc_pcworld/applesverizoniphoneprototypeisreadyforjanuaryreportsays



- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

IPhone with Verizon does not break ATT contract

Yesterday I wrote about the possibility for Verizon to be earlier in the game than 2012. Here is another scenario why it is plausible.

http://www.wired.com reported in May 2010:
Apple’s supposedly confidential agreement with AT&T was not a secret after all: They struck a five-year exclusivity contract to carry the iPhone in 2007, an old court document reveals. Still, the validity of the contract remains a question.

An ongoing class action suit filed against Apple and AT&T in 2007 alleged that the two parties held a monopoly over the iPhone by locking consumers into a contract for an indefinite amount of time. However, Engadget’s Nilay Patel discovered that Apple filed a brief in October 2008 citing a USA Today article, which says Apple and AT&T struck a five-year agreement for the iPhone in 2007.

“AT&T has exclusive U.S. distribution rights for five years — an eternity in the go-go cellphone world,” the USA Today article dated May 23, 2007 wrote. “And Apple is barred for that time from developing a version of the iPhone for CDMA wireless networks.”

That would imply AT&T will be the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone until 2012, which comes at odds with persistent rumors that Apple’s contract with AT&T expires this year and that a Verizon iPhone is due this fall.

However Apple usually does not sign any contracts with the ability to back out of them or to have a plan to sell to other carriers without breaking the contract.
A friend of mine who is working at Apple (but not in the iPhone department) mentioned to me that there are rumors, that the ATT contract does only apple to specific iPhones with 2G and 3G or 4G if ATT is able to provide 4G in major cities in 2011. ATT is planing to roll out 4G in 2011 a long-term evolution version (4G LTE), which could be fairly easy deployed, hence it is on the 700MHz frequency and would not require new towers. However the ATT net is already pretty packed and network reception complains are getting higher.
ATT has surely a lot work to do to get full coverage and keep customer happy.

The contract says (rumors) that if ATT can't keep up with technology demand, that Apple is allowed to offer new iPhone technology through other providers. In other words if Apple can't sell enough phones because ATT can't keep up then Verizon has a deal if Verizon can rollout till end of the year their 4G LTE (planned to cover 100 million users in 30 major cities http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=16738&news=Verizon+4G+LTE+Release+Date+Price).
ATT would be still sole provider for 3G iPhones but not for a 4G iPhone.
Hopefully the phone will have both CDMA and GSM for travelers like me.

The question is, do we need 4G? Sure video streaming is cool, face time is awesome, but it is very likely that no carrier will offer unlimited data, it will be tiered and expensive.
I don't care who my carrier is, as long my reception voice or data is good. I switch if i can have better service regardless if i pay more.

- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Google: don't be evil - really?

NY times is reporting that Google and Verizon are in talks in selling Internet priorities (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/technology/05secret.html?_r=1).
Google's slogan "don't be Evil", is not cool anymore. Or using Steve Jobs words:
"Don't be evil" slogan Google's known for? "Bullshit"



Internet access carriers are having more and more trouble to generate more revenue. In the last 10 years the consumer costs to access the Internet has been constantly decreasing and at the same time getting faster. In 2000, I paid for an ISDN Internet connection $60 a month. Today i have a 10 Mbps connection for $29 a month, which is 20 times faster than ISDN.
Therefore they are trying to come up with new paying methods. Verizon is going to do the TV approach (like getting for a low price 20 standard channels, but the cool channels costs extra.), user pays more to get certain content faster delivered.
The beauty of the Internet has been, that it is or was at least open, anybody had the ability to get the content they want with a speed independent of content (ignoring server speeds of course). Consumer will pay more money to get faster streaming, but is this ok to pay by content type?
Google is fighting since years with China and other countries arguing that internet needs to be open and should not be censored. But now Google is talking with Verizon to pay for their YouTube service to be delivered faster which is for me kind of censoring too.
This would give Google an advantage to other video platforms which can't afford to pay premiums. Pretty sure the consumer has to pay for this too. If I want to see YouTube videos I might have to pay $$ to get them in HD? We will soon find in our mail a letter from Verizon telling us that we can pay extra for each portal we want to get the content in a faster speed.
I understand companies have sometimes to redefine their models to keep up with demand and change their billing methods to survive. But that Google is even talking with Verizon is an act evil. It is against their codex they so often use as their weapon of fights.
I am seeing Google since years going, what they call "evil". Google is buying one company after the other to either eliminate competition or to build the biggest internet empire. I never heard of an empire which is not in a way evil.
Google is not anymore an university spinoff run by young students. Google is controlling and powerful. I don't mind if Google is powerful and evil, I am maple enough to choose my search engines etc. I even admire that somebody can build multiple billion dollar company in such a short time, but I ask Google to put their slogan into the basement and hide it in a box.

- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

Why spending more money to ATT as necessary

Originally I did want to talk about the possibility to buy an iPad with Wifi only and then to buy a 3G/4G router from another provider. The idea came to me when a good old friend told me about his 3G router he bought in England and chose a cheap provider for 3G. Unfortunately here in the States are only a few providers who are offering data plans besides ATT and they are all similar. The best choice is T-Mobile. 500 minutes with unlimited Data transfer is $59.99 a month.
All other big providers have a limit to 5GB a month, which are just 3 movies in HD. But with T-mobile you need to get an unlocked 3G router. The only router right now available is the HUAWEI E5830 WiFi USB ROUTER/MODEM/DONGLE for around $120.
Huawei E5830 image:

Sprint and Verizon offer the Mifi 2200 (see description below), which costs $200 but user gets a $200 instant savings. Then there is the ultimative Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G which costs $99.99 after instant savings and for $40 you can buy a iPad cover which holds the overdrive.

The problem with all these extra devices is, that their battery life is shorter than the iPad battery life and they take between 15 and 45 seconds to boot. You will lose a lot of convenience.
I would have written more about this, but I changed my mind after I read (and posted the article yesterday) that the federal ruling allows to jailbreak the iPhone. This is awesome, if you don’t care to lose your warranty, you should jailbreak, and the cool part is you are not violating any law.


Why is this good?
We don’t need any 3rd party router to avoid the 3G charging for our iPad. We only need to jailbreak our iPhone and download from Cydia small software to make our iPhone to a Wifi hotspot.
A jailbroken iPhone allows us as well to sync with iTunes without cable over Wifi.
Therefore no long story how and why to buy a 3G router. Just jailbreak your iPhone, I allow it and I feel good that I can say this official without getting trouble from Apple.
But for the people who want to go through the process NOT to jailbreak their iPhone and don’t want to give ATT more money, then I recommend to get the Mifi 2200 as the only official 3G router in pocket size here in the US (besides the Overdrive 3G/4G) .


Here some facts about the Mifi 2200

Form Factors: Self contained router with embedded mobile broadband radio/module (essentially an aircard and router in one unit).
Wireless Range: Operates on Wireless "G". Range is approximately 30 feet, depending upon factors such as interference from other electronics and physical interference such as thick walls. Range CANNOT be improved (no port for WiFi antenna). Limited to FIVE connected computers/devices.
Ethernet Ports: None but you can tether one Mac/Windows computer via USB port
Load Balancing: NO
Portability: This router is tinier than anything you want to provide internet connectivity to. Very compact and light - smallest 3G router available; cigarette lighter adapter available soon.
Manufacturer Support: Novatel makes the MiFi, and we have a great relationship with them. The MiFi is the first product of its kind, so the jury is still out on how well it will be supported/maintained.
PROs: Most portable 3G router. When bought with 2yr contract, it is also the most affordable way to share connectivity with up to five computers or wifi enabled devices.
CONs: Locked to ONE carrier. Cannot be used with any other carrier. NO cellular antenna jack! Wireless G radio with no option to add a WiFi antenna, signal strength can be seen only via web admin.