Disqus - Latest Comments for giff

Re: Are you loving your 3UK MiFi unit?

smstextnews — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:12:44 -0000

My only issue with handset integrated MiFi, Giff, is that I don't want to see my handset battery impacted significantly -- it's rubbish enough as it is!

Re: Are you loving your 3UK MiFi unit?

giff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:09:38 -0000

Verizon's third Android phone to have MiFi capability. Seriously, it will have the ability to act as a MiFi wireless router, according to an Unstrung report. Verizon says the device will be available early next year.

Very timely!

Giff

Re: Up close, the N900 is really, really good

giff — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:44:47 -0000

Ewan, how is the UI? How intuitive is the N900? Do you need a Ph.D. to opertate it like the N97? Is it loaded with just too many functions or do you find it appropriately loaded?

Giff

Re: Good morning from London Heathrow

giff — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:14:00 -0000

Ewan,

Please do ask about the payment solution provided by Ovi. I do not believe app stores can make it unless they figure out the micro-payment side of the equation. When are they going to line up with the carriers for micro-payments? All app stores are struggling except Apple's because Apple gets your credit info up front, thus making purchases quick and easy. No one else has figured this out yet. I imagine the best solution is to line up with the carriers, and Nokia is just the manufacturer to start this ball rolling...

Giff

Re: Ipadio launches Android client

giff — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:08:42 -0000

huh! using SpinVox? Well, we shall see how the time and effort spent on this partnership pays off...

Re: Vote: Are you buying a Nokia Booklet 3G?

giff — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:11:32 -0000

Ewan, come now, what do you make of the 12 hour battery life claim? Hard to figure this one out whilest running wifi or 3g type programs/applications/etc.

Re: Dual Sim Android handset coming soon

giff — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:11:16 -0000

I hear National Geographic is also coming out with a dual sim "travel" phone. Quite smart...but not sure how hip it is going to be to have a NG phone?

Giff Gfroerer

Re: Just picked this up

giff — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:09:24 -0000

Dean Bubley picked one up right off the bat and wrote a good deal on this over at Forum Oxford. He wasn't too impressed. Battery life isn't so hot on this either...

See his detailed June 15th comment at:
http://disruptivewireless.blogspot.com/2009/06/...

Giff Gfroerer

Re: Mobile Industry Review 3.0 is here

giff — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:33:53 -0000

Always knew you'd be back!

Been enjoying MDTV and the occasional MIR articles.

Ring me when you visit Atlanta!

Giff

Re: The iPhone continues it’s march to service dominance

giff — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:45:37 -0000

Ewan,

A great deal has been written about the lack of the "wow" factor in the 3GS. OK, so it only has a 3 megapixel camera and finally supports MMS. However, let's take this for what they DID do. They made the iPhone one step closer to being affordable to the normob. Add in a 5 megapixel camera and a host of other cool technology and their prices of $99, $199 and $299 go right out the door. There is only so much you can do while trying to keep pricing down in this wonderful economy. I believe what Apple did quite wonderful for the price levels...

ATT, with all their wonderful services, is currently overpriced. $30 for the data plan, $5 more for 200 texts, and then $80 for 1,350 minutes is a good deal for the normob to handle just yet. I continue to believe the first to market with the $59.99 all you can eat plan...texts, data and calls, will sweep the market.

Give the normob a plan they can afford and they will gobble up the iPhone. ATT's exclusive contract with Apple will end one day. And the likes of Boost Mobile, then being able to support the iPhone, will surely shine.

Hats off to Apple for an affordable phone. Next up, the carriers to deliver an affordable plan...

Re: “Why the Palm Pre will fail” — what do you think?

giff — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:46:43 -0000

People will learn. I was talking to a girl today that owns an iPhone. She commented that initially it was difficult to text on the screen. However, now she is a master at it.

This will be a good phone, people will come to love it, but it wont' outsell the iPhone or the Blackberrys...

GIff Gfroerer

Re: I’ve moved to San Francisco, centre of the Mobile World

giff — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:58:44 -0000

Ewan,

In 2007 the US sent, on average, around 3sms per day per subscriber. The US sent 1 trillion messages in 2008, averaging around 10 SMS per subscriber per day. In December we were at 12 SMS per subscriber per day. At the end of the first quarter it was reported the average US subscriber is sending 16 SMS messages per day.

As Tomi Ahonen has reported, a countries mobile evolution can be directly tied to the number of messages sent per day and the number of texters in a country. Though we are currently between 60 and 65% in SMS penetration depending on the study, the mobile market has arrived in the States.

iTunes is revolutionizing the way we see the phone. They wiped out their competition in the music field some years ago. Is the same thing about to happen with apps? Their app store has the payment method down pat, which no one else seems able to replicate for success...

Giff Gfroerer
i2SMS

Re: Las Vegas: Land of the shitty mobile handset

smstextnews — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:33:23 -0000

The site is staying live Giff, just, you won't see daily updates.
You'll see the odd one from me though!

Re: Las Vegas: Land of the shitty mobile handset

giff — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:33:07 -0000

Ewan,

I'm really going to miss these posts. Only mobile news source that cracks me up daily...

Come on, one last chance to leave MIR open to subscribers of 3+ years?

Re: Standby, changes ahead

giff — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:02:00 -0000

Ewan,

I think we here at i2SMS have been with you from the start. Not exactly sure where we are going to get your keen insight moving forward.

Best of luck from across the big blue pond.

Giff

Re: i-mode turns 10

giff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:55:12 -0000

The question still asked around the world is when some conforming OS will be accepted and implemented, thus allowing developers to truly bring forward fantastic apps that can run on all phones. The iPhone makes this easy, but too little worldwide subscription penetration. What will it take...

Re: Nokia: We might build our own social network. Rubbish!

Mike42 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:05:49 -0000

er....never write off anyone just because the opposition is big. Like I said, Google came from a shed when everyone on the planet with a PC was on Alta Vista. And FaceBook came from a dormitory when MySpace was apparently getting more pageviews than Google. An *awful* lot can change in just a few years.

What Nokia have is arguably the strongest brand in the world. That is present in every single country, that has huge cachet in emerging nations, and huge trust from consumers.

The Nokia services Ewan refers to have missed the mark, for various reasons. They are edjits, but that's not to say that one day some exec might pitch up to a Tuttle meeting, listen to the sage heads gathered therein, and nip back to Espoo with the blueprint for a social network app. One that could be downloaded onto, shared virally via bluetooth among, or built into the 2 Billion-odd* Nokia devices currently out there.

Think about it - a platform of 2 BILLION. An uptake of just a few percent would make them among the largest SN's, instantly. And if a few of your friends / villagers / fellow farmers were on it...

...Let's drop the trivial Developed-world view of SN's as vanity vehicles for attention-defecit media whores. Think about the applications for health, commerce, democracy, social justice, etc etc.

Social Networks have yet to really reach the people they will benefit most.

* wild stab in the dark. But I bet it's not far off.

Re: Nokia: We might build our own social network. Rubbish!

giff — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:08:46 -0000

Nokia can't be a leader in social networking as the others like Facebook have to much of a head start. Nokia knows this. Therefore, this must be a negotiations ploy to get a better deal from Facebook. Nokia wants to compete with the likes of INQ1. This will help sell handsets. It is a no-brainer for Nokia

Re: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for £15

giff — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:30:56 -0000

Makes you wonder where we are heading in mobile when you can get unlimited texts for 15 quid a month. Sounds like an incredible second phone to have around for the older generation and a great phone for the younger generation that texts and does not call...

Re: A-GPS in a Sim Card from Sagem Orga & BlueSky

giff — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:37:17 -0000

I still remain skeptical about LBS applications. I still want to be shown real money being made via LBS outside of naviagtion and friend finder. I believe LBS is a niche market where most will not make money.

Re: We’re on the Storm bus!

giff — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:40:02 -0000

Ewan,

I have one for you. Why did ATT release their Blackberry Bold on Election Day in the United States? How did they possibly think they were going to get good press on the day the US was making history? Why release on that day? Why not a few days earlier or a few days later???

Giff

Re: US aggregators stunned at Verizon’s $0.03 MT transaction fees increase

giff — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:26:15 -0000

We have already heard from one Fortune 500 company that if Verizon does this they will cancel their SMS program set to launch 11/15 as they are assuming the other carriers will follow suit.

As we have mentioned repeatedly, the carriers just don't understand SMS. They need to be lowering the fees to get more Americans involved, not raising the fees.

I would imagine a great deal of marketers will just say "Fine, let's run the program, but only on the carriers that are not imposing this fee."

Obviously, most US based SMS gateway providers are not in agreement with this policy, right as most companies are cutting back their spending anyhow based on the economy, or lack there of...

Re: Christian Howes of WebTrends on Google Android

giff — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:23:23 -0000

Christian,

You have to take a deeper look at the typical customer of TMobile. Their demographics support this exact phone. I think they are brilliant to have brought it out, for what it does, for these price points.

They do not have the high flying techie that has to have the top Blackberry or iPhone and can afford the $130 plus a month contract. Their customers are younger and more on the economically sensitive side. Therefore, they want dearly to have an iPhone or Blackberry, but can't justify the cost. Now comes along this phone, which will have the look and feel, for all they can tell and care, of the iPhone or Blackberry, and they will be ecstatic.

This is not a competing product to the Blackberry and iPhone, but a product those that make decisions based on price, and therefore have TMobile as a carrier, can pick.

I think TMobile hit this one dead on the nose.

Giff Gfroerer, i2SMS

Re: The biggest brand on the planet?

giff — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:18:33 -0000

Ewan,

Tomi Ahonen is now reporting worldwide subscribers to be at 3.6 billion and will reach 4 billion by years end. Incredible growth. Of course, there are many multiple subscription holders out there...I believe near 20%.

Giff

Re: Mr Operator on T-Mobile/Android — A flaiming pile of mediocrity

giff — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:26:23 -0000

I like the comment of "Poor Man's iPhone". And that it is. Coming it at $50 a month under what ATT is charging for the monthly package...ie-$600 less per year, or $1,200 less over a two year contract. In addition, $20 less for the phone.

Look folks, times are tough here in the states. People want a phone like the iPhone, but $1,200 bucks is $1,200 bucks.

Definitely a first generation phone, with limitations like the 1gb download per month max at 3g and much less data storage, but that is what "Poor Man's iPhone" is all about, isn't it? This is TMobile's client base. I think they did exactly what their customers would want...based on their demographic pull.