Now that we’ve got such advanced cell phone technology, Russel Shaw with ZDNet thinks we should start putting it to use to make shopping in the real world easier. His idea, free for the taking if you’re feeling entrepreneurial: shopping mall geolocation services.
cellular
After Twitter Snafu, T-Mobile Reminds Customers Who's Boss
By 12.21.07
Last weekend, T-Mobile users who sent SMS updates to their Twitter feeds found that their messages were being blocked. Naturally, tempers flared. Many customers contacted T-Mobile to complain about the problem, but T-Mobile had no answer for the sudden blockage. (It turns out it was a technical glitch on Twitter’s end.) What’s interesting is that T-Mobile’s Executive Customer Relations rep responded to one user’s complaints with a hardcore reminder that when it comes to customer rights, his pretty much begin and end with being required to pay his bill on time. Nice PR work there, T-Mobile.
My name is Marianne Maestas and I am with the Executive Customer Relations department of T-Mobile. I am contacting you on behalf of Mr. Robert Dotson in regards to the email that you sent him yesterday evening.
Intuit Planning To Launch "iPhone-Friendly" Version Of Quicken Online For $3/Month
By 12.19.07
Would you pay $36 a year to access Quicken on your iPhone? What the hell, why not, right? You already paid for the iPhone! That’s probably what Intuit is hoping—and the zillion-dollar iPod accessories market proves there’s a lot of “blue ocean” for businesses that want to fish in Apple waters. It launches the product as a web service on January 8th, 2008, with an iPhone-friendly flavor also available then. There are plans to roll out “tweaked” versions for other mobile devices at an unspecified point in the future.
TryPhone Lets You Test Phone Interfaces Online
By 12.12.07
TryPhone seems like a great idea on the surface—you can preview mock-ups of current phone models and test out their interfaces through your browser. In reality, the beta launch feels underdeveloped, even for a web service beta, with only four models to choose from and limited interactivity on each. The idea is good, but we hope they work on execution.
Save $10 On T-Mobile Total Internet
By 12.12.07
A reader writes in to say he saved $10 on his T-Mobile bill when he called up to ask why there were two different “Total Internet” options on his add-ons list. Were they the same thing? Yes. So he could switch to the cheaper one without penalty and get exactly the same add-on? Sure.
Consumer Reports Survey Discovers People Hate Cell Phone Companies
By 12.7.07
The next issue of Consumer Reports will contain the results of a nationwide customer satisfaction survey for the mobile phone industry. In a surprise to no one who actually has a mobile phone, the cellular industry is “among the lowest-rated services” for consumers, particularly because of termination fees, high prices, and confusing contracts.
By 10.24.07
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Microsoft has said it will not participate in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction, because it wouldn’t help their business model, which is to create and sell software to handset makers. [Reuters]
Apple Will Most Likely Sell Unlocked iPhones In France
By 10.18.07
Various sources are saying Apple has agreed to sell unlocked phones in France—because, well, French law says they have to—but our own Gizmodo says it’s only rumor at this point: “Apple told us that the piece was based solely off of reading French Law, not from statements by Orange or Apple.”
By 10.11.07
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FCC has rejected Verizon’s requested changes of the new open-platform wireless auction, set for January 2008. Google has pledged to buy some of the available wireless bandwidth in order to launch an open-source Google phone to compete with the carriers. [Reuters]
Cubic Telecom Lied About Its "Cheap International Calling" SIM Card
By 10.5.07
Last Friday, we published a post about Cubic Telecom, an Irish start-up that sells a SIM card that’s supposed to enable international calling for “50-90%” less than standard carrier rates. The post was in reference to columnist David Pogue’s review of the product, and he was quoting rates that were provided to him directly by Cubic’s CEO. Turns out the CEO was “misleading” him—he provided numbers that were substantially lower than the actual rates, and has been stringing Pogue along with assurances that they’d “update the site” ever since. As of Thursday, October 4th, they still hadn’t.
New $40 SIM Lets You Call From Anywhere For Cheap
By 9.28.07
[UPDATE: The numbers quoted in this post are B.S. Skip it and go directly to the follow-up a week later, where we find out that the company’s CEO grossly misrepresented the savings on this card.]
Coming Soon To Paris, Bluetooth Ads For Mobile Phones
By 9.14.07
Marketers in France are planning to beam location-specific ads to your phone via Bluetooth, the common short-range wireless transfer technology that’s now included in nearly every new cellphone, reports Reuters. Currently under consideration is just what sort of ad would be compelling enough to tempt consumers to opt in on such messages, since there’s no way advertisers can force you to accept Bluetooth communications.
The Rip-Off Industry Of Customized Ringtones
By 9.13.07
In today’s Circuits column, tech columnist David Pogue asks an important question about the $5 billion ringtone industry for mobile phones: why does it exist at all? Apple’s latest moneymaker for itself and the labels is the ability for you to re-purchase certain songs you’ve already purchased, so that you can load them onto your phone as ringtones. But before you marvel at Apple’s chutzpah, they’re actually charging less per ringtone than major carriers like T-Mobile, Sprint, or Verizon.
HOWTO: Unlock Your Phone
By 12.8.06
Now that your phone is your own, you can unlock it. Depending on the type of phone it is, unlocking can be as simple as getting a code from your phone company, or as difficult as “drilling into a shield over the main circuit board to tap into the right contacts and kicking the phone into a special diagnostic mode to get at the unlocking code.” Uh, yeah. Thankfully there are smart people at PC Magazine who can give us the lowdown on the formerly shady practice of unlocking a cell phone.Yay!
Revver Cuts Deal with Verizon
By 11.29.06
Verizon is obsessed with internet video. One day after inking a similiar deal with internet video giant YouTube, Verizon has added the ad-supported video service Revver to their VCast service as well.
UPDATE: We Talk To Cingular About Their One-Way Contract
By 9.22.06
Since Beckie’s story about Cingular unceremoniously canceling her account proved so popular amongst the Fark crowd, I decided to give Cingular a call this afternoon. I’m not Ben, so I didn’t bother recording it: I just wanted some answers as to how this all worked from an actual human being.
