HSBC Considering Massive iPhone 3G Order (Try Hosted Dedicated Kerio MailServer)
August 16, 2008 – 10:02 amHSBC, the worlds largest banking group, nay the worlds largest company period, with an estimated 330,00 global employees is mulling over the possibility of dropping their employees BlackBerry handsets, for iPhone 3Gs. Such a move could put an iPhone 3G into the hands of some 200,000 members of the HSBC staff, quite the staggering number indeed. [...]
HSBC, the worlds largest banking group, nay the worlds largest company period, with an estimated 330,00 global employees is mulling over the possibility of dropping their employees BlackBerry handsets, for iPhone 3Gs.
Such a move could put an iPhone 3G into the hands of some 200,000 members of the HSBC staff, quite the staggering number indeed. HSBC’s Australia and New Zealand chief information officer, Brenton Hush, told ZDNet Australia today that “We are actually reviewing iPhones from a HSBC Group perspective … and when I say that, I mean globally.”
A decision of this magnitude would likely lead to one of the largest iPhone 3G orders the world has ever seen.
“A decision on a piece of hardware like that would potentially be deployed, conservatively, to 200,000 people,” said Hush. “You know, it’s a big decision, especially when you have an existing fleet out there.”
Many corporations had passed on the first generation iPhone due to limited availability and the devices’ lack of Microsoft Exchange support, opting instead for Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.
Should HSBC take the iPhone plunge and make the device their official corporate handset, it would undoubtedly come as a major setback for RIM. When asked if he believed that the BlackBerry possesses superior email functionality, Hush responded saying, “No, I don’t. I think [the iPhone] would change some underlying infrastructure considerations from an enterprise perspective. But [Apple] have been pretty smart with the design.” No time-frame for the decision has been made as it has been deemed a rather low ranking priority.
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We’ve completely re-vamped our iPhone Worldmap! Previous to this new Dynamic Map, our iPhone Worldmap was just a set of images with some tabular data being listed. But who wants to just stare at some images when you can dynamically interact with content? We took all the information we had and brought it over to ZeeMaps. [...]
We’ve completely re-vamped our iPhone Worldmap!
Previous to this new Dynamic Map, our iPhone Worldmap was just a set of images with some tabular data being listed. But who wants to just stare at some images when you can dynamically interact with content?
We took all the information we had and brought it over to ZeeMaps. We then plugged everything into a map, one country at a time, while finding media about each country that we could include in the map. When you click a country marker on the map, Not only are we displaying hardware and coverage costs (for every country available), but we’ve also included images, videos and any additional information about the area.
Click here and begin to explore.
Be sure and check out ZeeMaps.com as well.
Ok folks, this one is totally out there. A recent report has divulged a claim that Apple, along with Sony, may be developing wearable, head-mounted video displays. Yes that’s right, iGoggles if you will. The report goes on to note that not only will users be able to access media that [...]
Ok folks, this one is totally out there. A recent report has divulged a claim that Apple, along with Sony, may be developing wearable, head-mounted video displays. Yes that’s right, iGoggles if you will.
The report goes on to note that not only will users be able to access media that is stored on iPods and iPhones, but will also have legitimate access to true computer functionality. As more encompassing multimedia experiences have been breaking ground, interest in such technologies have increased. Not only would products such as these capture consumer attention, but would provide extensive military applications as well.
The report notes that sales of personal viewers have seen dramatic growth. Consumer markets have been predicted to grow between $1.1B and $2.8B on the high end. This market growth has been factored to be driven by the emergence of major industry players, such as Apple.
As a side note, Myvu products are currently considered the best head-mountable goggles available. Although they’ve generally suffered through poor reviews, there still seems to be an interest in them, past the initial “WOW” factor.
[image via ElectricPig][Full Report]
A recent rumor that is said to have been confirmed by PhoneNews is suggesting that Apple is prepping a revised MacBook Air that will tout faster speeds and a storage upgrade. While much of the external casing will remain the same, the overhaul will primarily take place under the hood. The MBA currently runs a [...]
A recent rumor that is said to have been confirmed by PhoneNews is suggesting that Apple is prepping a revised MacBook Air that will tout faster speeds and a storage upgrade.
While much of the external casing will remain the same, the overhaul will primarily take place under the hood. The MBA currently runs a custom Intel Core 2 Duo processor from the Merom-class, that has been modified to conserve power by running a lower voltage.
The new proposed MBA will substitute the current 65 nanometer processor for a standard Penryn-class Core 2 Duo. The switch will allegedly allow the chip to push 2.0 GHz and “potentially beyond.” However, this will inevitably create a power drain, that Apple will combat with a higher capacity battery. PhoneNews has confirmed the new MBA will require a 60W power adapter to provide for adequate charging.
If proven accurate, the refreshed MBA will sport a storage upgrade, as falling 1.8″ hard drive costs would allow Apple to equip the system with a 120 GB disk and an optional 160 GB model. Although capacities have not been mentioned, a solid-sate drive will be an option with this version and pricing is claimed to remain the same even after the recent drop.
The claim has additionally been supported by certain references to technology that is presumed to reach the new MBA. Intel has been known to be producing low voltage 45 nanometer processor that should make an appearance by late September. “The chips will consume less power at 17W versus the 20W of Apple’s current hardware, but are also clocked only slightly faster at 1.6GHz and 1.83GHz and would thus have room for faster clock speeds.” via Electronista.
While unverified, the announcement of the supped-up MBA is said to be immanent, with retailers being made aware under NDA’s. Overall, we have been anticipating a MacBook Air overhaul along these lines. It makes sense that the only revision to Apple’s ultra-portable would take place internally…faster and more storage. This, however will not be the case with the rest of Apple’s MacBook line, as we anticipate external upgrades as well.
iPhone 3G provider for the Philippines, Globe Telecom, has made the much anticipated device a bit more in reach, as they have recently cut their pricing plans. Corporate communications chief for Globe Telecom, Menchie Cruz, has noted that new subscribers “can still enjoy a zero-percent interest Apple iPhone 3G arrangement with Globe’s bank partners to make [...]
iPhone 3G provider for the Philippines, Globe Telecom, has made the much anticipated device a bit more in reach, as they have recently cut their pricing plans.
Corporate communications chief for Globe Telecom, Menchie Cruz, has noted that new subscribers “can still enjoy a zero-percent interest Apple iPhone 3G arrangement with Globe’s bank partners to make purchasing more convenient and easy on the pocket.”
Five packages have been delegated for the iPhone 3G ranging from P1,599 (about $36) to P4,999 (about $112).
The plan beginning at P1,999 will include 100 minutes free voice calls; and P5.50 rate per minute for every Globe to Globe voice calls while Globe to other providers will be charged of P7.50 per minute. 350 free text messages with additional texts costing P1. They will also get 40 hours free local mobile Internet and 20 hours free for both Wi-Fi and WIZ.
Under this plan, the 8GB iPhone will cost P15,100 (about $337) and the 16GB model will bring a cost of P20,600 (about $460).
The top tier plan, running at a rate of P4,999, subscribers will only pay P2,900 (about $64) for the 16GB handset; while the 8GB handset will be given free. Users under this plan will receive 750 minutes free local voice calls and 650 free text messages.
Globe is also offering three different plans ranging between the two plans mentioned above. Prepaid subscribers will see drastically inflated hardware costs ranging from P37,599 (about $840) to P43,799(about $978) for the 8 and 16GB models respectively.
Set for launch next week, Globe hopes to use the popularity and success of the iPhone 3G to maintain recent financial growth.
Don’t forget to check out our new dynamic iPhone 3G world map.
[via SunStar]
Complaints about the iPhone 3G’s spotty performance increase as the phone routinely switches from its 3G network to EDGE without warning … unless it’s losing its data signal altogether.
Both satellite radio services, Sirius and XM have had their fair share of iPhone related hype over the past couple of weeks. Applications such as uSirius and uXM have surfaced, yet hacking would be required for these to be of any use. While attempts have been made to bring these services to the iPhone, little [...]
Both satellite radio services, Sirius and XM have had their fair share of iPhone related hype over the past couple of weeks. Applications such as uSirius and uXM have surfaced, yet hacking would be required for these to be of any use.
While attempts have been made to bring these services to the iPhone, little information has been surfacing about the mysterious StreamSmart project that promises to to provide a common platform for playing Sirius-XM on multiple devices including the iPhone.
All things satellite radio website, Orbitcast, has claimed that a “covert operative” from within the Alpha developer team has leaked screen shots of what appears to be a new Sirius-XM iPhone application. Orbitcast notes that the developer of the app, GeeksToolBox has teamed up with NiceMac, due to the fact that the app is called StarPlayr, as there is mention of StreamSmart association on StarPlayr’s website.
The tip of the iceberg remains that there will be no hacking required to enjoy this application. “Two files were sent out, and the testers just need to drag them onto iTunes to install. I’m assuming it’ll be making its feature debut on the Apple Store.”
Orbitcast’s source asserts that battery life is performing well because the audio is in a native format to the iPhone. Other players that require audio conversion tend to eat up the already precious battery life.
Australian mobile carrier, Optus, has been feeling charitable as they have been giving out “goodwill credits” to iPhone 3G users that have been experiencing slow data speeds and reception problems. Iphone 3G users the world over have been experiencing similar issues to no avail, as Apple has maintained their usual tight-lipped behavior. Complaints of the same [...]
Australian mobile carrier, Optus, has been feeling charitable as they have been giving out “goodwill credits” to iPhone 3G users that have been experiencing slow data speeds and reception problems.
Iphone 3G users the world over have been experiencing similar issues to no avail, as Apple has maintained their usual tight-lipped behavior. Complaints of the same tune have been flooding in all over the world as users continue to experience poor reception, slow internet speeds and dropped calls.
In Australia, IDC telecommunications analyst, Mark Novosel, is testing the 3, Optus, Telstra and Vodafone networks as part of a report that is said to be released later this year, in which Optus has been noted to possess the slowest network speeds by a wide margin.
“From preliminary mobile broadband test findings, Optus appears to be significantly slower than 3 and Telstra Next G, with Vodafone being roughly in line with Optus,” Novosel said adding,”Optus has by far the slowest ping times of the four networks tested and consistently so.” via SMH.
“In Novosel’s test, the times taken for the Optus, Telstra, Vodafone and 3 networks to ping a Sydney-based server were 898ms, 214ms, 258ms and 151ms, respectively.”
This would prove then to not be just coincidence that the vast majority of Australians that have been filing complaints are Optus subscribers. While Optus has refused to comment on these “preliminary” findings, questioning the methodology behind them, despite the 470 conducted tests in various locations on different days.
One Optus customer may be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Fed up with his poor reception and lackluster speeds, Adam Wells, demanded that Optus issue a refund for not providing adequate service. To his surprise the carrier had issued him a $49 credit, the equivalent of one full month’s payment.
“They’re acknowledging that Optus is in a technical bind with a technology that they signed up with,” Wells said. “Optus users should be going to Optus and seeking some sort of compensation.”
Optus spokeswoman, Melissa Clare has pointed out that this was not a refund, but rather a “goodwill credit” while these issues are being sorted out. Optus does not have any specific return policy for any of their handsets, with “alleged reception issues or poor quality of service.”
While no one is absolutely certain whether these are hardware or network issues, it would seem to me that as more people get wind Optus’ generosity, they will be pressured to continue to give the handouts.
Apple is reportedly working on a software update for the iPhone 3G that will address major global concerns regarding poor 3G network reception. In a recent post, we reported that the cause of the seemingly widespread reception issues, was simply a failing Infineon 3G chipset. Whatever the case may be, many users are sick of singing the [...]
Apple is reportedly working on a software update for the iPhone 3G that will address major global concerns regarding poor 3G network reception.
In a recent post, we reported that the cause of the seemingly widespread reception issues, was simply a failing Infineon 3G chipset.
Whatever the case may be, many users are sick of singing the One Bar Blues. Especially on a brand new much hyped device, and cellular network.
“Apple, which has refused to acknowledge there is a problem with the iPhone’s performance, declined to comment for this story. AT&T issued a statement saying, “Overall, the new iPhone is performing just great on our 3G network,” Peter Burrows reports for BusinessWeek.
“Whatever the cause, connection problems are a big disappointment for customers who bought the iPhone 3G precisely because of its promise of more reliable Net access. Apple’s home page still advertises the device with the tagline “Twice as Fast. Half the Price.” Now reports suggest that Apple customer service reps are telling consumers who are encountering problems to shut off the 3G feature. “I’m so sick of hearing people say ‘turn off 3G,’” laments an iPhone 3G owner identified as jazzwill, whose remarks are among 926 replies to a post on Apple’s Web site entitled “iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You’re Not Alone.” “Uh, why pay an extra $10 [for AT&T's iPhone plan] and get a new phone that is advertised to ‘just work’ then???…. I returned my iPhone 3G because the iPhone 3G stinks in my opinion. I went back to my original iPhone,” via BusinessWeek.
Additional thoughts: I live in Portland, OR. AT&T’s 3G network is just as present here as it is anywhere on the East Coast. I have to turn off 3G to use the phone in pretty much 80% of the city. I have been in locations where simply swapping out my Sim-card from the iPhone 3G (where I was getting zero bars) to my first gen iPhone (where I get 5 bars and full reception).
I definitely think it’s a hardware issue more than a software issue. Apple may be able to release a software update for the iPhone 3G, but chances are it will only butter users up for a little while. If the Infineon chipset is the true culprit here, we’re going to need to see a recall, replacement plan or a major announcement from Apple explaining the situation.
Full article here
: Photo: Apple
Apple released its first iMac on Aug. 15, 1998. The cute, translucent blue, all-in-one PC was easily the most influential personal computer of the 1990s, heralding a return to simplicity and ease of use and briefly sparking an industrial design fad around clear, colored plastic.
It also marked the return of Steve Jobs as the visionary, design-obsessed leader that Apple desperately needed. Its strong sales reversed Apple’s dire mid-1990s financial situation and enabled the company to get back on the road to relevance.
Over the years, the iMac’s trendsetting arc has continued, with a total of four distinct models (and a close family member), some of which shipped in a handful of flavors.
Here’s a look at the evolution of the iMac: past, present and future.
Left: The iMac wasn’t Apple’s first PC to feature a display and motherboard integrated into the same case; the original 1984 Macintosh (top center) shared a similar form factor. Apple resurrected its quiet, appliance-like qualities 14 years later.
The Power Mac G3 all-in-one (lower left) was the closest Apple ever came to a beige iMac. Released in early 1998, its specs were similar to the iMac’s, but were available only to educational institutions.
The haughty design of the 20th Anniversary Macintosh (1997, lower right), foreshadowed later LCD-display iMacs. With a $7,499 price tag ($10,277 in today’s money) and limited-edition status, it stood conceptually opposite the universally accessible iMac.
: Photo: Apple
Released in August 1998, the original “Bondi blue” iMac (its color reportedly named after the waters off an Australian beach) blew beige boxes out of the water. Among its novel technical features, the iMac ditched the then-ubiquitous floppy drive in favor of built-in home networking. It also introduced USB to the masses. But the G3-powered computer’s greatest innovation lay in its eye-catching appearance. Apple designer Jonathan Ive took PC industrial design to new heights with the iMac’s colorful teardrop case. Amazingly, much of the consumer design world came along for the ride.
: Photo: Apple
Bondi blue wasn’t good enough. In 1999, Apple introduced five new color schemes for the iMac: blueberry, strawberry, lime, tangerine and grape.
The next time you see an appliance with a translucent plastic case, or available in multiple candy colors, you can thank Apple. Everything from vacuum cleaners to paper towel dispensers to George Foreman grills stole a page from the iMac’s design playbook. Apple has since moved on to new design motifs, but the early iMac’s influence still echoes in the industrial design world.
: Photo: Apple
Never content to stand still, Apple continued to cycle through various iMac colors until the end of the G3 line in 2003. Along the way, the iMac gained a few significant external changes. While the original iMac contained a fan, later iMacs were convection-cooled — making them blessedly silent. Apple also replaced the iMac’s tray-loading optical drive with a slot-loading model in 1999.
Seen here are two of Apple’s most-whimsical designs (top), called “flower power” and “blue dalmatian” (2001). Stretched across, below, is a line of new colors released in 2000: indigo, ruby, sage, graphite and snow.
: Photo: Apple
After revolutionizing the PC design world with the original iMac, Apple struck again: this time with a PC that bore an uncanny resemblance to a table lamp. The company unveiled the radically novel iMac G4 in 2002. It featured a flat-panel LCD display mounted on an adjustable metal arm, which, in turn, connected to a sturdy base containing the computer’s other components. Somehow, the design actually worked, though it was not without controversy.
Tiring of the multicolor iMac parade (by then widely imitated), Apple chose a clean, frosty white color scheme for this new PC. Through its lifetime, the iMac G4 was available in three different display sizes (seen here from left to right): 15-inch, 17-inch and 20-inch.
: Photo: Apple
The iMac G4’s flat-panel display bumped the computer’s price just beyond the reach of the educational market in which Apple traditionally flourished. Apple’s solution was to place the iMac G4’s guts into an all-in-one PC with a less-expensive CRT monitor. The result was the eMac (”e” for “education”), a critically acclaimed Mac released in 2002.
The eMac shipped in two slightly different cases: The original 2002 design (left), and a 2003-on version (right) with a milky-white appearance and white speaker grilles. Apple sold the eMac until 2006.
: Photo: Apple
With the long-awaited iMac G5 (2004), Apple turned back the clock to a time before swing-arms and released a monolithic flat-panel PC that mimicked the traditionally white iPod in appearance. It was, by far, Apple’s most minimalist computer design to date, and it sold in two display sizes, 17-inch and 20-inch (bottom).
The iMac G5 later included a built-in iSight camera, although that model was indistinguishable from the one you’ll see next.
: Photo: Apple
In early 2006, Steve Jobs dropped a bombshell: Apple would be migrating to Intel processors across its entire computer line. The switch was shocking enough without any major exterior design changes, so Apple stuck with what worked: a white enclosure nearly identical to the iMac G5 before it. And unlike the original iMac G5, these models contained built-in iSight cameras above the display.
The iMac Core Duo was available in three display sizes (bottom): 17-inch, 20-inch and the iMac’s largest display yet, a monster 24-inch LCD.
: Photo: Apple
As 2007 rolled around, Mac fans speculated on what sort of wild new iMac design Apple would unveil next. Then Apple raised the curtain on the iPhone in June, which quickly stole the spotlight from any potential iMac upgrades.
In August 2007, Apple announced a new iMac design sporting an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a thinner form factor, aluminum and glass construction, and a black and gray color scheme similar to that of the iPhone. It’s currently the latest in the iMac line, and it’s available only in 20-inch and 24-inch display sizes (bottom).
: Illustration: Nuno Teixeira
What does the future hold for the iMac? Frankly, no one knows but Apple. The company’s notorious love of secrecy means that it’s left to the imaginations of Apple fans to fill in the gaps. And fill the gaps they do — many with photorealistic computer renderings of Mac concepts; new ones tend to proliferate just before Apple product announcements every year.
Seen here is a fanciful design dubbed the iView by its creator, Nuno Teixeira. It imagines an iMac with a large curved display that would envelop the user and eliminate the need for disjointed dual-display setups.
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Strawberry, tangerine, grape, lime, Bondi Blue — no, we’re not talking about Lifesavers, but rather the iMac’s 1999 lineup of G3 computers. Sporting a 15-inch screen and 333MHz processor, the 40-pound boxes of colorful joy were more popular in school computer labs than people’s homes.
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When the iMac adopted the G4 chip in 2002, it ditched its fruity color scheme for a more widely approved silver-and-white aesthetic, looking something like a sexy desk lamp. The iMac G4’s most distinguished feature was its highly adjustable swivel flat screen, allowing you to angle it however you wished.
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