Archive for June 18th, 2008
Microsoft getting deeper into the ad business by buying a TV advertising specialty company. Meanwhile they are unaware of potential China action. LinkedIn now worth $1 billion meaning the users are worth $50 each! Seems high to me. Firefox 3 getting mixed reviews, but I like it. Old phone books worth a fortune. Google dominates mobile search. So? GPU versus CPU debate begins.
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With the success of the first generation of the iPhone and the imminent release of the version 2 3G iPhone, other cell phone makers, and providers are scrambling to create the copy that can defeat the original. Personally, the only one that I think even has a chance is the Instinct from Sprint.
I don’t really think that this phone is any more capable of defeating the original, but I think Sprint is properly motivated to try. Sprint has been suffering steep losses in the market, and has said that they will be spending 100 million dollars to promote and market this phone. That is three times the amount spent on any other phone marketing campaign in Sprint history.
Add to that, Sprint will be selling this phone for the low cost of $130, with a two year contract through Sprint. The $130 dollars includes a $100 rebate from Sprint, so your actual out of pocket expense is $230.
Aside from making this cheaper then the iPhone, Sprint will also be releasing this phone 21 days earlier then the iPhone. June 20th will mark the day you can get the instinct, whereas the iPhone buyers will have to wait until July 11.
Still, the question remains. Can the Instinct prove itself as the “iPhone Killer”? The answer is no, for three simple reasons.
1. Sprint is the #3 provider in the US, and they are known for having sketchy service in large portions of the US, so regardless of how good your phone is, if you can count on the service, there is no point. Sprint also has clear problems with their customer service, and in my own experience have seen many people suffer from straight out fraud from Sprint billing department.
2. Regardless of how much money Sprint spends on advertising this phone, they will not even come close to the marketing thrust, and media coverage, that Apple is getting.
3. In the end, people want the real thing. How many different mp3 players came after the iPod that were supposed to be better, cheaper and ultimately kill the iPod ? How many were successful ? None. The only market this will take from Apple are current Sprint customers who are still under contract, and want an iPhone experience without having to do early termination with Sprint. Anyone who has the ability to switch to at&t for the iPhone will be doing so.
Will there eventually be an “iPhone Killer”? Perhaps, and I think the only people that have the capability of killing the iPhone is at&t, since they are in fact the only negative to the iPhone.
I have covered as much as I can about the upcoming GH4 game, since I really think it is going to be the best of all the GH and Rockband games, and even though a large portion of gamers will not likely want to buy a whole other set of plastic instruments, the added features of GH4 will just as likely convince many to make the leap.
However, in this month’s Game Informer, they reported that the game’s Jam Mode is now a thing of the past.
“The now officially titled Guitar Hero: World Tour has lost one major feature that was discussed in our June cover store on the game (issue # 182). The games Jam Mode, which would have allowed players to freely improvise over chord changes and scales from the games soundtracks has been removed. Thankfully, the games more complex music creation studio mode will still be included in the game, allowing players to create their own original GH tracks.”
I really think that would have been a cool feature of the game play, and so I am little disappointed to see it go. I am happy that they are not taking out the song creation process, but I am going to reserve judgment on that until I can try it out.
The additional features of GH4 are what is going to make or break this game, so I hope that Activision keeps the rest of the game off the chopping block.
While I doubt they will be on tour in a city near you anytime soon, this “robot” band shows just exactly how useless the “Ugly Bags Of Mostly Water” will end up being in the future …
Without further I give you.. The Trons playing “Sister Robot”