another sam chan: the student blogger

Those who know me know that I have been a fan of Apple for a while now, and although I’m not of fanboy status, I’m usually pretty pro-mac and am proud to be a Mac user. However, Apple has been doing something that has continually irked me for a while now, and it is that Apple gives the perception that they hold back. Allow me to explain with some examples:

Apple Macbook Unibody (October 2008): This was majorly hyped and people were looking forward to having a powerhouse compact laptop (The Powerbook G4 had been gone for too long by then). However, with the exclusion of firewire and the SD card slot, it was not the ‘perfect’ laptop to date for media producers looking for somethign on the run. Both of those technologies were already old at the time, meaning Apple chose not to put them in. 6 months later, lo and behold, they rename it the Macbook Pro and have both those things. The argument that they went with a market reaction is ridiculous because even a dumb student like me could see how it would be beneficial to have those two inputs.

Apple iPhone 3G (June 2008): This was hoped to be a major revision from the original iPhone, which had terrific potential but lacked mainstream smartphone options such as 3G, Video, and Copy and Paste (are they serious?). Yet, they only hit 1 out of the 3 things. Qik had already proven video to be possible on the original iPhone via Jailbreak, and copy and paste had been on other fruit-named smartphones for almost a decade. So why the hold up? Again, Apple was definitely capable, but they chose not to add those features until the 3GS hit a year later, attempting to astound us with ‘brand new’ features. Not cool, Apple.

Apple iPod Photo (October 2004): My memory is a bit hazy here so I may be reaching a bit, but I’m pretty sure people liked to watch videos back then, and I’m pretty sure Archos was already kicking ass with portable video technology. So why the heck did it take not one, but two more revisions before the iPod Video ‘blew’ us all away? Ugh.

Which brings us to the i (already-an-old-joke-with-its-stupid-name) Pad. Unlike others, I do think it’s going to be a big deal over time. After all, creating a new market is not an overnight task. But why, oh why are they holding back once again? I can understand that they don’t have multi-tasking support or flash – it hasn’t been done on the iPhone yet and perhaps there are technological hiccups. I can understand why they chose to go with a 4:3 screen instead of the much more popular 16:9 widescreen – to make it easier for iPhone developers to port their apps over. I can even understand the dumb name – for every Wii that is sold gives Apple more reason for iPads to exist. But what I don’t understand is the lack of camera and built-in USB or SD slots. The technology has clearly been proven with the iPhone (camera) and Macbook Air (pop-down USB slot to keep it thin) so what in the heck are they waiting for?

My only explanation is that it’s a business decision and by leaving those features out, they can grab the fanboys and early adopters, while getting them to crave for a new one again along with the consumers who will purchase it for function in the next revision. I’m not a betting man but would you really want to bet against me if I said that the iPad Video or iPad Snap would be announced 10 months from now? It’s a bit disturbing to me as a technology enthusiast – the idea of companies holding back the latest and the greatest to get more sales, but I can’t explain it any other way. I would love to be wrong about this and if you are a computer or tech guru of some sort, I am begging you to shut me up with some specs on why a camera just isn’t do-able right now. Am I so naive as to think Apple are the only ones doing it? No. But please don’t make it so damn obvious! This is why even though I love Apple products, I will never truly be a fan boy.

Do you think that Apple has gone too far with these blatant omissions? What do you think the reason is? And the four hundred and ninety nine dollar question: will you still be getting one in three months?

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By now, you may have started to hear about WINDmobile, a telecommunications start-up trying to join the bridge game that Dr. Bell, Aunt Telus, and Mr. Rogers have been playing for far too long. While all three elders haven’t got a clue about social media, WIND has already gotten a step up with them with a simple, yet hilarious youtube video campaign (see left). They are doing the Twitter and the Facebook as well (where’s twitter.com/rogers, may I ask?) as well. But the thing that has led me to preemptively jump on their bandwagon is their web page. It’s a gorgeous web 2.0 styled page that is community based.

I love that they are asking what they (as in the telecommunications industry in Canada) can do better even before they’ve started. The people-first approach is something that I believe in strongly, and I’ve always wondered why the honest sales guy doesn’t succeed. As far as I’m concerned, when you take care of the people, people will take care of you. For now, WIND Mobile has me sold that they are that type of company. WIND is pending a CRTC trial on October 29th that allows them to officially launch. Here’s hoping that us Canadians will finally get a company that gives a damn about the people. Don’t blow it, Canada!

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Rogers’ foster child Fido re branded itself yesterday, shedding the passive turquoise and brown to a brighter neon-highlighter-written-on-a-post-it yellow. The logo itself is a doghouse drawn by a sharpie. But I digress. Tons of logos, companies, and even presidents change everyday but I can’t blog about everything. However, this goes further than just logos because it signifies that Rogers has finally decided to place Fido officially in the lightweight provider category.

A bit of boring Canadian provider history points:
– Once upon a time there were four major players in the Canadian provider market (at least to the common eye on the west coast): Fido (owned by Microcell), Rogers Communication, Telus Mobility, & Bell Mobility.
- Rogers buys Fido
- The big four becomes the big 3.5.
- Bell creates Solo Mobile: a subbrand focused on a younger market, with cheap, simple, and easy to calculate plans with minimal contracts.
- Telus creates Koodo: similar to Solo, although Koodo does not publicly affiliate itself with Telus.

With this change, Fido has officially placed itself head to head with Koodo Mobile and Solo Mobile. So what does that have anything to do with us, the consumer? Take a quick look at the site and you’ll see that a lot more was changed than just colors.

That’s right, they’ve gone away with the horrid system access fee! This means that 15 dollar plans may actually be what they say they are and not a mysterious 30 when the skies clear.

In addition, text message plans have been lowered a great deal. All their base plans now offer at least 50 text messages, with the base $25 dollar plan giving you 100 daytime minutes, evenings and weekends starting at 7pm, and unlimited text messaging. Not 1000, not 2500, unlimited. On top of that, you have the option of adding unlimited text messaging to any plan for an affordable $10. How about that?

It may not be giggles for everybody though because here has what they have discreetly taken out while distracting you with the blinding yellow:

-unlimited fido to fido / fido to rogers call and text
- unlimited incoming calls
- my5 (or anything of the sort)
- any sort of couples or family plans

*EDIT: Correction, unlimited incoming and fido to fido can be added on as options for $10 each. Early 5pm calling can also be had for an extra $5 Apologies.

So there it is. There’s a lot of speculation to whether or not this will actually end up hurting Rogers/Fido instead. “Mr. Krstajic, a former executive at both Bell Mobility and Rogers, described the new plans as “reactionary” and said moves like Fido’s risk irritating the firm’s existing customers” as reported by the Globe and Mail. I suppose he meant reactionary in reference to Solo and Kodoo’s success. If you want to keep your current Fido plan, you’re more than welcome to do some – just know that there will continue to be a system access fee until you throw yourself into the new doghouse with a nice three two year contract. I’m a Rogers user and will have to keep paying the SAF anyways but it’s nice to see Fido users have the option.

I have my fair share of Fido friends, and it’ll be interesting to see what they will do. What are you going to do? Is this good news or bad news or it doesn’t matter because you’re a happy Virgin Mobile user?

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