by David Heyerman on October 12, 2009
- EcoATM, a new startup out of San Diego, just introduced their new e-cycling kiosks.
- First, the machine electronically inspects the phone for damage and automatically give it a real-time secondary market value. If it’s actually worth something, you can opt for an in-store payment or simply donate the money to your favorite charity. If the phone’s not worth anything, it goes into the recycling bin.
- EcoATM’s first location at the Nebraska Furniture Mart saw such success that they’ll be installing machines at wireless and big box stores in and around San Diego as well as Washington state and Vermont.
- The company is promising nationwide machines by the 2nd quarter of next year where they’ll be able to accept other gadgets like cameras, laptops, and MP3 players. What a great startup.
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by Jason Wilk on October 8, 2009
- T-Mobile and AT&T both currently plan on announcing the Bold 2 — also known as the Onyx — on October 21. Not impressed by the latest design, but ditching the track ball in favor of the new touch ball is a big plus for Blackberry fans. Before the new phone drops, RIM plans on releasing this gem below. An all white Blackberry Bold.
by Jason Wilk on July 31, 2009
- Following last week’s Fortune Brainstorm event in Pasadena, CA, I got into an interesting 10 minute convo with a RIM executive. What were the topics of discussion? Apps, TelCo Reliability, iPhone and Hardware. This executive had the following to say: (this was not to be shared, but after numerous failed attempts to continue a conversation via email, I decided to post the main points of the convo. I will at least honor his anonymity).
- Apps: While RIM has been trying to find a way to stay competitive, he admitted that Blackberry App World has not been a rocket success in terms of app volume and developer popularity. “It’s tough when you are going up against a company operating one platform and perfecting a single piece of hardware”.
- TelCo Reliability: He said that RIM is fortunate to have so many solid relationships with the best TelCo’s globally. “It’s been a strong advantage in the market, especially the US, to offer devices across more than just one network”. When I asked him about AT&T, he said that it hasn’t been near the nightmare for them that Apple has seen with the iPhone/AT&T.
- iPhone: He said the iPhone is a great phonne, but he thinks Blackberry will continue to have strong growth. “They’re different phones”. He specifically pointed out the heavy adoption rates for 18-25 year olds this past year. “All of their friends are on BBM, and it’s addicting”. I couldn’t agree more with this statement. In Los Angeles, I am still heavily outnumbered in my group of friends and 95% of them say they will never give up their Blackberry because of all their friends on BBM (Blackberry Messenger).
- Hardware: This is where things got interesting. I asked him what RIM planned to do if the iPhone were to have upgraded their hardware to include a front-facing camera. His response was “as I said before, we are fortunate to have our relationships with many different carriers, some of which can handle something like live video-conferencing”. In other words, he and his team weren’t worried about the iPhone launching front-facing video-chat so long as they are with AT&T. The last thing he said to me was “video conferencing is something that could completely change the mobile landscape and it is something we have been thinking about and working on for quite some time. You will start seeing something early next year”.
by Jason Wilk on July 20, 2009
- Although combined, Apple [AAPL] and Research In Motion [RIMM] only represent 3% of cell phones worldwide, the two are dominating global cell phone market. According to a recent report by Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff (via WSJ), Apple and RIM account for 35% of global cell phone market profits (It is being said Apple represents 20%). Wow. Nokia, who sold 46% of cell phones last year, earned 55% of the industry’s profits. As that balance of power continues to shift, Nokia’s stronghold on the industry will continue to loosen, as the Finnish handset maker struggles to compete in the high-margin smartphone business (no cares about the N97)
by Jason Wilk on July 14, 2009
- GigaOm (7/14/2009) “Verizon (NYSE: VZ) wants to build its own app store, and is planning a July 28 event to entice developers to its platform. Like everyone else wooing programmers, the company hopes to get the equivalent of the in-crowd building the hottest apps that will elevate its store, and thus its phones and network, to the level of popularity that Apple’s iPhone currently enjoys. But getting a critical mass of developers building great software isn’t an easy task. And while Verizon is romancing developers, the carrier isn’t as solicitous of its handset partners. Verizon’s Ryan Hughes, VP Partner Management, said in an interview Friday that the network operator’s app store will be the sole marketplace on devices sold by the company, meaning stores such as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry App World or Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Marketplace won’t get placement on Verizon handsets unless a consumer downloads them”
- For those thinking that the iPhone is soon headed to Verizon, think again. If Verzion wants to lock up the deck like this and control their own app store, Apple will have nothing to do with them. How Verizon thinks they can have one single app store to work correctly seamlessly across all their devices, they have a ton of bricks coming their way. Just more stupidity coming out of mid-level management in the mobile telecom industry.
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