Archive for: at&t

Are Mac Users Ready for A 3D Experience?

Apple has always been known for innovation. They’ve had a lot of failures, but they are one company not afraid to push the boundaries of usability and design. A lot of people are still not on the Mac band-wagon, and there are those that making the conversion as we speak, but as a whole are we really ready for a 3D experience with our OS?

Back on July 11th of this year I reviewed AT&T’s Pogo browser, an attempt for a 3D environment based OS that failed miserably simply because the application was so taxing on the computer’s resources. Having moved on, Pogo has faded into obscurity with little or now usage as far as I know.

Fast forward five months, we now have Apple looking at a 3D environment for Mac OSX. According to the AppleInsider, designers are looking for ways to maximize screen real estate while creating a new experience. While appreciated, earlier attempts have failed, but perhaps it was the execution.

Below is an image that shows the environment, attribution goes to AppleInsider:

Here is another thanks to AppleInsider:

These are just a few of the patent images that Apple has filed, and you can see more on AppleInsider.

What are your thoughts on the 3D environment? Necessary or just eye candy. In my experience, Pogo was not a good option because of how taxing it was on resources, but can Apple overcome that downfall and streamline it to integrate flawlessly into their systems?

iPhone 3G only $99, it’s Possible

Some hot news for those of us that have with held buying an iPhone (all 2 of you). Word on the street is that Apple has had an excellent 4th Quarter, and with sales of iPhones surpassing previous estimations, there is some wiggle room when it comes to price.

The iPhone which currently resides in an exclusive contract with AT&T, sells for $199 with contract. Millions and millions of people jumped on board with the first iPhone came out, and the second generation was just as popular. With over 15 million iPhone sold worldwide, it has dominated the mobile market. Outstanding sales have given Apple a cushion in case the current economic downtown starts to effect sales, they can afford to drop the price of the iPhone to $99.

What would a $99 iPhone do to the market? For starters, with such a low barrier to entry, the iPhone will clearly bleed further into the consumer market, even those on the fence would be tempted to purchase, and the market dominance would only leave true niche mobile companies like Blackberry able to withstand the onslaught.

Conjecture? Possibly, but only time will tell. Get those Christmas wish lists ready and stay tuned for more info!

AT&T and Microsoft Surface Reveal New Customer Experience

It has been announced that AT&T will join forces with Microsoft and use the Microsoft Surface. The announcement was made yesterday at the 5th Annual AT&T Press Luncheon during CTIA.

The Microsoft Surface features a 30″ multi touch screen which can detect any phones on its surface. With AT&T the Surface will have the capabilities of dragging videos, photos, ring tones, songs and dropping them into the phones. The Surface is a great concept but I cant see this making too much difference in phone shops throughout the USA. It would be much better if it could be used in restaurants. However, that being said im sure this is a nice additional revenue stream for Microsoft.