Mobile: Prepaid Plans For The iPhone As Explained By Dave The Mobile Sage

Sometimes, we bloggers get expected and we talk about things in terms only we understand.  And sometimes, it can get pretty complicated.  So, when Dave the Mobile Sage sent me this post from The Unofficial Apple Weblog about how to set up a relatively cheap prepaid plan for the iPhone, I got really excited.

But it was not all that easy to understand under the first read or the second read.  So I inquired the mobile sage about it and he put it into terms even I can understand.

In simpler terms:

1. Get a prepaid sim from att
2. Set up an online account for the sim (you might need to a att prepaid phone to this)
3. Buy a $100 prepaid card to fund the account
4. Update the account to use a per-minute talk plan ($0.10 / minute, $0.20 / text)
5. Call 611 to add a data package, the fees will be deducted from your $100 balance ($25 for 500 MB / $15 for 100 MB / $5 for 10 MB)
6. When the balance run out, just add more money

Unused data can roll over, you just need to top up with at least $5 each month.

The points above were lifted from his e-mail to me with his blessing.  I reckon this could also work with any GSM smartphones.  Android, Blackberry, or Windows Phone devices.  If you try this, please let us know how you like it.

RIM's Tablet Aspiration In Danger Of xEnding Prematurely; Is There Anything RIM Can Do?

As far as we know, the Playbook is still on sale for $500.  

Earlier, I reported that Sprint is not going forward with a WiMax version of RIM's Playbook.  Well, that's a bummer.  But for the moment, a LTE version running on Verizon's LTE network is still in the works.  And earlier this morning, we brought you exciting news that 7" Honeycomb based tablets will go on sale this weekend for as low as $330.

Then there's also the fact that the 10" Touchpad is now $100 cheaper than when it went on sale about a year ago.  

I don't have to do the math for you to know where I am going with this.

More at Clouding Around.

Apple Will Not Be Offering Licensing Terms To Its Patents; There's Precedent For This

There are a good many folks who believe that at the end of the day, the patent lawyers currently involved in the Android suits will walk away fatter and richer.  Well, okay, that part is true.  What isn't necessarily true is that Apple will offer cross-licensing terms or simply collect patent royalties from HTC, Samsung and other Android devices makers.  And many "experts" and analysts believe that is how all this is going to end.  

Think back to the iPods.  The scroll wheel.  Now, I ask you this:  which other companies out there have a MP3 player with a scroll/click wheel?  It's been 11 years, folks.  From Sony?  Samsung?  Creative?  

That's right.  None.  And you know why?  Because Apple made it so.  It was a patented feature that it was not willing to share with anyone else on the planet (or on any other planet as far as we know).  

Now consider the features that Apple is suing Android device makers for.  Patents range in how devices work to how it looks and how the UI responds to users.  Among those are the multi-touch gestures and the scrolling actions that make some of the iPhone experiences unique.  

And that was before Apple was granted this key multitouch patent that has the potential to be an even greater implication and a new weapon for Apple to bring to the mobile war.  Consider the FAQ from CNet about the new multitouch patent that was granted to Apple.  If you're a competitor, this is a scary thing.  It looks pretty air tight.  And like myself, the FAQ believes Apple will not be trying to collect multi-touch royalties from competitors.

Essentially, Apple is going to make its competitors work around its patents.  To put it more politically correct, they're going to have to innovate.  In other terms, Apple is trying to make sure its mobile devices offer an unique mobile experience.  

Apple wants user to be able to tell the difference between its iOS devices and those of its competitors.

Apple Is Going After Android; Google Is Just A Casualty

I think this Reuters post has it wrong.  It suggests that Apple is after Samsung, HTC, and Motorola (if I miss anyone else, my apologies) because Apple is fight a proxy war against Google via the patent suits.  They're read wrong.

Think before Android.  Things were good between Apple and Google.  Eric Schmidt was sitting on Apple's board of directors.  Albeit a spy of sort but still he was there a long while.

It was not until Google released Android, changed how the original Android phone looked and and feel and the whole UI did Apple felt betrayed.  

I know that there are a lot of "he said, she said" but the point is that Apple and Google were fine before the first Android release in late 2007, the G1 by T-Mobile.  

If tomorrow, Google suddenly said they were relinquishing control of Android to a true open source community and publicly declared that it will not contribute any more resource to its development, it may just be enough, over time, for Apple and Google to become close again.

Apple was not interested in cloud computing much as it is now before the two tech giants parted ways.  I doubt iCloud would be where it is today.  The acceleration in which Apple worked on its cloud initiatives was largely brought on by Google's competition in the mobile hardware and software market.

So, Reuters is wrong.  Apple is after Android.  And it is seems like Apple is going after Google, that's just a coincidence.  Consider this.  If Apple wants to go after Google, I think it would be working on a search engine right about now.

AT&T's Own Leaked Documents Indicate There Is No Need For It To Buy T-Mobile To Complete LTE Network

Uh-Oh...this might not be a good thing for AT&T.  According to a leaked document posted by its a law firm representing AT&T in the merger, AT&T does not have to buy T-Mobile at all for it to build out its LTE network to adequately over 97% off the US market.

DSL Reports indicates that all AT&T has to spend is $3.8 billion to make that happen.  

One has to wonder just what is AT&T trying to pull here.  The conclusion is just this:  T-Mobile represents a GSM threat and it's trying to pay for its elimination.

No more, no less.  We'll get into it as we have time to examine what's going on.  

Source: DSL Reports.

Hulu - Worth The Price? Yes And Much Much More

Yahoo is considered to be one of the top bidders for Hulu and it makes sense for the Web portal to try become something beyond just providing Web contents.  After all, things haven't turned out the way they expected one of the survivors of the first wave of Internet companies from the late 90s and the first tech bubble.

Hulu is fast becoming one of the top destination for watching television shows and movies.  And note that I used the term "television shows".  That remains to be so today but will change.  Let me introduce the term "episodic shows".  The reason for the change is also the reason why Hulu is worth many times more than what's being bid on.  

And it'll be worth so much more than whatever the winner pays for. 

Sprint Says No To WiMax Playbook

I don't know what this means for RIM's Playbook plans for future grades and such but in the short-term, this piece of news out of WSJ ain't good.

Sprint has decided against going ahead with a WiMax version of the Playbook. I would have thought that since the Playbook is the only tablet for use by the US government, RIM's tablet would soon have a lot of wind on its back.

And we know nothing so far about what plans RIM has for its future tablet plans. My recommendation is that it focuses the the superphones first. Those are already pretty late as it is.


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