Watch the Instinct Defeat the iPhone

Back in April, Sprint announced they would be selling one of the first iPhone killers - the Samsung Instinct. The device is supposed to hit the market in June and it looks like Sprint is taking the gloves off and going to head to head against AT&T and the iPhone with their marketing campaign.

Click here to go to www.nowisgood.com and you can watch 5 videos that show how the Instinct performs better than the iPhone for GPS, Live TV, downloading music, surfing the Internet and shooting video.

"Finally, an amazing touch screen phone with a network to back it up"

iPhone Coming to Canada

Good news for Canadians - Rogers Communications Inc (NYSE: RCI), the owner of Canada's biggest wireless firm, said on Tuesday its first-quarter profit more than doubled and that it secured a key deal with Apple Inc to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year.

Rogers had been widely expected to be the Canadian carrier to offer the iPhone, given that Rogers is Canada's largest carrier, and only GSM provider.

"By far the most important news for the stock today is that Rogers has signed a deal to launch the Apple iPhone later this year," National Bank Financial analyst Greg MacDonald wrote in a note to clients. He added: "It is safe to assume the launch will be before the important holiday season and possibly before the back to school third-quarter period."

No specifics on pricing at this time.

Nokia's iPhone Response - "Tube"

Last week we reported on the first iPhone clone - the Samsung Instinct.

Well, now it is Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) turn.

Code-named "Tube" it is a touchscreen handset that is both Java and Flash-enabled. Currently the iPhone does not support either technology. The Tube will also be able to upload photos. While the handset maker did not disclose any details about the timing of the launch of the device, reports claim the company plans to launch it before the 3G iPhone drops, which could be as soon as 60 days from now.

Forum Nokia's VP Tom Libretto poked fun at the recent news that Apple had shipped between 5 million and 6 million iPhones to date: "We've done that volume since we've had dinner on Friday," Libretto said.

3G iPhone coming in 60 days?

According to a blurb from CNET, The Wall Street Journal's technology columnist Walt Mossberg predicted last week that the 3G iPhone will hit store shelves within 60 days.

Mossberg made the comments at an executive summit held by Beet.tv. Most of his talk is about how broadband networks in the U.S. are lacking compared to other developed countries, and how that's a big problem for video-over-the-Internet businesses.

Mossberg is part of a select group that gets early access to important Apple products, and he was one of the first to review the initial iPhone last June.

Here They Come - the iPhone Killers

It's been nearly a a year since the iPhone was first released. No one knew exactly what the device would be like, or do, or how it would change the mobile phone landscape.

At the end of 2007, approximately 4 million iPhones had been sold, mostly in the US. That represents somewhere in the neighborhood of 1% of the total US subscribers carrying an iPhone.

At Movaya, we love the iPhone. Our COO, John, owns one and loves it. More importantly, we love the data that has been released about iPhone users, which we have reported on previously;

During his keynote appearance at the Mobile World Congress, AT&T Mobility president and CEO Ralph de la Vega called Apple's iPhone "a game-changer," noting that since AT&T exclusively launched the device in mid-2007, mobile data consumption has grown dramatically. According to de la Vega, 95% of iPhone owners regularly surf the web, even though 30% had never done so prior to iPhone ownership.

Well, now it is time to see how the other handset makers (Motorola, Samsung, LG) and wireless carriers (T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon) will respond to the iPhone craze. Clearly, the form factor is a hit with consumers, based on all the impressive data.

This week at CTIA, Sprint and Samsung announced the first iPhone like device - The Samsung Instinct.

The Samsung Instinct will be available in June for a yet undetermined price. Executives hinted that the price would be substantially lower than the $399 for the cheapest iPhone. Like the iPhone, the Instinct lacks a keypad and has just a few buttons. Most of the functions are accessed by touching the screen.

The Instinct will have a few features the iPhone lacks. For one, it will be the first consumer phone in the U.S. to use EV-DO Rev. A, the fastest cellular broadband technology available on the Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks.

AT&T Inc. has phones that use a competing technology with equivalent speeds, but the iPhone is not one of them: It runs on a comparatively slow network, supplemented by Wi-Fi access.

The Instinct also contains a Global Positioning System chip, for location applications. The iPhone lacks one, but it can use cellular and Wi-Fi signals to determine an approximate position.

The Instinct certainly won't be the last iPhone killer - it's going to be fun to watch these devices hit the market and watch as the other 99% of cell phone subscribers in the US get hooked on the mobile web.

Sega Mobile Announces New Titles

Game publisher Sega Mobile announced an agreement with International Sports Management, the exclusive licensee of International Olympic Committee, to develop Sonic at the Olympic Games and Beijing 2008: The Official Mobile Game of the Olympic Games, both of which will be available across major wireless carriers worldwide in conjunction with the upcoming Summer Olympics.

Beijing 2008: The Official Mobile Game of the Olympic Games enables players to compete in four events--the 100m, Hammer Throw, 200m Freestyle and Table Tennis--in both Quick Start and Go for the Gold! modes.

Sonic at the Olympic Games features the popular videogame hedgehog in five events, including the 1500m, 400m Hurdles, Triple Jump Discus and Javelin.

Sega Mobile also announced the remainder of its 2008 portfolio, spotlighting mobile editions of popular titles like Sega Columns Deluxe, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Crazy Taxi.

Sega Mobile is also jumping on th iPhone train, announcing that they will be publishing their first game for Apple's iPhone, Super Monkey Ball.

"We're very excited about the iPhone and what Apple is bringing to the table--it's a big step forward in delivering premium content on the wireless platform," said Sega Mobile marketing director Carrie Cowan in an interview with FierceMobileContent. "For Super Monkey Ball, our developer team spent two weeks with the iPhone SDK, and fundamentally, the platform represents the next evolution of wireless gaming. It enables things even handheld gaming devices can't do, like tilting and twisting the device. It adds a dimension to gaming we haven't seen before."

Stuck in Traffic? Check Out TrafficGauge Mobile

Seattle based TrafficGauge offers a service for commuters that don't want to purchase their dedicated traffic device for $180, but do have a cellphone.

TrafficGauge for Mobile Web allows you to view real-time traffic on your cell phone using the web browser. This is a FREE service that gives you access to the detailed traffic conditions that you need for your commute.

To try it out, enter your cell phone number on this page and they will send you a text message containing a link to TrafficGauge. Follow the link to view the traffic map. Alternatively, you can access the service by typing the following URL into your phones browser: http://www.trafficgauge.com/cell.html

You can select from 18 cities including Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle.

The map shows areas of HEAVY, MEDIUM, and LIGHT congestion. Areas without available traffic information are shown in GRAY.

If you have an iPhone, try TrafficGauge for iPhone.

This is a pretty useful site and as the phone browsers advance, the quality of service will improve significantly. City Guides / Maps are currently the 5th most popular category of use on the Mobile Web in the US behind Email, Weather, Search and Sports info.

More Incredible iPhone Stats

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day!

The MobilePhoneBlog hopes everyone has a great day, whether you buy into Valentine's Day or not.

My wife is a happy one this morning as she got an iPhone from yours truly. Some of my friends think I'm crazy for giving such a nice gift on a second-tier holiday but if you're at all familiar with the sacrifices ones spouse has to make to support a startup business, you'll understand that it's the least I can do.

We haven't activated it yet but it will be fun to watch her use it as she has been carrying around some old crappy LG phone for years and her mobile experience is about to be blown away.

In business news, this past week was the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and there was tons of news about new phones, new partnerships and such. Far too much for us to cover, but one news bit that came out from AT&T caught our eye.

During his keynote appearance Thursday at the Mobile World Congress, AT&T Mobility president and CEO Ralph de la Vega called Apple's iPhone "a game-changer," noting that since AT&T exclusively launched the device in mid-2007, mobile data consumption has grown dramatically. According to de la Vega, 95% of iPhone owners regularly surf the web, even though 30% had never done so prior to iPhone ownership.

"There isn't a device that's easier to use," de la Vega said. "The iPhone proves that price resistance is only as strong as the user experience is weak."

Enhanced devices and improved user experiences are driving AT&T mobile data across the board. De la Vega said that 13% of all AT&T customers now own a 3G device.

95% of users regularly surfing the web? Wow!

Mossberg Reviews the Voyager

According to a December report from Compete, the LG Voyager from Verizon was the most popular handset in November for online shoppers.

Compete tracks the number of page views a handset's webpage gets on carrier sites. You can see the Top 10 handsets in the chart we've posted here as well.

You'll notice that it even surpassed the iPhone (listed as #4) on the list. The Voyager got a lot of buzz when it was first announced as an iPhone competitor.

The Mobile Phone Blog was certainly skeptical that LG could produce anything close to the iPhone and our doubts were validated last week when Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal reviewed the Voyager.

The title of his article?: "Verizon's New Voyager Looks Like the iPhone, But Software Is Inferior"

The whole review is worth reading, but a couple of the highlights (or lowlights depending on your perspective).

Voyager advantages over iPhone:

- runs on a fast, 3G data network
- $100 less expensive ($299 vs $399)
- has GPS and thus provides real-time navigation
- can receive live TV programs
- has a physical keyboard for typing

Voyager disadvantages as compared to iPhone:

- is bulkier - about 50% thicker and 40% larger overall
- lacks the ability to use Wi-Fi hot spots and home networks
- has only about half the battery life
- has a smaller, lower-resolution screen
- has just a fraction of the internal memory

Mossberg goes on to discuss the significant software disadvantages of the Voyager and ends the article with the following:

"Verizon is promising to improve the Voyager, but right now it's a classic example of how the leading cellphone makers are going to have to step up their games, especially in software, to match Apple's upstart device."

Best Selling Mobile Phones Of The Third Quarter

The Strategy Analytics ProductTRAX program released its Q3, 2007 list of top selling consumer handsets in the US market. Motorola and LG accounted for seven of the top best selling consumer handsets.

US Q3 2007, Best Selling Consumer Handsets:

Motorola RAZR V3
Motorola RAZR V3m
LG VX8300
Apple iPhone
LG Chocolate VX8550
Motorola MOTOKRZR K1m
Samsung SYNC SGH-A707
LG VX5300
Sanyo Katana II
Motorola V323i/V325i

"3G devices accounted for 55% of these top selling device volumes. That share will continue to grow during Q4," states Chris Ambrosio, a Director in the Wireless Practice at Strategy Analytics. "While the iPhone gets the headlines, the "Sync" from Samsung and the "Chocolate" from LG quietly stole the show in the category of iconic, 3G feature phones. Samsung, in particular, is well-positioned to dominate 3G sales during the critical Q4 holiday season."

I've said it before, but the continued success of the RAZR is just incredible (in July of 2006 Motorola announced they had sold 50 million units). I realize that it is now a "free" phone but for it to still be the #1 phone in the US after all this time is unbelievable.