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iPod is dead, long live the iPhone!

Submitted by Igor Faletski on January 10, 2007 - 1:03am.
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Well not quite. iPods are great at what they do and will certainly sell well for several years to come. Today, however, Apple Inc. made a big step towards device convergence by introducing its iPhone (just like we predicted not too long ago).

It is widely agreed that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple posesses a reality distortion field. His brilliantly produced keynotes (the apparent simplicity and clearness comes at a high price) make everyone think something along the lines of "Why didn't another company come up with this before? The idea is so obvious! I'm getting this gadget the day it comes out!". It doesn't matter if someone else thought of the same thing earlier (recall our coverage of Chamelephones), if there are numerous problems that have yet to be addressed or if the price is painfully high. Steve makes it seem like the new era is here and anyone can be a part of it.


One World, One Device - mobiles and modern travel

Submitted by Igor Faletski on December 17, 2006 - 8:02am.
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For five years straight I haven't left Vancouver, but 2006 was something else. The 7-months long Europe trip was what inspired me to get into mobile. This December, as I found myself flying over the Atlantic once more, I wondered - do I REALLY need to have my laptop with me? I carry it to school every day, but the risks of travelling with one might easily outweigh the benefits. I finally decided to leave the good old Medion at home and put all my hopes on the mobile phone, the trusty Samsung D900.

I got to the airport early. Really early, considering the flight was delayed by an hour. I walked around, had a coffee and still had three hours to kill. The phone rescued me for the first time, providing music, podcasts and games (and - oh yeah - the ability to PHONE people). The only problem was, this intensive multimedia usage reduced the battery life to just under two hours. I found a plug and continued listening. I was getting a lot of funny looks from laptop owners who saw me "charging up" - to many, a phone is still just a phone. Still, one device provided me with all the entertainment I needed.


Participatory cultures: moving from the web to mobile

Submitted by Metrocode on December 13, 2006 - 4:59pm.
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Last month I (Leora Kornfeld, writing on our group metroCode account) was fortunate enough to attend the Futures of Entertainment Conference at MIT, hosted by Henry Jenkins, founder and director of MIT's comparative media studies program, and author of 2006' "Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media collide"


Jenkins is also the man who coined the term 'textual poachers' in a book of the same name, back in 1992.

A Phone is Just a Phone

Submitted by John Boxall on December 6, 2006 - 8:34pm.
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While waiting on a late professor I decided to whip out with my N93 (as anyone with the latest gadget is inclined to do). To a chorus of 'oohs' and 'awws' I demoed a few of its slicker features to onlookers. But there were a few detractors. One in particular loudly voiced his opinion, having the audacity to declare it just a phone. I couldn't help but snicker. I assumed he was either suffering from a mild case of bad-phone-itis or had perhaps caught a much more serious strain of ignorance. I didn't dwell on it.

Then today while reading an interview of Tony Pearce, managing director of Player X, I stumbled upon it again. A phone is a phone, Pearce boldly claims in reference to Player X's decision to expand its media base beyond mobile games. I found this much more troubling and as such warranting further reflection. Are we all getting a little too excited about something that's just a phone?


iPhone – Apple’s only hope?

Submitted by Igor Faletski on November 20, 2006 - 12:20am.
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iPod 

The iPod. It wasn’t the first MP3 player out there… But it quickly turned out to be the best. A combination of ingenious design, successful marketing and great complimentary software made this little gadget a Holy Grail of electronics. Everyone, from Sony to Microsoft tried to introduce their own solutions, often portrayed as definite “iPod killers”. Yet, the iPod still outsells any other portable music device by a large margin. At first glance, it seems that nothing (not even Microsoft’s Zune) can threaten is dominance… But there’s one major factor. Cell phones. 


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