June 2007 Archives

In what has to be one of the best-orchestrated marketing schemes in a while, Apple today will start selling its new iPhone, a device which combines the popular iPod MP3 player with smartphone and wireless Web capabilities. Stores open tonight at 6:00 p.m.  Eastern Time in the U.S. (They’ll be closed from 2:00-6:00pm to prepare for the expected onslaught.) If you want an iPhone, better get in line now.

 

Actually, though, some people have already been in line… since Monday. That’s what Associated Press reports today. Apparently, more than 50 people are now camped out in front of the Apple Store in New York City, some of them having been there since the beginning of the week. (People have also been camping out for days next to an Apple Store in San Francisco.)

 

To me, that seems a bit extreme. Five days in the heat and rain, waiting to buy the latest gadget? I guess it take all kinds to make the world. All kinds to produce an excellent amount of anticipation over the new product, too. iPhone is definitely cool, so cool that analysts (and Steve Jobs) predict that the initial stock of available iPhones will sell out by early next week.

 

Of course, in its typical tight-fisted manner, Apple won’t reveal how many iPhones are available for the initial launch, although the company has set a goal of selling 10 million units by 2008.

 

Meanwhile, analysts are having a field day discussing how other smartphone manufactures are preparing to compete with iPhone. Or, it might be more accurate to say how strong they anticipate the competition will be in coming weeks and months; I would hazard a guess that any phone manufacturer worth its salt has already had six months to jump-start their R&D divisions in hopes of hitting the ground running when iPhone starts selling.

 

One of the more intriguing aspects of iPhone, I think, is the touchscreen technology. Touchscreens, it seems to me, have great potential to revolutionize mobile devices. I mean, mice are great for desktop computers, but we’re overdue for the next big thing in interfaces for handheld gadgets. Only time will tell if this observation of mine pans out, though; technology does have a tendency to be adopted in sometimes unpredictable ways.

 

Oh, one final thing: what about yours truly and iPhone—am I getting one? The answer is no, not yet. I’m gonna save up and wait for the second or third generation. But yes, I do think iPhone is very cool and I do plan to play around with one the next time I’m in the neighborhood of an Apple Store. For now, I’m having enough fun with my iPod nano.

Last week I blogged about CallWave’s new Visual Voicemail service for use with mobile phones. I wrote that I really liked the service, but had two gripes:

 

1. Callers didn’t get my personal greeting, instead reached a generic CallWave message.

 

2. I couldn’t access my voicemail from my phone any longer—only using the online, visual mailbox.

 

I heard back from two reps at CallWave (you can read their notes in the comments section of this blog) who pointed out that, actually, the Visual Voicemail service has functionality built in that overcome both the problems I was encountering.

 

First, you can record a personal greeting by dialing your own number from your phone, or by calling a special number provided by CallWave. This takes you into voicemail setup. I was able to record a greeting in a snap.

 

Second, the reason I couldn’t access my voicemail by phone was that I was using a special shortcut on my keypad to dial into the Cingular voicemail system. This was a different route to access messages than dialing my own number; once I did that, I was able to listen to my messages as usual.

 

I did suggest to the CallWave reps that they modify the initial instructions users get to include the details they sent me, and I’m assured this will be done. So, I’m happy to report that CallWave Visual Voicemail does, indeed, do everything I hoped. Try it out yourself and let me know what you think. If you have a smartphone, while you're at it you might want to check out another new CallWave service called Vtxt that sends a text message with the 'gist' of your voicemails in it to your mobile phone.

CallWave, a company that’s been creating voice applications since 1998, recently released a new service called CallWave Visual Voicemail. This is a ‘widget’ (works with iGoogle, Apple OS, Windows, and Yahoo!) that lets you see your voicemail messages in a Web-based menu and choose which ones you want to listen to.

 

I decided to give this a whirl, since I’m still saving up to buy an iPhone (which includes lots of neat features, including visual voicemail). IMHO, visual voicemail is long overdue. I mean, why should I have to skip through to ALL of my mobile voicemail messages just to get to the one I want? That’s so 20^th century.

 

Since I already have a Google account, I figured the easiest way for me to use CallWave Visual Voicemail would be on one of my iGoogle tabs. Adding the widget was easy enough; I registered for the service and slapped it up on iGoogle. I also had to enter a special code into my cell phone to enable calls to be forwarded to the CallWave system. (I was also provided with a code to deactivate forwarding.)

 

Then, I tested the service out. It’s pretty cool; once messages come in, you see them right on the screen in a neat little box showing the caller (if there’s caller ID associated with it, or just the number), date of call, and duration.

 

After creating a couple test messages, I figured it was time to see how easy listening to them is. I popped on my headphones and pressed the little red triangle next to one of the messages and voila!

 

There’s also functionality built into the widget that lets you “edit” each message by typing in a description of the caller and choosing which best describes the number:  ‘home,’ ‘work,’ ‘cell’ or ‘unknown.’ Presumably the widget remembers this and lists the appropriate label when someone from that number calls again.

 

I have two minor gripes with the service:

 

1. Voicemail messages are no longer accessible on my phone. I’m using Cingular, so not sure if this is different for other providers. My phone still alerts me to the fact that I have missed calls, but the messages themselves are no longer in the queue when I call into my voicemail.

 

2. Instead of hearing the personal greeting I set up on my phone, callers are greeted to the following message: “Hi, the person you’re calling is using CallWave. Please leave a message after the tone.”

 

Frankly, the second of these glitches is a deal-breaker for me; I want people who call to know they reached my phone. I did send a query to CallWave about this, but haven’t heard back yet. I imagine this problem, and the issue of messages not staying in the phone mailbox, would be easily enough fixed. Maybe this second problem is on the provider end; not sure.

 

Despite my suggestions for how to better the service, I do commend CallWave on taking the bull by the horns and offering something that’s of great use to modern cell phone users.

 

Try it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

The big news broke over the weekend: there is now an official launch date for Apple’s much-touted iPhone (device that combines mobile phone with iPod). The new product’s hit-the-shelves birthday is June 29.

 

Is it really official? Well, seems so: Reuters is reporting it this morning (citing confirmation from an Apple spokesperson), and Apple aired three TV commercials Sunday night showing off iPhone and saying it will be available to purchase on the 29^th. These commercials are available for viewing on Apple’s Web site.

 

In one commercial, the voice-over boasts that there’s never been an iPod that can do so many things: let you use your finger to scroll through music album covers, display video on such a large screen (and change its orientation simply by physically turning the device sideways), let you scroll through and manage photos, and answer a call.

 

The second commercial show how easy it is to turn on iPhone and use it to manage your music, send e-mail, browse the Web, and make a call.

 

My favorite of the commercials is the one titled “Calamari.” In it, a user is watching Pirates of the Caribbean and gets hungry for calamari after seeing the sea monster tails. The user then hops on Google Maps, performs a search for seafood restaurants, locates a place to eat, and then calls the restaurant—all from the iPhone. Pretty slick stuff!

 

So, it’s time to break out your sleeping bags. Something tells me there’s gonna be L-O-N-G long lines outside stores on June 29…