New iPods attacking the Zunes

It was only yesterday that Microsoft announced the release of their new Zunes. And now today, Apple announced the release of their new iPods.
Which is one is the better one? Well, there are upsides to both, and also downsides to both.

The pricing of the Zunes and the iPod nanos and classics are the same, so there will be no advantage there. Unfortunately for Microsoft, new features on the iPods such as the shake shuffling and voice recording are unique to the iPods. However, the Channels feature from Microsoft may be a bit better than the Genius feature.
With NBC coming back to Apple, and the addition of HD shows, the iPods leave the Zunes in the dust, as the zunes upgraded practically for video.

Microsoft still did not add the web browser features to the Zunes, so the iPod Touch is still in the lead here. But now that Zunes can download music with Wi-Fi connections, those looking for less expensive or less feature filled products can find a solid product in the Zune. But the iPod Touch is clearly the best option for a better and more feature filled experience. the iPod Touches also have much more and better games and apps, while the Zune only has 2 games.

But all is not lost here for Microsoft, as there still seem to be no subscription service to be offered by Apple. That means that the Zune subsciptions will be a big difference, allowing users to easily get whatever songs they want without having to keep buying every song, especially with the new Channels feature. Another thing is the Buy from FM feature that may be an easy way for music listeners to easily find and buy new music from using the 450+ radio stations.

I supposed the Zune is still probably better and rightly aimed at hard-core music listeners, but the iPod will appeal to a broader range of people, with more features that don't all have to do with music. If you're one of the people that'd like the cooler iPods and the better video service, then the iPod is probably your choice. But if you're some who loves to listen to music, and doesn't really care about other features, then maybe you'll like the Zunes better music focused features. There's no doubt that Zune could become bigger competition to the iPods in the future, but for now, iPod will probably win another battle.

Tags: iPod, Zune, Apple, Microsoft, iPod Touch, iPod nano, iPod Classic, BlitzTech Blog

---END OF POST---

Thank you for coming to BlitzTech Blog. Like this article? Share by using our share button below. Or you can subscribe to our feed and stay up to date with the latest updates from our site. Remember, here at BlitzTech Blog, we value your opinions and don't forget to come back for more at the BlitzTech Blog! Don't forget to give your comments below and rate our articles!

Competitors take aim at iPhone 3G holes

The latest craze has been all about the iPhone 3G, getting over 1 million sales in its first weekend. It's the phone that everybody's just been waiting for, and you can bet there's lots of competitors that are jealous. With lots of iPhone hype all around us, it's become the the coolest gadget you can get. Unfortunately, nothing is ever perfect, and such is the same with the iPhone. Although, we're not exactly sure who to blame for the latest network problems that many American iPhone users have experienced in the San Francisco area.

Right now, most people are blaming AT&T for the network problems on their 3G high speed network. Apple's got a great track record of delivering well when it's called for, and there are millions of Apple fans out there that believe Apple can do no wrong.
I personally believe it's something to do with Apple. I don't think AT&T is really causing the problems here, seeing as 3G users in other countries are also experiencing reception issues. Whether or not it has to do with the chip from Infineon, is beyond me. From what I can gather from users themselves, it seems that it's not just certain cities that experience the problem. It seems that some people who live in the same area have conflicting experiences, which is strange. AT&T's network is generally reliable for almost all the other mobile phones they provide service for. I suspect that it's a communication problem between the iPhone, the new radio chip, and AT&T's network. Perhaps the dropped calls are because of Apple's software, and the network problems themselves (like low signal qualities) are caused by the new radio chip. Anyway, enough of an intro, let's get back to our main topic.

While the iPhone is suffering from plenty of complaints, Verizon is trying to take advantage and claiming that their 3G network is better than AT&T's. Verizon is doing its best to tell everyone how bad the iPhone is, and how they offer better services. Verizon's Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon corporate communications executive, has been sending tons of messages almost daily for the past two weeks, informing analysts of the various articles and blog posts concerning the issues with the iPhone 3G network. They seem to be bent on making everyone see it their way. Who wouldn't? With a massively popular device like the iPhone, competitors will no doubt love to cause an uproar and perhaps steal some of the iPhone's glory.
Are you going to switch to Verizon because of this? Probably not. I think even existing Verizon customers who have switched to the iPhone and experience these problems aren't likely to switch back. AT&T and Apple may not be giving any information on these 3G issues, but that may just be because they don't have much experience working together, when both of them like to have full control. Verizon, I've heard has incredibly bad customer service and hasn't changed at all. Sometimes I wonder why people are still using Verizon at all (although, their network and products are pretty good, it's only the customer service that needs some improvement).
Despite these recent problems, I think the iPhone is going to stay a long time. In the future, people will probably even forgot that this ever happened. I just hope Apple and AT&T can resolve this soon, so everyone will be happy. There is a lot at stake here for both these companies, and I think they will be able to meet the expectations of everyone. But for now, if you're unhappy with the status of the 3G network, just temporarily use Edge whenever your signal is bad. More updates later if anything happens.


Update: I almost forgot, but if you want to help fix this issue for everyone and are an iPhone user, you need to get the update that was released earlier. I think most people have probably already gotten the update, but it's important that everyone gets the update, because, if you don't get it, it doesn't just affect you, it's pretty much a network wide problem, so if you haven't gotten it, get it immediately.
Tags: iPhone, Apple, AT&T, Verizon, 3G, 3G network, Infineon, iPhone 3G, BlitzTech Blog

---END OF POST---

Thank you for coming to BlitzTech Blog. Like this article? Share by using our share button below. Or you can subscribe to our feed and stay up to date with the latest updates from our site. Remember, here at BlitzTech Blog, we value your opinions and don't forget to come back for more at the BlitzTech Blog! Don't forget to give your comments below and rate our articles!

U.S. mobile phones sales are going down

With the economic slowdown and lots of competition in the mobile phone market, sales are going down.
Apparently, the sales volume is going down about 13% while the sales revenue went down 2% this 2nd quarter as compared to last year's. Contradicting this is the rapidly increasing sales overseas. Nokia, for example is selling more and more phones globally.
The drop in sales in the U.S. is not surprising, especailly when you consider that most people already have phones and are bound to contracts which make it difficult to upgrade. Obviously, the same factor is applying to other countries, except that it's the other way around because most people in other countries don't already have cell phones and are not bound to any contracts.

Despite all this, companies are now selling more expensive phones than ever. New popular phones with tons of features like the iPhone and the new Blackberries are being sold at a much higher rate than before. The only problem is, prices have been slashed since the first quarter, so the expensive phones aren't that expensive anymore.

All this probably had to come sooner or later. It's just a matter of time before companies currently producing phones and selling in the U.S. are going to have to make some serious changes to their marketing plans and possibly a major shift to global marketing.

---END OF POST---

Thank you for coming to BlitzTech Blog. Like this article? Share by using our share button below. Or you can subscribe to our feed and stay up to date with the latest updates from our site. Remember, here at BlitzTech Blog, we value your opinions and don't forget to come back for more at the BlitzTech Blog! Don't forget to give your comments below and rate our articles!

iPhone vs. Blackberry Bold

I've seen a lot of different articles in different places talking about how the iPhone will be competition to the smartphone lines from Blackberry. This is very inaccurate for the consumer. It should be that the Blackberry is competition to the iPhone, and even then, that still sounds bad, because it's an obvious choice of which one is better, unless we're talking about the older versions of the iPhones and Blackberries.

Here's why:
1) The new Blackberry bold is far too expensive even with a contract and will probably be outrageous without a contract, with Rogers listing the Blackberry bold for $399 on a three year contract with further expenses from the plan. That's even more than the 16 GB iPhone!
2) The New Blackberry also has only 1 GB of Storage which means that you can store far less on your Bold than your iPhone.
3) The overall hardware specs are no match for the iPhone, especially when you consider that it's more expensive than the iPhone. Plus, for the consumer market, the iPhone apps and capabilities are probably much more attractive than the Bold.

However, it's a different story for the corporate world, seeing as many of the Blackberry Bold's applications are very useful in the corporate world. Businesses will probably see the Bold as a viable competitor to the iPhone for now, unless the iPhone can seriously improvement on functions such as email, text messaging, and other functions required by businesses.

In my opinion, the iPhone certainly gets you more bang for the buck as the hardware is much better, and when you have the hardware, the software comes easily.

---END OF POST---

Thank you for coming to BlitzTech Blog. Like this article? Share by using our share button below. Or you can subscribe to our feed and stay up to date with the latest updates from our site. Remember, here at BlitzTech Blog, we value your opinions and don't forget to come back for more at the BlitzTech Blog! Don't forget to give your comments below and rate our articles!

BlackBerry Bold to hit Canada

This week, the New Blackberry Bold 9000 will be coming to Canada via Rogers Communications Inc. This new blackberry is a high end model that matches the screen resolution of the iPhone but not the screen size.
Rogers will be the sole carrier for the new Blackberry Bold in Canada and AT&T will be the sole carrier of the Bold in the US.
Rogers has not disclosed the price of the coming Blackberry but it may be extremely expensive.
The Bold was already released in Germany, and for comparison, here are their prices.It's about 459.95 euros ($680 US) without a plan. And with a plan, it is 129.95 euros ($190 US).
Apparently, according to a leaked image on CrackBerry, Rogers will be charging $399 with a 3 year contract. Although this image may be false, it seems to look pretty official. Generally, with a 3 year contract, it really shouldn't be that expensive, being even more expensive than the iPhone. But we'll have to wait for the price to be confirmed.

Although the iPhone is going to be a serious competitor in the smartphone business, most people think the Blackberries are better for emailing and messaging because of the keypad instead of being touchscreen. The Bold will only be the first of many models Research In Motion plans on releasing. They say they will release a touchscreen model called the Thunder.

---END OF POST---

Thank you for coming to BlitzTech Blog. Like this article? Share by using our share button below. Or you can subscribe to our feed and stay up to date with the latest updates from our site. Remember, here at BlitzTech Blog, we value your opinions and don't forget to come back for more at the BlitzTech Blog! Don't forget to give your comments below and rate our articles!