I attended a press conference a few days ago for a high end smartphone brand. Among us were some tech bloggers, IT journalists and a number of lifestyle editors from the glossies. The product manager enjoyed talking about his new baby - one of the top of the line smartphones that recently hit the market. What was rather peculiar was how he made mention of the Apple iPhone and it sounded more like he was trying to justify why his product X had features Y and Z which the iPhone didn’t have.

Raised eyebrows from a number of tech journalists.

After the conference, I approached him and asked him why the comparison has to be made to the iPhone all the time. I interjected that mentioning a competitor’s product during your own press conference made it sound more like a fit of desperation on your end. The truth is, the iPhone and his product are two different things. He answered me quickly and said that apparently, consumers don’t think that way. Because of the commercial hype it generated, the iPhone is being compared to everything in the market.

I told him that well, we’re IT journalists and technology bloggers — and you don’t need to justify with us how different these two products are. We know. We did our research. We’re well informed.

It is good that product managers are very aware of the competition. But marketing is marketing - they should only mention the “other phone that begins with an i” if a journalist asks a question pertaining to that during a press conference. Otherwise, I don’t see a need to passively promote your competitor’s products.

Do you agree with me? Or do you think that product managers should really just address this question during a product presentation? C’mon guys, be honest!

Early termination fees, the only wall that bars consumers from becoming scott free from a lock in period to a particular telco is now illegal in California:

In one fell swoop, Judge Bonnie Sabraw of the Alameda County Superior Court has added $72.9 million to Sprint-Nextel’s loss column, and declared early termination fees illegal. Ruling against the service provider in a class-action lawsuit, the judge ordered the company to pay $18.2 million to the plaintiffs, and say goodbye to over $54.7 million, the total amount charged to reportedly over 2 million Californians when they terminated their post-paid plans early.

So does this apply to the iPhone 3G and AT&T lock in plans? Actually no. First off the FCC obviously sees through this as a scapegoat plan to get much desired hardware. They’re smarter than that. A whole bunch of AT&T customers all of a sudden becoming dissatisfied with AT&T’ service all at once? Too suspicious, it’s actually cute.

Local Macintosh forum PhilMUG has reported that a lady from the Philippines had seen iPhone 3G units being sold at the department store. Of course, these aren’t legit iPhone 3G’s as the rumor is that the units are still going to arrive on local shores in September earliest. These phones were bought from Hong Kong and shipped here (as an aside, Hong Kong airport was recently voted world’s best!)

Saw an iPhone 3G for sale already in Megamall. They had both 8gb and 16gb. They are selling their white 16GB at around 69,500 ($1,544) and their 8GB at 61,500 ($1,366). According to them, the phones came from Hong Kong and the reason it was priced so high is because they bought the plan in Hong Kong. After inspecting the unit for minutes, one lady went to the store bought the white 16gb iPhone. [PhilMUG]

Above is a photo of the July 11 iPhone 3G launch in Hong Kong - where it apparently costs $1,544.00 because the lady bought the ENTIRE LOCKED PLAN and phone. Que stupido!

So there you have it. Some people (with all the money) just can’t wait.

Photo courtesy of Newscom.

## Reviews are up for the new BlackBerry Bold, the Berry that sorta looks like ye olde BenQ P50 and BenQ Siemens P51 which were both 2006 favorites.

## High tech High Fashion! Here are diamond dipped Nokia 8800 and iPhone 3G units that will surely kill your wallet!

## Ho-hum. 1 million iPhone 3G units sold in first weekend. Doesn’t Nokia sell 4x as much?

## J.T. asks what is to become of the iPhone’s installer.app??

Yup it’s the AT&T guy again but this time he’s in the car. Check out how the iPhone 3G fares on the road with its built in GPS navigation. This makes use of the GPS Maps feature and the search function for commercial establishments. I still think that using the iPhone inside a car is a deadly combination as it really isn’t text-friendly while driving (oops, don’t text while you drive!!). I also noticed that there was no voice overs giving directions on where to turn.

So it’s here. From the delivery guy to the employees cutting open the taped box, to the shelving of the white and black iPhone boxes to the locking up of the storage room. The iPhone 3G is officially here!

Which box are you getting? The white one or the black one?

I mean, what else can you say? In terms of features there isn’t really anything extraordinarily new. And speed? Pfft. There are issues with battery life, which is weird because this is Apple’s second time over.

[news source]

Short answer: YES.

It’s simple really. All it involves is a SIM swap and reconfiguring the iPhone as a current iPhone customer in iTunes. Any geek can figure this out but here’s a demo video to show you exactly how it is done.

This video gives detailed information about AT&T’s iReady Program to help consumers figure out how they can actually go about buying or upgrading to an iPhone 3G on the 1th of July. There are three categories for consumers:

1. I have an original iPhone and I want to upgrade it to the iPhone 3G

2. I want to upgrade my iPhone and I’m eligible for upgrade pricing

3.I want to upgrade my iPhone but I am not yet eligible for the upgraded pricing scheme

If you don’t fall into these categories it means that you aren’t an AT&T customer. But that doesn’t mean that AT&T will not sell you an iPhone 3G. Watch the video below to see how to apply for an AT&T line with an iPhone 3G:

AT&T has released the official iPhone 3G pricing. We all know about the ultra-cheap $199.00 deal but now its time to go in depth with the catches and fine print.

Here are the plans the iPhone 3G will come with corresponding costs:

AT&T NationSM Unlimited: Includes unlimited Anytime Minutes for $129.99 a month.
AT&T Nation 1350: Includes 1350 Anytime Minutes and unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes for $109.99 a month.
AT&T Nation 900: Includes 900 Anytime Minutes and unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes for $89.99 a month.
AT&T Nation 450: Includes 450 Anytime Minutes and 5,000 Night & Weekend Minutes for $69.99 a month.

Now here’s the catch. Not everyone can actually purchase the new iPhone 3G for $199.00:

iPhone 3G will be available for $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. These prices require two-year contracts and are available to the following customers:

* iPhone customers who purchased before July 11
* Customers activating a new line with AT&T
* Current AT&T customers who are eligible, at the time of purchase, for an upgrade discount

Existing AT&T customers who are not currently eligible for an upgrade discount can purchase iPhone 3G for $399 for the 8GB model or $499 for the 16GB model. Both options require a new two-year service agreement. In the future, AT&T will offer a no-contract-required option for $599 (8GB) or $699 (16GB).

Current AT&T customers who are upgrading to iPhone 3G will pay an $18 upgrade fee and new AT&T customers will pay the standard $36 activation fee.

For more information, you can head on to AT&T’s iPhone 3G product page that gives more information on AT&T plans and the second coming of Jesus.

[AT&T News Room]