iPhone update 3
February 9th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
So my friend who has an iPhone 
that he bought from eBay ‘jailbroken’ that has been working for the most part OK. None of Apple’s firmware updates have proved to be disruptive. He has software that allowed (also got from eBay) him to put in his cell phone number from Sprint into the iPhone and transfer the calls and and account to the hacked iPhone. He still gets a Sprint bill. He just makes and receives all calls using just the wifi connection in the iPhone coupled with the software from eBay. His Sprint bill used to be over $ 200.00 a month. He lowered it to Sprint’s least expensive calling plan (about $35.00 a month) and uses a wifi connection in his home and while on the road to make and receive all calls. The calls are cheap – they are 100% free. So as long as Sprint sees he still has a data plan, they don’t retire his number and bills him at a minimum plan rate. They have no idea he uses wifi to make his calls nor can they find out.
Compare this to getting an iPhone from ATT. You get 2 years in jail (ATT jail that is, a 2 yr. cell plan). And if you want to access the internet and other iPhone functions that you probably will want to (hey, you don’t get the iPhone to make cell calls only) , you must get the ‘Media’ package from for another $ 15-25 a month. But the real kicker is that you ALSO pay Apple a $45.00 a month fee to access other essential online functionality from Apple ( and I don’t have an iPhone yet to be able to tell you exactly what those online items are) but I believe its access to your contact phone book and numbers, photos and other online goodies from .mac . iPhone cell bills are some of the most expensive cell bills on the planet right now averaging over $ 200.00 a month all in.
So, my friend’s iPhone deal from eBay looks like a real deal after all. Except for one thing. He and I had lunch last week and very often he doesn’t answer a lot more calls since he got his new iPhone. So, we tested it at lunch. After trying to call him several times on his iPhone (and he was sitting at the same table as me), the wifi connection did NOT tell him that I was calling -nothing. It was as if I never had called. On the third try, it worked and said he missed a call from me. But the first 2 times, nothing. I sent him an SMS , and that worked fine as did leaving him a voicemail. But the wifi seemed to be a bit if’fy.
Conclusion: if you need to be reached 100% of the time on your cell phone, go to the ATT store and get an iPhone. If you don’t, go to eBay and get an iPhone. You third possibility will come early next year. Free cell phones and cell phone access through Google’s new wireless spectrum and Android advertising laden cell phone. But, to be able to make calls for free, the price could be right.
Viewers spend more time in front of a TV in a single day than they do a whole month with online video but one day…
February 9th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Surprised? But this is the bigger picture and important because it keeps things in perspective. This is how it is today. Consumers watched 10 billion online videos in December (comScore) . People watched an average of 3.4 hours of online during the month, up 34% from January 2007. TV audiences are shrinking. They are still big and can be huge (like the recent Superbowl numbers prove) but TV has a new competitor. The 10 billion videos watched online in December was the highest total since comScore started keeping track of the stat a year ago. Apple knows this. Apple has applied for a patent that allows widgets to be displayed on TV when you’re watching Apple TV 
. So imagine watching a movie and a small search widget (with advertising embedded in it of course) can be displayed if you want it that allows you to look for any actor or production person in the movie you are watching or reference other info at IMDB, for example. Or give you the ability to chat, read news feeds, get sports scores, etc. What a nice way to integrate the internet with TV viewing. Unobtrusive, but there.
“With the writer’s strike keeping new TV episodes from reaching the airwaves, viewers have been seeking alternatives for fresh content. It appears that online video is stepping in to help fill that void.” This is what the Exec VP at comScore was quoted as saying. I’m not so sure that the writer’s strike had too much to do with these numbers.
The growth in video on the web had been steadily increasing year after year. Consumers are spending less and less time watching TV – and that’s been happening now for many, many years – consistently. This is a trend that is not going away anytime soon.
10 years from today, these numbers will look funny, but for now here is what they look like:
Google Sites 
once again ranked as the top U.S. video property in December with 3.3 billion videos viewed (32.6 percent share of videos), gaining 1.3 share points versus the previous month. YouTube.com accounted for more than 97 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 358 million (3.5 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 340 million (3.4 percent) and Viacom Digital with 238 million (2.3 percent).
I wonder if you’ll be able to get an Apple widget on a Google Panasonic TV set next year? Hmmmm, that will be interesting.
Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed
December 2007
Total U.S. -- Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property Videos Share (%) of
(000) Videos
Total Internet 10,156,199 100.0
Google Sites 3,314,962 32.6
Fox Interactive Media 358,353 3.5
Yahoo! Sites 340,409 3.4
Viacom Digital 237,689 2.3
Microsoft Sites 180,443 1.8
Time Warner Network 174,079 1.7
Disney Online 123,009 1.2
ESPN 84,839 0.8
Apple Inc. 50,316 0.5
ABC.COM 47,259 0.5
* Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks.
Online video includes both streaming and progressive downloads
