The Devil is in the iPhone 3G Details

As more details about the iPhone 3G service plan emerges, the less attractive the darn thing becomes. And that's without even taking into account the new activation process that must take place in the store, which eliminates buying online and probably puts a major crimp into unlocking.

For example, the combination voice + data - and found out since Monday that you have a data plan, despite them listing the plan separately -is $10 more monthly than previously. Thus, you save $200 on the phone upfront, but pay $240 extra for the plan. uppose someone smarter than me could take inflation into account to figure things out even more precisely.

And that's for a consumer data plan. An Enterprise data plan will result in a user paying $25 more per month for the service.

Oh, and let's not forget: there's no SMS bundle anymore. The old plan had 200 messages; you have to pay $5 for 200 SMS messages now. So even more cash is sucked out of us users. With the above difference in the service plan pricing and SMS plan, you're talking about an additional $160 over the original iPhone, even taking the $200 subsidy into account. Ouch!

That's the obvious. Leaked AT&T policy documents seem to indicate even more devilish details.

Upgrade Eligibility and Qualified Upgrade Pricing

Upgrade eligibility will be determined based on standard upgrade eligibility rules. Customers must be upgrade eligible to receive the qualified upgrade pricing. However, not all customers will be qualified upgrades. AT&T has not determined the price of the 3G device for non-qualified upgrades.

That usually means you have to be out of contract, or at least darn close enough to get them to waive it so you can get a new phone. Seems silly for them to restrict purchases; you'd think just getting people to sign onto a 2-year contract extension would be enough.

However, based on this text:

However, all postpaid 2G iPhone customers in good standing are upgrade eligible, so these customers will qualify to upgrade to a 3G iPhone when it is available.

What this means is even if you are in the middle of a contract with your 2G iPhone, you'll still get the discounted upgrade pricing ($199 for 8 GB, $299 for 16 GB).

Also revealed in the leaked memo: preparations for logistics, including security:

Security will be provided for locations requesting armed police or unarmed, uniformed guards.

Yeah, well since users can't buy online, anyone who wants these things are going to have to line up. Besides, all the prior information about the new pricing has me rethinking buying an iPhone 3G.

Here's a copy of the leaked document (.PDF). Plenty of interesting info; take a peek.

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iTunes Store Passes Five Billion Songs Sold

McDonald's has nothing to worry about - yet - but Apple still has reason to crow. Thursday it announced that the iTunes store has sold over 5 billion songs.

At the same time Apple announced that iTunes is renting over 50,000 movies a day, making it, according to Apple, the most popular online video rental retailer.

Finally, Apple cited NPD data, showing it to be the number one music retailer in the US (based on January and February NPD MusicWatch surveys).

Great for Apple, but bad for consumers, as most of what Apple sells has DRM (copy protection); with all its market power it obviously feels no need to join Amazon MP3 and others with an all-DRM-free catalog.

Naturally, the fact that iTunes on the desktop is used for all the synching and transfer to the device makes the iTunes Store the easy and obvious choice for consumers. Still, I point everyone I know to Amazon MP3 - the less DRM, IMHO, the better.

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Which iPod to Buy?

Ipods have quickly gone on to become the popular mp3 player for people around the globe. There is a gamut of different ipod designs for you to select from. There are quite a number of factors to decide on which ipod is ideally suited for you and your music collection. Just read on to know quickly know the different types of ipods on display in the market today. The Ipod shuffle is just the thing for people who do not want to carry around their complete music collection along with them, but want bit lighter and easier for working on the two.

The ipod shuffle is just about the size of a pack of gum, and comes with a lanyard so that you can wear it around your neck and travel hands free. The shuffle is available in two sizes namely 512MB and 1GB. The 512MB ipods shuffle can store 120 songs and the 1GB model can hold about 240 songs. One disadvantage of the shuffle is that it does not comprise a display; so you cannot easily navigate through your play list and make your mind up on what songs you want to listen to.

The shuffle lets you to play through a particular list on your computer in order; therefore if you want to build a workout mix inclusive of warm up and cool down, you can achieve it and play through the list incessantly on the shuffle. If you want to mix it up, you can turn the shuffle to shuffle mode and have your ipod select a song and play list order for you from the songs you have uploaded to your ipod.

If you want to have it small, besides seeing your play list then an iPod Nano may ideally suit your requirement. iPod Nanos are slightly bigger in size than the shuffle, but they have their own colour display where you can easily navigate through play lists and songs apart from viewing your pictures. iPod Nanos are available in various sizes from 1GB, 2GB to 4GB sizes.

The 1GB model can store the same the number of songs as a 1GB shuffle (about 240 songs) the 4GB version however can hold anywhere near 1000 songs. A strikingly new feature of the Nano is their integration with Nike. You can make use of Nano as a pedometer and monitor your workout, listen to some great music while you run all these and more at the same time.

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