[: neon :] NewEnglandOnlineNetwork

Memo to Business & Personal Blackberry Owners: Get thee an iPhone with MobileMe

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Cannot believe how functional and cool MobileMe is for our new iPhones.

In the world of the PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) we've bought over the past ten years, from having-no-other-choice-back-then-but-endure three Palms, then one horrific nightmare of a Sony version of the Palm and then one superb HP PDA, we turned to the Blackberry and have been relatively unhappy with it, like 55% ok, 45% not ok.

We're now thrilled and amazed at the ease of the Apple iPhone 2's real-time synchronization through MobileMe - - - and the app certainly kicks all current Blackberries (have not yet tried the Bold) out of contention for business enterprise users.

Imagine this, my friends. You suddenly have to enter an appointment or a task or remember to do something at a date and time certain. No matter what computer you're on at the moment, you log on to your MobileMe web-based site, enter your new data and bam, it automatically adds it to your iPhone in real time - or vice versa, which also means that if you're out in the field and have only your iPhone, you enter your new data on that device and bam, it's automatically transferred to your desktop application, again, in real time.

No more docking and synching, no more trying to figure out which direction to choose for your update (the old Palm) or trying to remember whether you synched or when.

Boom, bam, it's all done for you through and thanks to Apple's MobileMe.

On the darker side, should your Blackberry need repair, for example, and last I checked a couple of months ago, Research in Motion (the Blackberry mfr) has not authorized anyone in the United States to repair a Blackberry, so you can't just drop it off somewhere close by and then pick it up later, fully repaired.

So what do you have to do?

For those of you unfamiliar with Blackberry repair, get this, kids, you have to mail your broken Blackberry to RIM in Canada.

But today I heard that AT&T now sends you a replacement until it's repaired, which was never shared with us back when one of our Blackberry Pearls needed a repair last year. AT&T clearly told us it was between us and Blackberry.

Hey, bottom line is that asking your customers to mail you their valuable telephone for any reason is an inefficient (and stupid) business model that only invites problems, promises to give nothing more than either inept Customer Service or falls intolerably short of reasonable - - - and where no amount of internal corporate reasoning is sufficient to justify the inconvenience and potential risk to/for your customers.

Most importantly, the Blackberry certainly cannot be considered a reasonable business enterprise solution to keep customers like us - - - especially after dealing with Apple.

With the Apple iPhone, you find your nearest Apple retailer, log-online for an appointment at the Genius Bar or do it in-store - - - and then just show up or wait your turn. If it's under warranty, they take it in, fix it and you're on your way. If it's not, they tell you your charges and you make your decision.

Apple's sales, retail and Customer Service paradigms are nonpareil, fancy French for something that has no equal, as in the best.

posted by Head Geek

Memo to Apple: we love our new iPhones, but dump thy partner called AT&T

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We braved the lines and we're glad we did . . . so far.

Yup, Mrs. Head Geek and I have been waiting for our respective PDA/Cell Phone needs to be met by a device - and the iPhone 2 seemed to fit the bill for both of us.

So with less than three months left on our Blackberry Pearl AT&T contracts, I studied the Nokia line and the Samsung which Sprint just introduced, neither of which could even come close to the physical or software-resident qualities of the iPhone - - - then we talked with a number of friends who are professionals with AT&T, others we knew in the cellular industry and then some friends at Apple - - - and a decision was made to take the time on Friday to go and buy ourselves a pair of iPhones.

Thankfully, my wife had worked for 10-days straight and despite the pressure she placed on me to be with her @ 8 a.m. yesterday, Friday, we decided (I insisted on) waiting until the afternoon to buy them directly from Apple and not from AT&T.

Needless to say, we're still with AT&T because we have to be, but we're unquestionably waiting for that day when Apple announces the end of their relationship with AT&T - along with the date certain when the iPhones will be permanently unlocked and sold through any carrier worldwide.

Well, that's it, nothing more to report other than finding some minor flaws while using some of Apple's Apps Store programs we downloaded - and my surprise that video streaming from YouTube and MLB.com looked much clearer on my WiFi signal than through the new 3G.

But we sure love our iPhones.

posted by Head Geek

New Apple store/Boston: a [:neon:] audio update

UPDATE: We have video of the entire event and much more here.

Experimenting at the moment, having just registered [:neon:] with Talkshoe and created a podcast where I provide a very brief (2'04) update on the Apple store opening in Boston tomorrow night.

BTW and FYI, since we recorded the audio you'll hear below, the traditional television types here in Boston have been all over the story and filmed tours of the new Apple store for the 6 o'clock news and I gotta tell 'ya that it looks both enormous (floor space) and glass and chrome modern exquisite (design).

Anyway, here's the audio I did through Talkshoe, let's see if it adds anything to our multimedia mix, eh?

Apple store in Boston opens this Thursday, but can we, will we?

UPDATE: We have video of the entire event and much more here.

UPDATE: 05/13/08 )5:21 p.m. - Have been trying to edit the damn AVI that's my DV camera's default but I'm not that skilled yet in cuts and transitions using iMovie, so here goes. It's only :32 seconds, folks, but at least I kept my promise. And some of you have been asking about the facade, uh, of course you're looking @ wood paneling, but between those panels you can see a little more. Not much more, but enough to say wow, can't wait 'til Thursday. BTW, click on the time line of the video and you can post a comment that then goes directly onto the video. I already put three comments (seen as white dots) on there to point out where some special editing effects were, you know, in case you missed them? ;-) Running your mouse over a white dot, whether the video is playing or not, reveals the comment posted.

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Last night, Mrs. Head Geek and I were walking past the new Apple store on Boylston Street in Boston, admiring its very architectually cool beautiful facade. Even at that nighttime hour of about 10 p.m., it was a stunning building for this geek to gawk @.

(BTW, I'm not at a computer that can upload the videos or pics that I took last night, so I'll add them to this post later this afternoon).

I'd received somewhat advance notice of Apple's newest store's official opening by email @ 9:04 yesterday morning, and here's what it said:

Make way for the newest Apple Store in Boston. Enjoy three floors of all things Apple, including an entire floor dedicated to personal training, free workshops, hands-on technical support, and more.

Well, considering that Mrs. Head Geek and I are now confirmed Mac enthusiasts - having unwillingly put up for too many years with Microsoft's (and Dell's and HP's and Sony's) seemingly intentional desires to piss-off their respectively loyal customer bases - we are very excited about this new addition to our newly adopted home, this beautiful city called Boston.

But as I'm writing this post, I'm thinking, why not LIVE blog from the opening with still pictures of the event as it's happening and then poof, I think, why not try to do a LIVE video feed directly from the new store and then have it available as well right here on [: neon :]!

I already know that Apple is incredibly strict on shooting anything inside their stores without substantial permission - and in fairness, it's usually that way with every retailer - but maybe we can capture the flavor of it from outside the building anyway.

Can't promise a thing, including whether it will actually be LIVE streamed or recorded LIVE, and maybe we should have just tried to surprise you, but, what the heck, Head Geek's a geek and as such, devotion to technology events should be expected.

Anyway, stand by for the pics and possible vids from last night's shoot.