Happy 4th of July everyone! Today is the day that Will Smith fought off a bunch of aliens who blew up the White House and tried to win the war with some crazy shield technology. But in all seriousness, what a blessing it is to be separate from Britain. They eat deep fried Mars bars. Have a great day everyone and enjoy sweet Independence.
As a lifelong member of the BlackBerry Nation, I often take for granted the value of my BlackBerry as a business and personal aid. However, I’m sure there are many true believers out there that are not fortunate enough to work for a ‘wireless’ company, and have to make do with a typewriter and an abacus. If that’s the case, you must tell your company about the Smartphone Challenge.
A joint initiative between The Phone Store, RIM, Rackspace Hosting and Sprint, the Smartphone Challenge is an opportunity for companies to get their feet wet with smartphones before making any financial commitments. Here’s the deal: your company gets a 10-day free trial with five Sprint BlackBerrys, full Exchange and BES hosting, and a bunch of free software and other goodies to sweeten the deal. The Phone Store will also host a launch party and training session to make sure everyone is aquainted with their new mobile friends. After the trial period is up, you can either choose to give the devices back or keep them.
Amazingly, the Smartphone Challenge has a 100% success rate. You’ll be hearing more from us about these guys — we always love giving exposure to the true soldiers of the BlackBerry Nation. Until then, check out another picture of the Smartphone Challenge goodie chest, as well as the full press release.
AT&T is getting their customers “iReady.” At 8am on July 11th, the iPhone 3G will become available and therefore you have a lot of planning to do. New customers and those eligible for an upgrade will be able to get the 8GB for $199 or the 16GB for $299. If you are not eligible for an upgrade, be prepared to fork over $399 or $499 under a 2 year contract and the $18 upgrade fee.
At some unspecified time after the launch, customers will be able to pick up the iPhone sans contract at a rate of $599 and $699.
Microsoft has launched a Silverlight powered update of the Windows Mobile homepage at Micosoft.com. The launch is part of a new project to better promote its consumer offerings, which under the old codename was referred to as FTP168 (Free the People 168).
The new website promotes Windows Mobile devices by allowing the user to compare them to other devices on a wide variety of carriers. Users can compare features such as touch screen, flip keyboard or WiFi.
Along with the site update, the Windows Mobile Owners Circle had been renamed to Windows Mobile Total Access, which is still promoting the 3rd party applications that run on Windows Mobile.
[Via Windows Mobile Cool]
Between a BlackBerry, work computer, home desktop, and laptop, it’s easy to get your files scattered in a lot of different places. SugarSync knows this and is trying make it quick and easy to make sure you can always access all of your files. They’ve been kicking around for awhile, and I’ve been testing it out since beta. We talked with the developer about the importance of syncing across desktops and handheld, followed up by high promises of review. Well, here we are and ready to take a good close look at SugarSync.
Do you have a Samsung Instinct and want to win $20? Starting June 30th, Sprint is offering $20 to the first 1,000 people who upload a video to YouTube containing their Samsung Instinct. Also, by entering you become eligible to win the grand prize of $10,000. Make the video creative and hopefully you get paid. Also, if you heard about the contest through our site, and win the grand prize, feel free to send some dollars our way. Loves ya!
[Via iSmashphone]
O2 has posted its pricing plan for the iPhone 3G. If you purchase the device through its Pay & Go prepaid program, you can get the 8 Gig iPhone 3G for £300 ($590) or the 16 Gig for £360 ($710). Included in this package, you get six months of free WiFi access, after which it will cost £10 ($20) per month.
Apparently, these prices were immediately pulled off their website after being published and replaced with a message saying that details would be available “shortly”. Disorganized much?
[Via TUAW]
The AT&T Developer Program, devCentral, has partnered with Windows Mobile, HTC and mobile game distributor, I-play, to bring you the AT&T Game Development Contest for Windows Mobile. Show them what you’ve got and have the chance to win $25,000 cash and a distribution contract. Other prizes include $5,000 cash for runners-up.
Here are a couple resource to help…
For complete prize details, rules and to register, visit the contest Registration Website.
Verizon announced today that the Palm Centro will hit shelves tomorrow. According to Palm, the device is “off to the strongest start of any smartphone in Palm’s history”. Bold claim yes? Upon purchasing the phone and applying for the rebates, the phone will cost $99 and an unlimited e-mail and web plan will cost an additional $29.99. On another note, why are we still pricing things at $99? For the record, that’s $100.
[Via PRNewsWire]
The new 3G iPhone has just been unveiled and it’s got thinner edges, a full plastic back and a flush headphone jack. Apple is pushing the phone internationally and looking to make it affordable. During the keynote, Jobs made the comment that the iPhone is being used in many more countries than it is being sold officially. Of course!
[Update! Pictures and specs] Continue reading ‘WWDC NEWS: First look at the 3G iPhone’