Free iPhone

It probably didn’t come as a surprise, but Steve Jobs has announced that the iPad will not be able to share the iPhone’s connection. The announcement was actually just a direct answer from Jobs to a Swedish fan who emailed him directly with the question.

iPad-iPhone tethering wasn’t expected, but it was hoped for; no handheld Apple devices currently have the ability to receive a tethered connection, unless connected to a computer.

It is also unlikely that this feature would be enabled in any future updates as a 3G iPad would solve the problem.

Yet another reason not to buy the 1st generation iPad.

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Is Apple about to redefine computing with the much anticipated iSlate in the same way it already has for the mobile phone with the iPhone, or the humble music player with the iPod?

If the rumours, speculation, and evidence are anything to go by, the iSlate will be announced in January.

The rumour that Apple engineers are working on a new handheld touchscreen computer have been circulating for some time. Known in the industry as simply ‘the tablet’, it is hoped the device will enable video streaming, downloading and reading books (bye bye Kindle), listening to music, running Apps…the list goes on.

The rumours the iSlate will be announced in January have hit a high not seen since the release of the iPhone in 2007. Shares in Apple have soared in the last few days in anticipation of a ‘major product announcement’.

Apple has so far remained tight lipped about what the major product announcement will be, but an Apple insider let slip to The new York Times that “Steve is extremely happy about the new tablet.”

The blog MacRumours.com revealed that Apple had bought the rights to the iSlate.com domain name.

The cost of the iSlate is as much of a mystery as every other detail about the newest device from Apple. That won’t be a concern for regular readers of this blog who will all be awaiting the release date with baited breath so they can order their free iSlate and be among the very first iSlate owners.

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It is now official that there will be a Google Phone coming soon. Not just a rebranded HTC, this is the real deal; a 100% Google branded, sold and supported phone – and it’ll be called the Nexus One.

How this will affect the iPhone’s supremacy will be seen over the next 18 months or so – Google has a long way to go to match the runaway success of the iPhone. But they do have a track record of doing things well, as we all know from their success taking over the internet search sytem, web based email, and now their delve into social networking with Wave.

It is fully expected that the Google phone will incorporate all of these features at some stage, and much more

The phone will come loaded with at least a Google Navigation tool, and the new Google Googles.

How much?

The biggest question on my mind at the moment is how much the Nexus One will cost. To be successful as the newest and greatest smartphone on the market Google are going to have to do something a bit special. an they rely on some clever feature to make us buy their phone over an iPhone, or even a Blackberry with its new app store feature.

The only reason I would buy a Google Phone would be if it could match the iPhone in terms of features and applications AND be cheaper. Much in the same way as I haven’t binned Firefox for Google Chrome, I won’t be ditching my iPhone in favour of the Google phone unless it can offer me something much more financially.

Will there be a Free Google Phone plan? I hope so, and think that may be the only way for Google to make their mark on the World of smartphones in a real way. The Android is dead, but the Google phone could well be king.

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So the day has finally come – the freebiejeebies car competition draw will occur in less than an hour – at 12pm on Sunday 6th December.

I have two entries as I won 2 Golden Tickets through the weekly draws, so I at least have a slim chance of winning. Others have a much better chance at winning the car though as I know of at least one person with 7 entries.

Good luck to all – the winner be be announced later today and will take delivery of their brand new Ford Fiesta soon afterwards!

Edit (07/12/09) – Massive congratulations to the winner Ben Harris who I believe has elected to take the car rather than the £5000 cash alternative.

Also congrats to the three frebiejeebies competition runners up, who each received £100.

Winner: Ben Harris

Runners Up: Amy Firth, Jamie Barrett and Rob Kirkup

In a shocking announcement, Tesco Mobile has said it will be offering the iPhone in its stores and via Tesco Direct ’shortly’.

This surprise move, from the fastest growing UK mobile operator, will see it selling the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in time for christmas 2009.

The superstore-come-phone provider is renowned in the UK for offering great deals that are very hard to beat and this announcement is likely to spark the iPhone price war consumers have been waiting for, and which didn’t come when Orange began offering the iPhone earlier this month with almost an exact pricing structure as O2.

Tesco will offer both contract and pay-as-you-go iPhones, although it is still in discussions with Apple over pricing.

The move comes as a big blow to Vodafone, who won’t get in on the action until early 2010, and Orange, who hoped to take up to 50% of the iPhone market away from O2; as consumers now will probably delay their iPhone purchase until next month to see what kind of deals can be had from Tesco Mobile.

O2 are the silent winners in all this, with a 50% stake in Tesco Mobile, they will retain their position has top earners from the iPhone in the UK, and are able to focus more of their efforts on marketing the Palm Pre – which it still has exclusivity on.

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