Mountain View Cellphones

www.mountainviewcellphones.com  3/22/2009

Android is hot.  Not only is it being requested by name, customers are seeking out the product.  Value oriented customers know that Sprint offers the best deal for Android solutions.  Starting at $69.99/month, you can get unlimited talk, text, and data.  Call us if you want a better deal than this, we can ship across the country.  Talking is unlimited to mobile phones, but that’s how people talk these days so no big woop about landline minutes.

As for the strategic balance for the smartphone market, Android is killing all other competitors.  Market share growth is zooming, Iphone is stalling, and all the carriers and manufacturers are putting out Android handsets.  My prediction is that there will be a Blackberry Android handset coming in next year or thereafter…it’s inevitable. 

You may ask what facts I’m basing this on. 

1.  Store traffic data indicates a clear change away from Blackberry and WebOS to Android.  Windows doesn’t even get mentioned anymore. 

2.  All the carriers now have an Android phone.  Each carrier has more than 1 form factor, one with keyboard and one without.  This is definitely a challenge to the IPhone in two ways.  Better form factors make a larger market of buyers.  Secondly, better distribution and the combined promotion of all carriers against Apple.  Sprint, Verizon, ATT, and T-Mobile all carry Android. 

3.  The tipping point, when Android really takes off is when Sprint gets ”Supersonic.”  This will be the unchallenged 4G device.  This will lead to breakthru experience in speed and usability of phone applications.  I’m certain the screen, form factor, and other things will come along as well.  The only worry is battery life for me, but performance will definitely be there.  1 Ghz processor (yes this is now a Netbook) with 4g wireless networks.

4.  Developers structurally will prefer Android.  First, it starts with Java which is a very common web language and has a large base of developers that can code in this language.  2nd, with IPhone, you need to line up the stars to get in the App Store.  For a young innovative software company, you need to get the product right, the marketing right, the Apple relationship right, the approval right, the testing right, etc…before you are let onto the App Store.  The good news is that App Store products generally are high quality and work.  However, for breakthru game changing applications, the App Store is not the easiest way to get to market.  Android code it, test it, market it, is much easier.  There is no Apple gatekeeper you need to please, just the consumer.  This allows applications to be more iterative in design and adapt faster to market needs.  You can fail 2 or 3 times on Android without spending the resources of 1 App Store application.  If you can learn fast enough from those failures, you can have a better app that’s test in Android and then shine it up for Apple approval “afterwards.”  This will slowly but surely make the IPhone the 2nd launch market versus Android.  Bank of America even released their mobile Android banking app already after the IPhone app.  In 2 years, Android will be the first release and IPhone the second.       

5.  Developers will have a larger market to get their apps on.  As Android will hopefully solve the problem of write once and run on any Android phone, this will make the market much easier to accept applications.  The application will run on 9-10 devices rather than 1 form factor.   

6.  Google’s information business model will continue to promote giving away of hardware, software, and other items to recoup the costs in managing and marketing information and use of the device.  Android is free…so to speak…and this makes it attractive for hardware vendors to use (Look at HTC, Samsung, and LG firmly committing to Android next year).  Samsung and LG are the big boys in the cellular market and they have the muscle to push the product across all GSM and CDMA rapidly.  

7.  IPhone fatigue.  The IPhone has been the “in” thing for the last 3 years.  People are tired of it.  People are going to want to be “different.”  Android is the new “cool” thing.  Sure there are still tons of IPhones selling but it’s not gaining market share anymore.  People are of course tired of ATT and their bottom of the barrel customer service.  Your Mom has an IPhone now…as the young generation…you want something better and newer than she has.  IPhone users will begin to switch to Android as well for price point and performance parity, as you will get more bang for the buck with Android ($100-$200 less per year).  With 4G on Sprint, you will get much more performance for less price.      

These are my observations.  The rise of Android has already begun and it’s only gaining speed.  Apple’s lawsuit of HTC was the sign that they fear the competition.

By www.mountainviewcellphones.com 2/20/2010

The Blackberry has a great visual voicemail system. I was wondering whether Blackberry had caught up in this arena to the IPhone. To my pleasant surprise, it has to a great extent.

The Blackberry App World is delivering “VALUE.”

YouMail is a great application for visual voicemail. What it provides is a great way screen and go thru your voicemail outside of the traditional IVR (interactive voice response) system. This makes the phone more usable and faster for the user to check messages and address the most urgent messages first without wading thru unimportant messages to get the critical one. Best of all, the application is FREE.

There is a paid transcription service that will convert the audio voicemail into text for your viewing. This is the hook so to speak of the application. Now you can easily view your audio voicemails and respond via text or thru audio, (go even faster).

I could not find the feature to replay certain parts of the audio voicemail, but the transcription process can eliminate a key step in the world of voice mail…finding pen and paper to write down a number. It’s done for you in much more elegant way, and you can easily share this electronically without typing it in again. There are also automated responses on the menu so you can quickly respond to the message.

Is it as elegant as the IPhone interface, no. Does it get the job done at $500 per year less, yes. I mean, you can have a Blackberry and a flat screen TV for the price of 1 IPhone. What’s the value equation here?

Anyway, Blackberry App World is real and producing real useful apps. Although the number of applications are not as wild as the Apple or Android communities, the quality is definitely there for applications you will use more than once or twice.

Sprint currently has a promotion for Blackberries that we are offering. $300 in credits for businesses that decide to activate 3+ or more Blackberry devices with us. Yes, you get $300 in credits for signing up for a 2 year contract, must port in numbers from other carriers. Write or more importantly, call us if you are interested.

By www.mountainviewcellphones.com 2/20/2010

The Samsung Moment is a much overlooked Android phone, but recently it’s been on a hot streak. With Sprint lowering the price of the unit to $99.00 and people discovering it’s greater speed and usability, it’s becoming a best seller for us.

However, it does have some software glitches we have seen. These are very minor but do make you visit your local Sprint service center.

1. The CL14 update works very easily; however, it will erase the phone and the apps you loaded on it. You will need to reset everything, but at least the GPS will work properly and it will be a more stable phone.

2. We’ve found that if you download too much at the same time that the phone may freeze and then go into a repeating boot loop. This is confirmed by other blog posts. We needed to get to the Android recovery utility and force and clean wipe of the device. After this, it worked fine.

3. Once we downloaded CL14 and did the clean wipe, the device appeared to work fine.

You can brick the phone if you don’t follow the directions in the CL14 upgrade process carefully. You have to enter in some esoteric codes and plug and unplug the device at various stages to get the upgrade software to work right (and we are the Service Center).

Outside of these minor points, this is a great device. The only complaint I personally have with the phone is that the space bar key is to small, but outside of that, customer satisfaction with Android is solid. Sprint’s network delivers on it’s data promise. Lastly, of course, being the best value in wireless, Sprint delivers on the pocket book as well.

By MountainViewCellphones.com

Just got back from my Honeymoon. If you have a chance to go to Australia and/or New Zealand, I would take the opportunity. The newest thing in Australia and New Zealand is the roll out of 3G, so it makes you feel a little technologically superior from a USA standpoint, but you quickly are in aw at the Cockutoos around Sydney and wish the same “life” was in the USA.

Lots changed at Sprint over the last few months.
1. HTC is in, Google is really in. Relatively bug free launches. No device is perfect, but they are not fatal in their flaws.
2. PRE is out. Getting to be our largest headache for servicing. Palm is a recalcitrant by not allowing Sprint and our team to repair the phones in the field. Whatever…
3. 4G is hot.
4. Business is steady and slightly growing overall.

Be back with more substantial updates.

The greatest handset launch for the simple phones is the Sanyo 3810. Elegantly simple. Big screen and buttons and is a traditional updated basic FREE phone. Sleek design and it’s great and easy to use. It’s a winner phone for a neglected market of simple phone users.

By Mountainviewcellphones.com 10/23/2009

Clearwire continues to meet it’s roll out targets with the latest aggressive push for Q4.  This time we are in some major city markets and this should drive subscriptions significantly upwards.

Things are finally looking up for Sprint.  4G, Google, Pre, better customer service, best value in wireless rate plans, and a more consistent marketing message.  Things are getting cooking and should yield much better results in 2010 as subscriber growth kicks into positive territory.

Clearwire Plans Major 4Q Launches

Posted In: Clearwire | FirstNews

10/10/2009 by www.mountainviewcellphones.com

We’ve been playing with out pre-release HERO and it’s a great product.  The ability to customize and the App store are the true differentiating factors for the device.

Between this and the PRE, there are plenty of things going for Sprint here.

First impressions:

1.  The app store is a phenomenal.  There are widgets and apps for so many things.  As Google has been at this for 2+ years, the range of apps for the platform is rather rich out the gate.  12,000+ apps by some counts.

2. The scene and layer capability is beyond any phone.  You can have 49  screens to customize…again phenomenal.  It’s the phone with the most multiple personalities.  For example, imagine you were preparing for an outdoor trip.  You could create a scene for this and then populate the 7 layers of the scene with all the apps or stuff you might need.  Compass app, maps app, footprints app, metal detector app, medical/first aid app, weather app, emergency numbers notes, notes for equipment purchases, check list of items to pack, Facebook sharing app, clock app, etc…

Then when you start your journey, you have everything you need separated from your other professional or family life.  The phone is now your appliance for outdoor adventure with the most relevant information at your finger tips.  Unlike it’s other smart phone competitors, it has the most capability to customize this range as of yet.

3.  Very stable OS.  I’m certain it will crash if we really push it.

4.  Great camera 5.0MP.  I was able to take a picture of a business card and be able to read it.  I could probably attach that picture to a contacts profile if I had the time to figure it out.  For people with children, this camera is a great step forward in getting better shots.  Not as good a camera as the new Samsung HD, also releasing, but much more well rounded device for other functions.

5.  Expandable SD Micro Memory ~32GB Max.

6.  Google integration superb with Android.

Other reviews…

The downside:

1.  The app store is great, but as Google is much more of an open market place for apps, it is much less regulated or “secure.”   There are no guarantees (outside of user reviews) that the apps will do something strange or unwanted to your phone.  We managed to download apps that were a bit malicious.  Not great…so user beware and just use some common sense before downloading things.

2.  Despite a larger battery, it’s still falls into the smartphone battery dilemma.  The better the phone…the more you use it…the more the battery drains…the faster the phone becomes a useless paper weight or annoys you to charge it.

Cool App Recommendation:

1.  Shazam…the music listening and tell you the artist and stuff about the song.

Palm recently introduced some great benefits into the market place.

1. In preparation for e-commerce on the PRE, 1.2 is released and 1.2.1, allowing you to store credit card information in the Palm Profile for transacting.

2. Downloading MP3 from Amazon directly on the Sprint network is now available.

3. Searching emails is now easy. Sharing images as attachments now available.

4. PRE photos apps can now view JPG, BMP, or PNG formats.

5. Exchange updated for synchronizing.

6. IM statuses now appear.

7. Ringtone volumes increased.

8. Sprint Navigation now pulls from Google contacts from the phone.

9. Zoom text defaults for the browser are a big plus.

10. Copying and cutting from websites a lot easier…press CAP key and touch screen as to section you want to copy/highlight. Then press the gesture area so the button lights up and then press the letter C. Notification of section copied appears. Great stuff.

More…

This is a great phone for the price. Where else can you get unlimited calls to any mobile phone, unlimited text, email, web, and navigation for $69.99/month. Top quality phone at value prices is hard to beat.

9/25/2009

Being a yellow and black guy myself, I have to hand it to Apple for their bar none marketing of the IPhone.  It’s a good device on a crappy network, but it’s sold as a god send to mankind.  Apple, I have to admit, is the quintessential example of branding and how people are willing to pay for a social phenomena.

Going forward, my theory is that ATT will lose it’s exclusivity for the IPhone.  It just doesn’t make sense for Apple to continue with them without entertaining other carriers to carry the unit.  The market is starting to get saturated and ATT is only 1/3 of the wireless market in the USA.  All the people who are going to buy an Iphone in the USA with ATT have mostly already have decided to get them.  Given the #1 complaint about the IPhone is ATT, it’s clear Apple will need to address this with its customers.  So, with just a basic numerical and service arguments, to continue it’s huge market capitalization, Apple must pursue the other 2/3 of the market place in the USA.  Sorry, social phenomena needs more than ATT customer base.

Verizon is the logical choice, provided they have a great network and great service and charge higher prices overall.  However, Verizon may not appreciate Apple’s high profit model at their expense.  I’m willing to put a good wager that Verizon will launch with the IPhone next year, ending the monopoly.  Sprint may ride the coat tails of this offer as the development of a CDMA version will suite both carriers easily.

This presents a real problem for ATT, as the IPhone is essentially the core of ATTs growth.  Strip out the IPhone and you have tepid wireless growth and a declining wireless business.  ATT stock over the last 2 years can tell this tale.

As all the carriers are considering LTE, yet nothing is in the ground and running (unlike Sprint’s 4G Wi-Max service), Apple may be waiting to launch the new phone under this standard, but that is about 2-3 years away at the earliest (despite ever aggressive LTE claims by Verizon).  Verizon has been a giant flip flop of launching this year with LTE, to many cities in 2010, now the entire country at end of 2010…please call me when you have at least 1 city up and running properly with paying customers and hardware.  So, Apple can’t wait 2-3 years here, the gargantuan market capitalization needs to be fed now…sure global growth can take it far but the USA is still a big and very rich market for wireless.

Lastly, there’s this Google company.  Since Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board, it’s clear that the company’s are now facing each other in the market place as competitors.  The “Google” phones are now coming out on Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon and these have a brand cache as well and a real threat to providing very “cool” products with very deep pockets.  HTC HERO by Sprint has definitely improved the cool design.  Competition for other carrier mind share is disappearing the longer Apple stays with ATT.  The Hero has a 5.0MP camera!!!! OMG.

So, that’s my theory of why Apple will end the happy monogamy and be a polygamist.  I don’t think it can afford to maintain it’s corporate growth and profits without more coals in the fire and this is an obvious and easy one.  It will create more management headache to deal with other carriers, but the pay-off will be much more handsome.

Unlimited calling to all mobile phones, included for free with Everything Data Plans. The best deal in wireless bar none.

The PRE has many great applications already out for use.

Many companies have already ported a version of their software into the PRE for use.  Here are some interesting great applications.

1.  Dining…OpenTable…like the mini web version.  This application allows you to make a dinner reservation from the PRE device.  What’s unique is that it references your location and you can quickly do a geographic search for nearest great eats.  Open Table usually targets restaurants that take reservations, so don’t expect a whole in the wall dining experience.  Reviews are also available.  Treat yourself and the restaurants by trying something new.   

2.  Keeping Passwords…This was a vital application.  I used this daily on my blackberry 8830, but with the new Palm PRE, the SplashID thru the download apps works like a charm.  It has many nice templates for different types of passwords (i.e.  frequent flyer miles versus web log-ins versus bank accounts).  A great plus to the Palm Pre.

3.  Shopping…in this economy, Craigslist has found a way to make your Palm PRE a mobile flea market.  Again, we can locate your position and find items available for sale by owner in the area.  I can even scan resumes of bilingual sales associates we are looking for.  This is a fabulous tool.  I can search for an electric bike on the cheap.

4.  Music…Pandora is one of the best applications for music.  The ability to play music by genres is great.  The greatest thing is that you can play music while you do other things on your PRE, like Craigslist, Web surfing, booking a dinner table, etc…  This is unique to the PRE and is a great reason for the phone.  Running multiple applications concurrently is a large advance that all smartphones will have in the future.

5.  Weather…AccuWeather has a crisp application for know the weather anywhere.  Always easy when planning a trip or what to wear.

6.  There are tons more apps on the way and they ARE NOT always in the app catalog.  These can be downloaded from the computer and loaded into the device.  You can get these apps on your PRE eventhough they have not been approved.  www.precentral.net  Go under the Home Brew Apps section.  It takes more effort but for the app you want, it’s worth it. 

Enjoy the PRE.  It’s a great device and $50 a month less than the IPHONE for unlimited everything service.