Cell Phone Specials

Today the iPhone 4S launches here in South Africa. This is exciting news. It looks like it is only available on contract at MTN and Vodacom.

I will rather wait and buy the new iPhone 4S cash. I think the contract prices are a bit on the expensive side, but then again, buying the iPhone 4S is also going to be hugely expensive.

And… at the moment I’m very happy with my iPhone 4 32GB. It still works like a dream, but I do know deep down in my heart I already want to upgrade to the latest and greatest.

At most I will go and checkout the demo of the phone and see how well Siri works in South Africa.

So will you be getting yourself the iPhone 4S before Christmas?

Technorati Tags: Cell Phone, iPhone 4S, launches, South Africa

We wanted to give you some insight into the reasons for doing a “coming soon iPhone 4″ special. Our business purpose is to offer exclusive cell phone deals…to you…at great prices.

(I took the pic with my cell phone, just to clarify that we are talking about the iPhone here. I will provide pics and a video of the actual iPhone…in the box…once it gets delivered.)

Obviously…we are still in testing mode…

…and busy getting cell phone deals in place for you with some potential suppliers. 

We could of gone the route of getting everything ready…spending a lot of money on design, e-commerce integration, etc. Only to get our butts kicked by the big guys, known as the “competition”.

Instead we decided to “just do it”. (I know…a bit corny, making use of Nike’s slogan like that.) 

The decision was to go out on the interweb, build relationships, play open cards and find out what you have to say. Will you be interested in exclusive cell phone deals, at great prices? It’s the perfect opportunity to find from you what you want and get as much input and suggestions from you.

The plan is to secure limited number of stock upfront and offer mobile devices at great discounts…lower than the competition. We even want to go as fat and do joint ventures with the “competition”. 

Why? 

Well…We believe in serving the market and are sick and tired of being forced to pay redicilous prices for the latest and greatest gadgets. There must be a better way.

How?

Offer quality devices at affordable prices and deliver customer happiness. (Think Zappos.com and their book “Delivering Happiness”).

Now the challenge for us is to go out and secure those deals. At first this will be limited number of mobile devices at a time.

What?

We decided to test our sales process, using the iPhone 4. For two reasons…I love Apple products and the iPhone is still hot in demand.

Negotiations are underway…but we managed to secure ONE iPhone 4 (sorry) to test if the market (that is you guys) will want to buy exclusive mobile devices at great prices.

It also gives us a chance to work out all the kinks, answer questions and resolve any concerns that you might have.

The plan is to get the iPhone delivered to us over the weekend. We will certainly keep you updated. It is going to be interesting to see how to offer ONE phone to all of you. I guess first come first serve…but is that the best way.

We would love to hear your thoughts and recommendations in the comments below.

Technorati Tags: cell phone deals, iphone, iphone 4, iphone 4 16GB

Last year I was strongly against the Blackberry phone. I thought and even public stated that I will never get myself a Blackberry.

Lesson learned …Never say never!

Being a self-confessed Apple fanboy I though I would betray my “loyalty” and believe in what Apple stands for. I strongly did not want to conform to the world of Blackberry, because I saw it as being too corporate and I grouped Blackberry users in the same category as “BMW drivers”.

About 6 months ago, my views have changed (slightly) …Let me explain.

Vodacom, MTN and even CellC have been aggressively selling Blackberry phones. They also made it relatively affordable for the “masses” to get one.

Even 13 year olds and grandmothers are walking around with them.

What was going on here?

Eventually and reluctantly I got myself the Blackberry Bold 9700, in April this year. And just to let you know …I was teased and constantly reminded by my friends and colleagues of all the times I told them that I would never ever, ever get a Blackberry phone.

They sure made me eat my words …all of them.

So why did I go for a Blackberry?

I really wanted the iPhone 3GS (Remember this was before the iPhone 4 launched). The Vodacom contracts were just too expensive. Even the finance option and pay-in price could not be justified. Don’t even get me started on the cash price. Vodacom quoted me more than R10,000 for the 32Gig iPhone 3GS!

My contract was way overdue for an upgrade and my 2 year old Nokia E90, just could not keep up.

HTC and Samsung were not an option. I must admit they have since released some pretty amazing Android phones. I hated Nokia, because they have shown no innovation in recent years and really need to step up their game.

The Blackberry was the only decent option left.

In fact both my wife an I ended up getting the Bold 9700.

It took my about 2 weeks to figure out how to work the phone and now (publicly admitting) I’m really enjoying this great little device. I’m even saving R300 a month, thanks to the BIS/BES infrastructure and Blackberry Messenger.

The apps on offer are good. It can’t compare with the iPhone/iPad app standards. My frequently used apps are Twitter and Facebook. These apps have made it easy to stay in touch with my network of friends and interests.

I occasionally use the Weatherbug app to check the weather. The Google maps app is simply awesome. It has saved me a couple of times from getting lost. Google maps work great on the Blackberry and with street view it makes for a good experience.

The operating system is a bit too slow too my liking and the Internet browsing experience is nothing special. I believe OS 6 promises to take care of this.

Most of my colleagues, friends and family have a Blackberry. It has made communicating with them really easy and cheap. Opening the camera app on my phone is slow and not that responsive. I wish it was more responsive. Taking photos of toddlers-on-the-move is a challenge.

Obviously the email integration and setup are super easy. I have about 4 email accounts liked and it works like a dream.

It took me awhile to get used to the interface and keyboard, but once I got the hang of it it became a pleasure to type on.

So what am I saying?

All in all, the Blackberry is a nifty phone. I’m enjoying it and it is serving its purpose.

There you have it …A true confession of an Apple fanboy using a Blackberry phone.

Please do comment. I would love to hear back from you.

Technorati Tags: apple fanboy, blackberry, blackberry phone, bold 9700, iphone

Those who follow the latest cell phone trends will know that Microsoft officially announced their new mobile platform earlier this week. The Windows Phone 7. It is going to be interesting to see what cell phone specials will be coming our way.

Must we be excited about the new Windows Phone 7 (WP7)? What does this mean for you, if you are looking for a new phone or your contract is about to expire? Do you wait and see what the new OS has to offer? And when will the Windows Phone 7 launch here in South Africa? Microsoft’s official launch date in America is 8 November on AT&T. The Samsung Focus will be the first device to launch running Windows Phone 7.

The reviews are out already there are the prophets of doom, forecasting the demise of WM7, even before it has launched. On the other hand the fan boys belief WM7 is going to take over and save the world. I say, lets wait and see …people will vote with their wallets.

Microsoft did one thing right …they got the major players, HTC, Samsung, LG and even Dell to take on Windows Phone 7. I did not even know Dell makes cell phones.

Will I be getting one? No, but I certainly want to get my hands on one of the Windows Phone 7 devices and play with it. It might be popular with folks already owning the Xbox and Zune. Anyone out there in SA owning a Zune? That must be a very rare sight to see someone with a Zune…

Is the Windows Phone 7 set to eat into Android’s market share?
More device choices using different mobile operating systems are great for choice. Hopefully the variety will also contribute in driving down the price of data usage and calls. Maybe, just maybe, we will see more and more customised cell phone specials from Vodacom, Cell C and MTN for the smart phones.

I am a self confessed Apple fanboy, but a Blackberry cell phone user, which is all very confusing. The Blackberry is a great option in South Africa if you need to sync your work emails. It becomes even more useful when most of your friends and family members have Blackberries. It makes communication so much easier and definitely brings down your cell phone bill. I don’t think Windows Phone 7 will be an immediate threat to Blackberry? One thing going for Blackberry is the BIS/BES infrastructure.

Don’t forget about app choices. It is going to be crucial to the success of Windows Phone 7. Microsoft, please have an open app market and don’t block apps from South Africa. Of course I am talking about the current pains Android and iPhone users have. The SA Android and iPhone app markets are very limited and makes these devices less appealing.

Microsoft, thank you for waking up and coming to play in the mobile market. Hopefully it is not too late. We are all looking forward to see what you have to offer and how user friendly your new OS will be.

Technorati Tags: blackberry phone, cell phone specials, windows phone 7, WM7

I was watching TV the other night and saw two ads that you don’t usually see on South African TV. It was an ad for the new BlackBerry Torch 9800 and, of course, the iPhone 4. The ads did not show any cell phone specials. I tjust focused on the many great features they have.

The smart phones like the new Blackberries and iPhones are certainly becoming main stream, here in SA. Everyday I see more and more people walking with an iPhone in their hand …not to even talk about BlackBerries (90% of my friends and colleagues got one).

This week I saw a colleague of mine showing off his new iPhone 4. Everyone seemed to be intrigued by his new gadget and certainly people were eager to “engage” with it.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is …We are seeing more and more exciting phones entering the market and therefore have many options to choose from.

It will be interesting to see what new cell phone specials awaits us. Hopefully data bundles and calls will get cheaper. We are definitely seeing Cell C coming to the front and offering great data bundle packages. However there is still a lack of “smart phone” packages to choose from that are customised per smart phone.

There are Blackberry and iPhone specific packages at the moment, but I have not see many others geared towards the HTCs and Samsung smart phones. Forget about Nokia. In my view they are dangerously close to becoming irrelevant, just like the Windows Mobile platform (proven by the decrease in market share. Less than 5% of the smart phones in the world run Windows Mobile). Hopefully Windows Mobile 7 can change people’s opinions and increase their market share.

Keep on the look out for some great cell phone specials (contract, pre paid and cash offers) coming our way. Maybe …just maybe the cash (retail) prices of the new smart phones will get more aligned with oversea prices.

Technorati Tags: blackberry phone, cell phone specials, iphone, iphone 4, samsung phone