iPhone Demand is High in Ireland

Writing for Ireland’s Sunday Business Post Adrian Weckler predicts that there will be an iPhone release in Ireland this year, and that there will be such high customer enthusiasm that the supplier will have a hard time meeting demand.

He also predicts that it will be Irelands 3G Stores who will distribute the device. He makes this prediction based on the fact that 3G’s CEO, Tony Boyle met with Steve Jobs at Macworld in San Francisco in mid-January. Weckler further reports that 3G already has a long list of customers who are waiting impatiently for the MacBook Air, and he feels that these high numbers could be indicative of an equal interest in Apple’s iPhone.

“I think that it’s not going to be a question of whether or not there’ll be demand here for the iPhone,” Boyle said, ”it’s more an issue of whether they’ll be able to make enough of them to satisfy what we think is going to be huge demand.”__

Weckler reports that Boyle anticipates great ease with the sale of the device. Boyle enthuses, “The market is lapping up luxury phones at the moment,” he said. “We’ve had no problem selling Samsung Giorgio Armani, LG Prada and Nokia Sirocco phones over Christmas, and they’re comparable in cost to the iPhone.”

Montezemolo, President of Ferrari, calls Apple, Inc. “Revolutionary”

What is more exciting that the beauty and speed of a Ferrari? Could it be an Apple computer?…an iPod? As one of the most coveted of the world’s truly excellent sports cars, the Italian Ferrari has few competitors. So it is safe to say that Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the President of Ferrari, knows a thing or two about innovation, cutting edge design, beauty and product desirability.

When Mr. Montezemolo speaks of a company he admires, people should sit up and take notice. And the company he admires, it turns out, is Apple. He calls Apple, Inc. a “myth”, and states that it evolved from nothing to become what he calls the most innovative company in the world. This is high praise indeed from such an esteemed individual.

Montezemolo specifically cites the Mac and the iPod, and says that Apple has extraordinary communication skills. Do you think it might be safe to say that Apple is the Ferrari of technology companies? Beauty, style, sleekness, speed, power, design, innovation…….we might be on to something here.

To read the entire article in its original Italian, see: http://www.setteb.it/content/view/3328

O2 Sweetens the Deal for iPhone Customers

Great news for anyone who is using the iPhone in the UK: 02 is offering a much-improved contract for all iPhone users. This contract offers more text messages and a significantly higher call allowance for users on existing tariffs.

Jonny Evans, of MackWorld UK writes, “The move is part of an overall improvement in the network’s offering for all its mobile phone customers. The company is introducing six new and simpler tariffs and introducing free voicemail for its new and existing customers from 1 February.”

Those iPhone customers who are signed onto the least expensive (£35) tariff will now have three times the original call allowance, meaning 600 minutes instead of the original 200. They will also be able to send 500 SMS messages instead of the original 200.

The £45/month iPhone will now have the call/text allowance previously given to those customers paying £55 per month: 1,200 minutes and 500 texts per month.

Those iPhone users who had the top contract at £55/month will now have the option to either lower their bill by £10/month, or to move to a £75/month contract that provides 3,000 call minutes and 500 texts a month.

There is still an 18-month minimum contract on the iPhone, but 02’s improved tariffs are sure to bring an increase in sales, especially since the iPhone itself has just had an upgrade and is even better than before.

Buy the UK iPhone here:
Apple UK
O2
Carphone Warehouse

Need Help Getting Organized? Meet Bento

If you are like most people, the hardest part of daily life is getting and staying organized.
There is nothing worse than wasting time in your work day searching for files, or hoping that your documents can be retrieved without delay. Scrolling through lists until your eyes blur is hardly a productive use of your time, right? So….take a look at Bento, the new personal database from FileMaker that organizes your most important information in one place. It allows you to coordinate events, track your various projects and activities, prioritise your workdays, manage your contacts — all so much faster and easier than you have ever done before.

With built-in links to Address Book and iCal, you will never have to re-enter contact and calendar info again. Bento links and syncs for you, all in a beautiful Bento template, which you can choose from more than 20 that are read-to-use; suddenly, the search, sort, organize time is shorter, simpler and oh so stress-free.

Bento makes managing lists in Microsoft Excel or any other program that exports to Comma Separated values a snap; you can simply import them with a drag and drop. Bento works with your iPhone and your .Mac account, through the iCal and Address Book. It also is a great complement to your iWork software.

Bento is affordably priced at just £30 (UK) / Eur 40 (Ireland) - or £60 (UK) / Eur 82 (Ireland) for a five-licence family pack - and runs on Mac computers running Leopard. Still not sure? That’s okay — Bento is sure enough to offer you a trial period. For more details,
See http://www.filemaker.co.uk/products/bento/together.html

Apple TV: Lots to Enjoy

Apple wants you to spend more quality time with your TV. If your TV is the centre of your entertainment life, and your computer is the centre of your digital life, it makes perfect sense that Apple would find a way to put them together With Apple TV, you can watch what you want whenever you want. Buy a TV show with the click of the remote, or enjoy lots of free content from the internet on your widescreen TV. Choose from YouTube videos, experienced in a whole new way on your TV screen. Take advantage of the thousands of free videos, including those which are top featured, most viewed and top rated. There are thousands of new videos every day, so there is always something fun to watch. You can also watch HD video podcasts, downloaded right off iTunes.

Use your big screen to look through your .Mac Web Gallery or Flickr photo album, and experience your photographs in an entirely different, more dramatic and exciting way.

And don’t forget your music! Frequently, the best soundsystem in our home is connected to our TV — so why not play your iTunes library through that system? “My Music” allows you to play up to 36,000 songs from your computer through those speakers and on the screen. It is also easy to browse more than 6 million songs from your Apple TV, and simply click to buy. Of course, it all syncs up — any music you purchase from Apple TV automatically will sync to your computer, making it simple to transfer it to your iPod or iPhone.

Apple TV is just one more way that Apple makes life more enjoyable.

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