B. Mann Consulting

I'm going to be doing a short interview with Global TV with my thoughts on the Blackberry Bold, which "launches" today on Rogers (apparently, reports say that the product isn't actually available in stores).

Of course, this is currently a GSM phone, so it's one more piece in Roger's arsenal vs. Telus and Bell, which both have the same set of CDMA phones. The newest phones are released on GSM first, and the CDMA versions lag by months, if they are available at all.

I've never been a huge fan of the Blackberry… as a consumer phone. I think that's still the case. This is definitely a great upgrade, but unless your company is paying for it, you're more likely to get an iPhone for home use. In addition, the Bold is more expensive with Rogers - $600 without contract, $400 with 3 year contract, vs. $200 (8GB) or $300 (16GB) for the iPhone.

If you're a current Blackberry users that loves the keyboard and scroll wheel, then you'll like this upgrade. Otherwise, we're waiting for the Blackberry Thunder (the touchscreen version) to potentially be "more like the iPhone".

Related links:

• Boy Genius Report: Blackberry Bold review - we've been rockin' it for a month
• Mobile Computer UK: RIM Blackberry Bold Review
• iPhone Blog: YouTube Video Review of iPhone vs. Blackberry Bold
• Boy Genius Report: Blackberry thunder, touchscreen

I'm going to be on CTV Newsnet again, this afternoon at 3:15PM PST, live with Marcia MacMillan. Below are a few notes and links, I'll clean this up and post a link to the clip once it's wrapped. I talked about the iPhone last time, and somehow I think it's going to come up again.

in fact, Rogers is the only firm NOT charging for incoming texts, they now have a decent data plan, they have the high end Nokia phones, AND they have the iPhone.

Only North America charges for incoming text messages -- Europe and Asia have always been free.

via Ian Bell - http://www.physorg.com/news129793047.html - "SMS costs are, in the aggregate, 4x higher than getting data from the Hubble space telescope. Global SMS revenues are larger than the Hollywood movie, music and video game industries combined."

Lots more from Ian, like "I could personally store-and-forward all of Canada’s SMS traffic myself via my Novus broadband in Yaletown, and it would have limited impact on my BitTorrenting". Oh, right, and of course the fact that SMS effectively is NO extra load on carriers - "As such it costs the network exactly nothing and uses no bandwidth that isn’t already in use — traffic load is the same on the network even if no SMS messages are being transferred." - http://www.kenneyjacob.com/2007/06/19/how-sms-works/

via Yule Heibel - Productivity is boosted by mobile - "They say that by 2016 the value of the combined mobile wireless voice and broadband productivity gains to the US economy will equal $427 billion per year" - http://www.psfk.com/2008/07/how-mobile-boosts-productivity.html

Bell and Telus being called before Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry - http://www.smstextnews.com/2008/07/bell_telus_called_before_federal_indu... - of course, I'm going to mention C-61 and cellphone locking that Mr. Prentice has a hand in

Update: I was off at a photowalk this evening and am just getting back. My segment was quite short, but I'm glad I got a C-61 mention in. Thanks to Mr. iPhone John Biehler for digging up the direct link to my clip: http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/text-charges/#clip65669

I'm glad I waited in posting any sort of "the iPhone with Rogers will suck" commentary, as it seems they have somewhat come to their senses. As usual, John Biehler was my iPhone news source, and here's the link to the Roger's press release.

A new "promotional" data plan is going to be available until August 31st (and I actually believe they'll extend it...), where you can bring your own voice plan, and add a 6GB data plan for only $30 / month. Hmm, maybe over 50K signatures at ruinediphone.com changed their mind? No, it's not unlimited ... but in talking to Roland -- who is the heaviest mobile app user I know -- he's never gone over 500MB. I think I used a couple of GBs when I was at the Olympics in Torino, and large megapixel camera phones and the fast 3G speeds could certainly eat bandwidth, but 6GB seems fair.

So...am I getting an iPhone? Nope. I don't really like contracts, and I don't like locked phones. I imagine we'll be able to get an unlocked iPhone at some point, where I'll be able to swap out SIM cards when traveling as I do now.

Meanwhile, looks like I'll be on CTV Newsnet talking about the other Canadian wireless barons -- Bell and Telus. They are going to start charging for incoming text messages. Well, this should be a fun ride ... Rogers isn't charging for incoming, it has the iPhone and the latest Nokia phones, and now -- decent data plans. Really, what are Bell and Telus thinking?

Update: Looks like this is not just for iPhone -- you can add this plan to *any* phone, as long as you sign a 3 year contract, and it does apply to Fido as well. See the post on howard forums for reference.

Mentioning his on the road week at Les Blogs, Paolo Valdemarin reports that 3G access with his phone costs 0,75 eurocent/kb = 7,6 Euros per Mb.

I would happily pay that price, especially for the approximately 300kbps speed of 3G. How much does wireless cost in Canada? Well, only Fido/Rogers have GPRS, while Bell and Telus have the ridiculous 1X no SIM card lock in nonsense. If you don't have a data plan, GPRS costs $30 CDN / MB, or 30 cents/kb. So, uploading one picture from my 1.3MP cameraphone costs about $9. Ridiculous!

Luckily, I have a grandfathered Fido plan that lets me use unlimited data for $50 / month. I try and use it as much as possible to get my moneys worth. Darren earlier reported what happens when you try data without a plan.