Looks like us Aussies were able to download it before our fellow Americans since many of my U.S. Twitter friends complained that they could not even see it in their AppStore instance.

Skype iPhone AppStore Download
Skype for iPhone took a little longer to download than the average app but it eventually completed its journey onto my iPhone. This app is taking a spot on my first page of apps given it’ll be one of my most used.

Voice Calls with Skype iPhone – Not allowed over 3G
Not sure if it’s a limitation with my carrier (Telstra) or a general iPhone Skype restriction but I could not make or receive calls via my 3G connection. Either way, this puts a damper on the whole app release and I especially feel for those customers who have all-you-can-eat data plans who can’t take advantage of potentially cheaper calls via Skype.

Other than that, voice calls over WiFi connections was fine. I even had a random Twitter guy (@ispears) call me from London to help me test this. We spoke for approximately 4 minutes and throughout that time didn’t experience any dropouts or noticeable distortion.

I liked how Skype had a speakerphone option so I could keep an eye on my waning battery life while enjoying the bliss of a Skype voice call.

Chatting Over Skype iPhone
As expected, talking to your friends via the chat option is simple and visually pleasing. You can have real time conversations with your Skype buddies and while doing so you the app allows you the options of either calling them and viewing their profile.

Other features of the Skype for iPhone include:

- take a photo for your avatar within the app
- conference call ability
- Buy Skype credits, Online Number and Voicemail buttons (takes you to website)

Being able to use Skype on iPhone’s award winning interface has just increased the iPhone’s functionality even more – even though it’s taken around 2 years, it’s a welcome addition to the AppStore.

Very little is known about the Acer A1, except that it’ll have a touchscreen. Not really much to rejoice about.

Given Acer’s ability to adapt and succeed in new markets such as the netbook space, I have an inkling that Acer may just be a force to watch out for as it sets its sights on smartphones. Will Acer pleasantly surprise us? Time will tell.

It seems that this toe-dipping exercise may be the start of something bigger with company president, Gianfranco Lanci predicting that smartphones may be responsible for up to 10% of Acer’s revenue in the future.

Via Brighthand

One trend I am seeing on the increase though, is the policy of price matching.  Propagated by big chains and retailers, they promise to match or even beat (by a set percentage) a rival’s price for the same product.  While on the surface, this sounds like a good deal to consumers as they are able to get the lowest price with the convenience and peace of mind of purchasing for a large retailer, and they are able to take advantage store policies such as returns, warranties and so forth.  However, I think this practice is hurtful to small businesses and will be downright detrimental to consumers in the long run.

Price Matching

The basic premise of price matching is that a retailer who offers this policy, will attempt to match or beat a price advertised by a competitor for the same product.  Note that I say “advertised” – they usually require some sort of proof of the price offered, be it a catalogue, even in some cases print outs from a competitor’s website.  Some even offer a price guarantee policy, where if a customer purchases a product from a retailer and subsequently find a competitor offering a lower price, the retailer will refund the difference in price.

For the price-matching retailer, it is a win-win situation, in that (1) they get the customer’s business, and (2) they deprive their competitor of the potential earnings.

Below the Belt

The realities of business today gives a overwhelming advantage to those with economies of scale – just look at how the Walmarts or Costcos of the world are able to squeeze margins of their suppliers down due to their purchasing power.  When a smaller competitor comes up against these giants they face either one of two choices – compete on intangibles such as customer service, advice or a positive customer experience; or compete on price.

The latter is where the price matching policy is most hurtful.  Small retailers face a dilemma – if they price their products too high, customers will simply walk away and buy from the big boys.  After all, why take a risk with the smaller stores when the big stores are doing it for less anyway?  The alternative is for the small retailer to outprice the retail giants – just lower your profit margins, and perhaps attract enough volume to make it profitable.

A price matching policy however, eliminates the incentive for a consumer to patronise the smaller retailers – as soon as one offers a low price hoping to attract customers, those same customers are able to take that offer to grab an even better bargain from a large retailer instead.

With the proliferation of online bargain sites, I’ve seen this behaviour on many occasions.  In fact, a common approach is to use a price comparison search engine, find the lowest price, and then hit the big retailer for a price match and cash back of the price difference.

Above: A typical comment on a bargain website

Impact on the Industry

The net-effect of this price matching behaviour is that the smaller retailers lose out in the long run.  Traditionally, these smaller businesses are able to stay competitive because they have less policies, programs, administrative and cost overheads in general.  Increasingly however, those seeking to make an honest buck by offering low prices are finding themselves undercut by the big retailers.

At the end of the day, these giants are probably making a loss on each price matched sale.  They may write it off as a strategic investment, or loss leader or what have you, but they are able to shrug it off because they have much larger cash reserves and resources.  Unable to compete, these mom and pop store owners, entrepreneurs, family businesses and the like are soon be pushed out of the scene, the same way gas stations, hardware and grocery stores have gone.

Once there are no smaller businesses to compete against them, my fear is that the large chains will have have free reign of the market.  They will then have the power to dictate price and terms to customers, artifically inflate prices or reduce supply.  It is easy to gain an insight into how such a market will operate – just look at the monopolistic niches that the Amazon Kindle or Apple iPhone operate in.

Call to Action

Here’s what I think needs to happen to ensure a free and competitive marketplace, one where businesses large and small are able to thrive:

1.  No store-wide price matching policies

A store-wide price matching policy, when employed by large corporations, is subversive and borders on anti-competitive behaviour, and will have a detrimental effect on the retail industry in the long run.

2.  Price comparison, not price matching

I am a staunch advocate of consumers doing research through price comparison sites and finding the best deals in that manner.  Stores should go ahead and advertise their best price, and may the best price win.  No lazy pricing and winning by default through the price-match-out-of-jail-free card.

3.  Competition on factors other than price

Price isn’t the only factor when making a purchase – retailers can compete by providing superior service, expertise advice, an exchange or returns policy for peace of mind.  You’d be surprised how many customers would be willing to pay a little more in return for these.

In summary, price matching policies are putting smaller retailers at risk.  In the long run, it will be detrimental to the free market and consumers will ultimately suffer for it.

The EEE keyboard features Apple-like keys, plus an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of memory, and either 16GB or 32GB solid state storage.  The kicker though is a 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen where a normal number pad should be – the intended usage is as a control area to drive the main monitor or TV.  Connectivity also includes WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0, three USB 2.0 ports and VGA output.

Here’s a demo of it in action:

The device is in its final prototype stages, with production soon, starting at the $400 price point, jumping to around $600 for the Wireless HDMI version.

via SlashGear.

For me, the main attraction is the display technology – the e-Ink or e-Paper screen reflects light instead of using a backlight – making it akin to reading a real book as opposed to a small LCD screen.   It is much easier on the eyes, reading in sunlight is no sweat, and battery life is measured in weeks, not hours.  Another selling point is that Amazon have hooked in free wireless connectivity via EVDO/CDMA networks, meaning wikipedia lookups a tap away.  In fact, some people buy a Kindle just to surf the web for free, in style.  Finally, with Amazon’s stock of 240,000 ebooks and counting, you’ll never be left wanting for more content (again, wireless delivery works wonders here).

Unfortunately for Australians like me (and pretty much the rest of the world), that’s where the dream ends as Amazon have chosen to limit availability of the Kindle device to the US for the time being.  Sure, you can get the Kindle App for the iPhone, but you don’t get the luxury of the beautiful 6 inch e-Ink screen.

Anyway many of us are wondering how the 2nd generation Kindle reader compares to its predecessor.  Some key differences:

• 16 shades of grey vs 4 shades
• 20% faster page turns
• 5 way navigation button vs 2 way scroll wheel
• 8-in.x5.3-in.x 0.36-in., 10.2 ounces vs 7.5-in. x 5.3-in.x .07-in., 10.3 ounces
• 2GB onboard storage vs 256 MB
• Stereo speaker vs mono
• Text to speech capability
• 2 week (continuous) battery life vs 30 hours
• Sleeker, thinner, body with rounded corners

Based on the above, the Kindle 2 certainly wins hands down, but one needs to look at the user experience factor as well.  Thankfully, having been out for over a month, a number of sites have posted their reviews and opinions.

With comments such as “being a sexier device” and “best e-book reader out there”, Wired and CNet were mostly positive:

Overall, the Kindle 2 addresses the key problems with the original, boosts performance and points to some interesting directions. Now we’re a little bit further down the road toward e-book Nirvana.

However, Engadget were unimpressed with the changes, calling them mere “hardware tweaks”.  “Besides the text-to-speech function, there’s not much you can do on the new Kindle that you couldn’t do on the old one.”  Gizmodo were particularly scathing – calling it the “same Kindle as before”, and an “evolution” than a “revolution”.

Brighthand also provide an in-depth review, and points out some flaws:

“Despite the overall positive tone of this review, the Kindle 2 isn’t perfect. I’m not a huge fan of the 5-way joystick, as it’s slippery and at times difficult to use, and there are still some user interface bugs that need ironed out. Moreover, when you flip the power switch to turn wake it from sleep mode, it can take up to thirty seconds before it’s fully responsive; until then it can take more than a second for pages to refresh.”

However, they again end off their review saying that the Kindle 2 is “best e-reader on the market today, based on a combination of features and price”.  This seems to be the general consensus, despite appearing to be an incremental upgrade to the original product.

What about you?  What are your thoughts on the new and improved Kindle, and has it met or exceeded your expectations?  Which areas does it fall short in?  Looking forward to hearing your comments…

Most smartphone platforms support touchscreens and/or keyboards, and let you browse the internet, run apps, view photos and play games/music/movies. And while they may act the same on a fundamental level, not all smartphones are created equal. Here’s where they match up, and where they don’t:

It’s fortunate that the iPhone OS 3.0 has been announced – if not for that, most of the fields is the iPhone column would be a big, ugly, red NO.

via Gizmodo.

Core functionality:

• Copy and paste text – well ’bout time
• Copy and paste photos
• Global search via Spotlight feature
• Search in mail, calendar and iPod
• Landscape keyboard

Communications:

• 3G Tethering
• Multimedia messaging (MMS)
• Push notification
• Wi-Fi auto-login
• Send and receive files via bluetooth
• Peer to peer (iPhone) connectivity
• Browse remote content on other iPhones
• Stereo Bluetooth A2DP audio – finally, you can use your bluetooth headphones!
• VOIP in apps

App improvements / new apps:

• Voice memo & audio recording in apps
• Calendar CalDAV and .ics calendar support
• Use maps in other applications
• Turn by turn directions API
• Safari browser improvements – auto-login, anti-phishing
• Sync notes in iTunes
• Improved stocks application
• Rumbling – for games and such
• App store improvements – app subscriptions, add-ons for apps and games

Anyway, don’t just take our word for it – see screenshots or a video walkthrough of the beta.  You’ll be amazed!

via Gizmodo.

The Nokia E75 is a jam-packed phone with everything that one could ask for.  Here’s a video to give you true visual on this beauty:

The biggest rumours have been generated by Digg founder Kevin Rose, who is sticking his neck out and claiming the following:

• Cut and paste by double tapping a word, then pinching to choose the highlighted text (which is apparently indicated by a set of quote marks), and choosoing from a button: cut, copy or paste.
• Applications will still be unable to run as a background process
• No video recording for this release
• All the features that the Palm Pre will have

The last statement is quite vague, but alludes to a move by Apple to head off their competitor even before the product hits the market.

Kevin Rose’s track record in predictions aside, there is also speculation that Apple will be releasing a new iPhone model.  Apple has been consistent with its device refreshes, launching the original iPhone in June 2007 and the iPhone 3G in 2008.  An Apple rumours site, MacRumours, is even suggesting holding off on iPhone purchases as a new model is imminent.

Personally, I think that with new devices such as the Palm Pre and the next generation of Android phones emerging, the smartphone market is nearing in a “perfect storm” situation.  Exciting times indeed for gadget-o-philes!

via Gizmodo.