Strolling through the streets of New York this evening on the way back to the hotel from a meeting I took a look at my BlackBerry and saw the familiar wind-up text from Vodafone. The message reads:

Just to let you know, you’ve used over 3MB of data which has cost you 3 per MB so far. Once you use more than 5MB in a day, the charge becomes 15 inc VAT for each 5MB.

I’ve written about this before. I don’t know why Vodafone make these messages so cryptic.

Shouldn’t the message read, “You’ve used 9?”

No. Of course not. That’s quite expensive. Much better to ease the customer into a false sense of security — to try and avoid too much bill shock. Indeed, the more confusion and the lower the perception of costs, the better.

It’s ridiculous. It’s not just an issue confined to Vodafone — Three, for example, is a lot more direct about the costs in their text updates. The fundamental issue is that the rates are still far too high — Vodafone’s team are obviously aware of this or they wouldn’t have felt the need to disguise and divert attention from them.

It’s a sad state of affairs, it really is. I decided to record a video — for posterity’s sake — of how I was feeling about it. I’m intending to be able to look back at this in years (5? 10?) to come when this is no longer an issue. I wonder what the marketplace will look like at that point. What will the phrase ‘carrier’ or ‘operator’ or ‘roaming’ mean in 5 years time? Or 10 years? It is realistically going to need a decade before I can stride between geographies without having to care too much about the resulting data costs?

If you’ve got 10 minutes and you’re in the mood for an outpouring of emotional geekish disbelief, click on and tell me what you think.

What’s your view: Will the roaming issues we know today have gone away by 2020?

[Note: Nigel on Google+ points out that Vodafone do offer a 'rest of the world' roaming deal -- 5 for 25mb a day and that is valid in the United States. Although this is certainly a lot better than this 3 per megabyte nonsense, my key point is the fact it's still crazy pricing. For instance 5 per day for my 2-week trip equates to 70.]

Is this the next iPhone? I hope so. (photo credit: This is my next…)

Earlier this week, Apple announced their next major media event entitled “Let’s Talk About the iPhone.” Nearly 18 months after the announcement of the iPhone 4, Apple is expected to unveil the successor. The rumors this time around have been all over the place. From speculation that the next iPhone will be a device very similar to the iPhone 4, simply a spec bump of the current version called and iPhone 4S, to a full blown larger screen iPhone 5, to even seeing both.

I believe that Apple needs an all new iPhone 5, failure to release that would imply, to many, a lack of innovation on a platform that they re-invented. And failure to see an iPhone 5 on Tuesday would look bad for the new Apple CEO and the stock price.

There have been rumors going around since the spring of an iPhone 5 with a larger screen, tapered back, and faster processor. First reported by This is my next, the device looks strikingly like the current iPod touch. But more recent rumors have pointed to that much less innovative iPhone 4S as the next iPhone.

Now let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment and think of how the lack of an all new design iPhone 5 being revealed on Tuesday would be received by the media and public. While the following can be seen as a bit overblown and even preposterous, I think we’re used to that from some segments, and I did say I was playing devil’s advocate.

For Apple to wait nearly 18 months to release an iPhone that is basically the same as the iPhone 4 would be thought of as a triple mistake. It would look bad for Tim Cook, new CEO of Apple, it would impact the stock price, and would give Android a further foothold in the smartphone market.

Tim Cook took over for Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple in August. This will be his first big product reveal and in the worlds eyes, his first big test. For Apple to continue to be thought of as a leader in the smartphone area, they need to continue to innovate. Without a new iPhone, it will appear, at least on the surface, that Apple has stopped innovating and that Tim Cook has failed in his new role. In other words, we waited 18 months for this?

Let’s end devil’s advocate mode for a moment. This is of course preposterous. A little truth that many won’t think about is that products like the iPhone are developed over a 24-36 month period. Meaning we won’t really see what Tim Cook is capable of for another two plus years. The iPhone that will be announced Tuesday has likely been in development since at least 2009, perhaps earlier.

Without a new iPhone, and the perceived lack of innovation in the smartphone market, Apple should be prepared to take a rather large stock hit. Though it will likely recover, it may take some time and a couple product launches to get back to it’s stellar highs.

In this same time period since the iPhone 4 launch, the high end segment of the Android market has been taken over by large screen, dual core processor, 8MP cameras, beasts of devices. The iPhone 4 is really closer to a small screen these days compared to the current crop of large candy bar phones with beefy processors, huge amounts of memory, and large lens cameras. And Android has already surpassed the iPhone in smartphone sales. I now see more Android handsets in use in San Francisco than I do iPhones. While the iPhone 4 is still the most common single device, the number of Android devices I see easily outnumber the iPhone two to one.

More pragmatically, people crave new devices. They want the hot new thing in their hand to look cool, stylish. If you see someone with an iPhone 4S, one that looks just like the last model, you won’t know they have the cool new phone as it looks like the used to be cool old phone. So products like the iPhone need to look different frequently to cause people to want them and to sell.

Ok, enough of devil’s advocate, let me put the record straight. I think we will see the iPhone 5 on Tuesday. My sources say it is done and ready and is pretty much what we see above. But there are still possible hiccups. There could be production delays, supply problems, or any of a number of contractual and legal reasons that it won’t be announced on Tuesday. The chances of that at this point late in the game, are I believe fairly slim. I do believe those reasons are why we didn’t see the iPhone 5 in June, the usual iPhone launch timeframe.

So, bring on the iPhone 5!

[Image credit: This is my next...]


About: Why Apple Needs an iPhone 5 not an iPhone 4S is a post from 148Apps

This update to the Wildfire is slightly smaller and lighter, while packing in a better display, faster processor, and FM radio. Other features of this entry-level Android phone are similar, including a 5-megapixel camera, 3.5mm audio jack, memory card slot, multi-touch screen, and Wi-Fi.

It’s time for the sixth post in our Operator Innovation series.

Last week I looked at the issue of SMS and how operators still have time to leverage one of their strongest assets — messaging and the phone number identity that underpins it.

This week I’m looking at added value — or semi-intangibles. I’ve often remarked before that operators need to get into the lifestyle business more. For large sections of the population, call minutes and text messaging bundles are a known quantity. Yup. Next. Move on. Is that really all you can offer me? More minutes? Double minutes? 3.5 extra minutes if I call between the hours of blah and blah? Double texts on a Tuesday if I top up with a fiver?

What if I’m a contract customer?

This is where it gets increasingly frustrating for certain segments of the operator market.

There’s a lot of people out there who define themselves as sovereign individuals. They might be contractors or perhaps self-employed. They are, fundamentally, business people. They’re either total entrepreneurs or they have a wild entrepreneurial streak that surfaces regularly. And they ‘speak’ brand. They have the best watch, the nicest suit — they research the best case for their iPad 2, they buy the highest quality accessories for their top-of-the-range Sony ultralight laptop or their Mac Air. They eat out regularly in nice restaurants. In the absence of religion or traditional class structure, they define themselves by brand consumption and allegiance.

And their operator is ignoring them. Chances are, the operator is busy trying to flog SIMs to the fabled 16p-annual-ARPU mass market, whilst totally ignoring the segment of discerning customers with large amounts of disposable income to spend.

I suspect that if you’re reading Mobile Industry Review, you probably fit into this sovereign individual category. You may well be an employee but I’m sure, at minimum, you have some level of entrepreneurial streak. Otherwise you’d be sitting watching Jeremy Kyle instead of reading this.

So please do run with me for the moment.

Ben Smith was describing to me his abject joy at discovering T-Mobile have apparently introduced a price plan ‘booster’ that, for 15 a month, offers unlimited BlackBerry data worldwide. He explains the full offering here.

“Really?” I asked, my excitement rising.

“Yes, really,” he confirms. He actually had to do a heck of a lot of confirming. He didn’t believe it. Neither did I.

But yes, it’s valid. Obviously there are some efficiencies to be gained from BlackBerries due to the way they manage and route their data traffic. RIM are ultra efficient with data consumption on their devices.

This price plan ‘bolt on’ had me reaching for the phone. I am nigh-on almost ready to swap to T-Mobile as my primary operator for this, given how much I use my (BlackBerry) abroad.

But I haven’t swapped.

Not yet.

It’s not quite enough. It’s certainly almost there, but not enough to get me to switch. I’m ‘ok’ paying 2/day for 25mb in Europe to Vodafone at the moment.

This got me thinking. What would make me switch? What would it take?

I think I need more.

Sell me the lifestyle. Sell me the benefits. Let me feel good. Give me something that makes MY spend with T-Mobile look better than my friend’s spend. The fact I can’t easily differentiate operator choice between my peers is bad news.

I’d like the best. This segment really does 59 on a super-quality leather case for their iPad/iPhone/MacBook Air.

So what would get me excited?

Well, I traveled to Ireland last night. I popped into Heathrow Terminal 1 to take the Aer Lingus flight to Cork as I’m attending a wedding this weekend. I had some food at the ultra shit but very nicely appointed “The Goose” pub and waited for my colleague Rafe Blandford to arrive.

It’s at this point that I thought I should have ‘lounge access’.

Why doesn’t my operator offer me this? If I’m thinking about buying a global data roaming package, chances are I might also want to get airport lounge access too, so I can do some work. Or get a free mini can of coke along with a biscuit.

I’d like to explain to Rafe that my T-Mobile GlobalPlus+ price plan gets me and one friend into any airport lounge on the planet.

I’d feel good. Rafe would feel good too. And probably make a mental note to investigate that price plan for himself later on.

It does actually make sense — if you’re buying an international data roaming package, chances are you’d like that too.

But there’s more.

Why not sell me a Boingo Wireless account too? So that, thanks to being a customer with T-Mobile, I can get access to every possible hotspot on the planet as well.

Airport lounge access? That’s valuable.

WiFi anywhere? That’s valuable.

So when I’m looking down the price plan option list, why not add these on? These kind of semi-intangible options really do start making folk feel good. They represent (at minimum) a perception of value, even if you actually only go abroad twice a year.

I could definitely imagine paying a fiver or a tenner extra to T-Mobile each month so that I got access to their suite of GlobalPlus+ fancy sounding offerings.

All of a sudden, T-Mobile can start extracting additional cash for more than just minutes, texts and data.

I’d really like to see a lot more experiments in this regard. What about, for example, adding in Regus office support? Pay 100 per month and you get ‘planet-wide WiFi access’, priority airport lounge access and the ability to ‘touchdown’ at 1,100 offices worldwide?

Now it’s a real business tool for me, not just a commodity..

What do you think?

Trivia games are always crowd pleasers, and just about every game show has a iOS game counterpart. So do the biggest board games. But, while often top sellers, they dont always represent the best games. Weve collected our favortie four trivia games for you here. If we missed your favorite let us know.

Big Brain Quiz

For traditional trivia buffs looking for a broad range of subjects, we really like Big Brain Quiz. It’s free and the questions are all over the map from technology to music, sports to celebs. The animations are well done and there is Facebook integration with a decent-sized community. The game comes with over 3000 questions, and there are a lot of add-on packs available for purchase in-app. The developers add seasonal content for free and host periodic contests with deluxe question sets as prizes.

Big Brain Quiz

Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Buy Now: FREE
Released: 2010-08-10 :: Category: Games

You Dont Know Jack

If genuine humor served up with anything from Shakespeare to flatulence is more appealing than straight trivia, You Dont Know Jack is a fantastic option. The game is done in a pseudo tv-show style, like something you might find on MTV – it did actually lead to a short lived broadcast. The game is clever and polished with real laugh-out-loud moments and integrated Facebook score posting. A free light version is also available.

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: $2.99

Our Rating: :: WORTH GETTING TO KNOW
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2011-04-14 :: Category: Games

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK HD

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Buy Now: $4.99
Released: 2011-04-14 :: Category: Games

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK LITE

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: FREE
Released: 2011-04-14 :: Category: Games

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK HD LITE

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Buy Now: FREE
Released: 2011-04-14 :: Category: Games

MovieCat!

MovieCat! may actually be funnier than You Dont Know Jack – at least it gives it a good run for the money. Its certainly the most original title of the bunch. Instead of clips from actual films players get movie trivia from scenes performed by the kitty cast of players and nine lives to beat five rounds of inventive puzzles and trivia challenges. There are additional puzzle packs for in-app purchase with extra cat scenes included and Facebook bragging is built in.

MovieCat!

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: $1.99

Our Rating: :: ADDICTIVE
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2010-09-11 :: Category: Games

Animal Planet: Trivia Challenge

Ok, so we have to forgo Facebook with this one, but animal lovers can still show off their skills in Game Center with the trivia game brought to iOS by the cable television channel that bears the same name. As one would expect, the variety of animals and facts have outstanding breath and the app has a library of high-quality images of animals in their natural habitats from the channels archives. The game comes with 2000 questions and an additional 1000 for in-app purchase, has multiple difficulty settings to engage kids but challenge adults, and has great video.

Animal Planet: Trivia Challenge

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Buy Now: $1.99
Released: 2011-03-14 :: Category: Games

Apps mentioned in this post: Animal Planet: Trivia Challenge, Big Brain Quiz, MovieCat!, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK HD, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK HD LITE, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK LITE


About: Favorite Four: Trivia Games is a post from 148Apps