iPhone in the Philippines?

Last week, while watching Pinoy Big Brother (I know, but since this is for the Filipino masses blog, I have to watch that show too), I noticed something that made me giggle. To my surprise, Toni's cellphone is none other than the iPhone. Wow, I said to myself, iPhone is now available in the country. But then I remembered, Apple said that iPhone will not be available in Asia until next year, so the question is how did she 'acquired' that phone?

Strolling down the mall, I noticed that some cellphone shops actually sells iPhone. I asked for the price, PHP 29,000 for the 8GB iPhone, hmmm expensive I cringed. I asked if they have those phased out 4GB, unfortunately they don't have those in stocks. Finally I asked them if this was open lined already and they answered me with a big YES. But then I wondered, how the hell did they unlocked it with such a breeze and yet those in the USA or even Europe are having a hard time unlocking those things?

After the initial amazement of iPhone - I asked myself even though they assured me that the warranty is up to a year - how can I be personally assured that this thing will not be bricked if iPhone firmware updates? What if I installed 3rd party apps e.g. jailbraking the iPhone, will I still be covered with their warranty? After that, the realization sets in, it is not worthy right now to buy this gadget at this current state of uncertainty. PHP 29K is no joke and I don't want to brick it nor give them to snatchers. Have to wait for the official release here in the Philippines, who knows it might be open line.

Davao City will be a WiFi free zone

Good news fellow Davaoenoes - local businesses in Davao City are mulling a plan to make the city a free wireless internet access zone. You heard it right, Davao City will soon be a premier information and communication center much like Singapore. The said project will be the main agenda on the upcoming 6th Mindanao Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Congress on October 23-24.

When I was in Davao last August, I was amazed to find out that most coffee shops within the metro offered free wifi access. This is a great boon considering that wireless internet access nowadays is rampant and offers added bonus to a local business.

If the project will indeed push through, it will be disruptive that telecommunications company might try hard to put the program in the back-burner, just imagine what will happen if VOIP suddenly becomes available for free and widespread.

And if indeed this will push through, Davao City will once again rise to the top. As of now, Davao City has the most comprehensive traffic management system of any city in the Philippines as well as having our own 911 help line, the first outside US and Canada. And with this project, Davao will be put in the ICT map and lucrative businesses will (hopefully) flow in.

Do we need a National Broadband?

I don't have a TV. I admit I am poor. I get all my local news from Inquirer.net, GMANews.tv, and SunStar.com.ph. So recently I have been baffled by this current news in our country that talks about the NBN-ZTE Deal. For the uneducated (like me) NBN stands for National Broadband Network and it is a project by the Philippine government to create a private? network among all its government offices throughout the country (correct me if I'm wrong). And the beneficiary of such deal is ZTE Corporation of China. With a staggering budget of more than $300 million, this is the most talked about issue nowadays in Philippine tv airwaves. It even has its own Senate hearing.

As for me, I don't believe in this whole NBN thing. I prefer the private sector fund this kind of project. They have the money, they already have the expertise, and they can monetize this kind of undertaking. What benefit is it for the Philippine government to undertake this one? Just let us take a look at the US, the ones funding citywide "wification" are the private firms such as Google. And why do we need a private network? Is the internet not enough? If the problem is geophysical can't we ask the local telecommunications firms to serve that area? Or do we still have zero signal areas in our country? Anyway this is an interesting issue that will get interesting in the upcoming days. I will be reading more articles regarding this tv drama and giving some of my unimportant inputs.

Foleo has been cancelled!

A look at this article reveals Palm is canceling the Foleo. It has been awhile since I blog about Palm's intention to create a mobile companion device, the Foleo. But it seems Palm succumb to outside pressure about the relevance of their much hyped device. Engadget for their part has filed an appeal to Palm to reconsider axing the said project. Click here to read the very nice article engadget bloggers (don't know they could come up with originals, but it was good) throw at Palm.

With millions and millions of R&D money already spent in conceptualizing Foleo, I don't think Palm will just throw in the towel. I bet they will regroup and essentially (hopefully) create the Foleo as a real contender or if they don't Eee will eat their lunch.

Video of the Week: Unknown Zune Commercial

Nice ending.

I Want Eee!

I know what I want for Christmas! An Eee! According to Asus, Eee stands for "easy to learn, easy to play, easy to work". Just by hearing the name one can recall a similar product the Nintendo Wii. Maybe it was named as such to conjure the novice-friendly approach of Wii into computing.

Just look how small it is.

Specifications

According to reports the Asus Eee PC 701 specifications are:

• 7-inch display
  
• 802.11b/g WiFi
• Ethernet
• modem
• webcam
• 900 MHz Intel Dothan Pentium M CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 4 or 8 GB flash drive
• and a Linux OS

This thing runs Linux.

What about the price?

This is the reason why I want this gadget. Price starts at $199 for the 4GB model and $299 for the 8GB model. Imagine that! For less than PHP 10K I can have a spanking brand new, powerful, and very ultraportable laptop-lite.

The Market

Students or someone who just wants a laptop to:

• browse the web
• check emails
• instant messaging
• video conferencing
• jot down notes
• create simple office related tasks
  
• upload and download files

This machine is heaven-sent. With Palm Foleo just around the corner, it will be an interesting year for laptop-lites. Hoping to grab one in stores by the year-end. And again hoping that Filipino tech shops won't overprice this thing.

* for a very thorough review of this thing, click here.