Is this the Iphone killer?

If there was anything that could get me back blogging again then it had to be something that I think can change the mobile landscape like the IPhone had done last year.

I have blogged about the IPhone before and about the first Google phone (the G1) and was at one time even tempted to purchase an IPhone, that was until the Vodafone pricing just didn't make it appealing.

Now, I think that I have been a little hard on Vodafone as I will try and explain. I am a regular user of their forum and I have been given the impression that they were kind of held to ransom by Apple and told what they could and couldn't do and this had a knock on effect on what they could offer the public. This is just part of the locked down approach that Apple have had towards all their recent products and something that Vodafone themselves were guilty of a few years back with their live site, which was a typical walled garden.

Well Vodafone have had a rethink and realise that future revenue growth is going to come from data and so they don't want some other company (read that as Apple) determining what they can or can't do. So what do you do about it? You make your own branded phone based upon an open operating system and take on the opposition where you decide all the profit margins. Well here it is the Vodafone branded HTC Magic!

My guess is it will undercut the IPhone and be offered with better data plans. Vodafone have been involved with the whole process, even down to having the standard virtual keyboard being specifically designed and coded to their requirement so that customers get a good experience. This phone will not only give the Iphone competition, but will give the Android  (originally developed by Google) operating system some kudos, which it desperately needs after the slightly bad press it received with the first Google phone, the G1. In my opinion this one was rushed onto the market too quickly and did more damage than good to the whole Google effort.

This phone will also have a big impact on the mobile landscape as well and it could change forever. 

Windows mobile is in decline (a bit like Vista) and in my opinion was never going to be a great mobile operating system.  Look at what it is based upon, it's like trying to fit an elephant into a matchbox. 

Symbian UIQ (the touch screen version) is officially dead and I think that Symbian itself has been left to sink or swim by Nokia when they suddenly released into the open source market place. By the way they have a foot in the Android camp as well so I don't think they will care what happens to it. 

Then there is the new Operating System (OS) from Palm (the Palm Pre), which I feel is too little, too late and the Blackberry, both of which are very small players.

This of course then leaves only Apple and Android. One is a locked down OS and one that is completely free and Open and can be developed by anybody.That is why I feel the release of this phone (the HTC Magic) is so important and was a result of Apple trying to dictate what a large mobile company could or couldn't do with their product. It may have worked with AT&T in America, but with Vodafone I think they just woke up a sleeping giant!

Iphone Vs Google Phone

I don't normally blog about something that the rest of the world is already doing, but in this case I just had to. I was very sceptical of the Google phone (aka gphone, G1 phone etc.), because I wondered whether I would like to have an open source OS (Android) controlling my phone. This is from a man who is very pro active open source and have been for many years, starting with Red Hat Linux. I just couldn't get my head around the fact that anybody could modify the OS and I was having nightmares about hackers being able to get to my contacts or wipe out my prepaid balance. Then with launch this morning I kind of got my head around it that the network operators will initially control what is on the phone and if you then want to add anything then you will have to take a risk. I guess kind of like jail breaking your iPhone!

What really sold it to me was a video of the browser, which can be seen here.

UPDATE: Also check out the UI with his video here.

I've always believed that browser is king and have blogged about it on many occasions. You have to see the video to see that it is as good as the the iPhone browser and it was also nice how they made a point that you can cut and paste between applications (no dig at Apple, yeah right!).

This is one nice phone, not as flashy as the iPhone, but with a lot more potential. Once again competition is great to have and I wonder how many people out there with an iPhone had wished they had waited. I for one am glad I did!