Hasta La Gadget!

AT&T might reduce the iPhone’s entry-level monthly plan by $10 when the next-gen iPhone presumably launches in June, an analyst predicts.

That would drop the cheapest iPhone monthly plan from $69 to $59, saving customers $240 over the handset’s two-year contract, Michael Cote, a Cote Collaborative analyst, told TheStreet. He speculates the price drop will be announced June 8 during Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Why the price cut? To boost iPhone sales, Cote explains, by attracting consumers who find the iPhone too expensive.

We think that’s a pretty weak argument. First, that’s a very small price cut, and after factoring in taxes and miscellaneous charges, consumers will still be paying at least $70 a month to use the original iPhone. (The iPhone 3G’s monthly plan costs $10 more than the original iPhone’s because of the 3G network, so the only handset that would be affected, if Cote is correct, is the original iPhone.)

Second, the core strategy for Apple to sell more iPhones would be to launch a third-generation iPhone — which everybody is betting Apple will be doing. A small reduction of the original iPhone’s price plan would bear insignificant results in comparison to sales of a third-generation handset.

Third, are Apple and AT&T really worrying about the iPhone’s performance? We doubt it. In the first quarter of 2009, the BlackBerry Curve beat the iPhone as the most popular smartphone. But keep in mind that Apple sold over 10 million iPhones in 2008.  And in the fourth quarter of 2008, Apple outsold Research in Motion; the iPhone catapulted Apple into becoming the third largest mobile phone supplier in the world, according to Steve Jobs. And it’s fairly obvious why fewer iPhones were sold in the first quarter of 2009: Many are waiting for the third-generation iPhone to launch this summer.

What do you think, readers? Would you buy an original iPhone in June if the monthly plan dropped $10? Vote in the poll or add your comments below. Continue Reading…

Okay everyone — grain of salt goggles on? According to PhoneNews, not only is a GSM version of the Palm Eos (AKA Mini Pre, AKA Pixie, AKA Castle) coming to AT&T sometime in the near future, but Sprint will be getting its version of the Centro-like device come Q3 2009. The site claims that “sources within Sprint” have “confirmed” the launch window for a phone with specs similar to those on the device we hit yesterday, and that said device is actually in testing right now. Of course, just as we mentioned with the Eos news, this isn’t actually confirmed by anyone at Palm (or even close) right now… and you know how much the internet loves a rumor. Still, this would make a lot of sense as Sprint and Palm are all but joined at the hip, and it helps jibe some of the differing reports we / the blogosphere has heard about carriers. Obviously there’s much, much more to this story — you’ll know about it when we do.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones

Palm Eos headed to Sprint as well? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 May 2009 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been looking for a window into the life of the Palm Pre once you’re a real, actual, not pretend user, a poster at Inside Sprint Now who claims to be a rep for the provider may have some answers for you. In what appears to be pretty much the entire “quick start” guide (or whatever kind of connected, web-centric name Palm will give it), the anonymous writer reveals the ins and outs of how to get around on your new phone. Here’s some of the more interesting tidbits from the document — which, mind you, could just be the wild imaginings of someone with way too much time on their hands:

• Palm / Sprint will provide a “Palm profile,” which will allow for OTA updates of software, App Catalog downloads, and online backups of contacts, calendars, apps, and preferences. Interestingly, this sounds like it could be related to web services we’ve seen mentioned in Palm’s SEC filings.
• There will be some kind of PC-based “Data Transfer Assistant” which will allow users to migrate old Palm OS data to the phone — but it appears to be a one-way street.
• The Pre will require a Simply Everything / Simply Everything data plan, or a Business Essentials Plan.
• Highlighting text (for copy / paste) duties in web pages won’t be possible — which is kind of a huge bummer.
• The Pre won’t support Sprint services such as Sprint Music, Sprint PictureMail, or Sprint Digital Lounge.

[Via PreCentral]

Filed under: Cellphones

“Insider” Sprint doc details the Palm Pre for new users, other boring minutiae originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t have any official word on this as of yet, but as our main man Ryan Block noted in a tweet earlier (and Wired speculated on back in February), it looks like Pleo-maker Ugobe may — in fact — be extinct. As of this writing, the company’s site was offline, and calls to the dino-bot factory have gone unanswered (though their voicemail system seems to be humming along just fine). While we haven’t heard a peep one way or another from the folks in charge, Wired reported in its article that the company was struggling months ago to stay afloat in our sinking economy. Could it be that people just don’t have a spare $350 to drop on a robotic toys these days? Say it ain’t so. Whatever the case, you can be sure that just like actual dinosaurs, the legacy Pleo will leave behind is rich, storied, and often violent. How about you there in / on the Interverse… heard any news about Ugobe lately?

Update: A few of you wrote in to let us know that the Ugobe site is back up. Maybe Pleo ain’t extinct yet?

Filed under: Robots

Has Pleo-maker Ugobe folded? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, we’ll level with you: we don’t know exactly what we’re looking at. After seeing that Mac mini pic yesterday, we were about 140 percent sure it was a classic Photoshop disaster. Now we don’t know what to think. One thing is for sure — this isn’t done with Photoshop. The above video was offered up by the original poster of the first pic to back up his or her claims of a “2009 Penryn” mini. Something feels fishy about this, but it’s hard to write off the video as pure sleep-deprivation-induced fantasy. So what do you guys think? Crazy mod, new mini, shared hallucination? Fire back in comments!

[Thanks, Blake]

Filed under: Desktops

New Mac mini revealed in video? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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