Apple lifts iPhone Prices (AT&T, US)

The iPhone Impact on Palm and/or BlackBerry

T. Michael Walkley has released a new research report on Palm & BlackBerry and the potential impact of the coming of the iPhone.

This Friday being D-Day for Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone (6 p.m. at your local Apple Store or AT&T (T) corporate store), the notes are going to be coming faster and more furious speculating on the implications for this or that wireless party. You’ll be reading more feverishly dashed off features about iPhone, such as last week’s comparison in the Financial Times of smart-phone features. (Subscription required.) Dow Jone’s own Walt Mossberg reportedly has a unit of the iPhone, and I expect he’ll chime in this week with some of his findings.

But on a stock front, as I warned recently, I think a lot of the reports coming out will increasingly trumpet the dominance of AT&T and the Verizon Wireless unit of Verizon Communications (VZ) in the U.S. wireless business, with Sprint-Nextel (S) and Deutsche Telekom’s (DT) T-Mobile struggling.

• Bank of America’s David Barden says Verizon says pricing has become the biggest concern of investors in wireless stocks, who are petrified that the maturing of the cellular industry in the U.S. is going to lead to disastrous price cutting. The good news is that phones, rather than contracts, have become the swing factor for carriers, and the average price of a handset in the U.S. remained about what it was in the first quarter, $196, signalling that discounting and subsidies are not disastrous at this point. The Verizon Wireless operation of Verizon Communications (VZ), writes Barden, was the most active among U.S. cellular operators in adding new phone models “in the run-up to the availability of the iPhone,” putting 8 new handsets into its lineup, and also offered the biggest handset discounts, at 10% off, lowered average post-discount prices by the greatest amount, 6% off, and had the most new free phones in the quarter at 5. (Barden says Nokia (NOK), Samsung (SSNLF.PK), and Motorola (MOT) all gained shelf space in the quarter, the first two moreso than Moto.) Barden’s conclusion: with the exception of Sprint, “price discipline” is being maintained at U.S. cellular operators — so far. Barden has a Buy on AT&T and Verizon, and a Neutral rating on Sprint.

  And here’s an interesting factoid: the average price per voice minute among U.S. cellular operators in the second quarter was $0.066, down from 7 cents in the same period a year earlier.

• Cowen & Co.’s Tom Watts has a raft of observations of his own today on the wireless vendors. “He concludes that AT&T will capture a near-term advantage as users flock to the iPhone, buying into high-priced service plans, as increased store traffic also stimulates sales of less expensive phones.” He expects Verizon to “punch back to iPhone,” echoing a theme heard increasingly, which is that AT&T’s gain will not be Verizon’s pain. “Verizon will still gain share, even with iPhone launch,” writes Watts. Verizon will likely offer more upgrade promotions to retain subscribers and to counter iPhone with something he deems competitive, such as, perhaps, the Prada-branded phone from LG Electronics (). And even though he’s lowering his estimate for Verizon’s net subscriber additions in 2008, Cowen says he still expects Verizon to gain one-tenth of a percent of market share next year, mainly at the hands of Sprint and T-Mobile. Mind you, Watts concedes that if there’s a sort of “perfect storm,” in which the ban on Qualcomm (QCOM) phones coming into the U.S. hurts Verizon and Sprint, and the iPhone is a raging success, it could give AT&T a half-a-point lead in market share in 2008. He has an Outperform rating on Verizon, but AT&T is his top pick. Watts thinks AT&T will pick up 1.5 million net new subscribers in 2007, 4 million in 2008, thanks in large part to the iPhone. He sees tougher times for Sprint: “Even prior to the iPhone, Sprint had a tough time convincing wireless users why they should buy Sprint instead of AT&T or Verizon.”
• And Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) reports earnings this Thursday, and UBS Investment Research analyst Maynard Um is raising his price target to $210 on the stock from $180 as he raises his 2008 earnings per share estimate by a penny to $4.91 and his 2009 estimate from $6.28 to $6.45. The change reflects increased hardware sales Maynard thinks will come from higher subscriber rates and a decent replacement demand by existing subscribers. Um says he thinks RIM is doing fine with its recently introduced “Curve” multimedia version of the Blackberry, but he expects the outlook from RIM management to be “conservative” given that its unknown what kind of impact the iPhone will have. He’s looking for sales of $1.047 billion and earnings per share, excluding options expense, of $1.07. Um’s price target reflects a 30x to 35x multiple of his projected earnings for next year, which he thinks is reasonable “given a scarcity of high-growth stories.”
• Piper Jaffray wireless hardware analyst T. Michael Walkley says Palm, maker of the Treo, will be the hardest hit by the iPhone among device makers. “With the BlackBerry Curve ramping and iPhone launching June 29th at AT&T, we view Treo as the most impacted by these launches and anticipate even further declines in sell through trends.” He says clerks at AT&T stores had already reported “frustration” in trying to sell Palm’s “750″ series of Treo phones. Moreover, the upcoming introduction of a new model of BlackBerry, the 8830, at Sprint stores, will hurt sales of Palm’s recently introduced 755p model. He rates Palm shares “Market Perform.” Like Um, Walkley is raising estimates, saying new models of BlackBerry will continue to produce upside. Walkley’s a little surprised that the BlackBerry Pearl, introduced last year, is still outselling the more sophisticated “Curve,” which features more multimedia capabilities. While he’s concerned the Curve could get buried by the iPhone deluge, given a similar focus by the two devices on music and multimedia, he’s hopeful that all the folks brought into AT&T stores by the iPhone may also consider the BlackBerry. Walkley’s forecast for the May-ending quarter is more aggressive than Um’s, with a projected $1.056 billion in revenue and $1.09 in earnings per share. He’s rasing his price target on RIM to $166 from $158, though that’s still below Rimm’s price today.
• All discussion of $600 consumer gadgets must raise the question, Will the consumer cooperate? Merrill Lynch economist Brian Belski says inflation worries continue to weigh on consumer discretionary spending. (I know, I know: for some of you out there, the iPhone is NOT discretionary.) But he sees no reason for panic yet:
  

  We clearly are concerned about everyday inflation for mom and pop America […] For now, we do not see any reason to hit the panic button. We believe that as long as unemployment remains low and income continues to rise, discretionary spending should hold up longer term. In addition, the sector’s performance probably reflects a lot of the bad news from higher energy costs and the slumping housing market, in our opinion. Nevertheless, we will be monitoring the jobs data closely as the summer and fall unfold, with trajectory change (to the downside) providing a potential catalyst to become incrementally more negative on the sector.

Today, the shares are doing this:

• AT&T shares are up 2% at $39.59;
• Verizon shares are up 1% at $42.06;
• Sprint shares are up 1.36% at $22.32;
• Duetsche Telekom stock is off a fraction at $18.13;
• Palm shares are off .7% at $16.68;
• RIM stock is down 1.42% at $179.90;
• Nokia shares are up fractionally at $27.77;
• Motorola shares are up nearly 1% at $18.04.
• and Apple shares are up slightly at $123.74.

Addendum: Bloomberg has a think piece this morning saying the 44% rise in Apple stock since chief executive Steve Jobs talked about the phone on January 9 may be setting up investors for a fall if Apple sells only 100,000 phones this weekend. The story quotes analyst Andy Hargreaves at Pacific Crest Securities as saying “‘If they only sell 100,000, that would be bad’ and the stock will fall. Hargreaves is one of two analysts predicting two-day sales of 200,000.” The Bloomberg piece goes on to say that UBS Investment Research Benjamin Reitzes conjectures that AT&T may pay Apple $5 to $10 per month per subscriber and is estimating sales of 150,000 iPhones this weekend. The other analyst quoted as predicting 200,000 units this weekend is Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.

An interesting marketing analysis from The Wharton School of Business

New Products (Like the iPhone): Announce Early or Go for the Surprise Rollout?

Each January, Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage at San Francisco's Moscone Center for the MacWorld conference's keynote presentation. Rumors often fly weeks in advance as industry pundits and Apple fans alike speculate on what, if any, new products the company will unveil. Apple typically keeps its product plans tightly-held secrets until Jobs announces them with great flourish at industry events or carefully staged corporate presentations. In many instances, the product is ready to ship the day he announces it. Not so with all companies. Some -- Microsoft comes to mind -- present technology demonstrations of products that may not be released for months or even years in the future.

Which approach is best? It depends -- on the product, the company and its position in the market, say experts at Wharton.

"It's not a clear-cut situation," says Wharton marketing professor Jehoshua Eliashberg. "In pre-announcing, a company lets a competitor know what it's up to. But what matters more is a company's position in an industry. If a company is a dominant monopolist, it has reason to pre-announce because it doesn't fear a competitive reaction. If the company is smaller, the negatives of announcing a product early outnumber the positives."

Marketing professor Christophe Van den Bulte agrees, but notes there are many variables to consider, including audience, dependence on partners and consumer buying cycle. One rule of thumb is based on product classification. If a product is a durable good -- something that lasts a few years -- a pre-announcement can make sense because the buying cycle is longer. If a product is a consumable that's easily replaced, product plans should usually be kept secret.

For instance, Van den Bulte points out that durable products which are more expensive and require greater customer commitment are typically announced early. Sony announced its PlayStation 3 well in advance of its launch because it needed a bevy of partners to line up behind the product, including software developers to create games for PlayStation 3 and retailers prepared for the demand. "And of course Sony wanted PlayStation 2 owners to wait for the PlayStation 3" rather than switch to a competitive product, says Van den Bulte. "The company wanted customers to be locked into [the PlayStation platform] between the announcement and launch."

Overall, pre-announcing products is a practice often followed by industry leaders. According to research by Michigan State University marketing professor Kim Schatzel and Roger Calantone, director of Michigan State's Eli Broad Information Technology Management Program, companies that pre-announce products tend to be bellwether companies because they have more "competitive equity." These firms announce products early to steer an industry's direction, get support for their ideas and promote future plans.

The Schatzel-Calantone study highlights eight hypotheses explaining the effect that pre-announcements have on communication and market anticipation. Pre-announcements, for example, create a cycle where companies can outline their plans to suppliers, distributors, partners and customers, build anticipation and gain brand equity. Pre-announcements can also fuel financial returns. One example cited in the paper involved the expectations surrounding the BMW MiniCooper. "Market anticipation was great and enabled BMW dealers to require substantial prepurchase deposits from prospective buyers to 'hold' vehicles -- sight unseen -- for many months prior to the MiniCooper's actual introduction," write Schatzel and Calantone.

Yet according to Wharton marketing professor John Wesley Hutchinson, pre-announcements by themselves aren't likely to lead to success. They are just one tool in a marketing strategy and are designed to go along with public relations. "Pre-announcements can be free advertising if they are viewed as news. In most situations, the goal is to build awareness as fast as you can."

Freezing 0ut Competitors

What's notable about several recent product announcements -- such as Microsoft's unveiling of its interactive touch-screen table technology called Surface Computing on May 29 and Apple's planned launch of its iPhone on June 29 -- is how each company seems to be taking a page from the other's playbook. Apple, for example, is pre-announcing more products -- a rare strategy until recently -- while Microsoft, which historically has demonstrated new technologies early, is being more secretive about its products.

Kendall Whitehouse, senior director of IT at Wharton, notes that Apple announced the iPhone, the company's entry into the "smart phone" market, six months in advance. "Apple clearly wanted to tell people thinking about buying a cell phone in the next few months that they should wait for the iPhone," says Whitehouse. The company was in effect "freezing the market. The strategy here makes sense."

Some consumers are obliging. "Companies want to create a commitment in the consumer's mind," says Van den Bulte. "By announcing in January, Apple has enticed some people to wait for the iPhone. One [of my] colleagues lost his Treo [a smart phone by Palm]. Instead of buying a new one, he is using his old phone because he knows he is going to get an iPhone."

Historically, Apple has kept product plans quiet without leaking many -- if any -- details about them until CEO Steve Jobs sees fit, usually at an Apple conference or event. The iPod was announced suddenly in 2003 and became a runaway hit. The strength of industry-leading products like the iPod may allow Apple to be more aggressive about its iPhone plans. "If you are the top dog, you pre-announce to make competitors less aggressive," says Van den Bulte, adding that lesser rivals may even scrap products based on an announcement. "Had the iPod not been a tremendous success, the iPhone may have had a different launch strategy."

Wharton marketing professor Leonard Lodish says that Apple also had to pre-announce the iPhone because there are multiple parties needed to make the product a success. The iPhone had to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission; it needed a wireless carrier such as AT&T; and it had to line up suppliers and manufacturers to produce the iPhone and procure parts.

Other products that similarly need many partners have also been pre-announced, such as Microsoft's Vista operating system, which was made public years in advance to line up software developers, retailers and PC makers. Whitehouse points out that it's particularly key to get customers engaged in forthcoming products that seek to serve as a broadly used "platform" upon which other products or applications are built, like Microsoft's Vista or Adobe's forthcoming AIR (formerly "Apollo").

Indeed, in a recent Knowledge@Wharton interview, Adobe Systems president and chief operating officer Shantanu Narayen underscored the importance of getting the community of developers involved in the company's products before they are widely released. "Being transparent about our plans enables us to get better feedback so that we can deliver better solutions to our customers. With [AIR], we're targeting the developer community. And with Lightroom we did a public beta very early in the process to get customers to try the software and give us feedback."

But Narayen also emphasized that early announcement can be a double-edged sword. "When we pre-announce products, sometimes people tend to stall their purchases because they're aware there's a new product [coming out]. So there has to be a balance. In retrospect, maybe announcing something nine months ahead of schedule -- [like] when we said Creative Suite is going to ship in the second quarter -- might have been a little premature."

For its part, Apple seems to be carving out a hybrid approach -- pre-announcing a product but also building buzz by keeping the details secret. While the company announced the iPhone in January, few outside Apple have actually seen the product in action. "No one has been able to see anything more than Apple wants you to see," says Lodish. "[The product launch] is a theatrical production."

Microsoft, which has been the poster child for announcing products well before they launch, is now taking a different approach in certain markets. In software, it appears that Microsoft will stick to the status quo and announce its product plans well in advance. With products that move the company into new markets like the Zune music player, the company is more secretive because it doesn't have a dominant position. Before it announced its Surface Computing products, which are designed for public environments such as hotels and bars, Microsoft kept the effort quiet. In markets where the company is an underdog -- such as entertainment devices and online advertising -- it also appears to keep product plans quiet, say experts at Wharton.

The Surface Computing technology is different. Microsoft was in the role of a start-up, according to Van den Bulte. There was no need to announce the product early given there is not yet any mass market -- or clear rivals. When Microsoft announced it Surface Computing, CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that mass market adoption would take a while. "We see this as a multibillion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror. Surface is the first step in realizing that vision," said Ballmer in Microsoft's May 29 announcement.

However, Hutchinson says new product categories don't have to stay secret. Indeed, pre-announcing new innovations can make sense to prepare consumers to eventually buy them. "True innovation often requires a pre-announcement," he notes.

What Can Go Wrong

No marketing approach guarantees success if a new product can't live up to expectations or already faces competition. In Apple's case, rival phone makers, such as HTC and Samsung, already have touch-screen devices similar to the iPhone. Another risk is that pre-announcing a product can cannibalize a company's existing sales. For example, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research note on June 7 that he expects iPhone sales to reduce iPod sales slightly.

Eliashberg, however, doesn't expect the iPhone to face many problems since it represents a new category for smart phones. "The iPhone is so unique that I don't see it competing directly with other cell phones. When you start your own category, you can make a pre-announcement and benefit from the early positioning."

Wharton experts agree that one of the biggest risks to product launches is lofty expectations. Since Apple announced the iPhone, expectations for it have grown dramatically. Munster predicts that Apple will sell 45 million iPhones in 2009, although Apple hasn't projected sales that far out. The company did confirm on its January earnings conference call that it expects to ship 10 million iPhones in 2008.

At the same time, Eliashberg suggests that high expectations could put a damper on the iPhone launch. "The biggest mistake I have seen is when companies overestimate or underestimate the size of market. There's a lot of noise evaluating the outcome. If the market size is overestimated, then the product will look like a failure," he says, adding that the disparity in iPhone shipment estimates "opens the door for disagreement about iPhone's success."

Indeed, Palm took hits from a number of industry analysts when on May 29 it announced a new product called the Foleo, a "smart phone companion device" to complement the company's Treo handheld. While Palm kept the device largely secret, Palm founder Jeff Hawkins had been dropping hints that a big announcement would be forthcoming and the company issued a statement on May 29 indicating that it would unveil a "new category of mobile device." Such posturing raised expectations for the product. But when the Foleo was introduced on May 30, the response from many industry analysts was tepid. In a research note, Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt described the Foleo as "somewhat underwhelming." Gartner analyst Todd Kort was quoted in various press reports calling the Foleo the most disappointing product launch of 2007.

While Jonathan Hoopes, an analyst at ThinkEquity Partners, was more charitable, noting that "the Foleo is two to three years ahead of its time," some commentators believe the buildup may have helped to undermine the announcement. "It's great to build up buzz" before the official product unveiling, notes Wharton's Whitehouse, "but if you then under-deliver, you're in worse shape than if you had played it more low key." In Whitehouse's view, the fact that Hawkins has such a strong reputation for product innovation may have exacerbated the situation. "Hawkins has already defined two major new product categories with the original PalmPilot and the Treo smart phone. People were expecting a third product that was equally as innovative. A clever little ultra-light laptop just didn't meet those expectations."

Indeed, according to experts at Wharton, the big lesson is that over time, the product matters a lot more than the marketing strategy -- or its initial splash. Microsoft's Windows 95 product launch is generally considered to have been a big success. But Lodish and Eliashberg aren't high on Vista, even though the marketing strategy was similar. "I don't think the product is superior enough to the existing product [Windows XP]," says Eliashberg. "The issue isn't marketing strategy. It's the product. If the product isn't there, marketing won't help."

iPhone Release Date

By Teresa von Fuchs
WirelessWeek - June 04, 2007

A date has been set. According to commercials, the industries' most talked about phone, Apple's iPhone, will be available June 29th.

The commercials, aired last night, highlighted some of the phone's most innovative features, such as the touchscreen. The commercials also are posted to the company's Website.

The iPhone will be available exclusively on AT&T's network.

Jeff Hawkins Demonstrate The Mobile Companion Foleo (Video)

Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the original Palm Pilot, announced his newest invention the "Foleo" at the Wall Street Journal's "All Things Digital conference" in California this week. The Foleo is an accessory for smartphones with a laptop form factor that is comfortable for e-mailing, web browsing and document editing.

Palm introduce Foleo, the mobile companion

The Foleo mobile companion turns on and off instantly and features fast navigation, a compact design at only 2.5 pounds, and a battery that lasts up to 5 hours of use. Its applications include email, full-screen web browser, and editors or viewers for common business documents such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. The Foleo stays synchronized via Bluetooth wireless technology and uses the smartphone’s radio or the Foleo’s built-in Wi-Fi radio for general Internet connectivity.

Foleo mobile companions work with Palm’s Treo smartphones (Palm OS and Windows Mobile versions). However, Palm believes that most smartphones based on Windows Mobile should work with little or no modification. Smartphones based on operating systems from Research in Motion, Apple, and Symbian likely can be supported with a modest software effort. The Foleo’s synchronization architecture is open, and Palm expects to work with third-party developers to support as many smartphones as possible.

New Opera Mini™ Beta Version Available

Opera Software is starting a beta program for the next version of its Opera Mini web browser. The current version of this Java application is often used by those with Palm OS-based devices as a replacement for the built-in Blazer browser, but it can also run on many types of smartphones.

This company believes that enhanced navigation is the next step in the evolution of mobile web browsing. That's exactly what Opera's developers are exploring in the next version of Opera Mini, code-named Dimension.





How to Participate

Anyone who is interested can sign up to test the beta version of Dimension by submitting their email address on Opera Software's web site.

Approved testers will be notified by email at a later stage where to download the beta, and asked to submit their opinions on it via an online form.

The current version, Opera Mini 2.0, is a free download, and presumably the next version will be, too.

Palm Unveils Garnet-Based Treo 755p

Brighthand reports: Palm has just taken the wraps off a new smartphone, the Treo 755p. This device runs the Garnet OS (formerly Palm OS Garnet), and will be available soon from Sprint in the U.S.

Those interested in this model should be pleased to learn that it will offer support for the 3G cellular-wireless networking standard EV-DO.

In addition, it will be the first Treo to ship with built-in support for Microsoft's push email system.

"The Treo 755p is a stylish and powerful device ideal for business professionals looking for the power to do more while on the go,” said Danny Bowman, vice president of customer equipment for Sprint. "Building upon the success of the Treo 700p, we've added enhancements such as Mobile Voice Control, a new IM application and Sprint TV in the ROM for mobile entertainment and news.”

More About the Treo 755p

This smartphone will use the same general form-factor as two other recent Palm models, the Treo 680 and Treo 750. This means it will have a tablet shape with a QWERTY keyboard below a 320-by-320-pixel touchscreen.

The 755p will run Garnet OS 5.4.9 on a 312 MHz XScale processor. It will offer users 62.8 MB of internal storage, and a miniSD slot for additional storage.

Naturally, in addition to being a CDMA phone this device will be a fully-functional PDA. It will be able to keeping track of the user's address book and calendar, and even include Documents To Go, a suite of applications that allows users to open and edit Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

But it won't be just about business. This Treo will include a 1.3 megapixel camera with image and video support, and come with software for playing MP3s and videos.

Users of this device will be able to use a Bluetooth headset to make hands-free phone calls.

Jobs unwraps the iPhone

[MarketWatch reports] "Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs on Tuesday unveiled the iPhone, its new touch-screen mobile phone that will be able to play music, surf the Internet and take pictures, among other features."

At the keynote, Jobs demonstrated the phone by pulling up the nearest Starbucks on Google Maps, then prank-calling the coffee shop and ordering 4,000 lattes, before hanging up -- to the roar of the crowd.

Cingular Wireless will provide the wireless service for the phone under an exclusive multiyear deal, the companies said.

Apple said that a phone with 4 gigabytes of storage will cost $499; the 8GB model will cost $599. It will be available in the United States in June, Europe in late 2007 and Asia in 2008.

The iPhone will be sold in the United States through Apple's retail and online stores, and through Cingular's retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple's new, remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.

The release of the iPhone represents another step in Apple's evolution beyond its Macintosh computer line. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has revived its fortunes with its iPod media player.

"Apple is trying to do with mobile devices what it did with the computer market -- that's change the game," said Gene Munster, analyst at Piper Jaffray, which rates Apple shares outperform.

Signaling that direction, Apple said that it plans to change its corporate name to Apple Inc., dropping the word "computer."

Jobs also announced that Apple has sold more than 2 billion songs through its iTunes music store, and that it expects to reach 100 million iPod unit sales this year.

From CES: Nokia Launches Smart N76

Nokia, which has long shied away from releasing thin devices, has today announced its entry to the ever-crowded thin handset market with the new N76. Nokia states that it did not want to compromise on features just to shave thickness off the device, and as such, this 14mm (0.5") thick handset boasts some impressive specifications when compared to its rivals.

The new Nokia N76 runs the S60 v3 UI on top of the Symbian OS, and so includes all the smartphone features that users have come to expect from the company's Nseries. The folder design holds music control keys underneath the 160x128 pixel resolution external display, and conceals a 16 million color capable 2.4" QVGA resolution internal screen that can also be used in a landscape orientation. A 2.0 megapixel camera is present to satisfy the shutterbugs among us, with 26MB of internal memory and microSD memory expansion supporting up to 2GB cards to store all your photos and music. With UMTS 3G high-speed data and Bluetooth v2.0, the Nokia N76 should satisfy most on the connectivity front. Despite the feature list, the Nokia N76 tips the scales at just 115g (4.1oz).

The thin and attractive new Nokia N76 smartphone should be available during the first quarter of 2007, carrying an expected retail price of 390 Euros (approximately US$515).

MP4 Watch Review

[Palm 247 has been made a review] Brando sells an MP4 Watch for US$98 (1GB version) and US$138 (2GB version) and your first thoughts are probably "how can a video playing watch this cheap be any good?" Well, those were my thoughts as well until I tried one and now my opinion has changed somewhat.

In the box you get the watch, a USB cable, a surprisingly good pair of earphones, Driver CD, AC Adaptor and a user manual. The earphones have a 2.5mm jack which is an added bonus if you are searching for a good pair for your Treo or other 2.5mm jacked device- they really do sound very good. The box itself is quite cheap looking but the watch has a sporty feel to it with a rubberised strap complemented with silver hodlings. Another surprise is that the watch does not feel too big when on your wrist and at only 52g will be no more noticeable than a normal watch.

Once you have charged the watch up the fun really starts- the screen quality is way beyond what I expected from a watch and is as clear as any PDA or Smart Phone I have seen to date. 128 x 128 pixels does not sound like much but if you look at the image on the right you can see a rather impressive menu screen.

Pre-loaded on to my watch was a video and MP3 of Crazy Frog (you have been warned) and despite my loathing for the frog the sound and video quality are simply brilliant. They are not just brilliant because it is a watch- they are better than for example the quality of video on a Treo. I have no idea how they did it but I managed to watch two episodes of Without A Trace on this device and it felt no different to using my PDA.

Some of you will no doubt see this as a novelty item and I certainly did before I got it but I really do like it and can see it serving much use (if Brando hadn't kindly offered it as a prize in our Christmas Countdown so it's gone now...) The time and date display is also very sharp and it works like an old style LED watch in that you press a button to see the time- very retro which I am a fan of.

Would you believe that it is a voice recorder as well? This also worked well and with a record time of 8 hours you should be able to capture what you need whenever you need it. Formats catered for are MP1, MP2, MP3 and WMA for music and MP4 (NVX) for video. I found that charging it for about 1 hour would get me through the next day without issus- the battery is not great and if you play too much video you mayhave to re-charge but this watch is very small and I feel that they have done a good job with the battery in this product.

Conclusion

If you live in a country that does not use US$ you can get this watch for under £50 (due to the very poor US$ rate) and this is exceptional value. If this watch was $200 I would still say that it is good value for money, I genuinely would. A great product, with few faults at an outstanding price.

iHolic MP3 player with T-DMB support

[Newlaunches.com reports] "When you first see "i" in any product name you normally associate it with the iPod and take it for another accessory of the iPod, however this is not the case with iHolic released by Dacon technologies Korea. It looks like another fancy PMP but it supports DMB so you can watch real time TV programming anywhere. The iHolic has a large and vibrant 2.4 inch color display unfortunately it is not touch screen, upto 2 GB of internal flash memory, SD card slot for memory expansion and support for majority of audio and video formats. The iHolic does not support recording of DMB programming, but it does with a cradle and a remote control so you can sit back and watch your favourite show."