I have been inundated with ‘news’ surrounding the upcoming iPhone lately. Anything from products resembling the phone, a possible release date, a lookalike phone showed on the TV series Lost, Microsoft butting in saying they want support for their apps on the phone.

I’m sick of it.

I have previously said that, in my opinion, the iPhone will fail. Nothing gets people more upset than someone saying their favorite, nonexistent product will be a failure. I admit it was like shooting fish in a barrel. With a cannon.

While it is sometimes fun to rub people the wrong way, it got me thinking. If people get upset over a fancy phone that still doesn’t exist, then surely there is something wrong in the universe?

I love gadgets just as much as the next guy. Actually, I love gadgets more than I love my cat, but that is beside the point. This obsession we share (and if you’re reading this, chances are you’re already planning to send me a letter telling me how great Apple is) is becoming a problem.

The iPhone is just a phone. It will not end world hunger. It will not make you happier. It will not close the ever expanding technology gap in third world countries.

This is not about the iPhone. It’s about fanboys, hype, dangerous obsessions and people wanting your money for something you will throw out in three years.

Stop buying into it. Don’t get over-exited about up coming products. And for god’s sake, don’t pre-order things. Paying huge amounts of money for something you haven’t seen and won’t get your hands on for another six months is just wrong. Let the market forces decide what is good and make qualified decisions before you buy into the latest hype.

I’m going to go and hug someone now, or share a coffee with someone whose company I enjoy. I will leave my workstation, turn off my cellphone and maybe do some gardening over the weekend. I suggest you do the same and stop acting like puppets and spokespeople for major corporations that are really only after your money and nothing else.

Gadgets are not important. People are.

Posted by April 20, 2007 12:40 PM | Comments (0)

It's full steam ahead on the economic front. After last year's lacklustre 1.5 percent growth in GDP, our nation's financial seers say growth is currently running at about three percent. And companies are still having to raise wages in order to attract staff.

Which all adds up to bring another 0.25 percent rise in official interest rates that much closer -- possibly this month with another to follow in the near future. And there's an outside chance of a 0.5 percent rise. Either way, New Zealand will have the highest official rate in the developed world.

At the same time business optimism has bounced back from its negative position earlier this year.

In other words, if you've got enough competitive headroom this would be a very good time to put up prices.

Posted by Bill Bennett April 11, 2007 1:06 PM | Comments (0)

There has been much buzz around the ‘Vista Ready’ and ”Made for Vista’ logos lately. My inbox has been swimming in releases about products that proudly display the sticker, and assurances that the given product will work with the new operating system.

I am calling their bluff. Most of the products displayed will work with Vista anyways. Granted, software and some hardware like graphic cards can and should be classified as Vista Ready. Monitors? No. CD burners? Absolutely not. Webcams? I don’t think so. Mice and keyboards? Unlikely.

At the current rate, we will see ‘Vista Ready’ stickers on out power cables and mouse pads very soon. But why stop there? Why not have ‘Vista Ready’ desk and office chairs? ‘Vista Ready’ speakers? ‘Vista Ready’ digital cameras? It sounds strange, but all those products are out there (apart from the desk and chair, which is a great idea.)

Several USB thumb drives are now being touted as ‘Vista Ready’. Does this mean they have read and write speeds quick enough to utilize Vista Readyboost? No, it merely means you can plug them in and they work. Just like with XP. And Windows 2000. And NT, -98, Mac operating systems and multiple Linux systems.

Is this the biggest con in IT to date? Perhaps not, but it is certainly up there along with upselling separate printer cables for $24. Don’t get conned by stickers. Do your own research, and in most instances you’ll find old products work just as well with Vista.

If that doesn’t work, buy a t-shirt with the ‘Vista Ready’ logo on it and future proof yourself.

Posted by April 4, 2007 12:34 PM | Comments (4)

Sub-NZ$1000 laptops have been around for a couple of years now. Some are priced lower. Last week Dick Smith was offering a model for under NZ$500. But for some reason, just about every bargain basement laptop currently on sale in New Zealand has a 14-inch wide screen.

This is curious, because only months ago, wide screen models were commanding a price premium. Generally the low-cost models on sale have compromised specifications: too little ram, not much hard drive, weak processors and so on, but apparently rather upbeat displays.

Here's a possible explaination. Laptop makers put wide screens on models aimed at consumers -- presumably the wide screens are manufactured in such vast quantities the margin cost of those extra few pixels is negligible. As soon as individual laptop models go off the boil, they are discounted, wide screens and all to that magic sub-$1000 price point.

It's probably like mobile phone cameras -- it's actually cheaper to set up production lines so more or less every phone manufactured has a built-in camera somewhere, it's just not activated in certain non-camera models.

Or is there a better explanation?

Posted by Bill Bennett April 2, 2007 10:41 AM | Comments (3)