One million iPhones sold and counting. That’s incredible

In an overcrowded and over hyped market sector Apple didn’t just get one million people to buy a cellphone. They got them to stop using perfectly good ones in order to buy an iPhone.

What do you do with an ‘old’ cellphone? Actually, could there be a feel-good recycling angle here? What about sending those phones to third-world countries to be distributed free - though I suspect the cellphone manufacturers of the world would turn white around the gills if that notion ever gained traction.

I bought a DVD player some years ago for a pricey $800 or so. It played DVDs and that was about it. I could make them go fast, I could make them go slow - although watching a DVD go very slowly rather defeats the point of watching a movie. Then, well actually three years later, after some heavy-duty use, (I was in baby-manufacturing/maintenance mode at the time), it just stopped playing.

So I took it to a shop that fixed electronic things. The guy looked at my DVD and without even picking it up told me prices had crashed so much it was not worth even trying to fix; it was cheaper to just go out and buy another one.

I was suspicious of course, (this was a nearly-$900-and-only three-year-old DVD), but when another technician at another electronic-type shop gave me exactly the same diagnosis I had to admit defeat. So it was upgrade time and for less than one-quarter of the cost of my first DVD player I had a bright, shiny new machine.

Did I feel ripped off? An $800 investment reduced to zilch. Not at all. Over the three years that I heard people wonder if DVDs really were worth buying and thus dispensing with their VCR, I already knew the answer. "Yes. Do it now! The picture quality is better the sound is better and then there are all the features and cast commentaries included on DVD." The DVD format made VCR seem ancient - as with CDs and vinyl.

Technology, it moves so fast. What was great… say five years ago… isn’t worth a dime today. Or so they say.

When flat-screen TVs arrived, well I just had to have one and we became a two-TV family until 'old-clunker' - exiled to the dining room - fizzled out. From my DVD experience I figured that a 26-inch colour TV that weighed an awful lot and was nine years old, was not going to be worth fixing.

Old technology; it’s not worth anything. Right?

Well no. Somebody certainly thought my old TV had some value, because when I put it out on the grass verge it was picked up and taken away within 20 minutes.
Now, that’s what I call Fast Moving Technology… no matter how old it is.

PS: It’s Halloween tonight. If the kids come a-knocking offer them fresh fruit instead of sweets. Let’s make this a healthy Halloween.

Posted by Rodney Fletcher October 31, 2007 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

The industry skill shortage across the board has been well documented, but the resignations of two well-known local industry heads in as many weeks recently, and reports of research that tech CEOs' tenures are becoming short-lived, begs the question: is it getting tougher at the top?

At the time of their departures, neither former Microsoft country manager Helen Robinson nor ex-EMC managing director Craig Stoddart gave specifics on their future plans, with company statements citing the pursuit of other business and personal opportunities (Robinson) and personal reasons (Stoddart). We haven't been able to contact either since that time.

This recent NBR report showed increasing turnover in the higher ranks of local tech firms.

From the perspective of someone who deals with many technology company leaders but who isn't part of their organisations, it's easy to see how top roles are becoming more demanding.

Other than being sought after for comment on stories by us journo types, there's the aforementioned difficulties finding staff, increasing expectations of IT' performance within a budget, growing environmental concerns, demands of travel and of balancing work and home life.

The channel is also characterised by people at all levels switching companies. Sometimes leaders and other staff are simply shoulder-tapped for a new or better opportunity. Other times a change is needed after a certain amount of time in a role.

A leader is often selected for their charisma and can significantly contribute to a company's culture, and their departure can be disruptive.

If our tech CEOs are becoming endangered and are now more prone to leaving their jobs, organisations need to address the trend and not only look at retention of lower and middle ranking staff. Ensure leaders are appropriately rewarded, challenged though not to excess and retained for the long term.

Posted by Amanda Sachtleben October 18, 2007 3:24 PM | Comments (0)

Former Microsoft New Zealand partner group manager Steve Haddock has become world famous in Britain - well almost. Now group partner manager at the software giant’s UK subsidiary, Hadds, as he is affectionately known to many in the channel here, has made his debut on UK internet TV.

Haddock appeared in a recent web-episode of "On the sofa with Sara" on CRNTV.

But despite what the name suggests, this is not a show where Sara psychoanalyses her subjects. Sara is actually Sara Driscoll editor of CRN UK - a channel publication much like our very-own Reseller News, and the show features video interviews with British channel hobnobs.

And as Microsoft UK’s channel guy, Haddock is obviously an ideal subject for the show. In the webcast he talks about his plans for the UK channel, and even admits that things aren’t going as well he would like.

Those who know Haddock will understand that by this he means he is not meeting his own very high expectations. When he was still in New Zealand, he would often talk about how to improve Microsoft’s interaction with and support of its partners, even though by many measures he was already succeeding in this regard.

Haddock appears to be quite comfortable in front of the camera. It is also good to see he has not lost his cool, casual media charm, which was obviously honed during countless interviews with NZ Reseller News, such as his Coffee Break interview with us in 2004 as one of our first victims.

This is not the first time Hadds has found fame in the UK. He was also featured in CRN UK’s 2006 A-List - a round-up of "the best of the best in the UK IT channel".

Isn’t it great that that this bright Kiwi is now showing the Brits a thing or to? Perhaps seeing homegrown talent succeed on the world stage, may help ease some of the wounds the French rugby team inflected on the national pride this weekend…

To view Haddock’s webcast click here (be patient - it takes a bit of time to load) or follow the links from the CRN UK website, www.channelweb.co.uk.

Posted by Louis Van Wyk October 8, 2007 2:39 PM | Comments (0)

If you are lucky, you may get a brand new iPod Touch, modelled on the iPhone, in your Christmas stocking this year. What you won’t get however, is a new Zune - unless of course you are really lucky enough to know someone who is willing to travel all the way to America to buy you one.

Microsoft unveiled its new Zune music players in the US earlier this week, but still has no plans to bring it to our shores, even though Apple had models of its revamped iPod lineup, which includes the iPod Touch, in stock here moments after their recent worldwide release.

When questioned if a local Zune release was in the offing, a local Microsoft spokesperson said: ”There's nothing to announce locally at this time.„

This is rather disappointing. It’s not that there isn’t an army of self- and reviewer-proclaimed ”iPod slayers„ out there, it’s just that we don’t like feeling left out Down Under.

But, we are not alone - it appears the new Zunes are not being made available anywhere else in the world at this stage either.

So, how does Microsoft expect to tackle the iPod if it’s not prepared to go the whole hog and flood the market with Zunes?

In America, Microsoft has sold about 1.2 million Zune players since its debut 11 months ago, but in June Apple claimed it had sold 41.4 million iPods in the preceding nine months.

Clearly the Zune has lots of catching up to do, so why limit its release?

Admittedly, even if every New Zealander buys a Zune it still won’t a dent in the gap between it and the iPod.

However, Kiwis are reportedly early-adopters and like to try new things, like electric no 8 fencing wire, building flying machines and parallel imported, hacked iPhones.

So surely, we should be given a chance to Zune, soon...

Posted by Louis Van Wyk October 4, 2007 5:33 PM | Comments (0)

As a child of the 1980s I was in the first generation that grew up with personal computers - it was certainly good training for the present day and my current job.
Of course we didn’t know about the internet yet but who needed that when you could spend hours in the local Spaceworld (an arcade chain) feeding 20 cent pieces (nice and cheap then) into the Moon Hopper and of course Pac Man machines.

But I’m getting off topic slightly. The fist PC I ever encountered was at a local computer centre - it was the Commodore 64. Basic? Yes. Terrible graphics and sound? Well, the PC WAS still in its infancy. But when it came to programming simple games, it was all good. Little did I know that programming would come in handy when I took computer classes at high school. DOS didn’t seem so hard after all!

The computer training centre soon got in the Amiga 500, and even better the 2000 model.
Then a couple of years later a friend of mine got an Amiga 2000. Needless to say, this upped him in the cool stakes. Gosh, the hours we spent (or wasted depending on your view) playing two player classics like Golden Axe and later Street Fighter II were shared fun. I’d like to add that we engaged in many outdoor activities too - the computer was simply one of many diversions, not the main one.

Perhaps it’s the 80s revival getting to me but I’m proud to say I still own a 1989 Nintendo Gameboy (still going strong despite being dropped and having green build up in the back from old batteries). Why? For that answer you have to read this… http://www.inthe80s.com/feelold.shtml

But in case you think I'm a total antique collector I do own a Playstation Portable. Ironically my favourite game is Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.... set in 1984!

Posted by Hamish Barwick October 1, 2007 10:31 AM | Comments (0)