Price Gains on Quality In Cellphones

In a recent survey, proportionally fewer cellphone users than in 2006 cited signal quality as their main reason for having switched to their current carrier, according to comScore, a research firm. And a larger proportion than before cited price as the deciding factor; that percentage crept up to 19 percent from 14 percent.
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In other words, people are beginning to treat cellphone service as a commodity, its providers distinguished only by price. “At the end of the day, they all have pretty decent coverage,” said Serge Matta, a senior vice president at comScore. “It’s really an issue of, ‘What’s the next most important thing?’ And price really is key.”
The study, which polled about 2,000 cellphone users from Feb. 29 to March 5, 2008, also found that exactly a third did not have a traditional land-based phone, up from 14 percent in late 2006. “It surprised us,” said Mr. Matta, who added, incidentally, that he would get rid of his landline within the next few weeks

Dell And HP Work The System

Dell announced yesterday that they will continue to offer Windows XP to customers even after the official June 30 cutoff date. The same announcement was made by Hewlett-Packard.The companies based their strategies on a clause in the downgrade rights, which refers to Vista Ultimate and Vista Business. These two are the only ones that come with downgrade rights, which means that consumer machines cannot be sold in a similar manner.Microsoft’s official statement explained the situation: "Downgrade rights allow customers to acquire the most recent version of Microsoft software but continue to run a previous version until ready to upgrade."The time needed for adjustement to the new system is connected to the fears and complaints related to Vista’s resource requirements, compatibility issues with older systems or applications and also intrusive security features, people feeling much more comfortable with their familiar, less complicated and dependable systems.In order for this plan to work, some of Microsoft’s terms and guidelines must be taken into account. Apparently, the only way retailers can sell a PC with the XP downgrade is if the customer specifically demands it.This week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that they would consider the extension of Windows XP’s life if there will be enough positive user feedback. At this point, the sales deadline remains June 30 for all major computer makers.According to Microsoft, after June’s shutdown, the system will be introduced to a different market, which deals with the ultra-low cost PCs and is expected to bring significant income for the company.

Microsoft announced the availability of Live Mesh

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced the availability of Live Mesh, at first for a limited number of users, an idea that Ray Ozzie had mentioned at last month’s MIX Conference. The mesh concept suggests a new point of interest for Microsoft, rather than the “old” PC: the World Wide Web.
Mike Zintel, Product Unit Manager, Mesh and Storage Platform, unveiled on a blog that the project they have been working on is going to take competition by surprise, by allowing users to easily manage their information by combining their computing experiences (PCs, applications, web sites, phones, video games, music and video devices) in the context of different communities (i.e. myself, family, work, organizations).
”The PC era has given way to an era in which the Web is at the center of our experiences,” say Ray Ozzie in a memo to Microsoft employees, Information World reports. “It is our mission in this new era to create compelling, seamless experiences that combine the power of the Internet with the magic of software, across a world of devices.”
Live Mesh enables devices to work together and is in fact a software-plus-service platform that connects devices (PCs, and soon Mac and mobile phones) through the internet, making file sharing and folder synchronization a lot easier.
In addition to being able to access information from anywhere, Microsoft also introduced a “stay informed” feature which keeps track of all the activities on the mesh and keeps the user informed of all updates: online status of friends, who updated files or folders, check the status of his devices etc.
At first, the service will be available to a limited number of users, in order to get the necessary feedback and to make sure the system is reliable and responsive. At the same time, the interface will be in English only, as the data center hosting service is in United States (broader availability is expected within a few months). Although only supported on Windows XP and Vista machines, support for the Mac and mobile devices will be added.
Despite all the openness Microsoft wants to embrace with Live Mesh however, some are still raising eyebrows on exactly how open Mesh really is: an interesting concept, but needs a lot of testing and work to prove a point.