Wireless Mobility Blog

Imagine if, when you wanted to make a call on your cell phone, you could pick the best rate and most appropriate connection method by choosing between a group of providers bidding for your business? That would beat being locked into a rigid carrier contract. It might also introduce some unforeseen complexities, but hey  -- an appropriately-designed technology system can handle that!

That essentially is the message in Google's new patent (#20080232574), "Flexible Communication Systems and Methods," which describes a system where one or more telecom carriers bid to provide connectivity for a communications "session" (think phone call). The customer then picks one of the carriers bidding for his/her business.

Intrigued? Get the full scoop in my article here.

If you're like me and find most Bluetooth headsets uncomfortable and/or inconvenient to use, the AXVisor (model TRIBC200) from Tritton Technologies might be just what you're looking for. This is a Bluetooth speakerphone unit that, as its name suggests, clips to the sun visor in your car for hands-free conversations.

I tested out the Tritton AXVisor with my AT&T phone, a Nokia 2085 clamshell. I quickly discovered that, as with any Bluetooth device, the functionality of the Visor is limited mostly by the hands-free function on the phone you have. Mine allows voice dialing (no programming necessary) for any person in the contacts list, after a long press of the phone's + or - volume button. I discovered that voice dialing on the 2085 is a bit fiddly -- I tried to specify a particular person I wanted to call several times before it recognized what I was saying. This was not the fault of the AXVisor, of course.

To see my full review of the AXVisor -- specifics about how it performed when I put it through the paces -- click here.

Overall, I found the Tritton Visor to be quite simple to use, and appreciate the ability to make (mostly) hands-free calls while in the car without using a Bluetooth headset. If you do a lot of traveling alone in a vehicle, I would say it's well worth the roughly $90-$100 the device is currently selling for. (Tritton's Web site lists 8 U.S. distributors, and 22 U.S. resellers for the AXVisor, but upon doing a spot-check wasn't able to find it online from Micro Center, CompUSA, Newegg.com, or Costco. I did find it from Buy.com, MacMall and tigerdirect.com.)

I got a call this morning from a rep at Avanquest Software, alerting me to the fact that the company is offering free consumer downloads of its new wireless networking tool for laptop users, Connection Manager. (The software has a retail value of $29.95.)

Connection Manager is designed for anyone living the "mobile lifestyle" with a laptop in tow. Its function is to provide users with quick, secure Internet/network access regardless of the connectivity method being used.

"Connection Manager automatically identifies and stores necessary network and security parameters for virtually every type of publicly used connection standard, including standard Ethernet, WiFi, ADSL and WiMAX," the company said in a July 22 announcement.

The software stores preferred network and security settings for every type of connection method and application being used (e.g. e-mail client, printer, shared disk drive), enabling laptop users to "seamlessly transition from one network to the next without having to adjust settings or deal with annoying error messages." It achieves this feat by working with existing firewalls and security apps to "guarantee optimal protection levels for the chosen network environment."

Connection Manager Screenshot

Connection Manager is compatible with current WPA encryption protocols and 64/128-bit WEP.

While the software is marketed toward business users, it seems to me that anyone concerned about security (and everyone should be) would do well to check out Connection Manager.

Ryan Smith, director of product marketing at Avanquest Publishing USA, summed up that thought well: "Whether novice users or power users, everyone can appreciate Connection Manger's automatic handling of tedious Internet connection configurations, letting anyone just simply turn on their laptop and start surfing the Web."

I would only add the word "secure" to Smith's statement.

To see Connection Manager in action, you can check out two YouTube videos. The first is amusing, the second is more standard fare for a product promotion.

One of the challenges for manufacturers of consumer electronics products is how to minimize the cost of building a particular gadget, while maximizing profits. Cut too many corners, and there's the risk of losing potential customers. Spend too much on features people don't really care about, and it's likely the result will be unnecessary costs.

It appears that Apple has struck a pretty good balance between these two extremes in the new iPhone 3G. That's the conclusion reached by applied market intelligence firm iSuppli, which makes a habit of taking apart products to find out what's inside and how much the components cost.

While iSuppli hasn't actually been able to dissect the actual iPhone 3G yet (it won't be available until July 11), the firm did manage to conduct a "virtual teardown," and estimated that it will cost Apple about $173 to manufacture each phone. That can be compared with a $226 "bill of materials" (BOM) for the original 8GB iPhone.

"The new iPhone is significantly less expensive to produce than the first-generation product, despite major improvements in the product's functionality and unique usability, due to the addition of 3G communications," said Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli, in a statement.

Apple typically prices its iPod and iPhone products at about 50 percent more than their BOM and manufacturing costs, iSuppli said. iPhone 3G is no exception, and in fact Apple will actually make more profit per unit with this product than the previous generation; the new phone sells for $199, and Apple gets an estimated subsidy per unit of $300, from wireless carriers, resulting in a boosted BOM/manufacturing margin.

The way iPhone 3G will be sold represents a significant strategic change on the part of Apple.

"The original 2G phone was sold at an unsubsidized price of $499," Rebello explained. "However, at a retail price of $199 for the low-end 8Gbyte version of the new 3G model, wireless communications service carriers will be selling the product at a subsidized rate, using a common business model for the mobile-handset market. ... With subsidies from
carriers, Apple will be selling the 8Mbyte version of the second-generation iPhone to carriers at an effective price of about $499 per unit, the same as the original product."

In changing its business model for iPhone, Apple is also giving up service revenue associated with its phone (previously carriers paid the company a portion of revenue from service subscriptions. This means Apple is relying heavily on profiting from carrier subsidies on the hardware.

"Hardware is vital to Apple profits, valuation and revenue in the consumer-electronics and wireless communications realms," Rebello said. "In fact, two-thirds of Apple's revenue from the iPod still is derived from hardware, while only one third is from the iTunes service and accessories. The second-generation iPhone is no exception."