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Smartphone summer

July 9, 2009 3:19am
by Paul Taylor

Blink twice it seems and another new smartphone is launched. Just weeks after Palm and Sprint Nextel debuted the Palm Pre and Apple  rolled out the go-faster iPhone  T-Mobile USA took the wrappers off the T-Mobile myTouch 3G – the second Google Android-powered smartphone launched by the US-based  mobile unit of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom group.

Indeed new handsets are appearing so fast that Denny Marie Post, T-Mobile USA’s chief marketing officer, anointed this year as ‘the summer of smartphones.’

Unfortunately she and other T-Mobile executives on stage for the New York launch seemed much less certain about why consumers should buy the new handset rather than one of its rivals.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from our customers that a deeper level of personalization matters to them,” she said pointing out that myTouch owners will be able to download any of the 5,000-plus applications now available in the Android App store when the device goes on sale for $199 with a new 2-year agreement on August 5.

But with 50,000 applications already available for the iPhone this hardly seems like the strongest of sales pitches, particularly since the 1m plus owners of the original G1 Android handset which went on sale last October and, like the myTouch, is built by Taiwan’s HTC group, already have access to these Android-based applications.

“What is the difference between this and the G1?” asked one frustrated member of the Press. The answer of course is not much, though the myTouch lacks the slide-out physical keyboard built into the GI and, as a result is somewhat slimmer and at 4.1 ounces, somewhat lighter than its predecessor. In fact, the myTouch is essentially a rebadged HTC Magic which went on sale in Europe through Vodafone earlier this year.

Like the Magic, the biggest improvement is probably a modest improvement over disappointing battery life of the G1, the rest is mostly cosmetic and, as T-Mobile’s Denny Marie Post finally admitted, is about marketing.

Unlike the G1 which appealed primarily to early adopters and text heavy mobile email users, the myTouch is aimed at feature phone users rather than existing smartphone owners.

T-Mobile USA, which is still in the midst of upgrading its network to be 3G data capable, is hoping to persuade its own mainstream phone users to trade up with a device that is “simple and intuitive” to customize rather than defect to one of its rivals.

Nevertheless, in the words of the famed British rock group Led Zeppelin, formed in the wake of the ‘summer of love’ 32 years ago, I predict many consumers will remain ‘Dazed and Confused.’

July 9, 2009 3:19am in Hardware, Telecoms | Comment

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