New Media Moves

Its official - the iPhone is coming to SA! Vodafone have signed an exclusive agreement to offer the iPhone in 10 markets incl good old South Africa!

Click here and here for the official word!

Lets just hope Vodacom come up with a decent data plan. Im also pretty sure it will be the 3G iPhone hopefully due in June! Finally!

The company i work for has put together an awesome new reality series offering one lucky South African the chance to drive the official Renault F1 car around Silverstone while being filmed on TV for a reality show. The series is being sponsored by the Gauteng Provincial Government and the Renault F1 team.

Its easy to enter - just go to any Renault Dealership country wide, fill in the supplied form, and if you make the grade, you’ll join other hopefulls in a series of challenges as the eventual winner is found! There will also be a driver training in France before the big drive.

So get down to any Renault Dealership between 11 and 19 April only to enter - who knows it could be you (im not allowed to enter - damn)

For more info check out www.ultimategrandprixdrive.com or if youre on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ultimate-Grand-Prix-Drive/11233683460

Yup its been ages since I did a blog post, but id rather blog when I want to say something rather than just for the hell of it.

Anyway, in keeping with iPhone trend,I first purchased my iPhone when they were released last year. I had to wait about 2-3 months to crack it, and once cracked, the iPhone would not work on Vodacom for love or money. After hours on the phone to support desks and even a trip to Vodaworld, i had no choice but to port to MTN as in the pictures. I wasnt happy about this, but the phone worked fine.

Now some good news - Yesterday I happened to put my Vodacom simcard in the phone on the off chance that it work and guess what? - it worked 100%. Vodacom must have changed a network setting or did an upgrade so the that the iPhone would work.

This leads me to speculate that maybe, just maybe Vodacom are doing prelim tests to see if the iPhone will work before they bring it here? Maybe they are talking to Apple about bringing it here? Just speculation, but would it be nice!!

Yup you guessed it - unless im wrong, this is the first working iPhone in SA! Im actually on Vodacom but having some minor issues - MTN works 100% though!

Oh and for anyone wanting to know - iPhone is undoubtedly the best mobile phone out there.

UPDATE: After using the iPhone fora few months now  i am really enjoying it. Im still on the original firmware (1.0.2) but im going to upgrade. I have noticed a few issues which have come about, namely some dead blocks on the touch screen (which weren’t there before) and a sim failure error which i never got before. Im hoping a firmware upgrade will fix if i can get  it to work. The things we do for Apple!!!

Yup thats right- I managed to get my grubby mits on an iPhone from the 5th ave Apple store in NY (i didn’t go unfortunately but a mate got it for me -im in South Africa by the way)

So what can i say about the iPhone? It is nothing short of spectacular beyond belief and truly had taken cell phones to a new level. Its smaller than you think from seeing pics etc. True i cant use all the cellphone features yet, but i did managed to bypass the activation in about 1 minute and get access.

The screen and functionality is superb. The touch screen is nothing short of revolutionary and browsing web sites via wi-fi is a treat! The ipod is mind blowing and sound quality superb. Sure im really talking this device up (im a huge apple fan) but all of that aside - this thing will change the way you look at hand-held devices (cellphones, mp3 players etc) I actually got gasps from people when i showed them the iPhone - when was the last time a device got that reaction? Basically - every positive article you’ve read is true.

A few things minor i can see being an issue are:

1) when you send an sms it doesn’t count the characters you’ve typed (maybe when its activated it does?)
2) Things like stock, weather etc are pretty pointless.
3) the note taking could be a bit more serious - it has a very childish font
4) keyboard takes some getting used to - im sure it just needs practice though.

Thats about all i can comment on at the moment, but im working feverishly to crack the phone functionality (apparently it has been done in Europe) Also as of now there is still no word as to when the iPhone will be in SA and im not holding my breath either.

Ill report my progress going forward!

Is it just me or does Facebook get pretty boring after a while?See ive made contact with a crap load of people i haven’t seen in years. I’ve chatted to most of them. Some ive just collected as friends (you’ve done it to)

I’ve added a few applications and ignored most others. I’ve been bitten by zombies and vampires, sent drinks, had sheep thrown at me and been asked a ton of stupid questions. I’ve been told about moods, been offered food and been sent random gifts. All of this leaves me wondering - what’s next?

Dont get me wrong, Facebook is a great networking site, but after you’ve done all this stuff, Facebook actually becomes pretty boring. Especially for me as i couldn’t be bothered to keep up a conversation with someone i haven’t seen for 12 years.Sure ill say hi but that’s pretty much were it ends.

So where is Facebook going? Sure its probably one of the most popular sites on the web right now, but will it last? Ill guess well have to wait and see.

Sure the title it a tad over the top, but this is truly sensational in my book. Its an upcoming movie called “Cloverfield” or “01-18-08″ - both of these are used because the studio hasn’t told anyone what the name is!

Talk about creating hype. The trailer played in US cinemas just before Transformers and created a huge stir - mainly because it doesn’t say a thing about the movie, i.e. what its about, or even what its name is! Totally different for Hollywood who normally spends millions on getting the name and synopsis to the public.

The trailer starts of at a party and is filmed on a “shaky handycam” ala Blair Witch.We then see a power cut and hear an ungodly roar. The party goers run upstairs  to see a huge fireball engulf part of the city. They the run downstairs to the street only to hear the roar again and see the head of the Statue of Liberty smash to the ground! Wow.

Further searching also reveals a website with 3 time stamped pics, and this site as well

It seems to be a fantastic marketing ploy that is working wonders - I personally cant wait to see what the next tidbit is! plus ill definitely see the film - lets just hope it lives up to the hype.

- Wealthiest Americans ever - a cool flash presentation highlighting the richest Americans and how they made their cash!

- 68 bugs on the iPhone - I don’t care - i  still want one

- Social media slide show - a very nice presentation on social media

Yup - i got the Iphone blues baaaadd!! Why? - because i cant have one that’s why. I have to settle for looking at pics of smiling Americans getting their grubby paws on it.

You see im an Apple nut and the fact that I have to wait an undetermined amount of time to get my hands on the hottest gadget of the decade just kills me. Maybe its a blessing in disguise because when  they (eventually) land here, they will probably have 3G, MMS and be able to record video.

Still that scant consolation to me! Damn you Apple, why couldn’t you just sell and unlocked phone instead of wanting a slice of the call revenue pie. Or is it Steve Jobs cunning plan to extend revenues in a rapidly approaching iPod saturated market.

That begs the question for SA and other countries: Will Apple do the same as the USA and partner with a carrier? or will they settle for selling crap loads and making a fortune on the actual units? I guess time (how much we don’t know) will tell!

I’m always on the look for new marketing techniques that break the mould, and this one from Warner Brothers does just that.

WB has launched a viral campaign for the new Batman movie due out next year ( i cant wait to see it)

Seems they launched a site with nothing but a pic of the new bat logo. When you click on the logo, you are then redirected to another site called I believe in Harvey Dent. This site features an election banner for Harvey Dent. Nothing special here, but then it gets interesting.

That site goes to another site with the same poster but its been defaced by you know who (the Joker if you dont know who) However one can (or could) interact with the site and by giving an email address, get co ordinates of a pixel to remove.

Once all the pixels were removed, it revealed a pic of Heath Ledgers Joker. Very cool. Now WB have got a huge database to keep contacting and drum up even more hype about the flick!!!

See all the pics here