Gizmodo: wsj pulpbite

Mossberg Keeps On Dreaming of a Phone Revolution

Brian Lam — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:51:38 EDT

Mossy's column today is a remix of his Wireless Telcos as Soviet ministries joke, told first in a June 2005 column. He complains about phone companies locking handsets to carriers, and making them lame little pocket convenience stores for ringtones, and so on (my words). The timepeg is Apple's new promise of a software development kit for the iPhone, perhaps the device that could best benefit from such an open arrangement. Yes, I am glad he's continuing the salvo against the phone companies. But there is a but.

I am glad he credits Apple with trying to do the right thing as far as the SDK and openness go. I just wish he was a little more skeptical of Apple, given that they now share revenues for monthly charges and I'd assume, ringtones and maybe future apps. My point is that I hope that Mossberg has a plan of action for journalists and consumers to fight this one and enacting some change, rather than just a theoretical bitch much like the 2005 column and the great craplet article from last year. Maybe journalists covering the topic should base their ratings on all phones in part by checking how tarted up a handset is by a carrier, and regular joes can buy unlocked handsets. But I'm unsure of what else can be done. So, Walt, lead the charge and we'll follow. What can we do to fight the machine? [AllThingsD]

Mossberg Reviews the iPod touch

Brian Lam — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:33:28 EDT

Mossy reviews the touch, and finds that the battery life was only 4 hours while playing video, short of our own touch experience that lasted over 6 hours. The money quote is when he calls Apple out for removing features and apps that the iPhone has, unnecessarily:

...it seems ridiculous to me to sell a powerful device with Wi-Fi and a huge screen, and to leave out things like an email program, even though you can use Web-based email programs. I assume Apple was concerned that the less costly Touch might compete too much with the iPhone if it had these features.

Before he closes with approval, he verifies that the shimmery screen issues were a temporary production problem and have been solved. [AllThingsD]

VMWare Fusion Review by Mossberg

Brian Lam — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:14:19 EDT

Walt Mossberg appears to be scooping again. This time, it's a review of VMWare's Fusion (Available this Monday, August 6th). The software, like Parallels, allows PC programs to run from within OS X. Mossberg compares them, simply:

Parallels has more features than Fusion...But I found Fusion puts less strain on the computer overall.

Jacqui at Ars notes that Parallels isn't taking this competitor lying down. They just released a new beta that supports Mac Expose window swooshing of Windows programs. [VMWare via AllThingsD]

Mossberg's iPhone Video Review

Brian Lam — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:56:51 EDT

Mossberg's lost the funky music in the intro, and compared to Pogue's video, he's all business. The interesting bits left out of the text review are here, like, in regards to the keyboard, "I wanted to throw it out the window after 3 days". (Of course, he came around eventually, comparing it in speed to a Treo's keyboard.)
[All Things D, Thanks John P.]

Breaking: Mossberg Reviews the iPhone, Says Keyboard A-OK After Five Days

Brian Lam — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:15:50 EDT

Mossberg and Boehret review the iPhone, 3 minutes after Pogue at the NYTimes. In a nutshell:

Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.

And more importantly, unlike Pogue, he likes the keyboard:

The iPhone's most controversial feature, the omission of a physical keyboard in favor of a virtual keyboard on the screen, turned out in our tests to be a nonissue, despite our deep initial skepticism. After five days of use, Walt — who did most of the testing for this review — was able to type on it as quickly and accurately as he could on the Palm Treo he has used for years. This was partly because of smart software that corrects typing errors on the fly.

Then Mossberg complains about some missing features:

The iPhone is missing some features common on some competitors. There's no instant messaging, only standard text messaging. While its two megapixel camera took excellent pictures in our tests, it can't record video. Its otherwise excellent Web browser can't fully utilize some Web sites, because it doesn't yet support Adobe's Flash technology. Although the phone contains a complete iPod, you can't use your songs as ringtones. There aren't any games, nor is there any way to directly access Apple's iTunes Music Store.

(I'm not sure other browsers on phones support Flash, but I get the point.)
IPhone is Breakthrough Handheld Computer [WSJ]

WSJ and Suits Don't Get the iPhone

Brian Lam — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 11:14:43 EDT

Mossy is going to be pissed the junior writers are getting the iPhone all wrong. This WSJ explores how difficult it is to adapt to the corporate environment. Here:

The main problem is that the iPhone can't send and receive email through the company's corporate BlackBerry email servers.

Yes, you can't file your TPS reports from it or do powerpoint either. And these sales figures from Q2 aren't going to calculate themselves using that built in iPod or movie player. Bummer for Ted in Acquisitions and CFO FartFace.

Oh and check out this subhed:

Workers Beseech Employers To Add Device, but IT Units Cite Email Incompatibility.

Yes, Email is never compatible from one company to another. Don't you hate that?

I do like that visual conjured by "Workers Beseech". As if they're business casual doggies begging for bacon. Quite colorful, in comparison to the rest of the story. –Brian Lam
Companies Hang Up on Apple's iPhone [WSJ]