Excellent Idea: Priceline iPhone App
Here I am set on getting an Android phone and I see this. Very, very cool.
For YEARS I’ve been looking for the solution to being on the roadtrip and getting stuck with ridiculously high prices on Interstate motels.
Back in college I worked in motels in a time when the sophisticated traveler knew that you could haggle on a room price if it was late at night or if you were in a resort area in the off season — it seems like fewer and fewer of the hourly drones behind the counters at chain motels get that freedom.
So, picture this — you’re zipping up on Knoxville, Tennessee, ready to turn in for the night and you hit up your iPhone get a Priceline deal on a 2.5 star motel.
Holy half price, Captain Kirk.
After just last weekend legging it out to make it to hotel rooms that I bought on Priceline before the trip ($45 to stay in Chattanooga, but by the time we got there it was 2 a.m.) I’ve gotta say the Priceline app would be priceless.
Now, here’s hoping an Android app is coming. (Am I getting myself in that situation again? Waiting on the Mac app…waiting on the Android app…)
Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
So, this week Apple posted exceptional results for Q3 or 2009 (their fiscal fourth quarter), showing adjusted revenues of $9.87 billion dollars representing $12.25 billion in actual sales in the period. (The company has to adjust sales for the iPhone and Apple TV over their estimated economic lives to meet GAAP accounting rules.)
Both Mac computers and iPhones saw unit growth over the year-ago quarter, while the iPod fell slightly. The company sold more Macs and iPhones than it ever has in a single quarter, suggesting amazing staying power across its product lines.
For the full year, Apple posted revenue growth of 12 percent and net income grew 18 percent, suggesting that being in the business of selling Macs and iPhones is simply a nice place to be.
Apple gave guidance pointing toward $12 billion in revenues for their Q1 2010 (Q4 2009), suggesting they plan to sell some stuff for the holiday season. Probably a safe bet.
Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results.
Is There Android In My Future?
So, Cellular South announced yesterday that it would be offering an unspecific Android handset by the end of the year, which didn’t surprise me since they’ve been running a “design an Android app” contest for the past few weeks. (Full disclosure: Cellular South recently became an advertiser with the JFP, so I follow them even more closely than I did a few weeks ago when they were just our main mobile carrier. Mostly, though, I like shiny things.)
Since I find my Blackberry dull and lifeless — which is true of pretty much any mobile phone I carry for more than six months — I’m stoked about this. I’ve been surfing on and off for days looking for clues as to which handset we (er…they) might be getting. (Whether or not “we” get one or not is gonna be up to upgrade pricing.)
My first inclination was to believe that the LG Spyder2 840 that Cellular South also recently pre-announced might be that Android handset, although I based that belief on (a.) the coincidence of its timing with the Android App contest, (b.) its similarity in appearance to the T-Mobile G1 and (c.) the use of the term “GSensor” in the features description, noting that the GSensor will offer an “excellent game and Web experience” and that sounds faintly, well, like the “Google” version of the accelerometer in the iPhone and others.
My subsequent surfing has not borne this theory out — it seems that no other mobile watchers I’ve found have tried to make that connection and there’s the suggestion that the LG 840 is an update of the LG 830, which was pulled somewhat early by carriers after lackluster reviews.
Also, GSensor seems to be a common name for an accelerometer, which makes so much sense that I probably should go ahead and edit that last paragraph and not tell anyone I thought it had something to do with the Google. I’d now revise my guess and assert that the “g” has something to do with “gravity.” Duh.
Apple Posts ‘Best Non-Holiday Quarter Ever’
Don’t tell Apple there’s a recession on. With the launch of the iPhone 3Gs as part of its mix this quarter, the company reporting revenues of $8.34 billion, with a net quarterly profit of $1.43 billion. That’s compared to a year-ago quarter of $7.46b and $1.07b respectively.
(Microsoft in the year-ago quarter did $15.84b and $5.68b. Just FYI.)
Mac sales increased 4 percent over the year-ago quarter with Mac portables up 13 percent of year-over-year.
The 10.2 million iPods sold was a decline of 7 percent, which might give some cause for concern. Fortunately that concern is mitigated somewhat by the fact that iPhones sales increased 626 percent in unit growth over the year-ago quarter. 
You can listen to the audio webcast until early August.
UStream’s iPhone App for Inauguration
Yes, I’ve given up on my iPhone for now (that’s another, longer story) but for those of you still clinging to yours in locales better served by AT&T, check this out. UStream is planning a special iPhone application that will enable you to watch the Inauguration of Barack Obama live on your iPhone on Tuesday.
Might as well go ahead and download it, if only because you can.
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