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First, it was Apple’s MobileMe data sync service downtime. Then, it’s the alleged faulty 3G connectivity issue. AT&T said it would look into the issue on a case to case basis. Sure, Apple fanatics would give Steve Jobs and company the benefit of the doubt but either way, if the 3G complaints are to be believed, it looks like it’s a matter of quality control on the mass production of iPhone 3G.

Web 2.0 companies may have the benefit of putting the ‘Beta’ sign on its product/service offerings while still refining its development. On the other hand, PayPal in its early years was beset with combating fraud and other technical issues but it was able to cross the chasm when it was able to deploy its service on a global scale. With Apple right now, it’s like fixing a plane while it’s flying. The sheer marketing hype is putting its weight on the reliability and reputation of Apple.

With Apple iPhone 3G, I would say the technology adoption is still in the early adopter stage. Those early adopters would bear the consequence of device faults/lapses while the device and software are still in the process of continuous refinement. Nevertheless, it’s really a good start. For now, I might just wait for the mobile internet device to mature. When the price and the network infrastructure matures, and hits the sweet spot for the ordinary Joe, you may just hear that ubiquitous computing is finally upon us.

Motorola’s troubles may stem from consumers’ demand for ultra-stylish mobile phones in part caused by Apple’s iPhone and the emergence of South Korea’s Samsung and LG to innovate and satisfy what the market wants. So it’s no wonder if Motorola might be the next Palm unless the recently approved spin-off Motorola Mobile Devices division (to be fully completed by 2009) get its act together and deliver. So whatever losses Motorola may have incurred since failing to deliver beyond its Razr way back in 2005, the lesson is clear: the global market for the ultra-competitive handset business needs cutting-edge design coupled with a culture of innovation. Maybe the OHA’s Android platform may revive Motorola’s handset business but then Samsung and LG are on the same boat also. If the PC market is any indication, we might see consolidation of handset manufacturers as mobile phones are getting commoditized, or the handset business might venture into the services and/or software market.

But in the final analysis, Apple’s iPhone changed the dynamics of the mobile market and its ecosystem.

From the looks of it, I see Apple vs Nokia vs Microsoft vs RIM vs the OHA Alliance in the ever changing landscape of the mobile business. If mobile phones don’t have that much differentiation from rival’s offerings, it’s the classic cliche you would hear again: "It’s the software, stupid."

While PayPal has been our reliable partner for sending and receiving payments, PayPal is still under fire from the debit card glitch where users are unable to activate their PayPal debit cards or are being denied transactions. Looks like this has been going on for a month now but rest assured, your transactions with LoadnTxt using the PayPal facility is unaffected.

Also, please note that this glitch only applies if you are a PayPal user that is using or will be using the PayPal debit card.

Source: GMANews.tv

Several companies lost access to their own files when Amazon.com Inc.’s pay-as-you-go data storage system went down Friday morning.

Amazon said computers that power its Simple Storage Service were unreachable at one of three data centers for about two hours. By 7 a.m. Pacific Time, most users’ problems were resolved.

The two-year-old storage service is one of several "cloud computing" offerings from Amazon.

Web startups and others pay to store and crunch data on Amazon’s servers rather than running their own. By the end of 2007, about 330,000 people had registered to use the services.

From NYTimes.com

The technical problems affected a host of startups that use S3, such as the messaging service Twitter. The New York Times also uses S3 to store and deliver articles from its historical archives, parts of which were unavailable this morning (Feb. 15).

With due respect to Research in Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of the venerable BlackBerry, it is understandable that network outages are inevitable. But for customers of wireless carriers in the US and Canada (including AT&T and Verizon Wireless), RIM network breakdown on a Monday workday is really frustrating. Sure it’s not the end of the world as we know it. And maybe, even some customers may have a backup plan in case of a BlackBerry network outage. But for some whose work depends on BlackBerry where communications is of paramount importance, it’s really one moment that didn’t make your day.

And if RIM learned its lessons on past incidents of network downtime, it should have beefed up its network infrastructure to prevent such embarrassing scenario. Or maybe RIM needs some network management 101 from the likes of Big Blue or Google.

Update: System upgrade caused Blackberry blackout