BlackBerry Z10 finally hits New Zealand

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Nice to see the BlackBerry Z10 runs WordPress

Nice to see the BlackBerry Z10 runs WordPress

Note: Updated with Telecom price.

BlackBerry’s Z10 goes on sale today at Telecom. Vodafone began selling the smartphone yesterday.

The Z10 was first announced in May last year. January saw the official global launch and Australian could buy the BlackBerry Z10 in March.

New Zealand’s BlackBerry fans – and there are a surprising number – had to be patient.

Touchscreen only: Those of you who love hardware Qwerty keyboards on smartphones will have to wait longer for the Q10. BlackBerry representatives told me the phone will reach New Zealand later this year. The target date is October, but that’s not a promise. 

Where to get the Z10: Telecom and Vodafone are both selling the BlackBerry Z10. Vodafone’s list price for a phone without a plan is $1000. Telecom’s price is $900. Some independent dealers are selling the Z10 for less than the two main carriers. I’ve seen prices as low as $750.

What about plans: I’m preparing a plan price comparison table which will be online later today.

Do I still need a special BlackBerry account? Earlier BlackBerry phones needed either special corporate plans. Individuals had to pay extra for a BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) plan that gave unlimited mail and internet. That’s gone. All you need for the Z10 is a plan with voice calling and data. If you’re coming from an older Blackberry device, you might find the NZ carrier data plans are too stingy.

Will it run on the 4G networks? Oh yes. And boy is it fast. I’ve tested it on the Vodafone 4G service and seen speeds in excess of 60Mbps.

Is it worth buying? It is if you want a business class smartphone that shines at communications apps. It’s as good as any smartphone for working on documents or web browsing. If you want to play games or need a range of specialist apps you’ll be happier looking elsewhere. For more details see my first impressions.

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Mobile data security: “they” should look after it

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tui

New Zealanders think the government should take responsibility for data collected by mobile apps. They also think the organisations providing services such as banks and airlines should shoulder some of the task. And they think the job should go to Internet and telecommunications providers.
In short, New Zealanders think “they” should look after the data.  

These opinions are the findings of the local segment of Unisys’ international Security Index research programme which tracks attitudes to IT security issues.

Of the 500+ New Zealand adults surveyed, half think individuals are personally responsible for protecting data collected by mobile apps. Almost three-quarters said the companies providing services should carry the burden, while half think ISPs and telcos should take responsibility.

Amazingly, 60 percent think the government should look after mobile app data security.

That’s right. New Zealanders want the same government that guards personal data so well in the WINZ kiosks and shows such high levels of technology expertise with its Novopay project to keep their mobile data safe.

What could possibly go wrong? 

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Office on the iPad and other tablets

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Office Web Apps - pretty darn good on an iPad

Office Web Apps – pretty darn good on an iPad

Last week Microsoft quietly released it Office 365 iPhone app in the wild.

The app lets users edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from Apple phones. It has limited functionality and users need a full Office 365 subscription – that’s NZ$165.

In effect this means users need to run Office on a PC as well as on their phone to get any value from the iPhone app.

Microsoft’s app is strictly iPhone only. You can’t run it on an iPad - (update: apparently you can run it on an iPad 3 or later, either at iPhone size or scaled up) . Microsoft says this is because the software company’s free web versions of Office apps is the way to go.

Some commentators dismiss this idea. Matt Burns at TechCrunch goes further. He says: If Office hits the iPad, even fewer people would buy a Surface.

Burns has a point about a full-fledged iPad Office app hurting Surface sales.

Microsoft’s nice, but expensive, tablet hasn’t been a widespread hit but it is popular with people who want or need desktop-class Office on a tablet.

I’ve been using Microsoft’s Word and Excel Web Apps on my iPad for the last nine months along with SkyDrive. Word Web App is not my first choice of iPad word processor – I prefer the $1.99 iA Writer – but it has everything I need.

Likewise I use the Excel Web App on my iPad. It’s perfect for my needs.

Admittedly my Office software requirements are minimal – I mainly use the tools to write news stories when I’m away from home. But I’d say Microsoft’s statement about the iPhone Office app is correct: if you want Office on an iPad the web apps are the way to go. And they have another advantage over a iTunes-store Office app, they are free.

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Last week’s top posts

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A busy week on the website with more traffic than usual. Here are the stories that made the running:

  1. Five odd aspects of Microsoft’s iPhone Office 365
    Microsoft released an Office 365 app for the iPhone on Friday US time. News reached New Zealand on Saturday, traditionally the slowest day on this website. The post looks at unusual aspects of the software launch and one of the comments notices something else that’s not business-as-usual for an iPhone app launch.
  2. Computerworld NZ, Reseller, PC World: It may not be all over yet
    A week ago Fairfax told the world it was pulling the plug on three New Zealand technology publications. The Australian-owned publisher says it will keep CIO magazine because it makes money from events, but IDG owns the titles and is likely to have other ideas.
  3. Which mobile OS – iOS, Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry?
    All four smartphone operating systems are good choices, but which one most suits your needs?
  4. Anger at secret copper telecomms deal
    Consumer, InternetNZ and Tuanz, the Telecommunications Users Association are not happy about a deal Chorus may have secretly negotiated with telcos and ISPs over the supposedly-regulated cost of connecting customers to the copper broadband network.
  5. A problem with Feedly
    The would-be alternative to Google Reader does a nice job, but it doesn’t quite solve all the problems left by Google’s decision to abandon its RSS feed Reader.

Computerworld NZ, Reseller, PC World: It may not be all over yet

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Fairfax’s decision to close the technology titles it licences from IDG Communications is sad but hardly comes as a surprise.

The Australian media giant never knew what to do with the publications. I know because I worked for IDG as the associate publisher of Reseller News when Fairfax Business Media acquired the titles in 2006.

At the time the business had strong sales and a healthy profit.

Despite a new competitor, Reseller News had a stellar year. We shot past targets and IDG paid me a full bonus.

Within a year the business was in trouble.

In 2008 control moved from Sydney-based Fairfax Business Media to Fairfax New Zealand. By then I was no longer with the company.

For me it is all water under the bridge. However, I feel for the people who may have lost their jobs. I know how painful it is.

Fairfax says it is closing three titles. It plans to keep a fourth one – CIO magazine.

CIO is valuable because of the lucrative, annual CIO Summit. Fairfax wants to hang on to the title and the summit revenue.

While this appears to make sense, it doesn’t for two reasons.

First, CIO magazine and the Summit don’t exist in a vacuum. CIO needs its connection to the other titles to be viable. It’s an awful word, but there really are synergies between technology publications. CIO magazine and the Summit will struggle to thrive without the other titles.

And anyway, tech publishing moves in cycles. CIO may be profitable today, but it hasn’t always been. All of the other titles have had their day in the sun.

The second reason Fairfax’s decision to keep CIO doesn’t make sense is that it devalues the other titles in the group. The whole is worth more than the sum of parts.

Fairfax may not want them, but other publishers may.

Fairfax and IDG could strike a better deal with these parties if CIO was part of the offer.

Perhaps that wouldn’t save every job. It does mean some those people facing redundancy would have somewhere to go. Given the need to pay redundant workers and the likely reduced future return from CIO and the Summit, Fairfax is putting those employee’s livelihoods on the block for what, ultimately, doesn’t add up to much money.

Of course IDG gets a say in what happens to the titles. Fairfax is breaking a contract, it’s possible IDG can find another licensee if the four titles can move as a block. I suspect it will at least put this idea on the table in any negotiation.

So, it’s possible it isn’t game over for these titles. Not yet.

Five odd aspects of Microsoft’s iPhone Office 365

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CaptureMicrosoft’s Office 365 app for the iPhone announcement is unusual on a number of counts:

One: the news was surprisingly low-key considering getting Office 365 on an iOS device is strategic to the company. Apple’s iPhone may be outsold by Android, but it’s an important market for Microsoft. There was no flashy press function, Microsoft slipped the news out quietly through it’s Office 365 blog.

Two: Officially the software is known as Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers. Microsoft has a track record of giving products terrible names, but this sets a whole new level of awfulness, particularly with the word Office appearing twice.

Three: Going by the promotional material, the app is substantially different to the Office app included with Windows Phone 8. The app is basic, it wouldn’t be enough on its own. To make use of it you also need Office 365 on a PC or Mac and to save documents to a Skydrive account.

Four: You need to have an Office 365 subscription, that’s NZ$165. If you already have Office 365 you can sign-in with your existing account, if you don’t you can buy one through the iTunes store. That’s means Apple earns 30 percent of the deal, which makes for an interesting relationship between the two companies.

Five: Microsoft’s app is for the iPhone only, not the iPad. This is curious because Microsoft needs to get fondleslab users hooked on Office before they find alternative tools.

Microsoft rightly says iPad uses will find the free web-delivered Office apps more useful. But it underestimates the marketing importance of distributing an app via the iTunes app store. And while it might sound trivial, some Office users would feel more comfortable with an Office icon on their iPad’s home screen.

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PC attack vectors

Roy Lichtenstein Drowning Girl

Roy Lichtenstein – Drowning Girl

Jethro Carr offers a useful guide to personal computer vulnerabilities in Attack vectors for personal computers.

For non-technical readers it’s a good primer, for more technical people it’s a nice reminder of the things you should guard against.

Carr points out these threats are insignificant compared with the computer owner’s behaviour. And as he says:

never forget the biggest weakness – beating a user with a wrench until they give up their password is a lot cheaper than developing a sophisticated exploit if someone just wants access to some existing data.