Characteristically, Ballmer also laughed at Apple’s iPhone and its premium pricing. “$500 full-subsidized with a plan! I said that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard which makes it not a very good email machine,” Ballmer said. “Now, it may sell very well or not, I, you know. We have our strategy, we’ve got great Windows Mobile devices in the market today. You can get a Motorola Q phone now for $99, it’s a very capable machine, it’ll do music, it’ll do Internet, it’ll do email, it’ll do instant messaging. So, I kinda look at that and I say, well, I like our strategy. I like it a lot.”

Via iLounge

Despite whatever views Steve Ballmer may have on the iPhone, the attitude shown in that statement above is an absolute testament to why Microsoft are starting to fall behind. Pricing aside, you simply can’t look at a product that’s had a great press reception and an eagerly awaited launch with such a dismissive attitude. Microsoft may well have a great share of the smartphone market - who knows, they may even keep it after the iPhone’s launch! - but they should be analysing the competition, looking for ways to equal and better them.

Innovation from their end with phone technology has been slim to say the least - Windows Mobile is basically ported Pocket PC software from years ago which hasn’t evolved all that much. Improvements have mainly been from the device manufacturers building better, sleeker and faster smartphones. With additions such as visual voicemail, Multi Touch and the iChat style SMS messaging, Apple are at least making headway from a software angle.

I was quite indifferent before reading that quote - I’d choose an iPhone over a Windows Mobile phone any day, but I had nothing against Microsoft’s business model. The complacent business attitude of Microsoft will be their downfall, and I imagine their market share is going to be promptly shattered later this year when iPhone sales kick off.

That’s the lens cap from my lovely new 400d, in all it’s digital glory. It’s an absolutely stunning camera, and it feels so much more professional than my Sony. I’m looking forward to taking plenty of photos with it over the coming months and years!

I’m blown away at how Apple have managed to promote this - from mainstream news media to the blogging onslaught and their own PR activities. I’ve seen the iPhone everywhere over the past 24 hours already, and the reaction seems to have been incredible. People are impressed with this device in every way, with the only real negatives people can pick out being the lack of 3g and a fixed battery. Hardly likely to cripple demand!

Equally impressive is the way they’ve managed to stay so tight lipped on the device for two and a half years. Almost no specs were released pre-launch, and only speculations were made. This article is a really interesting read if you want to know more about how it was all kept underhand - it was obviously a massive operation.

Most impressive? Without a doubt the user interface. The majority of the features have been done in one way or another before - just never executed with this simplicity and ease of use. Functionality was obviously put at the forefront every step of the way, and this is just another incredible piece of engineering which solidifies Jonathan Ive as the greatest product designer the world has ever seen. He had his work cut out here, and has excelled once again.

I love my mobile phone at the moment - the Sony Ericsson K800i is great - but as soon as my contract expires in around 12 months time I’ll be picking one of these up. There’s no rush as far as I’m concerned, but there’s no doubt as to which my next handset will be. Here’s to Apple conquering the mobile phone market as swiftly, effectively and comprehensively as they did the MP3 market with the iPod!

I’m going dark this evening. No email, no NewsFire, no Internet Browsing.

“What? That’s crazy!” I hear you say. “Today is MacWorld - the biggest and most significant technology conference of the year!” That’s very true, well observed dear reader. I love Apple conferences, but to be perfectly honest I don’t get the full appreciation of watching one if I’ve already heard what all the announcements are. Reading the latest news as it’s announced on a small text based ticker keeps you up to date, but it’s nothing like the effect of hearing it first hand from Steve himself.

Call me crazy, but this year I’m waiting for them to put up the Keynote video - hopefully it will be sometime tonight, but if not - tomorrow morning. I want the full charismatic impact of whatever’s announced.

Here’s to a great MacWorld!

My previous camera has served me incredibly well, and no doubt I’ve taken several thousand photos with it over the past two years. However time has come for a change. My photography skills have improved considerably over time and I’m much more interested in it as a hobby now. I’ve decided to upgrade to a Digital SLR for greater manual control, which should allow me to play and experiment much more with photography.

It was a choice between a Nikon d80, Canon EOS 350d, or EOS 400d. I would probably have gone for a Nikon d80 had it not been a little too far out of my price range, but the 400d seems like a fantastic camera (review. I picked one up with the standard 18-55mm lens off eBay today, and am thoroughly looking forward to having a play and getting used to it!

I’m looking forward to the flexibility of RAW, a much more advanced metering system and improved flash. Also the ability to purchase and add new lenses at a later date will give me a great deal more flexibility. All coupled with the ever-amazing Aperture for the perfect editing package. All change!

There are many different word processing programs available for a Mac, ranging from fully fledged offerings such as Pages and Microsoft Word through to more basic apps, such as TextEdit and Text-Wrangler. All of these follow a similar theme and, whilst they all focus on a slightly different target market, they are all very similar.

I’m writing this review using a new piece of software called WriteRoom. It isn’t like your average word processor in that it has (more or less) no interface at all. It creates a completely distraction free environment in which you can work uninterrupted and without anything bouncing around persuading you to do something else. It’s writing bliss.

When looking at the site at first I was quite skeptical. I like the interface and features my Mac has to offer and wouldn’t really want to sacrifice them. I also really didn’t like the whole green on black text style. I downloaded it anyway, being inquisitive and all, and discovered that it’s actually very advanced. There are a great deal of options you can play with in the preferences to customise it exactly how you want it. Mine is a completely white screen, with black Garamond 14-pt. It looks stunning, and is “minimalistic bliss”. At the moment, I’m not honestly sure I’ll ever use something such as Microsoft Word again!

Obviously it isn’t perfect for every situation. There are times when you need to be able to format text more effectively, insert images, or use all the features of a full word processor. But when writing blog posts, essays or letters, this does seem to be one of the best programs out there.

Try it and you’ll be hooked straight away. Promise!