Los Angeles was the place to be during the week of May 11th – as eXpansys was onsite to showcase and sell Windows Mobile devices at TechEd this year.  Steve Muttram and I managed the Mobile Device store all week long and offered some of the latest and greatest HTC and Palm Windows Mobile smartphones to those attendees that were looking to either upgrade their existing Windows Mobile device or try out the latest 6.1 OS!

The store also offered some great deals on 8GB MicroSD memory cards, spare batteries and loads of other great accessories!  Picture included!

• View dates/times of when orders are placed

• View status of orders

• View tracking information on shipped orders

• Change payment details

• Change billing address

• Change delivery address

• Remove items

• Cancel orders

This tool is designed to help our customers navigate and edit their orders with ease – without being forced to call into our call center to do so.  For those of you that enjoy making changes on the fly, this tool will come in handy and I encourage you to try it out.  I think you’re going to like the results!

Los Angeles weather in late October is so much nicer than the weather in Illinois (sigh)…Oh, how I do miss the 80 degree warm weather! Anyways, back to the plot…eXpansys was once again back at the Microsoft PDC event held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown L.A. For some of you PDC followers we were also at the PDC event in 2005 (but branded as MobilePlanet) when we were able to offer a rock bottom price on the then, very impressive i-mate Jasjar. While we did not have any jasjars at the event this year, we did have fantastic deals on the new HTC Touch Pro, 3G Diamond and Palm Treo Pro all running Windows Mobile 6.1.

We also had great deals on other devices and accessories, but the Palm Treo Pro really stole the show! This device not only is great for enterprise users, but it also is very easy for first time Windows Mobile users to learn and use as well! Hats off to Palm for doing a great job with the Treo Pro!

Overall the show was a big success and it’s always great to meet other folks in the industry that crave the WM platform as well!

In case you’ve been too caught up in the presidential campaign or the recent roller coaster of a ride in the stock market, Verizon Wireless has announced a month-to-month contract option that eliminates early termination fees.  In September, Verizon announced a new “month-to-month” plan that would allow new users or existing users the option of getting out of those annoying cellular contracts that most of us have been stung by in the past. 

New Verizon customers have the option of signing a month-to-month, one year or two year contact.  And, existing Verizon customers can enter into a new month-to-month contract once their current contract is up.  So where does the small print come into play with this deal (Because we all know, there is always small print in a cellular contract)?

New users that sign up for the new month-to-month deal are now required to pay full price for their Verizon Wireless phone, which means no more subsidized phone prices.  Existing users can use their current device without any penalty.  So basically, Verizon had decided to waive early termination fees, but will make that money back through phone sales - possibly even make more now!

For example, a new LG Chocolate phone from Verizon is free with a two-year contract, according to Verizon's website. The same phone tethered to a month-to-month contract is $299.99.  And as most of you know, Verizon’s early termination fee is $175, but does decline $5 for every month a user stays with the contract after the 30 day trial. 

Hmmm?  So if we do the math correctly, Verizon will actually come out $124.99 better off in month-to-month scenario that I mentioned above.  In short, it comes down to how often you upgrade your phone and how long you plan on staying with your cellular provider. 

 

Houston was hot and humid! I’m back in Illinois now still enjoying (sigh) the 95 degree weather that I thought I had escaped when I left Houston, TX last Thursday night…I guess I’ll have to put up with the high temperatures for another few days, as the weather is expected to stay above 90 for at least the rest of the week.

Aside from the temperature in Houston, sales on the HTC Diamond were also very hot! eXpansys was onsite selling Windows Mobile devices and accessories at the 2008 Microsoft Partner Conference and as expected, the big seller was the recently released HTC Diamond.

The Diamond is a very unique device as it is smaller in size than most smartphones, but packs a powerful punch with the 528 MHz processor and the 4GB of internal memory! This device is also running Windows Mobile professional and is pre-loaded with the latest version, WM 6.1.

I like the Diamond and recommend it to folks that are looking for a very positive, multimedia-driven experience. But for those of you that consider yourself a business power user, this may not be the device for you – as the Diamond lacks the QWERTY keyboard that most of us email junkies crave.

Overall, the Diamond is a great device - pick yours up today from eXpansys!

After using the HTC s620 (aka Excalibur/Dash) for over a year, I recently switched to the much more powerful HTC s630 (aka Cavalier). While the s620 is smaller in size, the s630 comes fully loaded with more of the functionality that I need to have.

The 400 MHz processor really makes this device fly! Toggling through apps and email is noticeably quicker with the new processor – which is twice the speed of the s620. The other noticeably quicker function on the s630 is the data connection speed. The s630 is equipped with 3G – a major upgrade from what the s620 is capable of receiving. For those of you on the ATT network in the USA, this device will perform at the highest level available on the ATT network. Allowing for ultra-fast page loading and always having the latest email pushed to your mobile inbox using direct push technology.

Other notables on the s630 include a pre-loaded version of Windows Mobile 6 standard (Microsoft’s latest RTM version of their mobile OS), a full QWERTY keyboard, and integrated WiFi. These are all features that make this device very tough to put down!

If you crave processor and download speed, and must have a QWERTY keyboard, then this is the device for you! Visit our homepage to purchase your own s630 today!

Today is the start of a new month, and the start of a new brand for the folks at eXpansys USA (formely MobilePlanet, Inc). For some of you reading this, the change will not come as a surprise, as this was the original brand that we began with in 2002. eXpansys Inc (our offical name in the USA) is part of eXpansys plc – our parent company located in Manchester, UK.

Personally, I am ecstatic about the decision to bring the eXpansys brand back to our US operations. eXpansys, which is short for “expanding systems” was literally the first online etailer to introduce “carrier unlocked” mobile devices to the US market. Six years later (and a name change or two) we are still leading the way in regards to online sales of unlocked mobile and wireless technology.

Aside from the 10 inches of snow that we received last night in Bloomington, today is a great day at eXpansys!

It’s upgrade time for those of you using the HTC TyTN running Windows Mobile 5! HTC has released the much anticipated Windows Mobile 6 build, and has a free download listed on their website.

Check it out! http://www.europe.htc.com/en/press/latestnews.html

You bet there were! I have just returned from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver, CO. Where we were onsite again to help support and sell Windows Mobile devices to the 7300 attendees that were at the conference this year.

For the third show in a row, the HTC s710 and s620 stood to be the most popular devices. In fact, the s620 out sold the s710 at the partner conference. Some of you may be scratching your heads at this point – but the s620 is still a powerful product! I use the s620 as my personal device and have nothing bad to say about it. The only feature I might change is the joggr function, which enables you to toggle through programs, mail, and control the volume. I find this feature to be placed in a poor spot on the device, so I usually disable it.

Here is a picture of our booth (attached to the company store) at the conference in Denver.

The iPhone has launched – finally! Nice work, Apple... but the real work lies ahead.

It’s July 5th, and over one million units of the iPhone have been sold since the June 29th launch date. Since that launch date a few things have happened related to the iPhone and to those who support it, or may support it in the near future:

• July 3rd - Down time. Already?

  Thousands of new iPhone users experienced a hiccup in their mobile internet service on Tuesday when the AT&T network crashed because of the high volume of users trying to access service on the EDGE network. Silly AT&T…EDGE is for kids.

  Would this same problem have occurred if the iPhone was desgined to run on the powerful 3G network? Stay tuned, it sounds like we might find out shortly. There are rumors about a 3G iPhone being launched in Europe this winter.

• July 5th - Europe here we come! O2 and T-Mobile!

  According to a few online sources, European mobile service providers, O2 and T-mobile have landed a deal with Apple to support the new device. It sounds like Steve Jobs has finally agreed to send this device across the pond, and it should arrive just in time for the holiday shopping season. And you thought Beatle-mania was bad!