Boutique employment consultancy specialising in IT people and companies.

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.” The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, 1859

In some obscure examination paper will be the question “who was Steve Jobs?” It’s unthinkable that a household name would be forgotten, but like all cabbages and kings, soon the younger set will have other modern heroes. Thank you Mr. Jobs, and I wish I could hope for your dynasty to remain as creative and attentive to the needs of your loyal fans, but I’m afraid the first cracks are starting to show. To be fair, one big crack-no connectivity to the High Speed data networks-at all for the Ipad 3. Yes, Apple for America has connectivity-quite fast from the press blurb, but bugger all for the Aussies. Furthermore there’s no mention of a WIFI bundle either in conjunction or externally from any of the major providers.

Where my old Ipad has connectivity to the 3G network for $150 per year fixed (I don’t really have any idea of the download limit-I have never hit it!) your roaming alternative of the Telstra Elite prepaid mobile WIFI is $99 + 5GB of data for a lousy 60 days. Pardon me, but that ad up to a very rude $600 per year! Oh, I know I can tether my IPhone to the pad, given that I have oodles of noodles to download, but I’d prefer to leave the wee beastie unencumbered so I can use both devices simultaneously. Besides, sometimes I’d like to share my personal WIFI with friends, because I’m cool and groovy that way and I travel a lot.

This is what I want. A new Ipad bundled with a 4G WIFI. I’m a Telstra customer, so give it to me cheap because you love me. It needs to be mobile and rechargeable from everything. Potato peelings, if possible. I want to be able to personalise it with my name, logo, and picture. It can’t be too big because big is bad, but not too small so I can find the bastard in my bag. Actually shape it like a cigarette case with a gently throbbing light from within. Sorted?

Thank you. Steve Jobs, I miss you already, and if not for you I would tell Apple to stop destroying the biggest, funkiest success story of the century.

Update – Apple got spanked, and they sent me an interesting message-”

Dear iPad owner, Thank you for purchasing the new iPad with built-in Wi-Fi and support for connecting to fast cellular data networks.

Please note the following information about the Wi-Fi + 4G model:This product supports very fast cellular networks.It is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks and WiMAX networks.

•
Fast cellular networks supported include HSPA, HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA. If you purchased your iPad on or before 28 March 2012 on the basis that it would work with the current Australian 4G LTE networks or WiMAX networks, you may return your undamaged iPad for a full refund before 25 April 2012.

Return Process
Please follow these steps if you wish to return your iPad for a full refund:
1.
Place the undamaged iPad, power adapter and USB cable into the original packaging (if available) accompanied by your original receipt or gift receipt.
2.
Return the iPad, included accessories and receipt to the original point of purchase:
•
Apple Retail Store
•
Apple Online Store
•
Apple Authorised Reseller
•
Optus, Telstra or Vodafone Australia
3.
Inform the seller that you purchased the iPad on the basis that it was compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks or WiMAX networks.

If you have a data plan for your iPad, please contact your wireless provider for information on how to cancel or reset your service agreement.

Thank you for being an Apple customer.

Apple”

Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility

Motorola was the coolest phone on the planet back a decade or so ago. The “brick” phone was a marvel of modern technology and marked you as a superstar. I saw my first one back in the ‘80’s, complete with a monstrous battery pack. I owned the fat brick and then the slimmer brick and was considered cool and groovy, as indeed I was. Upwardly mobile, I had power breakfasts where I prayed for the phone to ring so I could pose.

When Motorola came out with the “flip” phone, and I could be cool, groovy, and Captain Kirk I couldn’t be happier. When the flip phone diminished in size I was the first to have one in West Perth, despite the obvious problem of posing with such a small phone.

Nokia then came on with their myriad of models, speaking to the younger set with style, elegance, and price performance.

Suddenly, appearing from stage left was Steve Jobs, with the phone that changed the world forever. You see, what we want, but didn’t know we wanted it until we became tired of the endless fiddle to tailor our phones by ring, picture, and music, was the ability to personalise our phone easily. As yet, not one of the companies has come out with the simple idea of plugging your phone in to a PC, and with a click of a mouse button, back up, share, add ring tones, text, MMS, wallpaper-all the things we CAN do with most phones, but only after a really big fiddle. Then drop it and try to back up the lot successfully to your replacement phone. Oh yes, it CAN be done, but have you managed it with a few clicks? Not me.

Google Press Release –

“MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

“Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

The rest of it is the usual blah blah from the Gods, saying nothing at all.

Motorola in its day had the most powerful team of software developers, deployed all over the world, with some fantastic ideas that they could never quite get to market. Ditto Nokia but they weren’t as fat and bloated in the executive area as Motorola was-and it killed them. Nokia, on the other hand achieved world dominance, and made the perfect phone in the 6310i, which marked their nadir.

We all love to hate market leaders. The small spark of independence grows impatient with being told things like how much I should pay for apps, how we can’t share this or do that or use Adobe. Android intends to beak the model of I phone dominance and good luck to them too. Google don’t know what they are going to do with Motorola, but then they rarely do know what they are planning to do, and wouldn’t tell you if they did because it would undermine their Importance.

Android still, to a large part, nestles on the sweaty bosoms of the geek and tech community, who love to get their sticky fingers in and jail break it (bless ‘em, to a large extent its open source anyway, but don’t tell them). It’s less expensive than the Iphone, and a little more “home boy”, with a sprig of Anarchy.

So, Google, show us your wuzzer. I want my Google phone to work with the galaxy of Google stuff. I want BIG BUTTONS because, like der, most of us baby boomers need glasses. . Give me the option. Give my nephew the option to have a zillion tiny icons on his screen, and the ability to kill Demons with Mohammed in Malaga. I want to know how much charge, money I have spent, and where my wife is so I can um greet her, and where the hell I left my car in that stupid car park?

I want to be cool and groovy again when I do find my car. Oh, by the way, make a phone that doesn’t need a protective cover, and spray on self cleaning nanites. Sorted?

If memory serves, ABB was short for Asea Brown Boveri, which isn’t a hot winter broth. They are an electrical power control flashy company and have been around since 1988, and despite being based in Zurich, have done very well. (Research note-ask the editor about confiscated duty-free in Zurich later)

Engine Ears

Peter Ustinov once stated that “Assets” are small female donkeys. Therefore Asset management software designed by MINCOM in Brisbane, Australia may well be a different type of creature, and thus a takeover target for ABB, which happened in May 2011 for many millions of dollars.  Well done to the founders of Mincom, who sold in 2007 to Francisco Partners for $315 Million dollars.  Its all about the large pulsing vein that is the mining industry in Australia-the ROW (rest-of-world, an American term I’ll adopt here) wants a part of our assets, you see, because we have very nice rocks here.  How the Swiss integrate MINCOM with Ventyx will be aswers with, thank heavens, many thousands of lines of code by some busy programmers.

Locally Peter Christie (no relation) is no donkey as MINCOM’s Business Development manager and loves Swiss Chocolate.