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Apple finally has revealed the secret of 3G iPhone in the WWDC 2008 today. The phone will be up on sale in 70 countries this year, thinner in shape and more importantly much less pricey. The new price will be $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16GB version in every country where the phone is available. This effort, along with App Store - a distribution service for iPhone App developers, is to boost iPhone revenue and increase the number of iPhone users all around the world.

Really after 1 year long of praises and complains about iPhone, Apple have taken all into account and eventually delivered the best of the best to satisfy its greedy users. Hopefully this is not the final, big upgrade from Apple.

I have gone through the list of countries where iPhone will be available and sadly the word Vietnam doesn’t show up. Though iPhone could be purchased elsewhere and cracked/hacked before being used in Vietnam, users really want to receive the same kind of service Apple gives to other places where they officially sell the phone. My guess is Vietnam telecomm companies don’t bother to contact Apple for the deal or Apple hasn’t seen any sale opportunity in the country.

There are not many 3G providers in Vietnam and those whose are operating on GSM need to upgrade their towers for 3G capability. That may take years and until then they lose a big chunk of revenue to those who illegally import the phones to the country.

Filed by Tran Nguyen at 3:43 pm under Daily thoughts
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It’s quite an interesting news when school authorities recognized the lack of collaboration among students and made an “innovative” move to Google Apps for better communication tools. Starting this summer, Google has committed to providing premium services to students including Gmail, calendar, Google docs, other up-coming apps (maybe), and the best of the best no ads.

There are two additional benefits that my professors, also school’s CTO, mentioned: (1) Alumni will be no longer afraid of losing emails and contacts after many years of graduation (which most likely happens at many school in the U.S.); (2) OpenID will be supported along the line to give students more benefits when accessing other OpenID-based websites (e.g. Yahoo, Google).

Of course, there’s no free lunch. Students will start to see ads like regular Gmail account after they become alumni. After all, this is a great implementation that will apparently give a lot of benefits and conveniences to students.

Integration with Google Apps using existing infrastructure really helps Google compete with Microsoft whose product suite, MS Office, has been dominance at school and work places. Google now can get closer to corporate environment not face to face but side to side with Microsoft products. Eventually, end-users will determine which products are more favorable and which one should become obsolete or not at all. For now, let’s hope Google shows its “Don’t be evil” motto to student users.

One fave for Google; one fave for my school (first time ever after 1.5 yrs of enrollment).

Filed by Tran Nguyen at 2:59 pm under Daily thoughts
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I’m thinking of a few places to explore this summer. Camping and hiking only. Hopefully I get enough people to go on the trip because it will be more fun. Here’s a list of places I’ve thought so far:

• - Yosemite national park
• - Grand Canyon/Havasu Falls at Havasupai Indian Reservation

Filed by Tran Nguyen at 3:22 pm under Daily thoughts
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I had to attend Startup School conference at Stanford, and her tax season just ended. In need of a break, we decided a road trip to San Francisco for the weekend. Here’s some recaps:

CA-1 & Hearst Castle: Exciting, Adventurous (?)

Not surprisingly, CA-1 highway took us longer to get to San Francisco. But scenic areas, turnouts along the coast are terrific. Meadows, ocean, mountains, and the wood are what you see and drive through only on this road. We made endless stops to take photos of everything that we found great. Really don’t want to miss a piece of nature. We felt dangerous and scared sometimes when everything was getting dark and our gas tank allowed for a few more miles.

The only thing we didn’t achieve as planned was to visit Hearst Castle. The tickets to this historic castle were sold out plus our time was limited. Instead of that, we discovered a quiet pier with incredible view of the ocean across the road. And we couldn’t help triggering the camera.

Good: great turnouts and the like
Bad: bumpy and tough road that requires focus and attention; fill up gas tank or bring some extra as you won’t see any gas station till the end - plus once you find one, it’s ridiculous expensive.
Overall experience: 4.5/5

San Francisco - Golden Gate Bridge: Driving experience
Knowing where to go and how to get there is the key to survive in cities like San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. We never thought it couldn’t be that bad to drive in the city. But since our GPS borrowed from a friend stopped working for some reason, it was my terrible job to get to where we wanted - relying too much on technology is not good ;).

We planned to visit the Golden Gate Bridge and China Town Saturday evening after heading back from the conference. But 3-hour driving (including back and forth Highway 80 because of my mistake) and walking in the cold took us to neither place. One cup of Starbuck hot chocolate could warm us up a little bit to continue the walk. Finally, a China buffet about to close was where we rested and filled our hungry stomach.

Good: the city architecture and Golden Gate Bridge are worth seeing. We wish we could have spent more time at other places in the city
Bad: crazy traffic, expensive parking; watch out when walking at night
Overall experience: 2.5/5

Startup School - Standford University: Energy and enthusiasm - gigantic campus

What could we say when having an opportunity to listen to experienced and industry-respected genius ? We had great speakers with great presentations like Paul Graham (YCommbinator cofounder), Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder), Paul Buchheit (creator of Gmail), 37 Signals, and many more. I found a lot of energy and enthusiasm all over the room from entrepreneurs, techie people, and investors. All of us come here to share great ideas, to learn how to raise fund and manage capital, to deal with partners and employees, to serve customer, and to listen to our inner voice.

I really thank those who created such a meaningful event. Of course, I also want to thank my fiance whose career is not in the techie world but accompanied me and actually enjoyed part of the event - Love u.

We had a chance to discover a great campus. It has old architectures back to early 1900s. Part of the campus was rebuilt after a big earthquake which I forgot the year. The school looks old to some extent, especially the engineering and social sciences building. We intended to take a photo of the school sign but we had no idea where that sign is located.

Good: great speakers, thoughtful lessons
Bad: lack of seats. Official attendees (with name tag) couldn’t find a seat if coming late.
Overall experience: 5/5

Filed by Tran Nguyen at 2:20 pm under Daily thoughts
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Rumors said that Apple is replenishing its stores with an upgraded version of iPhone, 3G. First introduction of the phone last year supporting only 2G and 2.75G network was a big disappointment for every body who expected something real cool, real fast for their applications.

However…

iPhone sales has growth despite of the drawbacks. Overall iPhone’s customer satisfaction scored 79%, about 25% above the older fellow RIMM (source) . The story hasn’t ended yet. Apple’s been listening all the complaints but it has its own rule not to disclose anything [until Steve walks on stage and talks about something that can change the world]. But recent activities such as selecting Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. as its phone manufacturer or replenishing phone inventory at its stores within the coming weeks could be clear signs of an introduction of next generation iPhone.

Filed by Tran Nguyen at 3:49 pm under IT
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