This is part two of a three part series: Real Estate Technology Focus: Apple OSX and the iPhone.  If you missed the first part, feel free to catch up here.

One quick update on OSX before I dive into the iPhone – the latest commercials discussing how Office 2008 for Mac is so much better than Office 2007 for Windows are incredibly misleading.

Many people I know who have switched from Office 2003 to 2007 on Windows were initially frustrated. The ribbons were new, which was bad.  Everyone I know who has actually given ribbons a chance and played with them some have grown (quickly) to love them.

Office 2008 also has ribbons.  Here’s a quick shot of Word 2007 in Vista:

And here’s what it looks like for Word 2008 on OS X:

What is all that junk? Who knows, it has taken me far longer to understand the “upgrades” in Office 2008 for OS X than it took to understand the Office 2007 upgrades.  I have a theory about all of this, but that’s in part 3.

What is the iPhone?

Okay, but seriously, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last almost year now, you know what the iPhone is, so I won’t waste your time

Do I own one? No. Have I played with several of them? Yes. Do I want one? Terribly.

The Goods

The iPhone is a beautiful device. I am a former manager and data device guru for AT&T Wireless/Cingular/AT&T and have loved BlackBerry’s and Windows Mobile phones.  The iPhone really is the easiest PDA-style phone to just pick up and start using.

The graphics are brilliant, the screen easy to read in almost all conditions, the processor snappy and good battery life.

Email access is easy, you have a surprisingly good camera even though it doesn’t have a flash and – my favorite part of all – you finally have a true web browser.  Opera Mini and Internet Explorer Mobile sure do try so hard, but they can’t hold a candle to Safari on the iPhone.

One word about the data network, because I’ll also list that as a bad: the iPhone runs on AT&T’s EDGE network.  EDGE has a theoretic top speed of 236 Kbps, but frequently is capped at 135 Kbps.  AT&T also has a 3G network called HSDPA/HSUPA with a current speed of roughly 1.8 Mbit/s. (all info courtesy of PhoneScoop.com).  EDGE is nationwide – anywhere your phone works (except for very few small regional roaming partners), you have access to EDGE speeds.  So the iPhone should basically be the same speed everywhere.

The Bads

No eKey and limited MLS support.  The MLS in my area only allows Internet Explorer in, so the crippled IE Mobile will work, but the full-featured Safari will not.

No video capabilities.  With such a nice camera, screen and YouTube support, video seems like it should have been included.  I honestly could care less about a flash because every on-phone flash I’ve seen makes everyone look washed out and blue.

No chat. Now this isn’t as important for business use, but I personally use Google Talk (which works with Apple’s iChat) to keep in touch with my entire family very easily.

No 3G. Now the reason I want this isn’t the best – I want it because the network exists and I want to take advantage of it.  I have a Verizon EVDO (their version of HSDPA/HSUPA) BlackBerry.  I have run speed tests on my BlackBerry and iPhones.  The iPhone on its SLOWER network browses the internet SIGNIFICANTLY faster than on my theoretically faster BlackBerry.

No user-replaceable battery.  This isn’t a big deal for me, but I know some people need a backup battery.  This is another advantage of AT&T: my BlackBerry gets terrible coverage in buildings, so it usually shuts down the EVDO network, which apparently reduces my battery life to about a third of what is normal.  The iPhone doesn’t have to deal with this, so battery life is consistent.

So Why Don’t I Have One?

I’m waiting for the 3G, 32GB version.  I think it’s safe to say it will be out this year and I’m a patient person.  Every other feature (chat and video) I would want could come as software upgrades, so I would be happy with those two additions.

It is an incredible device, and with the addition of ActiveSync support, it can sync email, calendar and contacts just like my favorite BlackBerry.

Now, for all of you real estate professionals who want your eKey also, you’ll have to get an Active Key I guess (which I have been hearing wonderful things about).  And when it comes time to vote on what you want your MLS to do, make sure you tell them to support Safari.

Coming up next in my Real Estate Technology Focus: how Microsoft has shot themselves in the foot by meeting the demands of their customers.

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Here in Oregon, I work pretty closely with a company known as Eugene Design Pro. They help setup blogs for Realtors.  I help coach Realtors on how to use the blogs. So I created this short video to show how to get started with your new Eugene Design Pro Wordpress blog.  You will need to know the URL for your administrative site, your username and your password to get started.

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My desk (left to right): XP with Office 2003, Mac Mini with OSX & Vista Tablet with Office 2007

Here at Real Estate Technology coaching, we deal with a wide variety of software programs and an even wider variety of computer capabilities from users.  Two questions we here frequently are “Should I get a Mac for my next computer” and “Should I get an iPhone for my next phone.

Real Estate Technology Focus is born

We will focus on some of the more popular pieces of technology and how they relate to the real estate industry.  To begin, we will discuss Apple OSX. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m today’s Portland On Fire featured person!  Yesterday I won Posh’d, earlier today I received excellent revised news regarding my dad’s cancer treatment, and now I’m on fire!  This is turning out to be a great week, I hope it’s going great for you as well.

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I just wanted to give a quick thank you to my site visitors, Twitter followers, coworkers and everyone else who voted for me in the March Posh’d contest. 

For those who don’t know, here’s what Posh’d has to say about themselves:

“Ever visit other Real Estate websites for inspiration? Ever notice how many of them are VERY similar? We support those of you trying to break the mold and make the real estate sites on the web a better experience for everyone. We’re here to promote you and your fine work, but we also hope that up-and-coming site developers will be able to use Posh’d as a place for inspiration. We want to raise the bar for all Realtors and their sites.”

My old site (NickBostic.com - not currently maintained) won back in February.  A big thanks goes out to Eugene Design Pro for helping to get my concept for the look and feel working on the Wordpress platform.  That’s two wins!

Thanks everybody!

Check back tomorrow for Part 1 of “Apple: OSX and iPhone – Friend or Foe?”

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