It has been six months since the iPhone launched in Australia, and with the plans available from the various carriers at launch (although I don’t have any statistics), I don’t think there is any doubt that Optus scored a substantial amount of new customers. However, Optus doesn’t seem to have done very much to keep those new (and existing) customers happy. So, with many of those Optus contracts ending in another six months, I thought I’d offer Optus some advice on what they can do to stop a mass exodus of customers.

Network Reliability / Coverage

Optus have had a fair bit of bad press about network downtime and other issues. Although addressing such issues, and expanding coverage, is probably expensive and difficult, it is something Optus need to invest in to keep customers happy. No one is going to stay with a network that doesn’t have coverage where they want it, or that isn’t reliable.

A small thing Optus could do to dramatically increase customer satisfaction is provide a web reporting form for network black-spots. I’ve noticed a few in Hobart, and simply can’t find an easy way to report them to Optus. Not only does this result in Optus not getting the feedback about black-spots, and the consequent ability to do something about them, but it causes immense frustration to customers who can only wonder if Optus know of the problem and will address it.

Software Enhancements

The other priorities I think Optus should have are all software based, and so probably don’t have the expense or complexity associated with physically building and maintaining the network (which isn’t to say I think they would be a cakewalk either). Those priorities are as follows:

MMS

We all know the iPhone doesn’t have MMS, but MMS is still the only way many people with other phones can send pictures taken with their phones, especially as the iPhone can’t receive images from other nearby phones over bluetooth. So Optus need to do something that addresses this.

Currently the Optus service is so appalling in this area that if someone sends me an MMS I won’t even know about it. Optus just drop the message, probably resulting in the sender being annoyed I have ignored their message (and them being charged for something that wasn’t delivered).

To address this Optus need, like many other carriers, to send me an SMS message that tells me about the MMS, and give me the option to view it online—especially seeing as iPhone users can go online with their iPhones and see the images while they are out and about. Even better, Optus could make a native iPhone app that lets customers send images by MMS (even if this is done indirectly by some Internet-based connection to their system that generated the MMS, rather than it coming directly from the phone) and also lets customers view the images they have been notified about by SMS.

Usage Widget

One thing I have greatly enjoyed about my switch from Telstra to an Optus cap plan is that I can actually afford to make calls. Before I was too scared to use my phone, but now the included call value in my cap means I can make plenty of calls without it costing me any more. Unfortunately though, there is no easy way to monitor how much of my cap I have used (for calls/SMS or data) and consequently I find myself occasionally in that old Telstra mindset of not wanting to use my phone in case it costs me.

To address this Optus need to implement a simple widget that shows how much of a cap has been used. They could put this on the web, but ideally it should be available on the iPhone too. Maybe it could be included in an Optus iPhone app that also includes the MMS functionality I mentioned above! Plus, Optus should provide their usage alert SMS feature to people on iPhone cap plans.

Visual Voicemail

Visual voicemail was one of the big features of the iPhone when it was announced. So why, six months after Optus started selling the iPhone, haven’t they added support for this feature. Obviously there are some back-end changes to be made to their voicemail system, but surely these can be done?

Having visual voicemail, when no other Australian carrier does, would be another reason for customers to stay with Optus.

Twitter

A final thing I would like to see Optus do, although it might not be so important for other customers (although lots of iPhone users are Twitter users) is to add Twitter SMS support for Australian Twitter users.

Although I still use Twitter, I really wondered if I would when they dropped international SMS support. Being able to receive SMS notifications of tweets for some important people I follow was a fantastic feature. If Optus negotiated with Twitter to provide this service to their customers in Australia it would be a substantial coup for them over their competitors.

I’ve had my Canon 400D for about 18 months now, but still haven’t done a great deal with it. Although not actually New Years yet, I’m resolving that in 2009 I will make the time/effort to take more photos.

Christmas also gave me the opportunity to get some gear that should also make the task a little easier. Deearne and her parents got me a Sekonic L-358 light/flash meter. Manually calculating flash exposure for my off-camera flash endeavours (where I can’t rely on E-TTL) was something I found difficult and unrewarding. Hopefully this guy will make a world of difference there (for my first test shot I took a shot of the unit itself - see here).

I also ordered myself a 32” 5-in-1 reflector and a holder arm (that can be attached to a light stand). The combination of my existing 430EX dedicated flash (plus light stand, umbrella and radio trigger), the reflector and holder (to be attached to an existing light stand given to me by my sister), and the flash meter, should give me the basics to do some reasonable portrait photography. Now I just need the time/motivation.

The one bit of gear I’d being hoping to get didn’t pan out. I had been after a background system, and after doing a bit of searching decided, for my budget, the Savage Port-a-Stand was the one for me. B&H Photo Video had a kit for US$109.95, but unfortunately they wanted US$200 more to post it to Australia! So far I haven’t been able to find an Australian supplier, and other background systems available in Australia are significantly more expensive, or of questionable quality. So at this stage I’m going to hold out a bit longer on the background stand. I’ll just have to make do with available/natural backgrounds in the short term.

The final thing necessary to action my resolution is to read / work though some of the photography books I’ve got, identify some projects, and do them. I’m currently reading The Digital Photography Book - Volume 2 and need to restart Light: Science & Magic. Plus, Deearne also got me a Kodak book: Capture the Portrait.

Once I’m through them, I can then look at the remaining stack of PhotoShop and photography books I haven’t had time to get to!

While we were away last week in Melbourne and Canberra I was disappointed at the availability and price of Wi-Fi networks. In the end it was so bad I ended up buying myself an Optus pre-paid wireless broadband 3G modem.

Despite some initial conjecture at a couple of the shops I enquired at, the Optus pre-paid system does indeed work with Macs. In areas with 3G coverage I had no problems at all, and the speed seemed to be quite reasonable. In areas of bad 3G coverage I did experience some minor problems, as the modem kept trying to use the 3G network instead of just falling back to GPRS (although there is an external antenna available for the modem that might help resolve this). I’d imagine in a 2G-only network area this wouldn’t be a problem.

I went pre-paid as I don’t expect this is something I’ll use all the time. Although it might be useful at work every now and then, I didn’t want to get locked into a contract paying a minimum $30 every month for something that would only get occasional use. So although the lower end recharges expire after 30 days, and the minimum recharge amount (for data) is $30, I figure I’ll only end up recharging every couple of months or so. At the moment I’m just not sure how long I can go without recharging before the service expires and I have to get a new SIM for my modem.

As to why I went Optus, it was a combination of price and availability. Price wise, Optus give 1GB of data for a $30 recharge vs 250MB on Telstra’s NextG pre-paid. For checking emails and visiting the odd web page 250MB might be enough, but the flexibility of the increased data seemed to give Optus the edge. Availability wise, only Optus and Telstra have 3G coverage in Tasmania at the moment, where it will likely get most of its use. Plus, Optus have (or are promising by the end of next year) coverage to rival Telstra in Tasmania, and the modem I bought is compatible with both their 2100MHz and 900MHz offerings.

Sheryl Crow is one of my favorite artists, and when I heard she was coming to Australia I knew that I would have to go and see her. Unfortunately though, her Australian tour this time around was as the support act for John Mellencamp. Nonetheless, there was no way I was going to miss her.

So yesterday Deearne and I flew to Melbourne for the concert at Rod Laver arena. The night kicked off with a few songs from Shane Nicholson, the husband of Kasey Chambers. He was excellent, and when I get home I’ll be looking him up on the iTunes Store.

He was followed by Sheryl, but unfortunately only for about an hour:

She was excellent, and I was sad that she wasn’t able to perform for longer. Especially since it was 11 years since she was last on tour in Australia (I didn’t try to sneak my SLR camera in, but I managed to get a few shots with my little camera, which I’ve posted to Flickr).

After Sheryl, John Mellencamp was on for about an hour-and-a-half. It was pretty obvious most of the audience were there for him (I suppose he was the main act). He was good, and played some memorable songs, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a fan.

All in all, a pretty good night. And although the weather in Melbourne turned after our arrival, thankfully the rain had finished by the time the concert ended, and we were able to walk back to the hotel without getting wet.

Apple today released the 2.3 update for AppleTV. This update does a number of things, but the most interesting to me is the introduction of a feature I think the AppleTV should have had all along: The ability to create a mixed playlist of song tracks and music videos.

Until now, for reasons I can’t at all understand, the AppleTV would only play individual Music Videos. It wasn’t possible to create a playlist of music videos, or shuffle the music videos you had. Now, not only can these things be done, but you can also mix music videos with regular music tracks.

Finally the introduction of this feature provides some incentive to purchase music videos.

The only negative I have found is that the volume level of music videos tends to be less than that of regular music tracks. Consequently, if you create a mixed playlist you’ll find yourself having to adjust the volume when the playlist changes from a regular track to a video and vice versa.

Gizmodo reports that TiVo and Dominos Pizza in the USA are now offering broadband-connected TiVo users the ability to order pizza for delivery or pick-up from their TiVo and then even track the progress from the TiVo interface.

Although only available in the USA at the moment, this service is also expected to be available in Australia next year.



Now, I know there are lots of Dominos haters, but I’m sure this is a service that will see plenty of use. I’m personally trying to cut down on my pizza intake, but I’m sure I’ll probably even give it a go at some stage.

In other news, cnet Australia is reporting that TiVo and Blockbuster have announced from December 1 they will be providing a free movie download each week. The first Blockbuster Movie of the Week will be The Waterhorse followed by Men In Black, with subsequent movies released every Monday.

This appears to be a first step toward the promised, and more full-featured, video-on-demand service that will follow.

In all, it is good to see the addition of new TiVo services, and I look forward to seeing what else is yet to come.

Michael Connelly is one of my favourite authors, and last night I got the opportunity to meet him at a book signing in Hobart.

Connelly writes crime thrillers, and the majority of his books follow a fictional LA police detective: Harry Bosh.

Part of the reason I like Connelly’s books is that they are set outside Australia. Things in the US are different enough that I don’t find myself poking holes in the story in the way that seems inescapable in Australian police fiction. But one of the best attributes of his writing is that his main protagonist is not endowed with any superhuman characteristics. He’s not a character with amazing martial arts or combat skills, he isn’t the super-detective who gets everything right first time around, or who can divine the unknowable from a crime scene or a lying suspect. Instead he is a believable working detective.

Having read all of Connelly’s books it was good to hear him speak and to meet him. I also managed to get my copy of his latest book The Brass Verdict signed, and got the above (dodgy) mobile phone picture with him. I just have to wait for his next book now (not due till May), but unfortunately it isn’t a Bosch book, so I’ll have to wait for the book after that for my next Harry fix.