Myquestions

Vodacom hit the jackpot when they landed the exclusive deal to distribute the Apple iPhone 3G. Now MTN looks set to take back some of the market with the release of a new breed of mobile.

The original Apple iPhone’s fluid multi-touch interface quickly stole the hearts of geeks worldwide. But South Africans had to privately import it from overseas and crack it.

Then Vodacom landed an exclusive deal on the next generation iPhone; the iPhone 3G. Boasting new software, improved hardware and as beautiful as ever, the iPhone 3G had other cellular service providers shaking in their boots.

But now the long-awaited HTC Dream is about to be released. And MTN has secured an exclusive initial-release deal with the local HTC distributor, Leaf International Communications.

The HTC Dream is a phone with comparable specifications to the Apple iPhone 3G. It’s slightly bulkier, but it has a better camera and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. In addition, it has a card slot for expanding storage space; useful since 32GB SDHC cards are becoming very affordable.

So what’s the big deal about the HTC Dream? It uses Google’s Android operating system; the fully customisable, open-source operating system for mobile devices.

Android also features extensive integration with Google applications; Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube. And loads of software is freely available for download.

So will the Dream replace the iPhone 3G as every geek’s have-to-have street-cred device? Well on paper, it certainly looks close. But in reality, the iPhone 3G has the Dream beat on looks; the most important department for today’s yuppies. If the Dream is to have any sort of shot at ousting the iPhone, Android had better be revolutionary.