Start of the suckers rally

Commodities price falling from the parabolic rise. Dollar rising. The stock market is bouncing back. This is the suckers rally jim rogers was talking about.

In time the dollar will drop again from the rally. So will the dollar. So will the commodities but that might take a bit longer to regain momentum.

Review of the iphone 3G after 24 hours usage.

I love it !!!!  It is better than anything out there by a big margin. However here are some problems. Maybe in time it will be resolved. But now I can still live with it.

Problems
Hotmail is not available unless you pay some third part to redirect your mail.

I am now using yahoo mail. Push does not work at first. I follow some advise and went to yahoo->mail->option->logout then it works. HSBC ealert is not available for mobile number starting with 5. My friend who works in HSBC’s etrading department is informing them about it.

Stuff that I can do on a PC but not on the 3G iphone
I cannot see subscribe feed from Youtube, to read/edit comment, to see other people home page.

WordPress – there is an apps for TypePad but not WordPress. I try to edit my blog via Safari but cannot, maybe just me.

Cannot pay bill via HSBC. The confirm page does not appear. Stock Trading on HSBC web looks ok.

Some really cool stuff
Midomi is a free download from appstore. You can humm a music and it will find it for you. You can play the music and buy it from itune store. It is pretty accurate too.

3G Iphone from Hong Kong

www.thechinastory.org

I got a phone call from 3G lastnight at 11:30pm to say they have an iphone for me since I am one of the many who registered on their website.

I was so excited and I didn’t sleep much.  Now I have been testing my iphone for 2 hours. I am a new iphone user (my previous phone is a dopod c730. i have ipod video). It is a big decision for me to jump ahead and get the iphone. I chose the unlimited data plan for $498+$18. If you are a new iphone guy and thinking of jumping in, you can read on. If you are an existing 1st generation iphone user, you can check youtube. There are many reviews.

Price -
———-
I have done the calculations for the 4 tariff plans offer.

Monthly tariff   Phone price (16G)   Tariffx24mths    Phone+24 mths  Plan Description

$188                 $3738                    4512                   8250                500mb
$268                 $2538                    6432                   8970                500mb (no tunnel chg)
$328                 $1738                    7872                   9610                500mb (no tunnel chg)
$498                 $138                      11952                 12090              unlimited (no tunnel chg)

$18 (mandatory package) for approx 20sms messages

Hence the minimum ebay price should be $8250 ($US1057). For me I won’t sell mine for less than $12,090.

Every plan needs to put down deposit so one will not save time value of money.
Clearly 188 plan is not any cheaper than 268 when tunnel charge is included. But you get extra minutes. So I don’t recommend the $188 plan.

Total cost difference of unlimited vs $268 plan is $3000. I think the unlimited plan is worth it consider you get unlimited data and the occasion over use. (I have received very expensive bills in the past due to over use data). Hence I have the unlimited plan. I think we need more than 500MB if you use youtube. Unlike most WM phone, you can easily see data usage so you won’t over use so easily.

 

Activation
Unlike the U.S, my phone is 100% activated at the shop. I get to play with it on the way home.

Sim card compatibility
HK Iphone 3G is unlocked. So you can put another sim card and then activate it using itune. You can also use mainland China sim card for voice and data. I tried surfing the web using my CSL1010 card but it didn’t work, the guy at 3G says I have to configure the settings then it should work (same with China simm cards).

Wifi speed
Pretty fast no problem surfing and watching youtube.

3G speed
Similar speed to wifi, maybe a bit slower. I can watch youtube no problem. I did internet banking with HSBC. Need getting used to since I need to zoom and move a couple of times to input data but still ok.

3G reception
I can watch Youtube from my house. However there are only 2 bars. I don’t know how many bars is not ok.

GPS
I pressed the map icon to lauch the google map. I press the button at bottom left. Then it will locate me via GPS. It seems pretty accurate. I haven’t tried GPS to navigate yet.

Using the iphone
I am a new iphone user and need getting used to.  I keep pressing the wrong key.

New apps
I have never used itune store before. I just registered and it seems very easy. You have to put in your VISA card detail. After that HSBC call center called me to check if I have done the transaction just in case my VISA is stolen. Then you can download free apps. You can also go to other countries to download music.

Bloomberg - by the look, I am very impress with Bloomberg. It appears to put a bloomberg terminal in front of me. Of course I am sure there is very little functions in comparisum but the stock price and news is very useful to me.

Remote - I can use my iphone (via wifi) to remote control and tell my pc to play itune music. It is very fast. I am impress.

WeatherBug - It locates me via GPS and tells me weather forecast.

PhoneSaber – I am a new iphone user so this kind of game is very impressive to me. I can swing my iphone like a starwar light saber then the iphone gives saber sounds. Very cool.

Functions not availabe

All the limitations are clearly explained to me by the nice sales person. It is also written. I guess they want to make sure people don’t complain.

MMS – (SMS is available)
3G calls
Video Stream – So you can watch 3 finance TV channels.
Record video

1 Yr warranty
This is warrant by 3. Repair shop is at MongKok. However if you jailbreak the devise then the warranty is void.

Colour
I got the white 16GB version. I think an extra $138 for 8GB is nothing. White because black is available for the 8GB version and the ipod video. So it is less common.

Same photos taken by iphone 3G. Not as good as a camera.

China reduce stamp duty from 0.3% to 0.1%

China to reduce the stock trading stamp duty 0.3% to 0.1% starting tomorrow.

The last time China change the stamp duty was May last year. It was an effort to cool down the over heat stock market. The effect was not felt until November.

This increase is an phycological impact to the stock market. Under normal circumstance its effect is minimal. However because of its timing with the market bottoming (please see my other articles) the effect will be visible much sooner.

The second half of 2008 will be strong if the U.S. effort to lift the dollar succeed.

Bank of England do not want further dollar slide

Bank of England say they don’t want futher dollar slide.

The pound has been overvalued for too long from the point of view of the economy’s competitiveness vis-à-vis the eurozone. Indeed, the Bank of England welcomes this contribution towards the ‘rebalancing’ of our economy, from a position where we were (collectively) living beyond our means, and recent business surveys reflect the relief of British industry.

A weak dollar is affecting the whole world. The U.S and Europe has finally come together to stop the dollar from sliding.

For the past few weeks, the market appear to know about this, ignore the bad bank earnings. They expect the dollar to stop rising and the U.S economy to rebounce as THEY force the dollar up.

However with the current deficit, why this work?