Hello – My name is Chris Green, and I used to be a BlackBerry addict. Prior to this past weekend, it had been two and a quarter years since I kicked the habit.

Alas, I have relapsed. Despite being clean for such a long time, buoyed by a winning start to the Championship football season by QPR and one sugar too many in my afternoon cup of tea, I decided to have a BlackBerry hit. Just the one – after all, what harm could it do? Read more

The UK mobile phone-buying public have become used to getting their handsets for ‘free’ or at least heavily discounted over the SIM-free ticket price.

Of course, there is no such thing as free, but rather just deferred cost or hire purchase without the financial regulation. That Nokia N95 doesn’t really cost £29, but rather the £300 that has been subsidised off the top line will be recouped from you (plus a healthy profit) over the life of your 18 months £50-a-month airtime contract.

However, a USB 3G dongle is not an expensive bit of kit. The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) price on most networks is £49.99 inc VAT, and that price includes a profit margin. More money will be made from PAYG mobile data use, but as this revenue will be unpredictable - there is no safety net of a contract and guaranteed minimum recurring payments – the network needs to ensure it is not left out of pocket by selling you a discounted dongle that is subsequently lost, left in a drawer never to be used, or unlocked and used on another network.

Dongle contracts are a different matter. For example, I signed up last year to a two-year contract at £15 a month for my 3G USB dongle and service from 3. In return for signing my life away, I got the dongle for free. Given the cost of the dongle if bought outright, that isn’t much of a subsidy, even on a £15 data plan. If I’d gone for the higher £25 plan (or if I signed up now to 3’s new £30 plan) that’s even less of a subsidy and an even bigger profit margin for the network. However, I’m not bitter; this is the price you pay for being an early adopter. I’m also very impressed with the quality of the data service from 3. That said, I would much rather have the new Huawei E169G USB stick instead of the E220 ‘lozenge’ dongle (pictured) I have now.

Given that all the networks are now offering 3G dongles (O2 has finally joined the party), how do you differentiate your product from the competition? Read more

I wanted to share with you some interesting photos that have come across my desk in the last few days.

The Skypephone, a product collaboration between Skype and mobile phone network 3, was our surprise hit mobile of 2007. Alongside the iPhone, it was the phone we recommended the most from all the products released last year.

The reasons for this were clear:

• It is cheap (£50 each or two for £90 at launch, now even cheaper)
• Build quality is excellent
• Skype integration is excellent
• Did I mention it was cheap?

Well now there’s a new Skypephone in the offing, and some photos of the new handset have been leaked.

Below is the Skypephone 2. Read more

I’ve just had a press release flop into my inbox proclaiming that there have been one million downloads of the native Facebook client for RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones. Read more

Later today we are going to try something new – live blogging a keynote address.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is delivering his regular keynote address/product unveiling at the Macworld conference in San Francisco. Our sister title Mac User has a reporter on the ground at the Moscone Centre, while we (to be precise, me) will be attending the London event Apple is hosting in one of the studios at BBC Television Centre in West London. It’s a good choice of venue, a room big enough to hold all the invited UK and European press, plus a facility used to and capable of handling a transatlantic satellite feed.

As well as the more traditional forms of coverage (news stories, photos etc), we are going to bring you real-time coverage of the keynote as well, relaying via a special page on the IT PRO site, all the important announcements, facts and figures, product launches and future plans the moment they are revealed on stage.

Coverage will begin at 5pm UK time today (Tuesday 15 January 2008) and the event usually runs for just over an hour. Read more

One thing is certain this year; the technology sector is going to be busy.

2008 is going to be a landmark year, with several technology shifts on the horizon and companies set for fierce competition as the tough trading conditions in countries such as the US create problems for the more blinkered hardware, software and services companies that have failed to look behind their home market. Those that see the bigger global picture will be stepping up their efforts to grab market share or establish a foothold in emerging markets such as China, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa.

Here is my list of ten technology predictions for 2008 – I am confident about these, but just to be on the safe side I won’t be backing them up with cash bets this year. Read more