Dell's New DJ

Dell released its new Dell DJ, a 30 Gigabyte music player encased in titanium. The new player retails for $299 USD. One day earlier, Apple released its iPod photo player with a 30 Gigabyte drive onboard.

Rebate Offers

Manufacturers and retailers have been advertising products with rebates for years. In the consumer electronics market, many of these ads use the tagline 'Free After Rebate'. For the diligent consumer, this can be a bargain.

There are pitfalls to the rebate program, and the retailers are very much aware that the odds are in their favor that the rebate may not ever be redeemed by the consumer.

The facilitators or clearing houses for the rebate programs follow guidelines established by the sponsoring manufacturer or retailer. Consumers must carefully review the rebate submission requirements in order to qualify for the rebate. The slightest error will result in disqualification, or at best, notification that a resubmission is required. As many programs offer a 12 to 16 week time period for processing and check printing, any resubmission can greatly extend the waiting period for the consumer. A large percentage of consumers never submit the rebate, and many more never track the rebate through to fulfillment. For the retailer, this works in their favor.

There are rebate programs in place that might be described as deceptive practices by some judicial officials. Some state Attorneys General have investigated these programs and have been able to force changes. One of the worst programs in the consumer electronics retailing arena is that of OfficeMax. Requests for resubmissions happen often, or in some cases, the consumer is never notified of a problem. While OfficeMax has an online rebate tracking program, some submissions never appear in the listings due to improper labeling of SKU numbers, et cetera.

One of the best rebate programs is from the firm that many consumers love to hate...Microsoft. Their program often processes and mails the rebates in as little as four weeks. Staples also has an excellent program in place, with their 'Easy Rebate' program online.

Remember to followup and track your rebate. Companies may be counting on you to not followup...it adds to their bottom line when you don't. And be sure to make use of the online tracking sites and the toll-free telephone numbers.

If you continue to encounter problems or feel that you are being duped by someone's rebate offer, contact your state Attorney General or consumer affairs office.

The Ideal Smartphone

Not everyone will agree with me on this subject, but I find the new product releases from the major wireless carriers in the U.S. falling one or two features short. PalmOne and Sprint PCS have teamed up with the first release of the upgraded Treo 650. I have information on this 'smartphone' in another posting. Aside from the fact that the unit sports a camera, which in my opinion is of little utilitarian value, it has many nice features such as Palm OS integration and 'high speed' web browsing on Sprint's network.

T-Mobile offers the Sidekick II which has some of the following features, but again, falls a bit short.

My wish list consists of a few more features, some of which are not yet commercially available, but nonetheless are crucial to wider adoption. They are as follows:

• Higher capacity batteries, but without the bulk
• Excellent TFT-type displays for viewing in all lighting conditions; flexible screens
  
• Portrait and landscape mode displays
• Foldout or slideout QWERTY keyboards
• Better voice recognition software for voice dialing, tasks, etc.
• WiFi built-in as a standard (802.11g or faster)
  
• Global interchange capability to work on anyone's network or a SIM card
  
• Higher speed Bluetooth data transfer and IR
• 1GB flash memory as a standard, plus the SD card slot
• MP3 onboard
• USB 2.0 port
• Cases made of Lexan and a built-in high gain antenna
• Clamshell design okay, but with LCDs and visible CID displays
• Standard headphone/earpiece jack - no proprietary multipins
• An adaptor for the cupholder in my car
• Built-in GPS receiver and maps
• Under 6 ounces
  

If you have more suggestions, write me and I will post them.