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Microsoft released their XBox 360 in New Zealand and hundreds (perhaps thousands) of eager kiwis snapped them up.

At the same time, Sony announced that it next gaming console, the Playstation 3, has been delayed -- hey, maybe they're running Microsoft Vista as the OS -- because Microsoft announced they were delaying the launch of that too :-)

Telecom rolled out its "Freedom" plan, a cunning ploy to lock folks into the Telco's services by offering effectively unlimited calls from a home-phone to nominated *Telecom* mobile numbers for just $10/month (per number).

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Of course these calls cost Telecom nothing more than their existing fixed costs and perhaps a little lost revenue from those who'd have otherwise paid by the minute so they're a cheap way to ensure customer loyalty.

Brain fade -- yes, I've edited this bit because my brain wasn't working this morning!

Should Telecom be allowed to (once again) exercise its local loop monopoly to squeeze other players out of the market?

How on earth could Vodafone compete fairly with the Freedom plan?

And, as I mentioned earlier in the week, Indranet seems to be playing games with the market after its last attempt to raise capital fell flat on its face.

In a press release that came across my desk this week, IT Mainland Ltd have gone out to raise capital in order to build an alternative to Telecom's DSL broadband network.

In this release, it's claimed that "ADSL still relies on the old copper wire infrastructures and is being pushed to its limits without being able to deliver the true broadband services that the market increasingly requires".

I smell something here -- DSL is still "state of the art" when it comes to broadband and is also by far and away the cheapest, most efficient way to deliver broadband -- IT Mainland seem to be full of it (spin that is).

So I checked with the Companies register and found that IT Mainland's single largest shareholder (with 6 million of the 8.8 million shares is, you guessed it: Indranet Technologies Limited.

Well it doesn't take a genius to figure out what might be going on here does it?

If you can't interest investors in your technology -- mainly because it seems to be all smoke and mirrors (not forgetting the hot air that was to drive their air-powered car), you start a new company and try to cash in on the publicity surrounding Telecom's botch-up of the broadband market.

So, once again let me provide investors with what I believe is sage advice: Indranet = avoid. IT Mainland = avoid.

Lighten Up
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