This is one of those rare moments, the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the year “11″ (2011) that makes extra special this original commemoration of Armistice Day and the additional recognition for military veterans.

Let’s observe a moment of silence at this time for our servicemen and servicewomen who have done, and are doing, their duty for our country.

Also, please review the US Department of Veterans Affairs site that has interesting tidbits about this holiday.

N.B.

Previous posts (in reverse chronological order):

• Veterans Day 2010
• Veterans Day

Welcome to 2011.

Although the modern celebration of New Year’s Day typically involves a lot of commercial ventures and advertising and party-going, the roots of the holiday predates this by several centuries.

Today is Veterans Day, a moment in time to commemorate the military veterans who have served faithfully in the duty to the country.

When it was initially enacted to commemorate the anniversary of Armistice Day, it had been proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson for honoring American soldiers in World War I, but since then, it has been expanded to honor veterans of past wars, and not just by the United States alone.

At 11:00 AM (an hour from now), let’s observe a moment of silence for those fallen and those who are still with us, who have served with diligence and honor in military service.

Apple’s [AAPL] lockstep dance with AT&T [T] as its exclusive 3G service provider may be ending, with Verizon [VZ] showing up to the dance hall seemingly first.

So what’s a mobile data services consumer going to do?

Rumors, Lies, and Damn Lies

Like many of you, we’re certainly curious about the outcome next year for the still-as-of-yet-not-finalized-and-publicized Verizon version of Apple’s  iPhone product, which has been heavily rumored to be shipping early 2011. Certainly, this indicates that this coming winter holiday season represents the last time that AT&T will be able to fully capitalize on its exclusivity deal with Apple for the iPhone product.

But, there’s another portable IT device that has really captured the hearts and imaginations of the computing public: Apple’s iPad. Initially seen as just a “toy” or a trivial curiosity by many of the so-called industry pundits as well as Apple’s perceived competitors, the iPad is now identified as a serious contender as both a mainstream consumer and business mobile device. Even in certain industry segments, like medical and legal specialties, the iPad has made significant inroads in adoption and acceptance, given its form factor and feature set.

But, like the iPhone before it, the iPad has been locked into a 3G wireless net by AT&T. However, unlike the iPhone, the iPad also has Wi-Fi versions that has proven wildly popular, and given a lot of people’s avoidance of the AT&T network and the increasing ubiquity of Wi-Fi coverage by various vendors and free coverage areas sponsored by various organizations, it is this variant of the iPad that may prove to be the best option for the majority of interested parties.

Verizon: Enter, Stage Left

So, many of you have heard about the recent Verizon offering for the iPad, and that the iPad would be sold starting on October 28, 2010. But you may be wondering why Apple bothered to squeeze CDMA-style 3G into the iPad but not the iPhone, at least not as its first device with Verizon.

Answer: Apple didn’t.

Instead, Verizon is offering one of its MiFi pocket routers with any of the different capacity Wi-Fi iPads (with a service plan to boot, ‘natch).

Of course, this means that if you are interested in adding a “take-it-with-you” Wi-Fi capability to your iPad, you probably can just get a MiFi router and service plan from Verizon. The question is, of course, whether it makes sense for Verizon to bother subsidizing the cost of the iPad in order to sell more plans and MiFi routers… Business-wise, to garner a significant mind- and user-share of current and future iPad users, the solution to be to merely give the iPads away for $0.00, once some sort of multi-year commitment for the MiFi data plan was established, or even bundle it with an existing smartphone plan.

AT&T: Enter, Stage Right

Not to be outdone, AT&T has announced that it will also start selling iPads in their stores on October 28, 2010. But since Apple has already been offering both the Wi-Fi only and the 3G+Wi-Fi versions of the iPad online and via its retail stores, there does not appear to be any significant improvements in service. So, unlike the Verizon offering, the AT&T offering does not offer the consumer any way to share a Wi-Fi connection with other devices, despite the cost of the service plans available.

Conclusion: The Management Perspective

This is one of those developing stories that may have an unexpected twist, in a matter of days or even weeks. Since the iPad is a Wi-Fi capable device, any service provider or alternative offering a compelling mobile Wi-Fi hotspot feature at an outrageously reasonable price point would easily become the darling of mobile digital consumers. Since the market, domestically and worldwide, is in such critical demand for a reasonable data service plan to match the iPad and the upcoming lineup of its potential competitors, this is an area where the service provider that re-scales data transfer pricing down to a realistic, affordable level and initiates the customer conversion to its network will be the winner.

Have Fun!

Happy Fourth of July, folks (at the very least, this should be applicable to our American readers)! Get your game on, with the extended weekend being celebrated across the U.S. Or get your barbie fired up, for you fans of BBQ grilling. Or just relax and let other people do things for you!

A lot of the local news and national news outlets have been reporting that travel plans have improved for this year, not because of an improving economy, but because many people have voiced their frustrations at waiting for things to get better when they apparently are not. As a result, the sense of stir-craziness that has been brewing and intensifying seems to have hit a boiling point, and the public has decided that its time to “get out there” and do something fun.

But, Seriously… Have Fun!

But even if you haven’t left town, you should do something fun. Unwind during these heady days of summer. Have a ball. Eat some exotic foods. Go dancing at a local club. Even try some online gaming with players from around the world. Make some new friends!

N.B.

Read the other Independence Day entries.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (Lá Fhéile Pádraig)!

March 17 is the observance of this Irish holiday, which has transformed to a worldwide secular marketing and merchandising day but which originally began as a Catholic holiday commemorating the life and death of Saint Patrick, one of the patron saints of Ireland.

Although Saint Patrick was not Irish (he was a Roman-Briton), he devoted the majority of his adult ordained life to converting to– and popularizing– Christianity in Ireland. March 17 is generally accepted at the day of his death, but the exact year remains in question, varying from 420 to 460 to 493 AD. The shamrock, according to legend, is the device by which he explained the Christian Holy Trinity and, thus, plays a major role in the holiday. And, while “blue” was the color traditionally associated with Saint Patrick, green has gradually supplanted it such that, in the modern era, green is seen as the official color for the holiday.

So, while you are enjoying your time at one of many St. Patrick’s Day parades or celebrations around the world, take a bit o’ time to reflect on the man and the legend of Saint Patrick.

Unlike the cryptically mysterious origin(s) of Wife Appreciation Day (which some people are alleging doesn’t actually exist (seemingly mostly from menfolk, as far as we can tell)), Talk Like a Pirate Day not only has a more definitive history but an “official” site dedicated to it.

Quite a festive, yet seemingly-but-not-quite-random-kind-of-holiday, Talk Like a Pirate Day is essentially just that: try talking like a pirate.

Easy ‘nuf, right? … Arrr!

Curious, a recently created(?) holiday for appreciating wives that does not have any readily available information about it…

Today is supposedly the day for 2009, and it has been rumored to be a day during which husbands should contemplate how they appreciate their wives and think of doing something creative and nice for them.

N.B.

Also curious: there is no rumored Husband Appreciation Day.

At sunset tonight (September 18, 2009), the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah begins, indicating the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the Jewish high holidays and ends at sunset on September 20, 2009. The rest of the Ten Days of Repentance continue until Yom Kippur, its last day.

This may affect some of our Jewish brethren who otherwise enjoy engaging in a series of zombie killings, a la Call of Duty: World at War zombie maps (either solo or multi-player), and I certainly do not advocate distracting them from their religious duties.

Additional Reading

• Rosh Hashanah (Wikipedia entry)
• Yom Kippur (another Wikipedia entry)

Remember when I just had to get an Xbox 360 Elite Edition to replace my first Xbox 360 that unfortunately suffered a RROD event?

Well, Microsoft [MSFT] has definitely come a long way since then, offering to correct their RROD warranty policies to reflect the wider impact of various hardware failure conditions.

Now, to really get more gamers onto the platform, as well as to allow hardcore gamers to replenish their gaming stacks once again, Microsoft has announced that, starting tomorrow (August 28, 2009), there will be price reductions in their more popular editions:

• The Xbox 360 Elite Edition will be $299 USD, down a whopping $100 in price;
• The Xbox 360 Pro Edition will be $249 USD, down $50 in price;
• The Xbox 360 Arcade Edition remains at $199 USD.

This is just in time for a very large group of blockbuster games headed to the Xbox 360 platform in the weeks to come, and it prepares the way for the upcoming winter holiday season, which presents a fantastic sales opportunity for Microsoft and the software studios and publishers and other content providers– not just through the standard retail channels, but also through online sales and subscriptions and ad-based retention mechanisms.