BusinessQ talks ‘gear in review’

After a year of “iWant” and “iNeed,” BusinessQ got the skinny on the valley’s favorite gadgets of the year. The result? Utah County business pros love their iPhones — and there’s more where that came from (think iMac and AppleTV) on the 2009 horizon.

Jacob Hoehne, chief creative officer of Issimo Productions, Inc. in Pleasant Grove
FAVORITE GADGET OF THE YEAR iPhone
FAVORITE FEATURE I can show videos to clients.
NO. 1 ON MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST Mac Pro 8 core
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT My iPhone
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE  Apple Care hands down

Brent Crane,
director of the Food and Care Coalition in Provo
FAVORITE GADGET OF THE YEAR iPhone
FAVORITE FEATURE  Calendar and scriptures
NO. 1 ON MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST  The old hand-held football game
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT  My Blu-Ray DVD Player. It’s amazing — just wish all programming came with this picture clarity.
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE  The one I never have to fix!

Jeri Cartwright, owner of Cartwright Communications Media Relations in Salt Lake City
FAVORITE GADGET OF THE YEAR  My iPhone!
FAVORITE FEATURE  It is very intuitively designed. At first that bothered me, but now I really enjoy it.
NO. 1 ON MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST A digital video recorder. I want to quickly upload items to YouTube.
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT  My iPhone
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE  Apple. I received phone, chat and online support when learning about my iPhone. I’ve never seen such great customer service. I’ve used PCs all my life, but my experience with Apple has me thinking about buying a Mac!

Kent L. Curtis, founder of Utah Valley Records Management in Orem
FAVORITE GADGET OF THE YEAR  I must admit, the iPhone has me by the hair.
FAVORITE FEATURE  The music dims when a call comes in.
NO. 1 ON MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST  AppleTV
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT  My MacBook Pro. My career is encased in its hard drive.
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE PC Laptops. They love us.

Renee Thomas, owner of Link Marketing Services in Lehi
FAVORITE GADGET OF THE YEAR  BlackBerry
FAVORITE FEATURE Mobile e-mail
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT My laptop

SAFETY IN NUMBERS
Utah County business owners aren’t the only ones breaking the bank on cool electronics. Hoehne, Crane, Cartwright and Curtis are in good company — in 2008, Apple sold 9,715,000 computers, 54,828,000 iPods and 11,627,000 iPhones. Intel brought in $39.4 billion in revenue, and Dell earned a chunky $61.1 billion.

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