January 2007 Archives
A printer the size of a deck of cards? Really? Yep. And Polaroids gonna make it. Gizmodo seems to think this would be the perfect companion to the iPhone when it's released. I just can't see myself carrying a printer with me, no matter how small it is.
VR-Zone is reporting on a Chinese iPhone look-a-like called the M8. The M8 has a touchscreen and had a striking resemblance to the yet unreleased iPhone. The M8 is also smaller than the iPhone's current specs by .2 inches. The phone runs WinCE 6.0. Manufactured by Meizu.
No word on what Apple will do about this one...
USA Today is reporting that Verizon passed on the offer to be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone 2 years ago. The article claims that Verizon balked at Apple's rich financial terms and other demands.
Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, declined to comment on any aspect of this story.
According to NewsDay.com's Michael Himowitz, the iPod won't be a huge hit.
I don't quite think these writers understand how Apple works and I suppose even if they did they'd still write these kinds of columns because it gets a rise out of the readers.
I especially enjoyed this part:
"When something does go wrong - and given my family's history with broken iPods, that's a near certainty - you'll lose the use of your phone and your music player and your portable Web access while it's being fixed, if indeed it can be fixed. Do you really want your business communications dependent on the health of your music player? Of course, none of these issues will dampen enthusiam for the iPhone inside the Cult. And the iPhone might actually gain a few converts."
Well... my girlfriend has had three cell phones die on her in a year but her iPod is still kicking. What does that tell mean to me? Nothing. It means that electronics aren't perfect and neither are the people who handle them.
I recall when the iPod first came out... my best friend and I totally dissed it. And now, look whats happened... almost everyone has an iPod! Open your eyes tech writers. This isn't Apple's one shot deal in the cell phone arena. This is version 1.0 of a product... a product that hasn't even come out yet!
Furthermore, there are a few people I know who wouldn't mind convergence of the two devices, but realistically, even if I owned an iPhone, I'd still keep my iPod as the measly 8 gigs isn't going to do it for my music collection... and I believe Apple knows this but thats just how they operate. Apple will churn the wheel of product updates and before we know it we'll be sporting 100 gig iPhones.
Analysts are warning of supply shortages should the iPhone "take off" when released.
"Flash is the most possible sector that may face the (shortage) problem, and touch screens are also a niche product, so it might be another concern too," said Merrill Lynch analyst Tony Tseng, who is based in Taipei.
This is a worthwhile read as the article discusses the industry and the competitors to the iPhone as well.
Gizmodo is now reporting that the previous report of AT&T / Cingular giving away 18 months free service with purchase of iPhone is FALSE.
End of story.
According to Jim Cramer from TheStreet.com, Cingular will attempt to lure customers to it's service by offering 1.5 years of Free service by purchasing an iPhone. Is this for real???
Who knows... go read more via Gizmodo.
According to researcher, Philip Solis, an analyst for ABI Research, Apple's upcoming iPhone is NOT a Smartphone because it limits 3rd party software by being a closed system.
"Therefore, we must conclude at this point that, based on our current definition, the iPhone is not a smart phone; it's a very high-end feature phone... Feature phones have third-party applications too, but these are relatively weak and limited to applications that work with the middleware such as Java and Brew."
Read more at InformationWeek.
I haven't got a clue how a product can kill a non-released product but thats the title of PCPro's article for a First look at Nokia's N800.
A quick summary:
"The N800 is powered by a 333MHz CPU and 128MB of RAM, making it reasonably responsive. The operating system includes a web browser based on Opera 8, a POP3 email client and a media player. But there is scarce storage built-in - just 256MB - so if you want to include a decent video collection you will need to expand via the two SD card slots.
A VoIP application is also included, allowing you to set up an account with Google Talk or Jabber. The N800's party-piece is its webcam, which pops out of the side of the device."
More via PCPro.
The Inquirer is reporting that Apple is using Marvell's CPU which was once owned by Intel. Intel sold its XScale business to Marvell so essentially, the iPhone will have Intel at it's heart. The Flash Memory, however will be manufactured by Intel according to the report.
Via the Inquirer.
PlastEurope is reporting that German injection moulder Balda had the contract to manufacture the touch-screen displays of Apple's new iPhone.
Some fine advice from Arik Hesseldahl of Business Week: the iPhone is worth the wait.
In Hesseldahl's commentary, he digs back to his past when he was first introduced to the iPod and marvels at how the tiny music player that could was born with a lot of problems when it first arrived on the scene back in 2001. But the Apple watched it's first iPod grow up and kept improving on it and that is what Hesseldahl wants people to remember.
He addresses the complaints of many regarding the iPhone (even though the product isn't even released yet) and asks that people realize this is iPhone 1.0 and Apple has its reasons of doing things this way. A solid read.
via BusinessWeek: Becoming an iPhone Believer.
Via Gizmodo:
Rogers is actively working with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada as soon as possible and will be the exclusive provider of the iPhone in Canada.
So now that the cat is out of the bag and we know for sure that the iPhone is a "closed" platform that Apple will control much like the iPod... will we ever be able to run "outside" apps?
You may not need to wait for Apple to open up the iPhone and heres why. The iPhone comes with a version of Safari built in. As long as you've got a great web browser, you can build just about any app you want on the web and run it from there. Think about it: Who needs word when you have Google Docs & Spreadsheet? Need an RSS Reader? Use Google Reader or roll your own.
Sure you wont be able to do everything and anything you'd like in a web app, but we can finally see how web apps will flourish once the iPhone is released. Things like Google Doc and Spreadsheet make sense on a device like this. We plan to track down some good web apps and keep a list of them here in the future.
What we really hope is for Apple to open up the iPhone to developers to spawn a whole new industry and make the iPhone a step above the rest.
Consumer Ombudsman Norway has ruled that Apple's DRM Fairplay is Illegal.
"It doesn't get any clearer than this. Fairplay is an illegal lock-in technology whose main purpose is to lock the consumers to the total package provided by Apple by blocking interoperability," Waterhouse told OUT-LAW.COM. "For all practical purposes this means that iTunes Music Store is trying to kill off one the most important building blocks in a well functioning digital society, interoperability, in order to boost its own profits."
You may recall that Germany and France created a Nordic Union against Fairplay recently.
In an interview with Ben Lurie, Cingular Wireless national distribution president, it was divulged that the Apple iPhone would have no AT&T (Cingular) branding on the phone itself:
"Because "it's an iPod," he continued, only the Apple name will appear on the iPhone's case, not the AT&T brand name. The AT&T brand name, however, will appear on the device's screen when the phone is turned and possibly when the phone's radio is playing," he added."
I'll step out on a limb and make a prediction: The iPod will be the next Palm Pilot/PDA... and everyone will have one.
I base my reasoning on the idea that the iPhone interface is too good to be left to just the "iPhone". After all, Jobs did proclaim that it was a Phone, an iPod and a Internet Browser all in one unit.
I believe that before we see iPhone sales begin to eat into iPod sales, Apple will be wise enough to introduce an iPod with the same OS that is running on the iPhone. However, this iPod will come with everything needed to be a PDA already installed. It will become the universal PDA with the largest user base as more people opt to get an iPod or upgrade. The key to this is the fact that the iPod is primarily a music player that just works. Add some basic PIM features with a touch screen, vivid colors and a fantastic user interface and before you know it... everyone has a PDA, even if they didn't want / need one.
I just cannot imagine Apple leaving their flagship product, the iPod stay stagnant any longer than it has to. It can perhaps last one more minor update but after that, they'll need to either upgrade it in order to keep up with the market and demands of the public. The iPod Video is rather long in the tooth now as I've had mine for almost a year... the longest period I've kept ANY iPod since it's introduction 5 years ago.
We'll see what happens next...
Great fun to watch Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose of Digg square off over the iPhone and the similarities to the LG KE850 aka Prada Phone.
With Apples ongoing lawsuit with Cisco over the iPhone trademark, it seems Cisco has violated something themselves: the GPL (GNU General Public License) in their iPhone software.
It seems that Cisco used open-source software as part of their "iPhone" software and did not publish the source code for some of the components that used it. The WIP300 iPhone by Cisco is based on Linux and it seems that Cisco agreed to comply with the terms of the open-source GPL license in order to use the software for this product.
Read more: Cisco's iPhone violates GPL, expert says
Say it isn't so! Seems like the poor folks in Vermont won't be able to take advantage of Apple's nifty iPhone unless they travel to another state. Boston.com is reporting that Vermont doesn't have Cingular Networks.
Also of note: "The iPhone service won't be available in all or large portions of Alaska, Colorado, the Dakotas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, upstate New York, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, among other places."
"Cingular spokeswoman Kate MacKinnon said the company has no plans to expand in Vermont, at least before 2009."
When the iPhone was announced, hardly anyone noticed or at least that was what was being reported around the net, and we're not surprised.
We read this letter to the LA Times that lamented the fact that US carriers "just don't get it" and we agree.
In Japan the cellphone is your life. You do everything on your cellphone because you can! You can pay for things electronically. It's like a credit card. The email apps, browsers, editors etc all work seamlessly... and it's not because the phones are well made. It's because they run on networks that aren't tied to the US Market. Japan's DoCoMo and other competitors created a highspeed infrastructure to support the cell phone market and also catered the service to work with the apps that are available. No wonder computer purchases are on the decline in Asia... People can do it all on their phone!
It's no wonder that the Japanese don't even blink at the iPhone announcement. They're already light years ahead with the cell phone in their pocket today.
Colin Wheeler's blog Cocoa Samurai has an interesting perspective of perhaps how the iPhones software works.
Colin goes on the assumption that the iPhone is using a chipset from ARM and proceeds to show us how he thinks the software is put together. An interesting read if you are a programmer or a techie in general.
Cocoa Samurai: How I think iPhone software works
Man! Who knew the iPhone could do so many things! Funny stuff from Conan!
John Gruber writes about Microsofts future plans for the iPhone:
"Here’s how it’s going to go. Starting now, Microsoft will mock the iPhone. They will mock the price, they will mock the closed software platform, and they will say that phone users demand and crave the wide variety of products in the Windows Mobile market.
But behind the scenes, they’ve already started working on a Zune clone of the iPhone. Remember their old party line on music players?"
PMP Products announced perhaps the first iPhone Skin to protect your iPhone (when it comes out that is).
"We are hard at work with our manufacturers designing some sweet iPhone skins to fit the revolutionary device. With a sensitive touch screen you'll need to protect your iPhone screen. Stay tuned to see how we are planning to extend the lifespan of your iPhone."
To be alerted when there is more info on this product, sign up at the PMP Products website: here.
Andy Ihnatko got to spend 45 minutes the the Apple iPhone and wrote his thoughts and what he discovered in an article for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Some of Andy's findings:
- Touch interface works flawlessly
- Virtual keyboard really works
- Most beautiful display ever
- The apps that were working felt like real desktop apps
and there was a lot more but you should just go check it out here:
You could call iPhone perfect
According to a Digg.com article it costs Apple $245.84 for a 4 gig iPhone and $280.83 for the 8 gig version. The information supposedly comes from iSuppli Corp but the image for the article is missing. I doubt that they took into account the R&D that Apple put in as well as the manpower to manufacture. This may just be a raw materials cost.
Read more here:
News.com: Price cuts on Apple iPhone likely, analysis finds
iPhone Costs Only $245.83 to Build
Another Google article?
Yep. Seems like Google is doing a pre-emptive strike against arbitrage sites by removing a bunch of them with the word iPhone in it. According to InternetBusiness Daily:
"So today I go to check my SERPS for themeiphone.com and it has been deleted from Google’s index! Now I know for a fact that I was not violating Google’s TOS because the site only had a landing page which says “Coming Soon!”. No doorway pages, 301 redirects to that domain, nothing. So I checked on the other sites which were going to be doing wallpapers and they have also been deleted:
Your search - site:iphonelive.org - did not match any documents.
Your search - site:themeiphone.com - did not match any documents.
Your search - site:iphonewallpapers.net - did not match any documents.
Your search - site:iphonewallpapers.com - did not match any documents."
Currently when we do a search like the one above it seems to bring back search results so we're not really sure if this was just a glitch on his behalf or Googles?
Read More: http://internetbusinessdaily.net/iphone-domain-names-and-google/
Engadget today posted photos of the so-called Google Switch which some are claiming is the iPhone killer. Well, just for the uninformed... the iPhone ISN'T AVAILABLE FOR SALE YET. Doh!
Anyway, the word out about the Google Switch is that it has no storage on the device at all and supposedly it gets all of its info direct from Google including apps. The phone is supposedly going to be manufactured by Sam Sung. Does anyone believe this stuff?
Also has anyone else ever wondered why all the photos are so blurry in all of the "spy pics"? We don't need an iPhone killer, what we need is a camera that takes pictures that aren't blurry in low light.
Read on if you like...
Google Switch: An iPhone Killer?
Prada and LG Electronics of Korea announced the Prada Phone also known as the KE850. The phone which is operated entirely via touch screen has a Flash-based interface as well. The phone is set to debut as early as February, beating Apple's iPhone by nearly 4 months.
Read more details about this phone here:
Gizmodo
Engadget Mobile
Electronista
An article from thestreet.com "Insight Contributor" Doug Kass offers up the type of John Dvorak commentary about the still to ship iPhone. IMHO these type of articles are meant to generate traffic to their website(s) by using negative opinons without having any real point. They are hoping the Mac/Apple faithful will read then spread the word to defend the good name of Apple, the Mac and the iPod.
Kass offers up his fantasy of a world without an iPod which would leave Apple in financial ruins and how it seemed like a ploy to distract from the options scandal by Jobs to announce the iPhone so early. Well the reality is that there IS an iPod and the market has been WAITING for an iPhone for 2 years now. Jobs is finally attempting to deliver on that anticipation the market has generated.
To comment on the flaws of a non-shipping, still in development product just seems strange to me. We can argue night and day about what we HAVEN'T seen. The questions we have will be answered soon, we just have to wait it out. Until then, we have guys like Kass who will beat down your hopes and dreams of owning something cool just because he feels Apple's stock is too high and Steve Jobs deserves less.
We won't bother to link to the article but you can find it on your own if you wish. Just look for: Don't Buy Apple's One-Trick iPhone Pony .
Contrary to this post over at Slashdot, "iPhone NOTE running OS X", John Gruber thinks that it really is and states his beliefs to why.
Gruber states:
"I’ve been investigating this since shortly after the keynote, and everything I’ve learned indicates that it is entirely fair and accurate for Apple to call the iPhone operating system “OS X”: the kernel is Mach;3 the low levels are Darwin; the UI for the apps is Cocoa’s AppKit."
He goes on to point out more things but we'll let you read this fine opinion piece on your own.
Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg (affectionately called Uncle Walt by the Mac community) had a few minutes with the iPhone and had this to say in his review of the new Treo and Samsung Blackjack:
"Of these two phones, I prefer the BlackJack. But if you're in the market for a smart phone and can afford $499, you might want to wait until June for the Apple iPhone. The Apple entry is so full of promise that anyone buying a smart phone in 2007 should at least wait for the full reviews and a chance to try it out."
Read more of Walt Mossberg's article here.
We can't wait for Apple to send Uncle Walt the final version of the iPhone for review!
In case you missed David Pougue's first iPhone FAQ click here to read. Well, Pogue is back with round two of his iPhone FAQ and it answers a lot of questions!
So far:
- NO Java MAYBE Flash
- Jobs says YouTube would work with deal with YouTube
- Adding ringtones from your iPod is undecided
- Charges with a sync dock or plug just like the iPod
- The phone doesn't run Leopard OSX but rather a stripped down OSX with a phone interface
- No bluetooth or wireless syncing
- Google Docs and Spreadsheet should work in theory.
David Pogue was inundated with a slew of questions regarding his brief meeting with Steve Jobs and Apple's iPhone. While Pogue only spent a few minutes with the phone he was able to answer a whole lot of questions that we were dying to know!
Here's just a sampling of the questions that were answered:
Will there be a non-Cingular version? --Not within the first two years.
Can I put my T-Mobile SIM card in it instead of Cingular? --No.
But what if I keep asking? Then will it be available beyond Cingular? --No.
Can it run Mac OS X programs? --No.
Can I add new programs to it? --No. Apple wants to control the look and feel and behavior of every aspect of the phone.
Does it run programs from Palm, Symbian, Windows? --No.
Does it connect to iChat? --No.
Does it have games? --No.
Is it ambidextrous? --No.
Does it have GPS? --No.
Read the rest of the article here: David Pogue's iPhone FAQ.
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