Tag Archives | iPhone

Google Earth…Now in Convenient iPhone-Size Form

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 26, 2008 at 6:11 pm

I still remember the first time I saw Google Earth–back when it was known as Keyhole Earth viewer and wasn’t yet owned by Google–and how its intensely graphical virtual portal to the real world’s geographic richness knocked my socks off. Last week, Google gave me a sneak peek at Google Earth for iPhone and iPod Touch, which is live in the iPhone App Store in Australia now and due in the U.S. store soon And once again, I was dazzled.

The iPhone version of Google Earth is dazzling because…well, because it feels just like Google Earth, but it’s also very much an iPhone app. It begins with the same big-blue-marble view of the earth; enter any location, and you can fly there via smooth animation and high-resolution satellite imagery. Once you’ve landed somewhere, you can pan around, zoom in and out, and click on Wikipedia and Panaramio icons to read articles and see photos relating to local landmarks. In the hands-on time I got at Google’s offices, at least, everything was remarkably fluid and fast, just as with deskbound versions of Google Earth.

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Is an iPhone 3G Unlock Imminent?

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 26, 2008 at 8:28 am

Have a hankering to unlock your iPhone 3G so you can run it on any network? You may be in luck before too long.

The iPhone Dev Team–the group of hackers who figured out how to unlock the first-generation iPhone–has cracked the iPhone’s baseband processor and can run applications on it. That’s a critical step–maybe the critical step–in figuring out how to unlock the phone, since the software that does the job will run on the baseband processor.

I’d love to have an unlocked iPhone 3G, partially for practical reasons (I’d like to be able to buy a cheap prepaid SIM when I travel internationally) and partially on the principle of the matter (when a phone is locked, it’s been intentionally crippled). And you gotta admire the technical chops of the iPhone Dev Team. But I’m not all that excited by its progress in unlocking the iPhone 3G. In the past, Apple has showed itself to be completely willing to foil people who do things to its products that it doesn’t want done. And it doesn’t want you to unlock your iPhone. So me, I’m not going to risk it.

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Why the Kill Switch Makes Sense for Android, and Not for iPhone

Posted by David A. Sampayo on October 17, 2008 at 6:50 pm

”Gasp!” went the collective Internet on Wednesday when the IDG News Service spotted a clause in the terms of service for Google’s Android Market stating that:

Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement … in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion.

In other words, Google has a built-in “kill switch” to remotely disable applications that violate their developer agreement.

While the terms of this agreement certainly seem reasonable, tech critics thought back to February, when Apple explained its own terms of service for the iPhone, which also seemed reasonable at the time. As we know, Apple’s developer agreement turned out to be much more trouble than initially anticipated, causing a storm of criticism around the developer NDA and Apple’s disqualification of apps that “duplicated functionality” of other Apple applications.

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Nearly One in Ten Teens Now Own iPhones

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 8, 2008 at 1:52 pm

Fortune reports Wednesday that finanical analyst firm Piper Jaffray has just completed its twice annual survey of teens and found the iPhone ranks high on their wish lists, with already a significant adoption rate in the device’s 14 or so months on the market here in the US.

The survey of 769 high school students found that 8 percent already own the device, with another 22 percent expecting to purchase the phone within the next six months.

Such data has to be music to AT&T’s ears, considering the carrier is the exclusive partner for Apple here in the US. Piper Jaffray did not ask which carriers the teens were using, so it’s a little difficult to judge how this would affect AT&T’s subscriber numbers, although I’d guess they would get a modest bump in the least.

But like everything else we’ve talked about lately, teen’s wants and desires may not necessarily match up with what their parents can afford. With the economy the way it is, its also quite possible many of those who want the device may not have the means to obtain it, at least in the short term.

In addition to the data on iPhones, Piper Jaffray also found that 84 percent of teens owned an iPod, up 2 percent from last year. And of the four in ten who download music leagally, 93 percent were using iTunes, up significantly from the last survey.

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The T-Grid: BlackBerry Storm vs. iPhone 3G

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 7, 2008 at 10:30 pm

Another week, another new touch-screen phone that has an awful lot in common with the iPhone 3G. But the most interesting things about RIM’s BlackBerry Storm aren’t the ways it’s similar to an iPhone–it’s the ways it’s different. Starting with the fact that it’s a BlackBerry, with all the wireless synching goodness you’d expect. It will be on Verizon–a major plus for lots of folks–and will be a world phone that does CDMA at home and GSM around the world.

The Storm is the first touchscreen BlackBerry, but its screen features haptic feedback that gives a clicky feel as you type on the virtual keyboard, which sounds interesting, at least. (Most of the BlackBerry fanatics I know are e-mail warriors who really, really want a phone with a physical keyboard–it’ll be fascinating to see if the Storm’s simulation of one is good enough to convince them to go touchscreen.)

I’m also happy to hear that the Storm comes with DataViz’s Documents To Go Office-compatible suite preinstalled–though I’m also curious to see just how easy it is to edit documents on a phone without a real keyboard.

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Apple iPhone Antitrust Suit Allowed to Proceed

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 7, 2008 at 10:17 am

AT&T’s stranglehold on the iPhone here in the US may be coming to an end, as a California federal court has allowed an antitrust suit against the carrier and Apple to proceed. In an order handed down October 1, the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that there was sufficient material to continue the case.

Nine iPhone owners (who, by the way, are AT&T customers) from California, Washington, and New York make are the plaintiffs, and accused Apple and AT&T of ten separate breaches of federal law.

The ruling seems to be pretty much a clear win for the plaintiffs. Judge James Ware denied AT&T’s motions to compel arbitration, stay discovery, and dismiss, while also essentially denying Apple’s similar motion to dismiss. Apple and AT&T will have until October 15 to file any amended complaint.

Still on the table in the case are a litany of charges against the two companies, including several Sherman Antitrust Act claims, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act claims, and computer fraud and computer tresspass claims. One bright spot: Apple has gotten the courts to throw out the unfair and deceptive trade practices claims.

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Apple Easily Surpasses 10 Million iPhone Goal

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 6, 2008 at 10:27 am

When Apple first made its lofty projections to sell 10 million iPhones during 2008, some thought the company’s projections were overly optimistic. That may not be the case anymore if research by Apple enthusiast site Mac Observer is to be believed.

The data compiled by the site’s “Apple Finance Board” have taken a look at the IMEI numbers of shipped iPhone 3Gs as a way to estimate the total number of iPhone 3Gs shipped and compiled them into a spreadsheet. IMEI’s are issued in an specific order and can be used to figure out how many phones have been produced.

As to how this works, I’ll let the report’s author explain it.

One 6 digit number, known as the TAC, or Type Allocation Code, signifies a particular build or set of iPhones being manufactured. The second 6 digit number is unique to each individual iPhone produced in that particular series—so that 1 million iPhones can be registered to a specific TAC.

Using this data, the Mac Observer team estimates that Apple may have sold as many as 9.2 million iPhone 3Gs: a staggering statistic. Even allowing for 1.5 million iPhone 3G’s to still sit unsold, some 7.6 million units would already be in consumer’s hands. This would mean Apple would have sold 10 million phones already when adding in first-generation iPhone sales.

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The T-List: RIP, iPhone NDA

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 5, 2008 at 9:53 pm

Last week was one of comings and goings. iPhone NDA? Gone! Windows Cloud? On its way! RealDVD? Here, then gone! Windows XP? Six more months before it might be gone! And iTunes? Still here, thank heavens!
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The T-Grid: Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic vs. the iPhone

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 2, 2008 at 9:53 pm

Give Steve Jobs this: When Apple frets publicly about other companies ripping off the iPhone, it has a point. The iPhone is quickly becoming what the Mac was more than twenty years ago, only more so: A device that sets the style, technological, and functional agenda for an entire industry. And now Nokia is leaping into the game with the 5800 XpressMusic, its first iPhone-like touchscreen phone.

The 5800 XpressMusic certainly looks like an iPhone, and it matches its features in many areas (though not all of them: It’s got a less sophisticated, single-touch screen, albeit one with more pixels). And it’s got some of the features which some people wish the iPhone had, including a fancier camera that has a flash and can record video, voice dialing, and even an FM radio.

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Obama Campaign Launches iPhone App

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 2, 2008 at 10:24 am

While the Obama campaign has been pretty innovative in its uses of technology, this latest move takes the cake in my opinion. The official iPhone application debuted on Thursday, which is yet another method for the campaign to stay closely connected to its supporters.

The primary feature here seems to be the call a friend functionality. Contacts, taken from the iPhone address book, are sorted by state with the most competitive listed first. For example, my contacts from Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, and Pennsylvania were listed at the top, while those in Delaware, Hawaii, and New York were listed at the bottom.

No personal data is shared with the campaign — only anonymous call data — and the application will also allow users to keep track of whom they called and their intentions.

The iPhone’s GPS functionality is put to use: users would be able to find a local campaign office in relation to their current location, as well as events in the area. Links to news, video and photos from the trail are also included, as well as talking points on Obama’s positions when talking about the candidate to friends.

An official webpage is available on the Obama website, and it is available through the App Store. Those who don’t have an iPhone should not fret — the WAP page for the campaign offers some of the same features.

I think this application is a great idea. Obama supporters have shown that they are (generally) a more technically sophisticated bunch, using the Internet a great deal to organize, raise money, and disseminate information on the candidate.

What of course remains to be seen is how responsive supporters are to this latest attempt at keeping its supporters involved. The application has apparently only been live on the iTunes App Store since this morning, so its a little early yet to judge.

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