Tag Archives | Smartphones

In Case It Wasn’t Clear Already, Apple Likes to Build Software for Apple Devices

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 13, 2011 at 1:37 pm

Over at This is My Next, Joshua Topolsky has a thought-provoking piece that says that Apple is going to discontinue its only major browser-based Web apps–the ones that are part of MobileMe–next year after iCloud is fully up and running. There’s a lively debate going on via Twitter between Topolsky and some folks who say that he has it all wrong: the MobileMe Web apps will survive the iCloud transition.

Even if the MobileMe Web apps don’t get the ax, the gist of Topolsky’s piece remains relevant. Apple filled last week’s WWDC keynote to the gills with news, but it was all about operating systems, apps, and an ambitious piece of Internet plumbing called iCloud. No surprise there: there’s never been much evidence that Apple is terribly interested in creating Web apps. But it loves to create traditional software that runs on hardware devices it builds.

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Disaster Averted: Apple Revises App Store Content Rules

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 9, 2011 at 10:18 am

Whew! Every time I’ve bought a Kindle book over the past few months, I’ve worried about the new iOS App Store guidelines Apple announced earlier this year, which said that app developers could only give iOS users access to content purchased outside of the App Store if the same content was available inside the App Store at the same price.

Apple takes a 30 percent cut of the money publishers make inside the App Store. So the new rule seemed to force some companies into an impossible situation–such as Amazon, which was already handing 70 percent of Kindle book prices over to publishers. Apple apparently wanted all of the remaining 30 percent for itself, destroying Amazon’s business model.

But as MacRumors’ Jordan Golson is reporting, Apple has quietly blinked. Now the rules don’t say that app developers need to match content offers made outside of the App Store inside the App Store. Companies don’t need to use In App Purchases at all. They just can’t provide a “Buy” button inside an app that makes it easy for a user to go to the Web and buy new content.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Review: Like Being a Kid Again

Posted by Jared Newman on June 6, 2011 at 12:04 am

Let’s get something out of the way: I cannot justify buying Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play. For as much as I love video games, I’m 28. And that seems a bit old to be carrying around a smartphone with its own set of game controls.

But that didn’t stop me from cracking a huge grin when I slid out the Xperia Play’s set of buttons and touch pads for the first time. This Android handset is the mythical “Playstation Phone.” If only it existed 10 or 15 years ago.

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Serendipity, Guaranteed

Posted by Sean Captain on June 3, 2011 at 11:16 am

Serendipity is wonderful, but it doesn’t happen often. For every enriching coincidence – meeting someone who becomes a lifelong friend or lifelong partner, finding that fantastic hidden restaurant – we miss how many? Dozens, maybe hundreds of other lucky opportunities?

Now several tech startups are trying to increase the odds of connection.

How? By combining intimate knowledge of your comings and goings with understanding of your likes and dislikes – then connecting you with likeminded people and perfect places.

What do they ask in return? For most, an opportunity to push hyper-specific ads or discount offers.

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Coming on Monday: WWDC 2011 Live Blog Coverage

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 2, 2011 at 6:29 pm

On Monday June 6th at 10am PT, I’ll be at San Francisco’s Moscone West for Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote. It sounds packed, packed, packed–we’ll get our last big look at OS X 10.7 Lion before it ships, and our first big looks at the next version of iOS, and the long-rumored service now known as iCloud. And rumor has it that there are occasionally surprise announcements at these events. (I’m told Jobs likes to keep them until the end.)

I’ll blog the keynote news as it happens, with color commentary from special guest Doug Aamoth of Techland. Tens of thousands of folks attended our last Apple live coverage (the iPad 2 announcement), but we’ll save room for you. Join us at technologizer.com/wwdc11–and go there now to sign up for an e-mail reminder if you like.

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Apple’s iWork Apps Arrive on the iPhone

Posted by Harry McCracken on May 31, 2011 at 11:18 am

WWDC doesn’t start until Monday, but the news is overflowing into this week. Apple has announced that its iWork iOS apps–Pages, Numbers, and Keynote–are now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well as for the iPad. All three apps are now dual-platform ready, so if you’ve already shelled out the $9.99-per-app price for the iPad editions, you can get them on an iPhone at no extra price.

They haven’t quite shown up in the App Store on my iPhone yet, but I’m looking forward to trying them and comparing them to the two big players in iPhone office suites: Documents to Go and Quickoffice. The best thing about the iPad version by far s is that the user interfaces are so nicely tailored to the iPad; I’m curious to see how Apple reworked them for the iPhone’s screen size and resolution.

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The WWDC Keynote is a Go–and It’s About Software

Posted by Harry McCracken on May 31, 2011 at 11:04 am

We pretty much knew this already, but now it’s official: Apple’s WWDC event next week will begin with a keynote on Monday. The big news at the keynote will be OS X 10.7 Lion. And the next version of iOS. “And iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.” Steve Jobs will host the keynote. (Okay, that part we didn’t know.)

Last week, one site said that it had learned that Apple’s UK PR team was urging journalists over there to make the trek to San Francisco for the event. That site came to the “obvious conclusion” that Apple must have been planning to announce the next iPhone at the keynote. I never understood what was so obvious about that conclusion. New hardware is neat, but the biggest opportunity for any phone or tablet platform to make great leaps forward lies in in its software and services. So WWDC has the opportunity to be a huge deal even if not a single new device is announced.

I’ll have more thoughts between now and Monday morning, but in the meantime: What features would you like to see in Lion, the next iOS, and/or iCloud?

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