Other Sites
Apple Is Outsmarting the iPhone's Competition
Insure your iPhone, because AT&T won't
BluEye - For iPod Owners Who Can't Afford An iPhone
iPhone: Entering Text on the MultiTouch Display Keyboard
Voracious iPhones and iPods Gobbling up a Quarter of Flash Supply
The iPhone's Brisk Sales Thus Far Have Been A Boon To Companies That Make Cases And Adapters
Israelis Work To Crack The iPhone
iPhone 'Partially' Unlocked By Independents
iPhone 'May Never Be Secure'
Mobile Phone Report Explores Why the Need for Desktop Search is So Important
Apple Is Outsmarting the iPhone's Competition
The Mac Observer's John Martellaro says:
The pace of Apple's ability to change the iPhone as the market and technology evolves will be a major challenge to both the business models of the competitors and their technical abilities. If one doubts that, one need only review the articles written as a result of taking an iPhone apart. Rather than exhibiting the careless mistakes of a newbie, there was instead serious engineering fascination and marvel.
There are people with good sense, industry experience and a feel for the wireless market who see the iPhone as just another smartphone. One with limitations and some serious weaknesses in terms of big business....
The Apple iPhone is going to make some serious inroads into our lives and change the way we use handheld computers, indeed, even our desktops. To fail to understand that is to fail in the wireless market.
Some companies that sell mobile phones are going to fall into hard times as a result over the next five years. That's because they don't know why they're winning now, nor do they have the corporate insight to see how they're going lose in the future as the smartphone evolves.
It's the OS, stupid.....
For the full commentary visit here:
http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/58337.html
Insure your iPhone, because AT&T won't
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)'s David Chartier reports:
Since I've owned a variety of regular mobile phones and smartphones over the last couple of years, I wasn't surprised to see fine print during the iPhone activation process which warns users that AT&T won't offer their insurance policy on Apple's darling new gadget. I've been on nearly every major mobile phone network in the US - Cingular, T-Mobile (and VoiceStream), Verizon and Sprint - and not one of them covered smartphones with their policies. In fact, if you were upgrading an existing AT&T account and swapping out your old phone that had an AT&T insurance policy on it, you too were warned that the policy would be automatically removed from your account. Gee, you'd think these companies don't trust us with small, easy-to-drop expensive electronics. Who knew?
To help remedy this lack of a contingency plan for the iPhone, I decided to call a few insurance companies in the Colorado area to see if they could cover it. What many people might not know is that these companies typically cover electronics like mobile phones and even notebook computers, often at prices far cheaper than extended warranty plans from manufacturers and retail stores.....
For the full report visit here:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/18/insure-your-iphone-because-atandt-wont/
BluEye - For iPod Owners Who Can't Afford An iPhone
InformationWeek's Carol Pinchefsky reports:
If you can't afford an iPhone (or don't want to switch to AT&T) , this handy gadget will turn your iPod into a headset for your current cell phone.
The western world is still salivating over the iPhone, but the biggest capacity of that must-have device is 8GB. For those of us who are attached to our 30+ GB devices, already tethered to another smartphone (hello, corporate Blackberry users), or would rather avoid AT&T, BluEye is a good - although not perfect - way to get the best of both worlds.
BluEye is an ingenious widget that looks almost exactly like an iPod remote, clip included. But the addition of a Bluetooth button shows the causal observer that it's more than a handy way to pause and control volume without fishing your iPod out of your pocket. What BluEye does -- and does very elegantly -- is turn your iPod into a hands-free headset for almost any cell-phone (so long as the phone has Bluetooth, of course).
For the full report visit here:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201002097
iPhone: Entering Text on the MultiTouch Display Keyboard
A new Apple Knowledge Base article says:
You can use the onscreen keyboard to enter text messages, contact information, notes, and more. The intelligent keyboard on iPhone automatically suggests corrections as you type, to help prevent mistyped words. Start by typing with just your index finger. As you get more proficient, you can type more quickly by using two thumbs.
You can check it out at:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305963
Voracious iPhones and iPods Gobbling up a Quarter of Flash Supply
ExtremeTech's Bryan Gardiner reports:
Earlier this year prices for NAND-based flash chips were on the rise because of low supplies and the expectation that flash-hungry devices like Apple's new iPhone and iPod would eat up what little surplus already existed in the market.
A new report from market intelligence firm DRAMeXchange confirms that trend.
In March, contract prices for 4-, 8-, 16-, and 32-Gbyte single-level cell NAND flash chips increased by between 4 and 7 percent, amounting to the second pricing jump in 2007 alone. Consumers can now expect a third jump very soon, according to DRAMeXchange.
For the full report visit here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20070718/tc_zd/211848
The iPhone's Brisk Sales Thus Far Have Been A Boon To Companies That Make Cases And Adapters
inc.com's Angus Loten reports:
With iPhone sales already surpassing expectations, smaller accessory makers are feeling pretty good about the future....
Despite a few anticipated bugs, opening weekend sales of the $500 and $600 iPod-cell phone hybrids reached an estimated 500,000, with long lines outside Apple and AT&T Wireless stores nationwide. Since then, about 200,000 more have been sold, on pace for Apple's goal of selling 10 million units by 2008.
That's good news for accessory makers, many of whom unveiled carrying cases, arm-band holders, docking stations, and other products weeks before the iPhone itself was available.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200707/iphone.html?partner=rss
Israelis Work To Crack The iPhone
The Jerusalem Post's Shelly Paz reports:
Two weeks after Apple released its revolutionary iPhone, it appears that Israelis won't even get a taste of the personal computer maker's first mobile phone even when the second version is launched. So leave it to local hackers to try to move up the timetable.
Disappointed over the anticipated delay and aware of the complicated deal attached to purchasing the iPhone in which Apple gave American service provider AT&T Wireless exclusive rights to distribution and operation, Israeli hackers, competitor companies and local Mac fans are working overtime to come up with iPhone alternatives and imitations.
It's no secret that Apple's products are late to enter the Israeli tech-oriented market even if it's not clear what came first: low interest from Israeli customers or a non-friendly operating system for Hebrew speakers. But the latest slight has left local tech-lovers especially disappointed.
Nonetheless, Israeli hackers and Mac fans do not give up so easily; if the iPhone does not come to us in this advanced technology age, they say, we will find our own solutions.
And they have.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184672476893&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
iPhone 'Partially' Unlocked By Independents
Electronista reports:
Coders at the iPhone Dev Wiki (not linked for bandwidth concerns) claim to have circumvented some of the locks placed on the device by Apple and AT&T. Buying the product normally requires a two-year, iPhone-specific contract, a move which has drawn critcism mainly for the $175 cancellation fee. But by using a program called iASign, users can liberate the phone for use with existing SIM cards registered under AT&T or Cingular, and possibly MVNOs on the same network......
For the full report visit here:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/07/18/iphone.partial.unlock/
iPhone 'May Never Be Secure'
vnunet.com's Iain Thomson reports:
Apple's new iPhone may never be secure, according to an encryption expert who believes that the device is "too powerful".
Phillip Dunkelberger, a former Apple employee and now president of encryption firm PGP, told vnunet.com that the computing power of the iPhone is so great that it will be almost impossible to protect completely.
For the full report visit here:
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2194499/iphone-never-secure
Mobile Phone Report Explores Why the Need for Desktop Search is So Important
[Press Release]
Research and Markets ( http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c63116 ) has announced the addition of “Mobile Desktop Search: Using Discovery to Increase ARPU” to their offering.
Thanks to the announcement of the Apple iPhone in January 2006, user interface (UI) design has been pushed up the priority list for mobile phones and looks set to be a hot topic for the next year or two. It may even become a true source of differentiation in the market for a while.
Mobile phone user interfaces have been stable for a long time, with little more than tweaks being introduced over the last 4–5 years. There is strong uniformity across mobile phone vendors on the approach to organising functions and content within the UI and, as a result, most phones are superficially similar to use.
Basically this is a good thing because most people can now pick up a new phone and be confident that they can carry out at least the basic tasks without reading the manual.
However, during those 4–5 years, smartphones have become very smart and even mid-range phones have more functions in them than most non-technical people can cope with.
At the same time, phones have also seen rapid expansion of their memory, so that they can hold gigabytes of content.
Nonetheless, usage of advanced data services and content on mobile phones remains disappointing, with operators’ data revenues advancing fairly slowly even as they roll out good 3G networks. Side-loading of music, for example, is growing much faster.
We believe that the design philosophy of existing mobile phone UIs is now seriously getting in the way of finding what you want on a mobile phone.
The time has come to make local search a core capability of mobile phones to help users discover both the functionality of the phone and the content that they store on it. For a great many users in the PC world, desktop search has become a more natural mode of interaction than the Windows file structure.
We also believe that implementing local search will push up average revenue per user (ARPU) for mobile network operators and will further provide interesting opportunities for mobile advertising.
This report is based on our own extensive experience as users, as well as supply side research. It explores why we need desktop search on mobile phones and what the impact is likely to be.
Contents:
Our view
Many phone functions go unused – the UI is part of the reason
Advanced content and services exist
Handsets have improved
But advanced service and content use still disappoints
The handset UI is an important factor
Mobile UIs mix phone and PC navigation
Telephony UI is one key design influence
Hierarchical menus are the other key influence
New functions require new UI thinking
Search as a key navigational tool
Search is philosophically different from folders
Search should be easily accessible to the user
Some examples in the PC world
Benefits of search
Disadvantages of search
Examples of local mobile search
Hierarchies and search fail to scale on mobile
Hybrid approach between hierarchies and search
Filtering by context – a variety of useful approaches
Issues that we will face in using search within mobile phones
How to visualise the results easily on a small screen
How to maintain metadata when moving content between applications and devices
Power management
Impact on mobile networks
Other implications of using search within mobile phones
Table of figures
For more information visit:
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c63116
Source: Ovum
Contacts
Research and MarketsLaura Wood, Senior ManagerFax: +353 1 4100
Digg this
del.icio.us
Charles W. Moore
Tags: News ď iPhone ď iPhone News ď
