Posts tagged ‘Apple iPhone’
CTIA Wireless start next week in Vegas, Skype on iPhone and more
CTIA Wireless starts next week in Las Vegas and we will be tracking the happenings there. Should be interesting. Also more on Mobile App Store war soon. Plus Skype is releasing a client for iPhone (finally!!) – Skype CEO may announce this at CTIA, we hear. Earlier there were other VOIP clients for iPhone which were providing the Skype interface. Finally Skype decided to go direct on iPhone. We are excited. We intend to check this service out. Tell you more about it later. But we suspect that Skype on iPhone works only on a WiFi network similar to TruPhone. That will be an ongoing problem as cannot use VOIP client while on the go (in TruPhone, one has to incur a domestic calling charge with their AnyWhere service to use TruPhone on a regular wireless network – need to check if Skype on iPhone will offer service over operator wireless network).
iPhone 3.0 OS Overview
I wanted to write about the new Apple news – that of iPhone 3.0 software. Apparently it is a version which will fulfill many of the things which were missing before :
– 100 new features– Search iPhone
– Cut, copy and paste capability – sorely lacking in prior versions
– Send photos, contacts, audio files and locations via MMS
– Read and compose email and text in landscape mode. Earlier the safari browser allowed this but not the email and message box. Now the latter will allow landscape also.
– 1000 new APIs for developers
– enable in-app purchase of content like subscriptions, additional game levels and other content
– apps can communicate with other hardware via Bluetooth
– push is available to developers to push content
– multitasking so multiple apps can run simultaneously
– developers can use the map feature of iPhone in their apps
– developers can access the iPod music (or podcasts etc) library stored on the device and use them innovatively in their apps
This is a sample list – we will write more as we learn about this exciting new announcement from Apple – we remain die-hard fans of iPhone which is a true mobile revolution as far as we are concerned.
gPhone or G1 – Google’s Android-based phone emerges
Well…here comes G1 – Google’s Android phone from T-Mobile USA. This is the iPhonesque phone from Google running its Android operating system and manufactured by HTC of Taiwan. Incidentally, it is also the first Android phone, Android being the Open Source Mobile Operating System being promoted by Google via its Open Handset Alliance (OHA).
G1 is available from T-Mobile USA from Oct 22 for $179 (with a 2 year contract) but the carrier is pre-selling the phone from today.
Take a look :
Google phone G1
Google G1 (photo by Mark Lennihan)
It looks nice. Does it compare with iPhone. It comes close but still does not beat iPhone sleekness. What about software ? We still need to see if the Android and all the Google apps loaded on it do any magic beyond the benchmark set by iPhone and its amazing software and application ecosystem. Android is supposed to create a great mobile software ecosystem similar to Apple and its iPhone environment.
For those who were holding out on buying an iPhone could take a shot at this one. But we doubt any iPhone owners out there would switch. iPhone 3G is just too good. Well we will see once we see adoption of the new Google phone. This is supposedly running the Google’s new shiny Chrome browser (actually Chrome Lite – mobile version of Chrome).
Some key Android features : openness – developers can develop application extensions to Android using its publicly available API. The G1 comes with maps, e-mail (gmail), instant messaging, music player and a camera. There is an Android Application store similar to the iPhone App Store. Google’s USP against the iPhone seems to be openness and willingness to let developers work more freely with Android as compared to the Apple’s tighter control over the iPhone application ecosystem. It could be a double-edged sword. Openness has its pros and cons. As to iPhone App Store, since its launch in July, users have downloaded more than 100 million applications for the iPhone and the iPod touch. Google has run Android developer challenge contest to get developers to create more Android apps.
For more details on G1, go to T-Mobile G1 site.
Welcome to the world of superphones. Superphone – a term informally being used for the ultra smart and ultra sleek new smartphones. This is a new world. We love this, finally mobile world is coming around with some cutting edge device and software innovation. Next we await the BlackBerry Bold – RIM’s answer to the iPhone and Google phone.
One thing is for sure. The new superphone world belongs to Apple, Google, RIM and Nokia. What about the rest ?
From a mobile OS perspective, there is a fight between Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile, LiMo etc. Talk about fragmentation. Alas, if only developers could find a truly universal Mobile development ecosystem but without a PC-kind of monopoly.
MT
More on the iPhone 3G woes…
3g
An article by Peter Burrows for BusinessWeek analyzes the recent problems with iPhone 3G reception, stating that “two well-placed sources tell BusinessWeek.com the glitches are related to a chip inside Apple’s music-playing cell phone.” This corroborates previous reports that the handset’s Infineon 3G chip is the culprit.
Infineon
BusinessWeek adds that Apple “plans to remedy the problems through a software upgrade.”
One source says the problem lies squarely with Infineon’s technology, which is fairly new and untested in high volumes outside a lab setting. Not only is the iPhone shipping in much higher volumes than other handsets, it’s also gobbling up far more 3G minutes as owners use it to surf the Web, watch YouTube (GOOG) videos, and utilize other bandwidth-hogging services.
iPhone Users Downloaded 60 Million Applications…
Consumers have downloaded over 60 million applications for the Apple iPhone from the Apple online store.
Vishal
Review of Apple iPhone 3G
I have been waiting to write about this for a long time.
Stood 4 hours in line in front of Apple store to get my hands on one of these amazing new must-have devices. Excruciating… But once I got it, if you ask me in one word – “fabulous”.
UI : Never seen a better UI on any other phone. Hats off to Apple creativity. They know UI like nobody else does. UI means the pulse of the user – Apple knows what works for user.
Mail program : fantastic – push email from Yahoo and Outlook and pull from gmail. Awesome Awesome
Map program : Great – tells you current location and shows satellite views and map views from Google Maps. Shows Directions between any two locations.
SMS : Conversation style SMS UI. Looks good
YouTube, iPod Music, iTunes store – All great
AppStore – One of the best new features of iPhone. The AppStore and the iTunes ecosystem are the creme of the iPhone power. There are a zillion good apps on the AppStore now and this will only increase. I tried Facebook and am about to try loopt apps on AppStore. The games like SuperMonkey are popular and I intend to try them. Facebook access is beautiful and easy.
Photos – beautiful photo display with high resolution and a 2 Megapixel camera.
Sync capability – As soon as you plug the iPhone to your computer, photos, contacts, calendar all can synch. I was able to synch my Gmail contacts and photos on my PC. I did not use the calendar synch as I have a separate blackberry device for that one.
Keyboard – soft keyboard is hard to use initially but my speed of typing is increasing. Scrolling to get to particular letter in between a typed word or sentence is very interesting (drag over the word and highlight cursor to desire letter).
Enterprise Support – Apple has added MS Outlook support with iPhone 3G. This is possible if an org runs the MS ActiveSync program. We expect tremendous response in the enterprise as employees in various firms are clamoring for it. But Blackberry is far ahead in the enterprise and is not going anywhere soon.
Email delete function – Allows multiple emails to be selected and deleted.
Comparison to Blackberry – Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love my blackberry which was my email device so far. But Blackberry cannot compete with iPhone overall. Only categories which Blackberry can claim as better compared to iPhone are :-
email : Blackberry Enterprise server based email is amazing.
Keyboard : We are all expert in speed typing on Blackberry QWERTY keyboard.
Battery : Blackberry runs without a need to charge for many days. iPhone, on the other hand, runs out in 8-10 hours of heavy use.
Speaking of battery, let me come to iPhone’s battery issue (alas) :-
iPhone battery runs out in 6-112 hours under heavy use if you keep all its powerful features on. Some ideas to conserve battery : turn off 3G, Location Service, WiFi, Bluetooth, Fetch mail less often. Result – you are left with a plain GSM phone and one starts to wonder why I bought iPhone after all.
Regardless, breakthrough device. Kudos to Apple. I love it every bit (except for its battery). Here is a good one on iPhone :-
MT
Gray Market for new iPhone too in India…
The new iPhone has been launched in USA and 21 other countries. But, in India, its still to be launched…and time is not far when we will see new iPhone already being used by Indians even before it’s official launch here.
Though, bookings for new iPhones are being made at around Rs. 25000 (US$ 570) by thousands of enthusiasts in India for official launch in August…but if not more, atleast 25% of these are also trying to get the same from other countries/ sources (like huge gray markets here) at cheaper prices.
Let’s wait and watch the market’s reponse in India…
VS
“It’s a mess,” says Apple’s new iPhone & Service User…
Apple Inc.’s new iPhone went on sale on Friday 8 a.m. and that’s when nightmare for many new iPhone enthusiasts started. Since the new iPhone has been subsidized by the exclusive carrier if bought with their contracts, Apple and the carrier had planned to activate the phone right at the point of purchase i.e. the stores.
Result…huge queues of people were seen outside the store ahead of 8 a.m., many even camped out overnight to be first. What happened then???
First…It took the store half an hour to get the phone activated. This itself caused, the enthusiasm of many in queue behind the first person, die down at that very instant.
Second…there was a global problem with Apple Inc.’s iTunes servers that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store.
Third…The problem extended to owners of the previous iPhone model. A software update released for that phone on Friday morning required the phone to be reactivated through iTunes.
Fourth…”It’s a mess,” said some, who updated their first-generation iPhone only to find it unusable.
When it comes to technology, late movers often seem to do better..
Businesses always make more profits when they get early mover advantage in the market for new technologies and ideas. Individual/ end users many a times get benefited when they adopt a technology in later stages of its development. Because by then, most, if not all, lacunae would have been filled by the manufacturers. I sincerely hope that the reader of this post is getting, what I am pointing at…Yes…U guessed it right…I am talking about Apple’s new 3G iPhone…
In India especially, there is a huge market for second hand phones and Chinese duplicate versions. When iPhone was launched first time by Apple, it became an instant hit everywhere around the world. But since it was on costlier side (Approx. Rs.30000+ in Indian currency), it could be afforded only by either business class people or people in high positions in companies. Surprisingly, it didn’t take even months or weeks but just a few days when iPhone came into market with no guarantees or warranties what so ever. These were imports from United States where iPhone was released first. Many people lost huge sums of money in buying these models just in hope that these may work just as good as the original one. There were hacking programs available in market which claimed to break the iPhone lock and make it work on the usual GSM carriers (similar story occurred in China).
And now…here you go…Apple has launched an all new upgraded version of iPhone and that too at less than half the old price (Approx. Rs.8000 – Rs.12500) in two storage versions i.e. 8GB and 16GB capacities. It has come out with more storage, better features and more affordable rates for everybody. Its 3G iPhone…and more
With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS mapping, support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips.And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser. It redefines what a mobile phone can do — again.
All these features are making the old iPhone users fume as they spent more to get less and now even if they want to resell their models, they will not be able to get even Rs.5000 for the same as the new upgraded 3G iPhone version with 8GB capacity will be just Rs.8000 approx. so why will anybody buy an old one for almost the same price…This justifies the title of this post…
VS
Back from South Carolina Beach and Mobile happenings
Wow.. had lot of fun at Kiawah Island Beach resort, 6 hour drive from Atlanta notwithstanding, the day at the Kiawah beach and resort pool was a blast. Family and friends loved every bit of it and was totally relaxed by the end of beach day. Then…had to drive back to Atlanta on Monday and the excitement turned back to a work day morale.. Not that we don’t have fun writing to our loyal audience (you) and talking to you. Your comments and notes are the things which keep us excited and get us out of bed each morning.
well,..back to the grind. Stay tuned for some cutting edge mobile and tech posts. There is plenty of interesting activity in the world of iPhone startups and mobile revolution around the world to watch and comment on.,,,
In CellStrat, we are picking up good consulting work. Soon we will be working on our breakthrough product which will change the world of mobile media. In the meantime, feel free to let us know if we can help with mobile, technology, software, startups or related ideas.
Kleiner Perkins iFund (iPhone fund) just funded the first iPhone startup – I think it is called Pelago. Would be looking at this one more soon. iFund is the world’s first VC fund dedicated to iPhone startups. It is a $100 million fund which is a good sized VC fund. This itself indicates the potential which a new smartphone like the iPhone holds in the times to come. Even the powerful RIM has been forced to copy iPhone on many features. We hear that RIM is working on a touch sensitive screen phone similar to iPhone. RIM’s latest offering the Bold smartphone is a beautiful new device and has many of the new features which iPhone had.
On smartphones, RIM war with Apple smartphones is on. But we feel there is plenty of market in smartphone space for multiple players to thrive. Smartphones are just beginning to take over the world…
MT
Cell Life 