• android,  apple,  google,  ios,  iphone,  itunes

    For Apple, Google, the Stakes Are Sky High

    July 10, 2010 /

    Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android platform are on top of the smartphone world right now.

    Any one who has been watching both Apple’s and Google’s rise in the smartphone, music, and video businesses knows that the two tech titans are headed for a high stakes showdown in the sky.

    Apple’s approach to smartphones, and the entire iTunes ecosystem, is a walled garden that takes care of your every need; as long as you are using iTunes on your Mac or PC and an iDevice running iOS 3 or 4. Google, following in Microsoft’s desktop footsteps, has flung open the doors to their Android operating system and allows anyone with the ambition and the know-how to develop a new phone or develop applications for their smartphone platform.

    For both companies, streaming content over the Internet, or the “Cloud” as some like to say, is the next battleground for the hearts, minds, and dollars of gadget lovers across the globe.

    A recent online Baron’s Technology Trader column, How a Droid Could Eat Apple’s Lunch” talks about how Google’s and Apple’s approach to “locking” customers into their ecosystems have taken divergent paths toward the same goal. Right now, Apple is sitting pretty as the undisputed king of the kill. The number of Android smartphones being put on the market is staggering when compared to the number of carriers selling the iPhone, which is only available from Apple.

    It’s hard to say who will be the winner of this show down. Barron’s columnist Mark Veverka writes:

    “There are other reasons why Android is gaining momentum. Many Silicon Valley veterans envision Apple’s repeating the mistakes it made during the rollout of its first personal computers, when it chose to keep a closed proprietary system over a more pervasive operating system pushed by IBM (IBM), Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC). The WinTel collaboration took Apple to the brink of bankruptcy, and some fear that Apple is going down the same path with the iOS. “Android attacks Apple at its weakest point, which is its walled-garden ecosystem[.]”

    You can read the full article on Barron’s website.

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  • apple,  ios,  iphone

    Shocker: iPhone 4 Issues Requires More Than A Software Fix

    July 7, 2010 /

    Over the weekend, I Twittered the following as I was trying to catch up on the latest iPhone 4 cellular radio no-you’re-holding-it-wrong PR disaster.

    I wrote:

    1. NYTimes: Apple Acknowledges Flaw in iPhone Signal Meter http://nyti.ms/ajIgZc 9:50 AM Jul 3rd via NYT Editors’ Choice

    2. Why Apple’s iPhone 4 Update Won’t Fix Your Reception Problem http://bit.ly/cpqTNR 10:49 AM Jul 3rd via mobile web

    3. Apple says software will fix iPhone 4, others say that this is a hardware problem. What do you think? Me? I think it’s both hard/software. 10:51 AM Jul 3rd via mobile web

    Then, over on Jimmie’s GadgetsOnTheGo blog (where I sometimes write articles), this story is posted, in part:

    “Apple released that “official statement” about a software update coming in a few weeks to fix the iPhone 4 reception problem. Apple claimed that there really isn’t a problem, it’s more of a psychosomatic issue with the signal bars on the iPhone 4. Apple will release an update to fix the signal bars displayed rather than fix what’s really going on.

    Gizmodo is now reporting that when they spoke to AppleCare three different times today AppleCare confirmed the software update will NOT fix the reception issue.

    • There is an antenna interference problem when you hold the iPhone 4 in a certain way (the tests by Anandtech and many demonstration videos in the internet show that the signal drop will happen every time when you touch the phone’s dead spot, on the left bottom corner).
    • One solution is to hold the phone differently, avoiding to touch the left bottom corner of the phone (coincidentally, this is how models hold the iPhone 4 in most of Apple’s promotional material).
    • The other other solution is to buy a case or one of Apple’s $30 bumpers
    • The incoming software update will not fix this antenna problem, only change the way the phone displays the available signal, make it more accurate.”

    Any way you cut it, this is a poor situation to be in for iPhone 4 customers. Apple has stated in an open letter on their website that, “[a]s a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.”

    I don’t have an iPhone 4, but I am in support of the free Apple iPhone bumpers idea being floated around. Apple is sitting on a mountain of cash, and what better way to make lemonade out of lemons than giving away free bumpers until Apple is able to re-engineer the radio dead spot?

    So how about it, Apple? Are you guys game? The legions of Apple fans have earned a little kick-back for their fanatical support over the last 10 years.

    [Via GadgetsOnTheGo.net…; Gizmodo.com…]

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  • android,  apple,  ios,  iphone,  motorola

    Motorola Has Some Fun At Apple’s Expense

    July 6, 2010 /

    Looks like Motorola is jumping at the chance to go after Apple and their widely publicized reception problems with the new iPhone 4.

    A full page ad that appeared in the New York Times over the weekend, the ad reads:

    “Most importantly, it comes with a double antenna design,” the advertisement reads. “The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like and use it just about anywhere to make crystal clear calls. You have a voice. And you deserve to be heard.”

    Ouch!

    [Via AppleInsider.com…]

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  • apple,  att,  evo,  ios,  iphone,  sprint

    Engadget: Apple iPhone 4 vs. Sprint HTC EVO 4G

    June 28, 2010 /

    The good folks over at Engadget have a good review of the Apple iPhone vs the Sprint HTC EVO which is an essential read if you are in the market for either new smartphone.

    “Hoo boy. This is a tough one, isn’t it? In our years at Engadget, we’ve rarely seen such deafening debate and adulation for a pair of devices. In one corner we have the iPhone 4, coming off a few relatively easy rounds atop the smartphone mind share heap. However, the Droid and its ilk have weakened Apple’s spot, and here comes the HTC EVO 4G in for the kill, sporting a larger screen, 4G data, and all manner of HTC sexy. If the devices themselves weren’t enough, the debate has turned into something larger and metaphorical, with Apple representing tight restrictions and a singular top down vision, while Google’s Android stands for something perhaps a bit more haphazard but democratizing.”

    You can read the full story on the Engadget website.

    [Via Engadget…]

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  iphone os,  itunes,  touch

    Apple iOS 4 Update Released

    June 21, 2010 /

    Today, Apple has released iOS 4, formerly known as iPhone OS 4.0, for iPhone and iPod touch owners.

    The update, free for iPhone and apparently, also free for iPod touch owners, is available now. To download the update, connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer running iTunes 9, and the software installer will be downloaded to your computer.

    No Legacy Support for You

    Unlike previous iOS updates, the iPhone G2 and the first generation iPod touch will not be supported for this upgrade. Additionally, iPhone 3G owners will not be able to use the new multitasking features of iOS 4. If you want to get iOS 4 and you have one of these devices, you’re going to have to upgrade your hardware.

    iPad Out in the Cold?

    No! Apple’s iPad customers will be getting an upgrade to iOS 4, however, they are going to have to wait until the fall for their upgrade.

    For more details, check out the iPhone or iPod touch pages on the Apple website.

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  • apple,  facebook,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  iphone os,  touch

    Facebook for iPhone, iPod touch Updated to 3.1.3

    June 19, 2010 /

    Yesterday, an update for iOS (formerly known as iPhone OS) was released to the Apple App Store.

    The main improvements for Facebook 3.1.3 is the ability to watch videos, writing on event walls, and a change in how wide uploaded photos can be (now 720 pixels wide).

    You can update to Facebook version 3.1.3 by hitting the App Store icon on your iPhone or iPod touch, or by using iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC.

    iPad owners: the iPhone/iPod touch application will work on your device in low res mode. While you can scale it up to 2x mode, in my opinion, the text looks terrible. I still recommend that you use Safari to browse to the full Facebook website.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  iphone os,  itunes

    Apple WWDC 2010 Keynote Online

    June 9, 2010 /

    Apple has posted this year’s WWDC 2010 keynote delivered by co-founder, Steve Jobs.

    Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduce the new iPhone 4. See the video-on-demand event right here, exclusively in QuickTime and MPEG-4.
    You can stream the keynote address directly from the Apple website, or you can download the entire video in iTunes via Apple’s keynote podcast feed and watch it on your favorite Mac, PC, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, or my personal favorite, Apple TV + 42-inch TV.
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