Έχω περάσει μέρος του Σαββατοκύριακου που μεταφορτώνει και που δοκιμάζει τις δωδεκάδες των περισσότερων από 800 νέων εφαρμογών iPhone τρίτων που προώθησαν με το ντεμπούτο App του μήλου (AAPL) του «καταστήματος.» Το κατάστημα είναι μέρος του νέου iPhone 2.0 λειτουργικό σύστημα, που όχι μόνο έρχεται με το νέο iPhone 3G, αλλά είναι επίσης μια ελεύθερη βελτίωση στα παλαιότερα iPhones και μια βελτίωση $10 στην αφή iPod.
Αυτές οι πρώτες εφαρμογές κυμαίνονται από τα σοβαρά προγράμματα για τους γιατρούς και τους πιλότους ως τα ανόητα τεχνάσματα αιθουσών που εκμεταλλεύονται τους αισθητήρες κινήσεων του iPhone. Το ένα, αποκαλούμενος PhoneSaber, επιδεικνύει μόνο μια εικόνα ενός αστεριού πόλεμος-όπως ελαφρύ saber και κάνει τους ποικίλους ελαφριούς saber θορύβους δεδομένου ότι κυματίζετε το τηλέφωνο στον αέρα.
Εδώ είναι δέκα apps σκέφτομαι δύναμη απολαμβάνετε έξω, σε καμία ιδιαίτερη διαταγή. Αυτοί δεν σημαίνουν ως πλήρεις αναθεωρήσεις, ακριβώς δείκτες στα ενδιαφέροντα στοιχεία. Μπορούν να υπάρξουν δέκα άλλοι, ή 200 άλλοι, εσείς σκέφτονται πιό αντάξιοι της προσοχής. Αισθανθείτε ελεύθερος να προσθέσει τα σχόλια με τις προτάσεις σας.
- AIM. Τέλος, ένα εγγενές πρόγραμμα iPhone για σε ένα από τα δίκτυα παγκόσμιου περισσότερα ευρέως χρησιμοποιημένα στιγμιαίος-μηνύματος. Στερείται μερικά από τα rarefied χαρακτηριστικά γνωρίσματα των εκδόσεων PC ή της MAC, αλλά κάνει το βασικό πράγμα κείμενο-συνομιλίας αρκετά καλά. Ένα μειονέκτημα: επειδή το μήλο δεν επιτρέπει τα προγράμματα τρίτων για να τρέξουν συνεχώς στο υπόβαθρο, δεν μπορείτε να λάβετε τα νέα μηνύματα στο AIM κάνοντας άλλα πράγματα. Αυτό θα θεραπευθεί υποθετικά από τη νέα τεχνολογία κεντρικών υπολογιστών μήλων που οφείλεται αργότερα το έτος αυτό.
- MotionX-πόκερ. Αυτό είναι ένα απλό παιχνίδι πόκερ που παίζεται με χωρίζει σε τετράγωνα αντί των καρτών. Αλλά μπορεί, επειδή αξιοποιεί πλήρως τους αισθητήρες μηχανών και κινήσεων γραφικής παράστασης του iPhone. Παίζετε κάθε χέρι με το τίναγμα του τηλεφώνου για να κυλήσετε θαυμάσια κατεστημένος τρισδιάστατος χωρίζετε σε τετράγωνα, όπως το οποίο ακόμα και υγιής χωρίστε σε τετράγωνα. Το παιχνίδι $5 προέρχεται από Fullpower, μια επιχείρηση που αναπτύσσει πολλά κίνηση-βασισμένα προγράμματα που ιδρύθηκε από τον πρωτοπόρο Philippe Kahn βιομηχανίας λογισμικού.
- TruPhone. Αυτό είναι ένα τηλέφωνο-καλώντας πρόγραμμα Διαδικτύου που λειτουργεί πέρα από το ραδιόφωνο WI-FI του iPhone, κερδίζοντας ενδεχομένως σας μεγάλα χρήματα πέρα από τη χρησιμοποίηση της τηλεφωνικής ικανότητας κυττάρων της συσκευής κανονικής, ειδικά κατά να καλέσει διεθνώς. Μεγαλύτερο μειονέκτημα στις αρχικές δοκιμές μου: ελειτούργησε μερικές φορές και μερικές φορές όχι.
- FileMagnet.
One of the frustrating things about the iPhone is that it has no easy way for users to transfer files from their computers and store them on the phone, even though it is capable of viewing many types of files. FileMagnet, which costs $5, places a small program on your computer, and then wirelessly transfers any files you drag into it to the FileMagnet program on the phone. It works with Microsoft Word files, PDF files, images and more. Biggest downsides: it only works on Macs, but I’d bet a similar Windows program will come along soon.
- SpeechCloud Voice Dialer. This free program allows you to dial anyone in your contact list by simply saying his or her name.
- Movies. This is a free service that lets you find movies in your area, watch the trailers, buy tickets to them, and view a map to the theater.
- Remote. This free program, written by Apple itself, allows you to control any copy of iTunes, on any Windows or Mac computer, over a local wireless network. It also works on Apple TV boxes.
- Where. One of many new IPhone apps that attempt to provide information based on your location, Where, which is free, aggregates local content from services like Yelp and Eventful, which also have their own iPhone apps.
- Pandora. The new iPhone version of the wildly popular Pandora music-streaming program, is also free. It creates personalized radio stations based on artists you like.
- MLB.com At Bat. This $5 program lets you track games in progress, which is no big deal. The big deal is that you can actually watch video clips of key plays before the games are over.
Written by Walt Mossberg on July 13th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on AAPL and Apple and Apple TV and iPod Touch and iTunes and movies.
I’ll have a full, detailed review of the new 3G iPhone in a few weeks, but here are some first impressions based on Apple’s (AAPL) announcement today.
The Biggest Pluses
Speed: Because the biggest problem with the original iPhone was the slow AT&T (T) network, moving the device to the much faster 3G network, while no surprise, will have a huge impact. This is especially true since data already show that it is by far the most heavily used smart phone for Web surfing. It means that you won’t have to search for a Wi-Fi network to do decent Web surfing.
Price: Less than one year after it was introduced at a hefty $599 price, the 8 GB model of the iPhone will now be two-thirds cheaper, at just $199.
Third-party programs: Until now, in order to get third-party programs on an iPhone, you had to hack it. Now, there will be hundreds of them coming soon, and the handful that were demonstrated by Apple looked impressive, from blogging-on-the-go, to news and sports, to games and even medical software.
The Biggest Minuses
Still locked to one carrier: Even though the greater speed is a huge deal, it only matters if you have good AT&T reception. If AT&T’s coverage in your area is poor, the iPhone is still a bad choice, because Apple, unlike its competitors, doesn’t sell it through multiple carriers in one market.
Still missing some features: They haven’t added a real way to cut and paste, or to save files, other than emailed photos. And there still isn’t any MMS capability–the ability to instantly send or receive media files over the phone network without resorting to email. There’s also no instant-messaging program, though third-party developers are likely to offer these.
Still has a wimpy camera: The original iPhone camera was OK, but, given the phone’s brilliant screen and tight integration with computer photo software, it could stand to be better. It isn’t in this new model.
Written by Walt Mossberg on June 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 3G and AAPL and ATT and Apple and Instant Messaging and Mossblog and Software and T and Walt Mossberg and Web and email and iPhone and network and price and wi-fi.
Dueling reports from Gartner and IDC show Apple (AAPL) grabbing a larger slice of domestic computer market in the third quarter of 2007, although the reports disagree about just how large that slice is.
Gartner has Apple’s market share climbing to 8.1%, up from 6.2% a year earlier.
IDC also shows strong growth for the company, but by its calculations, Apple now commands a 6.3% market share, up from 5.7% last summer.
Their findings are summarized in the charts below.
Written by Philip Elmer-DeWitt on October 18th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on AAPL and Apple and Gartner and IDC and Macintosh and Market Share.
Four months after he tried to persuade Apple (AAPL) software developers to use Safari to write their iPhone applications, and after weeks of playing cat and mouse with programmers who risked bricking and wrote native apps anyway, Steve Jobs today changed his tune.
In a signed message posted on Apple.com’s start page, Jobs wrote:
Third Party Applications on the iPhone
Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK [software developer’s kit] in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.
It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once–provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones–this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.
Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.
We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.
Steve
P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch.
Jobs’ reversal is a tacit admission on his part that Apple’s programmers can’t do it all. It could also a long way to repairing relations with the software developers the company alienated when its most recent software update wiped out the entire first generation of native iPhone 3rd-party apps.
For background, see Apple Set to Open iPhone (Within Limits) and Steve Jobs’ Keynote: Long on Flash, Short on News.
Written by Philip Elmer-DeWitt on October 17th, 2007 with no comments.
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Two days after Apple (AAPL) began cutting the price of its DRM-free music for new customers, from $1.29 a song to 99¢, the company is still charging the higher price for existing customers.
The fact of the 30¢ price cut was confirmed yesterday by Steve Jobs, although the company denied that the move was in response to competition from Amazon (AMZN), which charges 89¢ to 99¢ per song, or Wal-Mart (WMT), which charges 94¢. “It’s been very popular with our customers, and we’re making it even more affordable,” both Jobs and spokesperson Natalie Kerris insisted.
But the price cut was not applied across the board. The discrepancy arises in the Upgrade My Library feature, which is still charging existing customers 30% extra for DRM-free songs.
For example: 
A new customer who buys Norah Jones’ Feels Like Home on iTunes pays $12.99 for a 256 kbps, DRM-free version of album. That’s the same price existing customers paid for a 128 kbps, DRMed version when the album first came out. To get the higher-quality, iTunes Plus version through Upgrade My Library, those customers have to shell out an extra $3.86.
Of course, there is no competition for Apple’s Upgrade My Library feature. It’s the one thing you can’t do at Wal-Mart or Amazon.
However, Amazon sells a DRM-free, 256 kbps MP3 version of Feels Like Home for $8.99. They also sell the “Enhanced” CD for $12.97 new and $6.47 used.
Written by Philip Elmer-DeWitt on October 17th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on AAPL and AMZN and DRM-free Music and Digital Rights Management and WMT and iTunes.
