Articles by Casey Chan
Sorry AT&T workers, I guess you’ll have to re-schedule that Hawaiian vacation. The Boy Genius Report reports that an internal memo has been making the rounds over at AT&T and it strongly discourages vacation time between June 15th and July 12th.
To quote the memo, AT&T “anticipates heavier than normal customer traffic” and an “exciting Summer Promotional Launch to enable your sales to soar”. I wonder what product fits that description: exciting, heavier than normal, soar..okay maybe I’m reading between the lines.
Does this mean that AT&T is positioning themselves for the launch of the 3G iPhone? That would be the obvious conclusion considering that AT&T had issued a similar no-vacation mandate just a year ago. For what you ask? The original iPhone.
But with no Apple “special event” currently scheduled, can we now expect the 3G announcement to be made during WWDC’s keynote (June 9th)? When is the FCC going to get their hands on this little, powerful puppy? As much as I thought the 3G iPhone wasn’t coming until fall, it looks like June will be the date.
Can’t wait any longer for Native Apps? Me neither. (Late) June seems too far away? I’m with you. So why wait, when you can jailbreak! Over the next couple months before 2.0 is released, I’ll give you guys a glimpse into the jailbroken world of native apps every week. If we don’t find anything life-changing, hopefully we’ll learn a few things along the way. Plus: let’s face it, Jailbreaking isn’t going anywhere. The SDK is awesome, but some people won’t settle for anything less than full-on access to all the hidden bits of the iPhone.
Today, we start with another look at the ever-evolving program that is Installer.app. Developed by the guys at Nullriver, Installer.app is the first app you see after jailbreaking. Its main goal is to serve as an outlet for all the rest of the iPhone’s native apps and it has come a long way since we first showed you how to use it. Does it succeed? Is it effective? Can Apple learn something from Installer.app?
Read on for the rest of the review! (and remember you’ll need a Jailbroken iPhone to take advantage of this native app)
Do you remember that ChangeWave Survey back in March? It essentially ‘discovered’ that the Cell Phone customer satisfaction/popularity contest/war was a two-horse race between, you guessed it, Apple and RIM. Following up on their initial survey, this time ChangeWave tries to determine why their customers are so satisfied with their iPhones/Blackberries.
Alot of things on the ‘Favorites List’ are pretty predictable. E-Mail was an astounding ‘Most Favorite’ for Blackberry while the synergy of phone, iPod, and web browser was Number 1 for the iPhone. Taking a quick glance at the numbers, it seems that the iPhone’s ‘Favorite List’ is more well-rounded compared to the Blackberry’s. (Or maybe it just means Blackberry’s e-mail is just that good. I’ll let you guys decide.)
However, an interesting thing to note is that 27% of iPhone users determined that the Touch Screen Interface was actually their FAVORITE thing about the iPhone while 11% of Blackberry Users thought that the Blackberry keypad was their LEAST favorite thing. I understand comparing one iPhone to the entire lineup of Blackberry is like comparing apples to oranges (I’ll spare you one cheesy pun), but it goes to prove that Apple has done a great job in effectively ridding the keyboard and is leading the way to phone different (sorry I couldn’t help myself).
Oh, and the top 2 wishes for the iPhone? 3G Capability and Third Party Software. June can’t come soon enough.
Remember that glossy, all black 3G iPhone that’s been out in the wild? Well turns out..not quite. According to Gizmodo, the picture that’s been making way all over the interweb has been reported to be just a case made available over in Hong Kong. Though Engadget’s sources had pointed toward an all-black exterior (with chrome buttons. ugh.) and the ‘leaked’ picture seemed to corroborate with that report, it looks like the 3G iPhone still hasn’t been seen.
I’m as much a fan of the black exterior as anybody but I just can’t imagine Apple stepping away from their famed metal/aluminum/silver. And with reports of the MacBook moving toward an aluminum casing and the iMac being re-designed with heavy usage of metal and silver, an all-black iPhone wouldn’t quite fit with the rest of the product line.
Fear not Rene, it looks like a legit iPhone (not that other thing) is finally coming in all its glory to our neighbors to the north. According to their sources, The Star is reporting that an iPhone deal between Rogers and Apple is close to being done and that it may change the landscape of Canadian Telcos. We won’t even mention the fact that an iPhone in RIM’s playground would add yet another layer to an immensely entertaining battle between RIM and Apple..
Though there are still obvious obstacles such as the fact that Rogers is “not a fan of unlimited plans” and that Apple’s number one priority is such unlimited data, it seems like the clock is ticking for Rogers to make a deal. However, with a 3G version just around the corner, could you imagine the Canadian angst of knowing that their “new” iPhone is already a generation old?
What do you say Canadians (read: Rene)? Do you have faith in Rogers to pull this off? Or will you be stuck with those exorbitant data costs until who knows when?
In another round of the RIM vs Apple bout for smartphone supremacy, Scenta reports that RIM may be stalling their 3G Blackberry because of the impending release of the 3G iPhone. Though Fortune suggests that it is a technical glitch that is causing the delay, some rumor mongers are assuming that RIM is holding out on releasing the 3G Blackberry dubbed the 9000..er..8900.er..”Meteor” because it’s afraid of competing head-to-head with Apple’s next iPhone.
Admittedly, this rumor could just be analysts stirring news against RIM, but it goes to show how far Apple has come in becoming a player in the cell phone market. And if there is some truth to this speculation, its another knock on RIM and the rest of the smartphone industry. Innovating has never been their strong suit, copying innovation, well that’s another issue.
Apple outperformed their initial forecast in the second quarter posting profits of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per share. Selling, 1.7 million iPhones, 2.2 million Macs, and 10.6 million iPods, total revenue was reported at $7.51 billion. Amidst all the financial (read: dry) news, Apple did drop some interesting tidbits via conference call with financial analysts and members of the media (via AppleInsider):
- Over a third of the companies the Fortune 500 have signed on as developers for the iPhone
- Over 200,000 people have downloaded the SDK
- Apple beat its own internal forecast for iPhones thus resulting in shortages
- Apple is aware of the demand to unlock and resell, claiming this is a snapshot of worldwide demand
- Revenue for the iPhone (starting March 6th, SDK announcement) will be deferred until the 2.0 update ships
- International Carriers are free to price the iPhone as they wish
Overall, it seemed to be a pretty good financial quarter for Apple. The iPod is still selling strong and its ‘halo effect’ on the Mac is still shining. As Apple releases an update to the iPhone, it’ll be easy to reach their lofty goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.
Ever wish you could keep prying eyes away from your iPhone? Always paranoid that strangers can read all your sensitive e-mails, bank account information, and stock portfolios? Well here’s the solution: the Case-mate Universal Privacy Screen Pro for iPhone ($19.95). It prevents those snoopy people from peering over your shoulder and keeps your information private by offering a viewing angle of 45 degrees.
Read on for the rest of the review!
According to Forbes, Apple has acquired the boutique microprocessor design company PA Semi for $287 million. Known for their energy-efficient yet powerful chips, initial reaction points to Apple using the PA Semi-designed microprocessors in the iPhone.
As innovative as Apple is in software, relying on other companies to provide the hardware is allowing the cellphone stragglers ample time to catch up. Currently, the iPhone is using an ARM processor built by Samsung and with so many ‘iPhone Killers’ being brought to the market, it’s safe to say that Apple is trying to stay ahead of the pack by remaining unique in their hardware architecture.
If anybody remembers PA Semi, it’s because Apple initially contacted them about using their chips in Macs after leaving PowerPC and before settling on Intel. Though Forbes reports that it would be at least a year before PA Semi chips start to show up in Apple products, it does set up an interesting dilemma for Apple. Intel has been pushing their ‘Atom’ chip toward Apple, but with this PA Semi deal, it would seem as if Apple is going to pass. Which means the iPhone and Mac line are going to diverge even further. Not even to mention the software nightmare it might create for iPhone developers.
But I think this is a good thing for Apple. They are beginning to round into the Apple, inc. that they had promised and it should mean more products for us. And though Old Faithful Mac Addicts might disagree and think Apple is overextending themselves, I believe this deal allows Apple to continue their uniqueness as a company who provides both the hardware and software in their products.
Maybe Safari really is the weak link for Apple. After being used to bring down a MacBook Air in the CanSecWest Contest, the good folks at Radware have discovered a vulnerability in Apple’s Safari for iPhone 1.1.4.
Per the source, “the design flaw triggers a series of memory allocation operations on the iPhone’s dynamic memory pool, which then triggers a bug in the garbage pool collector.” To get to that point however, the iPhone user must visit a site written with that particular malicious JavaScript. Potentially the flaw will crash Safari and perhaps even the iPhone altogether.
iPhone users should have little to worry about because at this point, the flaw is nothing more than an annoyance, but in the hands of a knowledgeable hacker, it could become a major issue. Hopefully, Apple will roll out one of their infamously ambiguous updates that are released for ‘maintenance and security issues’ for the iPhone and all will be well in the iPhoneiverse.
