Apple and AT&T have worked closely together on iPhone throughout its development and looming rollout. That much is certain. But the two companies may be working on some rather interesting service integration with iTunes and a special dashboard widget for OSX users. According to a source I spoke with from AT&T, the two companies are working to enable iPhone users to view and administer their AT&T account from within iTunes itself.
In this arragement iTunes would allow you to view your bill, minutes used, add-on features like ringtone downloads, etc., all right within iTunes. The company may also offer a simple dashboard widget which displays minutes used as monthly bill status. Interesting.
One of the things that Jobs really was intent on talking about throughout the D5 conference is what happens to computers and gadgets in what he called the Post-PC era. That’s not to say that the PC, as in personal computer, is going away. Far from it; it’s still necessary to function as a media center, digital hub, or media entertainment center. All of those gadgets in your drawer, they have to sync to something.
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Walt Mossberg’s All Things Digital, aka D5, has posted video of the Gates and Jobs fireside chat. It’s unfortunately in 9 chunks of FLV; there’s no stream, no MOV or WMV that you can download of the entire event. That shouldn’t stop you, however, as the chat is excellent. Jobs and Gates are relaxed, affable, and make jokes throughout, and it’s frankly great to watch both of them. They talk openly about the mobile space, where “post-pc era devices” (Jobs’ term for devices like Zunes, iPods, GPS, and other catch-all convergence or divergence devices) are headed. It’s an investment of time — roughly an hour — worth its weight in gold.
One of the best parts, for me, is that Jobs confirmed they’re still working on 3rd party applications for the iPhone, how to do it right; how to do it without making the device crash twice a day. A more in-depth article should follow this afternoon or evening.
In any regard, D5 has posted a highlight reel, but I’d personally recommend just watching the individual flash videos. Read on for the links.
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There’s a great article at Communities Dominate Brands that does a fair job of explaining why the iPhone will be a watershed moment in the mobile market. It’s a long article, but a good in-depth read as to how the iPhone is predicted to ‘frame the discussion.’ Other smartphones are going to be compared to the iPhone; it becomes their yardstick to measure against.
“What will change? Pretty much everything. And funnily enough, most of it is not actually caused by the iPhone, they only happen to occur so closely to the iPhone, that the iPhone will be given much of the credit.”
Tomi Ahonen (with a name like that he can only be Finnish) goes on to state what the iPhone will do to mobile handset design, mobile internet, mobile advertising, mobile media, Silicon Valley, the blogging communities, mobile messaging, and the inevitable roar of media come June when the device is actually available.
“But the level of the noise around mobile will double in June. Very many big guns will join the game. That is good. And it will be a change from an old Era, where handset makers like Nokia and Motorola ran the show with the major mobile operators (carriers). Now media giants will join in, as will major IT players and internet companies.”
[via Slashphone]
Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, media, hype
Engadget has an update to yesterday’s market cap loss, explaining the ins and outs of why they posted the memo.
Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple, has won another award. This award is from Cooper-Hewitt, who gives out the National Desgin Awards. Ive’s specific award is for Product Design, unsurprisingly, but I don’t think it’s too long before we see him in the “Lifetime Achievement” section.
Technorati Tags: apple, design, ive
Analysts from UBS met with executives at Apple to talk about earnings, stocks, units shipped, and the like. Its relevance? Apple’s confidence in being able to ship enough units to meet iPhone demand. I hate product launches that use artificial scarcity to drive up demand, so I’m glad to see that this isn’t supposed to be one.
MIT’s Technology Review has a great article on the history of design principles at Apple. It goes in depth as to why Apple is so focused in on it.
Apple without design focus:
And, Norman adds, the consultative process could take a toll on the product line as a whole. Look, he says, at the 70-odd Performa models Apple churned out between 1992 and 1997–models that varied only in hard-drive size, in whether they had modems, or in whether they were sold directly or through a retailer.
And Apple with design focus:
One direct result of that sharpened focus is Apple’s unique ability to create simple products. Though the idea of a simple high-tech device seems counterintuitive (why not offer more functionality if you can?), it’s worked for Apple.
“The hardest part of design, especially consumer electronics,” says Norman, “is keeping features out.” Simplicity, he says, is in itself a product differentiator, and pursuing it can lead to innovation.
Rolston agrees. “The most fundamental thing about Apple that’s interesting to me,” he says, “is that they’re just as smart about what they don’t do. Great products can be made more beautiful by omitting things.”
I’m a big believer in the idea that simplicity is a part of good design. My understanding of design isn’t vaunted or anything, but I know what I like. I don’t want a phone that looks like my remote.
I’ve posted short blurbs, little slices, really, about Apple and Greenpeace previously, but it seems that we now have enough green apple slices to bake a pie (I’m sorry about that, really, but I can’t help it).
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Apple remains #1 on Businessweek’s top innovative companies list, followed by Google and Toyota. They handily beat out 2nd place Google with twice as many votes, and claim #1 for the 3rd year in a row. Here’s the whole top 50 extravaganza.
Businessweek’s top fifty is determined by a poll of 2500 executives — it’s not a customer poll, or a internet poll, it’s a poll of movers and shakers. This poll isn’t as subject to the usual online poll hijinx. Who knows, though; maybe they admire Apple as #1 because they think Steve Jobs’ paycheck is innovative. Over $600 million! It helps explain the so-called “Apple Tax,” for sure.
At any rate, not just one, but two #1s in one week. Congratulations Apple.
