Back in February we brought to you the story about Apple saying that Jailbreaking your iPhone is illegal. Granted that was in response the (Electronic Frontier Foundation), and their filing an exemption request for Jailbreaking iPhones. (See the AIPLA Quarterly Journal’s article on this from last week). Well this past Friday Apple’s head of marketing, Greg Joswiak, faced off against Fred von Lohmann, the EFF’s copyright guru and a plethora of Copyright Office officials. The topic? Jailbreaking…
The following is a little taste of what Apple had to say:
Apple is opposed to the proposed Class #1 exemption because it will destroy the
technological protection of Apple’s key copyrighted computer programs in the iPhone™ device
itself and of copyrighted content owned by Apple that plays on the iPhone, resulting in copyright
infringement, potential damage to the device and other potential harmful physical effects,
adverse effects on the functioning of the device, and breach of contract. The proponents of the
exemption have also not satisfied their burden of proof of showing harm to non-infringing uses
of the copyrighted works protected by the technological protection measures on the iPhone. In
addition, because Congress has already explicitly addressed circumvention for interoperability in
Section 1201(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA),4 the Copyright Office should
not create interoperability exemptions outside that statutory structure, at least without a clear
showing of specific and significant harm, which has not been put forth here.
The way we see this is that Apple is against Jailbreaking for the simple fact that it can and will cost them money. Common sense will tell you that Apple does not get any money from iPhone users if they do not use the App Store for installing applications and they also run the risk of legit App Store apps being pirated, which we have already seen. So TiPb can see where Apple is coming from but at the end of the day, if you purchase an iPhone or any other device for that matter, it is yours to do with what ever you’d like.
For a complete rundown of all the shenanagins that took place this past Friday be sure to check out Wired.com’s Jailbreaking Showdown.
[Via Wired.com]
Well I’m sure you’ve heard about the ruckus Apple has created by rejecting the latest update to the official Nine Inch Nails application. As it turns out, there was no new content added in the update, all that was included were simple bug fixes yet Apple still rejected it. Well now some of Reznor’s fans have spoke out against Apple on his forums and he has replied with the following (emphasis ours):
Everyone – let me be clear. I love Apple products and as goofy and out-of-touch as their app approval process / policy is, I will still use them because they work 1000X better than the competition. This is not a debate, it’s a fact. The iPhone is THE most elegant, modern smartphone at this point in time and it’s perfect for what we want to do with the NIN app – except for the ludicrous approval process, and that’s what I want to draw attention to.
Android is cool, but nobody has an Android phone. Blackberry is OK but the hardware is inconsistent and WinMo straight-up sucks balls. If Apple doesn’t get it together, we will most certainly make it available to the jailbreak community. I didn’t invest in this app to see it languish on the sidelines from an idiotic policy while this tour is in full swing.
Ouch, some pretty harsh words for Windows Mobile right there. Dieter is slowly deleting each and every NIN MP3 on his computer at the moment and it’s a safe bet you will not see the above quote on WMExperts anytime soon.
It will be interesting to see exactly how this unfolds the next week or so.
According to one of Trent Reznor’s latest tweets, an update to the very popular and crafty Nine Inch Nails application has been rejected by Apple.
Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is “The Downward Spiral”
For any of you not familar, The Downward Spiral was Reznor’s 1994 hit album that featured the popular song “Closer“. It’s a pretty good guess that is the song that put a halt to this update hitting the App Store. But wait one second… you can purchase this complete album including that particular song right one iTunes?!
Not much to say about this one but wow… just wow.
Update: Our good friend from WMExperts, @PhilNickinson, just sent over a link from the NIN forums where Trent Reznor has posted a bit more information on the rejection. Turns out The Downward Spiral is not even available to listen to in the updated app yet the objectionable content is The Downward Spiral… We are scratching our heads as well.
[Thanks to Juan for the tip!]
Daring Fireball posted a tremendous article about how Verizon, AT&T, and Apple benefit if the rumors about an iPhone Lite and iPad media tablet on Verizon are true-ish (Gruber also looks at Apple’s iPod strategy mapped to the iPhone — go read it now, I’ll wait).
What struck me, however, was how Verizon, AT&T, and Apple benefit from the rumors themselves rather than the actual devices and/or their eventual carriers, if any.
Apple is, according to a separate rumor, negotiating with AT&T to increase the length of their iPhone exclusivity agreement. AT&T’s last earning report showed just how important the iPhone was to their revenues, especially their new customer acquisition and premium service charges. This puts them at a distinct disadvantage with Apple, who could theoretically — if inconveniently — re-engineer the iPhone to work on any of the big 4 US carriers (CDMA for Verizon or Sprint, different GSM bands for T-Mobile). Rumors that Verizon is already talking to Apple, then, pushes AT&T over edge of disadvantage cliff. Obviously this is of great benefit to Apple.
Verizon had what could only be termed a lackluster launch of their so-called iPhone killer, the BlackBerry Storm. With AT&T likely getting yet another mainstream hero phone this year in the form of the 3rd generation iPhone. Sprint, the other CDMA carrier, is getting the less mainstream, but still geek-anticipated Palm Pre as their hot summer hero phone. Where does that leave Verizon? The BlackBerry Tour (”Niagara”) and various HTC Touch series Windows Phones which will — eventually — be upgradable to the profoundly incremental Windows Mobile 6.5. Great gear, perhaps, but not hero phones on the same level as the iPhone or even Palm Pre (or last year’s Android G1 launch on T-Mobile). Rumors that Verizon may (soon) get an iPhone of sorts, or iPad, however, give the perception of a hero phone coming to the network. This is a huge benefit to Verizon, and might even keep some users from switching to AT&T (or Sprint) this summer to get a real device.
Inversely, AT&T benefits not one bit from these rumors. They hurt AT&T’s negotiations with Apple and they may cost them some users who would have defected from Verizon.
We discussed this briefly last Wednesday on the iPhone Live! podcast, and no doubt others have made the same observation this week after reading the series of rumors (yes, even the one about the iPhone Lite actually being the Microsoft iPhone-Killer Pink). However, looking past the devices, it does seem like the rumors in and of themselves carry a hefty benefit for both Apple and Verizon.
Until the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks roll out in a couple years, that might be the closest we really get to seeing Apple and Verizon together.
It was only a matter of time before some developer, in this case IntuApps, created an application revolving around the Swine Flu and why not, it’s actually pretty informative and it will be free. According to Techcrunch you can expect the following features:
“you can see the current Threat Level for the disease, a map showing confirmed and suspected cases, a symptoms area to inform people, and an alert page for breaking news on Swine Flu.”
This one can be very useful for a lot of people but now the big question is when will this application be approved?
Another screenshot after the break…
[Via Techcrunch]
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Welcome to From the Forums, a regular post here at TiPb that gives you, our readers, the chance to get involved in our ever growing community. To get yourself started please register, it will only take a moment of your time, we promise. Now that’s out of the way, lets dive right into some of the better threads for today.
Our first thread today comes to us from iLoveiPhones and she brought up a good topic regarding data prices for our iPhones. Will the data prices rise, stay the same, or can we possibly see different pricing tiers? Personally we feel we may just start to see different pricing tiers. Granted high data prices don’t seem to be slowing people from buying the iPhone but lower data prices could open the flood gates.
Next thread was started a while back by ExBBUser and he wanted to know, what are you top 5 App Store apps? This one has been highlighted here before but with the App Store hitting the one billion mark, why not toss this thread back into the mix?
Sticking with the theme of iPhone apps, cjvitek started a nice little thread titled iPhone CrApp List. It’s simply a thread that you can go to and relieve your frustration on a app you may have purchased just to find out it is pretty pathetic… we have all had this happen at some point or another so share your experience.
Our last thread today is one that I started a while back but with the rumors of AT&T beefing up their 3G network in preparation for the next iPhone, how fast or slow is your 3G data speed? Test your speed out and feel free to post a screen shot in your reply. (Just make sure you have 10 posts to be sure you can post any images.)
See you on the forums!
Lately all has been quiet in regards to Apple’s MobileMe service and shady activities. In the past we’ve told you about a few separate cases of phishing scams going around. Well today we’ve heard that Oscar nominated actress, Salma Hayek’s account has been hacked.
Honestly, this is something that is really not that difficult to do, especially depending on how much information you have about a person. Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! account was famously hacked last year using information from Wikipedia, as have several other celebrities.
In this particular case, all that was needed was Salma’s birthday and the answer to her security question which just happened to be “What is my favorite character?”. Just in case you were wondering what the answer was, it was “Frida” which was Hayek’s most popular role in a movie. (And yes, I’m sure it is now something a bit tougher to figure out so don’t bother trying.) In the end, that is all of the information that was needed to gain access to all of her emails, calendar information, etc…
Moral of this story, choose your security questions and answers wisely… And if you’re well known, make up a fake set of answers, memorize them thoroughly, and don’t tell anyone else.
[Via Macworld]
No, SlingPlayer Mobile is still not available in the App Store. Are any of our readers getting sick of hearing about SlingPlayer for iPhone and the numerous reasons/rumors on the applications delays in making it’s debut in the App Store?
Well maybe, just maybe we have a bit of good news for you today. Sling has recently updated their web page to give the iPhone world a little more insight on the status of their SlingPlayer Mobile.
“The team has been working hard to bring the SlingPlayer Mobile experience to the iPhone and iPod Touch. We’ve submitted the first release of our application to the iPhone App Store. We are in close contact with our partners at Apple and are optimistic that it will be approved soon. We hope the wait won’t be much longer.”
They “hope” [emphasis ours]? That’s not a very confident word. We don’t know about you, but TiPb will believe it when we see it.
[Via Sling]
Posted on Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 by Jeremy Sikora
File Under:App Store Apps, Apps, Apps for Less, Regular Features; Tags: app store, Apple, apps, Apps for less, beejiveim, Cheap, enigmo, iPhone, sale, Wordfu
For those of you who are not familiar with our Apps for Less posts, they are simply a way for us to point out a few good applications in the App Store on sale or at a price that we feel is worth mentioning to our valued readers.
First up we have an Apps for Less favorite, BeejiveIM [iTunes Link]. This application has been spotlighted in Apps for Less 3 times with the price dropping as low as $9.99. We have some good news for you, BeejiveIM is once again on sale for the low price of $9.99. You may be thinking that the price is still too high but honestly, you will not find a better IM client on the App Store, plain and simple. So if you are looking for the best out there, this is the one for you.
Next up we have a good one for all of you Kung Fu + word game fans. WordFu [iTunes Link] is a dice-based word game that combines a Kung Fu theme with many elements of other popular word games. Your task is to assemble as many words from the given letters as possible. All in all it’s a fun game that is pretty simple to play and for the low price of $.99 can you really go wrong? Just keep in mind it is a limited time sale. The price will be increasing so grab it as soon as possible!
The last app we have for you today is a little game called Enigmo [iTunes Link]. Enigmo has been one of the most successful games within the App Store.
“Enigmo is the most unique game that you’ll find for the iPhone or iPod Touch. It is a 3D puzzle game where you manipulate slides, bumpers, and other pieces to control streams of flowing liquid. Liquids (water, oil, and lava) fall from “droppers” and will bounce around the walls of a puzzle. You move and rotate the various puzzle pieces in order to divert the flow of the falling droplets so that they can reach their target. The faster you complete each level, the more bonus you will receive.”
This is one great game with an even greater price. For a limited time you can now purchase this app for the cheap price of $.99! That’s $3.00 off the regular price so don’t delay!
Hopefully some of you can take advantage and get in on these deals before it is too late! Enjoy!
UPDATING ON LIVE CONFERENCE CALL:
- Waiting for call to start, any minute now. Will post updates only when major iPhone-ish news is announced (or inner fanboy takes over).
- Covering Macs
- iPod touch growth, customers embrace superior features and apps.
- US market share for MP3 players 70%, gaining share in most international markets
- UK, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, China, growing.
- iTunes store had good quarter.
- DRM free now all 4 major labels and indies.
- App Store unparalleled succes.
- 35,000 apps, +20,000 since last call
- Almost at 1 billion downloads
More after the break!
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