Apple why must you hurt us like this? Ever since the announcement of the iPhone OS 3.0 software you’ve left first generation iPhone owners with a bad taste in their mouths by claiming MMS — Multimedia Messaging Service — would not work on their devices due to “hardware limitations”. Well MacLife went on a mission to find the truth:
We decided to get to the root of the problem by calling up the makers of the chip–Infineon. We contacted an Infineon representative in Milpitas, CA to uncover the details. The gentleman that answered the phone kindly explained that there is no way the Infineon chip inside the original iPhone is incapable of receiving MMS since that function relies on software rather than hardware.
None of the above should shock any of you, in fact TiPb thought this was the case from the moment it was announced during the 3.0 keynote. If developers of Jailbreak apps, such as Swirly MMS, can figure out a way to send a picture via MMS then there must be a genius at Apple who can surely do it, if not better!
MacLife also went ahead and contacted Apple to see what they had to say about this and we are sure all of you can pretty much guess what their response was. If not, here you go:
“Now the hardware has changed enough between these two devices that not all the features will be available on the original iPhone. For instance, MMS and stereo Bluetooth will not be available on the original iPhone.”
If you own a first generation iPhone and don’t plan on upgrading it anytime soon, how do you feel about this? TiPb is curious…
[Via Maclife]
Cue the Jaws music… According to ifoAppleStore.com it seems Apple has recently changed their policy on water-damaged iPhones. Effective now, Apple will replace the iPhone you dropped in your toilet with a new or refurbished phone – guess that would depend on what kind of mood the Genius is in – for $199 without extending your contract for $199.
There was some confusion earlier about the “no contract extension part” of the deal. Before this policy was in place, customers had to buy a new phone and extend their contracts at the same time. I actually stopped into my local Apple store while I was at the mall this evening, and they verified this is indeed a recent change (and a much appreciated change at that).
So what do you think, is this a way for Apple to dump more stock in time for July or are they just feeling that extra love for us iPhone owners?
[Via ifoAppleStore.com]
The New York Times (via Daring Fireball) reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking into whether the ties between Apple and Google’s respective Boards of Directors violate Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act.
The provision is designed to prevent two rival companies from acting in concert to reduce competition. While Google and Apple have rival mobile phone platforms and cloud services, iPhone vs. Android and Gmail (etc.) vs. MobileMe, Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt is on Apple’s board of directors and the iPhone makes use of Google technology such as the built-in Google Maps, Google Search, etc.
According to the NYT, however:
Antitrust experts say that investigations of interlocking directorates rarely lead to major confrontations between companies and the government. Executives typically choose to resign from the board of a competitor if it poses a problem rather than face a lengthy investigation or a bruising legal fight.
The article also points out the “closeness” of Google to the Obama administration, and how that “closeness” doesn’t seem to offer Google any insulation from the FTC.
Dieter rates this rumor at 10%. He may be generous. Never-the-less, noted Silicon spysite Valley Wag is reporting that:
A source who’s plugged into the Valley’s deal scene and has been recruited by Apple for a senior position says Apple and Twitter are in serious negotiations, with the goal of unveiling a deal by June 8, when Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference launches in San Jose.
Valleywag thinks Apple may want to uber-cool web savvy of the Twitter crew for their own. Dieter had another idea: what if they’re looking to spice up a BlackBerry Messenger (MMB)-style service to compete with RIM?
Of course BBM is completely proprietary to BlackBerrys and BlackBerry Connect, while Twitter is pretty much as open a messaging platform as can be, still Apple has been known to weave amazingly slick proprietary versions of software that they, or others, leave as open at its source. (CalDAV, CardDAV, etc.)
Don’t think it will happen. But can we imagine what, if anything, Apple would do with Twitter if they did acquire it? Could they do worse than Google’s done with Jaiku so far?
With all of the rejections in the App Store going on as of late it’s about time we have some good news for our pal Trent Reznor – see link above – and all of the developers out there.
It seems that Apple has rejected a newspaper reading app, Newspaper(s) [iTunes Link], for containing objectionable content. This app contains newspapers from around the world and one of them has a picture of a topless woman. Apple, however, let the developer know in it’s rejection email that Parental Controls have been announced for iPhone OS 3.0 and that it “would be appropriate to resubmit your application for review once this feature is available.”
So there you have it folks. Will these new parental control features (see them in our iPhone 3.0 Walkthrough) help cut down on rejected apps or will we still see these types of rejections take place? Sound off in the comments!
[Via iLounge]
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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