Daring Fireball links to a translation of a Swedish MacWorld rumor (Google translation) that quotes Telia Italia as saying as MMS app would soon be available for the iPhone. Phew! Broken telephone much? Tries to clarify Gruber:
Not sure if this means Telia is writing their own MMS iPhone app, or if they’re suggesting that Apple is adding MMS support to the system software. I haven’t seen any reports of MMS support in the iPhone OS 2.2 betas.
Could this be a surprise feature? Personally, I never use it. I prefer device independent protocols like email and IM to handle my communications, but I know many of my fellow TiPbsters are still dying to get their multi-touch on this baby, so what do you think?
Apple bringing it? Telia Italia? And if so, would other carriers like AT&T follow suit with MMS apps of their own? Do we want that kind of fragmentation, after it’s taken so long to get even the little interoperability that currently exists?
The Phone different Podcast is back, baby! We had a long, unplanned hiatus due to technical and spiritual difficulties. Maybe not so much with the spiritual, but you get my point.
In this episode, Mike and I talk about the Macworld experience and the new products that were announced there. We also spend a bit of time on the 1.1.3 iPhone update and some other industry news. Listen in!
I spend a healthy portion of my time at Macworld doing the following:
Thinking about Google’s fixation on the iPhone and
Looking for a really good iPhone dock / Alarm clock.
…Keeping the iPhone in a dock by your bed seems like a no-brainer - charges it up, lets you play a song from your library to wake you up, maybe even lets you catch a quick movie before you fall asleep. Right? Apparently it does all of those things except the last part - the falling asleep part:
A study in Sweden and the United States finds that using a cell phone just before bedtime interferes with sleep patterns. - study
The deal is that the radiation from cell phone radios gets into your head and prevents you from getting into a deep sleep pattern. If it ain’t deep sleep, it don’t count. So maybe leaving that dock on the desk, next to your computer, and far from your sensitive squishy brain is the right idea after all.
Besides Google (much more on that tomorrow, stay tuned!), there weren’t a lot of “iPhone Web Apps” booths. Actually, none that I can remember. What there are a ton of at Macworld are accessories booths. Clearly the accessory market for the iPhone is ramping up quickly and may even near iPod accessory market status sometime soon.
…But it’s not there yet. Case in point, I saw probably a dozen different iPod speaker docks — all of which were “compatible” with the iPhone in flight mode only. Apple is requiring (and rightfully so, I suppose) that accessory makers submit their accessories for their seal of approval, iPhone-wise, so that the dreaded GSM-interference issue is taken care of. I personally wish Apple had managed to handle that on the device rather than forcing companies trying to interact with the Dock connector to re-make their products, but c’est la vie.
Otherwise, the thing to see, iPhone-wise, is cases. There are more skin cases here than you could shake a stick at, but there are some other gems as well. After the break, our three favorite cases at Macworld 2008.
Macally just announced the FlexTune, which is one of the very few iPod docks available right now that is also fully compatible with the iPhone. That’s to say, it doesn’t suggest you go into Flight Mode to protect the speakers from GSM interference. Otherwise it’s a fairly standard set of iPod speakers - charges and is compatible with all iPods, medium-to-medium-low quality sound and volume, has a line-in on the back.
The FlexTune’s trick is that its speakers slide out - meaning you can mount the iPhone vertically or horizontally. It’s a little wonky to slide the speakers out and insert the iPhone, but not too bad. That wonkiness might be that Macally had a pre-production unit on the show floor — the real deal will be available in February for the fairly low price of $59.99
The new 1.1.3 update to the iPhone’s software is pretty incredible. As we just mentioned in the Liveblog of the Steve Jobs Keynote, there are several new features that were announced:
Maps with Location
Webclips on your homescreen
Customization of your homescreen
…and more, including lyrics, support for iTunes movie rentals, and the ability to SMS multiple people at once.
We got the jump on the iPod Touches on the show floor to get a firsthand look at the new features. After the break, our hands-on video with the new iPhone software (as seen on the iPod Touch).
We grabbed a quick look at the ultrathin MacBook Air, just released during Steve Jobs’ 2008 Macworld Keynote. The MacBook Air is a pretty sweet little guy - it’s ridiculously thin yet full-powered. Our only regret is that it has only 1(!) USB port. Oh, and the little fact that you can’t replace the battery. Isn’t that kind of a must for a laptop? We smell an accessory opportunity.
Otherwise - the hotness, even at $1799. A quick video of the gigantic crowd fondling the device above.
The MacBook Air is “the world’s thinnest notebook.” It’s ridiculously thin - .76 inches on the back and .16 inches at the front. It fits inside a manilla envelope - Jobs has one in an envelope now! It is INSANELY thin. UNNATURALLY thin. It has a full sized keyboard and display.
it has a 13.3, LED-backlit display. There is, of course, a built-in iSight camera. There is also a full-sized keyboard, “perhaps the best notebook keyboard we’ve ever shipped.” And yes, it’s also backlit.
The “very generous trackpad” now supports multitouch. There are even short videos explaining how the multitouch trackpad works on the MacBook Air.
It does indeed sport a hard disk - a 1.8″ hard drive, same as in the iPod. It has an 80gig as standard, you can also get a 64gb Solid State drive. The electronics, “a complete mac on a board” are tiny. The processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.6GHz is standard, you can go 1.8 GHz as well. The chip is 60% smaller than a standard 1.6GHz chip, and so Jobs has invited Intel CEO Paul Otellini to thank him for that incredible chip.
New feature: Remote Disk — allows you to use another computer’s optical drive to install software over the network. It’s an incredibly neat idea. Otherwise you can buy a USB superdrive for $99.
Apple claims that under medium to heavy usage you can get five hours of battery life.
3 pounts
.16 - 0.76 inches
13.3 LED display
full sized, backlit keyboard
Multi-touch trackpad
iSight
1.6GHz Core 2 Duo standard
2 Gigs memory standard
80 Gig Hard Drive
Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
…..$1799, available in 2 weeks.
..That’s it folks, Randy Newman is coming on stage to perform for us now!
Jobs notes how everybody has tried and failed to get movies off the internet onto a widescreen TV. He admits that Apple TV was a miss as well, that people really want Movies, not an accessory for your computer.
“Apple TV Take 2: No Computer Required.”
You can rent movies directly on Apple TV.
Movies will be available in DVD and HD quality!
Audio and Video podcasts
Grab photos from Flickr and .Mac
An entirely new user interface
The HD movies are a dollar more to rent.
The new interface on Apple TV is really slick - the shopping experience of looking for movies, music, and TV shows on your television seems very intuitive and fun. You can also browse and download any podcast in the iTunes podcast directory. Browsing photos is easy too - despite the fact that Flickr refused to serve up photos for Steve.
It’s a free software upgrade! …..AND they’re droped the price to $229. It will all be available in 2 weeks.
Jm Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, has announced that going forward, their DVDs will come with a “digital copy” that you can use in iTunes or on your iPhone.
They’ve sold 4 Billion songs, 125 million TV shows, and 7 million movies. However, that 7 million mark is lower than they’d prefer. So today, Jobs has announced iTunes Movies Rentals.
On board - every major movie studio! Steve presented them with a “and by the way.” They will launch with 1000 films by the end of February. They will be on iTunes 30 days after their DVD release. You can watch on iPhone.
You can also start watching within 30 seconds of downloading. You have 30 days to begin watching, then once it starts you have 24 hours to watch it. You can also transfer even as you’re watching.
Older titles will be $2.99, new releases are 3.99. It launches today and free software updates are available for all compatible devices (iTunes, iPods, and iPhones)!
Movie rentals will also be available in HD quality for $1.00 more (That’s $3.99 for DVD quality and $4.99 for HD quality). You can also shop for these movies directly from your television with Apple TV 2.
The iPhone Blog merged with the Phone different site in May of 2008. Both sites were founded on a premise that comes one from one of Apple's old slogans: Think different. The iPhone Blog: for people who dare to phone different.
It is INSANELY thin. UNNATURALLY thin. It has a full sized keyboard and display.
