Posts tagged iphone

Posted 2 months ago

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This took awhile. Still missing music and videos but well, glad that something is finally here.

This took awhile. Still missing music and videos but well, glad that something is finally here.

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Posted 3 months ago
via rickwebb

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Dan Lyons, on why he's switching to Android

rickwebb:

mikehudack:

fredseibert:

moth:

The most telling thing to me was Google’s tone toward Apple at the event. Instead of pretending to still be an Apple ally, Google today basically threw down the gantlet and admitted that it’s engaged in total war with Apple.
And unlike other Apple rivals, like Adobe, Google execs weren’t huffing and puffing and wringing their hands about Apple’s bad behavior. No, instead, Google was mocking Apple. Making fun of it. Laughing at it.
The Android OS is already outselling iPhone OS in the United States. Now it’s blowing past Apple in terms of the technology it’s delivering. Yes, Apple still has a larger installed base.
I was a little shocked recently when an Apple spokesbot responded to the news of Android’s outselling iPhone OS by reciting the old chestnut about Apple’s having more phones out there. I was shocked because it’s a familiar line, one that I’ve heard countless times in my 20-plus years covering technology. But I’ve only ever heard it from companies that are doomed, and in total denial about it.”

via newsweek.

It’s stunning to me that people think this “more android handsets” means anything. So. What. What does Google make off of Android phone? Anything? I actually don’t know the answer to that, but they sure as heck make a lot less than Apple makes off of an iPhone. They’re only ever going to make any real money off of those Android sets if they can advertise on them. And Apple is doing that on iPhones with iAd.

So: Who makes more when a handset is sold? Apple.

And: Who is most likely to make more money on the ads they serve to their phone? Google? or Apple. Which is better placed to charge a premium? Which already seems to be developing a compelling, premium ad offering? Apple.

Google needs to sell so many more handsets that they make… what? $200 or so (Apple’s extra profits in selling an iphone) more than Apple does, in order to actually make more money off of the mobile space than Apple? It strikes me that in the highly commoditized world of mobile ad serving, Google will be lucky to make a couple bucks per user more than Apple in serving mobile ads, and as of now, they look like they’re falling behind on even that.

So say they make $10 more, per user, off serving ads, on every phone than Apple does. A huge leap of faith on its own. Even then, they’d have to sell something like 20 times more phones than Apple to come close to making more money off of them on mobile.

Or maybe they’re counting on those massive Nexus One sales.

That’s missing the point, isn’t it? Apple has always made more from its products because they control them in their entirety. It’s the reason why they make more off a Mac, than Microsoft does from a PC. But ‘more Android handsets’ (disclaimers) still does mean something because it shows the emergence of a viable alternative platform. Yes, because Android is available to any handset maker and operator, Google has to contend with issues such as fragmentation that Apple doesn’t need to. But Google also wants to ensure that its OS is available everywhere, thus also making it an ever increasingly attractive target for developers. The number of apps on the Android market was already at 30,000 in March, which is a very good number for the relatively young platform. Not to mention they are still making money from all those search queries on the go. We’ll see how iAd does when it comes out, but right now people are still searching on their (i)phones, a lot, which is driving revenue to their main search business.

Lastly, given some of the features that have been unveilved in the past couple of days, Android isn’t just playing catch up to the iPhone anymore. Admittedly, they still are in some areas such as app management, but for the most part, Android is now coming of age and even doing many things better.

Having said this, it’ll be interesting to re-visit the numbers after the next iPhone hardware and OS are out.

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Posted 4 months ago

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Beautiful retro handset base for the iPhone The price is steep at $195. But this will bring back some good memories.

Beautiful retro handset base for the iPhone

The price is steep at $195. But this will bring back some good memories.

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Posted 4 months ago

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A few people with $5,000 managed to cut a big notch out of something beautiful on which hundreds of hard-working, talented individuals had been focusing their energy for months. One of those builders was publicly shamed by Gizmodo and his reputation is now tarnished. Yet somehow this was the best day of these journalists’ lives. Somewhere along the line their sense of self-worth and success became perversely dependent on how well they could employ shady tactics to profit from tearing down other people’s hard work. We need less people like that in our society.

We need more builders.

Why I’m Angry About the iPhone Leak

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Posted 4 months ago

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Gizmodo: This Is Apple's Next iPhone

You’ve probably read all about it by now. Exciting nonetheless.

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Posted 4 months ago

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Quick thoughts on Opera Mini for iPhone

I was very keen to see how Opera Mini would work on the iPhone. I kept checking the App Store a couple of times every hour, and soon enough it was there. I tried to do most of my daily commute browsing (which usually lasts the better part of an hour) on Opera Mini and what follows are my first impressions.

Let’s start with the good:

  1. It’s definitely fast alright. Loads pages noticeably faster than Safari. However, as cameronmoll points out, the text is illegible (much more than in Safari), which makes knowing where to go difficult. Having said that, that didn’t impact my browsing much. Before moving on to the next item, I really should dwell on this point for awhile longer. Even when I was stuck with plain old GPRS, Opera Mini made browsing bearable. And that’s saying something. Those are the times I just give up on Safari.
  2. Single tap to zoom in. I was rather pleased to discover this. Makes moving around the page much easier and faster than double tap.
  3. Find in page. This is something mobile Safari should have had. I shouldn’t have to pay 99 cents for it.
  4. Full Screen. Gives a lot more space for web pages, and makes browsing on an already small screen much nicer. And really, one of the first things you should do is get rid of that red bar on top.
  5. Speed dial is useful.

And onto the not-so-good:

  1. Less functional mobile sites rather than iPhone optimized versions. This may not be Opera’s fault, but it does make me want to use the app less.
  2. Inconsistent UI. This could be a separate post in itself, so bear with me here. While the main browser is pretty decent (especially in fullscreen mode), the rest of the UI just comes off as an eyesore to me.

    I find that every other part of the browser is adamant on breaking standard iPhone UI conventions for no apparent reason. Notice the differences?

    • The back/previous screen button. In most iPhone apps, you find it in the top left. And this button usually also has the location of the previous screen you were in, to allow for easy navigation of hierarchies. Opera Mini completely forgoes this for no reason, and just keeps a generic ‘Back’ button, which gives no indication of anything.
    • Enable/Disable. The standard iPhone button just looks nicer.
    • Drilling down for additional options. Again, just stick familiar visuals.
    • And while we’re here, some logical grouping of these settings would be nice, thank you very much.

    It may look like I’m just nitpicking here (“how long does one spend in app settings anyway?!”). But like any other person, I like something that’s well designed. Ask anyone who loves Tweetie, and the UI will probably feature in their answer. This just looks lazy. “We’re already fast, why do anything else?”

  3. Some rendering issues. 3 column layouts appear as a single column. 
  4. Pinch to zoom feels very un-iPhone like. It’s blocky and at other times too sensitive. Opera Mini seems to be all too eager to find and snap to some grid, any grid when you pinch, rather than allowing a gradual zoom.

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Posted 4 months ago

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Opera Mini for iPhone - Approved

Not available in the App Store for me yet, but should be here soon.

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Posted 4 months ago

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It’s like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it. In multitasking, if you see a task manager… they blew it. Users shouldn’t ever have to think about it.
Steve Jobs, at the iPhone OS 4 event

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Posted 4 months ago

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We can all stop complaining now.

We can all stop complaining now.

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Posted 6 months ago

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More specifically, today I will shout at web developers who think that delicately inserting an iPhone up their ass is the same as mobile web development.
Peter-Paul Koch, on the iPhone obsession. Great read, and you will appreciate the colour of the language.

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