iPhone and Salesforce.com?

The weirdest financial news from today's earnings release has got to be Apple working with Salesforce.com to improve the iPhone as a business-friendly device. From the Dow Jones ticker:

"Apple executives confirmed that business software maker Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) is modifying its products for the iPhone."

It's not so interesting that Salesforce is trying to make its software compatible for the iPhone, but it is interesting that Apple executives saw fit to comment on it. I'm waiting for the transcript to see if reading it in context will make better sense. Perhaps an analyst baited the Apple executives into a sort of advertisement for Salesforce. In any case, if you didn't know, Salesforce is a growing competitor for Microsoft in the business software world.

iPhone Ads: Some Are Calling Bullshit

CNET's Crave blog has an interesting post about people getting upset over the iPhone ads, in particular, with the pilot's authenticity. I'd like to think Apple checked out the guy's credentials. Everything Apple does makes someone, somewhere mad. Even I got a little cranky about the "mobile blogging" ad.

Who's Got the iPhone's Back?

In the "State of My iPhone" post earlier today, I noted that the back of my iPhone was getting more scratched than the front. Apparently, Invisible Shield protects the back of your phone as well. That makes me very interested in the product. The Apple Phone Show has a great video tutorial on applying Invisible Shield on the phone.

Perspective on Recent Apple Inc Moves

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a thoughtful post about the ups and downs of Apple Inc the last few months. Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away. Recently, Apple have giveth in the form of an SDK.

Companies like Google, the open source movement, and the long tail of the web are creating a new consumer perspective. Whatever you want to say about Apple, they seem to be the only one of the old technology guard who have been able keep up with this new perspective.

State of My iPhone

I am coming up on the 4-month anniversary of my iPhone. All seems well, but I still have one major complaint, Safari still crashes way too much. This problem is compounded with the slow EDGE speeds. Steam is coming out my ears while reopening all those crashed web sessions. This is about the only time I want to throw my iPhone out the window.

Durability wise, the iPhone is holding up better than I expected. I do not use protective cases or films, and I carry the iPhone in my pocket every day. There is probably a dozen small, imperceptible scratches on the glass--less than any cell phone I've had. I'm actually more worried about the aluminum casing on the back, as it is picking up scratches, or more specifically, different colors of scratches. This comes from contact of lots of different surfaces. They don't wipe off. I think I'd rather have a protective film for that side rather than the glass.

iLounge Review of the v-moda Vibe Duo

I recently came across iLounge's review of the v-moda Vibe Duo earphones for the iPhone. It is an old review from July, but apparently the only difference between that version and the current is the introduction of play/pause/skip music controls.

Scott Bourne from the Apple Phone Show has another sparse review of the new headphones on his blog, and I pointed out the even sparser Gizmodo review earlier this week. Apple Phone Show's Vinny Ferrari promises a more thorough review later this week.

The Vibe Duos are the only third-party iPhone earphones that have the microphone and music controls built-in so far. I think I'll wait for something that comes in white, but these ain't bad at all.

Stupid Article Title of the Day

"Will Google Crush the iPhone?" at Forbes.com. The Google phone and the iPhone are at opposite ends of the phone spectrum. Now the real question is "Will Google Crush Symbian?"