New iPod Touch Song Was in Zune Commercial

The song in the new iPod Touch commercial, "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" by CSS, was used in a Zune commercial.

Contrasting NBC's Approach to Apple With AT&T's

NBC’s Jeff Zucker via Variety:

“Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money. They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing.”

Now, contrast that point of view with AT&T paying Apple an estimated $18 per iPhone. Then check out AT&T’s last financial quarter. My idea is that NBC pay Apple $19 per iPod, and Apple will offer their shows for free on iTunes with advertising.

Gruber: Apple Never Said There Would Be Synching

John Gruber at DaringFireball.net points out that Apple never said there would be synching between Leopard's notes and the iPhone. Before it was removed, the text on Apple's website said that iPhone users would be able to "...access [notes] from your iPhone." As Gruber points out, you can view notes as email via IMAP.

"I think Apple changed the text of this web page because people like Chartier were confused about what they were referring to, not because they’ve removed a feature they previously promised."

I disagree with Gruber there, as I think Apple removed it because synching wasn't ready, and they will eventually add note synching to the iPhone. There is solid evidence the synching feature is coming. A warning pops up Leopard's notes when you try to change fonts. It warns the note will be changed into rich text format and that "rich text notes may not be editable on iPhone and other devices."

Extended Fake Steve Jobs Interview video

Wallstrip's extremely cute Lindsay Campbell interviews Fake Steve Jobs.

iPhone II Threatened? Fake Steve Jobs Poisoned

Fake Steve Jobs is claiming he was poisoned while giving a speech at the Microsoft Campus. Hopefully, plans for the next iPhone have been smuggled out of his brain into a MacBook in case he doesn't make it.

1997 Time Magazine Interview of Steve Jobs

Lengthy article on Steve Jobs from Time Magazine, 1997.

9 to 5 Mac Blasts Analysts

A relative newcomer to the Apple blogosphere, 9 to 5 Mac is quickly becoming one of the definitive Apple intel sites. Today, 9 to 5 Mac displayed a bit of hubris by rightfully ripping into Apple analysts, then offering themselves as a more accurate source of information. The thing is, 9 to 5 is completely right. I have to admit, I had come to trust analyst Shaw Wu. But 9 to 5 shows us some startling facts: Wu's information is correct only about 15% of the time. I'm not sure what made me trust him in the first place. Maybe it was because his information tended to be positive, and I wanted to hear positive info. People tend to believe what they want to hear.

Scott Bourne, Controversial Figure

Scott Bourne from the Apple Phone Show:

“For months, I have been saying that AT&T is paying Apple a share of the monthly subscription revenue from the iPhone. For months I have been getting hate mail from haters who can’t stand hearing that news.”

This guy gets more hate mail for the dumbest things than I’ve ever seen.

Other Possible iPhone Security Risks

I posted yesterday on Wire.com's article concerning potential iPhone security risks. I find the idea of creative reporting to be fascinating. So, I thought I'd dream up some potential iPhone security risks too. Hackers could:

1. Have pizza delivered to you and your friend's homes.
2. Download Reo Speedwagon songs onto your phone while you're at Starbucks.
3. Have flowers sent to your wife.
4. Convince your boss to give you a raise.
5. Text message in a vote for American Idol contestant.
6. Try out the dozen or so Sudoku web apps for the iPhone.
   

Notes Feature, iPhone, & Synching With Leopard

Apple pulled a little magic trick and made the synching of notes with the iPhone disappear from their website. They did the same trick with the Leopard feature that would allow us to use Airport disk with Time Machine. What's strange to me is not the loss of features, but that they don't explain what is going on. Could it be the case they have a policy not to comment on negative activity, as in, they need more time to get the features to work?

Wired.com's Silly iPhone Security Article.

Wired.com has a problem with the iPhone: it runs on root. From the article:

 

“With the limited bandwidth of the iPhone, malicious code would be unlikely to slow portions of the internet. But malware could wreak creative havoc of a different kind. It might, for example, cause a phone to call numbers without the user's knowledge, seize text messages and a list of received and sent calls, turn the phone into a listening device, track the user's location through nearby WiFi access points, or instruct the phone to snap photos of the user's surroundings -- including any companions who may be in view of the camera lens.”

 

I’d like to see any one of those “for examples” actually carried out in everyday conditions. The “track a user’s location through nearby WiFi” is completely ridiculous. I guess if a mythical omnipotent being knew the name and geographical location of every WiFi point in the world, it could be possible.

Analysts Ponder iPhone Earnings, Raise Apple Price Estimates

From Seeking Alpha: analysts advise investors to "start looking at cash earnings rather than traditional income statement earnings" when trying to figure out Apple's profit from the deferred revenue. There's also a slew of new stock price estimates from analysts--all over $200.

I've been trying to figure out how high Apple could go. If they captured 20% share of the computer market, that'd be 3 to 4 times what they have now (~5%). With Macs representing 62% of their last quarter's revenue ($3.8 billion), that's a potential $15.2 billion for just one quarter ($3.8 bil x 4). Numbers like that combined with growing iPod and iPhone sales would exceed Microsoft's revenue. To match Microsoft's market cap, Apple's stock price would need to be around $330. That's an 80% increase from Apple's current stock price of $185. All potential factored in, Apple could double their stock price in a couple years.

Apple Gets $18 per Month for Each iPhone From AT&T

According to their analysis of Apple’s earnings, Piper Jaffray is estimating that Apple gets $18 per month per iPhone. That is a staggering number. Silicon Alley Insider has interesting commentary on Piper Jaffray’s findings.

 

“Apple would record $832 in revenue over two years per phone. Research firm iSuppli estimated in July that it costs Apple $265 to build an 8-gig iPhone. So Apple's gross profit looks more like $565 per phone over two years, up 125% from our previous estimate of $250 per phone. At Apple's current U.S. run rate of about 1.8 million iPhones per quarter, that's about $1 billion in gross profit per quarter (which will be recorded over two years).”

 

The only sad thing about this comes from a consumer perspective. It means that Apple is very interested in what people do with their phones after they have purchased them. It’d be like a car salesman who gets payments from the toll roads their cars drive on—they’d want to make sure you drove on those roads. Well, Apple, toward that regard, I say, “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” Google and others are working on a way to free consumers from this kind of tyranny. By the time the infrastructure is built to compete with the current system, maybe Apple’s contract with AT&T will have expired.

 

At least let’s hope this also means that Apple will go to extremes to keep their phone’s running via incredible customer service.

 

 

The iPhone and Salesforce.com: Follow-up

It was indeed an analyst, Shannon Cross from Cross Research, who baited Apple’s COO Timothy Cook into mentioning Salesforce.com. Please note Cook’s terse reply—from the earnings transcript:

Shannon Cross: Are you working with Salesforce.com on their initiative to modify their software for the iPhone?

Timothy Cook: Yes.

Shannon Cross: Okay, great. Thanks.

I wonder if she checked Salesforce.com’s stock price the next day?

The $100 Million iBrick Industry

There were around one hundred million reasons why we’ve heard so many complaints from unlockers about  the 1.1.1 upgrade: they heard the sound of their profit from reselling $100 million in unlocked iPhones going down the drain. Finally, some perspective. Most of these complainers didn’t give a fig about consumer rights or even consumer satisfaction. I wouldn’t put all unlockers in this category, but you can bet that a large amount was, and remains, in the reselling business. Keep this is mind when you hear complaints about Apple’s SDK in the future, you’ll know the true motivation behind them: greed.

 

 

 

 

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?"

iPhone Fingers Video

We'll see if people are still laughing about phonefingers when Commander & Conquer comes out on the iPhone. What is your screen going to look like after a 2-hour gaming session, huh?

When You Don't Get All 8 GBs

A Montreal law student is suing Apple because the box on his iPod says 8 GB, and there is only 7.6 GB of usable memory on it because of the OS. Sometimes these ridiculous lawsuits make good points, if having no precedent in law. The fact that the OS takes up memory is known by most people and is on par with “smoking is bad for you,” but just how bad for you, or how much memory, is still relevant. I'd like to see it more clearly marked on the box.

Apple's Version of Google Gears for the iPhone?

Good call from John Gruber in pointing out Ars Technica's "Worst iPhone Source of the Month." I have to admit, I ate up the original story with a spoon and side of blueberries, but in retrospect, it seems ridiculous. The leap in logic from allowing an offline Safari app to native app is just too easy.

New iPhone Commercials: Hello, Kristin

Can't say I'm a big fan of the new style of iPhone commercials. I have to call bullshit on Apple in the new Kristin commercial where she states she "mobile blogs" backstage at her dance concerts. Don't get me wrong, you can mobile blog on the iPhone. But it's not a built-in feature for the iPhone; it's all done on the blog side via email, and it can be a complicated set up for the everyday user. It's hardly something Apple should be marketing as an iPhone feature. Strange.

Best iPhone Accessory Yet

I just bought ten of these, one for each finger.

4 Months Until SDK and Then What?

Assuming Apple releases the SDK at the end of the month of February, as is their way nowadays, it could be much longer before we see a large number of apps on iTunes. Apple will have to hire new employees and build infrastructure to test out these apps. It's likely they are using the time until the release to build that infrastructure. I'll wager that is the reason for the long wait, not the SDK , which is probably mostly finished.

It also wouldn't surprise me that they have already given a rough version of the SDK to a few select vendors who will have apps ready for sale come the public release of the SDK.

ViModa Vibe Duo iPhone Headphones

Gizmodo "reviews" the V-Moda Vive Duos, one of the first iPhone headphones (that is, headphones with a call/music switch). They completely do an underwhelming job of it.

Their thorough conclusion?

"Pick one up if you're in the market for some iPhone buds."

Wow, thanks Gizmodo. I guess.

Does the iPhone Store Credit Expire?

I finally got around to getting my iPhone store credit via Apple.com. While I haven’t decided how to spend it yet, I was curious if it would expire. The answer is no, according to the FAQ on Apple’s store credit page:

“How long is my Apple Store credit valid?

Once your credit is issued, it does not expire.”

You do have to claim it by November 30, 2007, but have until forever to spend it. So, maybe I'll keep it to buy version 4 of the iPhone.

Steve Jobs Announces iPhone SDK on Apple.com

Steve Jobs is such a tease. Why didn’t he just tell us this from the beginning? I was surprised how I felt when I read the news, like the world just changed. It’s the same way I felt when he introduced the iPhone, so I guess this is an extension of that moment. It’s the realization of what the iPhone first promised. Of course, there’s a mountain between the theory and the practice, but with so much creative excitement behind an open iPhone, you know some fun things are going to happen. It’ll be fun to look back a year from now.

Apple Agrees to Sell Unlocked iPhones....in France!

Apple is going to sell unlocked iPhones in France. It's not clear what software and hardware changes will make French iPhones "unlocked," but it likely make them a highly sought export around the world. I'd like to see their unlocked-phone law be exported around the world.

CNET Reviews the HTC Touch

While the price of the HTC Touch is right ($249 after $100 rebate and 2-year contract), everything else seems wrong. Check out the video review and full article at CNET.com.

Still Have That $100 iPhone Store Credit?

I have to admit, I’m tempted to use my $100 iPhone credit on the new Leopard release. I’m going to wait for reports of how well Leopard performs on a MacBook before I decide. I’m still yearning for a decent pair of iPhone earphones though.

Pairing Apple's Wireless Keyboard With the iPhone

AppleInsider has a thorough review of Apple's Wireless keyboard. Toward the end of the review, the reviewer comes up with a brilliant request for Apple,

"One feature I'd like to see added requires new software support on the iPhone: the ability to pair the phone to the Bluetooth keyboard. Imagine using the duo as a hyper thin traveling companion for taping out notes.

That, my friend, is a genius idea, especially if they create an attachment to perch the iPhone as shown. Make it happen Apple.

Maybe like this:

Lack of Earphones and the Nike Sport Kit for the iPhone

There have been two surprises in the world of iPhone accessories so far, or should I say, lack of surprises. The first and biggest is the missing iPhone-compatible headsets from leading iPod headset makers. Many early adopters such as myself have a $100 dollar credit to give to a leading headset maker like Etymotic or Shure to replace my current Apple iPhone earphones. The delay for these earphones probably has to do with typical bureaucracy and the fact that iPod accessories remain a business priority. But still, there is money being left on the table. The leading earphone makers need to get products onto shelves for the Holidays.

Another surprise is the lack of a Nike Sport Kit for the iPhone. It may be that, like a normal iPod, Apple feels an iPhone is too bulky for use in exercise. But as an owner of the iPhone, I would beg to differ, having worked out and jogged with my iPhone comfortably in tow. The Sports Kit would be a perfect fit and would help sell the iPhone, as it has done for the Nano. How absolutely convenient it would be to carry your phone and your iPod with you on a jog or workout and stay connected with the world. One less burden to working out. Again, it would seem there is money being left on the table.