"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."
Exactly what kind of effect adding this spectrum to world of broadband will have on the iPhone is unclear. It is possible that AT&T could end up with some of the spectrum, but then Apple would have to add hardware to a future version of the iPhone for it to access it. Seeing the iPhone access the 700 mhz spectrum anytime time soon, say withing two years, is extremely unlikely, as Apple usually waits for technology to mature before making it part of their portfolio.
Google’s new My Location feature for mobile phones is useful and, best of all, free. It is also pretty low tech. It would be a cinch to implement it into the iPhone. But will Apple? And how soon? This could a good indicator for whether Apple’s iPhone team has flexibility in adding functionality to the phone, or if its following a predefined roadmap from headquarters. At first glance, there seems to be no good reason not to add this feature.
Rap mogul Jermaine Dupri has an article on Huffington Post criticizing Apple for not selling Jay Z's album American Gangster on iTunes. The problem is that Jay Z wants to restrict sales to an entire album and not allow the purchase of single tracks as Apple requires. If Apple's behavior continues, Dupri wants to unite the record industry giants against Apple in a boycott in order to destroy iPod sales:
"Apple thinks that's never gonna happen. They think that we as the record industry will never stick together. But Universal sells one out of every three records. All it'll take is for Warner Music to say, "You know what, I'm with you," for us to shut 'em down. No more iPods! They won't have nothin' to play on their players! We can take back the power if we're willing to sacrifice some sales to make our point."
While I agree with Mr. Dupri's overall sentiment about siding with artists and also agree that Apple should just go ahead and sell the entire album, he needs to do a little homework on the history of mp3s if he thinks the boycotting of the iTunes Music Store would put a dent in iPod sales. In fact, an argument could be made that iPod sales would increase by such a move, as those who have reformed back to legal purchasing of music would soon discover how easy bittorrent is, more so than Napster in terms of downloading huge chunks of music. Want every great rap album from 2007? Click here, wait an hour, and enjoy.
A few developers are getting early access to the SDK, according to sources who spoke with Electronista.
"A handful of companies are said to be getting rough versions of the tools to help code more advanced applications than would be possible with the current web-only solution. Exact details of what the kit allows are unknown, though it is confirmed that it produces native programs and somewhat resembles Google's OpenSocial in that it mediates between the programmer and the iPhone operating system."
Having a few apps to look at and buy during the February unveiling of the SDK will give iPhone users and the press something concrete to examine while waiting for the post-SDK wave of apps to arrive. It will also help Apple test out its system for selling the apps and for maintaining the security of the iPhone. One thing is for sure, the first apps had better not only be slick, but extremely useful, especially in light of Apple's failure so far to add user-relevant functionality to the phone. Of course, I have no problem with the iPhone as is.
"Despite rampant rumors of a deal between Apple and China's largest cellphone carrier, no one knows when the iPhone is supposed to hit China officially. But that hasn't stopped Apple's popular smartphone, known in China as "Ai Feng" ("Love Craze"), from becoming a bona fide black-market hit."
Chinese cell phone carriers do not have to sign a deal with Apple to make money from the phone. Instead of giving a portion to Apple, China carriers get all the money from wireless plans. This makes the reasoning behind Apple's limit of 2 handsets per person policy a little more clearer.
This also sheds on a light on the importance of Apple's retail stores. The retail store's customer's service is one of the few ways that Apple can give its customers a superior experience over purchasing the iPhone off the black market and using it on an unauthorized carrier. Basic history of iPhone hacking shows that any update to the iPhone will be hacked and offered to jailbreakers, so that is not something which is keeping customers in Apple's walled garden.
Another positive for those hoping for an Apple-China Mobile deal is that unlocked iPhones offer a poor text messaging experience for Chinese language users. It involves switching between Apple's SMS app to a third-party app. Text messaging is of huge importance in China.
iPhone news is a little thin these days, so let's have some more classic video humor. Here's one from stock guru Jim Cramer. In this video from early January, Cramer predicts Apple will be one of the top growth stocks of the year and then proceeds to smash a Zune with a bat. I have tons of respect for Jim Cramer, but he also sometimes gets things wrong, especially on his Lightning Round. This time, he was big time right.
"China's mobile market is so huge that the revenue numbers are meaningful even if Apple only gets a tiny slice of the pie. Our annual revenue estimates range from:
$600 million a year, at 1% penetration and a firesale $200 unit price (with no revenue share), to:
$6 billion a year, at 5% penetration and a stable $400 price point (again, no revenue share)."
“At the end of September, China Mobile had about 350 million subscribers -- more than 5 times the size of AT&T, Apple's U.S. carrier partner -- and almost 1.5 times the size of the entire U.S. wireless industry. With another 155 million subscribers on China Unicom, Apple's market opportunity in China is twice as big as it is in the U.S.”
One company has a bigger subscription base than all of the US companies, combined.
That is a staggering number and gives China Mobile a big card to hold in negotiations. I always had the impression that luxury goods did not sell well in China, with it being a socialist society and all. But its recent move toward capitalism has given China has a growing thirst for luxury items. From a 2006 Boston Globe article:
“[China] is now the third-biggest consumer of luxury goods, accounting for 12 percent of sales worldwide, up from 1 percent just five years ago…”
China Mobile is in discussions with Apple over a possible iPhone release. The hangup is, of course, over revenue sharing. Maybe China's version of NBC wants a dollar for every iPhone sold.
I'm not sure how big of a market there is for a luxury goods like the iPhone in China, but with the profit Apple makes with every iPhone, even selling tens of thousands makes it worth the trouble. Let's hope they won't have to rat out a blogger.
"[Android] supports touch-screen technology, but Horowitz declined to comment on support for multitouch, a notable iPhone ability that opens up user-interface possibilities, beyond saying multitouch support isn't in the first version of the Android SDK."
There will be no multi-touch pinching in Android, or at least, it's not built into the SDK. But it could be added later. Is multitouch really that important? Multitouch on the iPhone is used mostly for growing and shrinking the browser view, pictures, and maps. I rarely use the pinch or grow multitouch features on anything but Google maps. The biggest benefit of touchscreen technology is quick menu selection, and that only requires a single touch. The omission of multitouch from Android is probably to keep the hardware cheaper, and I wouldn't consider it a big deal. Multitouch seems like it'd be much more useful on a larger screen, for instance, on a MacBook Touch tablet.
Apple has a phone but won't have an SDK for a couple of months. Google doesn't have a phone but has an SDK. So really, it won't be until next summer until both are on level playing fields. What it may come down to is who attracts more and better developers. I hate to quote Steve Ballmer, but it's the developers, developers, developers.
A great core system is built by the giants like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. But the diversity--the catering to the long tail--is done by the developers.
I just finished watching Google's YouTube videos for Android. I'll write up a more in-depth analysis later, but for now, some quick thoughts.
First impressions are that Google's Android does not look like some crappy open source software. It looks slick. It looks flexible. You would not be able to tell the difference from a Nokia or Blackberry. In fact, it looks better than those device's OS's.
I'm thinking about the possibilities of Android, then looking at my iPhone, which doesn't yet have a version of Sudoku on it that I can play on my commute. It seems the iPhone has competition. Not HTC Touch competition, no, this is serious competition. I'm sure Steve Jobs will eventually respond--maybe he already has with the Apple SDK.
All I can say is, I'm waiting, Apple, and I've been waiting for 5 months now (see previous post). You got me for 1.5 more years. Show me what else your phone can do.
When the iPhone was released, Apple promised to improve its functionality over time with new applications. 5 months later, we have the Wi-Fi iTunes store, and that's it. And personally, I've found that my iPhone has become more unstable than it was at launch. So, as 9 to 5 Mac asks, what is the reason to upgrade again?
I'm sure Apple will eventually roll out a killer new application for the iPhone. But with the SDK and the release of third-party apps still several months away, there is little reason to not disconnect from Apple's "bug fixes" and jailbreak your phone.
Clocking in at 25 minutes, this video from WMExperts is a very thorough comparison of the HTC Touch vs the iPhone. It's obvious to me the iPhone is a better overall device, but it's very interesting to see how some of the more detailed software design choices of the HTC Touch appear to a little more useful than the iPhone's, especially when it comes to the flexibility of the home screen.
The video is worth a watch for the perspective it gives on design and the choices that go into it. The amount of tweaking and improvement that lays ahead for the iPhone and other touchscreen devices keeps the future of this class of device very exciting.
Several sites are reporting the 1.1.2 firmware upgrade drops tomorrow (Nov 9), with no new features for us Americans except bug fixes. For some reason it bugs me that Apple never says what's being fixed.
Valleywag is claiming to have exclusive first screenshots of a Google Phone app. The app appears to something called WhatsOpen.com that combines search terms with your geo location (which you apparently won't have to input manually) to tell you what businesses are open around you along with other useful information (address, telephone, etc).
My first thought is, that's pretty awesome. However, privacy issues aside, the one big immediate flaw might be the local information supplied by Google (I'm assuming that's what Google has in mind in terms of making $). Google Maps on the iPhone has been a huge let down for me in the past. It couldn't tell me the correct closest Starbucks in downtown Chicago. From my experience, Google's local information is incomplete and inaccurate. However, that could easily change if local businesses have enough motivation to supply Google with updated information.
It's nice to know Google employees are taking the time to improve the iPhone and not just writing phone OS's to compete with it. Google employee Dolapo Falola announces he's used his 20% creative time to improve Google Reader for the iPhone. Reader is my #1 iPhone web app, so I'm glad to hear it. For his efforts, Dolapo got hired onto the Google Reader team.
Am I the only one who thinks that if Steve Ballmer got wind of a Microsoft employee improving the functionality of the iPhone, that employee would be f-i-r-e-d? Maybe that's why Microsoft is losing equity like crazy. D-e-s-p-e-r-a-t-e for growth, I guess.
One thing is for sure, people hate vague intellectual concepts. That is why so many are still searching for a Google phone instead of salivating over the Android OS concept. Well, Engadget always delivers in terms of photoshopped mock-ups or glossy marketing photos. This time, they're showing pictures of the HTC Omni as the possible Google Dream phone. If this is it, the iPhone has nothing to worry about. Where exactly is the touchscreen anyways? And, where is the phone part? Looks like the same clunky interface that Steve Jobs wants to replace, except with more glossy black glass.
My favorite Google phone photo is still the one below. It looks simple, cheap, and all about function over gloss, kind of like Google's search engine.
Many major news outlets are wondering, why would someone buy an Android OS phone over a Symbian, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, etc? Here’s one example, and you can extrapolate from there:
The ability to play any mp3 as a ringtone…for free.
Another great article from The New York Times about Google's Andy Rubin, the man who is probably leading the Google Phone team.
Rubin's big invention was the Sidekick, an average smart phone that gained a cult status by catering to the youth culture (Paris Hilton had one when she was still, eh, "hot"). I doubt the Google phone's hardware or software will be anything we haven't seen before (unles it's as sexy as the picture on the right). People will probably be disappointed. The revolutionary part should come from how cheap the phones will be to use and the huge spectrum of third-party apps the phones will eventually have. My prediction is that the available functionality (through third party apps) of a Google OS phone will be ten times any other phone (including the iPhone) two years from now. Whether it will work as well as the iPhone is another story.
Interesting perspective on US vs Japanese cell phones on Kotaku.com.
For years people have been telling me that the cell phones over in Japan are years ahead of the US and Europe. They spoke as if there was some kind of breakthrough technology that existed nowhere but in Japan. If you'd ask for specifics, they couldn't say, they just knew that it was so, like magic being done in a land far, far away. Turns out, the kind of things they were talking about are the ability to watch live television, faster data networks, and the ability to pay for things with your cell phone. The faster data network is something to be envious about, but the rest are hardly enviable.
I've always been in love with the Japanese aesthetic, as most fans of technology are. The love for novelty combined with discovery of a foreign aesthetic tends to drive these kinds of attitudes.
Another pair of iPhone earphones have been announced (but are not available yet, of course), the MadCatz Air Drives, complete with microphone and one-touch music-to-call control. This pair is a bit unusual as it is not sound isolating. Instead, the headphones feature technology that allows you to better hear your surroundings with your music. I thought every pair of cheap non-isolating headphones did that.
The news world is taking the Google phone seriously. With rumors of a Monday launch, the blog world is in a flutter. There is nothing but rumors to work from, so everyone is speculative. One of the more interesting quotes is from a post on GigaOm. Om Malik quotes Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International and CTO of Deutsche Telecom:
"When AT&T and Apple partner on the iPhone or T-Mobile partners with Google on mobile advertising, these new arrangements force the question: “Who pays whom and when?” Billing, payment and content management for broadcast, advertising, search and music all are significantly different. Carriers are having to develop new business models that are compatible with the changing business models of the other key players in the ecosystem. The business models have to be as interoperable as the technologies."
Essentially, there are several new revenue streams both going into and out of cell phone companies. Google wants to make it easier to share the wealth of a big one, advertising. Why share? Because it gives Google a bigger slice of the global search pie. Cell phone search introduces Google to people who can afford a free wireless phone, but not a thousand dollar computer.
However, how and where Google will find the space to display those ads without hampering usability, or even improving usability (like the iPhone does), is beyond me. And it's maybe why they feel the need to create an open cell phone OS.
"If analysts agree on anything, it is that the company will not be making any major acquisitions. It's simply not in Apple's DNA."
I think DNA is really a poor choice of words. Was running Windows part of Apple's DNA? Was switching to Intel processors? Was making a cell phone? As the article states, Apple spent over a billion to lock up flash memory for its iPods, there's no reason it couldn't spend a billion or two on infrastructure like dark fiber or wireless networks or even on software companies that deal with creativity like Adobe (although that'd cost more tha a few billion). Or how about the company that makes the Big Red One camera? Wouldn't you like to see that with an Apple logo?
Google press release:
