The Apple Tablet

The news is all abuzz about the unveiling of the Apple Tablet (iTablet, iSlate, iPad, or iSomethingoranother) on Wednesday. Rather than rehash all the rumors, this post will dwell on features I hope we don't see.

1. The price had better be lower than $1000. It will be marginal at $700, appealing at $500, and sensational under that price. If I'm going to pay $1000, I'll stick with a laptop. I can live with a keyboard and the extra features a laptop offers as a small tradeoff for sexiness.

2. The prices above need to be unsubsidized. While access to a 3G network is desirable, I'm at the point where I'm not going to spend any more on Internet access, even for tethering. The reason is simple: 1) I have Verizon FiOS at home and pay north of $40 a month for it; 2) I have a data plan on my iPhone and pay $30 a month for it; 3) and my wife has a data plan on her iPhone and pays $30 a month for it. That is a total of $100 a month for Internet access. If I'm on one, I'm not on the other. Therefore, I'm not getting my money's worth out of any of them now. I'm not going to pay any more. I am going to give up a service before I buy any additional access.

If the price is right, I would buy a tablet for use with Wi-Fi only. Most of the places I use my iPhone now has Wi-Fi (home, friend's homes, Starbuck's, McDonald's, Barnes & Noble, Original Pancake House, and various colleges and universities). It's sort of similar to the AT&T and Verizon dueling advertisements--for all the debate on who has the most coverage, the majority of my 3G use takes place within 40 miles of home and most of
My Internet access is through Wi-Fi. From my viewpoint, Clear offers 4G in our area and could replace all my Internet needs if Apple offered an iPhone/Tablet package on Clear--total cost $55 per month.

The point of this is, I'm an Apple fanboy, but only to a point. A $250 netbook with Wi-Fi access will meet my needs just fine. To get me to the Apple Tablet, it will have to be a compelling financial benefit. Otherwise the iPhone and a netbook is the way to go.

Your thoughts?

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

iPhone - Pre-WWDC Edition

Like every other uniformed iPhone enthusiast, I figured I would weight-in on my thoughts for the 2009 WWDC and the future of the iPhone. Since I have absolutely no inside information, the following is pure conjecture on my part. With that said, being an avid iPhone user and reader of blogs, news articles, and the iPhone rumor-mill, the following is my best guess for what we can and cannot expect from the WWDC and the iPhone today.

• 32GB iPhone (white or black)
• 16 GB iPhone (black only and will be the entry-level to this model)
• Operating on iPhone Mac OS-X 3.0
• Faster CPU
• More RAM
• Internal compass support
  
• Improved camera (3.2MP range) with auto-focus
• Video recording capability with digital zoom feature, including a supporting application that will allow basic video editing and upload to YouTube (possibly Facebook and others)
• While I don't believe there will be an additional front-facing camera for video chat, I would be pleasantly surprised it it did.
  
• Same price points as current models
• Better power management (due to new chip and improved OS)
• Approximately 1/2 inch shorter while maintaining the same width and thickness
• Earphone jack moved to the bottom
• Slightly reduced weight
• Improved sound from internal speakers (no idea where the speakers will be located--on the top perhaps?)
• Improved built-in applications including expanded financial tracking (still won't match ETrade Mobile Pro), expanded weather app, improved calendar with built-in todo list support, and an expanded Maps application with turn-by-turn directions (courtesy of Google)
  

Regardless of the accuracy of the preceding forecast, the fact remains that the iPhone will not become a true "real Internet" phone until it comes with Flash (not expected today or anytime soon) and the battery life can be significantly extended (hopefully we will see SOME improvement in this area announced today.

In addition, I believe that you will also see a number of significant announcements from Apple partners as part of the show. They could be:

• AT&T will introduce a data-limited plan at the $10-15 per month range to attract those that want an iPhone, but don't use the Internet resources heavily (like my wife).
• AT&T will bundle SMS messaging into the $30 per month plan instead of charging extra.
• AT&T MAY offer a $40 everything plan to compete with Sprint's unlimited offering. This would include a tethering capability allowing the iPhone to act as a modem for a laptop, netbook, or PC.
• Various vendors will announce a number of new, expanded, or multi-level games that will appear in the AppStore at the same time as the iPhone.
• Activation will be online and can be done by the customer. Basically, I don't think Apple or AT&T really care where the phone is used anymore, just as long as they get a cut of the money.

I still think that the new iPhone will appear in July even if announced today. However, the software 3.0 update will appear AFTER the availability of the new phone. My reasoning is to add 3.0 before the new phone may dilute demand for the new phone. Offering the update after the new iPhone will be the tipping point for some early adopters to spring for the new phone. After all, it's all about the money in these tight times.

Well, that's my take. We'll have to wait and see for a couple of more hours to determine if I was even close to the mark.

TweetStack Not Ready for Primetime

I love Twitter. As such, anything that helps me organize tweets, write tweets, and view tweets is of interest to me. Having an iPhone means having a variety of Twitter applications to choose from. I have used Twitterlator, Twitterific, and finally settled on Tweetie. Up to the point of using Tweetie, I had used the free version of Twitterific. I migrated to Tweetie because it has a few more features, has a more pleasant user interface, and performs fast and flawlessly.

A few weeks ago I bought TweetStack because it advertised a great set of features--basically putting the Mac application TweetStack on your iPhone. The good news is TweetStack allows you to see which tweets are unread (a drawback that I pointed out to Tweetie awhile ago); allows you to group Twitter IDs to create information-specific "stacks;" and allows you to store keyword searches.

The bad news is that TweetStack is buggy and unstable. Their most recent release has fixed many problems and some stability issues, but it remains buggy. If I had to give an analogy, it would be Tweetie is a Mac and TweetStack is a PC--so much promise, yet such a failure in execution.

Keep your eye on TweetStack. But for now, it isn't ready for primetime.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

iPhone Preparing to go Mainstream

The Apple iPhone has managed to accomplish a number of things in the two years since it was announced and the 21 months since it went on sale. First, it has defied many an analyst by demonstrating that a new player in the mobile phone market can establish itself, carve out a segment of the market, and profitably compete. This may not sound like much, but remember that two years ago, analysts were debating whether Apple could succeed in the mobile phone market. The arguments ranged from lack of experience, to lack of support, to lack of features, to being limited by the exclusive agreement with AT&T. Many an analyst scoffed at the idea that Apple would be able to sell 10 million iPhones in its first full year (2009): They sold 13.7 million iPhones.

According to Apple, they have sold more than 30 million devices running the iPhone OS which includes both the iPodTouch and the iPhone. They have managed to do this despite lacking Flash, cut, copy, and paste, and MMS support offered by many competitors. They have managed to make significant inroads to the smartphone market during 2007 and 2008 even though they did not offer a 3G smartphone. They continue to take market share despite having a phone with questionable battery life. While many continue to decry the iPhone's lack of features, it is interesting to note how many phone manufacturers are doing their best to develop a competing product.

What analysts fail to realize (and I suspect to a certain extent Apple itself) is the iPhone has that unique ability to cut across demographics (much as the Nintendo Wii), to cut across geography (the iPhone can be found everywhere, whether licensed or not), and to cut across markets (it is a phone, a PDA, a smartphone, a netbook computer, and a device controller). Young and old are using it. Politicians, mothers, and geeks are using it. Salespeople and gamers are using it. Businesses and retired people are using it. It has single-handedly changed the view of the smartphone market.

With the iPhone 3.0 software and accompanying enhancements to its iPhone hardware, Apple is preparing to to move the device into mainstream acceptance. To do this, it must accomplish the following:

• Deliver a business-class product: With the 2.0 network and security improvements and the 3.0 applications capabilities, iPhone will rapidly become the device of choice for small and medium-sized businesses. With the introduction of external device controls (such as video recording equipment and keyboards) and additional application support (such as Documents-to-Go), the iPhone becomes a full function mobile office. Documents-to-Go support may well become the business killer app for the iPhone. This will occur this summer.

• Deliver a world-class gaming platform: With the peer-to-peer networking introduced with iPhone 3.0 software, the ability to purchase upgrades from within the application, expected graphics improvements with the next generation of device, and improvements to power management, the iPhone will truly become a world-class gaming device. When game makers develop applications that can interface across platforms (PCs, Macs, and iPhones), the killer game app will have arrived. This can be expected before the end of 2009.

• Deliver a world-class Internet browsing experience: This may be the weakest area for Apple. It is ironic that the Mobile Safari full-browser was one of the major selling points for the iPhone in its original release. The Safari browser has now become a weak point. The problem is Apple is trying to force a standard on the market and to date, the market is not buying. This is most evident with the lack of Adobe Flash support. Far too many Web sites use Flash for iPhone not to provide support. As a result, the iPhone is NOT a universal Internet Web browsing device because it cannot render a significant number of highly popular sites. Much like the lack of openness with the Apple operating systems in the 1980s, this lack of Flash support may become the Achilles heel for Apples mobile phone and services strategy. Even a poorly performing implementation would buy significant time.

You will notice that I did not include video support. The reason is that with external device support, the iPhone manufacturer ecosystem will provide that support in a small plug-and-play device that will 1) provide superior video to the built-in camera; 2) reduce battery drain on the iPhone; and 3) will provide a range of format up to and including HD. While video may be in a future iPhone, third-parties will provide superior implementations with Apple's blessing.

Thus, with the introduction of the 3.0 software, the iPhone finally goes mainstream. It will enable reporters to capture and file reports from the field, salespeople to capture orders real time in the customer's office, and anyone to work on-the-go. Oh yes, it will also make phone calls.

What have I missed? We would like to hear your ideas, comments, and input.

iPhone 3.0 Features Announced

It has been a long time coming, but Apple today announced the features to be included in the iPhone OS 3.0. The features are impressive. First the to-date statistics:

• iPhone is now in 80 countries; will be adding 15 mor countries to the 62 that already have the iPhone (math is evidently not their strong point)
• Sold 13.7 million iPhones in 2008
• 17 million iPhones sold total so far
• Including the iPod touch, sold over 30 million iPhone OS units to date
• Now over 25,000 apps in the AppStore

The new SDK will open up an additional 1,000 APIs to developers. The same tools are used for Apple internal development. Features of the new SDK and OS 3.0 include:

• Copy-and-Paste capability (at last!). As presented, it works exactly the way Kevin Rose described in Diggnation. Double-tapping a word brings up the copy/paste menu; dragging two icons allows the user to select the amount of material to copy or paste; then tapping a spot brings up the magnifier allowing the user to select the location for pasting. The capability will work across all iPhone applications. A nice touch (no pun intended) is the action can be undone be shaking the iPhone.
• iPhone 3.0 allows multiple photograph emailing. Before, only one photo at a time could be emailed. A photo icon allows the user to bring up a selection screen to select multiple photos to attach.
  
• Introduced a new Messages application that enables MMS for voice, photos, contact cards, location information, etc. The application also allows forwarding messages, and recording and storing voice memos. The application will support both the internal and a plug-in external microphone. It will also allow editing the voice memo, including trimming content. Finally, the memo can be emailed.
• Can now subscribe to additional calendars. In addition, the calendar application adds new support for Microsoft Entourage. Supports all .ics format calendar files.
• iPhone 3.0 has added more search capability by implementing a Spotlight search application for comprehensive search including address book search; email search (by from, to, subject, and headers); calendar search; and notes search (by title and body content). Will allow search across all applications.
  
• Landscape support for both email and notes (again, at last!).
  
• Improved Stocks application with stock news access and more details about stocks.
  
• Notes application sync with the Mac or PC through iTunes.
• Wi-Fi automatic login when a hotspot has been detected.
• Stereo Bluetooth now supported.
  
• Safari has added features including anti-phishing filters, remembers log-in credentials, and has implemented additional parental controls for movies, TV, and applications.
  
• Can now purchase additional content from the AppStore from within an application. It is no longer required to leave the application. This enables an application to sell a basic version and then sell incremental add-on content and capability as the user desires. Examples include purchasing additional "levels" for a game; location-specific content for an application (dining guides, maps, other information); or additional features.
• Peer-to-peer connectivity through bluetooth for gaming and external device control. Bonjour-powered and does not require pairing. This allows multi-user gaming on iPhones without the need for WiFi or 3G. It also allows iPhone users to control everything from equalization on a speaker (that supports such control) to managing medical devices from the phone. Another example is that for an application such as the musical Ocarina, multi-players can now simultaneously play multiple instruments.
• Apple has opened the Maps API to developers, but developers have to bring their own maps. This API allows geolocation, reverse geolocation, cell-tower triangulation, turn-by-turn directions, and similar functions. The reason for the developer needing their own maps is a licensing issue.
• Apple is implementing third-party push notification and background application activity. It will be mediated through Apple servers which will allow it to be more power-efficient than Blackberry or WinMobile (only 23% additional power drain versus 80% power drain with background applications activated). With the push API, developers can push sounds and alerts to the iPhone.
• Other APIs include using proximity sensors for iPod library access; built-in VoIP API; APIs to allow access of a second application's controls from within the first application (for example, a SIMs game character playing music from the iPod library).
• YouTube application has been enhanced to allow account log-in, subscribe to channels, and save videos.
• Features for tethering are included in the 3.0 update, but they are not implementing them at this time. It appears there are still issues with the carriers.
  

The iPhone 3.0 beta is available to developers immediately and will be rolled out to users this summer. It will work on both EDGE and 3G versions of the phone, although some features will not work on the older phones (example given was stereo Bluetooth). The update will be free to iPhone users and will cost $9.95 to iPod Touch users.

With these features, it is evident that Apple is expanding the iPhone's reach both vertically and horizontally. First, the vertical expansion is in the form of reaching further into a business' supply chain. The example given was an Oracle inventory management application on the iPhone that would allow immediate notification of stock-out situations and enable the user to immediately send a notice to a customer. There were numerous examples of business and medical application support demonstrated that provides insight into how Apple sees this platform progressing in the corporation.

Horizontal expansion is in the area of reaching further down the user chain. With the demonstration of networked "pets" and pet social networks, it is obvious that Apple is positioning the iPhone to a younger and younger crowd. This is probably setting the stage to additional iPhone models at the lower end.

With the features introduced in the iPhone 3.0 update, Apple has laid down the gauntlet to other phone makers that it intends to not just become a substitute for their products, but to create a totally new market. This market will be the "broad spectrum" smartphone with capabilities and cost to make it attractive across the entire mobile phone range.

Your additional insights and comments are welcomed.

iPhone Reset

I have noticed an interesting problem with my 3G 16GB iPhone. I have had the phone since last July, but the current problem only showed up over the last week or so. I have 3Gb free, so it isn't because of lack of space. However, I do have 104 added applications along with eight saved links on my springboard. All applications are up-to-date.

With that background, the problem is two-fold. First, every so often when I first turn the phone on, it will boot up as a virgin phone. That is, it requests the user to plug the phone into a USB port and the only action you can take is to access the emergency dialing. When the phone is cold-started (holding both the on/off and home buttons at the same time), the screen notifies the user that the phone has been activated and the phone works normally--until the next time this occurs.

The second problem is that since the last OS upgrade the phone seems to respond more slowly. In some cases, the time from selecting an application to actually having that application active can run to 15 seconds!

While these are not major problems, they are annoying. Has anyone else seen these problems? If so, has anyone found a way to eliminate them? We would like to hear your feedback.

Appigo Todo Review

A friend of mine and I have been discussing To Do applications in light of Jott moving to a subscription model. After reviewing documentation available on different applications, Ralph Jarvis selected Appigo TODO. Herewith is his review.

Appigo TODO
Reviewed by: Ralph Jarvis

This application promises that it will provide the following:

• Free desktop synchronization software to interface with the iPhone application and the iCal calendar on a Mac.
• No other application purchases required.
• Customizable Focus List to identify and complete important issues first
• Context and Tag options for each task
• Repeating tasks capability
  
• Task sharing through email
• Third party integration [e.g., Toodledo, Remember the Milk]
• Language support for English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish

Based on these features, the application yielded a number of experiences, some documented, some not.

PROS:

The value of this application is the integration to current Apple applications, not third-party applications such as Toodledo or Remember the Milk. Being able to access the iCal and Address Book enhances the tasks at hand. Appigo has a feature called “multiple task types” and provides the user the ability to link a task to a call, email, web address, or physical location. How useful these features are will depend on use and the application has not been used long enough.

Another valuable feature is the flexibility to create tags and assign the to a task. For example, previously New Year's Resolutions were always on a typed list, paper or on a back of an index card. With TODO, a tag called “Resolutions” was created and assigned to the todos representing News Years Resolutions. To access, simply sort on the "Resolutions" tag and it will display resolutions that have yet to be completed.

Most todo lists have the ability to create “lists” or categories and this application makes it easy to set up. Since the application can be integrated with iCal, it is easy to standardize categories in both applications.

I [Ralph Jarvis] purchased Bento last year to develop a CRM. The application is linked to the Mac's Address Book and therefore information from the CRM can be incorporated in corresponding todo items. This capability was not documented, so it remains to be seen how well it works.

CONS:

Appigo advertises excellent customer support. Experience attempting to get support demonstrated that there is little tangible support [but most small companies do not have that luxury, do they?]. I would never give “excellent” to any support group that takes more than 2 hours. In my two instances, both emails were replied over 12 hours later. Regarding the “excellent” customer service, it was polite, but their support only copied web pages as solutions [they really do not understand the support role at all] and there was no phone walk-thrus either. I would recommend that Appigo either hire more support personnel or rephrase their quality to properly set expectations. Don’t expect a lot of support.

If you have always updated from your cradle, then you will have to change your routine. Since I always updated my iPhone with the cradle that came with the phone, I was surprised to find that I had to change my convenient update process to fit Appigo’s new process [albeit, this is supposedly an Apple problem, since the process and code were not in the SDK?]. Currently, there is no support from Appigo for serial synchronization from the iPhone to the MacBook. For those techies out there, maybe you can offer some additional insight.

After hours of tenacious manipulation, I was able to make the iPhone work with my MacBook. The synchronization program always has to be on and consequently, is always on my desktop [I wish they would learn how to minimize this annoyance, perhaps that is not documented in the SDK either?].

SUMMARY

As a relatively new application, I would give them a B- and expect technical enhancements without additional costs. Appigo has set a $10 fee for the application [which I find a little high, perhaps $5 would be better]; however, the synchronization tool is free. The recommendations on the iTunes Apps Store are encouraging to potential users and the integration with Apple applications is the best value of this product. The downside is the “average” support for the product.

Thanks Ralph for the review. What say the wisdom of the crowds? If you have additional input on this application, please feel free to comment on this post.