iOS Devices

 iTunes offers music at inflation-busting prices, it seems, with the 99-cents per track price remaining static since the service launched in 2003.

Now, we’re not saying prices should go up – but we are interested in a recent Digital Audio Insider analysis of the inflation-adjusted price of a download through the service, which reveals that should prices have kept up with inflation, songs would now cost $1.14. And by 2012 songs will cost the equivalent of 74-cents a track, assuming prices remain static.

That download prices have remained static isn’t so remarkable when you consider the continuously falling price of CDs.

However, it’s clear that Apple will be under increasing pressure on the part of the music labels to raise its prices, even if it resists the call for price flexibility. Though the company has frequently warned that raising music prices at this stage of the evolution of the digital music industry could still drive consumers to the cheapest music prices available anywhere – the file-sharing networks.

 Apple’s UK iPhone network partner O2 has sold out of iPhones.

The company’s iPhone pages now reveals the following message: “Please note: 8GB and 16GB iPhone are no longer available.”

O2 has clearly shifted all available stock in hand in order to make way for the next-generation iPhone, expected to ship next month. The network cut the cost of the 8GB model by £100 last month, selling out of that model within a week. Clearly the move also saw consumers shift to purchase the 16GB model.

 America Movil will sell iPhone across Latin America starting this year.

The largest cell phone operator made the announcement today, the latest in what appears a fashionable string of mobile telcos to let investors know they’ve bagged distribution rights for the Apple mobile phone. It had been thought local operator Telcel would take this prize, though with recent indications that Apple isn’t seeking wholly exclusive deals, there’s still an outside chance Telcel will get to carry the device.

With a subscriber base of 153 million in 2007, America Movil operates in 15 markets in the region, including Brazil, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The public company is pretty much commanded by the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, who ousted Bill Gates from the top of the pile last year.

Interestingly, the company recently began using Yahoo’s oneSearch as a default for mobile users, and includes support for YouTube videos for its 3G mobile phone users.

This is just the latest public declaration of intent to commit iPhone, which saw Vodafone confirm plans to offer the device in ten markets earlier this week, in Italy at least sharing the honour with Telecom Italia. Orange is now in talks to offer the device in Spain and Poland, while Rogers Telecom will serve the device up in the Canadian market.

It’s clear June’s going to be a big month for Apple-watchers.

Edit to note: Thanks to the eagle-eyed readers who’ve been able to let us know Telcel is a part of America Movil.  

 Looks like there’s a spate of iPhone using magicians, hot on our Marco Tempest report yesterday, UK gadget mag T3 this week revealed internationally-renowned illusionist, Derren Brown, is an iPhone convert too – and he switched to Mac because Stephen Fry told him to.

 iPhone development is a “doddle”, said the developers behind the project to port Doom to the device – revealing the first version of the port was created in just a week.

Developer Psychochromatic explains: “Looking at the hardware specs, I knew iPhone would be able to play a simple game like Doom no problem as it was open-source and already ran on the click-wheel iPod running Linux. I knew Stepwhite, who I work with on Mac projects, and as he’d just bought himself an iPhone and was working with the unofficial tool-chain I jokingly told him he had one week to port Doom to iPhone, and all it had to do was run; he didn’t have to implement controls. One week later, he proudly linked me to his Doom port homepage.”

The first build of Doom saw 15,000 downloads on the project site alone, even without a way to control the game. Once controller input had been included that version received  over 25,000 downloads. 

Behind the ease of development lies the iPhone’s inherent support for a full scale OS. “The iPhone runs OS X. It’s a full UNIX system in your pocket, with brilliant Objective-C frameworks that make coding beautiful and powerful applications a dawdle,” explains Psychochromatic.

Inherent to this is that Apple’s mobile device uses many of the API’s developers already use when designing full-strength apps for OS X, meaning they can develop for the mobile version “with minimal re-learning”. Apple’s shrewd move to introduce the iPhone SDK has also driven many Windows developers to begin learning Mac OS X programming languages (such as Objective C or Cocoa), meaning it will in future become easier for Windows developers to “program for OS X without too much effort.”

Stepwhite, explained that moving to iPhone development caused him to abandon many of the precepts he used in Mac design on account of the size of the screen, but remains full of enthusiasm: “Despite having to throw out a lot of my knowledge, the iPhone provides so much ease for the developers in terms of it’s APIs it’s a pleasure to work with.”

The iPhone software SDK has accelerated development. “It remained difficult to work upon due to problems with the unofficial compiler (causing non-working versions of the game) but with the release of Apple’s SDK it was trivial to get Doom running on iPhone 2.0,” said Stepwhite.

For all this success, there’s a few snags before iPhone users can anticipate buying Doom for the device from Apple’s App Store.

“Our current port of Doom would currently be rejected by Apple if we were to submit it to the iTunes App Store because we use certain APIs for accelerated drawing that are marked as "private". Before submission, we will have to rewrite portions of it to only use documented APIs; most probably moving to OpenGL/ES for the video output,” explained Stepwhite.

That Apple appears currently to be offering only limited access to these API’s means there’s still a future for iPhone jailbreaks, the developers observed, “some applications need more direct access to the underlying iPhone OS,” they said. Network file access, for example, requires deeper access to certain API’s, the developers said.

“Until iPhone ships unlocked there will still be people needing to Jailbreak the phone to save themselves from some of the miserable tariffs offered by the official operators,” they added.

Both developers seem genuinely excited at the potential future of Apple’s mobile standard.

“iPhone marries Apple’s popular image and brand excellence with the most powerful and fun to use operating system on mobile devices. The possibility of having Apple’s latest iPod also do all your phone and internet in one place is going to be very attractive. Everyone who plays with one wants one, and that alone puts it far ahead of any of the Windows Mobile devices or Nokia smartphones on the market,” observed Psychochromatic.

Engadget is saying that AT&T employees just got the summer of fun email that they got last year.  Expect to be bolted to your posts for a summer blockbuster product.  What?  We have no idea what is expected around then.

Just as a little reminder, last year’s iPhone launched on June 29th.  I guess it takes two weeks to set up the displays and learn how to say "take this home and connect it to the computer."

AT&T employees, we don’t envy you.   Have a nice summer.  See you in June.

You want control, right? The convergence culture means every home now has a plethora of different remote controls, each for different devices. Wouldn’t it be handy if your iPhone or iPod touch also controlled all the CE devices in your crib? 

Well, we may have a wait until that happens but an announcement from Arkados means we can look forward to using Apple’s devices to control all manner of home streaming solutions. And with iTunes controls (allegedly) built-into the soon-to-ship iPhone Software 2.0, it’s natural others in the streaming home audio space want a place at the party. 

Fabless semiconductor company Arkados produces its own portfolio of connected home products, and now plans to widen its solutions by introducing its own chips and software to enable iPhone and iPod touch users to control their whole-house audio systems.

The company will in future offer up a reference design that will allow companies that produce home audio systems to embed Arkados chip-and-software solutions into a device that enables the iPhone or iPod to "talk" to and control whole-house audio systems.

In essence, this will mean iPhone or iPod touch will function as an intuitive and colourful handheld wireless remote control from anywhere within the home for such functions as song selection, volume control, or choosing which room the user would like to direct music to. Additionally, HomePlug powerline technology enables an easy-to-install and easy-to-use whole-house system, for a fraction of the cost of professionally installed systems.

Arkados  uses HomePlug technology to make it easier for customers to wire up their homes for music. It does this by using the existing electrical wires in the home.

The company cites recent CEA stats claiming the market for iPod docks grew 44.5 per cent in 2007 and is expected to grow another 27.7 per cent in 2008. It claims to be one of the first to market with powerline solutions for networked audio that “couple the appeal of whole-house music with the storage and portability aspects of an iPod, as well as with any music available in the home via internet, stereo systems, or PCs.”

Oleg Logvinov, President and CEO of Arkados said: "iPhone and iPod are the premier handheld devices in today’s marketplace. By utilizing them as the touch screen controller in our upcoming reference design, we enable millions of consumers to use these devices in the broader whole-house audio/video market."

 Apple’s getting serious, planning to introduce its 3G iPhone across Europe by August, with help from its latest partner networks.

Apple’s aiming to ensure the new breed of mobile communications devices are available in quantity across Europe before August, presumably to make some sales before consumers here engage in their customary summer holidays that month.

This news emerges hot on the heels of Vodafone’s announcement today that it would sell the handset in the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy and Portugal in Europe, as well as in Australia, Egypt, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey, later this year.

The move to sell the iPhone in Italy also suggests Apple is departing from its practice of inking exclusive deals with individual networks, as Telecom Italia has also confirmed its intent to sell the iPhone, the current model of which is only available in Austria, Britain, France, Germany, the US and Ireland. The device is also set for sale in Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Korea and (potentially) China and Russia, according to various reports.

Most analysts believe the next-gen iPhone will be introduced in June, timed to coincide with Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). News of an August deadline for putting the device up for sale across Europe suggests Apple may plan a phased roll-out of the device, presumably introducing it to the US first – though how the company’s existing network partners in Europe are likely to respond to this isn’t clear.

 Not just a rerun (though it is) but an intimation of the kind of viral activity we expect to see on the iPhone.

This clip shows magician Marco Tempest employ some clever video animations as part of his act. Sure, it’s not magic per se, but it’s smart – and provides just a hint of the kind of activity big brand marketers are hoping will help them get all viral on the ‘Net.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcB8CKa73B0&hl=en]

See, New York-based creative marketing agency, Site International, this week confirmed it is developing a range of applications for the iPhone and the iPod touch, applications designed to harness the must-have power of the device with amusing viral ads for their client’s products.

One is for a yogurt chain interested in mobile coupons,. This ad/past time lets iPhone users create a “virtual smoothie”, mixing yogurt with a selection of fruits and other ingredients on the screen. Once mixed, the viral app lets a user virtually blend the ingredients using the iPhone screen, generating an on-screen bar code they can take to the yoghurt shop to have their choice of smoothie made on the spot.

‘”It’s a fun thing to show off to your friends and we think it can be an effective form of viral marketing.’" said Site Interactive CEO, Alan Ruthazer. 

These look like what we’ve heard the 3G iPhone will look like.  Our source says that the 3G iPhone looks "more like an iPod" and these certainly follow that.  However, they just have a photoshopped quality about them – start with iPod Touch then…

You know the drill…if they are still here in 24 hours…no 3G iPhone for you!

iphon.fr

Not only is the iPhone one helluva Internet browser, it is also a great camera phone.  According to Flickr, the 2 megapixel wonder is so good, it beats out the more feature packed (5 megapixel w/flash) Nokia N95 in the amount of users that upload to Flickr.  After 3G?  It isn’t even going to be funny…

More at Computerworld….

 Apple today confirmed overnight chatter claiming the company will make new film releases from most leading studios available for purchase through iTunes Store in the US on the same day as their DVD release.

Both new films and catalogue titles will be available from a range of studios, including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney

Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.

We’re thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release," said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. "We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios."

New releases available for purchase on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include ‘American Gangster’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’. Other popular titles now available for purchase include ‘Juno,’ ‘Cloverfield,’ ‘I Am Legend,’ and others.

Movies are available in the US only and are $9.99 for library title purchases and $14.99 for new releases. Rentals cost $2.99 and $3.99 respectively.

…Asmundson reports that networking giant Cisco is developing software that creates a real-time link between the iPhone and your computer. The result: A user could simply aim his iPhone at his computer and "sweep" the file to it with a finger flick, sending the file to the desktop over the phone’s built in wi-fi connection.

Shazam!

According to today’s Form 10-Q for APPLE INC filing, Apple is

…developing new digital lifestyle consumer and professional software applications; and investing in new product areas such as iPhone and wireless technologies.

Are you guys thinking what we are thinking? 

Probably not.  We are thinking about a weekend barbeque.  But no doubt Apple is considering wireless technologies like WiMAX and 802.21.  Right?  Oh, and what "new digital lifestyle and professional apps" are we looking at? 

As predicted in February, US iPhone subscribers are now getting free Wi-Fi Access at AT&T hotspots around the country including Barnes and Noble and Starbucks.  This correlates to the plans offered in the UK by O2 and Tmobile in Germany. 

Apparantly it isn’t terribly hard to spoof the iPhone interface and get your laptop on free WiFi either – as a Macrumors forum poster shows us.  No announcement from AT&T or Apple has been made but expect one shortly.

"Although skilled in a range of conventional musical instruments, we choose the iPhone and iPod touch to create our music.”

This band is progressing much beyond the original iPhone/Gameboy band…

The trio are attracting huge attention in Germany, take a look…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwoPgnvpPQg&hl=en]

 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has lambasted Microsoft for its move to effectively disable the music collections of its former MSN Music customers.

In an open letter sent to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, EFF demand the company apologise to its former customers, pays compensation and that it should in future work. “Betrayed MSN Music customers deserve more,” the EFF declares.

MSN Music sold song downloads encrusted in digital rights management (DRM), allowing the music to be played only on approved devices. Music fans who upgrade their computers must reauthorise their music files with MSN Music’s DRM server – which the company last week announced it plans to shut down later this year, “because of the complexity of maintaining the technology.”

“MSN Music customers trusted Microsoft when it said that this was a safe way to buy music, and that trust has been betrayed," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "If Microsoft is prepared to treat MSN Music customers like this, is there any reason to suppose that future customers won’t get the same treatment?

“With MSN Music, Microsoft has admitted just how expensive, clumsy, and unfair DRM is. It’s time for Microsoft to reject this sloppy technology, and for customers to demand something better," McSherry said.

 Lack of an FM radio is a small but regular criticism of the iPhone, though the tuners included on competing handsets are often poor quality with unreliable reception. But at least on developer is thinking different, with Rogue Amoeba developing a version of RadioShift to the iPhone and iPod touch.

RadioShift is a popular software application which lets users browse, play, record and time-shift online radio stations, with 50,000 accessible by default.

RadioShift for the iPhone and iPod touch will allow users to review an online radio guide and tune into selected shows. The desktop version of the application lets users record shows for later listening and supports multiple streaming formats.

While the software remains in development it’s a promising move to open up access to digital radio through Apple’s devices, particularly as the number of stations offering internet streamed broadcasts supplemental to their traditional broadcasting models continues to increase.

News that the developers are involved in assembling the application first appeared here in early-April. Company developer Mike Ash did offer a warning that his application may never see the light of day, however: “Every iPhone application must be approved by Apple. Whether Apple will approve any given application is an enormous risk, since it’s impossible to know until you’ve already sunk a great deal of work into it.”

 The BBC today announced it has begun selling its content through iTunes in the US.

BBC America programming will be made available for purchase and download to US iTunes users for the first time, in a strategic move to build cultural bridges across the Atlantic, initiated by BBC Worldwide.

"BBC is delighted to provide US audiences with the unique ability to purchase and download select award-winning BBC America programming on the iTunes Store," said Beth Clearfield, Vice President of Digital Media and Business Development, BBC Worldwide America. "As the first UK broadcaster available in the US, BBC is leveraging its trusted international brand in entertainment to provide our audiences with a first-rate digital experience."

BBC shows now available on the US iTunes Store include the hugely succesful Torchwood, Robin Hood and hilarious comedy series, Little Britain. During the run of its new season, Robin Hood episodes will be available on iTunes 24 hours after they premiere on BBC America.

The BBC was the first UK broadcaster to offer television shows through iTunes in the UK. Shows cost $1.99.

 iPhone and iPod touch users have a new tool today, with the introduction of a software/service combination that lets us use the device as a remote video surveillance system.

Mobiscope for iPhone lets users set-up their home computers as video surveillance systems, allowing them to watch footage captured using the computer on their iPhone – ideal if you want to keep an eye on your home or office, or even to keep track of your children around the home.

The computer software supports motion detection, so your webcam will start sending you images the moment movement is detected. iPhone users can view up to four cameras or switch between them to get a zoomed-in view. The service (which costs $29.95) also offers secure access to recordings and data encryption.

Mobiscope is already available for BlackBerry, Symbian and Java phones. "We hope Mobiscope will become the in-pocket tool for anyone from mid-level executives to single mothers, from reporters to accident witnesses" said Igor Vasiliev, head of development.

 Apple will introduce the iPhone in Canada later this year, working with Rogers Telecom to bring the device to the country.

This news has been confirmed this morning in a short statement from the Canadian network operator. Ted Rogers, company President and CEO issued a statement to the following effect: “We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year. We can’t tell you any more about it now, but stay tuned.”

Rogers Telecom has been in the frame for an iPhone launch for some time, with industry observers noting the network to be the only one with the GSM/EDGE infrastructure required to support the device in that country. As 9to5 Mac noted in March, “if you have a hacked iPhone they are your only choice.” Unless Apple plans to liberate the Canadian launch from being available exclusively through Rogers (and there’s nothing in today’s company statement that certainly implies an exclusive deal) the news means competing Canadian telco’s have lucked-out, despite the Canadian government currently auctioning off more mobile spectrum.

With this morning’s news speculating a wider distribution in Latin America, our recent disclosure of Apple’s plans for introducing the iPhone into Mexico and continued – and intensive chatter emanating from within carriers worldwide, Apple seems set to make an aggressive move to widen its distribution, perhaps as soon as June, making the device available through multiple carriers in those countries where such a move most makes sense.