The march to carrier agnosticism for the iPhone continues with Germany the new front, where T-Mobile has lost its iPhone monopoly, a tipster tells us.
Announcements are due from O2 and Vodafone that they plan to begin selling the iPhone in Germany perhaps as soon as the end of the month (October).
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Android may be catching up to iOS in terms of overall users, but according to Good, a maker of mobile enterprise messaging software, it is nowhere close to Apple in the enterprise. Key findings of the report:
Among its many insights, the report shows that in less than two months from its late June launch, the Apple iPhone 4 became the most frequently activated device among Good’s enterprise customers. The Apple iPad leaped into the top five very quickly as well, showing that enterprise customers want to use these new tablet devices for business. Android continued to grow rapidly as more new devices come to market, with the Droid X by Motorola ranked as the most frequently activated Android device in September.
COMPUTERWORLD: When it comes down to mind-share, Google’s own search data shows that Apple’s ‘iPhone’ has the mojo, driving more electronic data jumpiness than ‘Android’, ‘iPad’, ‘Microsoft’ or even ‘Apple’ itself, at least, according to Google Trends.
That’s as June quarter data confirms Apple’s iPhone sales fell slightly as it moved to the iPhone 4, and the company continues to translate this global focus into space in the enterprise. Meanwhile Microsoft has come along to spoil Android’s lunch…
This hasn’t taken long: recall one of the early winners of funding from the infamous ‘iFund’ venture capital stash designed to boost Apps development? It was ngmoco, of course, and now that hugely succesful company is set to be acquired by Japanese social games network, DeNA Co.
The $403 million purchase follows August’s news that Google Ventures invested $5 million in the developer.
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MusicAlly notes Apple has published an extensive guide for indie artists attempting to get themselves signed up onto the ‘social network for music’, Ping. The move attempts to meet some critics who’ve panned the service for its pro major label slant.
The Artist Ping – Guidelines document that gives tips on getting up and running. It includes the inevitable content policies, “no pornography, hate speech, racism, nudity or drug use”. Artists are also warned not to link to sites outside of iTunes or to other providers.
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Today, Microsoft unveiled all the specifics about their new Windows Phone 7 operating system. First off, their new operating system will launch on 10 brand-new devices for over 60 carriers in over 30 countries.
Surprisingly, the operating system is not really similar to iOS and the phones look pretty slick. They all run a 1 GHz processor at minimum and all rock displays larger than or equal to the size of the iPhone’s. Engadget‘s got a nice overview of them.
Oh, and Apple hit at an all time high today, crossing $297 at some point. (From the looks of it it was right around 9:30 ET). :D
Business Insider talked with Piper Jaffey’s Gene Munster who had this to say:
“Ultimately, we think that Apple won’t have the majority of the (tablet) market share. It’ll probably be with Android-based tablets.”
He also said component reports out of China and Taiwan that Apple is gearing up to sell 45 million iPads for the next year are “a little bit aggressive.” He sees a more realistic figure falling in the 20-25 million range.
Interesting words from the guy who usually has AAPL about $100 higher than the rest of Wall St. Is Mr. Munster trying to “temper” enthusiasm for this week’s earnings call?
Apple has won the trademark for the now utterly ubiquitous phrase, “There’s an app for that”.
Apple filed for the trademark in December 2009, the phrase was first used on January 26, 2009, the trademark request claimed.
Bonjour les Québecois. Apple se prépare à ouvrir sa première boutique de détail chez vous. Il y a même des emplois figurant sur le site de recrutement Apple.
Translation: Apple will open its first retail store in Quebec City, and is already recruiting staff for its new shop.
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There’s some discussion today speculating Apple plans to pass on Verizon’s now slowly being rolled-out 4G network (LTE), these reports emanate from TechCrunch.
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COMPUTERWORLD: Forget the old myth that Apple isn’t big in the corporate and enterprise sectors. It isn’t true. Last week a hugely corporate gathering of senior corporate treasurers from round the world saw interest in Apple like you’ve never seen before.
Eminem’s people are determined to force Apple (AAPL) to cough up cold hard cash in settlement of the outstanding litigation over download sales of the artist’s music.
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Yet another giant step for Apple-kind as the iPad makes hearts beat faster across the financial services sector can wider acceptance of Apple products in the enterprise be far behind?
BNP Paribas Securities Services’ NeoLink client portal is now available on iPad. Launched in 2008, NeoLink gives clients instant access to all of their on-line applications.
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Original Mac Mini vs. new AppleTV
We’ve been able to verify that the Limera1n does work on AppleTVs (TUAW also) though no apps run on it and OpenSSH isn’t yet available. But soon, you’ll be able to punch though into your AppleTV box and have a pretty basic Unix machine with a command line interface and a significantly powerful GPU.
So what kind of computer do you get for $99 (and $64 for Apple’s N+1).
…or what fun toys does this have inside to exploit? From the teardown we know it has Bluetooth and FM. We also know from its specs that it has 10/100 Ethernet, Wifi N, USB and 720P HDMI video out (1280×720) which also carries digital audio. Internally it has a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8, 256MB of RAM and 8GB of storage.
With some significant hacking, these could make fantastic little DNS servers or Firewall/VPN/Routers. It shouldn’t be too hard to turn an Ethernet wired AppleTV into an Airport base station for instance. It might be a bit harder (or not) to turn it into a fantastic little NAS with the USB port on the back. At $99/ea these are going to be great hacking toys.
But why stop there?
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We’re less than 24 hours away from the launch of Windows Phone 7 and we already have a minor controversy. It seems Microsoft has been advertising that they’ll be carrying the uber-popular Angry Birds game on their platform. (Available on iOS and Android currently).
The only problem is that not only isn’t Angry Birds not available for Microsoft Phone 7, the developers aren’t even working on it. Actually they hadn’t even planned on working on it according to an ….errrrm… Tweet from the developers:
Interestingly, we’ve been getting word from some App Store developers that Microsoft is aggressively hounding them to build their apps for the Windows Phone 7 platform, even offering cash incentives ($99) in the case below (Thanks Jesse!):
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Meizu, the infamous copy cats of the iPhone, have been mimicking the iPhone’s design and features since way back in 2007 and today they are announcing they are stopping sales of their M8 device. On Meizu’s online forums today, Meizu CEO Jack Wong announced that sales of their M8 will cease indefinitely due to pressure from Apple. Additionally, future devices in development, like the M9, may be cancelled or postponed for the foreseeable future.
Image via CultofMac.com (thx commenter)
Apple initially had Meizu to agree to cease development of future devices so this news shows Apple’s change of plans. It looks like Meizu is complying but they are upset that Apple brought China’s Intellectual Property department into the ordeal as a form of pressure. This government office has the right to shut down Meizu’s factory without a formal order from the courts so it looks like Meizu is doing all they can to prevent that.
Update: Here’s a likely fake e-mail from Jobs stating his views on the M8.
Apple months ago blew by Microsoft in the market cap department but Microsoft still eeked by in the revenue department last quarter (see chart below).
But both the bloggers and Wall St. analysts think that Apple is going to have close to a $20 billion quarter.
On a support document on their technical support website (via SaudiMac), Apple has officially confirmed and outlined where their FaceTime video calling service is not available. When looking at the chart, every country and carrier with a footmark of ‘4’ does not support FaceTime.
If you look through the entire support article you will find that five Middle Eastern countries, cropped out and shown above, are the only ones that do not support FaceTime. These are Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Oh, and Apple is very clear to say “FaceTime is not available on this CARRIER.” — Saying it’s the carrier’s decision?
Update: We missed Egypt:
Back in May we reported that major retailer, Walmart, would begin selling the iPad at some point in 2010. Since then Target has begun selling the iPad through their retail stores and rumors of an imminent iPad launch at Walmart have recently emerged. Today, MacRumors reports that Walmart will begin selling iPads very soon and Walmart corporate is already feeding instructions to store managers. The report also includes a spy shot of a Walmart store’s iPad and iPad accessory launch inventory.
The image shows that Walmart will be carrying all six models of the iPad along with all the Apple-branded accessories including the Apple Wireless Keyboard and the AppleCare protection plan. Following Target’s iPad launch, Amazon began selling the iPad through their online store earlier this week. Apple is clearly expanded their iPad distribution with the help of major online retailers and thousands of physical retail locations across the United States.
Update: MacRumors adds that Walmart’s iPad launch will occur next week and iPads should be at 1000 Walmart retail locations by October’s end.
Update: iPads are already hitting Walmart shelves – This makes it official.
One of AT&T’s major selling points, especially for the iPhone, is the ability for users to talk on the phone will using data. This selling point has even been marketed in AT&T’s own commercials and even one of Apple’s. This talking while browsing feature allows you to hit the home button while on a phone call and browse Safari or check the weather for example. Verizon is yet to gain the feature, but The Wall Street Journal claims the feature is coming soon.
Verizon Wireless is working on providing that capability, said Verizon executive Brian Higgins. He wouldn’t say when it will be ready, but played down the need for handling voice and data at the same time.
Verizon working on this important feature now is pretty convenient for the rumored launch window of the CMDA iPhone 4 and we think this news will only add more fuel to the Verizon iPhone rumors.
Just the other day we reported on claims from the Wall Street Journal stating a Verizon iPhone will indeed launch in early 2011. The latest reports are the most substantial yet, and Verizon is not the only one rumored to be getting a CMDA iPhone with Chinese carrier, China Telecom, reportedly also in talks with Apple for a CDMA device in 2011. Today, The New York Times backs up these recent claims stating that Apple will in fact be delivering a CMDA version of the iPhone 4 for Verizon.
After more than three years of using only AT&T cellphone networks, Apple is making a version of the iPhone 4 for Verizon’s network, according to a person who is in direct contact with Apple. Apple and Verizon will begin selling the phone early next year, the person said, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the plans were supposed to be confidential and he did not want to alienate his contacts at Apple.
There has been much discussion regarding a Verizon iPhone but a few important details are still up for debate. The question no longer seems to be ‘is Verizon getting the iPhone?’ but is how. Will the device simply be an iPhone 4 with a CMDA chip? Will it be the next-gen iPhone with new features? Most importantly, will it be 4G or 3G? It is not clear which direction in terms of phone design Apple will take with their CMDA version, but it makes sense that Apple will stick to their current design and feature set at initial launch.
The New York Times speculates that this will not simply be a Verizon iPhone 4 but will be a CMDA iPhone 4 that is compatible with multiple CDMA carriers world-wide. Just yesterday rumors of talk between China Telecom and Apple emerged that seem to lineup with many of the recent rumors.
So how is it?
I tried out Flash on a Motorola Droid X. (You can download Flash from the Android Market store.) There’s no doubt about it. Without Flash, you’re missing a lot of the Web. Suddenly I could watch sports clips, news shorts and nytimes.com videos. Suddenly blinking Web ads made their first appearance on the phone, for better or worse. You can zoom in just the way you’d zoom into any Web page—on the Droid X, by spreading two fingers apart on the glass. And you can rotate the phone 90 degrees to make the video fit better.
But caveats galore:
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Ballmer being Ballmer. Can’t make it up.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycnA16CHNdM&w=640&h=505]
Update: The sometimes reliable New York Post says that Apple is currently in negotiations with the labels to do this very thing.
Spotify has been a pretty unmitigated success in Europe as our European readers can probably attest. The subscription model it has built is pretty compelling. For a (~$10) subscription fee, you have access to most of the popular music on earth through streaming channel. What’s more is that you can download playlists for offline listening. This all fits under a monthly fee model. But that’s not why Spotify is a success.
You might be saying that Napster has been trying this for a few years (the legit version) so what gives Spotify an edge?
Spotify’s success also hinges on a great interface and more importantly an ad-supported mode which people basically have access to the world’s music for free if they listen to a few ads.
