billso.com » iPhone

Congratulations, it’s an iPad!

billso — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:03:35 +0000

Katherine Bell of the Harvard Business Review seems amused by Apple’s naming choice for its new tablet computer. The iPad has become the target of jokes worldwide in the 24 hours since Steve Jobs unveiled the product yesterday. See her article titled The Day Apple Turned the Web into Junior High for some more discussion.

The iPod name was ridiculed when Jobs introduced the first model in 2001, but consumers got past the name and looked at the offering’s value. Here’s a video of the product introduction.

On January 20, 2010 in the WSJ, Kara Swisher predicted that the tablet would be called the iPad. She noted that the name is easier to market than some of the alternatives. See her article called BoomTown Psychic Prediction: “iPad” Will Be Name of New Apple Tablet (Take a Poll to Make Your Guess!)

There were intellectual property issues that influenced the naming process, too. Several outlets including TUAW have noted that Fujitsu has claimed the iPad name in the USA. See Rumor: Apple gunning for iPad trademark for more details.

Outside the English-speaking markets, the iPad name should not cause much of a fuss.

Updated 1718 HT: TUAW has posted an article called Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 Newspad finally arrives, nine years late comparing the iPad to a tablet computer that astronauts used in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Newspad has been my long-time benchmark for a tablet computer, even though it was only a movie prop. Looks like I will finally have a Newspad this year.

12 seconds of St. Patrick’s Day

billso — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:05:45 +0000

It’s so much easier to post and record video to the web these days. I used my iPhone and 12seconds.tv’s app to make a 12-second long video of yesterday’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration in downtown Honolulu.

[iPhone] St Patrick’s day in Honolulu on 12seconds.tv

On a computer, users, can actually record and submit 12 seconds worth of video. On an iPhone, the app lets users take or pick three photos, and then uses the microphone to record the audio.

Iolani Palace sunset

billso — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:57:16 +0000

We did the evening tour last night at Iolani Palace, which was held in honor of Queen Kapiolani’s birthday.

Images above and below courtesy of billso on flickr via a Creative Commons license.

The great 2008 Oahu blackout

billso — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:50:01 +0000

Around 7 pm last night, the power went out in our downtown Honolulu condo. My wife kept her Windows laptop on while we pulled out candles, batteries, a radio and flashlights.

Then I hopped onto my iPhone and started twittering. Within 15 minutes, it was apparent that most of Oahu had lost their electricity. We decided to stay home and listen to the radio.

The Associated Press story called Hawaii’s Oahu island regains power after blackout provides a quick summary of the night.

All in all, the experience was a lot smoother than the 2006 blackout. There was no earthquake this time, but it was a Friday night with plenty of people out on the streets to go to parties, events and concerts.

A HECO representative who was dispatched to KSSK radio confirmed that lightning strikes had damaged several transmission lines near the Keha generation facility, forcing Oahu’s electric utility to start load shedding.

Read Nathan Kam’s article Lightning dances across Oahu skies — he’s also posted a YouTube video of last night’s cloud lightning — it’s called Amazing lightning show across Oahu skies.

Keha 4 eventually shut down, setting up a black start scenario similar to the 15 October 2006 earthquake.

Early in the blackout, Ryan Ozawa suggested a Twitter hashtag of #hipower. hashtags are short strings of text that Twitter users can include in their messages, to help other users find content regarding a location or event.

By 10 pm there were a couple of hundred messages in that category. You can read these messages using this Twitter search link.

Ryan also managed to post an article called Honolulu Power Outage Covered Online from his MacBook and Sprint EVDO connection.

John Garcia used Twitter to chronicle his efforts as he helped assemble the Honolulu Advertiser’s digital edition. The Advertiser decided to upload the PDF page proofs for this morning’s edition, as there was no power for the printing presses. It’s understandable considering the circumstances, and the Advertiser did publish an article called Advertiser apologizes for no print edition today.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin had similar problems. See their article called Oahu getting power back gradually.

KGMB channel 9 (CBS) set up a live streaming video feed. There are some details in this video called Blackout Behind the Scenes at KGMB9 . KHNL channel 8 (NBC) sent its reporters out into the epic traffic jams to gather news.

A few minutes ago, Russ posted a blog entry called Home — Waialae/Kahala — Hele Broadband about his residential Internet connection. Twitter reports and KSSK indicated that Time Warner Oceanic’s Road Runner and VoIP services went down during the blackout.

Our Verizon and AT&T mobile phones kept their connections, and I had 3G service throughout the blackout.

Capsun Poe posted his experiences in an article called
The Big Bad Boxing day Blackout of 2008.

Distracted drivers and the law

billso — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:44:02 +0000

Honolulu city council member Charles Djou has proposed a bill that would ban text messaging and video gameplay while driving. See the Honolulu Star-Bulletin article, No driving and texting, and the Honolulu Advertiser’s article, Honolulu City Council considers ban on texting while driving, for more information.

Man driving and talking on his mobile

A few of the comments on these articles suggested that police officers would encounter problems enforcing a text messaging ban. It’s unlikely that a driver will be pulled over for texting, especially if there is no state or Federal law on the books. A city law would be enforced on city streets.

It’s much more likely that these laws will be used to file additional charges related to a traffic or pedestrian accident.

Every mobile phone carrier also keeps a record of the time, date and content of each text message. The carrier’s logs may also note the cell phone tower that received the text message. That information is enough to link the message and the device to a specific time and location.

Carriers still include on the monthly invoice a time/date stamp and phone number for every text message. All the police have to do is subpoena the accused’s mobile phone carrier for these records.

It’s easy enough to spot someone who is text messaging. They’re hunched over their phone. Video game usage isn’t tracked by mobile phone towers if the device has no radio, but officers and eyewitnesses can still testify that they saw a distracted driver using a device.

When I lived in Florida, there was a state law that banned headphone use by drivers. This was in the early 1980s, when Walkmen tape players and radios were popular.

When I’m walking, I try to count the number of drivers who are wearing earbuds or headphones. I see too many people who drive with their ears covered, especially on scooters and mopeds. It’s amazing how little common sense some people have.

Image courtesy of bradleygee on Flickr through a Creative Commons license.

More students are adopting Macs and the iPhone

billso — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:13:41 +0000

As we start the university school year in North America, more students are buying and using Macs and iPhones. In a few cases, universities are giving freshman students Apple hardware. 9to5mac has an excellent article on this trend called iPhone takes a seat across university campuses. Jonathan D. Glater also discussed university Mac adoption in his New York Times article called Welcome Freshman. Have an iPod.

With the high cost of gas, fewer students are driving themselves to campus.

Will fewer students be tempted to use their iPhones and iPod Touches as heads-up video displays in their automobiles, as shown in jiggymatt’s YouTube video called “Heads Up” iPhone Display and discussed in a bookofjoe article called ‘It’s great — I can watch my stuff while I’m driving’?

If you’re dumb enough to watch videos while you’re driving, you probably shouldn’t be going to college.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Divided attention and food in the classroom

billso — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:58:24 +0000

I teach graduate courses on information systems. This fall, I’m teaching two undergraduate sections of an entry-level computer science course about Microsoft Office.

I’ve been polishing up my syllabus, and writing a very short policy about Internet use in the classroom. Cara Finnegan, an associate professor of communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, describes student usage of email, the web and mobile phones during class time as a problem of divided attention, and posted this policy in an article on her blog entitled The syllabus it is a-changing:

“If you aren’t using it to perform a task specifically related to what we are doing in class at that very moment, put it away.”

It’s an excellent policy. Classroom time is limited, and students need to pay attention to what is happening. At the same time, instructors should plan an interesting and engaging series of activities for each class meeting. A well-planned session will help reduce the temptation for students to whip out their cell phone or check their email.

In the past, I’ve reminded students that the classroom computers and the wireless networks are monitored by university IT staff. It’s a good point of discussion when the class is studying network security or phishing. But more students are coming to class with mobile data cards in their laptops, or smartphones that use the mobile phone network. An Internet “kill switch” on the instructor’s podium might control the classroom’s connection to the university network, but they won’t disrupt a wireless connection.

It’s a classroom, not a lunchroom

Students often complain about arbitrary rules and inconvenient procedures. These rules have a variety of purposes, but they do help us identify students who can’t or won’t follow instructions.

I continue to include eating in my policy, especially when my courses meet in the Frear Center. My university has posted a strict no eating and drinking policy in that building for the last 6 years, but many instructors and students outside my college choose to ignore the rule.

I’ve heard a wide variety of stories and excuses. Some students have claimed they have never encountered a similar rule at their other schools. That might be true, but I’ve seen “no food and beverage in the classroom” policies at every university that I’ve worked at or attended.

At times, I’ve seen students smuggle in food and then lie about what they had done. Lying to a security guard seems like a poor idea, especially when the guards are supposed to keep homeless people and lost tourists out of the classroom building.

Students who bring in their own food usually don’t consider that their classmates or instructor might be allergic to an ingredient in the food. I’ve often wondered what would happen if a teacher had to cancel an in-class exam because they were allergic to peanuts.

My university has relied upon instructors to remind students about these policies. It boggles my mind when some students fail to understand that these same instructors might be grading their assignments and exams.

I do my best to be courteous when I remind students about these policies. I have less patience for my fellow faculty members who ignore these policies or encourage students to flaunt the rules.

Other readings

Finnegan cites a New York Times article as an inspiration for her policy. The closest article was published on 23 March 2008 and called The tension builds (It’s almost Monday) — not the 25th as Finnegan claims in her post. That article discusses the digital leash that employees willing wear during the weekend as they cheek their work-related email and messages.

Delaney Kirk briefly discussed Finnegan’s article in a post called Put Your Policy On Texting, Emailing, Or Surfing During Class On Your Syllabus.

Waterproof your iPod with Golden Shellback

billso — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:35:02 +0000

Golden Shellback is a coating that is applied to mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. Apparently it requires placing the device in a vacuum chamber. Once the process is complete, the device can be dunked under a foot of water without damage.

If this really works, it’s remarkable. See gcaptain’s post Golden Shellback [via Gizmodo’s Waterproof Gadget Coating is Invisible, Mystifying, Mind Boggling Witchcraft and TekZilla for more details.

Golden Shellback Waterproof Coating from gCaptain.com on Vimeo.

WordPress for the iPhone and iPod Touch

billso — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:38:44 +0000

There’s a free WordPress app for the iPhone and the iPod Touch at the iTunes App Store. I posted this article with the app.

More information and a demo video are available at the official web page at iphone.wordpress.org

iPhone 3G reviews are less than glowing

billso — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:43:07 +0000

The first reviews of the iPhone 3G are coming in, and they are less than glowing. Two of the reviewers are iPhone users who have been using new 3G models provided by Apple for a while.

Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal likes the iTunes App store and 3G bandwidth, but he did not like the shorter battery life. During one day of testing, his iPhone ran out of power.

Mossberg also notes that the AT&T’s new data plan pricing means that the iPhone 3G is more expensive than its predecessor. His article called Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G has a video review, and a good amount of detail.

David Pogue of the New York Times has his review in an article called For iPhone, the ‘New’ is Relative. Pogue seems to agree with Mossberg that current iPhone owners shouldn’t rush to the store for a new iPhone.

There’s still no voice dialing, video recording, copy-and-paste, memory-card slot, Bluetooth stereo audio or phone-to-phone photo sending (MMS).

Upgrading to the iPhone 2.0 firmware will provide access to official applications, along with many of the software tweaks in the 3G model like Microsoft Exchange support. The firmware won’t make an old iPhone use 3G frequencies or upgrade an old unit’s psuedo-GPS, however.

I’m less interested in getting an iPhone now, and more interested in looking at an iPod Touch, the WiFi-only cousin of the iPhone. The Touch won’t make phone calls, but I can buy an old unit and add the iPhone 2.0 firmware for $10, or just buy a new model.

Want to see the insides of an iPhone 3G? iFixIt from New Zealand has posted plenty of pictures. At least the battery is no longer soldered onto the board connections!

Image courtesy of dotmotion through a Creative Commons license.

Is email in danger from microblogging?

billso — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:57:42 +0000

I’ve claimed for several years now that email is broken. At best, email is the lowest common denominator (LCD) for sending messages to a specific Internet user. Every ISP subscription comes with some kind of email account. Free webmail addresses are easy to get. Many mobile phone accounts come with an email address. Alex Iskold’s post from ReadWriteWeb called Is Email in Danger? discusses how microblogging services like Twitter can overcome the inherent problems of heavyweight email clients like Microsoft Outlook.

Broadcasting with a microblog

Microblogging services are best suited for broadcasting messages to lots of users. FriendFeed, Twitter and similar services are widely used by popular bloggers to publicize their latest posts and mention their daily activities. Most of these services accept text messages and offer mobile versions of their web sites, so they are easier to use than email from an ordinary mobile phone. iPhone and BlackBerry users have better email clients on their devices, but microblogging from these devices seems to work well.

As I mentioned yesterday in my article called The battle against Twitter spam, microblogging services like Twitter have their own problems. Because email is a mission critical service, it’s almost always available and working. Collecting comments and posts from microblogs can be accomplished with RSS — I use this to repost my FriendFeed activity to billso.com, but it would take a bit more effort to do this as part of an archiving and compliance effort.

I’ve never been a fan of Outlook. In its easly versions (Outlook 97 and 98), the application would crash at least once a day. Microsoft developed ActiveSync software to support PDAs, but 10 years later it is still a maddening piece of cruft.

Look out for Outlook and iTunes

My university uses Microsoft Exchange as its faculty/staff email server, so I occasionally get meeting invitations and Outlook forms in my Gmail my box. All of my university email is auto-forwarded into my Gmail account. Microsoft meeting invitations are useless in Gmail — I have to tap out a reply to accept or decline the meeting.

To be honest, Apple’s iTunes is following a similar evolution. It start as a music player, but has become a media storefront, disc burner and iPhone application installer. I’d think that several specific lightweight apps would work better than a huge, monolithic instance of iTunes. On a Mac, iTunes performance is barely tolerable. iTunes on a Windows box is a lumbering behemoth.

Gmail, on the other hand, was designed as a lightweight solution that would work in a standard web browser. I love Gmail because I can search for messages quickly, and I know I won’t run out of storage room for old messages. There’s no reason for me to delete an old message in Gmail.

Attacking the inbox

One approach to managing a bulging email inbox is to sit down and clear the queue. The Inbox Victory web page tries to make this process fun by letting users post pictures of themselves with their empty inboxes. I clear out my Gmali inboxes a few times a year.

Luis Suarez of IBM claims that he reduced his incoming email by 80%, thanks to his usage of social networking tools like RSS feeds, Twitter and IBM’s internal clone of Facebook, Beehive. Suarez discussed his article in the New York Times called I Freed Myself from E-Mail’s Grip.

Suarez admits that his job as a social computing evangelist helped him cut his email volume. He’s supposed to encourage his fellow IBM employees and managers to use Beehive, which is as much a knowledge management (KM) tool as it is a social intranet application. IBMers are supposed to use Beehive to share events, lists, pictures, tips, and ideas across the enterprise, as part of formal and ad hoc workgroups and project teams.

Image courtesy of gwENvision through a Creative Commons license.

How colorful should a laptop computer be?

billso — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:11:40 +0000

I see more white and silver laptops than black models when I walk around campus and the shopping mall these days. Colored laptops might look nice in the home, but do people really want to live with one color choice for 2 or more years?

If you don’t like the stock color of your device, Colorware will sell you a custom painted Blackberry, iPhone, iPod, game console or laptop. They’ll also paint your equipment. Their process takes a few days, and you have to wait for the mail or FedEx, though.

It’s easy to wrap a laptop in decals. Students and programmers like to do this, because it’s a great way to personalize a computer. The decals also help the user identify their computer easily.

But I’m not sure I’d go to a job interview with a laptop covered in bumper stickers, unless I knew the client well enough. An accountant might not visit carry a bright purple computer with Astroturf on the lid to a major client meeting.

Erica DeWolff has posted a nice article about this issue at Professionalism and computer color: What do you think? The comments on that article are fun to read.

Skinit.com, schtickers.com, skinvo.net and other companies sell a variety of large, colorful stickers that are custom cut each model’s dimensions — and some companies will let you design your own laptop skin.

iPhone 3G must be activated in the store

billso — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:05:50 +0000

The new iPhone 3G cannot be activated using iTunes. Consumers must visit an authorized retailer to activate the phone.

In the USA, that means a trip to the Apple Store or an AT&T store, and not to a gray market retailer or an eBay seller.

The jailbreakers will find ways around this new rule, I’m sure.

Of course, Apple hasn’t announced what will happen if an iPhone 3G isn’t activated within 30 days of sale. The serial number is already on a bar code on the package, so Apple would know when and where each iPhone is sold.

There is a loophole for enterprise customers: corporate accounts can activate iPhones without a trip to a retailer. Every mobile telecom carrier offers similar privileges to their large corporate customers.

Engadget has more details.

3G coverage for the new iPhone: Honolulu vs the Northeast Corridor

billso — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:57:06 +0000

After Monday’s iPhone 3G announcement, the blogosphere is full of opinions. Engadget has a good overview of the new iPhone here. Andrew Dobrow checked the AT&T coverage map for the New York City area and claimed that the 3G coverage was poor. It looks fine to me, as long as you don’t live in central New Jersey. Our 3G coverage on Oahu looks excellent by comparison.

iPhone 3G coming on July 11

billso — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:32:47 +0000

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 3G, which I had been calling iPhone 2.0.

The new iPhone will support 3G data connections, which should provide faster service when users cannot access a WiFi network. Om Malik thinks that some carriers, including AT&T, may not be ready, which I find hard to believe.
11 July 2008 is the first day of sale in the US and several other countries, with availability in 70 countries by 2009.
The new iPhone is slightly thinner, so it should fit inside current cases and accessories.
The back of the phone is black plastic. Bye-bye, aluminum metal back.
The headphone jack is no longer recessed, so almost any standard headphone should work.
The US price has been lowered to $199 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB of RAM. There must be some factories in China that are humming with activity this summer.
The new iPhone firmware supports Chinese character recognition.
The new iPhone will have true GPS features.
Enterprises will be apple to authorize iPhones and to write enterprise applications that are restricted to company phones.
The iPhone 3G will work with Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007 servers.
The .mac email and file sharing service has been renamed to MobileMe, and given better compatibility with Windows machines
Steve Jobs claims the iPhone 3G will have decent battery life, with 300 hours of standby time, 10 hours of 2G voice, 5 hours of 3G voice, and about 6 hours of web browsing.

Engadget has a live transcript of the announcement. I enjoyed reading BoingBoing’s satirical version, written as a Greek drama.

Om Malik has a recap that focuses on the entertainment and social networking apps and sites for the new iPhone.

The impossible solar iPhone

billso — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:06:18 +0000

As we approach the 9 June 2008 launch announcement for iPhone 2.0, it’s a good opportunity to discuss the iPhone’s power requirements.

I’ve never heard anyone ask if an iPhone can be solar powered, but I have had a professor ask me when someone will “solve the battery problem”. She was annoyed that her mobile phone and computer needed to be recharged daily. Since she works outdoors for a few hours a day, she thought a solar-powered iPhone would be a great invention.

Is that a solar cell in your pocket?

The short answer is that a solar powered iPhone is almost impossible. The iPhone is really a small computer with a very bright LCD screen. It takes a powerful lithium-ion battery to run an iPhone, and that battery needs more power than the sun can provide. Apple’s official page on iPhone batteries has some details and tips, but is light on technical specifications. Even the Apple specs page doesn’t list the battery’s output and charging requirements.

I ended up searching through eBay and Google Checkout listings to find a number that sounded reasonable: 1400 mAh. It takes a few hours to charge that battery from a 2.5 watt USB cable. iPhoneAtlas has a nice article with some tips for extending the iPhone’s battery life

It’s just silly to add a solar panel directly to an iPhone, for three reasons.

iPhone users like carrying the device in their pockets or purses — and those are places the sun doesn’t shine!
Many mobile phone users recharge their phones at night, while they are asleep.
There’s also the problem of heat. Apple recommends keeping the iPhone out of direct sunlight, because heat can damage the battery and the iPhone itself.

Adding a solar cell to the iPhone would probably make the device thicker — according to Wikipedia, the device is 4.5 inches long by 2.4 wide, and is only 0.46 inches thick. A solar cell that is small enough to fit on the device would produce only a few minutes of iPhone power in an entire day of sunshine.

Apple does hold a patent for putting solar panels on portable electronic devices. But the best solar cells can only deliver a 20% efficiency ratio — and that’s when the solar cell is outside on a clear, cloudless day. Solar cells just do not work well indoors or in overcast conditions. This post from TUAW and these two articles from Forbes have some more details.

Solar chargers

It’s easier to design a solar-powered charger than placing the solar panel on the iPhone itself. The solar charger contains a large battery and several solar cells. The user places the charger in the sun for a few hours to charge the built-in battery. Then the user connects their iPhone to the charged solar device, so that the large battery is recharging the iPhone’s smaller battery.

Solio makes a cute hybrid solar charger that can handle an iPhone. It’s shown in the picture, which was provided by benbrown through a Creative Commons license.

Solar Technology sells several models of hybrid chargers, but they only ship to the UK. The Solarmonkey resembles a clamshell phone, but it can charge an iPhone.

Brando of Hong Kong has a more versatile solar device that can charge its battery from an onboard solar panel or through a USB port. It’s designed for charging small devices that require a maximum of 4.5 watts. Brando will ship to the USA. This Gizmodo article has some additional pictures.

Solar furniture

Frankly, it takes a large solar panel to directly charge an electronic device. The designers of the SOLo lounge table have the right idea. they’ve come up with an outdoor glass-topped table that is a very attractive and expensive solar panel. The table costs US$14,000 and is built to order, making the SOLo a good fit for businesses in sunny climates, or homeowners who want an interesting conversation piece.

GPS and mobile phones

billso — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:41:38 +0000

As the rumors swirl about a new iPhone model, there’s speculation that the phone will include a GPS chipset. The original iPhone simulated GPS though some Google technology, as described in this Business Week article by Arik Hesseldahl. He believes that Apple might wait on true GPS, and add it to the 3rd generation iPhone in 2009.

I think that we will see a GPS-enabled iPhone this month. Om Malik claims the new iPhone will have new GPS capabilities because of FCC regulations. Emergency 911 services are just one way that GPS can help mobile phone users.

Google engineers have been working hard on the company’s Android platform for mobile phones. This is a Linux-based system that can be used in a wide ranges of devices, from low-power basic models to CPU-intensive touch screen devices.

It’s about advertising revenue

Google, Apple and advertisers really want mobile phones to produce ongoing revenue streams, and the easiest way to do that is by placing advertising on the devices.

The Android platform will let Google serve ads onto these phones in a seamless, personalized manner. GPS chips help content providers find and serve appropriate ads based on the user’s location.

Apple and Google saw early indications that users wanted accurate location-based mobile services within the first 3 months of iPhone service in the US, according to another Om Malik article. Google Maps usage on iPhones rose quickly, while YouTube usage lagged.

The first generation iPhone suffers from its slow EDGE connection to AT&T’s network. Users want to access location-based services when they are on the move, away from WiFi networks. YouTube is a connection-intensive application, and a good indicator of user acceptance for bandwidth-intensive, media-rich location-based service.

iPhone 2.0 firmware supports Chinese character recognition

billso — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:21:50 +0000

Apple is including Chinese character recognition features in the iPhone 2.0 software release, according to MacRumors and Engadget.

I’m not sure how the software works, as iPhone users don’t have a stylus. They must use their finger, or buy a third-party stylus like this one from Pogo.

The mobile web still works with billso.com

billso — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:55:34 +0000

I’ve reconfigured m.billso.com and the entire billso.com site to work with most web-capable mobile phones, smartphones and PDAs.

iPhone and iPod Touch users will see the regular desktop version of billso.com on their devices. These users can still save a bookmark to their home screen, and that entry will display the billso.com logo.

billso.mobi will also redirect users to billso.com

I started using mowser.com in February 2008 to provide a mobile version of billso.com. Mowser inserted advertisements on the pages to help support the service.

Sadly, mowser.com has been sold and it is shutting down some of their services. Read co-founder Russell Beattie’s article for more details.

Google bets big on Sprint and Clearwire’s WiMAX joint venture

billso — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:39:28 +0000

Google is teaming up with Clearwire, Sprint, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Intel to build a national WiMAX network. See the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Branding Post for more details.

The new joint venture will retain the Clearwire brand name and Clearwire’s existing consumer WiMAX business. Sprint contributes its network infrastructure and 2.5 gHz frequency allocation. It’s possible this deal will clear the FCC and antitrust regulators, because Google isn’t a major owner in the JV.

Yesterday, a Wall Street journal blog referenced my billso.com article of 18 April 2008 in a discussion about Yahoo and Google’s possible cross-licensing deal. The Clearwire deal is a more direct combination that may help the JV partners lock in consumers, businesses and advertisers.

Too many partners?

I’m reluctant to believe if this large joint venture can actually work. Sprint is the lead partner with a 51 percent stake, and this seems like a desperation move to being acquired outright by Deutsche Telekom or another company.

Pricing and marketing may determine if consumers will pay any attention to this JV. Can Clearwire and Sprint can offer their existing customers some compelling reasons to get some new hardware and try WiMAX? Verizon earns 23 percent of its wireless revenue from data calls on that company’s EVDO and other networks.

Google does need a vast network in the US to support its Android smartphone platform, and the company can’t wait or afford to build it from scratch.

WiMAX would give Google an alternate medium for data service, instead of relying on one telecom carrier as Apple has done with AT&T. Even with 3G service, the iPhone’s data transfer rates will seem slow when the user can’t get WiFi access.

Yes, the iPhone does support WiFi. But I’m sure Clearwire and its partners will market Android phones that support WiFi as well as WiMAX and the sponsoring carrier’s cell phone service, but the battery drain for a typical mobile device user may be a serious problem.

New iPhone will be subsidized, faster and thinner

billso — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:53:23 +0000

According to Fortune, AT&T will sell the 2nd generation iPhone with a US$200 subsidy when it goes on sale on or around 27 June 2008. I’ve compiled a list of my billso.com iPhone articles below, as they contain hints or information about iPhone 2.0

It’s an Interesting way to mark the first year of the iPhone, and it’s unlikely that AT&T will lose money, given the costs of data plans for the iPhone. The subsidy may or may not be available at Apple’s retail stores.

Those discounts would make the 8GB model US$199 with a new 2-year contract, and the 16GB model US$299. Those prices make the iPhone more attractive for consumers. Expect to see more iPhones in Starbucks stores around July, as customers use AT&T WiFi access points to download songs and videos from iTunes.

The new model iPhone will be 2.5 mm thinner than the original model, and will also have 3G, GPS and 802.11n chipsets. Current models support the slower EDGE protocol, a simulated GPS system and 802.11 b/g WiFi connections

It will also include version 2.0 firmware, which will support Microsoft Exchange servers. It will be interesting to see what AT&T charges its corporate customers for iPhones.

Many of these items will help some CIOs justify the iPhone as a corporate device. RIM is preparing its own “iPhone killer” model to support its Blackberry line, according to this New York Times article.

The new firmware will also support true applications for the iPhone, instead of web-based apps.

Should Apple sell hardware on two-year contracts?

billso — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:42:48 +0000

Should Apple just sell its Mac computers and iPods with a two-year subscription, like AT&T does with the iPhone? Subscription plans are a great way to lock in customers. At the end of the contract, the user could keep their device, or trade up for a newer model and a new two-year contract.

There are two common issues with Apple products: usability and reliability.

Users tend to praise the usability and design features of Apple products. The company keeps tight control over its hardware, as I mentioned on 15 April 2008 in my billso.com article about the Open Computer. Mac software tends to be more reliable than Windows software because developers have to deal with a narrower range of hardware and operating systems

It’s very easy to damage or break a laptop computer, as I have mentioned in my billso.com articles of 3 March 2008 and 30 September 2006. The iPhone and iPod Touch ranges use flash memory instead of hard drives to increase their shock resistance. Hard drives aren’t the only point of failure in laptops, of course, Jacks, connectors, and power supplies are vulnerable components.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have special indicators in the headphone jacks that change color if they are dunked in water; see this article on Wired and this HardMac post for more information. I guess Apple has had enough warranty returns because users took their iPods out in the rain or the pool, or dropped them in the toilet.

Display screens are the most fragile part of a laptop computer, of course.

Android vs iPhone

billso — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:23:19 +0000

I’ve written about the Google Phone, also known as the gPhone, before on billso.com. Mobile phone manufacturers are starting to test prototypes and prepare an initial wave of handsets for FCC certification, with public sales likely late in 2008.

The arguments among software developers are starting to heat up as Apple gets its iPhone SDK (software development kit) ready to ship, while Google continues to revise its Android SDK. Android is Google’s software platform for smartphones.

On one side, AndroidGuys claims that the first generation of Android-powered smartphones will suffer from quality control problems, incomplete software and bugs. That’s probably true. Of course, iPhone had some initial issues right out of the box, too.

On the other side, droidworks counters with an important difference between the two platforms. Apple’s iPhone is a high-end smartphone that is tightly integrated with Mac software and iTunes.

The Android platform is based on open source software, and is highly scalable. We’ll see more Google Phones in India and China than iPhones, simply because Android is much cheaper to license and easier to deploy with inexpensive chipsets. There will be gPhones from a wide variety of manufacturers. Android phones do not require a full QWERTY keyboard or a touch screen, but the software will support these features if they’re included in the hardware.

Apple, on the other hand, will remain the sole brand for the iPhone.

MySpace keeps trying to sell music downloads

billso — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 12:45:52 +0000

Smells like… depseration! The New York Times reports that three of the largest recording companies will sell digital music through an updated MySpace music store. ReadWriteWeb has more details on the updated store, which EMI is avoiding for now.

While MySpace does have a large user base, the site can’t offer the easy integration that Apple’s iPod and iTunes have developed.

Previous efforts like Helio might have survived if MySpace had done a better job with its earlier music sales sites. See this 4 September 2006 New York Times article and an earlier article from Mashable for more details.

billso.com on the iPhone and iPod Touch

billso — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:40:19 +0000

I have a few readers who follow billso.com on their iPhones. I know this because i check my server logs on a regular basis. So I have two goodies for my readers who use iPhones.

UPDATE: The first link in the next paragraph won’t resolve properly if viewed on an iPhone. iPhone users can type the following link into their browser:

http://snurl.com/2477v

This link generates an iPhone application that displays the most recent posts to billso.com. Thanks to the fine folks at iPhoneAtlas for the tip!

iPhone users can follow this link to build an iPhone application for any RSS feed. This may also work with the iPod Touch.

The second goodie is a feature I added on 29 January 2008. Use Safari to view billso.com, bookmark the site, then add the new bookmark to the iPhone home screen as a webclip. The billso.com logo appears as the webclip icon!

This page from PixelBox has a quick tutorial for those who want to add this feature to their own web sites, and this article by Cameron Hunt has an extra hack that adds a webclip bookmarklet to iPhones.

All of my iPhone related posts can be viewed through this tag link.

As a reminder, I don’t own an iPod or an iPhone… yet. I’m waiting for the 2nd generation iPhone, which will have 3G features. Both BusinessWeek and the New York Times have run articles this week indicating that a new model is coming this summer. Apple has limited inventories of current iPhones in the US.

Good thing, since Samsung and Nokia are releasing their own high-end smartphones, according to this New York Times article. Consumers are driving these changes, after years of taking whatever phones carriers would get from the handset manufacturers. Now the manufacturers are scurrying to design and deliver mobile phones that rival minicomputers, while the telecom carriers rush to open their networks.

Today’s battle for tomorrow’s mobile phones

billso — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:38:51 +0000

From the New York Times comes a quick article about competitive forces in the mobile phone industry. The level of competition is very high, timelines can be long, and there is little margin for error.

The decisions that are being made now will affect mobile phone design, of course. The telecoms then have to sort through competing standards and schemes to create valuable calling plans and packages.

What operating systems will end up on handsets? Google is developing Android. Microsoft has Windows Mobile. Apple has adapted OS X for its mobile phones. Many mobile phones run Java.

As I mentioned on 20 February 2008, Symbian has more users than any of these competitors combined.

What features and file formats will be supported? Users want music and video, and web applications. Companies want enterprise applications, built-in security, and cost management features.

At a higher level, what systems will be used to serve, store and send data from the Internet to mobile phones? Users and companies want to work with current, relevant data. But local data storage is limited on small devices. Storing data on the Internet provides automatic backup and retention.
Java and Flash are battling at the network level, while Microsoft deploys Silverlight. Google is adapting its Gears API to support mobile phones, while Android will support cloud computing from day one.

Starbucks, coffee and music

billso — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:05:52 +0000

Last night, every Starbucks store in the United States closed at 1730 local time for a three-hour training session. See this New York Times article about the training project.

I’ve written a long article, so you might want to get comfortable and find a tasty beverage.

The company’s CEO, Howard Schultz, wants Starbucks to return to its roots: making excellent coffee beverages, slowly. But Starbucks is working harder than ever to turn its miik-and-coffee shops into WiFi-enriched media listening lounges. It’s a plan that’s rife with assumptions about how the digital consumer entertains themselves.

Starbucks’ fascination with recorded music has never made much sense to me, because most fast food chains try to maximize customer turnover during the day. Serving customers faster should mean additional revenue per hour. A corporate playlist, slow service and comfy chairs should have the opposite effect.

Then again, most franchised burger joints don’t have merchandise displays on the floor. Starbucks stores do, and I often wonder who buys these items. If the service will be slower, and the company is returning to its roots, why doesn’t Starbucks remove the displays so that more customers could stand in line?

In the end, Starbucks wants its customers to spend more time in the store. It’s a core piece of the company’s strategy. If these customers have the means to afford a laptop computer or an iPod, they might buy a dessert or an extra beverage.

If at first you don’t succeed…

A few years ago, Starbucks experimented with CD burning kiosks in a few stores. Here’s some articles from Business Week in 2004 and KioskNews in 2006 about this dubious idea. I loved Howard Schultz’s quotes from the 2004 article – he was an enthusiastic champion of he projec.t Customers rarely used these stations, which housed a touch-screen Hewlett-Packard computer that helped users assemble their own playlists from an inventory of digital music. The service was slow, and the prices were about the same as itunes and other online merchants. The few customers that tried the kiosks usually figured out that they could burn their own CDs at home.

A recent New York Times article discussed an updated version of the media kiosk. Instead of a disc, customers would insert a USB memory stick. The payment and transfer process could take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour, depending upon the quality and size of the files involved. Flash memory transfer can be slow, after all.

The Starbucks kiosk project was designed to induce customer to try downloading digital music. The kiosks could hold between 250,000 and a million songs on their hard drives. Baristas aren’t known for their computer troubleshooting skills, however. When the kiosks malfunctioned, customers could not get assistance.

Last year, Starbucks decided to welcome Apple as a partner. After all, iTunes is the dominant digital music service in the USA, as I pointed out yesterday. There’s a legion of iPod users who already use iTunes at home to download music and videos.

Serving up slow coffee and fast downloads

It makes sense to ditch the kiosk and its limited inventory, and offer the entire iTunes inventory in each Starbucks. But video files are much larger than audio files, and Apple keeps adding more content to the iTunes store every day. Customers might be more likely to view and buy digital media at Starbucks if the download speeds are as good or better than their residential Internet connection.

Starbucks had to develop a way to offer the entire iTunes inventory without excessive bandwidth costs and slow download speeds. TUAW.com reported earlier this month that Starbucks may be installing edge servers in its stores. This type of server stores or caches content at the edge or end of a network, to give users faster access to files and services. An edge server is a good way to reduce bandwidth demands and manage latency by storing popular audio and video files inside the Starbucks store itself.

During the day, AT&T WiFi customers would use the WiFi access point at that Starbucks store to receive and buy audio and video content from Apple’s iTunes Store. Content would be saved to customers laptop computers, mobile phones, iPhones and iPods.

Popular audio and video files, including new releases, this week’s TV shows and best-sellers would be stored on the store’s edge server, so the user would receive their files at WiFi speed, instead of a much slower transmission from AT&T’s GSM mobile network or a remote server on the store’s broadband connection.

The edge server would receive fresh content late in the evening, based on local usage patterns and marketing plans, while the store is closed and bandwidth is less expensive. So Starbucks stores in Honolulu would probably get more Hawaiian music and “Lost” episodes on their edge servers, while Starbucks sites in Texas would store more country music and NASCAR highlights in their edge servers.

What’s the cache?

Akamai Technologies uses a similar approach to cache or store web applications, web pages, audio, video and other content in its global content distribution network network, and iTunes does use Akamai services. Yahoo, CNN, Slide and the NBA also use Akamai servers to mirror content for their web sites. Akamai’s network is designed as a cache for any Internet user, regardless of their connection. I discussed Akamai and latency on 6 June 2007.

Akamai’s network, and similar networks run by competitors, help Web publishers reach millions of users per day by mirroring content. I’ve never had this problem on billso.com, but it’s possible that someday my little web server will be swamped with requests from thousands of users for the same article. Don’t worry, billso.com has a cache feature that I can activate if I need it, so I don’t exceed my monthly bandwidth allocation.

The iTunes store inventory is placed on multiple servers located in major population centers, and connected to several fast Internet connections. Web retailers use these same networks to handle heavy shopping days like Mother’s Day and Black Monday.

Surfing on the edge is very akamai

Content distribution networks can also help remote locations with large Internet user populations. Honolulu is a great example. It makes much more sense for Hawaiian Telcom and Oceanic Time Warner to cache audio and video content on Oahu than to handle thousands of transoceanic requests for the same files. See my discussion on 7 June 2007.

The Wikipedia page for Akamai has some basic information, and links to additional articles and resources, including this 2006 Business Week article, a 2006 article from SeekingAlpha, and this MIT video – there is a play link above the photo on that page. The video is about an hour long, and it requires RealPlayer. It’s a great discussion of how an academic research project can be commercialized, but there’s a lot of technical jargon.

iTunes is number two

billso — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:05:44 +0000

From Blorge and Engadget: the iTunes Store has passed Best Buy to become the number two music retailer in the USA. Wal-Mart is still number one.

Apple says 50 million customers have bought over 4 billion songs, with 20 million sold on Christmas day alone.

Mobile phone platform wars

billso — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:07:42 +0000

The platform wars are heating up in the mobile phone industry. It is very difficult for a mobile carrier to support several different handset operating systems. Vodaphone CEO Arun Sarin estimated that his UK-based company supports 30 or 40 different OSes, according to this MacWorld UK report. Sarin is also quited in this Business Week article.

It takes a great deal of effort to establish a computing standard. Consider Apple, which became a new entrant with its iPhone. There are about 4 million Apple iPhones available or in use now, which is a respectable number when one considers its limited availability. There are no official iPhone providers in China or Japan yet, for example.

Google won’t make or market its own mobile phone, especially now that the company has dropped out of the 700 mHz auction, as reported by Forbes. The company’s Android mobile phone platform is based upon Linux, and over 30 companies have signed on to develop and support Android hardware. Prototypes of the Google phone were shown in Frankfurt at the Mobile World Congress this week. This CNET slideshow starts with a pic of one such prototype, which appears to be running and connected to a GSM network.

Microsoft used a similar approach to develop its Windows Mobile platform for PDAs and smartphones. The company expects that 20 million Windows Mobile phones from various manufacturers will be sold in the first half of 2008. None of these phones are Microsoft-branded devices.

Symbian claims to have the top spot, with 77 million units sold in the last year. Nokia is the main manufacturer that uses the Symbian operating system, along with Sony Ericsson. The latter company has started using Windows Mobile in its high-end smartphones, however.

For more information, see my earlier articles tagged as mobile, including:

11 February 2008: The modular mobile phone
31 January 2008: Applications are coming for the iPhone
25 January 2008: Nokia claims 40 percent market share
13 January 2008: The story of the iPhone
11 January 2008: BlackBerry vs iPhone
26 November 2007: Mobile devices for US census takers
24 September 2007: Do you want a PC on your iPhone?
23 April 2007: Samsung and Microsoft further their convergence goals

The modular mobile phone

billso — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:42:16 +0000

BusinessWeek reports on modu, an Israeli company that has developed a modular mobile phone around the size of an iPod Nano. The Associated Press reports the phone will be launched on 1 October 2008 in Italy, Russia and Israel.

As Reuters pointed out yesterday, telecoms and mobile phone manufacturers will be out in force at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Frankfurt, Germany. Modu is only one of several hundred manufacturers who will use their booths to show off their latest hardware.

Modu has designed a basic GSM phone that could be used on its own, but the company wants third parties to license the technology and build “jackets”. These are devices like media players, mobile handsets and other gadgets that have a slot for the modu phone. The jackets provide a larger, more comfortable form-factor for everyday use, and provide opportunities to decorate, brand and extend the phone.

Founder Dov Moran has the experience and connections to pull this off, having sold his flash memory business, M-Systems, to SanDisk in 2006 for US$1.5 billion. He’s invested US$5 million in modu, according to Reuters, and believes his new company could generate US$1 billion in sales revenue by 2011. That would rival the largest mobile phone manufacturers like Nokia and Samsung, whose businesses rely on a traditional business model. Consumers buy a handset, use it for a while, and upgrade to a different model.

The modu concept would let manufacturers add mobile connectivity to a wide range of electronic devices. Digital cameras could have a modu slot, for example. Car stereo systems might include a modu slot, as shown in the concept video on the modu website. A modu-compatible media player would be an interesting rival for the iPhone.

Creating a consumer hardware standard is tricky. Video games are a good example. Cartridges and software from one system usually do not work with another manufacturer’s console.

AT&T announces business and enterprise iPhone plans

billso — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:36:27 +0000

AT&T has finally released the Apple iPhone to business and enterprise customers, according to TidBITs. Previously, US customers had to provide a Social Security Number to open an iPhone account. This rule made early adopters use their own credit to get an iPhone, although it didn’t stop sales to corporate and small business customers.

This new change should help AT&T unload its inventory of first-generation iPhones before a second-generation iPhone with 3G data services and stereo Bluetooth audio is announced in the next few months.

Software vendors like Salesforce.com needed this change to spur corporate adoption of iPhone CRM software, as I discussed on 30 October 2007. On 31 January 2008, I mentioned that iPhone applications are in the pipeline. I’d guess that availability may be tied to the second-generation iPhone release.

I discussed some business and enterprise issues related to the iPhone on 4 September 2007 and 6 July 2007.

The mobile web and billso.com

billso — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:41:23 +0000

This site is now available in a mobile web format at http://m.billso.com/ – please give it a try with your mobile phone or PDA.

Apple iPhone users can view this site in its regular desktop mode at billso.com, or try the mobile version.

As I mentioned on 27 November 2007, the mobile web is not quite ready for the masses yet. There is no standard URL for mobile web sites, for example. Some sites like Facebook use “m.” as a subdomain that serves up a mobile site. Other mobile sites are using the .mobi top level domain. I have a short list of mobile web sites at http://billso.com/mobile/

I own http://billso.mobi and I’ve set that name to redirect to http://m.billso.com

It’s difficult to design web sites that resolve well on small screens, especially given the number of different devices, platforms and carriers that exist in the mobile Internet market.

Difficult does not mean impossible

I’ve tweaked my web site with some WordPress plug-ins. Plug-ins are prepackaged files of PHP programming code that third-parties have written to extend the WordPress blog software. I’ve made m.billso.com work on several hundred pages of content with 3 hours of effort.

The mobile version does load quickly on PDAs and phones, while preserving most of the site content. Those were my primary goals. I’m pleased with what I’ve accomplished using free software and web services.

Feel free to log on with a real computer and leave a comment about the mobile site. I’d like to know if the mobile version of this site is usable and useful for my readers.

A few of the site’s features do not work well on the mobile version. I’m looking for workarounds to address some of these problems.

The menu on the top of each page becomes a long set of entries.
The event calendar in the right sidebar turns into a single column of text, for example. This happens with the standard WordPress calendar widget, too.
Tables do not resolve well in mobile browsers, either. That’s one reason that the calendars on the Spring 2008 course pages are written in a boring text format.
The scenic image at the top of each page shrinks a bit.
Mobile users cannot enter comments. The reCAPTCHA plugin that I use to stop comment spam does not support mobile web browsers. The comment fields will appear on the mobile site, but comments will not be posted. i’ve seen very few mobile blogs that support comment entry, so I am not very worried about fixing this issue.

Applications are coming for the iPhone

billso — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:48:46 +0000

From Forbes: developers are readying programs that will actually run on the iPhone, instead of just in the Safari web browser. There’s a wide variety of web-based applications available, but these programs don’t offer the speed and features that an application that is actually running on the iPhone could provide. Web-based applications also have to respect firewall and security rules in order to access any Web-based data.

Apple has not released a Software Developers Kit (SDK) that contains tools that help programmers access the iPhone’s resident applications like the address book and calendar.

Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian mobile phones do run applications directly. The operating system developers released SDKs long ago.

Apple has maintained strict control over the iPhone application market through the company’s exclusive agreements with mobile carriers. Carriers either want to sell the iPhone or sometime like it, as I discussed on 13 January 2008. It’s widely assumed that Apple will let programmers sell their iPhone applications through iTunes, which is the management software for iPhone users. Ars Technica revealed that an iPhone application installation key – a very long string of numbers – has been identified by some programmers and released on the Internet as an image file.

Of course, Apple would take a percentage on any software sold through iTunes. The Forbes article mentions 30 percent as a possible fee. As Marc Hedlund pointed out last November, the Sidekick uses a similar business model. As a Sidekick user, I agree with Marc – I hate paying for features on my phone. The Sidekick 3 doesn’t include a world clock, for example. Users have to navigate to the phone’s download screen and buy a clock.

One of the Sidekick’s original developers, Andy Rubin, now works for Google on its Open Handset Alliance project. I mentioned the project on 5 November 2007. Here are some other articles about the rumored gPhone.

There are third-party iPhone applications available, of course. Some of these are designed to unlock the iPhone, or to add an application installer feature.

But Apple can break these unauthorized applications or change the application installation key at any time by updating the iPhone firmware, as I mentioned on 26 January 2008.

iPhone helps AT&T add more wireless customers

billso — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:00:26 +0000

As expected, AT&T is benefiting from its exclusive relationship with Apple. The telecommunications company reported on Thursday that it has 2 million iPhone customers. iPhone monthly sales figures doubled in December.

As the US market becomes saturated with mobile phone users, the telcos rely more on getting customers and corporate accounts to switch providers. As I discussed on 13 January and 11 January 2008, carriers and manufacturers are rushing new handsets and features to market. it’s a new level of competitive rivalry, and the timing is good for consumers and corporate accounts. Stockholders may suffer, however.

Nokia claims 40 percent market share

billso — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:10:23 +0000

From the Register: Nokia has achieved a new milestone by posting a 40.2 percent share of the global mobile phone market.

This is a massive market, as mobile phone adoption continues to surpass personal computer sales in many regions. The estimated total shipments for 2007 was 1.13 billion mobile phones, with a 12 percent growth forecast for 2008.

Results for the fourth quarter of 2007 were as follows, according to a press release from Strategy Analytics. Figures are in millions of units:

2.3: Apple iPhone
23.7: LG
30.8: Sony Ericsson
40.9: Motorola
46.9: Samsung
133.5: Nokia

The MacBook Air doesn’t impress me

billso — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:02:00 +0000

I’ve had a few people ask me what I think of the MacBook Air. I haven’t seen one in person, but based on what I’ve read, I’m not interested in this new model. The Air looks like the Steve Jobs’ latest new toy. What if sales are low? What if he gets interested in another project? It’s happened before, as Forbes points out.

Flash memory that replaces the hard drive is a great option. But it’s an extra US$1000.

The multipoint trackpad? We saw that coming when Steve unveiled the iPhone a year ago.

But there’s only one USB port? No RJ-45 jack? No FireWire port? It’s dealbreaker after dealbreaker, I’m afraid.

The sealed battery is the real killer. Sure, the replacement fee is only US$129. But the user still has to take their Mac to an Apple store or send it to a depot. What if I want to pop in a spare battery?

As Forbes reports in another article, MacWorld attendees weren’t very impressed, either.

The story of the iPhone

billso — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 03:14:25 +0000

Wired has published a brief history of the iPhone’s development, as mentioned in Engadget. As I mentioned to my IS 7010-T students last Thursday, it is well known that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is a difficult boss. This article provides a few examples of how he led Apple to develop the iPhone, a device that has spurred almost every mobile phone manufacturer and carrier to reevaluate their business models… even Microsoft.

BlackBerry vs iPhone

billso — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:15:41 +0000

I was rereading a student paper from last fall and came across a citation for this excellent comparison of the BlackBerry 8800 and the first generation iPhone. The reviewer compares the two devices from an enterprise user’s perspective. The BlackBerry carried the day with better syncing, real-time push email and WiFi connectivity, but the reviewer admits that the iPhone is a nicer looking product.

Rumors persist of a touchscreen BlackBerry model, possibly called the 9000 or the 9100. The keyboard is on the screen, similar to the iPhone. Executives would leap on these models, just for the “shiny new toy” factor alone. Mobile carriers would have a fresh weapon against iPhone carriers. An on-screen keyboard would certainly solve some interface problems for international BlackBerry users. Looks like the virtual keyboard is becoming a new key success factor for mobile devices.

I have several articles about the BlackBerry available. Just type “blackberry” in the search box or use this link.

The mobile web isn’t ready yet

billso — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:30:59 +0000

The New York Times ran an interesting critique of the mobile Web yesterday. Michael Fitzgerald identifies some of the major obstacles to mass-market adoption of mobile websites, including the following items.

Inconsistent user interfaces on mobile devices – new users have difficulty finding the address bar and bookmark features. Fitzgerald fails to mention that, on some mobile devices, the font sizes are too small for most older users to read. Managers, who make media placement and Web development decisions, tend to fit an older demographic than their customers.
Poor formatting on small screens – RIM, Google, Bloglines and other service providers include reformatting and filtering technology in their mobile portals, but many web sites do not resolve well on a small screen.
Lack of support for Flash – as more Web sites adopt Adobe’s Flash technology for animation and other features, Web developers often fail to provide a low bandwidth or text only version that will work well or at all on a mobile device.
Slavish duplication of the desktop web model – this can also be seen in Microsoft Windows Mobile, which includes a Start button as a key part of the user interface.

For the most part, I agree with him – but I still use the mobile Web every day to check Gmail and read other web sites. The mobile Web isn’t a smooth experience yet, but it’s better than toting around a full computer, as my previous post about the US Census suggests.

An iPhone for China?

billso — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:48:09 +0000

Last Wednesday I posted an article about iPhone sales in China. There is no official sales channel, as Apple has not closed a deal with any of the major telecom carriers in that country.

That has not stopped Chinese users from buying and using unlocked iPhones, as this Wired article describes. The iPhone has become the new status symbol for wealthy, urban Chinese.

Of course, the iPhone is manufactured in China. It’s not surprising that units built for export to Europe and North America have been imported back into China, especially when some Chinese users want an iPhone so badly that they will pay a premium.

How bad(ly) do you want that iPhone?

Without the carrier’s support, the iPhone is more limited. Chinese customers can make and receive voice calls. Users can surf the Internet on a WiFi connection. Songs can be synced to the device.

Unfortunately, text messaging doesn’t work well. Users have to memorize the recipient’s number and retype it into the To: field on every message. That takes a lot of the fun out of text messaging.

Data connections over GSM probably don’t work, either. That means that the iPhone’s push email features are unavailable unless the phone has a WiFi connection.

Visual voicemail is unavailable, as that requires the carrier’s assistance.

At any point, Apple could send a software update via iTunes that would break or cripple these unlocked iPhones, of course.

There is no Google phone – but there is an OS

billso — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:16:41 +0000

Google announced today that they will release a mobile operating system (OS) under the project name Android.

The short story: Google won’t be selling a Google Phone or gPhone. But any device manufacturer can join the Open Handset Alliance and use Google’s software to build a mobile phone.

In the words of Andy Rubin, Google’s executive for the project:

Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications — all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation.

Google will provide services that give users access to Google documents, spreadsheets, mail, and other services. In return, Google gains a new way to sell more Web ads, which accounts for a major portion of the company’s revenue.

An open platform makes it easier and less expensive to develop software and hardware for this system, a key point that mobile carriers and handset manufacturers will like. Apple’s iPhone is still more-or-less locked down, which makes it very difficult for large companies to develop their own iPhone applications for employee use. Apple has announced a software development kit for February 2008, according to TidBITS.

Programmers who want to write software for Symbian or Microsoft smartphones usually pay for the privilege.

Some relevant articles on this topic include:

Wired, 5 November 2007: Google Phone announced as mobile operating system
TechCrunch, 5 November 2007: Breaking: Google announced Android and Open Handset Alliance
New York Times, 5 November 2007: Google enters the wireless world
New York Times, 4 November 2007: I, Robot: The man behind the Google phone
My articles on the Google Phone
Business Week, 17 August 2005: Google buys Android

Here’s the official Google video of the announcement form YouTube.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Apple working with Salesforce.com on iPhone CRM integration

billso — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:59:05 +0000

I mentioned on 4 September and 6 July that Apple will explore business uses for the iPhone. It’s inevitable. Today, MacRumors, iPhone Alley and CNN.com, Apple and Salesforce.com are working on modified, CRM-capable iPhones. Mobile customer relationship management has become an important source of competitive advantage as companies face the rising expectations of their customers for fast, accurate, reliable assistance and support. Salesforce.com relies on BlackBerrys and Palm devices to meet these needs. Expanding their hardware support to the iPhone should help SalesForce.com retain existing enterprise customers.

It’s time for an emergency Rave

billso — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:36:37 +0000

HPU has rolled out a campus emergency notification system that will notify students and employees by email and text message. The system was announced on Pipeline on 25 September. I discussed similar systems on 17 April, and USA Today discussed Rave in an article on 25 October 2006.

HPU students and staff can enroll online with Rave at https://www.getrave.com/login/hpu/

The service is free, and the enrollment process requires a Pipeline ID and password.

I did notice that the telephone number fields will not support international calling codes. Most students on Oahu would use a North American phone number, but there might be distance education students who would want emergency notification messages. The Rave system could be used to announce unscheduled WebCT and Pipeline outages.

Subscribers can get their Rave notifications by email, which is a good alternative for users of push email systems like the iPhone, Blackberrys, Sidekicks and some Windows Mobile devices.

Also, the enrollment form appears to validate entries as they are typed. Many web forms include programming code to catch data entry errors in the web browser, before the submit button is pressed. Client-side validation can reduce network traffic and server load, if the validation scripts are well-written and carefully tested.

To test the form, I entered some incorrect data. Then I tried to edit the data. I had to click and hold with my trackpad while retyping the numeric fields.

It’s not the most obvious solution – I tried deleting and backspacing over the bad data, but the cursor kept jumping to another field. The validation script assumed that I’d entered the data correctly the first time.

The Rave system does send a confirmation message to the mobile phone number that was entered on the enrollment screen. The user get on a web browser and enter a 4-digit code from the text message to activate their account.

The email side of the system does not send an activation or conformation code, which I found curious. I entered my Gmail email address.

There’s been a surge in notification system deployments since April, as universities and colleges look for better ways to notify stakeholders of important events.

Some universities have found these systems useful when the weather gets bad. At other schools, these systems are also used to notify students when classes are canceled or events are rescheduled.

An emergency notification system is also an important part of disaster recovery planning (DRP) for any large organization. CIOs and their staff must have a reasonable, well-tested action plan to resolve issues that threaten the organization’s employees, staff and information systems. Rave’s system can improve a DRP implementation by asking people to staff off-campus during an emergency.

Of course, the Rave system works best when many users are registered with their correct information. Students tend to change email addresses and phone numbers often, and there’s nothing that compels students to use the system.

Another issue involves marketing. An emergency notification system should not be used to send advertising and marketing messages to users. There are some services that allow these messages. However, the last thing I expect from an emergency notification service is spam and ads.

Did you want a PC on your iPhone?

billso — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:27:10 +0000

It is possible to use a Windows personal computer on an iPhone. Of course, the computer isn’t inside the phone. WebEx, a Cisco company that offers remote computing services, now supports iPhone on its PCNow service.

That will let users search and retrieve files on a remote desktop computer. The remote computer needs a LAN or broadband connection to the Internet, of course. Users can also edit, create, send, view and receive Outlook email, contacts and appointments.

As a bonus, WebEx connects iPhone users to Skype to allow VoIP telephone calls using an iPhone.

One nice benefit of this approach is that the WebEx iPhone client isn’t giving the user direct access to the Windows desktop.

Of course, anyone who can get access to that iPhone and the user’s passwords could get access to that remote PC. WebEx allows users to remotely connect one or two PCs to their iPhone for US$11.95 a month. For a small business, this might be a nice option.

Larger companies may not want their employees to breach the corporate firewall in this manner, though.

This ZDnet article has some additional details.

Can I get that Blackberry with WiFi?

billso — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:01:41 +0000

I have 4 more papers to mark this evening, but I’m almost done with the IS 6100 Paper 2 drafts.

Meanwhile, here’s an article from Engadget. There’s a new Blackberry model that offers WiFi connectivity on T-Mobile’s network: the Blackberry Curve 8320.

A similar model (the 8310) offers GPS capabilities instead of the WiFi feature. There’s only so much room inside the phone, so it’s one chipset or the other – not both.

It’s up to the carrier to offer the GPS, WiFi or both versions. So T-Mo went with WiFi.

Engadget also ran articles about a GPS service for iPhones last Wednesday. It’ll do until Apple adds real GPS hardware to the next iPhone.

The Google Phone and the iPhone – both looking for software and spectrum

billso — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:53:05 +0000

According to a report in tomorrow’s Business Week, developers are building applications for the Google Phone. I mentioned the gPhone on 27 August. This 6 September article has additional details.

Of course, everyone has signed non-disclosure agreements (NDA) and Google management is doing its best to dispel these persistent rumors of a web-centric Linux-powered mobile phone.

Google and Apple have a fruitful partnership, as I mentioned on 21 June. But the mobile communications industry keeps growing, and Google needs new ways to increase its advertising revenue. The gPhone would provide a great opportunity to create a mobile advertising industry.

Google seems to building a platform that programmers can use to easily build mobile applications, with plenty of hooks into Google services like Gmail, Google Maps, and the Google Search engine.

If Google does open up this application programming interface (API) so that programmers can build true mobile applications that run on the gPhone and tap the Internet, it will be much easier for developers to distribute their gPhone software on the mobile Internet.

Compare this scenario with the Apple iPhone, which restricts developers to web-based mobile applications. Apple likes to lock down their hardware to keep it stable and secure. AT&T, like any sensible mobile carrier, wants to keep its network secure and free from rogue applications. It’s a classic walled garden.

The closed software model works for the iPod, but it remains to be seen if customers will tolerate a closed iPhone. Corporate customers want to add their own software to the iPhone, of course, but it’s so much easier when the API is open and available.

Google and Apple are each looking at the upcoming FCC auction for the analog television spectrum. Business Week speculated on their plans in this 10 September article. The winners of this auction would control a nice range of convenient, unused bandwidth in North America after television stations switch to HDTV transmission in early 2009. That spectrum is a great place to build a national mobile telecommunciations network that’s independent of the mobile phone carriers.

Given Apple’s closed model, it’s easy to guess that an Apple mobile network would feature Apple hardware, software and services, with Apple calling the shots on pricing.

Google, on the other hand, looks more likely to let multiple hardware vendors build compatible devices for the gPhone, and let software developers write the applications, as long as Google services are easy to bundle and use.

Building a new national mobile network would be an expensive proposition, especially as Sprint continues to plan its WiMax strategy. See this 28 August article and this 7 September article, both on Engadget, for more details. Clearwire, the current leader in WiMax deployment, continues with its national plans, as I described on 14 June. However, Clearwire stock took a beating Monday, as its joint work with Sprint hasn’t impressed investors yet, according to a 10 September report in Forbes. This 19 July Forbes article has some additional background on the Sprint-Clearwire national WiMax network.

WiMax makes sense for laptop users, because a laptop battery can deal with the radio modem’s power requirements.

Mobile phones need small batteries, however, and the analog television spectrum is an ideal place for residential wireless connectivity. If I were running a landline telephone company, I’d be worried.

Gartner: Expect an enterprise iPhone

billso — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 06:09:38 +0000

Apple may not be announcing it tomorrow at their press conference, but the Gartner Group believes that an enterprise version of the iPhone is inevitable, according to ZDNet.

I discussed some of the enterprise issues that affect iPhone users on July 6. For a sole proprietor or a very small business that already uses Macs, iPhones may make sense, especially for new media and web design firms. iPhone doesn’t seem to work reliably with iTunes for Windows, from what I’ve read.

TCO: it all adds up

Another important consideration is total cost of ownership (TCO). TCO is a common benchmark for information systems managers that adds up the entire cost of a product, including associated services, maintenance, replacement costs and training. I discussed some of these issues in my June 27 and June 6 posts.

iPhone users must have their own computer with iTunes and a broadband connection. That’s the only means of activating an iPhone, establishing an account, syncing the iPhone, and updating the device.

Larger companies that deal with compliance issues may want to avoid the iPhone as a corporate device. iPhones are expensive to acquire and replace, have limited storage space, and offer limited support for Microsoft Exchange.

EarthLink announces layoffs

billso — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:35:29 +0000

EarthLink, the primary contractor for Honolulu’s municipal WiFi project in Chinatown, is laying off more than 900 employees and closing 4 offices, according to news reports. This is a massive cut that affects almost half of the company and several business units.

In one of yesterday’s posts, I discussed some of the changes in the wireless Internet industry. EarthLink’s retrenchment in municipal WiFi was announced earlier this year, when the company said it wouldn’t pursue new contracts until it had a better idea of the financial returns on current projects. Sprint’s recent alliance with ClearWire, Google’s continued efforts in mobile applications and wireless access, and the stagnating economy are other factors that have affected EarthLink’s competitive position.

Helio hath no fury… or market share

It isn’t the WiFi market that’s hurting EarthLink, though. The company’s investment in Helio has not worked out well. I mentioned Helio on June 17 and April 17. The iPhone and the industry’s various responses to that service have put Helio in a lousy position for a startup company. According to The Register, Verizon is moving fast with its new offerings, with some help from Samsung.

Large print and hearing aids for the baby boomers

billso — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:08:42 +0000

The New York Times ran an article today about adaptive aids for the baby boomers. Because I was born before 1964, technically I am a boomer, even though I don’t feel like one.

The Lucida font is one example cited by Times journalist Katie Hafner. The font was co-designed for Apple by Charles Bigelow to provide a highly readable font for low resolution printers and monitors. Lucida is the default menu font for Mac OS X and the Safari web browser, and has been included in Microsoft Windows since 1995. Wikipedia has a page full of examples.

Tiny fonts in web browsers? There’s hope.

Hafner mentions that Internet Explorer and the Mac have features to enlarge fonts on the screen. These are handy, especially when using a laptop computer. I’ve noticed that Internet Explorer sometimes compresses or mangles the page layout when displaying enlarged or zoomed fonts. In my favorite web browser, Firefox, fonts can be enlarged with the Ctrl+ keystroke on a Windows computer, or Command+ on a Mac. this method doesn’t always work, especially on sites that use Flash.

There are a few screen magnifying utilities for Windows users. I’ve used Magnifixer, a freeware product that is easy to install. Windows also has its own accessibility utilities, available in the Start, Accessories folder.

Mac users can find a Zoom feature in the Universal Access preferences panel. There is a built-in feature to enlarge the mouse cursor, but the results look awful. I use Pinpoint, a US$10 app, to display a very large mouse cursor on my MacBook Pro.

It’s much harder to enlarge the fonts on a mobile phone or PDA. A few models provide adaptive features, but most don’t. The Sidekick 3 provides no way to enlarge a font on the screen, and that’s been a sore point for a few of my colleagues. Larger screens can help, like the display of an iPhone. But a larger screen almost always increases the device’s size and reduces battery life.

Oticon’s Delta hearing aid was profiled in the New York Times on September 24. This model looks more like a fashion accessory, and is marketed towards users in the 40–60 age group.

Hearing aids that look like Bluetooth headsets

A blog that covers technology for older users, 50+Digital, posted an article last week about the Audeo. This hearing aid is marketed as a “personal communications assistant”. It looks like a large Bluetooth headset, but it is similar in many ways to the Delta.

Devices like the Audeo and Delta will become more popular, according to Don Aucoin of the Boston Globe, as boomers hunt for fashionable alternatives to traditional hearing aids and reading glasses.

I expect more younger users to adopt hearing aids, partly because they’ve blown out their hearing with their iPods. I’m always careful to keep my iPod’s volume at a level that will let me hear traffic noise.

A history lesson: browsers and computers

billso — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 02:41:12 +0000

TechRepublic has a photo gallery of Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 1 through 7, along with pictures of some old PCs. I doubt any of these PCs from the 80s ran IE, as version 1 was released in 1995. This industrial film from 1994 helps set the mood.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Meanwhile, a German website has some photos of Apple prototypes and products from the same period. Check out the 1983 iPhone! Reminds me of Minitel, an online service that most Americans have never heard of, even if it’s still popular in France. See these BBC and Wikipedia. articles for more information.

RSS feeds for IS 6100 and IS 7010

billso — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:58:44 +0000

There’s nothing that new in the IS 6010 and IS 7010 RSS feeds that I set up on July 3, but users should be able to select and subscribe to either of these feeds in their web browser, by using the RSS icon in their browsers address bar or toolbar. A browser-based subscription is a good option for users who use their own computer to check this site.

Which feed is which?

For users who read this blog on several different computers or their mobile phone, try a Web-based RSS reader. Just click the RSS logo shown on the IS 6100 or IS 7010 course pages. There are several good readers from Bloglines, Yahoo, Google and other services.

The subscription pages also offer an email option. Yes, users can have the blog articles for their course emailed to them on a regular basis.

There’s no good reason for any of my students to subscribe to all of my RSS feeds. My students should pick the specific feed for their course:

For IS 6100, use http://rss.billso.com/billso6100/

For IS 7010, use http://rss.billso.com/billso7010/

For the entire billso.com blog, including every article in both of the feeds shown above, use http://rss.billso.com/billsocom

For more information about RSS feeds and how I use them in my courses, read my January 23rd article entitled “What’s all this about a blog?” or this more detailed article at softwaregarden.com

Nine reasons not to use an iPhone in an enterprise

billso — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 21:54:42 +0000

Now that the iPhone is out, users want corporate IT managers to let their iPhones work with corporate email servers. It’s tricky, as I’ve mentioned before on June 29. Several bloggers, including Jason Levine and John Gruber, have posted very good articles on how enterprises might deal with iPhone users.

The iPhone isn’t ready for business users yet

ZDNet’s Russell Shaw has posted an article that lists Gartner’s seven reasons why the iPhone is not ready for the enterprise. Gartner analyst and report co-author Ken Delaney warns companies not to buy iPhones for the following reasons, which I’ve quoted from the ZDNet article. My comments are in italics:

1. Apple’s “rudimentary” experience designing mobile devices specifically for the enterprise — this is a first generation device, after all. Microsoft, RIM, Nokia and other companies have a serious head start on this item.

2. Lack of support from mobile management and mobile security software utilities - there’s no third party software support for the iPhone in this area yet, and there won’t be until Apple opens up the iPhone API. Gizmodo claims there will support late in 2007. Apple might stop unauthorized iPhones from being recharged, according to this patent. But that’s a far cry from monitoring mobile devices in the field.

3. Lack of compatibility with major business e-mail systems — iPhone can handle POP and IMAP4, but Microsoft Exchange servers need this update to support IMAP4.

4. An operating system not licensed to third-party hardware suppliers, resulting in no backup — Apple is the only source for the iPhone hardware. Users are supposed to backup their iPhones with iTunes.

5. No removable battery, creating the potential for increased support costs — while Apple has announced a mail-in program for iPhone battery replacement, the user cannot open an iPhone and disconnect the battery. I used that trick a couple of times a week on my Cingular 8125 when it needed a reboot.

6. Only one carrier operator (AT&T Wireless) — at least in the United States, and that exclusive will last at least 2 years. Apple’s competitors support every major cell phone carrier in the US.

7. The high price point, $499 for 4GB or $599 for 8GB — the iPhone is an expensive device with no quantity discounts. Lost an iPhone, and the hardware replacement cost can be high. Memory can’t be expanded because there is no external memory slot.

I’d add two more reasons to this list:

The iPhone is clearly an entertainment device. It’s a very nice video iPod with a phone, a data connection, and web apps. But at it’s heart, iPhone is all about driving more users to iTunes.
The iPhone has some Internet and productivity features built in, but the document viewing features, calendar and contacts list can’t be easily synced to a corporate network yet. Give Apple and its partners some time. Corporate support will come if sales are strong.

RSS feeds for my graduate information systems courses

billso — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 23:22:40 +0000

I’ve set up dedicated RSS feeds for my IS 6100 and IS 7010 courses.

Students in these courses may use the appropriate RSS link when subscribing. You’ll see choices for a variety of web-based readers, web browsers, and email. Some mobile phones can display RSS feeds, too. Just try getting this kind of information from a WebCT course…

If you’re wondering what RSS is and how it can make your life easier, go read my post from January 23.

Not everyone wants an iPhone

billso — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:19:16 +0000

The Apple iPhone has gone on sale in the Eastern and Central time zones as I write this post. I haven’t seen any lines at APple or AT&T stores in Honolulu, but I’ve been busy.

BusinessWeek points out that most corporate IT departments will continue to use devices they konw and trust, such as the Blackberry. the main concern is data security. As I noted on June 6, individual employees often want more flexibility than their corporate messaging system provides. In some industries, privacy is a major concern. It’s hard to believe that any hospital IT administrator would let employees receive patient information through their iPhone, for example. On June 19th, I posted some additional thoughts about corporate IT and the iPhone.

According to Engadget and many other sources, Yesterday Steve Jobs announced that most Apple employees will receive an iPhone in July. Apple will have a “street team” of 21,000 employees explaining the iPhone whenever they whip out the device.

Of course, there will be executives who want their own iPhone ASAP. Small business owners and sole proprietors may be among the early adopters. These users have enough authority to get what they want.

I have to agree with Walt Mossberg on several points. His review in the Wall Street Journal was mostly positive, but he did mention that there’s no clipboard in the iPhone’s editor. That’s almost a showstopper right there, but it’s something Apple can fix with an over-the-air update.

Apple’s partnership with AT&T is a bigger issue. iPhone users will find out what I learned after a few years with Cingular: EDGE is not a fast data service, even when its tweaked, as I mentioned on June 6 and others have suggested today.

iPhone rate plans released

billso — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 06:30:32 +0000

Apple and AT&T have finally announced the rate plans for the iPhone, which will be released Friday in most of the United States. If you live in Alaska, there’s no iPhone at all for you: AT&T doesn’t offer service in that state. See Consumerist and MacWorld for more details.

I mentioned on June 6 that two web sites (Consumerist and CenterNetworks) predicted that the first year cost of iPhone service would be US$1936.

I should have read the articles a bit closer. That figure was for the entire 2-year contract.

Based on analyses published at several web sites over the last 24 hours, that US$1936 figure might be low for heavy users, even as a two-year prediction.

On the other hand, users who can get by with a 900-minute per month calling plan might get two years of service at that US$1936 price.

Engadget has posted several charts that compare the various iPhone plans. Users can buy additional minutes and more SMS messages, and it looks like iPhone users will get unlimited data through AT&T’s cellular network.

Some of the iPhone plans are about $20 higher than their regular AT&T counterparts. Coincidentally, AT&T has been charging cell customers US$19.99 per month charge for an optional unlimited data plan.

iPhone reviews are starting to appear. I just watched David Pogue’s video review and read the print review on the New York Times web site. He seemed to like the iPhone. He’d probably like it more if it weren’t on AT&T. Pogue has posted his answers to frequently asked iPhone questions here.

Rumor: Google might buy Apple

billso — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 23:46:45 +0000

Based on a quote from John Heilemann’s article on Steve Jobs, the Internet is bubbling with rumors that Google might buy Apple. Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Business 2.0 discusses the rumor here.

The two companies have cultures that are similar in some ways, so the rumor has some face validity.

Google + Apple = something interesting

Apple would give Google a platform to roll out some interesting consumer devices. As I’ve noted in other posts, including my discussion of the Heilemann article, the iPhone includes a few Google web applications, including mapping.

But Google really hasn’t shown much interest in the high volume hardware business. Sure, Google builds most of the machines in its data center from off-the-shelf hardware. Google also sells a couple of search appliances, but those are rack-mounted devices designed for a server room.

Google has shown a great deal of interest in networked storage, however. Given the pervasive nature of broadband Internet access in the US, Europe and the Pacific Rim, it’s only a matter of time until we see PDAs and portable computers that rely on services provided by Google, Microsoft, and other vendors to store user email, images, music and documents.

Google doesn’t have enough cash to buy Apple… yet

In the end, Google doesn’t have the cash on hand to buy Apple. Matther Siegler at ParisLemon ran the numbers. Apple’s network is over US$100 billion and climbing, while Google has a net worth of $US158 billion. So a buyout doesn’t make much sense this month.

iPhone rate plans to be announced within a week

billso — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:20:46 +0000

The iPhone is due in 8 days, and customers are asking if they can afford one.

As posted on MacRumors.com, ApplePhoneGeeks.com and iPhoneMatters.com, AT&T has announced that iPhone customers will choose from several new rate plans when the device goes on sale June 29 at 6 pm local time.

iPhone users don’t want to look at the data meter while surfing

There’s no word yet on unlimited data plans. MacRumors claims an announcement may be made tomorrow, and that a 2-year service contract wil be part of the requirements.

I would assume that AT&T would want iPhone customers to sign up for an unlimited plan. It’s easy to consume several MB of data a month on a PDA or Sidekick, for example. The iPhone’s Safari browser promises a desktop web experience, which seem to require a decent data connection.

The iPhone is all about lock-in

On AT&T’s side, a 2-year contract requirement makes sense. AT&T wants to recapture former customers who have defected to other carriers over the last few years.

We’ll find out if Allen Stern’s prediction of US$1936 for a user’s first year with an iPhone is close to the mark. Until we see the new rate plans, we won’t know. I commented on this figure on June 6, and I have a feeling he’s right.

AT&T won’t sell iPhones to business accounts

billso — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 01:13:41 +0000

According to Apple Insider, AT&T (T) will not sell iPhones to business customers.

Repeat after me: “The iPhone is not a business phone”

To buy an iPhone, a customer must open an “account with individual responsibility”. There’s a very good reason for this policy: Apple (APPL) wants to get the iPhone on the street, not into corporate offices. No word on how long the business ban will last, but this report does support my statement from June 17.

UPDATE 19 JUNE 14:45 HT: Thanks to iPhone Matters: the Wall Street Journal ran a story in today’s edition on how many companies are handling their employees’ requests for an iPhone. The usual answer: No iPhone for you!

Steve Jobs and his iPhone

billso — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:24:21 +0000

In Boing Boing this morning, I found a link to John Heilemann’s article in New York Magazine about Steve Jobs and the iPhone.

The cover seems to say it all, but the article makes some of the same points that I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

Apple is taking a huge risk with the iPhone, and AT&T has decided to come along for a ride on Steve’s “reality distortion field”. There are other places to read about Steve, but Heilemann tosses in some of Jobs’ better moments — questioning the sanity of the Segway, for example, or rolling out the iPod, then changing his mind and porting iTunes to Windows.

There’s a nice section about the internal Apple debate regarding the iPhone’s keyboard. There was no debate, because Steve Jobs didn’t want a physical keyboard, even if customers want one.

The discussion regarding AT&T’s poor reputation as a mobile carrier is also worth reading.

Heilemann asks one of my favorite questions: what happens if this new iPhone business really takes off?

The follow-up: If consumers really want US$500 cell phones this year, how will competitors adapt?

UPDATE 15:26 HT: Seth Godin has posted his take on Heilemann’s article. Seth believes that Heilemann is being “small-minded”. Steve Jobs is really a “rifter” who fixes problems and leaps from one market to another.

UPDATE 19 June 14:35 PM: Also see Kawika Holbrook’s brief January 29 screed about call quality.

Anticipation builds for Apple’s iPhone

billso — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:25:04 +0000

Sinead Carew of Reuters writes that AT&T and Apple are being watched closely by tech analysts as the June 29th debut of the iPhone approaches. If AT&T stores, web sites, call centers or data services can’t handle the strain, the iPhone introduction could be a Newtonesque flop. Technorati is full of blog posts about the iPhone.

AT&T has a five-year exclusive on the iPhone, so other carriers have been beefing up their offerings. Verizon is now marketing ESPN’s mobile features, which were once part of ESPN Mobile. That service died in 2006, as I reported in my old blog on September 29.

Today, YouTube posted a video clip of Google CEO Eric Schmidt using an iPhone. Google bought YouTube last year, and is also providing some web apps for the iPhone. Schmidt is also an Apple board member. Take a look at 24:30 minutes into the 32-minute clip — it seems Schmidt still needs a bit of practice with his iPhone.

Walt Mossberg brandished his new iPhone during a meeting with college presidents last week. Walt seems a bit worried about the virtual keyboard, and I can’t blame him. Touch typing on an iPhone is impossible. Mossberg’s reviews in the Wall Street Journal can make or break new technology products, so it’s no surprise that Engadget ran a story with a reference to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s original post.

It’s worth noting the the Chronicle’s story spawned a long trail of comments, many of which disputed CenterNetwork’s US$1936 estimate for a user’s first year of iPhone service. I mentioned that figure in my June 6 post.

Management professor Sandy Piderit of Case Western Reserve University isn’t shy about her desire for an iPhone. She’s already opened a wireless account with AT&T, and is considering waiting in line on June 29th to get one. Better wait in line at a rebranded AT&T store, as initial quantities will be quite limited, according to multiple reports. Franchisees and resellers won’t get iPhones.

The iPhone isn’t a business device

Piderit compares the iPhone to the Blackberry and the Treo. She missed the mark: Apple isn’t pursing business customers, and they are the core demographic for the two devices she mentioned. As Wayne Sutton notes, the iPhone may drive more business to BlackBerry, a platform that has several years of brand equity and reputation.

The iPhone is really competing with consumer data devices like Helio’s MySpace phones and T-Mobile’s Sidekick line. I switched from a Cingular 8125 to a Sidekick 3 in April. Frankly, the Sidekick 3 has been more reliable than the Cingular 8125. The only 8125 feature that I miss is WiFi, but I can still use that device without the GSM card. The iPhone will support WiFi data connections.

The iPhone is just an iPod with a data phone

At its heart, the iPhone is a video iPod with a data phone. My Sidekick 3 can accept a miniSD card, so it’s trivial to install additional storage memory. The iPhone has no memory card slot. The initial iPhone models offer 4 or 8 GB of memory, enough to hold few hundred songs on an iPod, but barely enough capacity for videos. As most iPod users know, the iPod is useless without a companion computer. See my March 21 post for more discussion.

Sandy really likes the visual voice mail feature. However, US cell phone users can switch their voice mail to a free service like CallWave and get that feature no. Of course, the visual feature requires a computer. The iPhone will display voice mail on the phone itself.

The only way that third party apps will get into the iPhone is through the Web. While I can install apps directly to my Sidekick, iPhone apps have to work in the Safari web browser. I’m not sure which approach is better. Web-based apps are easier to update — just patch the server. But web-based apps also require a data connection. As I mentioned on April 17th, the mobile web might be the best opportunity that telcos have to build new value into their services.

So I’ll wait for the iPhone to prove its worth. If it’s a success, AT&T will drop prices to a reasonable level within 12 months.

UPDATE 21 June 15:05 HT: AT&T has told stores to get ready for cattle, er, crowd control. Read Clover Thoughts for more details and a screenshot of AT&T’s email to store managers.

Year 1 with an Apple iPhone = US$1936

billso — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:42:52 +0000

According to Allen Stern at CenterNetworks, early adopters of the Apple iPhone will pay US$1936 during the first year. That includes the sales price of the phone, plus AT&T’s calling plan.

This does not include the data plan pricing, which has not been announced by AT&T. The iPhone is being marketed as a data-centric iPod with a GSM phone. An iPhone without a data plan cannot use the Internet at all.

Thus, Stern speculates that early adopters will not be happy with their August AT&T bills.

I’m happy with my T-Mobile Sidekick 3, even with its limited software, so I’ll let Apple, AT&T and their customers thrash around for a year or so.

Meanwhile, MacRumors claims that AT&T is tweaking its EDGE data service and adding T-1 connections to its facilities in advance of the June 29th iPhone launch.

iPhones will use the older EDGE protocol instead of 3G services. 3G services are faster than EDGE, but AT&T has decent EDGE coverage in and around major cities.

EDGE can provide download speeds of 200 kbps. AT&T is working towards Apple’s minimum standard of 80 kbps.

MacRumors claims that AT&T has been averaging 40 kbps with EDGE, which seems right to me, based on my experiences with the Cingular 8125. At least that device had a real keyboard. I’ve tried screen-based keyboards on the 9125, PDAs and Tablet PCs, and I never liked them.

The Apple iPhone, of course, has a screen-based keyboard. No touch typing for you, Steve Jobs.

Mobile telcos search for new business model

billso — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:13:19 +0000

Business Week reported yesterday that mobile phone carriers are desperately looking for new business models that will help these companies mantain control of their networks.

Mobile data services remain focused on market niches, and investors have seem little evidence that the mobile carriers can deliver compelling content. The carriers are more focused on maintaining control of their network, so the carriers miss ipportunities to be a vital connection point between media sites and users.

Except for a few offerings, such as Sprint’s aggressively marketed mobile data card, most mobile carriers offer customers access to a limited set of Internet resources. For example, MySpace offers mobile versions of its site to Helio and Cingular/AT&T customers. Facebook had an exclusive mobile deal with Cingular until recently. Now that service supports several different carriers, with the notable exception of T-Mobile. Seems like Facebook would work well on a Sidekick.

Author Robert Clark also offers this startling tidbit: YouTube generated more Internet traffic in 2006 than the ENTIRE Internet did in 2000.

Some quick Googling led to another interesting fact: Photobucket handled 2% of US Internet traffic at this time last year.

The mobile Internet has nothing close to either site in terms of popularity, functions or content. Even the mobile versions of established webmail systems like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail have failed to capture the imagination of mobile users. Yahoo offers multiple branded versions of its mobile interface (Go, Mobile and Mobile Web), which just adds to users’ confusion.

Both Google and Yahoo are offering mobile web services for the Apple iPhone, which may miss its June 11 ship date because of quality issues with the phone’s complex operating system. Stephen Wellman of Information Week reports that Apple and AT&T will be offering rebates to iPhone buyers, and AT&T may pay Apple for every customer that buys an iPhone through an Apple storefront. There’s no such thing as a “sure thing” in the mobile communications industry these days.

About e-commerce 3: The broadband connection

billso — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 04:06:51 +0000

I’ve seen many articles about residential broadband and its growing popularity in the US. I always ask my classroom students if they use broadband or dialup. In 2002, I usually had 5 or 10 students in each class who used dialup or who had no internet connection at home.

This semester, most of my students have broadband at home. Even so, it seems like most of of my students have no idea how fast their broadband connection is. I’m not surprised. Services can claim that the offer the “fastest”, “most reliable” or “best” connection.

As Wired pointed out earlier today, the FCC doesn’t require Time Warner Cable, Hawaiian Telcom, Clearwire, or any residential broadband provider to disclose speed data to customers! In fact, most broadband ISPs prefer to avoid the topic altogether.

Of course, there are several ways for users to test the speed of their broadband connection. I have accounts on Speakeasy or BroadbandReports, as these tests are web-based and free. Both services store my previous results, so I can compare results from various locations, devices, carriers and days.

When running these tests, it’s a good idea to close down any other programs or processes that are using the interent on the same machine. If I run these tests at home, I close down every other computer that is on my home network, as they are linked to my router and my internet connection.

High-speed residential broadband is faster and more redily available in other countries. South Korea is a good example. Then again, that country has a large population (49 million) crammed into a land mass smaller than many US states.

The quality and availability of residential broadband are two key factors that influence the adoption of e-commerce by consumers. Consumers are less likely to shop on the internet if they have a slow connection. Consumers who use dialup or slow broadband connections seem more liekly to lose patience and abandon their online shopping carts.

Abandoned carts are one metric that sellers can analyze to measure the success of their e-commerce efforts. Sometimes I have abandoned an online cart because all I wanted was a price or a shipping quote. I’ve dumped more than a few online shopping carts because I had to register for the site before my purchase. Once in a while, I get to the payment page and realize that the merchant doesn’t support Paypal or one of my payment cards.

Of course, consumers are very unlikely to use e-commerce themselves if they have no internet connection. As I mentioned in last week’s class, however, because more businesses use e-commerce to order supplies and sell products, more consumers are becoming involved in e-ecommerce in a more indirect ways.

I recently had a conversation with the owner of Bungalow Bay, a store that sells t-shirts and other items at Aloha Tower and online. E-commerce has helped him sell items to an international market, through the store’s web site and eBay listings. These online purchases sometimes catch local customers by surprise when the store runs out of popular items!

Mobile phone users are finding more reasons to use e-commerce. Phone carriers are driving customers online to computers for bill payment, customer support, and other services. It’s cheaper to have the customer do the work than someone in a call center. Electronic payments are usually less expensive to process than paper checks. Carriers, utility and finance companies are pushing consumers to schedule their monthly or regular online payments, as one more way to guarantee that customers will pay what they owe on time.

T-Mobile’s Sidekick devices and all Windows Mobile phones rely on a computer to help the user synchronize and use data. The Apple iPhone will bring similar capabilities to the Mac in June.

Amazon, Paypal and other companies have been developing mobile APIs and sites that let mobile users order and pay for products and services with their PDA or phone. Google supports searches, maps, Gmail and other services on mobile phones and on SMS. Try sending a search such as the ones shown in this example to 466453.

Outside the US, it’s not unusual to find vending machines that will accept payment via SMS instead of coins, bills or cards. Here’s an example that Esther Dyson found in Poland last November 21. Coins are heavy and expensive to retrieve by vending and laundry machine operators. Paper money is even more difficult to use with some vending machines, although I know some folks who disagree with me.

Cell phones without buttons

billso — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 01:33:20 +0000

This Business Week article includes a nice slideshow of some prototypes and new products.

The next iPod is rumored to have a full-panel display and a virtual click-wheel. There’s not much reason for a cell phone to have real buttons, especially since the screen could display any buttons needed.

Also, buttons are a key failure point in computer hardware. Dust and moisture can kill a device quickly.

Sentient computers and PDA respond to their position and speed

billso — Sat, 28 Jun 2003 08:21:00 +0000

IT: From the Economist, sentient computing sounds like pervasive computing with a European twist:

By adding sensors to today’s computing and communications technology, sentient computing seeks to take account of a machine’s environment in order to make it more responsive and useful. Sentient computing systems are always on, ubiquitously available, and can adapt to their users. In short, they seek to become real help-mates. To quote a European Commission report, the aim is to create ‘convivial technologies that are easy to live with.’

… Similarly, Microsoft researchers have given wireless PDAs (personal digital assistants) new user interfaces by adding tilt sensors and accelerometers. Users can scroll through documents by tipping the PDA back and forth—as if they were controlling the ball-bearing in a toy maze. Lifting the PDA to the ear creates sensor outputs that cause the device to make a phone call. Researchers have even used the accelerometers to recognise walking patterns so that the PDA can decide whether to accept or divert a phone call.

billso.com » iPhone

Congratulations, it’s an iPad!

12 seconds of St. Patrick’s Day

Iolani Palace sunset

The great 2008 Oahu blackout

Related articles and pages on billso.com

Distracted drivers and the law

More students are adopting Macs and the iPhone

Related articles and pages on billso.com

Divided attention and food in the classroom

Related articles on billso.com

Waterproof your iPod with Golden Shellback

WordPress for the iPhone and iPod Touch

iPhone 3G reviews are less than glowing

Related posts and pages from billso.com

Is email in danger from microblogging?

Related articles and pages on billso.com

How colorful should a laptop computer be?

iPhone 3G must be activated in the store

Related posts on billso.com

3G coverage for the new iPhone: Honolulu vs the Northeast Corridor

Related posts on billso.com

iPhone 3G coming on July 11

Related pages and posts on billso.com

The impossible solar iPhone

Related pages and posts on billso.com

GPS and mobile phones

Related posts and pages on billso.com

iPhone 2.0 firmware supports Chinese character recognition

Related pages and posts on billso.com

The mobile web still works with billso.com

Related pages and posts on billso.com

Google bets big on Sprint and Clearwire’s WiMAX joint venture

Related posts on billso.com

New iPhone will be subsidized, faster and thinner

Related posts on billso.com

Should Apple sell hardware on two-year contracts?

Android vs iPhone

Related articles on billso.com

MySpace keeps trying to sell music downloads

Related posts on billso.com

billso.com on the iPhone and iPod Touch

Today’s battle for tomorrow’s mobile phones

Starbucks, coffee and music

iTunes is number two

Mobile phone platform wars

The modular mobile phone

AT&T announces business and enterprise iPhone plans

The mobile web and billso.com

Applications are coming for the iPhone

iPhone helps AT&T add more wireless customers

Nokia claims 40 percent market share

The MacBook Air doesn’t impress me

The story of the iPhone

BlackBerry vs iPhone

The mobile web isn’t ready yet

An iPhone for China?

There is no Google phone – but there is an OS

Apple working with Salesforce.com on iPhone CRM integration

It’s time for an emergency Rave

Did you want a PC on your iPhone?

Can I get that Blackberry with WiFi?

The Google Phone and the iPhone – both looking for software and spectrum

Gartner: Expect an enterprise iPhone

EarthLink announces layoffs

Large print and hearing aids for the baby boomers

A history lesson: browsers and computers

RSS feeds for IS 6100 and IS 7010

Nine reasons not to use an iPhone in an enterprise

RSS feeds for my graduate information systems courses

Not everyone wants an iPhone

iPhone rate plans released

Rumor: Google might buy Apple

iPhone rate plans to be announced within a week

AT&T won’t sell iPhones to business accounts

Steve Jobs and his iPhone

Anticipation builds for Apple’s iPhone

Year 1 with an Apple iPhone = US$1936

Mobile telcos search for new business model

About e-commerce 3: The broadband connection