If you doubt the influence that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) wields in numerous markets -- not just paid search -- you only have to look to the news item yesterday that has the wireless sector buzzing. In an abrupt change of course, Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), announced that it will adopt an open-network policy next year.
The plan is to deploy what Verizon Wireless calls an "Any Apps, Any Device" option for consumers and wireless-device manufacturers by the end of 2008. Under the new plan, Verizon will activate and support any device on its network that meets a basic set of technical criteria. In addition, no limitations will be placed on the device's software applications, in an attempt to address consumers' complaints about "walled gardens" that major carriers such as Verizon, AT&T (NYSE: T) and Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) employ.
The announcement is a marked departure from Verizon Wireless' previous stance on open-network policies that Google and the Federal Communications Commission are promoting for a new spectrum auction in January. For months, Verizon has been protesting, arguing, and in any and all ways kicking and screaming about the downsides of open-network business models and all the problems it will bring to the industry.
Yesterday's about-face shows Verizon concluding that it has more to gain from driving the changes rather than fighting them. It also signals the beginning of the end of the status quo that the operator has spent so much effort to protect. Thanks to innovations and efforts from newcomers to telecom such as Intel's (Nasdaq: INTC) promotion of Wi-Fi and WiMax, Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone, and Google's Android open software platform, the industry is moving farther away from the tightly controlled model that the carriers head up.
Still, I'm sure Verizon's new model for an open network will have its hitches. Activating a device on the network will definitely not come free, and devices will be far more expensive, since a carrier will not be subsidizing them. And, no, current iPhone users cannot switch from AT&T to Verizon -- the phone-signaling technology is completely different between the two.
At least initially, the vast majority of cell-phone users will stick with the status quo and rely on full service support from Verizon. But if the carrier offers attractive open-access prices to its network, that will open up a potentially significant new revenue stream.
source: fool.com
Apple's iPhone a tougher sell in Europe?
Google: The Real iPhone Killer
Carphone slated over iPhone porkies claim
Ojom Launches Its First iPhone Game
Nov 29, 2007
Nov 24, 2007
iPod Touch & iPhone: stable GBA emulator now available
For those of you with hacked Mobile OSX units, your choice of emulators is no longer limited to the NES variety. You may have noticed gpSPhone.app in Installer recently, but it has nothing to do with GPS or calling.
It is actually a Game Boy Advance emulator, and it’s been available for a short time now. Although, previous releases were far from usable. The latest release in Installer, version 0.1.0, is finally stable enough to use, but you’re going to have to do some copy/paste work first.
Once you install gpSPhone.app, you’ll need to download and install the GBA bios. You’ll also need to download and install the GBA roms.
This is illegal. Do not do this if it breaks the laws of your country, but, if you choose to proceed, here’s what you need to do:
We can’t link to the GBA bios, but finding it isn’t hard. Searching the term "GBA bios" in Google is your best bet.
SFTP into your device from your computer. Copy the GBA bios file into root/media_sym/applications/gpSPhone.app.
Change the permissions of the GBA bios file to 755. This could be done through some SFTP programs or through Terminal.app or Finder.app. Both are available through Installer.
Any roms you download need to be copied to media/roms/gba.
That’s it. You can now enjoy portable GBA gaming, which is already possible without your iPhone/iPod Touch, but you had to do it your own way, didn’t you?
[Via - mac.blorge.com]
It is actually a Game Boy Advance emulator, and it’s been available for a short time now. Although, previous releases were far from usable. The latest release in Installer, version 0.1.0, is finally stable enough to use, but you’re going to have to do some copy/paste work first.
Once you install gpSPhone.app, you’ll need to download and install the GBA bios. You’ll also need to download and install the GBA roms.
This is illegal. Do not do this if it breaks the laws of your country, but, if you choose to proceed, here’s what you need to do:
We can’t link to the GBA bios, but finding it isn’t hard. Searching the term "GBA bios" in Google is your best bet.
SFTP into your device from your computer. Copy the GBA bios file into root/media_sym/applications/gpSPhone.app.
Change the permissions of the GBA bios file to 755. This could be done through some SFTP programs or through Terminal.app or Finder.app. Both are available through Installer.
Any roms you download need to be copied to media/roms/gba.
That’s it. You can now enjoy portable GBA gaming, which is already possible without your iPhone/iPod Touch, but you had to do it your own way, didn’t you?
[Via - mac.blorge.com]
My iPhone Story
You are probably familiar with those iPhone commercials depicting people using their phones in real situations that would occur in life. Well I have my own.
I regularly attend a computer class at my local college. One day during class a discussion arose about the sharp rise in price of technology stocks. My teacher used Google as an example and asked if anyone knew what the price per share currently was and what it had been 1 year ago. Having had Google as one of the stocks I was monitoring, I quickly took out my iPhone and checked the price. The class was amazed at the speed with which I was able to gather this information. The professor soon used this information to calculate the amount of money one would have gained in investing a certain amount about a year ago. I was glad that our class was able to learn using valid information, and not a mere estimate. The professor then thanked me after class.
[Via - iphonematters.com]
I regularly attend a computer class at my local college. One day during class a discussion arose about the sharp rise in price of technology stocks. My teacher used Google as an example and asked if anyone knew what the price per share currently was and what it had been 1 year ago. Having had Google as one of the stocks I was monitoring, I quickly took out my iPhone and checked the price. The class was amazed at the speed with which I was able to gather this information. The professor soon used this information to calculate the amount of money one would have gained in investing a certain amount about a year ago. I was glad that our class was able to learn using valid information, and not a mere estimate. The professor then thanked me after class.
[Via - iphonematters.com]
iPhone Signal Strength Problems In the UK
An anonymous reader writes
"British iPhone users, who bought the Apple phones when they went on sale in England on Nov. 9, are reporting persistent problems with signal strength on O2, the UK's only iPhone service provider. The complaints started only 2 days later. InfoWeek blogger Alex Wolfe says there's a debate as to whether O2 or the iPhone is at fault; it appears to be the handset, which is unusual since US users haven't reported similar problems. Some 02 customers report that getting a replacement phone fixes things; others have had to do a software restore back to version 1.1.2 of the iPhone software."
[Via - slashdot.org]
"British iPhone users, who bought the Apple phones when they went on sale in England on Nov. 9, are reporting persistent problems with signal strength on O2, the UK's only iPhone service provider. The complaints started only 2 days later. InfoWeek blogger Alex Wolfe says there's a debate as to whether O2 or the iPhone is at fault; it appears to be the handset, which is unusual since US users haven't reported similar problems. Some 02 customers report that getting a replacement phone fixes things; others have had to do a software restore back to version 1.1.2 of the iPhone software."
[Via - slashdot.org]
Research in Motion said to be working on an iPhone rival
Research in Motion said to be working on an iPhone rival
Research in Motion is the maker of the hugely popular and successful Blackberry range of smartphones.
The company is now said to be working on a touch screen model of the Blackberry which could take on the Apple iPhone in the US market.
If this is true, it would become the first Blackberry model to have no regular keypad (keyboard).
Market reports suggest that the company could launch this new phone under the BlackBerry 9000 series.
These could appear in the market sometime in the first quarter of 2008. They are also likely to be targeted at general customers instead of business class customers.
RIM has decided to stay mum on these latest rumors in the market.
[Via - techwhack.com]
Research in Motion is the maker of the hugely popular and successful Blackberry range of smartphones.
The company is now said to be working on a touch screen model of the Blackberry which could take on the Apple iPhone in the US market.
If this is true, it would become the first Blackberry model to have no regular keypad (keyboard).
Market reports suggest that the company could launch this new phone under the BlackBerry 9000 series.
These could appear in the market sometime in the first quarter of 2008. They are also likely to be targeted at general customers instead of business class customers.
RIM has decided to stay mum on these latest rumors in the market.
[Via - techwhack.com]
Orange iPhone price plan leaked: report
Orange, the French telecom operator, briefly leaked the details to its pricing strategy for the Apple iPhone, Les Echos said.
Orange will charge 1,176 euros with the iPhone for a two-year deal in France, according to details of the terms of agreement seen on the company website, the newspaper said.
In Germany, a court has ordered carrier T-mobile to sell the phone without the contract. T-mobile began selling the phone for 999 euros alone ($1479), compared with the 399 euros price with the contract. Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, has appealed a preliminary injunction. A hearing is set for November 29.
[Via - ibtimes.com]
Orange will charge 1,176 euros with the iPhone for a two-year deal in France, according to details of the terms of agreement seen on the company website, the newspaper said.
In Germany, a court has ordered carrier T-mobile to sell the phone without the contract. T-mobile began selling the phone for 999 euros alone ($1479), compared with the 399 euros price with the contract. Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company, has appealed a preliminary injunction. A hearing is set for November 29.
[Via - ibtimes.com]
Mobile Web: So Close Yet So Far
ON the surface, the mobile Web is a happening place. There’s the iPhone in all its glory. More than 30 companies have signed up for the Open Handset Alliance from Google, which aims to bring the wide-open development environment of the Internet to mobile devices. Nokia, which owns nearly 40 percent of the world market for cellphones, is snapping up Web technology companies and has made an eye-popping $8.1 billion bid for Navteq, a digital mapping service. There are also the requisite start-ups chasing the market.
It all looks good, but the wireless communications business smacks of a soap opera, with disaster lurking like your next dropped call.
In 2000, the wireless application protocol was supposed to bring the Internet to the cellphone. Our hero turned out to be a flash in the pan. That was attributed to a lack of high-speed cellular data networks, so a frenzied and costly effort to build third-generation, or 3G, networks ensued. But at a recent conference, 3G was called “a failure” by Caroline Gabriel, an analyst at Rethink Research. She said data would make up only 12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007, far below the expected 50 percent. (The 12 percent figure does not include text messaging, but you don’t need a 3G network to send a text message.)
Similarly, surveys by Yankee Group, a Boston research firm, show that only 13 percent of cellphone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web more than once a month, while 70 percent of computer users view Web sites every day.
“The user experience has been a disaster,” says Tony Davis, managing partner of Brightspark, a Toronto venture capital firm that has invested in two mobile Web companies.
While many phones have some form of Web access, most are hard to use — just finding a place to type in a Web address can be a challenge. And once you find it, most Web content doesn’t look very good on cellphone screens.
Even the iPhone’s browser can disappoint. It has a version of the Apple Safari browser that doesn’t support Flash, a programming language widely used on Web sites, so users are limited in what they can see on the Web. And, you pay a lot to experience the pain of surfing the mobile Web. Lewis Ward, an analyst at the International Data Corporation, compares the mobile Web today to AOL before it went with flat-rate pricing in the early 1990s. Most people surf on a pay-per-kilobyte model, which encourages them to surf as fast as they can, he says.
The carriers, however, seem to be having a change of heart about the mobile Web. AT&T has allowed Apple unusual control over the network in the iPhone, and Sprint and T-Mobile have signed on to the Android development platform of the Open Handset Alliance.
Industry watchers think that having started, the mobile Web will inexorably open over the next five years, solving many current problems.
For instance, there’s the challenge of finding things on the Web from a mobile phone. John SanGiovanni, founder and vice president for products and services at Zumobi (formerly ZenZui), which was spun out of Microsoft Research, says his company hopes to make it easier for phone users to find phone-ready versions of sites they want. On Dec. 14, it plans to introduce the beta, or test, version of its slick-looking software. It will include colorful “tiles” that phone users can “zoom” into and out of quickly as they move from site to site. (The tiles resemble the iPhone’s widgets, or icons on a desktop computer.)
Zumobi hopes that cellphone users will adopt tiles as their entry point to the Web; the company offers a scrolling interface of 16 such tiles that provide information with mass appeal, but users can set their own preferences. Software developers will be able to build a tile — in fact, Amazon.com has 12 ready to go — and put it on Zumobi’s platform. Tiles can carry ads as well, creating revenue potential for carriers and developers.
THE chairman of Zumobi’s board is Tom Huseby, a longtime entrepreneur and investor in the mobile business and now managing partner at SeaPoint Ventures. Mr. Huseby says the mobile Web is going through a predictable cycle involving the development of handsets, networks and markets. Now it is in the last phase of innovation: figuring out how customers want to see the Web from their phones. He says the answer will be to give people what they want, when they want it.
“You got to have open systems, to allow the vast creativity of people to take place,” he says. Zumobi, Android and other developments, he says, will help create such openness.
Other approaches to solving this problem include Yahoo Go, a mobile Internet product certified to display Web pages correctly on more than 300 handsets, and another from InfoGIN, an Israeli company whose product automatically adapts Web pages to work on cellphones.
The plot has plenty of time to twist yet again. Nathan Eagle an M.I.T. researcher, is working on mobile phone programming in Kenya, where he’s teaching computer science students how to build mobile Web applications that don’t use a browser. Instead, they rely on voice commands and speech-to-text translation to surf the Web
“People talk about the mobile Web, and it’s just assumed that it’ll be a replica of the desktop experience,” Mr. Eagle said. “But they’re fundamentally different devices.” He says he thinks that the basic Web experience for most of the world’s three billion cellphones will never involve trying to thumb-type Web addresses or squint at e-mail messages. Instead, he says, it will be voice-driven. “People want to use their phone as a phone,” he says.
For now, widespread use of the mobile Web remains both far off and inevitable.
[Via - nytimes.com]
It all looks good, but the wireless communications business smacks of a soap opera, with disaster lurking like your next dropped call.
In 2000, the wireless application protocol was supposed to bring the Internet to the cellphone. Our hero turned out to be a flash in the pan. That was attributed to a lack of high-speed cellular data networks, so a frenzied and costly effort to build third-generation, or 3G, networks ensued. But at a recent conference, 3G was called “a failure” by Caroline Gabriel, an analyst at Rethink Research. She said data would make up only 12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007, far below the expected 50 percent. (The 12 percent figure does not include text messaging, but you don’t need a 3G network to send a text message.)
Similarly, surveys by Yankee Group, a Boston research firm, show that only 13 percent of cellphone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web more than once a month, while 70 percent of computer users view Web sites every day.
“The user experience has been a disaster,” says Tony Davis, managing partner of Brightspark, a Toronto venture capital firm that has invested in two mobile Web companies.
While many phones have some form of Web access, most are hard to use — just finding a place to type in a Web address can be a challenge. And once you find it, most Web content doesn’t look very good on cellphone screens.
Even the iPhone’s browser can disappoint. It has a version of the Apple Safari browser that doesn’t support Flash, a programming language widely used on Web sites, so users are limited in what they can see on the Web. And, you pay a lot to experience the pain of surfing the mobile Web. Lewis Ward, an analyst at the International Data Corporation, compares the mobile Web today to AOL before it went with flat-rate pricing in the early 1990s. Most people surf on a pay-per-kilobyte model, which encourages them to surf as fast as they can, he says.
The carriers, however, seem to be having a change of heart about the mobile Web. AT&T has allowed Apple unusual control over the network in the iPhone, and Sprint and T-Mobile have signed on to the Android development platform of the Open Handset Alliance.
Industry watchers think that having started, the mobile Web will inexorably open over the next five years, solving many current problems.
For instance, there’s the challenge of finding things on the Web from a mobile phone. John SanGiovanni, founder and vice president for products and services at Zumobi (formerly ZenZui), which was spun out of Microsoft Research, says his company hopes to make it easier for phone users to find phone-ready versions of sites they want. On Dec. 14, it plans to introduce the beta, or test, version of its slick-looking software. It will include colorful “tiles” that phone users can “zoom” into and out of quickly as they move from site to site. (The tiles resemble the iPhone’s widgets, or icons on a desktop computer.)
Zumobi hopes that cellphone users will adopt tiles as their entry point to the Web; the company offers a scrolling interface of 16 such tiles that provide information with mass appeal, but users can set their own preferences. Software developers will be able to build a tile — in fact, Amazon.com has 12 ready to go — and put it on Zumobi’s platform. Tiles can carry ads as well, creating revenue potential for carriers and developers.
THE chairman of Zumobi’s board is Tom Huseby, a longtime entrepreneur and investor in the mobile business and now managing partner at SeaPoint Ventures. Mr. Huseby says the mobile Web is going through a predictable cycle involving the development of handsets, networks and markets. Now it is in the last phase of innovation: figuring out how customers want to see the Web from their phones. He says the answer will be to give people what they want, when they want it.
“You got to have open systems, to allow the vast creativity of people to take place,” he says. Zumobi, Android and other developments, he says, will help create such openness.
Other approaches to solving this problem include Yahoo Go, a mobile Internet product certified to display Web pages correctly on more than 300 handsets, and another from InfoGIN, an Israeli company whose product automatically adapts Web pages to work on cellphones.
The plot has plenty of time to twist yet again. Nathan Eagle an M.I.T. researcher, is working on mobile phone programming in Kenya, where he’s teaching computer science students how to build mobile Web applications that don’t use a browser. Instead, they rely on voice commands and speech-to-text translation to surf the Web
“People talk about the mobile Web, and it’s just assumed that it’ll be a replica of the desktop experience,” Mr. Eagle said. “But they’re fundamentally different devices.” He says he thinks that the basic Web experience for most of the world’s three billion cellphones will never involve trying to thumb-type Web addresses or squint at e-mail messages. Instead, he says, it will be voice-driven. “People want to use their phone as a phone,” he says.
For now, widespread use of the mobile Web remains both far off and inevitable.
[Via - nytimes.com]
British iPhone Users Complain Of Serious Reception Problems
British iPhone buyers are in an online uproar over reception problems they're experiencing on the network of O2, Apple's exclusive service provider in England. (No bars for iPhone Brits?)
The issue has come to light on Apple's own discussions forum, in a thread entitled, "UK 02 (poor signal strength/reception problems)." The thread is here.
This is the same discussion forum where Apple's iBricking escapade -- customers who'd downloaded third-party apps found their phones locked up -- first came to light in late September.
The O2 reception thread began on Nov. 11, and is still going strong, with 103 messages posted as of Nov. 25. That's an indication that, at least for the affected users, this isn't a one-off glitch but a problem in search of an as-yet-unavailable solution.
The thread had also been viewed 2,960 times, making it among the five most-read discussions on the forum. (Other top threads on the Apple Discussions iPhone forum are "Calling when overseas," "Trouble synching calendar with iPhone," "Anti-reflective coating on iPhone camera lens wearing off," and "iPhone volume.")
Complaints about O2 reception problems first appeared on the Apple forum less than two days after the iPhone went on sale in England at midnight on Friday, Nov. 9, in a post out of Derbyshire by one "lawlbaker2":
"My iPhone can barely pick up even the slightest signal, although on occasion can pick up 3 bars, only for it to drop out again. I have two other 02 phones, a Sony Ericsson and a Nokia (NYSE: NOK) n95 with no reception problems at all. Is anyone experiencing same problem with their iPhone, I would like to hear from you."
Reports of similar problems by two other users were met by a suggestion from poster Charles Duffy that the phone, rather than the network, might be at fault:
"Take your phone back for a replacement - it is faulty! I had the same problem - little or no reception. Had my phone replaced today and the signal strength is perfect. Still have a problem with Bluetooth, but hopefully this will be fixed by Apple shortly with their next update! At last I can make and receive calls!! Hope this helps! PS there is a 14 day return or exchange policy in the iPhone!"
The thread subsequently lapsed into a discussion of whether O2 service in general was bad, or whether it was just newer iPhone users who were experiencing problems. The consensus seemed to peg the iPhone as the culprit.
However, the fact that U.S. users haven't complained about reception would seem to point the finger at O2. (This last observation is me talking.)
Lest someone paint these Apple forum denizens as cranks, a further indication that perhaps the problems extend beyond a small group of users comes from the fact that there are also two threads on the customer forums of UK iPhone service provider O2. (The threads, here and here, are much, much shorter and less current than the Apple Discussions postings.)
Potential Solution
A few commenters have suggested doing a full restore of the iPhone's software as the answer to reception difficulties. "I am a US iPhone user but I would suggest to you to just do a full restore via iTunes," wrote one. Another poster, identified as Cottycam, advised the following:
"After reading this thread and others, I did a restore of the iPhone back to factory (1.1.2) and voila - success. On my desk no service to 1 bar again (best I can hope for) but in the bay window I now get 3 bars which is great."
To view the Apple Discussions iPhone thread at the source, go here. I'm also posting some screen captures of the Apple Discussions thread as a backup (during the iBricking incident, the forum thread was removed shortly after I blogged about it). Click the pictures to see larger, readable images.
[Via - informationweek.com]
The issue has come to light on Apple's own discussions forum, in a thread entitled, "UK 02 (poor signal strength/reception problems)." The thread is here.
This is the same discussion forum where Apple's iBricking escapade -- customers who'd downloaded third-party apps found their phones locked up -- first came to light in late September.
The O2 reception thread began on Nov. 11, and is still going strong, with 103 messages posted as of Nov. 25. That's an indication that, at least for the affected users, this isn't a one-off glitch but a problem in search of an as-yet-unavailable solution.
The thread had also been viewed 2,960 times, making it among the five most-read discussions on the forum. (Other top threads on the Apple Discussions iPhone forum are "Calling when overseas," "Trouble synching calendar with iPhone," "Anti-reflective coating on iPhone camera lens wearing off," and "iPhone volume.")
Complaints about O2 reception problems first appeared on the Apple forum less than two days after the iPhone went on sale in England at midnight on Friday, Nov. 9, in a post out of Derbyshire by one "lawlbaker2":
"My iPhone can barely pick up even the slightest signal, although on occasion can pick up 3 bars, only for it to drop out again. I have two other 02 phones, a Sony Ericsson and a Nokia (NYSE: NOK) n95 with no reception problems at all. Is anyone experiencing same problem with their iPhone, I would like to hear from you."
Reports of similar problems by two other users were met by a suggestion from poster Charles Duffy that the phone, rather than the network, might be at fault:
"Take your phone back for a replacement - it is faulty! I had the same problem - little or no reception. Had my phone replaced today and the signal strength is perfect. Still have a problem with Bluetooth, but hopefully this will be fixed by Apple shortly with their next update! At last I can make and receive calls!! Hope this helps! PS there is a 14 day return or exchange policy in the iPhone!"
The thread subsequently lapsed into a discussion of whether O2 service in general was bad, or whether it was just newer iPhone users who were experiencing problems. The consensus seemed to peg the iPhone as the culprit.
However, the fact that U.S. users haven't complained about reception would seem to point the finger at O2. (This last observation is me talking.)
Lest someone paint these Apple forum denizens as cranks, a further indication that perhaps the problems extend beyond a small group of users comes from the fact that there are also two threads on the customer forums of UK iPhone service provider O2. (The threads, here and here, are much, much shorter and less current than the Apple Discussions postings.)
Potential Solution
A few commenters have suggested doing a full restore of the iPhone's software as the answer to reception difficulties. "I am a US iPhone user but I would suggest to you to just do a full restore via iTunes," wrote one. Another poster, identified as Cottycam, advised the following:
"After reading this thread and others, I did a restore of the iPhone back to factory (1.1.2) and voila - success. On my desk no service to 1 bar again (best I can hope for) but in the bay window I now get 3 bars which is great."
To view the Apple Discussions iPhone thread at the source, go here. I'm also posting some screen captures of the Apple Discussions thread as a backup (during the iBricking incident, the forum thread was removed shortly after I blogged about it). Click the pictures to see larger, readable images.
[Via - informationweek.com]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)