Oct

14

Google is putting the final touches on a mobile-phone project, but unlike Apple’s iPhone the so-called GPhone is all about software for mobile carriers and mobile advertisers.

Google’s goal is to extend its dominance in online advertising to the emerging mobile advertising market, which is small today but expected to grow dramatically in the years ahead, according to a news report in the International Herald Tribune.

The report says Google is expected to unveil details later this year, and handsets with the software could appear in 2008. But about 30 prototype phones are reported to be ‘in the wild’ as Network World Microsoft Subnet blogger Alex Lewis discovered firsthand last week.

Apple’s iPhone revolutionized user expectations about how mobile handsets should look, feel and behave. (You can find our extensive iPhone coverage by starting on our search page). The iPhone’s success has sent manufacturers scrambling to not merely match but surpass its features.

But Google’s GPhone is an open source phone operating system. There has been a growing interest and sophistication in Linux-based software and development tools for mobile devices.

The Herald Tribune article, citing both unnamed “industry source familiar with the project” and industry executives, outlines two possible directions for Google’s ambition. One is to develop and deploy a vastly cheaper alternative to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. The second is to loosen the grip that carriers have on the software, devices and services that can run on their closed cellular nets.

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Jul

12

att-logo-new.pngIn the glowing reviews that have greeted Apple’s iPhone, two questions keep coming up. Why did Apple sign a long-term exclusive arrangement with AT&T, which gets low marks in customer service from both Consumers Union and J.D. Power & Associates, BusinessWeek’s sister company? And why did Apple choose AT&T’s relatively slow EDGE network rather than the much faster Mobile Broadband, a third-generation (3G) service fast enough for snappy Web page downloads and smooth video streaming?

Apple isn’t talking, but the decisions aren’t as mysterious as they might appear. And they say a lot about the confused and confusing state of the U.S. wireless industry.

In designing the iPhone, Apple had to make a fundamental choice between the two different technology camps into which U.S. wireless service is divided. AT&T and T-Mobile use a European-developed standard called GSM. Verizon Wireless and Sprint rely on Qualcomm’s CDMA technology. (Sprint’s Nextel unit uses an oddball technology all its own.)

Because of its pervasive coverage in the Northeast and California, Verizon would have been a logical partner, but Verizon officials have told me they would never give any handset maker the kind of authority over hardware and software design Apple demanded from AT&T. Besides, from a global perspective, Apple’s choice of GSM was a no-brainer. GSM is the standard throughout Europe and nearly everywhere in Asia. The GSM iPhone could eventually be sold in nearly all major countries.

Apple says it decided to ignore AT&T’s Mobile Broadband because 3G networks draw more power, making it harder to hit iPhone’s ambitious battery-life goals. This explanation is not entirely convincing, since Wi-Fi, the iPhone’s high-speed option, also is a notorious power hog. I suspect Apple was worried about the dismal state of 3G service on GSM networks in the U.S.

via BusinessWeek

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Jul

11

AT&T’s exclusive right to sell the Apple iPhone drew complaints on Wednesday from Democratic politicians, though it was unclear whether they were planning to do anything about it.

“The problem with the iPhone is that the iPhone with AT&T is kind of like a ‘Hotel California’ service,” Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey said–in a nod to the Eagles hit, of course–during a hearing. “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Even though the hearing before the House of Representatives subcommittee on the Internet was supposed to be about “wireless innovation and consumer protection,” the iPhone popped up among Democrats as a subject of criticism–and, among Republicans, as an example of the free market and consumer choice in action.

Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, the top Republican on the subcommittee, said of the iPhone: “Its early success is an indication that the wireless market is in fact working. That iPhone is the newest mousetrap and now other carriers will be working to top it.”

Read Full Story at CNet

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Jul

5

money_for_spot.jpgA Dallas woman paid $800 for a first place spot in line. She came armed with $16K planning on buying the local AT&T’s stock of iPhone to resell on eBay. I guess she forgot to read one of the hundred’s of blogs that reported the “one per customer limit” AT&T imposed.

Video

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Jul

1

1st-night Sales: Tens — Perhaps Hundreds — of Thousands of iPhones

If the reports that Apple (AAPL) had 3 million iPhones stockpiled for opening night are anywhere close to the mark, there should be plenty left over for next week.

Apple and AT&T (T) are not releasing sales figures, but piecing together eye-witness accounts from stores around the country and doing some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations, it’s clear that Apple sold tens of thousands of iPhones — and perhaps as many as 200,000 — the first night, not millions.

There are several reports of AT&T stores selling out their consignment of iPhones — 60 in one Wall Street store, 40 in another, 20 in a smaller store.

According to Apple’s iPhone availability website (here) there are iPhones in stock today at all 164 Apple Stores, including the big ones in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Roughly 300 people lined up to buy phones at each of the largest stores (we counted 335 when the doors finally opened at the Stockton Street outlet in San Francisco) and more buyers streamed in before the doors closed at midnight.

If you generously assume that 500 iPhones were sold at each of Apple’s 164 retail outlets (including the tiny mall stores), and that all AT&T stores sold out an average of 50 phones, that’s

500 * 164 = 82,000
50 * 1,800 = 90,000
TOTAL = 172,000

Not bad for one night’s work. Because that doesn’t include online sales, it’s roughly in line with earlier analysts’ estimates that Apple could sell 400,000 iPhones in the first few days.

Apple has not commented on the estimates. Steve Jobs has said he hopes to capture 1% of the worldwide cellphone market by 2008, which comes out to roughly 10 million iPhones over the next 18 months.

UPDATE: An AAPL watcher whose opinion I trust thinks this estimate for AT&T sales may be 25% to 35% too low. He believes the smaller AT&T stores had 60 to 70 phones and the larger ones 100 or more.

He also points out that many, if not most, customers at Apple stores bought two iPhones. If we assume that half did, the numbers come out somewhat differently:

500 * 164 * 1.5 = 123,000
50 * 1,800 = 90,000
TOTAL = 213,000

In which case the headline should have read:

Apple Sells Hundreds of Thousands of iPhones the First Night

Source

Jul

1

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - AT&T Inc. sold almost all its initial stock of Apple Inc.’s iPhone within hours of the device going on sale, an AT&T spokesman said on Saturday.Library - 4607.jpg

An Apple spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the number of iPhones sold at its 162 U.S. outlets.

The combination cell phone, media player and Web browser went on sale at AT&T and Apple stores on Friday at 6 p.m. in each U.S. time zone in the most anticipated gadget launch of the year.

“Virtually all of our stores sold out of the iPhone last night,” AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said, declining to specify how many units had been sold.

AT&T, which runs about 1,800 stores in the United States, was still taking orders for iPhones and giving customers the option of picking the handset up in a store later or having it shipped to them directly, Siegel said.Library - 4604.jpg

Asked about problems that some iPhone buyers were having with activating their phones, Siegel said the “vast majority” of customers were able to begin using their phones within minutes.

“There are some whose activation process is being delayed and that’s something that can happen in a launch like this and we’re resolving those on a case-by-case basis,” Siegel said.

Jun

28

iphone_safari.jpgWe have been tracking a rumor that the iPhone will be limited to one per customer on the 29th. We’re made numerous calls to our AT&T contact’s as well as AT&T and Apple company stores, and have confirmed this.

Even if you want two iPhone’s for a family plan, you will need to take a buddy along for the ride. We expect this policy will stay in effect at least trough the weekend, and maybe into the first week or two.

Update Apple Store will allow each customer to purchase up to two iPhone’s. This will help cover those who want or have a family plan.

iPhonePlanet.net

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Jun

28

iphonechecker.jpgApple has posted a way to check with your local Apple Store for iPhone availability. The site will be updated at the end of each business day.

Check here

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Jun

26

The Apple phone combines intelligent voice calling, and a full-blown iPod, with a beautiful new interface for music and video playback. It offers the best Web browser we have seen on a smart phone, and robust email software. And it synchronizes easily and well with both Windows and Macintosh computers using Apple’s iTunes software.

It has the largest and highest-resolution screen of any smart phone we’ve seen, and the most internal memory by far. Yet it is one of the thinnest smart phones available and offers impressive battery life, better than its key competitors claim.

It feels solid and comfortable in the hand and the way it displays photos, videos and Web pages on its gorgeous screen makes other smart phones look primitive.

The iPhone’s most controversial feature, the omission of a physical keyboard in favor of a virtual keyboard on the screen, turned out in our tests to be a nonissue, despite our deep initial skepticism. After five days of use, Walt — who did most of the testing for this review — was able to type on it as quickly and accurately as he could on the Palm Treo he has used for years. This was partly because of smart software that corrects typing errors on the fly.

Read Full Review at All Things Digital

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Jun

26

As it turns out, much of the hype and some of the criticisms are justified. The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed. It’s substance; it’s style. It does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones.

Unless you’ve been in a sensory-deprivation tank for six months, you already know what the iPhone is: a tiny, gorgeous hand-held computer whose screen is a slab of touch-sensitive glass.

The $500 and $600 models have 4 and 8 gigabytes of storage, respectively — room for about 825 or 1,825 songs. (In each case, 700 megabytes is occupied by the phone’s software.) That’s a lot of money; then again, the price includes a cellphone, video iPod, e-mail terminal, Web browser, camera, alarm clock, Palm-type organizer and one heck of a status symbol.

The phone is so sleek and thin, it makes Treos and BlackBerrys look obese. The glass gets smudgy—a sleeve wipes it clean—but it doesn’t scratch easily. I’ve walked around with an iPhone in my pocket for two weeks, naked and unprotected (the iPhone, that is, not me), and there’s not a mark on it.

But the bigger achievement is the software. It’s fast, beautiful, menu-free, and dead simple to operate. You can’t get lost, because the solitary physical button below the screen always opens the Home page, arrayed with icons for the iPhone’s 16 functions.

You’ve probably seen Apple’s ads, showing how things on the screen have a physics all their own. Lists scroll with a flick of your finger, CD covers flip over as you flick them, e-mail messages collapse down into a trash can. Sure, it’s eye candy. But it makes the phone fun to use, which is not something you can say about most cellphones.

Apple has chosen AT&T (formerly Cingular) to be the iPhone’s exclusive carrier for the next few years, in part because the company gave Apple carte blanche to revise everything people hate about cellphones.

Read Full Review

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