Tag: iPhone

iPhone 5 To Get A Liquipel Waterproof Coating (Rumor)

One of the most interesting entries in this year’s CES conference was Liquipel. This remarkable technology promises to make your gadgets completely waterproof. Now it looks like some upcoming smartphones may have Liquipel technology right out of the box.

According to a rumor published by Today’s iPhone, Apple’s next iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S III will ship with a Liquipel coating. The report comes from a source inside a British independent phone retailer. Apparently insurance policies relating to the two phones are being changes to alter how they handle water damage, the leading cause of insurance claims on mobile devices.

While this is a rumor and deserves its fair share of skepticism, this is exactly the kind of thing Apple likes to do with its products. When the iPhone 3GS launched, Apple made much of the oleophobic coating on the device’s screen. A waterproof coating like Liquipel (or HzO’s Waterblock technology) would be a relatively small change that Apple could turn into a major selling point. What’s more, it would be fantastic news for the 75% of us who take our phones with us to the toilet.

While there are no devices that currently ship with a Liquipel coating, getting your device treated is a fairly simple process, provided you can stand to be separated from your phone for a couple days. For $59.99 Liquipel will treat an iPhone 4S within 1-2 days of receiving the device. For an extra $10, they will treat it within 2 hours.

Here’s a video of Liquipel in action.

What do you think? Would a waterproof coating be a strong selling point for Apple’s next iPhone? Sound off in the comments.

February 3, 2012
Android Smartphones & iPhone Gain Market Share, Everyone Else Loses

Android’s market share grew 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 47.3% of the smartphone market, according to data just released by comScore. In September Google’s operating system had 44.8% of the smartphone market. Smartphone users make up 40% of the overall mobile phone market.

Apple also grew in market share during the last quarter, and by nearly as much. In September Apple had 27.4% of the smartphone market. Apple’s market share grew 2.2%, hitting 29.6% in December.

Of course, with Apple and Android getting a collective surge of nearly five percentage points, someone has to have lost out. Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, the big loser appears to have been RIM. Their BlackBerry platform went into the quarter with a market share of 18.9%. By December they had lost 2.9% – more than either Apple or Android gained – to bottom out at 16%. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Symbian suffered smaller drops, finishing December at 4.7% and 1.4% market share, respectively.

ComScore also collected data about mobile phone OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). Apple gained 2.2 percentage points and ended December with a market share of 12.4% of all mobile phones, not just smartphones. That leaves Apple in fourth place, after Samsung, LG, and Motorola. RIM maintained its fifth place position. Of the top five mobile phone manufacturers, Apple was the only OEM to actually gain market share during the September-December period. Samsung held steady at 25.3%, while LG, Motorola, and RIM all lost market share.

Finally, comScore looked at mobile content usage (i.e., activities other than making phone calls) across all mobile subscribers, not just smartphone users. The most popular activity by far is texting, with 74.3% of users saying they had used their phone to send text messages. The second most popular activity at 47.6% was downloading mobile apps, followed very closely by using their phone’s browser at 47.5%. Just over two thirds – 35.3% said they used their phone to access social networking sites or blogs, while 31.4% played games and 23.8% listened to music. All of these activities gained in popularity in December. Downloading apps saw the biggest jump in popularity at just over 5%.

[via comScore]

February 2, 2012
NFC Coming To iPhone 5? MasterCard Thinks So

Ed McLaughlin, head of emerging payments at MasterCard, has given some weight to rumors that Apple’s next iPhone will finally include near field communication technology. In a recent interview with Fast Company, McLaughlin said that he expected the use of contactless payment systems like MasterCard’s PayPass – which rely on NFC technology – to expand rapidly in the near future.

Part of the reason for that expansion, he said, is the technology’s penetration into the smartphone market. McLaughlin insisted that “I don’t know of a handset manufacturer out there that isn’t in the process of making sure their stuff is PayPass ready.” When pressed on whether that included Apple, McLaughlin would only repeat that there aren’t any handset manufacturers not working on the technology.

Though still in its early days, the technology is becoming increasingly common in the smartphone market. Google Wallet, a system designed for Android phones with NFC technology, stores users’ credit card data on their phones so that they can use them with NFC-based payment systems like PayPass. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which launched late last year, includes NFC, and the major mobile phone carriers are said to be working on their own mobile payment system much like Google Wallet (which, incidentally, is likely the reason Verizon blocked Google Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus when it launched).

More than two years ago we began hearing rumors that the iPhone 4 would have NFC. When the iPhone 4 launch came and went with no mention of NFC, it was thought that Apple might include it in the iPhone 5. In October the iPhone 5 was revealed as the iPhone 4S, and still NFC technology was notably absent. Now, of course, rumors are flying that the next iPhone will finally have the technology built in. Though hardly an direct confirmation, McLaughlin’s statements are strongly suggest that those rumors are correct.

[Via Fast Company]

February 1, 2012
Mobile Devices Surpass Computers In Global Chip Buying

Spending on microchips for wireless devices soared to $58.6 billion in 2011, according to a study released today. That’s an increase of 14.5% over 2010, when original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) spent $51.2 billion. What’s more, spending on chips for wireless devices beat spending on chips for computers by a significant margin.OEMs spent $53.7 billion on chips for computers, an increase of only 4%.

While this is not the first time spending on chips for wireless has beaten spending on chips for computers, it is the first time the margin has been so big. In 2009 spending on wireless chips was also higher, though the two were considerably closer. In 2010 PC chips spending just barely edged out wireless chip spending.

This trend is only going to continue in the coming years, it seems. The study projects OEM spending on wireless chips to continue its surge in 2012 and 2013 – maybe as high as $72.9 billion – while computer spending remains basically the same.

The cause of this trend is easy to identify. The smartphone market has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years, and the introduction of Apple’s iPad in 2010 created a tablet market that has also seen incredible growth. As smartphones and tablets continue to become even more ubiquitous, spending on the microchips necessary to build the devices will only increase. Computers, on the other hand, are already ubiquitous, and unlikely to see anything like the surge we are seeing in the mobile device market.

February 1, 2012
Android Users Apt To Have Sex After First Date, Leave It At That

After yesterday’s shocking news that Android users are more apt to take their phones into the bathroom, it appears that the depravity and debauchery just never ends for those crazy Android kooks.

A survey carried out by dating site Match.com has revealed that if you’re looking to find an easy score, make sure your date’s carrying an Android OS device.

The study breaks the dating crowd into categories based on their types of phones – Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry. Each subset seems to have their own proclivities.

First the Android users. If you’re looking to hook up and leave it at that, Android users are your best bet. 62% of Droiders say that they have gone all the way after just one date. Only 57% of iPhone users and 48% of Blackberry users admitted to that. Moreover, Android users are more likely to either not call you or ignore your call the next day – 55% said that they’ve had a one night stand.

iPhone users apparently like to keep their conquests close. Almost 25% of iPhone users reported having an office fling in the last five years. iPhone users are also the most anxious (read desperate) to make contact after a date – they only averaged a one-day wait to contact the other person after a first date. Both Android and BlackBerry users waited 2-3 days.

Finally, BlackBerry users are going to booze it up. 72% say they will drink alcohol on their first date, a figure which leads the pack. In a possibly relevant stat, BlackBerry users were also the most likely to say they’ve fallen in love at first sight. It makes one think, however: If BlackBerry users are the drunkest, you’d think that their one night stand totals would be the highest. Maybe one stat that wasn’t reported was that BlackBerry users have the tendency to lie about their sexual exploits.

As far as Android users being the sluts of the smartphone world, Digital Life points out that an older survey conducted by OKCupid actually pegged iPhone users as having the most sexual partners by age 30 (11). Android users only averaged 6 partners.

Junk science? Probably. But I bet that you’ll have this in mind when you notice what kind of phone your blind date is fiddling with across the table.

[The Canadian Press via VentureBeat]

February 1, 2012
Foxconn Building 5 Brazilian Factories For Apple Products

At the end of last week we brought you news that the government of Brazil had approved tax incentives that would encourage Foxconn’s production of iPads in that country. Now it seems that the company is planning to build 5 more Brazilian factories.

According to a report in the Brazilian newspaper Folha (Google translation), the announcement came from the office of Julio Semeghini, Secretary of Planning and Development for the State of São Paulo. Though Foxconn apparently declined to confirm the information, Semeghini said that the country will begin negotiations with the company at the conclusion of the Chinese New Year. The negotiations are expected to deal primarily with the locations of the plants. Some will undoubtedly be in São Paulo, though other Brazilian states may want a share of Foxconn’s investment as well.

The five factories will each employ around a thousand workers each. They are expected to focus on the production of Apple’s iPad and iPhone, as well as related accessories, manuals, power supplies, and cables. There is no indication of when the factories might come online.

January 31, 2012
Foxconn Hiring, Thousands Clamor For Jobs

Chinese manufacturer Foxconn is in the process of doubling their workforce in places like the city of Zhengzhou, and despite all of the recent controversy surrounding working conditions at Foxconn factories, tons of Chinese workers are rushing to grab a job.

Chinese Apple site Mic Gadget reports that on Monday, thousands of people looking for jobs lined up outside a labor office in the largest city in Henan province, all looking to be hired on at Foxconn.

They discuss what could be the draw of a Foxconn job:

Well, these people saw the job advertisement posted by the Zhengzhou government in the city which showed the salary at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory is 1650 yuan (US$261) for basic salary, and the salary would be increased to 2400 – 3200 yuan (US$379-$506) after the appraisal. What’s more, workers do not need to pay additional money for dormitory and food. Foxconn incorporates the food and housing allowance into the basic salary. So, this attracted thousands of young job seekers to deliver their resumes to the Foxconn representatives.

Apparently, the crowd was heavily swayed toward males and most had prior work experience. A smaller subset of the applicants were described as recent college grads.

Of course, the Apple manufacturer has been the subject of public scrutiny as of late regarding worker conditions inside its factories. Foxconn has been accused of worker abuses, including witholding pay, forcing long hours with no breaks, and providing unsafe conditions. One Chinese executive from a Foxconn parent company raised eyebrows by comparing his workers to animals. Then there are those horrific stories of suicides at the plants.

Apple has denied that they were aware of these abuses and have stated emphatically that they care about every worker in their supply chain. CEO Tim Cook said that he was “offended” by the allegations, saying “we care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us.”

But it looks like Chinese workers are lining up in droves for work at the plants. One might think that this hints that conditions might not be as bad as some have reported, but Mic Gadget has some pretty harsh words about the Foxconn factories:

The long lines at the labour agency may have surprised some, considering the harsh working conditions at Foxconn’s factories. No matter how poor the working conditions are, we can still see lots of Chinese willing to work at the hell factory to assemble the tech gadgets we’re using today. God bless them.

Foxconn is probably ramping up hiring to deal with the production of new Apple devices like the iPhone 5. Earlier, we told you about an online petition about protecting Chinese workers that has been gaining a hell of a lot of steam on Change.org. With all of the recent news about worker conditions in these factories, it’s safe to say that many Apple lovers will look at the iPhone 5 in a way that they probably didn’t look at their original iPhone.

January 31, 2012
Verizon Preparing To Launch Shared iPhone, iPad Data Plans

Verizon and AT&T have both said in in the past six months that they were planning to launch shared data plans for phones and tablets. Both companies currently offer separate data plans for separate devices. That is, if you have an iPhone and a 3G iPad, your iPhone data network is paid directly to Verizon or AT&T on your phone bill, while your iPad data plan is paid separately, through your iTunes store account. Under the new plans, users would be able to unify the two bills, paying both at once and eliminating the hassle of separate charges.

There is no word yet on how soon these new plans will be rolling out. Engaget is reporting that a source inside Verizon had seen references to “account level data plans” in employee training materials. Presumably the new plans will be available soon, but until Verizon makes an official announcement, there is no way to be sure when. Given that AT&T made their announcement about the shared data plan a full six months before Verizon, they aren’t likely to let Verizon get much of a jump on them, which means that we can probably expect AT&T to make an announcement not long after Verizon does.

January 30, 2012
Smartphones May Be Diagnosing You In The Future Via New Touchscreen Technology

You can do a lot with your smartphones. You can get directions, pay your bills, watch movies, play games, browse through dinner recipes. It’s an endless list that everybody could probably contribute to. In other words: you get it. But one thing your phone may be capable of doing in the future is diagnosing your illnesses.

No, I’m not talking about that Yahtzee!-like practice of self-diagnosing yourself by Googling your symptoms. That’s a horrible thing to do to yourself so you should stop doing it (seriously, stop doing that). And no, I’m not talking about apps that assess any symptoms you enter and then spit out some offerings of what you could have. This is real: scientists in South Korea have developed a new technology that would enable a touchscreen – like the one attached to your smartphone – to diagnose you by simply placing a droplet of of saliva or blood onto the screen.

If you can get past the more-than-a-little gross notion of intentionally bleeding or spitting a little onto your cellphone, you may stand to benefit quite a bit. The Daily Mail reports that the scientists who created the technology claim that the recognition rate is “almost 100% accurate” with its diagnosis. In fact, one researcher anticipates that this diagnosing touchscreen-technology would even be able to diagnose serious ailments like cancer and diabetes.

The Daily Mail has an accompanying video with the story that includes further interviews with the researchers who may have just changed pathology forever. Hopefully this will eliminate the all-time most self-destructive habit in all you budding hypochondriacs out there in the world of Googling your diagnosis. Because, really. Stop. Doing. That.

January 30, 2012
QuasiDisk, Another Tethering App Sneaks Into The App Store

It looks like another developer has managed to sneak a tethering app into the App Store. QuasiDisk is billed as a file management app, designed to allow users to quickly and easily transfer files to and from their iOS devices. Hidden in QuasiDisk, though, is the ability to tether a computer to your iPhone via a proxy. Though the setup is a little complicated, it allows you to share your iPhone’s 3G data connection with your computer.

QuasiDisk is hardly the first tethering app to sneak past Apple’s notoriously finicky App Store approval process, and it certainly isn’t the last. It isn’t even the most blatant – that title probably belongs to iTether, which was launched then pulled in the space of a day late last year. Of course, neither Apple nor the carriers are ever happy about this sort of thing, so don’t expect QuasiDisk to be around for long. For the moment, though, it’s available in the App Store for $1.99 (iTunes Link). If you do manage to pick up a copy before it gets yanked, YouTube user Apoc269 has put together a video showing how to use the tethering feature.

It’s not clear how well the app actually works for transferring files. Not well, if the handful of reviews currently up in the App Store are to be believed. The interface is bare bones to say the least, and it’s a fair bet that the supposed file transfer functionality is just a smokescreen to sneak tethering back into the App Store. If you’ve got it, let us know what you think of it in the comments.

January 30, 2012
Lingual Jailbreak Tweak Turns Siri Into A Translator

Last week we brought you news of the release of the long-awaited jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. Now it looks like jailbreak developers have wasted no time in preparing some amazing tweaks for the iPhone 4S’s most notable feature: Siri. A tweak has appeared in the Cydia app store that turns Siri into a translator.

Lingual is a free tweak that allows users to say an English phrase to Siri and have it translated into whatever language they choose. At present Lingual supports more than 30 languages, including French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Russian, Vietnamese, Ukranian, Estonian, and more. Lingual requires that the AssistantExtension tweak already be installed.

While Lingual isn’t quite a Star Trek-style universal translator, it’s a step in that direction. Here’s a video of Lingual in action, courtesy of iJailbreak. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments.

January 27, 2012
EFF Petitions Copyright Office To Keep Jailbreaking Legal

In 2010 the U.S. Copyright Office sided with users and developers when it issued a declaration exempting jailbreaking/rooting from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The exemption meant that the jailbreak community could come out into the open without fear of legal action for copyright infringement.

Now, however, the exemption granted by the Copyright Office is set to expire, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to make sure that doesn’t happen. The group has set up a page with information on the situation, and instructions for contacting the U.S. Copyright Office in order to petition that the exemptions be renewed. They also want the exemption expanded to include tablets and video game consoles.

The site does not say when the exemption is set to expire, however the Copyright Office will stop accepting comments on the issue on February 10th at 5 pm Eastern time. So if you have a jailbroken iPhone or iPad, or a rooted Android device, you’ll want to head on over and make your voice heard.

January 27, 2012
iPhone App That Could Save Careers

There is no shortage of apps and add-ons to iPhones that are huge helps to people.

Within apps alone, you can do your banking, queue up (or watch) Netflix choices, edit HD photos, learn to play guitar, or buy anything on Amazon and track the UPS shipment.

With some simple accessories that plug in to the iPhone, you can record in stereo, take telephoto lens pictures, and swipe credit cards.

So, why hasn’t some enterprising developer come up with this career-saving add-on yet? I’m sure there are lots of young, upwardly-mobile professionals who would appreciate someone, or something, having their back on a Saturday night. For company-issued phones, it should be installed by IT before ever being put into anyone’s hands.

In fact, if RIM makes it to this first, it might just be the biggest comeback story of the year.

January 27, 2012
Putting Your Mobile App On Sale Boosts Revenue, Study Finds

If you’re a developer who doesn’t want to shell out money for ads, there’s one reliable tactic you can employ that will not only boost your notoriety but also improve your revenue: put your app on sale.

Despite the concept sounding counter-intuitive – lower the price of your product and then make more money – the numbers have been crunched by people in the know. In a study across the three main app stores – Apple’s App Store for iPhone and App Store for iPad, and Android Marketplace – Distimo found that despite selling an app at a reduced price, the “surge in downloads makes up for the loss in price,” enough to actually turn a profit on the less expensive app. Selling an app not only encourages more downloads from users, but being on sale will also get you a featured spot within the app store.

But before you run off on a price-slashing frenzy, don’t think you can reduce a price on your app and immediately see a boost in your revenue. For instance, while apps on sale generated an overall increase in revenue, only two-thirds of iPhone apps gained rank in the first three days after being featured. Lesson: having an app featured doesn’t automatically guarantee a boost, but it still is likely to help.

Even then, the average revenue increase for iPhone apps was 41% on the first day it was on sale. Anything will sell expediently on the first day of a discount, but Distimo found that within the entire period that the app was on sale (which they defined as a maximum of 15 days) the revenue generated by the app was up 22%. A similar trend was observed among iPad apps and apps downloaded from the Android Market. Android apps, in fact, generated the greatest revenue during the entire sale period despite having lower first-day increases.

Although developers can benefit greatly from putting their apps on sale, you can’t just slap a sale onto any old app and expect it to haul in money like gangbusters, Distimo warns. 44% of iPhone apps, they found, lost revenue during the sale “and 23% actually saw a decline in revenue by more than 20%.” Distimo offers an explanation as to why some apps did not benefit from being on sale:

Offering a discount of one dollar on an application that normally costs $7.99, lowers the revenue, whereas offering a discount of three dollars on average increased the revenue by 131%. In general, we noticed that the tipping point happened when the price was cut in half or the application was offered in tier 1 ($0.99) or tier 2 ($1.99).

As you can see below, there’s a refined matrix involved when predicting whether putting an app on sale will produce an increase in revenue:

So putting your app on sale will general higher revenue, but only if you discount it a certain amount depending on what the standard cost of the app is. Got it. So now the question you’re probably wondering: how much should the app be sold for?

It all depends, Distimo says. You have to take into consideration what type of app it is, work invested into the app, how much demand there is for the app, and so on (what, you didn’t expect a singular Midas answer, did you?). Given all of this criteria, the table graph below should give you an idea of how much the top grossing apps cost among different categories.

Again, though, there is not one magic bullet to put a hole in the wallets of all of your customers. You still have to use that organ between your ears to benefit from discounting the price of your app.

Other fun observations made by Distimo:
Being featured in the Google Android Market yields an average rank gain of 828%.
Optimum sales occurred when the price was cut in half or the application was offered in tier 1 ($0.99) or tier 2 ($1.99).
The average gain in the first three days after getting featured was highest in Google Android Market (+42 ranks), followed by Apple App Store for iPad (+27 ranks), and Apple App Store for iPhone (+15).

January 27, 2012

You could create a movie on the iPhone before, but you could never really make a movie. i4software wants to remedy that.

At Macworld iWorld today, the company announced their new cleverly titled Video Camera app. It aims to simplify the process of shooting, editing and sharing video by combining all three processes into a single application.

But wait, there’s more! Video Camera’s built-in networking capabilities, so graciously provided by the iPod that it’s running off of, let groups of people share the video recording experience together in real time.

“I always enjoyed making movies, but while shooting was quick, editing became time consuming,” software architect Michael Zaletel, i4software’s CEO, and Video Camera’s creator, said. “The concept of combining acquisition and editing is revolutionary.”

The app sells itself on being easy and powerful. It works with the front and back cameras of recent iPhones, but it reportedly works on the 3GS model as well! The app’s live editing tool allows users to add, rearrange, trim and delete clips as they see fit. As you choose and trim clips, the app creates a timeline where you can refine, reorder and add transitions to your creation. You’ll be the next Steven Spielberg in no time!

The app works with the iPhone 4 and 4S, fourth generation iPod touch and iPad 2. It lets you shoot video in 1080p, 720p and standard definition, or as my friends like to call it, 360p.

Triple tapping the the screen offers more experienced users the ability to control exposure, focus and white balance. The app also has full zoom control.

The app also includes the convenient features found in every other video editing program such as intros, background music and transition choices. You can now shoot a skateboarding video set to Drowning Pool’s classic rock hit “Bodies” on your iPhone.

With Video Camera, you can also use a range of actual cameras using the iPad Camera Connection Kit. The list of supported cameras include GoPro Hero, Panasonic GH1 or GH2 and more.

When you’re done filming your masterpiece worthy of an oscar, you can upload it to Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo in two resolutions.

Video Camera remote camera feature takes the concept of movie-making as a social experience and turns it into reality. Groups of up to eight shooters can simultaneously record an event from different angles and combine the scenes into a single masterpiece worthy of Tommy Wiseau.

The current group shooting functionality requires all the phone to be on the same Wi-Fi network, but soon the developer will tap into 3G networks via a secure server to deliver worldwide simultaneous shooting. Finally, my dream of shooting a 1930s crime mystery thriller that suddenly cuts to live footage of a giraffe grazing on the savanna will become a reality.

Video Camera is now available on the iTunes store for the low price of $8.