Tag: iPhone

Most Popular Flickr Camera Is The iPhone 4

Flickr, like any good site that relies on user uploads to exist, keeps track of what technology is being used by its members, especially cameras. When you consider the amount of usage the service gets — Flickr received its 5 billionth image upload in September 2010 — a breakdown of the data Flickr records can be awfully revealing; again, especially when it comes to the cameras Flickr members are using. Such data gives a good idea of what people are doing with their devices, without relying on harvesting various amounts of geodata, something else Flickr keeps track of.

In what may come as a surprise, the current most popular camera used at Flickr isn’t exactly a camera. Don’t get me wrong, it has picture-taking capabilities, quite obviously, but it’s not a exclusively a camera, either. Naturally, it’s the iPhone 4, although, the device just recently overtook the Nikon D90. In relation to the surprising aspect of such data, perhaps it shouldn’t be. The iPhone is, without a doubt, one of the most popular personal devices in the United States — still — and because so many people have them, it stands to reason a lot of people would uploading images to popular photo storage services.

What is surprising, however, is the iPhone 4 is the only mobile communication device (I’m not sure “phone” is an appropriate moniker anymore) to make Flickr’s list. No Androids here. Furthermore, when measuring the popular cameraphones used on Flickr, you see Apple products representing four out of the top five brands. In regards to the rapidly-growing Android market, perhaps they will make inroads on later Flickr graphs, but then again, the iPhone 5 will be out soon.

Speaking of graphs, here’s the primary “most popular camera” breakdown. Immediately, you’ll notice iPhone’s overtaking of the Nikon D90 only happened recently. You’ll also see Ashton Kutcher’s second career — well, besides being an incessant Twitter user — represented nicely, as well:

Enlarge
The Flickr methodology is as follows:

These graphs show the number of Flickr members who have uploaded at least one photo or video with a particular camera on a given day over the last year.

The graphs are “normalized”, which is a fancy way of saying that they automatically correct for the fact that more people join Flickr each day: the graph moving up or down indicates a change in the camera’s popularity relative to all other cameras used by Flickr members.

The graphs are only accurate to the extent that we can automatically detect the camera used to take the photo or shoot the video (about 2/3rds of the time). That is not usually possible with cameraphones, therefore they are under-represented.

As indicated, not only is the iPhone the most popular camera on Flickr, Apple also rules the mobile device/cameraphone breakdown as well:

Who knew the cameraphone would make digital cameras just about obsolete? I mean, besides keeping Kelso from That 70’s Show in the forefront of pop culture, are these “specialty” devices — that is, they only perform one function — very viable in today’s world? Especially when there are phones with built-in cameras capable of multiple megapixel output, as well as the ability to take hi-definition video?

Lead image courtesy.

June 23, 2011
LinkNotify for iPhone Lets You Control How Facebook Links Are Filtered
I posted about LinkNotify when it was first launched, earlier this year. Now, the iPhone app has launched (available in the App Store), making the experience even better for mobile consumption.

LinkNotify is basically a content consumption/discovery tool that gives you better access to the content your real friends (and publications you personally like) think you should see. It does this by utilizing your Facebook social graph, and showing you the links your friends and Pages you “like” are sharing in a convenient, sortable way, and letting you control how it’s filtered (or not filtered).

It’s about the links to real content. It doesn’t include all of the mundane status updates. You can still use Facebook for those. Perhaps, more importantly, it keeps you from missing stuff. For example, on LinkNotify, I just saw a link for an interesting trailer for a Korean movie called “Quick” that my friend Todd shared on Facebook. Looking at my news feed (even when sorted by most recent – he only shared it a few minutes ago), Facebook is giving me no indication that he did so. I would have to go to his Wall out of the blue to see that he posted it. LinkNotify simply see when your friends post links, and it goes into the main feed. Again, just content. Not status updates or annoying game stuff.

We recently wrote about the “Filter Bubble” – where the content we consume is becoming more filtered by the search engines and social networks we use. Google and Facebook, for example, tailor the search results and news feed content they show us based on what they think we want to see, but they are choosing it for us.

LinkNotify, actually lets you filter the content your friends are sharing yourself, in the way you want to filter it, basically giving you more control.
- You can view all of the links shared by all of your Facebook friends and all of the Pages you “like” all in one feed that is updated in realtime.
- If you like, you can view only the links shared by your actual friends, so the people you’re friends with are the curators of the content you’re looking at, as opposed to the news publications or brands you follow.
- Still, you follow these publications and brands for a reason, and you can also sort your list to view only the links shared by these.
- You can also create custom friend lists on Facebook, and then view links shared specifically by people within these lists.
With the iPhone app, you can set whichever linkset you want as the one it defaults to when you open it. If, for example, you want to see the links from your family first and foremost, you can create a family list on Facebook (if you haven’t already done so), and see just the links they’re sharing.

If there are people you are friends with or Pages you “like” on Facebook, but don’t necessarily care about the content they’re sharing, you can remove them from your lists, without removing them on Facebook itself. This means you can create as enjoyable an experience as you want, without having to sacrifice friends or deals.

With the iPhone app, you can search through your links as well.

“With 695,000 status updates, 79,364 wall posts, and 510,040 comments going up every 60 seconds people need a way to quickly and easily keep up with the latest in their Facebook community in an organized way–LinkNotify is the app that does just that,” says Joe Purcell, lead developer on the app.

The iPhone app is the only mobile app for LinkNotify that’s currently available, but the mobile website at m.linknotify.com has a very usable interface as well, so if you use Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, or something else, you can still enjoy the LinkNotify experience on mobile. On my Android device I simply have a bookmark saved to my home screen, and it works just fine.

Don’t forget, you can go to LinkNotify.com anytime from the desktop and use the service.

Full Disclosure: LinkNotify was developed by iEntry, the parent company of WebProNews. It joins Twellow and Social Ditto in our family of social media-related services.
June 22, 2011
iPhone 5 Release Date in September … No, August … No, September

Update 08/19: There has been a whole lot of back and forth in this release date game. Since this article was originally written speculation has been all over the place. The latest at this point is that it will be early October, based on a Boy Genius Report AT&T source.

A rumor is a rumor. That’s why it’s a rumor. Does that make sense?

Either way, rumors about Apple’s next iteration of the iPhone have been pouring out of the tech Blogosphere for months, and one of the common ones has been an expected release this September. That’s why when Boy Genius Report raised the possibility of it coming in August, people took note (the difference of a whole month…or maybe not even that!).

The publication reported, “We have been told by a reliable source to expect a radical new case design for the upcoming iPhone, though we have not been given any additional details surrounding the design of the new iPhone case. What about a release, then? The consensus is that Apple is going to announce the next-generation iPhone at the company’s annual September event, traditionally focused on iPods, but we have heard it’s quite possible Apple will break tradition. According to our source, Apple may hold an event in the beginning or middle of August to announce the new iPhone, with availability to follow in the last week of August.”

Then comes a report from Bloomberg, which says Apple “plans to introduce a new iPhone in September that boasts a stronger chip for processing data and a more advanced camera, according to two people familiar with the plans.”

And that, “The device will include the A5 processor, the more powerful chip that Apple added to the iPad 2 earlier this year, along with an 8-megapixel camera, up from the 5-megapixel model in the iPhone 4, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public. Apple is also testing a new version of the iPad that has a higher resolution screen, similar to the one now used in the iPhone 4, one of the people said.”

Ok, so there’s a new iPad rumor for you too.

But staying on topic, we’re apparently back to a September release, but what about BGR’s “reliable” source? Is it totally out of the question that Apple could reveal the next iPhone in August? It doesn’t seem unheard of.

“From what I’ve heard, this is unlikely,” writes MG Siegler at TechCrunch. “Apple has stated that iOS 5 is due this fall, August is not the fall, and there is no way Apple releases the iPhone 5 without iOS 5.”

Maybe he’s right about that, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t show it off ahead of the release…in August. It’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility is it?

In the end, whether it comes out in August or September, we’re talking about a difference of a few weeks. A lot of people are quite happy with their iPhone 4s, and considering that iOS 5 will run on those (as well as the 3G Ss), how much does it really matter whether it comes out in late August or in September?

June 22, 2011
iPhone 5 Rumors: Coming in August, New Design

Oh, the iPhone 5 rumors. How they capture the hearts and minds of us all.

Rumor has it now that the device, which is supposedly back to being an actual new device, as opposed to an upgraded iPhone 4, will be announced in August at an Apple event, and it will even have a completely new design.

The latest comes from Boy Genius Report, which says, “We have been told by a reliable source to expect a radical new case design for the upcoming iPhone, though we have not been given any additional details surrounding the design of the new iPhone case. What about a release, then? The consensus is that Apple is going to announce the next-generation iPhone at the company’s annual September event, traditionally focused on iPods, but we have heard it’s quite possible Apple will break tradition. According to our source, Apple may hold an event in the beginning or middle of August to announce the new iPhone, with availability to follow in the last week of August.

Some past rumors have had the device coming with a larger screen, and a faster speed in general. It would not be surprising if it turns out to be lighter and thinner, considering how this turned out to be a huge upgrade from the iPad to the iPad 2.

iOS 5 was of course revealed at Apple’s Worldwide developers conference earlier this month. It includes 1,500 new APIs and 200 new user features, including an Android-like “notification center,” a Newsstand feature, built-in Twitter integration, some Safari upgrades, camera upgrades, game center upgrades, and the big iCloud release.

iOS 5, while the SDK is currently available for developers, will ship to customers in the fall. It sure would be nice if there were a whole new iPhone to go along with it.

June 21, 2011
Android, iPhone Data Use Is Exploding

It’s no secret that Americans love their smartphones. In fact, most of them would probably be lost in a sea of boredom and confusion if they were separated from them for a day. One report suggested that 50% of people aged 18-34 own a smartphone, and that number is on the rise. In that same survey, 60% of people would give up TV before giving up their smartphones.

One in three would even give up chocolate, forever, to keep their smartphones.

But not only do people own them, but they use them a whole lot – for high-consumption activities it seems. Nielsen analyzed cell phone bills of over 65,000 smartphone owners and found that data usage has skyrocketed in the last year. In Q1 of 2010, the average smartphone owner used 230 MB a month. In Q1 of 2011, the average smartphone owner uses 435 MB – an 89% increase year-over-year.

Top consumers continue to grow their consumption at an even faster pace as the top 10% data users grew their consumption 109% and the top 1% of data users grew their consumption a whopping 155%.

What type of phones are people consuming the most data? Overwhelmingly iPhone and Android powered devices. The average Android owner users 582 MB per month and the average iPhone owner uses 492MB. Both increased year-over-year from around 312 MB. Windows Phone 7 data usage shot up last quarter while Blackberry data usage stayed pretty low in comparison.

It looks like the giant app stores available to iOS and Android users are to blame.

The study also reports that cost per MB has shot down to 8 cents this quarter compared to 14 cents back in Q1 of 2010.

June 19, 2011
Loopt Sees iOS 5 Notifications As Huge for Daily Deals Space

Users of iOS devices are anticipating the release of iOS 5 later this year for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is the way it handles notifications. Rather than the screen takeover, notifications will be more subtle, appearing at the top of the screen, much like Android.

Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of Loopt, “strongly believes” that no mobile service will see a bigger benefit from this aspect of the iOS update than those offering deals. He shared some thought on this with WebProNews.

Loopt says being able to surface deals in an unobtrusive (but easily accessible) way is huge, as deals that don’t interrupt but are available for you to see at all times will be much more attractive to mobile users (both for current and incoming smartphone users). Altman thinks we’ll see a lot more users opting in to deal notifications as a result.

“We’re finally reaching a place with mobile technology where we can actually bring super-relevant, limited-time deals to consumers when they’re near the deal location,” he tells us. “With mobile notifications, instant deal gratification is possible. We’ve been sending location-relevant deals/rewards through Loopt since March, and we were really excited to incorporate Groupon Now! deals into our offering more recently. Consumers love the surprise and delight of discovering a deal without having to proactively look for it. There’s a lot of potential in this.”

He’s referring to a partnership Loopt and Groupon launched last month. Here’s our interview with Altman about that:

On why the deals space will benefit more than other spaces from this iOS update, Altman says, “Everyone loves a good deal, but not everyone wants a screen-filling message when there’s a deal around. I think we’ll see more people opting in (and staying opted in) to non-intrusive alerts. More notifications sent equates to more traffic to the deal services and ultimately more people coming through the doors of local businesses.”

“We might see more levels of notification, with apps tiering out notification priority and frequency so the user can decide,” he adds, referring to the industry at large.

He says Android has “absolutely” provided a glimpse of what players can do on a wider scale, once the iOS update rolls out. “Android’s notifications are similar, we’re excited to see this kind of implementation on iPhone,” he says.

Apple calls iOS 5 “the most extensive software update ever for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.” It has over 200 new features and gives devices access to the company’s iCloud service. The notifications feature comes with a “notifications center,” which Apple has touted as one of the “key” features. It aggregates all notifications, and can be accessed by simply swiping down from the top of the screen. It also shows stocks and weather at the top of the screen, and will display a little pop up at the top to let you know about a notification while you’re watching a video or playing a game.

June 19, 2011
Apple Wants To Stop Concert Filming With iPhones

Cell phones are popular items at concerts as mobile users take pictures and videos of their favorite entertainers, or, well, whatever entertainer they happen to be watching at the time. The technology is also considered something of a menace by many artists and concert-goers alike, and now, Apple is trying to placate the recording industry once again by attempting to remove the ability to film concerts with an iPhone.

According to an article in The Sun — no Page 3 here — Apple is in the process of building a system that recognizes concert environments and shuts their iPhones down when they are trying to film the performance. Don’t you just love purchasing an item and then have the company that made it govern how you use it? Clearly, Apple is taking a page from Sony’s handbook in regards to the PlayStation 3. It should be noted this is not a cry to allow iPhone users to willing steal concert footage — but then again, you bought the device, and, you should be able to use it for whatever purposes you choose. If those choices violate laws and/or RIAA edicts, then it’s up to you to pay the consequences.

By that as it may, Apple is still trying to introduce technology to the iPhone environment that will remove such a choice from the device owners. The Sun has more:

A patent application filed by Apple revealed how the technology would work. If an iPhone were held up and used to film during a concert infra-red sensors would detect it. These sensors would then contact the iPhone and automatically disable its camera function.

People would still be able to send text messages and make calls.

While I’m sure there will workarounds, provided Apple is successful, should they be doing this at all? Is it Apple’s job to police how consumers use their products or is the job of the agencies who want Apple to develop the technology? It seems like enforcement is such a frustrating task — I mean, it’s hard to see when a concert-goer is holding up a brightly-lit device with a sizable screen, defecating on copyright laws at will, right? — that these institutions are hoping Apple will do the leg work for them. Perhaps the most telling aspect of Apple’s strategy comes from the following quote, via The Sun’s article:

Apple filed for the patent 18 months ago — and it is thought if successful it will help them negotiate deals with record labels to sell content through iTunes.

If you believe that, then it’s apparent Apple is creating this technology to secure future business ventures instead of something more altruistic like protecting the artists who were infringed upon. Are these ham-handed attempts at securing future monetary deals enough to break the “Apple is the best company at creating mobile devices” talk or will the desire to have a iPhone like everyone else win out? Does it mean the end of things like this:

Which, according to the description, was “Filmed with iPhone from Dress Circle level?”

June 16, 2011
Facebook Photo Sharing App Coming Soon?

It appears Facebook may want users to do more with photos, as leaked images and documents suggest that the social network is on the verge of unveiling its own photo sharing app for the iPhone.

TechCrunch has obtained “roughly 50 MB of images and documents outlining the entire thing.” According to their post, the new photo sharing app looks incredible. The words used are “killer,” “awesome” and “amazing” – so that sounds promising.

The app, possibly titled “Hovertown” or “Withpeople,” is built on Facebook’s social graph but looks to be a standalone application as of right now. It’s likely that the app would be integrated into the Facebook iPhone app and even the main website eventually.

TechCrunch says that it looks like a hybrid of Path, Instagram and Color, which is pretty exciting to me considering how much of an Instagram fan I’ve become as of late. If that’s the case, the new app would promote seamless sharing with public groups, private groups and would contain cool filters and stuff, right?

This all sounds awesome, but I hope the photo sharing app works better than the actual Facebook app for iPhone. I’m only speaking from my own personal experience, but I’ve found that app to be a buggy mess at times.

And if this new app is launched relatively soon, one can only imagine it will be talked about as some sort of response to the news that Twitter will be deeply integrated into iOS 5. That move, as discussed, could change the world of mobile application development on the iPhone.

A couple of weeks ago, Twitter announced its partnership with PhotoBucket to provide users with a native photo uploading service. This will allow users to upload photos and attach them directly to their tweets without using a third-party service like yfrog or twitpic.

June 15, 2011
The Most Used iPhone Passcodes Are Depressingly Simple

In my mind, there are only three good reasons to use a passcode lock on your smartphone. The first is obviously security – you don’t want your dumb friends peeking at your private texts. The second is to prevent butt dialing or any other unknown activities that could stem from accidentally unlocking your phone in a traditional way. And lastly, passcodes make it harder to use your phone while drinking, thus reducing your latest Facebook embarrassment.

But if your reason was mainly security, wouldn’t you want to create a 4-digit PIN that wasn’t unbearably easy to guess? Apparently not, according to data posted on app developer Daniel Amitay’s blog today.

One of Amitay’s iOS apps is called “Big Brother Camera Security” Basically, the application will snap a picture of whoever is trying to use your phone without your consent. If they get the code wrong, snap! You have a picture of who was trying to access your device. You can also set it to sound an alarm.

Based on the passcodes of the over 200,000 subscribers to the app, we get some information on the most common passcodes. And unsurprisingly, people fail to secure their phones with any code that would actually secure their phones.

For an app whose sole purpose is security, the top password is 1234. The second most common passcode was 0000. And the bronze goes to 2580, which as you probably know is simply a straight line down the middle of the keypad.

Here’s a graph of the top 10 most common passcodes. It looks as though 1,425 people thought that 5683, which spells “Love,” was a good choice.

Apparently, people also love to use years as their passcodes. Whether they coincide with dates of birth, graduations, or anniversaries, 1990-2000 were in the top 50 most used passcodes and 1980-1989 were all in the top 100. One is the most common digit for the first spot in the code, while zero is the most common in the last spot.

So, guys, you’ve gotta step up your password game. I know you don’t want to make them so complicated that you forget them yourselves, but there is a happy medium between digits with no significance and 1111. And with these statistics in hand it is very likely that I could break into your phone with minimal effort.

Formulaic passwords are never a good idea, yet 15% of all passcode sets were represented by only 10 different passcodes (out of a possible 10,000). The implication? A thief (or just a prankster) could safely try 10 different passcodes on your iPhone without initiating the data wipe. With a 15% success rate, about 1 in 7 iPhones would easily unlock–even more if the intruder knows the users’ years of birth, relationship status, etc.

So next time you want to check out your boyfriend/girlfriend’s texts from last night, try a couple of these simple combinations. There’s a really good chance that one of them will work.

June 13, 2011
Bonnaroo Live Stream Comes To Vevo

This article is dedicated to all of you whose friends have trotted off to Bonnaroo without you. Whether you couldn’t get off work, don’t have the money or can’t stand the thought of camping in 90-degree weather for 4 days, you’ve stayed behind while others are beginning to arrive at the festival as we speak.

It’s okay, though, you can watch many of the big performances from the comfort of your own home, or office chair, or smartphone for that matter. Vevo will be streaming many of the shows live, beginning tomorrow at noon.

The VEVO crew will be covered in sweat, mud and sunscreen in Manchester to bring you as much from the grounds as we possibly can. Stinky or not, we’ll be tweeting to the high heavens about the fest, have a slew of live performances from the Southern event set to stream, and will blog every single thing we see onstage and off.

The festival actually kicks off today, but Vevo’s coverage won’t begin until tomorrow. Some of the solid shows today are Wavves, Best Coast, The Walkmen, Sleigh Bells, and Deerhunter. But to see those, Bonnaroo attendees have most likely had to endure some of the famous multiple-mile-long traffic jams entering the grounds.

Although Vevo’s Bonnaroo site is not yet providing streaming video, it does have an “on the scene” section with a photo gallery, blogging from the festival grounds and flashbacks highlight videos and interviews.

Here’s a taste of what concerts Vevo will be streaming (All times EST):

Tomorrow, June 10th – Florence + The Machine at 6:45 pm and My Morning Jacket at 8:15 pm

Saturday, June 11th – Ray LaMontagne at 2:30 pm, Alison Krauss & Union Station at 4:00 pm, Kylesa at 5:30 pm, Wiz Khalifa at 5:50 pm, Mumford & Sons at 8:00 pm and Arcade Fire at 9:30 pm

Sunday, June 12th – Cold War Kids at 5:00 pm, The Stroke at 6:45 pm, Explosions in the Sky at 8:15 pm and Widespread Panic at 8:45 pm

Ok, so what about the people who are already there/on the way/leaving shortly? Well, the weather looks to be a nice, cool 92 degrees today, 91 tomorrow, 90 on Saturday and 87 on Sunday. Although the recently updated Bonnaroo app can do a lot, unfortunately it can’t lower the temperature or humidity.

The 2011 Bonnaroo iOS app features a full festival lineup and map feature with the added ability to plan your personal schedule of which shows you’re going to attend. And with so much happening all at once, planning your schedule is crucial.

The app has full Facebook and Twitter integration and also features GroupMe for easy group messaging and uses Color to stream photos being taken in real time. It also features a “Roo Camera Booth” with new photo filters.

So whether you are enduring the crowd and heat in Manchester, TN, or watching from your temperate living room, this year’s Bonnaroo looks like it have some great shows. Which performance are you most excited to see?

June 9, 2011
iMessage Brings Instant Messaging to the iPhone

Did Apple single-handedly signal the end of BlackBerry and SMS (text messages) with the announcement of it’s iMessage platform? If all mobile device owners were iPad/iPhone owners, perhaps, but as it stands, there are still a lot of users who prefer other environments to iOS. Granted, the iMessage news may not do much for the continuing fall of BlackBerry, but as long as there are device owners with, well, non-Apple devices, SMS will probably survive a while longer.

In case you missed it, the iPhone environment, courtesy of the oft-discussed iOS 5 update, will soon be getting an instant messaging platform, similar to the BlackBerry Messenger, and it will allow users to message other iDevice owners (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) without using their SMS allocation. According to Gizmodo’s write-up, iMessage users can message individuals or a group of friends, and iMessage users can share files with other users on the iMessage platform. Their report also indicates SMS messages can be forwarded vai iMessage, a capability that BlackBerry users had to do with the copy and paste function.

Further capabilities include continuing conversations from one iDevice to the next. For instance, if you are messaging a contact on an iPad and want to continue the conversation on your iPhone, you can do so.

While most of these capabilities are standard with instant messaging clients, the fact that it will soon be available on the iEnvironment only solidifies Apple’s position as a dominant player in the mobile device industry. As one would expect, the iMessage news traveled faster than Usain Bolt, quickly becoming a popular Twitter trend. Reactions from the Twitter crowd run the gamut from excited to super-excited. There are also some questions about the client’s impact. Here are some examples:

I want iMessage. I want iMessage. I want iMessage. I want iMessage. I want iMessage.less than a minute ago via Tweetbot for iPhone Favorite Retweet Replyedwan andriawan
edwanandriawan

People don’t seem to get the iMessage strategy. It’s not about technology, it’s about solidifying a TRIBE (even further).less than a minute ago via TweetList Pro Favorite Retweet ReplyAlexander Rodríguez
AlxRodz

While I don’t think iMessage will bury SMS, I do think it will destroy consumer blackberry sales. Yikes.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet ReplyJamie Haggett
jhaggett

Naturally, Apple’s infamous auto correct feature is also discussed:

The great thing about iMessage is that it will significantly increase the amount of hilarious #DamnYouAutoCorrect pictures.less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Favorite Retweet ReplyHesham Abd-Elmegid
HeshamMegid

it’s a little amusing that iMessage keeps auto-correcting “iMessage” to “I,sewage”less than a minute ago via Twitter for Mac Favorite Retweet ReplyBenjamin Turner
blturner

Apparently, Apple informed absolutely no one in the way of carriers about iMessage:

On behalf of the Telco’s: OUCH! So much for Win:Win strategies-> Carriers unaware of iMessage til today http://read.bi/juAGmk /v @MattRosoffless than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplyJennie Bewes
jbewes

Imagine the reaction Verizon and AT&T had when they realized they potentially be losing a significant chunk of money from Apple users who no longer rely on SMS to send text-based messages. I don’t think “overjoyed” fits here. What say you? Do the capabilities of iMessage mean a reduction of SMS messages, especially among other iDevice users? Is there a possibility that iPhone carriers want a piece of the pie they are giving up as would-be SMS senders turn to the iMessage utility? Let us know what you think.

June 7, 2011
Twitter and iPhone: A Match Made In Social Media Heaven

As Chris discussed during his extensive coverage of Apple’s WWDC segment, one of the bigger announcements from their session had to do with the integration of Twitter with iOS 5, the newest version of the iPhone operating system. To some, this particular marriage of the popular social media service and the mobile device that’s synonymous with mobile communications could very well change the way mobile applications are developed, especially for the iPhone environment.

Over at ReadAndWriteWeb, there’s a good breakdown of what the partnership could mean, and if the following idea is close to being accurate — “iOS apps will look like, feel like, read from and publish to Twitter like never before. And they’ll do that in many cases instead of using Facebook” — the idea of Twitter and Apple ruling the applications world may not be that far-fetched, regardless of how popular the Android environment is.

Apparently, the Twitter integration introduces features to iOS 5 that will be similar to Facebook’s mobile capabilities. In fact, as pointed out in the RWW post, thanks to the partnership with the iPhone, Twitter essentially beat Facebook to the punch of making “everything social.” Granted, Facebook is still one of the more popular applications for the iPhone, laying the groundwork for a potential conflict. It’s doubtful Facebook’s developers would want to integrate Twitter features when both services are competing for social media supremacy.

The Twitter/iOS 5 integration gives Twitter an advantage, especially in the iPhone environment. Would Facebook want to assist in the process of lessening its own impact in the mobile device arena?

For those who are wondering about how the Twitter layer in iOS 5 would work, Jason Costa, the head of Twitter Developer Relations, posted a primer at the Google Groups community for Twitter Development Talk. Costa’s post sheds some light on the partnership and what iPhone app users can expect going forward:

There is single sign-on, which allows you to retrieve a user’s identity, avatar, and other profile data. There’s also a frictionless core signing service, allowing you to make and sign any call to the Twitter API. There is follow graph synchronization, which enables you to bootstrap a user’s social graph for your app. Furthermore, there is the tweet sheet feature, giving your app distribution and reach across Twitter.

The last point is important because it basically says applications will feature a “post to Twitter” feature, letting your followers know what you’re doing, and, considering how important location data is treated, where you are doing it.

The RWW post discusses a potential “Twitter versus Facebook” scenario, mentioning that while it was Facebook doing all the talking about social integration in the mobile device industry, Twitter actually formed the partnership necessary to reach that goal. Considering just how frequently iPhone owners download and use applications, it’s easy to see why Twitter is receiving such a rosy outlook:

Of course, there’s the the fact that Facebook is still an incredibly popular application, especially for the iPhone. Could that reduce the impact of the Twitter/iOS 5 partnership, especially if Facebook resists adding Twitter features?

June 7, 2011
iOS 5 Demoed at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference

Apple kicked off its Worldwide Developers Conference today, and Steve Jobs was joined by SVP WW Product Marketing Phil Schiller and VP, Mac OS X Software, Craig Federighi for some demos. First up was Mac OS X Lion, which had been previewed previously for developers.

Then came the next version of the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices – iOS 5. Scott Forstall, SVP iOS Software took the stage to demo the OS update.

Stats according to Apple

– over 200 million iOS devices sold
– iOS the “number one mobile operating system” with over 44% of the market
– over 25 million iPads sold
– over 15 billion songs sold through iTunes
– 130 million book downloads from the iBookstore
– there are 90,000 iPad apps
– over 14 billion apps downloaded from the App Store
– Apple has paid over $2.5 billion to developers
– over 225 million accounts with credit cards and 1-click purchasing
– over 100 billion notifications pushed
– 1 billion tweets sent per week (read on for relevance of that)
– nearly 2/3 of all mobile web browsing done through Safari
– over 100,000 game and entertainment titles in the App Store
– 50 million Game Center users (that’s in nine months, and is compared to Xbox live getting 30 million in 8 years)

iOS 5

With iOS 5, there are 1,500 new APIs, and 200 new user features. There are 10 “key features” according to Apple.

There is a “Notification Center” that aggregates all of your notifications, and can be accessed simply by swiping down from the top of the screen, not unlike Android notifications. It shows stocks and weather at the top of the screen. It will display a little pop up at the top to let you know about it while you’re watching a video or playing a game, then it will go away.

There is a “Newsstand” feature that automatically downloads (in the background) the latest issues of magazine and newspaper apps that you’re subscribed to, and keeps the available for online or offline access from one place.

iOS 5 comes with built-in Twitter integration, where you save your Twitter info, which can easily be shared with any other app. This will make it easy to simply Tweet just about anything from the device. Twitter can be used to automatically update contacts (if they’re on Twitter).

Safari gets some new features, such as a button called “Safari Reader,” which converts articles into just text (publishers and advertisers are going to take some issue with this). It lets you email the content to contacts.

There is also a “Reading List” feature that lets you save stories to read later (on multiple devices), and there is now tabbed browsing, which should please a lot of people.

There is a new “Reminders” feature that lets you keep lists, assign reminders to specific dates and locations – so you can get reminded of something as you leave/arrive from a specific place. This can also be synced across devices.

iOS 5 comes with some camera upgrades, such as a camera icon on the lock screen, for quicker access to the camera app. You can use the volume up button to take pictures. You can pinch to zoom in the app, and you can edit photos directly on the phone (cropping, rotating, red-eye reduction).

Mail comes with rich-text formatting, indentation control, draggable addresses, the ability to mark items as unread, search within message content, and S/MIME.

The operating system now has a dictionary feature that is accessible from any app. You can tap a word, go to “define,” and get definitions.

There’s a new keyboard feature that lets you split the keyboard apart for more comfortable typing.

One major new feature is that they’re “cutting the cord,” no longer requiring set-up by connecting to a PC. Devices can be set up and activated right out of the box. Software updates don’t require plugging in either. Updates are “Delta,” meaning it only updates what needs to be updated, as opposed to the entire thing.

Calendars can be created and deleted from the phone. The iTunes library can be synced over WiFi.

The Game Center shows achievement points – scores of friends’ friends, and includes friend and game recommendations. It also lets you purchase games right from the Game Center itself. Turn-based games can be played from the OS.

Messaging in iOS now works among any iOS user, whether they’re using an iPhone, iPad or iPod. This goes for text messages, pictures, or videos, and includes group messaging. You can switch devices yourself in the middle of conversations as well.

The SDK comes out today for developers. iOS 5 will ship to customers in the fall. It will support iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2, and iPod Touch (3rd and 4th gen).

June 6, 2011
Android And Texting: What’s Popular in The Mobile Phone World

The latest metrics for the mobile phone industry have hit the wires, and there are some surprises from the comScore’s findings. That being said, there are also reveals that come without any surprise, whatsoever — especially when you consider the popularity of text messaging. The latest study was conducted from January 2011 until April 2011, and one thing’s for sure, the mobile device industry does not solely belong to Apple and its iPhone.

In fact, neither Apple’s service or their ubiquitous phone are number one for any of the categories comScore studied. As far as the devices themselves go, the leading manufacturer (OEM)m is Samsung. According to comScore’s study, Samsung is responsible 24.5 percent of phones used by mobile subscribers, followed by LG (20.9), Motorola (15.6), Apple and RIM with 8.3 and 8.2 percent, respectively. On the other hand, comScore also points out that Apple had the largest growth between January and April, seeing 1.3 percentage points worth or it. Nevertheless, that’s still 16 percentage points behind Samsung, the category’s leader. The chart in question:

Granted, if Apple continues to win the “most acquired device” award, the companies ahead of Apple will be feeling the heat to maintain their leads.

When it comes to the most popular smartphone in terms of usage, it’s clearly becoming an Android versus iPhone scenario (or Google versus Apple, if you will) as Microsoft, RIM and Palm all saw their marketshare dwindle in comparison to Google and Apple. In regards to Google/Android, comScore’s study reveals the company previously best known for searching the Internet now finds themselves with a sizable chunk of the mobile phone industry. Between January 2011 until April 2011, phones using the Android operating system gained 5.3 percentage points, while Apple only gained another 1.3 percent. Conversely, RIM, makers of the BlackBerry devices, saw an almost 5 percent loss of its market share.

As for Microsoft and Palm, well, there’s always other devices to concentrate on.

Finally, the most popular activity when it comes to mobile devices should come with little to no surprise, although, the overall numbers just might. As one might expect, the most popular activity in regards to mobile phones is, of course, sending text messages. Big surprise, huh? No, actually the surprise comes from just how many mobile owners text each other. The comScore report indicates more than 68 percent of mobile phone owners send texts to others, which almost doubles the second most popular way to use your mobile phone: Internet browsing. From January until April, between 37 and 39.1 percent used their phone’s browser. Perhaps the other surprise comes from the amount of gaming that goes on with these phones.

Surprisingly, game-playing ranked fifth on comScore’s list, with social media site access and downloading apps being more popular than playing Angry Birds. The chart in question:

So what does all this mean? That we are a nation of Samsung phone-carrying, Android/iPhone operating system using, text messaging bunch of mobile device fiends? Yes, as a matter of fact, it does.

June 6, 2011
Here Come iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off today in San Francisco today. A week ago, Apple revealed that CEO Steve Jobs would be appearing at the event (obviously significant given his medical leave of absence from the company, though he also appeared for the last major Apple product launch as well).

The keynote, at which Jobs will speak, is scheduled for 1:00 PM Eastern (10:00 AM Pacific) today, where Apple’s (presumably) magical new offerings will be unveiled. The company said in an announcement last week, “At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch; and iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.”

While the new versions of Microsoft’s flagship operating systems are major points of interest, much attention will be paid to iCloud, which should reinforce Apple’s place as a leader in music offerings, and will almost certainly one-up rival Google’s recent unveiling of Google Music, which so far doesn’t even include music purchasing. Apple, on the other hand, has managed to secure deals with the four major record labels.

Apple already has a huge advantage in the digital music space with iTunes – an advantage that only grows with the increasing popularity of its iPhones and iPads. Adding a cloud service with music storage can only help.

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that we can also probably expect Jobs to rattle of some stats related to Apple’s products, as he often does in his keynotes. On Friday, we linked to a WWDC 2011 Keynote Bingo, created by Krazybig, which provides a little game for the event.

We’ll cover Apple’s news as it comes out.

June 6, 2011
Google and Apple Renew Search Deal

Former Google CEO and current Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt spoke at the All Things Digital D9 conference, and revealed that Google has renewed its search deal with Apple. Google will remain the default search engine on iPhones and iPads.

There have recently been some questions about whether Apple would stick with Google Maps in the upcoming iOS 5, or abandon it in favor of a technology of its own, but that appears not to be the case. Google Maps will reportedly continue to get featured placement on iOS devices.

Danny Sullivan, who liveblogged Schmidt’s comments at D9, quotes him as saying, “We have a very, very good partnership,” and that both the search and maps deals have been renewed. He didn’t reveal any more details about the deals.

The search deal especially, could be critical for Google in keeping Bing from gaining a significant amount of search market share (or at least an even more significant amount than it’s already poised to gain). Bing should be getting some nice boosts from the Windows Phone platform, as well as deals with Nokia and RIM (and watch out if Microsoft ever decides to put a proper browser with Bing as the default search engine on Xbox).

While Android has been doing incredibly well, Google remaining on the very popular iOS devices matters. Given that Apple is about to introduce the next generation of iOS itself, one can only imagine that a new wave of consumer interest is on the horizon.

The maps deal matters, as it is simply an extension of search, and obviously an important one on mobile devices. Bing just launched some new streetside view technology for its own Maps service.

While Google (and Schmidt specifically) has repeatedly referred to Microsoft as its main competitor, Schmidt spoke about what he calls the “gang of four” companies that are dominating in consumer tech. This includes Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook – no Microsoft. When asked by interviewers Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg about Xbox, Schmidt downplayed the wildly popular gaming console, saying that “it’s not a platform at the computational level,” and that Microsoft is still fundamentally about Office and Windows (as quoted by All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka).

Really? Microsoft’s latest earnings report tells a different story:

It’s also clear that Xbox is becoming less and less about just gaming. According to Microsoft, 40% of all activity on the Xbox 360 is non-gaming activity, meaning that users are spending nearly half the time on the console watching streaming video. Users can stream movies and music through Zune, which might be getting a rebrand. Again, look out if they simply throw a browser into the mix. I wonder if Microsoft has anything like that.

It’s very interesting that Schmidt would downplay the significance of the Xbox, given the less-than-stellar launch of Google’s entry into the living room – Google TV.

June 1, 2011
Apple iWork Apps Come to iPhone, iPod Touch

Apple has announced the availability of its iWork productivity apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. These apps include Keynote, Pages, and Numbers.

The apps have been redesigned for the touch interface of iOS (which will be getting an upgrade of its own next month). Each of the apps runs $9.99 (though existing iWork for iPad users can upgrade for free).

“Now you can use Keynote, Pages and Numbers on iPhone and iPod touch to create amazing presentations, documents and spreadsheets right in the palm of your hand,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The incredible Retina display, revolutionary Multi-Touch interface and our powerful software make it easy to create, edit, organize and share all of your documents from iPhone 4 or iPod touch.”

Apple says the apps come with improved document management, with thumbnail images and “use of “intuitive” gestures, as well as easy sharing of presentations, documents, and spreadsheets without leaving the app.

With the Keynote app, users can play presentations in Full Screen view on the Retina display or connect to a projector or HDTV. There is also a separate Keynote remote app that lets your iPhone or ipod Touch control a presentation on any iOS device or Mac.

Pages also utilizes the Retina Display, and includes Smart Zoom, which lets the user zoom in to follow the cursor while editing, and zooms back out when done. The same goes for Numbers.

Each of the apps runs on iPad and iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, and iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation). They’re $9.99 a piece, except for the Keynote remote app, which is only 99 cents.

Apple also announced today that Steve Jobs will be appearing at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, where Apple will reveal the next versions of Mac OS X, iOS, and new cloud services called iCloud.

May 31, 2011
Senator Franken Asks Google, Apple for Clear Privacy Policies

While many have moved on from the “shocking” revelations concerning mobile phone privacy, thanks to the discovery of iPhone’s location tracking, some politicians are keeping the necessary fires burning. In fact, Senator Al Franken went even further, demanding the parent companies of these devices provide answers concerning these phones and the related privacy.

The two companies in question, are, of course, Apple and Google, makers of the iPhone and the Android OS, respectively. After representatives from both companies answered questions about location privacy on Capitol Hill, stemming from the iPhone issue, Senator Franken issued a letter to both asking them to clarify their policies on mobile device privacy.

It’s becoming clear Franken is one of the few politicians in the government who champion the user over the provider — at least on certain issues, anyway.

In his letter to Apple and Google (PDF), Franken’s target were the location-based applications that both environments so readily feature:

Although I believe there is a greater need for transparency and disclosure for the collection and sharing of all personal information, at a minimum, I ask that you require all location-aware applications in your app stores to provide privacy policies that clearly specify what kind of location information is gathered from users, how that information is used, and how it is shared with third parties. These apps constitute only a subset of all the apps available at your stores.

Franken goes on to say that since both companies tout their commitment to users’ privacy, this is their time to prove that what they say is what they practice. The senator also indicates that while such information wouldn’t eliminate privacy issues in the mobile industry, it would be a simple first step that could clear up a great deal of confusion.

Bud Tribble, Vice President of Software Technology at Apple, indicated that to better serve users, privacy controls are something that needs to be apart of the application’s programming, because Tribble doesn’t feel users would ignore the policies Franken’s asking for, something South Park covered quite nicely.

HUMANCENTiPAD
Tags: SOUTH
PARK Kyle Broflovski,Eric Cartman,more…

What say you? Is privacy in relation to mobile devices an issue that will ever be solved without the potentially-devastating intervention of the government? Let us know in the comments.

May 26, 2011
Surprise! Apple Dominates Mobile Video Consumption

As the migration to mobile devices continues unabated, various studies keep us abreast of the impact of such a migration. As to be expected, Apple is the leader of the pack in this field, thanks to the popularity of their mobile devices. So much so, in fact, Apple’s brand worth has skyrocketed to become the most valuable brand in the world. Such a climb is largely attributed to Apple’s mobile device department.

The popularity of both the iPhone and the iPad can be seen clearly when various user metrics are crunched, in this case, mobile video usage. Even though the iMobileDevice environment doesn’t naturally support the Flash format, Apple devices dominate the market in terms of which devices use mobile video the most. The proliferation of the Apple’s mobile devices plays a large part in such consumption, something the Video Monetization Report (PDF), commissioned by Freewheel.tv demonstrates quite clearly.

While the report deals primarily with money-making in regards to advertising with online videos — hence the title — the mobile device industry’s impact is also acknowledged. While the footprint of mobile device video consumption is still on the rise, meaning it isn’t at the level of those connecting from a wired network. The report’s details:

In comparison to wired video viewing, consumers viewing video on their mobile devices is small and is currently driven by Apple devices, which make up 80% of all video views between iPhones, iPod Touches and the iPad. This majority reflects the number of these devices in market and their early dominance in the smart-device sector… It also reflects the development priorities of content producers and distributors: they optimized their content first for the Apple platforms, with Android a later priority.

In the case of mobile video intake, it’s pretty clear Rim and Nokia are receiving little to none of the consideration the Apple and Android devices are. For Nokia, it’s understandable, but in regards to Rim, makers of the BlackBerry, it’s surprising. As of October of 2010, there were more BlackBerry subscribers than there were for the iPhone.

Nevertheless, Apple is the perceived king of the mobile industry, correctly or otherwise, and it shows in the amount of mobile video being consumed by Apple iDevice users. Apparently, the iDevice of choice to view online videos is the iPad. The report states:

Though there are fewer than 20 million iPads in the global market right now (Apple statistics for Q1 2011) and many more iPhones and iPods, iPads currently make up 20% of all wireless video views (see chart 7). These tablets are clearly being used as digital video delivery devices.

Considering the yearly increase of using an iPad to watch online videos, and the mobile device industry in general, how long will it take before these wireless devices overtake the home/wired units?

May 24, 2011
Google Search App for iOS Gets Update

Google today introduced some new changes to its search app for iOS, including some speed adjustments and a new look and feel for search results. The app itself was launched back in March, aimed at presenting a faster search experience and making it easier to find apps.

With the new changes, Google says it has made the app more responsive and made search results easier to read.

“This version of Google Search app is up to 20% more responsive as you type search queries and interact with it,” says software engineer Nirav Savjani on Google’s mobile blog. “As part of the speed improvements, a feature called ‘Just Talk’ will now be off by default. Just Talk allowed you to search via voice just by bringing the phone to your ear and speaking rather than tapping the microphone icon. Turning off this feature may improve app performance, though you can easily re-enable it under the Settings > Voice Search menu.”

“When searching on a phone, the small screen sometimes makes it difficult to read small fonts or to tap precisely on a link,” adds Savjani. “To help you read and tap with ease, we’ve made the font of our search results bigger and the entire search result is now a tap target rather than just the link.”

When browsing search results with the app, users can swipe down to view the search bar or change their settings. The app as it was redesigned a couple months ago introduced a new toolbar that makes it easier for users to filter results. Users can access the tool bar by swiping left to right, before they search or from within the search results. There is an image only option users can access by taping “Images.”

This app is available for devices on iOS 3.0 and above, and can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store.

@GoogleMobile
Google MobileThanks to your feedback, the updated Google Search for iOS gets faster & more responsive. Find out more http://goo.gl/POlwC 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

May 17, 2011
Future iPhones to Include Speech-To-Text and Text-To-Speech?

Ever been in a loud room and unable to understand your friend over the phone? What if they could instead convert their voice communication to a text? This may be possible on upcoming iOS devices, according to a new Apple patent published this morning by the US Patent office.

On the flip-side, what if you were in a meeting and needed to get a message to someone. The whispering softly into the mouthpiece thing won’t usually fly. So you decide to text. But what if they don’t have text messaging capabilities? Your texts could be converted to audible speech for them.

These scenarios are just some of the many ways in which text-to-speech and speech-to text technology could be used in the future. According to Patently Apple, future iPhones are likely to provide these services.

One embodiment of the invention is directed to an iPhone which establishes an audio connection with a far-end user via a communication network. The communication device receives text input from a near-end user, and converts the text input into speech signals. The speech signals are transmitted to the far-end user using the established audio connection while muting audio input to its audio receiving component.

In one embodiment, the communication device detects the noise level at the near end. When the noise level is above a threshold, the communication device could automatically activate or prompt the near-end user to activate text-to-speech conversion at any point of a communication such as a phone call. Alternatively, the communication device may playback a pre-recorded message to inform the far-end user of the near-end user’s inability to speak due to the excessive noise at the near end.

In another embodiment, the near-end user can activate text-to-speech conversion whenever necessary regardless of the detected noise level. The near-end user could enter a text message, which is converted into speech signals for transmission via the established audio connection to the far-end user.

In yet another embodiment, the communication device could also perform speech-to-text conversion to convert the far-end user’s speech into text for display on the communication device. This feature could be used when the far-end communication device cannot, or is not enabled to, send or receive text messages. The speech-to-text conversion and the text-to-speech conversion could be activated at the same time, or could be activated independent of each other. The far-end communication device communicates with the near-end communication device in audio signals, regardless of whether the speech-to-text conversion or the text-to-speech conversion is activated.

Though it is probably unlikely that speech-to-text and vice versa would appear on the upcoming iPhone 5, future models may well carry the capability. And if you are unaware of the rumors surrounding the iPhone 5, check out our rumor roundup.

How useful would these functions be? Would you be happy to see them come to the iPhone?

May 13, 2011