Long Zheng regarding copy and paste on Windows Phone 7 Series:
As it turns out, the development team actually knows exactly how they will be implementing copy & paste in WP7S but did not believe it could be implemented without affecting the release schedule they’ve committed to and therefore will be including it in an update down the road.
I don’t think anyone actually thought that it would never have copy and paste.
Apple’s go-to writer for “controlled leaks” got the ball rolling yesterday when the Wall Street Journal published an article by her and two other writers that focused on Apple’s upcoming iPhone refresh.
Sourcing “people briefed by the company,” the WSJ says that Apple is planning to release a CDMA iPhone compatible with Verizon’s network. Pegatron is said to be manufacturing the new handset and they plan to start mass producing it in September.
Knowing as much as I do about Apple, I find it hard to believe that Apple would release an iPhone on Verizon’s network. Let’s not forget that the Motorola DROID’s entire marketing campaign appears to hinge on what it can do and the iPhone can’t. We also shouldn’t forget about Apple’s line of ads showing the ability to use AT&T’s data network while on a phone call. I just don’t know if Apple’s ready to drop AT&T exclusivity quite yet.
Soon after the Wall Street Journal’s report Engadget heard that the upcoming iPhone would be named the iPhone HD and would be announced on June 22. John Gruber also decided to weigh in and point out that the WSJ didn’t mention anything about the A4-family CPU, the 960×640 display, or the front-facing camera. He doesn’t exactly come right out and say it but it appears that this is what he’s been hearing.
Sounds like this is going to be a pretty good handset. Look out Windows Phone 7 Series.
Update 3/31/10: Changed some wording to make it clear that John Gruber didn’t specifically say that the next iPhone would have all of these features, simply that the WSJ didn’t mention them.
Shortly after App Annie posted iPad App Store screenshots, Federico Viticci has published two videos to his Vimeo account demoing the iPad App Store.
The first video, Browsing the iPad App Store: A Video, shows the ability to browse applications in coverflow, individual application pages, and also reveals some of the pricing of iPad applications. According to the video, many iPad applications will be around twice as expensive as their iPhone counterparts. Plenty of $7.99 and $9.99 price points.
The second video, Browsing the iPad App Store, Part II: Charts Categories, iPhone Apps, reveals more application prices, various charts including top revenue, top paid, and top free. The video also displays a new feature (at least to me), the ability to show and hide iPhone apps from the App Store.
I’m incredibly excited to see what developers have been working on for the iPad. My only worry is that they’re pricing their applications too high. I’ve always felt that a really good iPhone application should cost $2.99-4.99 and my impression is that really good iPad applications should cost $4.99-9.99. But, I think there will be far more $9.99 apps at launch then there should be.
Apple today published iPad guided tours on their website. The videos focus on Safari, Mail, Photos, Videos, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, iBooks, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers.
There isn’t a whole lot of new information here, but the videos do show an integrated search feature, brightness control, and dictionary in iBooks and a special keyboard for writing formulas in Numbers.
After watching these videos I’m even more certain that the iPad is going to be the simple laptop replacement that I’ve always wanted. This device is everything that I need it to be. Off the top of my head I can’t think of a single thing I use my MacBook for that I won’t be able to do on the iPad.
The iPad is a big deal.
Aside from the aforementioned Instapaper for iPad there have been glimpses of several other iPad apps showing up around the web.
The folks at CNET got their hands on some screenshots of Zen Bound for the iPad. Zen Bound was a fantastic game that I purchased as soon as it was released for the iPhone. I enjoyed nearly every minute I played it but eventually uninstalled it — it gets a little repetitive after a while. As much as I enjoyed the app when it first came out, the iPad version looks identical to the iPhone version, except for the obvious resolution change.
GamePro has published screenshots of Godzilab’s “iBlast Moki,” Revolutionary Concepts’ “Frogman,” and 10tons’ “Sparkle HD.” They look pretty good, especially iBlast Moki, which I hadn’t heard of previously. iBlast Moki is now on my list of apps to pay attention to.
Unsurprisingly Apple has already started moving forward when it comes to approving apps for the iPad. PadGadget has found games listed in iTunes preview that appear to be destined for the iPad. Clicking on the links shows you an iTunes Store error telling you that “Your request could not be completed” because the application isn’t available. All of these games have “HD” at the end of their names and Gizmodo has learned that this is the preferred nomenclature for applications that are iPad only.
These are the games found so far:
On the periodicals front, Amazon has announced Kindle for the iPad and Panelfly has announced their comic book reader application for the iPad.
I had my doubts about the number and quality of applications available for the iPad at launch. I ignorantly assumed that developers would shy away from building applications designed for a brand new device that costs $499+. But it appears developers are as jazzed about developing for the iPad as they are about developing for the iPhone. They all see a gold rush coming on April 3, and I think they’re right.
iLounge learned last week that starting in May Apple will no longer be selling clear plastic screen protectors in their stores.
There have been several theories as to why Apple would decide to do this. I don’t believe it to be any one reason but a combination of several. For one, shelf space is valuable and if Apple doesn’t believe that their devices need screen protectors, they aren’t going to sell them anymore. The current iPhone and iPod touch screens don’t scratch all that easy, they is much more likely to crack than scratch. Apple has seemingly taken the stance that if you think that flimsy piece of plastic is going to protect your device, you can get it elsewhere.
Secondly, these screen protectors are incredibly difficult to apply. I went through my InvisibleShield phase, I bought three of them for three separate devices and finally gave up for good. Those things are darn near impossible to put on straight, not to mention all the dust and whatnot that inevitably ends up on it in the time it takes for you to take it out of the package and actually apply it to your device.
And lastly, Screen protectors may have been a good idea back before the iPhone, when screens weren’t made with such high quality material but the glass that Apple is using on the iPhone is absolutely superb. And the oleophobic coating on the screen does a great job of keeping all those nasty fingerprints away.
Speaking of the iPhone’s screen, I’ve never publicly told this story before but I think now is as good of a time as any to do so. When I was waiting in line for the original iPhone in 2007 I was behind a man who claimed to have a piece of the glass that Apple used on the iPhone. He said that Corning Inc. was the company who developed the glass and it was originally designed to be used for windows. It was incredibly sturdy glass but unfortunately it was just too heavy to be used in windows. Corning inevitably ended up shelving it for a while. It wasn’t until Apple contacted them about using glass for their displays that their glass finally had a home.
After telling his story the man went to his car to get the piece of glass, it was cut exactly in the same dimensions and size of the iPhone’s glass front. It even had the holes for the home button and speaker.
I haven’t been able to confirm whether his glass was actually the same glass that was used on the iPhone but I do live near Corning, NY (where Corning Inc. is located) and it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities for his story to be completely true. I saw it and touched it, and when I got home with my brand new iPhone that night, the similarity between the two pieces of glass were uncanny.
Of course, It’s also possible that he made the glass himself as a great way to impress the other people in line at the AT&T store, but I choose to take him at his word.
Last night Marco Arment published a preview of Instapaper for the iPad on the Instapaper Blog. Instapaper is a wonderful little service that single-handedly convinced me to get a Kindle. Instapaper let’s you quickly save web articles with a bookmarklet for later reading.
I use Instapaper on my iPhone and my Kindle but am really excited about using it on the iPad. Marco has decided to build Instapaper for the iPad as a universal iPhone/iPad application. That means that buying Instapaper Pro gets you the iPhone and the iPad version in one.
All of the features from the iPhone version of the app will be there, including dark mode and adjustable fonts. And, Marco has happily announced that Instapaper for the iPad will be available on (or near) day one.
Developers have been left with a choice to either release their application on day one without ever testing it on an iPad or wait to test on an iPad and release it late. Marco explains his decision simply:
While I could have taken the conservative option and waited until a month or two after the iPad’s release before launching Instapaper for it, an iPad without native Instapaper Pro is not a device I want to own.
I hope other developers feel the same way about their own apps.
Opera has announced that they’ve submitted their Opera Mini browser to Apple’s App Store. They’ve chosen to make this submission process very public, even putting an “Opera Mini Countup” page on their website that counts the seconds since the application was submitted to Apple.
Opera Mini uses server-side rendering which Opera claims can load web pages up to six times faster. But, the best feature by far is its ability to search the contents of a web page — something I’ve been waiting for Apple to implement since day one.
Whether Apple will accept the application remains to be seen. But, judging by the fact that Opera has decided to make this process so public, I have a feeling they don’t expect it to be accepted. I don’t know why else they would put a counter on their website publicly displaying how long it takes for Apple to reject or approve it.
I truly hope Apple approves it, even if it takes a rejection followed by public outcry for it to happen. I just want Apple to be forced to innovate again. They currently have the best mobile browser on the best mobile platform and without someone else to push them along I’m afraid they’ll be happy to sit where they are.
MacRumors reports that Apple has started accepting iPad applications into the App Store.
The iPad section of the App Store will be launching on April 3 and developers who hope to have their application in the store on the grand opening should submit their application by March 27 at 5 PM.
9 to 5 Mac has posted screenshots of the iTunes Connect submission interface.
It’s kind of mind boggling to think that the majority of developers haven’t been able to test their application on an actual iPad.
But for a select few developers, Apple has allowed them to test their applications on a real iPad. Douglas MacMillan, writing for BusinessWeek, shed some light on the terms of Apple’s agreement for those who do get access to an iPad. MacMillan spoke with four people familiar with the terms who claim that the iPad must be kept in a room with blacked-out windows. The device must also remain tethered to a fixed object.
It should come as no surprise that Apple has allowed some developers access to an iPad before it’s release. Apple allowed a few developers access to the iPhone SDK before it was launched, and this is no different. Apple wants this platform to be successful, and although the simulator gives developers a really good idea of how their application will work, there’s no substitute for trying your application on a real device.
I just hope that the developers who only have the simulator to work with won’t have too many serious changes to make once they get their iPads on April 3.
AppleInsider claims that Apple has developed a “full-on solution” to multi-tasking on the iPhone.
From the article:
From a user-facing perspective, Apple plans to deliver a multi-tasking manager that leverages interface technology already bundled with its Mac OS X operating system, according to those same people. It was requested that specifics be withheld at this time, as the iPhone Software 4.0 remains under development and reportedly has a quite ‘way to go’ before it’s ready for prime time.
I would love to hear a little bit more about how Apple plans to impliment multi-tasking on the iPhone. As much as I hope to see something like Expose or webOS-style application switching, I have a feeling Apple will come up with something very different.
But regardless of how multi-tasking will actually work, we at least know one influential writer who believes AppleInsider’s report.
Engadget has a gallery showing the changes Fusion Garage has made to the JooJoo tablet’s interface.
Engadget’s Nilay Patel writing about one of the more interesting changes:
Scroll behavior has been revised as well, with two separate behaviors: a two-finger scroll that works like a scroll wheel, and a single finger “pan” that works like a mouse arrow. That’s so you can move around sites like Google Maps, which have different interface elements mapped to each control
Also, the solid color background with big icons has disappeared in favor of a much more attractive picture background with smaller icons. The keyboard is said to have been improved but I still doubt it’ll be very usable.
Of course, all of these changes are moot unless these guys actually start shipping units.
Microsoft held their developer-focused MIX10 conference this week and revealed more details about the new platform. On Monday, Microsoft made their beta tools available for developers looking to build apps for Windows Phone 7 Series. Microsoft knows that platforms are all about third-party developers and wants to get them started early for the launch later this year.
Microsoft also took wraps off of Windows Phone Marketplace, their application distribution service. Marketplace has support for try-before-you-buy trial periods — developers choose what kind of trial period they want to offer. I’ve been hoping for an implementation of trial periods in the App Store for quite some time. Although, the ability to do in-app purchases within free applications has helped ease a little bit of the need for trial periods.
The Windows Phone Marketplace will have the familiar 70-30 split between developers and Microsoft. The Marketplace will have technical and content guidelines and each application will have to be approved by Microsoft to be listed. It will also be the only official way for most customers to get applications on their device. Enterprise customers will be able to deploy their own apps to employees without having to go through the Marketplace.
Just like with Apple’s App Store, users can re-download applications to their device at no cost. The purchases are tied to your Live account, not the device. Microsoft has also taken a page out of Apple’s book when it comes to desktop clients. Users will be able to browse and buy apps through the Zune desktop client and presumably manage which applications get installed on their device when they sync it.
Microsoft also demoed their version of push notification for the platform, named Microsoft Notification Service. The notifications come in through a bar across the top of the display, tapping the notification opens the app. Just like the iPhone’s notifications, they are available whether the application is running or not. Microsoft hasn’t come out and said that they won’t allow background tasks but since they’ve been following Apple’s model to a T, I have a feeling background apps won’t be coming any time soon.
Unfortunately, just like Apple’s launch of the iPhone, there won’t be copy and paste at launch, I’m bet they’re at least testing it but they haven’t shown much interest in actually releasing it. Engadget’s Nilay Patel talked with Microsoft’s Todd Brix about copy and paste. Brix said that users don’t use copy and paste very often. Instead of implementing copy and paste Microsoft decided to use a system-wide data detection service that recognizes phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, etc. Tapping on them opens the corresponding application. Apple had the luxury of being able to wait 2 years before releasing copy and paste because they were ahead of the game. But, Microsoft is going to be 3 years behind Apple when handsets start hitting the market later this year. If Microsoft wants to be taken seriously, they better be working on copy and paste.
Microsoft demoed several applications on stage at MIX10, including the Associated Press, Foursquare, Shazam, Major League Soccer, Seesmic, among others. Engadget’s Nilay Patel wrote a great piece detailing many of these applications, including some video demos.
A Netflix streaming application was also demoed on stage. They went out of their way to call it a prototype but Netflix has clearly laid the groundwork for them to release a full fledged application when they decide to do so.
Microsoft also demoed the ability for applications to plug into native components of the software. For example, a photo editing application could identify itself as such and would allow you to launch it from within the photo viewer. In essence, if you want to deal with photos no matter how, the photo viewer will give you all of your options.
Microsoft is doing everything right with the launch of this platform, I can honestly say that it’s impressive. I won’t be switching anytime soon, but I’m glad to see another viable platform coming to market.
I’d like to give a tip of the hat to Engadget for their fantastic coverage of the conference. They were the source for nearly everything written in this piece. Rarely does any one weblog cover such an event so thoroughly.
Nick Bilton, writing in the New York Times, reports that Google, Intel, and Sony have come together to develop a platform called Google TV.
The platform is based on Android and they plan to release a toolkit to developers within the next couple of months, with actual products appearing as early as this summer.
Google TV will allow users to watch standard television programming while also letting them view content on websites like YouTube and Hulu.
For anyone who ever gave up on the Apple TV because of it’s lack of functionality, Google TV should come as great news. This is exactly the type of competition that Apple needs to get them innovating again. The Apple TV hasn’t seen too many improvements since it was first released back in 2007. There is so much potential in devices like this, the market just needs somebody big to push it forward, Google could be that somebody.
I’m really excited to see where this connected set-top box market goes. I think Tim Cook was right, there is something there.
Yesterday, HTC’s released a press release regarding Apple’s patent lawsuit.
Peter Chou, CEO of HTC:
HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible.
The press release is less of a disagreement and more about HTC’s history in the industry. I disagree with Apple’s decision to sue HTC as well, but unless HTC has any actual real world argument against these patents it’ll boil down to a back and forth of nuh-huh and yuh-huh‘s.
Henry Levak took some video of Flash 10.1 on a Palm Pre Plus at Game Developers Conference. The first website he visited was Hulu, which unfortunately didn’t work that well. The Palm representative quickly nudged Henry toward one of the bookmarked Flash-heavy sites.
He then demoed a Flash-based game that didn’t seem too complicated, it was basically just a tap to shoot game but it did indeed work, although not that impressively.
In short, one of the few reasons that anyone would want to have Flash on a mobile device — Hulu — doesn’t seem to work well quite yet.
Along with the pre-order page, Apple also expanded the features page for the iPad with some new details. Here’s what we’ve learned since Apple began accepting pre-orders.
If you were wondering how to replace the iPad’s battery, The Loop has found that Apple’s iPad battery replacement program will cost $99 plus $6.95 for shipping. Rather than Apple replacing the battery in the iPad, they will send you another one (likely a refurbished model).
And lastly, iLounge has discovered an FCC document that reveals the dimensions for the Wi-Fi + 3G iPad. This model will be 0.3mm taller and 0.1mm wider than the Wi-Fi-only model. Apple hasn’t put these specs on their own website, and I’m a little surprised to hear that the dimensions are different.
There has been some discussion about which version of the iPad is the best to purchase. Shortly after the pre-order page showed up on Apple’s website the question heard ’round the world was “which model did you get?”
I’m not here to persuade you to change your mind about what iPad to pre-order, instead I’d rather talk you through my decision making process.
I chose to pre-order the 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad. Why 64GB? In short it’s because of future proofing. I’ve bought a slew of gadgets and computers in my time and there is one thing that always needs upgrading before everything else, storage.
My first generation 8GB iPhone made it two years but not without having to make decisions about what apps, music, TV shows, and movies I wanted to take with me. Luckily the decision wasn’t too difficult but since I’ve upgraded to a 32GB iPhone 3GS my music library alone has nearly tripled in size. Just last year I was fine with 8GB of storage — I even made it up until about 6 months ago without breaking the 8GB barrier on my iPhone — but as of this writing I only have about 16GB of free storage on my iPhone.
My iPhone is the best comparison I have for what the storage situation is going to be like on the iPad, but clearly there are different use cases that I have to account for. I don’t watch a lot of TV shows and movies on my iPhone but I expect to watch quite a bit on the iPad. I can just see myself propping it up next to my iMac so I can watch the latest episode of Lost while I’m trying to get some work done. I also expect to keep more applications installed on my iPad at any given time. I only have 13 applications installed on my iPhone but that number will likely double on my iPad. And, all those apps designed specifically for the iPad will take up more space as well. More pixels means more megabytes, especially in games. 64GB is my best bet at keeping myself from feeling storage claustrophobia over the next few years.
So, why 3G? The odd part about this decision is that I’m not 100% certain that I’ll ever use the 3G data connection. A few times a year I travel to Pittsburgh to visit family and knowing that the iPads 3G connection is around will give me peace of mind. I already have my iPhone but the flexibility is what really drew me towards it. Yes, $100 more is a lot of money but I’d rather have it and never use it then not have it and realize in 6 months that I wish I had did. Remember, there’s no way to upgrade to 3G without buying a whole new iPad.
The 3G model is also the only model with GPS built in. Back when I was using my first generation iPhone I didn’t think I would really use GPS, but I’m surprised at how often it makes things easier for me. Google Maps on this thing is going to be amazing.
The most disappointing thing about pre-ordering the 3G model is the extra wait time. The Wi-Fi only version ships on April 3, but all of us who decided to get the 3G model are going to have to wait until “late April” to get theirs.
But, regardless of when my iPad ships, I’m truly excited and happy to be getting my hands on one. And, without a doubt, I’ll be on Twitter, Flickr, and all the popular Apple weblogs to see everyone’s reaction to the iPad when it ships on April 3. There has been rumors of an Apple tablet for years, and we’re just 22 days away from it actually shipping.
Greg Sandoval reporting for CNET:
[Apple's] representatives have recently spoken with some of the major film studios about enabling iTunes users to store their content on the company’s servers, two people familiar with the discussions told CNET. That’s in addition to streaming television shows and music.
I would love Apple to allow users to re-download previously purchased content at no cost, just as they do with apps. But, I would settle for being able to stream content from their servers, as long as I can delete content without worrying about whether or not I’m going to want to watch it again.
Bill Ray writing in The Register:
Wi-Fi detection is something of a niche: there were never more than a handful of such applications in iTunes. But now even those have vanished as Apple decided they were using a “private framework”, and has pulled them off the shelves without explanation or apology.
It’s not that complicated, these developers were knowingly using private frameworks to scan for Wi-Fi hotspots. This of course, is against Apple’s agreement with developers.
I’m amazed at the amount of writers that are actually upset about this. This is one of the few App Store removals that actually makes sense.
Last week Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC for patent infringement. Steve Jobs had this to say in Apple’s press release:
We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.
It’s a little odd that Apple decided to sue HTC instead of Google or Palm. I didn’t expect Apple to sue anyone but if you were to ask me two weeks ago who they would sue first, HTC certainly wouldn’t be on the top of my list. But, it’s clear from the above statement that Apple (specifically Steve Jobs) is not at all happy with HTC.
John Gruber wrote a fantastic piece regarding the lawsuit. I especially love this part:
I can think of only a few optimistic angles for this suit. One is that perhaps it’s a by-product of the suit Apple is engaged in against (and initiated by) Nokia. Apple’s counter-suit against Nokia involves some of the same patents at play here, and perhaps Apple’s lawyers have concluded that they need to enforce them against someone like HTC in order to use them in their counter-suit against Nokia. Or, perhaps one or more of the truly technical patents Apple has cited against HTC are genuine instances of intellectual property theft, the specific nature of which is unclear from the opaque language of the patent filings, and the rest of the cited patent violations were tacked on as part of a legal strategy along the lines of “If you’re going to punch them, punch them as hard as you can”. I.e. that they’ve filed suit as widely as they can, but have specific narrow violations in mind.
I’ve always seen Apple as the kind of company that would prefer to beat their competition in the market rather than in the courts. I hope that this is just a byproduct of Apple’s litigation with Nokia instead of Apple attempting to completely remove phones like the Nexus One from the market.
I admit that myself and many others often hold Apple up to a higher standard and therefore expect them to always do the right thing. But, I don’t think that this lawsuit is foolish simply because of my love of Apple products, instead I believe it’s foolish because it causes feelings of distrust and ill will from their best customers.
Valve has announced that they will be releasing Steam for Mac in April. Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available at launch.
Along with the announcement of Mac versions of the above games, they’ve also announced Steam Play, which will allow customers who purchase any or all of the above games for Windows or Mac to play on the other platform for no extra charge. So for example, if you’ve purchased Half-Life 2 for Windows you’ll be able to download and play it on your Mac at no charge. Mac and Windows players will also be able to play online multi-player with each other, sharing servers, lobbies, etc.
Valve says that Portal 2 will be the first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows and will be released this holiday season.
Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead:
Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step. We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac.
I’m very excited for the release but even more excited about the future of Mac gaming. The ability for developers to check in code that produces PC and Mac builds automatically is a big deal.
Image credit to Joystiq.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball shines some light on the iPads missing apps. He also puts the kibosh on the whole dashboard widgets concept and quite honestly it was a pipe dream from the get-go.
But, speaking about why the apps are missing, Gruber simply explains that they just aren’t going to be there. Apple did have internal versions of the apps but scrapped them before announcement. I guess Steve Jobs just wasn’t happy with scaled up versions of the apps.
After looking at the list of missing applications again (Stocks, Weather, Voice Memos, Clock, Calculator, and Compass), the only app that I’ll actually miss is Calculator. The only other application in that list that I actually use is Clock and because I always have my iPhone close at hand I don’t think there will be much use for it on the iPad.
Whether Apple adds these apps in future firmware upgrades remains to be seen, but I don’t expect many people to miss them all that much.
Chris Ziegler reports on Engadget that Microsoft isn’t closing the door on Mac support for Windows Phone 7 Series.
Ziegler reveals that there are internal discussions at Microsoft about whether support for Windows Phone 7 Series will go beyond Windows.
I bought my first Mac in September 2006, it was a MacBook. One of the biggest reasons I purchased a Mac was because of my experience with my iPod. I received an iPod for Christmas the previous year and absolutely loved how simple and easy the iPod itself and iTunes was to use. Everything fit together seamlessly and I was incredibly curious to see how well the rest of Apple’s products worked. Needless to say, I was pleased.
If Microsoft wants to win back Windows users from the Mac, the best thing they could do is to announce support for Windows Phone 7 Series and the Zune HD on the Mac. I’ll openly admit that if the Zune desktop software was available for the Mac I would download and try it with an open mind.
Taylor Wimberly regarding Android device upgrade paths:
Some phones could be missing features of Android 2.1 (live wallpapers), but they will all have an Android 2.1 firmware. Now let me cut to the bad news. Select Android phones will require a wipe when they are upgraded to Android 2.1. I actually only know of phones that will require a wipe, so it could include all of them (minus the Droid which is already on Android 2.0.1).
There are a lot of things that I love about the iPhone platform but let me mention a few of them.
Just the idea that the device your using might not be able to update is totally wild. Might I point out that Android is open source, being unsure about device updates shouldn’t happen when the code is free, and yet it does.
Leslie Katz reports on CNET’s Crave that the JooJoo tablet has been delayed due to display issues.
Leslie writes:
due to an issue that “centers on fine tuning the touch sensitivity of the capacitive screen,” according to the manufacturer, it’s now expected to be sent March 25. Preorder customers will get a free JooJoo accessory to compensate for the delay, Fusion Garage added.
The JooJoo tablet was supposed to ship at the end of last month but now won’t ship to customers until the end of this month. It’s a good thing that those that pre-ordered are going to get a freebie but how does Fusion Garage expect to make this device a success when the only thing it had going for it over the iPad was a much earlier ship date? At this point the ship dates are so close together that no one in their right mind would order the JooJoo tablet to recieve it less than two weeks before the iPad is released.
I’m willing to bet that anyone who hasn’t ordered a JooJoo already and were seriously considering it will end up with an iPad instead.
Yesterday, Apple announced that the Wi-Fi-only iPad will ship in the U.S. on April 3, the Wi-Fi + 3G version shipping in the U.S. later that month. The iPad will ship outside the U.S. in late April as well. Apple also announced that they will begin accepting pre-orders for both versions on March 12.
Peter Misek made waves early this week when he said that the iPad was delayed due to hardware issues. However, Peter Misek is the same analyst that said that Apple was going to reveal an iPhone for Verizon’s network at their January event. Obviously he was full of it with that prediction and I would guess he was with this one as well.
The iPad was said to be shipping 60 days after the announcement on January 27 but John Gruber has been told by a source of his that the delay was because the software just wasn’t going to be ready in time.
John Gruber regarding the delay:
My sources suggest that Misek is wrong. It was the software, not the hardware, that took a week or two longer to finish than they’d hoped. Nothing extraordinary or unusual, just the usual hard-to-predict timing of turning software that’s almost ready to ship into software that’s ready to ship. In the grand history of major OS release date slips, one week is pretty tame.
I completely agree.
But, this is about the time in the conversation where people mention that the iPad won’t be available outside the U.S. until the end of April. Apple did originally plan to ship the iPad internationally on day one but I believe that this delay didn’t have anything to do with manufacturing delays per se but instead because of higher than expected demand in the U.S.
I do think that Apple expected a high interest in the announcement but I don’t think they expected quite as many people to acutally plan on purchasing it. According to an RBC/ChangeWave survey (reported on by All Things Digital) the iPad is in higher demand than the iPhone was before its launch. I think Apple was caught a little off guard by these numbers, and therefore didn’t have the manufacturing capacity at a point where shipping it in and outside of the U.S. simultaneously was feasible. I’m sure they could have done it if they expected this type of demand, but the decision would have had to have been made weeks (or maybe even months) ago.
Apple is looking to hire a full time engineering manager to help bring iPhone OS to new platforms.
From the Job description:
The Core Platform team within Apple’s Core OS organization is looking for a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms.
My first guess would be an iPod nano-like device using a modified version of iPhone OS. I’m obviously pulling that out of thin air but I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple wanted to simplify development of their mobile devices by running the same OS on all of them.
Hulu and its owners, three of the big broadcast TV networks, want to bring some version of the Web video service to Apple’s device. But the most likely scenario is one in which access to Hulu on the iPad comes as part of a subscription package, multiple people familiar with the company tell me.
The problem is that if Hulu decides to define the iPad as a mobile device they would need to be granted the rights to display content on mobile devices. This is doable, but it’s the same kind of ridiculous red tape that forced Boxee to remove Hulu from their app and it’s the same kind of red tape that will put TV networks in the same position the music industry is in.
I have no doubt that a paid subscriptions service could work well for Hulu. But (even though it will never happen), I really wish Hulu would use HTML5 for their web site and publish videos in H.264 using the video tag.
From Google’s Official Blog:
Today, we’re excited to announce that Google has acquired Picnik, one of the first sites to bring photo editing to the cloud. Using Picnik, you can crop, do touch-ups and add cool effects to your photos, all without leaving your web browser.
This should come as no surprise to anyone. Picasa Web Albums has fallen behind in terms of features when compared to other photo sharing sites. This was just an easy way for Google to get Picasa on par with the competition. Unfortunately for Google, I don’t think this is going to be enough to convince people to make the switch.
Craig Grannel reports on Cult of Mac that an “Explicit” section briefly appeared last week as an option for developers submitting new apps in iTunesConnect.
The category never appeared in the App Store but this is a clear sign that Apple is attempting to calm complaints and most likely re-accept some of the applications that it removed in last months purge.
I wouldn’t mind seeing an Explicit section in the App Store. But, I would hope that applications in that section would be hidden from search and the top charts until the user turns the explicit section on in iTune’s settings.
If you’ve wondered why there haven’t been many Gears releases or posts on the Gears blog lately, it’s because we’ve shifted our effort towards bringing all of the Gears capabilities into web standards like HTML5. […] We will not be investing resources in active development of new features. Likewise, there are some platforms that would require a significant engineering effort to support due to large architectural changes.
Gears will not be supported in Safari for Snow Leopard or later, and they currently plan to support Firefox and Internet Explorer moving forward.
I was really excited about Google Gears when it was first announced back in 2007. But, it’s a different world now, HTML5 is the future and I’m glad the folks at Google are smart enough to admit it. I don’t expect Gears to stick around for too much longer.