Apple and Microsoft have been having this bizarre pissing match for a few years now, but this new set of ads marks confirms what previous volleys seemed to imply: these companies have no intention of actually talking about their products. Microsoft’s feel-good “I’m Joe the Plumber and I’m a PC” campaign was about as substantive as Apple’s disingenuous and outdated attacks on its opponent’s software, but this new set of ads is really nothing more than a vague indictment of Microsoft’s marketing strategy. Maybe that’ll fly with tech news hounds, but most people who see these on TV won’t even know what they’re talking about, much less care.
There’s also the minor matter of Apple accusing Microsoft of spending money on advertising that would be better allocated to fixing Vista. The message, of course, is delivered in an expensive advertising campaign, the week after Apple released brand new, prohibitively expensive laptops. Justin Long’s Mac moves on to criticize Microsoft’s ‘reluctance’ to call Vista by its real name, which is either a misguided dig at the Mojave campaign or some kind of odd jab at the logical dropping of the ‘Vista’ name for Windows 7.
Everyone expects misinformation and questionable techniques in advertising, but that’s not the issue here. These ads seem directed at Microsoft’s corporate management, not their customers. Redmond and Cupertino are having a useless, protracted argument with each other, unaware of the fact that their shouting is going completely over everyone else’s heads.
The iPhone Dev Team released version 2.0 of the Pwnage Tool, which allows you to jailbreak iPhones and iPods running the new iPhone 2.0 software. It also unlocks first generation iPhones, allowing them to be used on any mobile phone network, but won’t unlock the new 3G model (yet).
If you happen to have owned either a first generation iPhone or an iPod touch prior to the opening of the iTunes App Store you probably at least considered the possibility of jailbreaking it to take advantage of the third party software being developed for it. With the ability to jailbreak the units while running the current Apple software you can now get the best of both worlds.
You can find links for downloading the Pwnage Tool, as well as some instructions to follow if you run into problems using it on the iPhone Dev Team blog.
After three months of silence following the release of the Mac clone by Psystar in April, the Cupertino company sued the company over copyright infringement.
The suit was filed July 3 in the US District Court for the district of Northern California, San Francisco. Initial filings for the case are due in October, while a case management conference is scheduled for October 22, court documents indicate. Judge James Larson has been assigned to the case.
Psystar offers a Mac clone for $399, along with a higher-end version for $999. Originally called the OpenMac, the name was later changed to “Open Computer” — likely to avoid trademark infringement.
Shipping of the desktops began in late April, although it is not known how many of the machines have so far been ordered. In addition to Mac OS X, Psystar offers the option to install Windows or Linux onto its high-end model.
Representatives for Apple and Psystar could not be immediately reached for comment.
Hours-long lines reportedly continued at Apple Stores throughout the weekend in the 21 countries in which it has premiered. Due to the extensive activation time, and the numerous down-times the system experienced, many users were sent home with a voucher instead of an iPhone.Others who actually obtained one, complained that the screens of their 3G iPhones were “too yellow,” wondering if something was wrong with their displays. In answer to the big question mark hovering over these users’ heads, Apple’s senior director of Product Marketing Bob Borchers spoke to Engadget. He said that the screen’s temperature had been deliberately set to a warmer level to produce “more natural” tones, with deeper blacks. Some, however, believed it was a flaw.
Wireless Info used a CS-200 Chroma Meter to analyze the brightness and color of the 3G iPhone’s screen and found that the screens were considerably brighter, and 1,240 degrees K warmer than the previous generation.
Testers then gauged the different firmware versions and found that the newer versions actually shift back toward the cooler end of the spectrum. This change between versions has caused those ultra-critical users to question whether this was an intentional.
Whether you love the device or hate it, stories about the iPhone are going to be hard to escape for a few weeks. Google and Facebook appear to fall into that first category, and have added to the hubbub by releasing iPhone-specific applications.
iPhones are able to browse the Web, of course, so at first glance, these apps look a little bit redundant. Their existence speaks to the popularity of the iPhone, though, along with corporate desires to please the device’s user base. And the apps do offer a few new tricks.
A post on the Official Google Blog Announces, “Google Mobile App starts working as soon as you type. Smart features mean you’ll get what you’re looking for in fewer key presses than before. For instance, we’ve added the power of suggest (type ‘lost in’ and one touch completes ‘lost in translation’) and My Location (type ‘coffee’ and one touch shows cafes right where you are on a map) to help you search.” There’s a search offering for the address book, as well.
Then, on the Facebook side of things, “The bottom line is that applications built for the iPhone have access to more technology than websites,” according to a blog post. “For example, with the native application you can take photos with the iPhone’s camera and upload them instantly to your Mobile Uploads album on Facebook. You’ll also find the native application is much faster than the website, giving you more reliable access to your Friends, Photos, and Inbox.”
So it’s more a matter of “icing on the cake” than “revolutionary creations.” Yet since it’s a rare person who doesn’t like icing, we don’t expect to hear many complaints.
About six months after launching the MacBook Air at Macworld San Francisco in January, Apple has now cut the price of the top-of-the-line edition of its thin and light notebook by $500.
The deluxe model of the MacBook Air — which comes with a miniaturized version of the 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 64 GB solid state drive (SSD) — has now been reduced in price from $3,098 to $2,598. Meanwhile, the price of the base model — which uses a 1.6 GHz flavor of the same processor — is still $1,799.
Apple has also lowered pricing from $300 to $200 on 1.8 GHz processor upgrades and from $999 to $599 on the SSD, an optional feature. The Air ships standard with an 80 GB hard drive.
Apple’s price drops on the Air coincide with price reductions by Intel of $100 on the 1.8 GHz processor and $400 on the SSD.
But could demand for the high-end Air be a factor, too? Some users have been complaining vocally online about a price tag of $3,098 for a notebook that includes no optical drive and only one USB port. As some see it, the Air turns in only mediocre performance.
Weighing in at under 3 pounds, the MacBook Air includes a full-sized keyboard and a 13.3-inch LED display. It also ships standard with 2 GB RAM.
After being unveiled a couple of weeks ago at the very consumer attractive price of $199 USD, the iPhone 3G is set to go on sale next month through Apple and AT&T.
According to new reports, it appears however that AT&T is subsidizing the phone, over $400 USD in some cases, just to be able to reap in the benefits of a 2 year contract including data plans.
Oppenheimer financial analyst Yair Reimer writes that as a general rule of thumb, wireless carriers subsidize the price of smartphones by about $200 USD and make it back from expensive data plans. AT&T it appears though, is losing $325-425 for each unit sold and could be buying each phone from Apple for as much $724 USD for the 16GB model.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster also wrote a report estimating that Apple will make about $466 USD per iPhone. Bernstein Research’s Toni Sacconaghi, in a separate report says he anticipates Apple is selling each phone at $700 USD.
Apple Inc. said Thursday people have bought more than 5 billion songs from its iTunes online music store.
In addition, Apple said, iTunes customers are now renting or buying more than 50,000 movies daily.
Apple said that based on data from market researcher NPD Group the iTunes store is the largest music retailer in the U.S. based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008.
More than 8 million songs are available on iTunes, as well as more than 20,000 TV episodes and more than 2,000 movies.
AOL has created a new Radio application for the Apple iPhone that will allow users to connect to AOL servers via EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi and listen to local CBS radio stations. The application won an ‘Apple Design Award’ last week at the annual WWDC.
Making the app even more intriguing is that the service will be free, but ad-supported, just like traditional radio is. There will be over 200 AOL and 150 CBS stations available in 25 different genres.
Apple noted this about the application, “Reliable audio streaming and improved battery life are achieved by using AudioFileServices and AudioQueueServices, while SCNetwork manages the best narrowband or broadband streaming based on whether users are connected via EDGE or Wi-Fi.”
How is the quality though? AOL VP Kevin Conroy says it is “as good as listening to a CD”.
T-Mobile has announced today that they will be offering the new 8GB 3G iPhone for 1 euro (about $1.50 USD) in Germany when purchased with a 69 euro monthly contract for 2 years.
Since Apple has dropped its insistence on revenue sharing and made the phone available non-exclusively in over 70 countries worldwide, carriers now have the option to subsidize the cost of the phone in an effort to lock the consumer into expensive data plans for long periods of time.
The original iPhone, which went on sale last June, sold six million units despite high prices and carrier exclusivity deals so at least on the outside it appears the 3G model will sell better.
T-Mobile added that the 8GB model would cost 170 euro if bought with the minimal data plan, of 29 euro a month and that the price would range between those prices for other data plans.
The 16GB model will sell for similar but with a range of 19.95-249.95 euros.