App Developers Sticking to iPhone
Apple’s iPad and iPhone, let alone the explosion of Android devices and new offerings from RIM and Microsoft. That’s the takeaway from the joint IDC/Appcelerator quarterly survey of 2,760 mobile developers, out today.
The survey represents the third such partnership between research firm IDC and Appcelerator, which builds products that help developers recompile their applications for multiple platforms. Over the past six months, developer interest in both Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android platform has remained flat, even as more Android devices have shipped than any other kind.
App developers say the problem is that as Android is deployed on more devices, it’s becoming harder to develop for it, because of a profusion of device specifications and a pool of newcomer app developers, many of whom were Web and desktop developers just two years ago. Robert Koch, whose team develops the task-list organizer Wunderlist, wrestles with the vagaries of Android development every day. (Wunderlist is on iOS, Android, OS X, Windows, and the Web.)
“It’s very, very difficult to write a good application for every Android device,” says Koch, who cites differing screen resolutions, hardware configurations, and CPU speeds as core concerns. “We had to buy a lot of devices just [to test] our little task-management app.
Next iPhone software update delayed until the fall?
Apple has been pretty quiet about the next version of its mobile operating system, dubbed iOS 5. That’s not surprising, since it is probably tied to the next version of its iPhone, the iPhone 5. But TechCrunch claims that this unannounced software has, in fact, been delayed until the fall, according to two unnamed sources.
That’s an interesting tea leaf, but it’s not clear what it means. It may mean that the iPhone 5 itself is delayed until the fall, since Apple typically times the release of new hardware and software features together. For the iPad 2, Apple issued a relatively minor update to iOS, dubbed iOS 4.3
The rumor leads to some interesting speculation about what Apple might do next.
TechCrunch says there could be another Apple event coming in April to talk about iOS 5 and MobileMe, but now that event is looking less likely. Apple may do a preview of the iOS 5 at its Worldwide Developers Conference this summer.
Apple’s Steve Jobs prioritizing next-gen iPad, iPhone on medical leave
While on medical leave for undisclosed health issues, Apple CEO Steve Jobs continues to work from home, remaining especially involved in work on the second-generation iPad and the next version of the iPhone, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that, as expected, Jobs has stayed “closely involved in the company’s strategic decisions and product development” during a medical leave to focus on his health, according to people familiar with the matter.
Apple announced in January that Jobs would take a medical leave of absence for the second time in two years. At the time, Jobs wrote in a press release that he would “continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.”
According to the Journal’s sources, Jobs continues to work on “the next version of the iPad tablet computer, expected out in the next couple of months, and a new iPhone, expected to be released this summer.”
Sources also reported that day-to-day operations remain “nearly unchanged” under COO Tim Cook, although some said there is a “sense of sadness” because of concerns about Jobs’ health. Cook also managed operations for the company while Jobs took his previous leave, earning $59 million in the process.
Though pundits have speculated about Jobs’ reasons for his leave of absence, the exact nature of his condition remains unclear. People who have seen Jobs in recent months have said that he “continues to look thin.” Sources also told the Journal that Apple and Jobs “appear to be going about things in much the same way as they did during his previous medical leave, at the time of his transplant.”
Three local experts design Confession app for iPhone
The next time you commit a sin, you might be confessing to your phone.
Three local computer technology experts recently designed an iPhone app called “Confession- a Roman Catholic app.”
The program guides you through your confession when while meeting with a priest.
You can take the iPhone into your confessional and it will tell you how long it has been since your last confession, list off things you need to remember for your confession, and some prayers to keep in mind.
Verizon says 3AM February 3 iPhone pre-order valid for all
Verizon updated its teaser page for the iPhone 4 on Friday with a countdown and more details. Just as with corporate buyers, every existing Verizon customer will have the option of pre-ordering from 3AM Eastern. The time wasn’t explained but should reduce the chance that West coast buyers consume all the early supply.
Most of the other details are known. The iPhone 4 itself will cost $199 for a 16GB model and $299 for 32GB. Verizon will use existing plans that start at a minimum of $70 for both 450 minutes of voice and an at least temporary offer of unlimited data. Higher-tiered plans can bring it up to unlimited voice; tethering requires a more expensive $50 data plan, and messaging ranges from $5 for 250 messages to $20 for unlimited.
Multi-touch Gestures, Photo Streaming for iPhone
Apple has pushed out the second iOS 4.3 beta build full with hints about the upcoming features for existing and future devices. The first iOS beta did give us a glimpse of several new and upcoming features. MacRumors reported that the iPad 2 will have Camera, FaceTime and Photobooth. This was drawn from the wallpaper selection preview. Also, BoyGeniusReport procured the screenshot of multi-gestures being tested internally for the iPhone in addition to the iPad.
While most of us anxiously await the announcement of the iPad 2 as we call it, several features of that upcoming tablet are being hinted in the iOS 4.3 update. As per a MacRumors report, the screenshot of a wallpaper selection preview in the iOS 4.3 beta 2 showed three icons more than the usual ones. These three icons were FaceTime, Camera and Photobooth. Last week, a string of code found in the first iOS 4.3 beta indicated that new camera effects would be added to the iPhone. These new camera effects include Thermal Camera, X-Ray, Kaleidoscope, Turbine, Tunnel of light, Collapse, Enlarge, and Normal.
Now, as per the new icon discovered, the iPad 2 will have a front facing camera that will enable FaceTime and also bring the Photobooth feature to the iPad. Mac OS X already offers Photobooth app that can be used to click portrait images with different camera effect filters.
Earlier, we found out that iOS 4.3 would bring multi-touch gestures for iPad but that wasn’t it. The multi-touch gestures for various important functions including multi-tasking would be extended to almost all devices that support multi-tasking. The following gestures could be performed once multi-touch gestures are enabled.
Verizon Deal May Expose IPhone Flaws
With this week’s announcement that Verizon Wireless is going to begin selling the iPhone — something its customers have been panting for ever since AT&T got that first, exclusive iPhone contract four years ago — it’s time for me to face the music. Nobody really cares that the iPhone is flawed. After this column, I’m going to stop caring too. I swear it.
Its design is undeniably elegant; both the iPhone and its sister device, the iPad, stand at the pinnacle of modern industrial design. The iPhone offers some 300,000 apps that delight its users. Photographs look gorgeous on an iPhone. “It is the first and best implementation of a highly mobile computer,” said Roger L. Kay, the president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a market intelligence firm.
Yet for all that it offers, the iPhone has always been plagued by serious drawbacks. The “phone” part of the iPhone has never worked very well, dropping calls with annoying regularity. Even when the phone works, the sound quality is often substandard. You would think in an age when fewer people are using landlines this would matter. Apparently not.
PSA: iPhone alarms not working come New Year’s Day 2011
We’re not exactly sure of the cause of this fancy new issue affecting Apple’s super cool iPhone line of cellphones, but apparently you’ve got trouble come 1/1/2011. According to an explosive stream of frustration-filled tweets on the Twitter microblogging service, when the clock strikes midnight, one off alarms will cease to sing out. The issue sounds eerily similar to recent Daylight Savings Time trouble we witnessed back in November, although we saw both repeating alarm and single alarm failures.
So how can you fix this potentially life-ruining problem? Well until Apple patches its OS — and it’s currently unclear if this is just iOS 4.2.1 or earlier versions as well — you can simply create a recurring alarm at the time you need to be woken up, and then disable it once your dreams are completely ruined. We’re taking a deeper look into the issue and have contacted Apple — if we get more news, you guys will be the first to know. In the meantime, feel free to commiserate in comments, and… happy new year?
Apple, Cherokee Indians Partner on iPhone Language Capability
While the age of smoke signals as a means of rapid communication has clearly passed, a partnership between slick computer maker Apple and members of the Cherokee Indian tribe in the U.S. suggest the spoken language of the country’s native inhabitants won’t be lost to history– the tribe is currently working with the company to develop Cherokee language software for Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad tablet devices. “There are countries vying to get on these devices for languages, so we are pretty excited we were included,” Joseph Erb, who works in the Cherokee Nation’s language technology division, told the Associated Press.
Erb explained to the news agency that the language, supported by Mac computers since 2002, needs to expand into the common cultural technologies that drive today’s society and particularly younger generations. These generations are to be the guardians of the language, at its peril, Erb said. “If you don’t figure out a way to keep technology exciting and innovative for the language, kids have a choice when they get on a cell phone,” Erb told the AP. “If it doesn’t have Cherokee on it, they all speak English,” he said. “They’ll just give up their Cherokee, because the cool technology is in English. So we had to figure out a way to make the cool technology in Cherokee.”
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