Ever since the Kindle was released I’ve heard several technology pundits talk about how the iPhone could kill the Kindle by just adding some ebook features. The problem of course is that the mosts critical feature of the Kindle isn’t the fact that it has ubiquitous wireless access, it isn’t the Kindle store, and it isn’t the fact that it has a web browser, the most critical feature of the Kindle is its display.
I’ve harped on this note before but the fact is reading for long periods of time on a display that has a backlight is incredibly hard on the eyes. The reason the Kindle works is because you can read for long periods of time without the level of eye strain as you would receive if you were reading on a display similar to… oh, let’s say… the iPhone.
The iPhone is a wonderful device but it clearly isn’t the be all end all, there are things that it can’t do, being the best ebook reader is one of them.
Craig Law of EA has posted some screenshots on the Touch Arcade forums showing the first glimpses of Tiger Woods ’09 for the iPhone. The game was announced in September and although a release date is yet to be announced the game will probably be out in just a few months.
I have to say it is looking really good. I’m not really in to golf video games but I can appreciate the graphics in this game. These screenshots really show that the iPhone has some horsepower and stuff like this gets me really excited for the future of the iPhone as a gaming platform.
Obviously this is a rumor and there is no way of knowing whether or not this is true but these images appear to be a new iPhone model number A1303.
The new case seems to have a matte finish instead of the current glossy look and the case also seems to have the usual model no., FCC ID, etc. etched onto the material which leads the iPod Observer to believe that the case is made out of metal instead of plastic. I don’t see Apple moving back to metal because of issues with the antenna but I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple found another material that was as strong as metal but let cellular signals through.
I hope that Apple will show us something in the world of iPhone this summer as they have been over the past two years and maybe this will be the new model. All I can say for sure is, when the next iPhone comes out I’ll be waiting with cash in hand.
Three new iPhones could be coming in 2009. The first is a 32G iPhone in multiple colours that is likely to arrive during the next six months. Next up is a lower-cost handset based on the 2.5G iPhone, which is targeted for China and India. Third is a smaller version – about one-third the size of the 3G iPhone – that costs 40% less and is also likely before year-end.
Thanks Peter Misek, but it seems as though you are just making these predictions on the chance that they might happen, because if they don’t, everyone will forget about your prediction, but if you are right everyone will praise you for your foresight.
“While we aren’t sure what the specific issues are, we’ve heard that as an alternative Apple is considering allowing apps to run as user selectable background processes. If so, this feature would likely come in the rumored iPhone 3.0 software update but would be limited to only one or two processes on current hardware. The next generation iPhone, however, would likely see less restricted background process support due to its improved hardware.”
So if it is user selectable I wonder if Apple will require developers to (if they want to have a background app) allow users to choose whether they want it running the background when closed and if not the app will save whatever your doing when the home button is pressed.
This seems like a very viable solution and I’ve often wondered why Apple didn’t just have a limit on the number of apps you can have running in the background at a time. 2 Would probably be a good number of apps and the way they would be selected would be just to have the most recent two apps that were opened be the background apps.
One of the worries many big game developers have had about the iPhone is that they can’t put enough money into a game to make it good because unless they sell it at $1-3 it will get lost in the shuffle.
Apple may have found a solution to that problem however. PocketGamer.biz is reporting that Apple is planning on introducing a new section to the App Store with premium game titles priced at $19.99. The developers of those games would be hand picked by Apple and the games themselves would be of “PSP-quality.”
PocketGamer’s sources didn’t have any information as to when this new section would be implimented but WWDC seems to be a fairly logical announcement venue.
Not only will this convince some big developers to invest more money into game development but it would also indicate that Apple has been listening to criticisms about the problem with low priced iPhone apps.
The one thing that hasn’t been mentioned in all of this is that from a money standpoint Apple couldn’t care less about the price of applications in the App Store, as long as the amount of money spent on apps as a whole stays the same (they still get 30%). The only incentives Apple has for doing this is to keep the developers happy and to keep the quality of applications high.
I do think that this would fix many problems with the App Store but does add another one. How will Apple decide who is going to be in the premium section? I’m sure many indie developers of high quality games that don’t get into the premium section will be pretty peeved off that they are not included. The fact is that Apple isn’t going to make everyone happy with the App Store but this move gives some more indications that they are at least trying to.
If you remember back in September there was an application announced for the iPhone called Podcaster that was denied from the App Store. The developer of Podcaster later released the application through Apple’s Ad-Hoc system essentially allowing him to sell the application without the App Store.
Recently Almerica resubmitted Podcaster, under a different name (RSS Player) and with some slight modifications (he removed the podcast directory from the app). And, suprisingly, it was accepted. The application still does essentially the same thing but now you have to input the URL for either an RSS feed or an OPML file to set up which podcasts it will follow.
RSS Player is now available from the App Store, it is currently $1.99 but the price will be raised to $4.99 shortly.
I don’t know if Almerica (the developer of the app) did this for everyone who purchased Podcaster but he did send me an email with a beta version of the application (a newer version then what is available in the App Store). So, if you purchased Podcaster ou might want to check your email and see if you got a beta copy before you head over to purchase it from the App Store.
Apple has slowing been loosening the restrictions on developers, first they started allowing apps with toilet humor and now they have begun approving web browsing applications to the App Store.
It is possible that Apple has separate internal approval queues depending on the category of application, we’ve seen this same type of grouping happen with the toilet humor apps and now we are seeing it with these web browsers.
Apple has until just recently declined web browser because they offer duplicate functionality to what the iPhone already offers.
This potentially opens the door for bigger browsers such as Opera or Firefox to develop versions for the iPhone, inevitably making browsing web pages on the iPhone better for the end user.
I received my Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic about a week ago (the standard ones, not the in-ear ones) and they are great.
In terms of compatibility with the iPhone the iPhone supports all of the headphones functionality except for volume control. It is technically possible for Apple to add support for volume functionality down the line but I wouldn’t count on it.
The new material that the headphone cables are made out of seem much more durable. They feel like they use more rubber than the previous ones did and because of that don’t feel like they are going to rip, tear, wear out, etc. as easily as the my old ones did.
Of course they don’t sound much better than the standard iPhone headphones but I’ll be honest I don’t care all that much about sound quality (and even if I did I don’t know if I’d be able to hear the difference). The headphones are great but I sure am hoping that the rubber around the speakers on the earbuds doesn’t start coming off as quick as my last pair of headphones did.
60GB of storage 16:9 display Slide-out keyboard 1MP front facing camera for iChat High quality camera with good lenses, optical zoom
Obviously this is just a ridiculous dream, but let’s be honest the thing would have to be a beast to have all those features in there. Not to mention how horrible the battery life would be.
Ever since the Kindle was released I’ve heard several technology pundits talk about how the iPhone could kill the Kindle by just adding some ebook features. The problem of course is that the mosts critical feature of the Kindle isn’t the fact that it has ubiquitous wireless access, it isn’t the Kindle store, and it isn’t the fact that it has a web browser, the most critical feature of the Kindle is its display.
