Event update - O'reilly Media iPhone Live 2008 event postponed

As a media partner for the event we were surprised to find out the event has been postponed. In a message from an O'reilly Media rep we hear the following...

We're sorry to inform you that we've made the difficult business decision to postpone the O'Reilly iPhoneLive event. We apologize for the timing, and for any inconvenience this postponement may cause.

We are grateful for your support of the event and appreciate your desire to participate. O'Reilly is committed to exploring this space, and we'll keep you informed of plans for a possible future version of the conference.

See the event website here... stay tuned!

Save the date O'reilly Media, iPhone Live 08

Here's details of an event of interest from O'reilly Media, iPhone Live 08 taking place November 18 in San Jose, CA. This unique event will no doubt be interesting to any existing developers or would-be developers of apps for the iPhone platform. FYI, register before Oct 14 and save on the cost. See the event website here
Fore more info on apps and news about LBS apps developed for iPhone see here

The fake iPhone lines... WTF?

Nice move on the part of Orange to try and lure consumers into shops to snatch up the latest iPhone.. the company is actually paying "actors" to line up in front of some 20 stores to create a sense of device "hysteria". Something tells me that the mobile device savvy Europeans aren't likely to fall for this one! Source: eWeek

Everybody in line!

Are you having iTunes or iPhone woes?? You likely are not alone

Seems that problems just keep on plaguing Apple device users. It seems these days that if you fire up your iTunes and connect an iPod you simply don't know what's going to happen.. will you be able access your music, will the music be there, or ??? Looks like iPhone users are having some fun as well. Case in point, check out these comments from a couple of unhappy users...

"Yesterday, I noticed from my iTunes that Apple had recently released 2.0.1 for the iPhone. I downloaded the 240-megabyte update. A little while later, I received an unknown error 6 and the update aborted, but not until after it had erased my phone. So for the second time in the past couple of months, my phone became a brick. My impression is that Apple can't cope with the success of the iPhone and the demands it puts on their engineering and support organizations."

"Yesterday I took my second iPhone home after the first one wouldn't hold a charge. This one charged and worked fine, except for one thing. I noticed last night that it had Cube Runner and Facebook apps installed--something I know I did not download because I haven't downloaded ANY apps yet. I also found somebody else's bookmarks on this iPhone. At some point in the Apple chain, someone clearly made a decision to put a returned/used iPhone back in the box, seal it and try to pass it off as brand new."

these are but a couple of comments you'll find floating arond concerning the device. Have you had issues or do you love all things Apple??

iPhone to dominate mobile map usage? Hold your horses!

There's no doubt that iPhone 3G is going to [or has already] stimulate mobile map usage in North America. Interesting that I found this recent quote... "It surely won`t be long before Apple`s iPhone line up is the leading device for mobile maps usage. Just you wait and see." An aggressive projection, however, keep in mind that the World is a big place and there's many mobile users outside of North America... most of then not using iPhone. To say that iPhone will soon pass Nokia in this space is shortsighted to say the least. iPhone to dominate in this place soon... don't be foolish!

Mobile Mapping Usage up... no kidding!

It was only a matter of time, and a matter of getting devices into the hands of users, along with affordable data plans. Comscore has reported that mobile map app usage is soaring, particularly in the US - thanks to the Nokia N95 (although Joe average will indeed have a huge problem trying to find one in a shop) and the now GPS-enabled iPhone 3G. ComScore reports usage up by 82 per cent in the US and 49 per cent in Europe. n the US, usage increased by 82 per cent in the three months to May 2008, with eight per cent of mobile subscribers using the service, mostly from an Apple iPhone. Given that iPhone 3G has only been around for less than 2 weeks these numbers will indeed skyrocket, with mapping and location-aware social networking apps topping the charts on iTunes store -- why is it iTunes when your buying mapping applications, games etc... isn't that odd? Looking for more LBS apps for iPhone, see here for some tips. See also here for 10 free LBS apps for N95.

iPhone 3G Quibblo polls and surveys by geography

another cool, location-aware app for the iPhone community... Quibblo. The Quibblo Polls widget is a location-aware quiz application that enables users to take polls and surveys on their iPhone and iPod Touch and then see consolidated results by geography. With the widget, users can participate in polls and then view results by city, state, country or overall. They can also see how others within a ten mile radius respond to the same survey. See http://www.quibblo.com/promo/iphone

ohman, here we go again with the Apple iPhone gridlock!

Dejavu! This comes ironically from the New York Time who has one of the coolest, new, iPhone apps out there... Apple suffered massive network gridlock Friday morning as many of the six million users of the original iPhone tried to upgrade to new software at the same time as the first buyers of the new iPhone 3G were trying to activate their purchases. I noticed this AM via Twitter that users like James were complaining about issues with MobileMe (http://www.apple.com/mobileme/) and Peter is likey still trying to upgrade his software hours later... ouch! Are you really surprised?? See more on NY Times

I had this up on my screen for quite some time this AM

Must-Have Location-Aware Applications for your Apple iPhone 3G

Ok, you've got your shiny, new 3G Apple iPhone... now what?? Well, to start, you'll need to get familiar with the Apple iStore, this is where you'll find loads of applications, many of them are cool, location-aware applications taking advantage of the devices' integrated GPS. Read on for some cool, suggested apps, most of them taking advantage of the users' location, some are simply must have! See more

iPhone 3G Still Lacking some key features

Besides the fact that I'm already locked into a T-Mobile plan that is serving me well (well, it's ok!) there's a few key features that iPhone 3G should have...
expandable memory card slot (like a Micro SD)
video ( in this day and age no mobile video... come on, you gotta have it)
5 mega pixel digital camera is a must (currently comes with a 2 MP)
spotty 3G coverage
costly monthly plan - you'll be dropping $1000 easily this year on your iPhone 3g
Hang tough and I'm sure I'll come up with a few other key features. The real kicker with iPhone 3G though is iPhone 2.0, the software upgrade that enables mobile application developers to create apps for this platform... its the apps man, that's what will be killer! Think about it, with this great UI and nice, large screen you can now easily read the New York Times from cover to cover on a phone.. try doing this on any other device, your eyes will likely bug out of your head by page 3! Check out LBSzone.com for details of just a few, new, cool LBS apps running on iPhone 3g. Any thoughts???

ShoZu iPhone Application - a must have

If you plan on picking up a new iPhone 3G then one must-have application you need to get ASAP is Shozu. This app will enable you to quickly, easily, and affordably upload to any of some 50+ social networking sites with 1 touch. shozu also crunches images to a manageable size, saving data throughput and costly data charges. See www.shozu.com/iphone or get it from the Apple App Store

Develop WHERE widgets for iPhone 3G - video demo

Interested in creating widgets on the WHERE platform (uLocate) for the new iPhone 3G? Check out this video clip from the uLocate channel providing details just how simple it is.

Will location be the killer app creating mega line-ups for iPhone 3G?

No doubt you've witnessed the start of the iPhone 3G hype, expected to climax tomorrow (8 AM) when the device is available to the public.
I've found it interesting, but no huge surprise to see that location, presence, GPS, however you want to refer to it, is the expected killer app - likely enabling Apple to easily outsell the 6 million iPhones that were sold last year - I bet that number easily surpasses 10 million with 3G! Notice the recent images in USA Today showing, what else, maps. Check out the iPhone 3G homepage and when you browse around you'll find loads of nifty images showing iPhone maps.
Finally, just today, one of the first announcements for an application available to iPhone 3G users via the Apple iStore will be WHERE - recall WHERE’s widgets delivers content based on the user’s current location and provides the ability to show this content on a map, get directions and easily share the location with friends.

Gas Buddy widget from WHERE as seen on iPhone 3g
Starbucks store locator widget from WHERE

Expect to see loads of other cool location-aware apps hitting the iStore very soon like locr, slifter, earthcomber, cellspin, geospot, taxibus, boopsie, lightpole, etc... Are you planning on lining up for iPhone 3G?
http://www.apple.com/iphone/

iPhone 2 - GPS, WiFi, Bletooth, 8GB flash (or 16) only $199... nice - Coming July 11

iPhone 3g aka. the iPhone 2 was unveiled this week by Steve Jobs at the "Apple lovefest"- iPhone 2.0 software update for existing users is coming soon. Some of the features sported by this popular device include:
built-in GPS (A-GPS)
support for 3G networks
additional language support
enhanced email handling
MobileMe for managing your email, calendar, contacts etc...
3.5 inch display
8GB or 16GB flash drive
WiFi adn Bluetooth
2 megapixel camera with photo geotagging (not sure what that means or how it will work)
and much more.


Some notes from Job's speech... Thinner at the edges, full plastic back, solid metal buttons, 3.5 inch display, camera, flucsh headphone jacks (applaus) improved audio (dramatically). Jobs noted in a demo that the device will open a large attachement in seconds, comparable to Wi-Fi speeds! 5Hours of talk time on the battery, 5-6 hrs of browsing, 7 hrs or video watch time, 24 hrs of audio (clap!)... great performance and great battery life. New.. GPS (huge applause)... location services is going to be a big deal.. it's going to explode. Locastion data from cell towers, WiFi, and from GPS.

Sounds cool but teh real selling point of this bad boy will be the $199 price tag (with 2 year contract) and for $100 more you get 16 GB and it comes in white too! - I'm not sure if the device will be handled by more carriers yet (like perhaps T-Mobile, but I doubt it) See http://www.apple.com/iphone/

USer research about the Apple iPhone

Interesting findings about the Apple iPhone:
Som mixed feelings in the research as about 40% report that it can't display all the websites they want to visit. On the up-side, Phone Bills have increased by an Average of 24% - this is what the carriers want to see!

Some findings:

- Users are young Apple veterans. Half of US iPhone users are under 30, and 75% are prior Apple customers.
-The iPhone is expanding the smartphone market. About 50% of iPhone users replaced conventional mobile phones, while 40% replaced other smartphones. The Motorola Razr was the conventional phone most often replaced, while Microsoft Windows Mobile devices and the RIM Blackberry were the smartphones most often replaced.
- Email is the #1 function. The most used data function on the iPhone is reading (but not writing) email, with about 70% of users doing that at least once a day. About 60% said they browse the web on the iPhone daily.
- The iPhone increases mobile browsing. Over 75% of iPhone users say they do a lot more mobile browsing on it than they did with their previous mobile phone.
- Browsing compatibility problems. About 40% of iPhone users say it has trouble displaying some websites they want to visit. This is probably due at least in part to the absence of Adobe Flash on the iPhone.
- The iPhone drives carrier switching. About half of iPhone users switched carriers to AT&T when they obtained the iPhone.

Download the report at: http://tinyurl.com/2rkyve

iPhone + GPS = locoGPS

Perhaps the biggest rant about the way cool iPhone is the lack of integrated GPS. A solution... One developer seems to be almost ready to roll out GPS for iPhone users - enter locoGPS for iPhone and iPod touch. Developed using open source software, the application is reported to be set for rol-out in Feb. LocoGPS reports to provide 5-10m GPS positional accuracy and will be connected for charging via USB and it appears the keychain size device will connect directly with the iPhone for GPS use. More details over at partfoundry.
The device will sell for about $89. See also monsterandfriends for more on iPhone app development - they are also looking for developers for iPhone GPS projects.

Not what you do but how you do it...

I was just browsing a reporter's look at the iPhone and noticed a line that really rings true for what developers need to think about as we head into 2008... "It's not just what the gadget [or app] does that makes it a life-changing device, it's HOW it does it"... the review is a bit fluffy but indeed the writer hit it right on. This is what Nokia has been fighting for some time and likely why they haven't yet penetrated the N.A market yet. Good words to think about as you develop your next webmap, mashup, software update etc... keep it simple and set your user experience apart from all the others. It's those simple things that make a big difference... for example, when I load my maps app on my N95 it should automatically come up where I am located NOW... not where I was last time I used the app, or maybe if I create a linkedIn group it should be easy to locate and link to rather than the way it works (or doesn't work) now, etc...

Make it simple so anyone can use it!

Tip for Apple iPhone and iPod users

no more sync just hit play! Orb Networks (http://www.orb.com/) today announced that you can now play your PC music collection on your Apple(R) iPhone(R) or iPod(R) touch without having to sync with iTunes. Responding to a user study that found repeated syncing of the iPhone to a PC to be 'a pain in the ass,' Orb(R) enables users to play their PC music on their iPhone or iPod touch from anyplace they have a wireless Internet connection, right away.

Here's how it works: install the free Orb application on the Windows(R) PC where you have your music. Then go to the free service at http://mycast.orb.com/ from the native Safari browser on your iPhone or iPod touch to play what you want right from your PC.

Another ex Nokia N95 user jumps on the iPhone bandwagon

Looks like Ed Parsons has joined the growing number of ex-N95 users and hopped on the iPhone bandwagon - no real surprise really as Ed comes from the Google camp is likely pressured internally to drink the Apple cool aid! Too bad although Ed does have some good points... indeed the second iteration of the N95 is much superior to the original (too bad I still have the original N95 -- and I'm one the biggest advocates of the N95.. go figure!). Ed's reason.. usability and you can't blame him.. Nokia smartphones indeed have the ability to run much more software and the applications available for the S60 ecosystem are plentiful to say the least. Here in North America no carriers (that I know of) are boasting the N95 whereas AT&T is pushing the iPhone.. no doubt some politics as it's THE smartphone of choice for the company to promote.. add to the fact that the AT&T CEO is not big on Nokia and feels the devices are full of flaws and he's also majorly ticked off that us here in North America get the latest Nokia devices months after they come to Europe. I'll still never be able to figure out Nokia's plans for North America and once again it seems that they are letting the iPhone steal more marketshare from them just wait til next year when Android enabled devices come to market.. will there be any Nokia and Symbian OS faithful left in North America?

Earthcomber for iPhone - Local search done right!

Recall I was hyped about this cool app on my Nokia N95... now they have a great app for iPhone! A newer, hotter version of Earthcomber has been unleashed for the iPhone. What's new? A 3-fold speed increase. New, upgraded location reviews. And, imagery from many locations so you can actually see the scene inside. If you haven’t heard of Earthcomber, this free “personal radar” spots restaurants, movie theaters (with listings), hot clubs and bars, personal essentials, business needs and much more – over 10 million places around the USA. Earthcomber lets you shift modes – for example, from business to fun times to food. A single touch provides a wide range of nearby places, all organized by category and proximity. See more here and see also this Earthcomber article for more.