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The new iPhone has been officially outed and details of the next phone from Apple have been shared by Steve Jobs at the WWDC. The phone is pretty much the same as the prototype that walked into a bar recently (but failed to walk out). Jobs shared all the details about the iPhone 4, and made a case for this being the best iPhone ever. He’s right about that, but having just purchased the Sprint EVO 4G I am now even happier about my purchase than before the iPhone 4 announcement. Here’s how the two phones stack up against one another.

Hardware

  • Thickness: iPhone 9.3 mm; EVO 12.7 mm
  • Display size: iPhone 3.5 in.; EVO 4.3 in.
  • Display resolution: iPhone 960×640; EVO 800×480
  • Rear camera: iPhone 5 MP; EVO 8 MP
  • HD video recording: iPhone yes; EVO yes
  • HDMI out: iPhone no; EVO yes
  • Front camera: iPhone yes; EVO yes
  • Kickstand: iPhone no; EVO yes
  • Dual microphones (noise cancellation): iPhone yes; EVO no

Software

  • OS: iOS 4; Android 2.1 (2.2 promised soon)
  • Navigation: iPhone no; EVO yes (two free apps)
  • Video chat: iPhone Wi-Fi only; EVO Wi-fi/3G/4G (two apps)
  • Multitasking: iPhone limited; EVO full
  • Carrier support (U.S.): iPhone AT&T; EVO Sprint
  • Mobile broadband support: iPhone 3G; EVO 3G/4G (WiMAX)
  • OS updates: iPhone via iTunes; EVO OTA
  • Hotspot: iPhone none; EVO mobile hotspot (carrier charge)
  • Flash support: iPhone no; EVO Flash lite yes, Flash 10.1 coming

It may seem like I’ve stacked the deck against the iPhone, and perhaps so. I do believe the iPhone 4 is a sweet smartphone, and it has the full Apple ecosystem behind it, which is powerful stuff. I also believe that the Sprint EVO 4G is the most advanced smartphone hardware available — that high-res iPhone screen aside –and it can certainly hold its own in this head-to-head comparison.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d): Will Metered Mobile Data Slow the App Market’s Growth?


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iPhone 4 and Sprint EVO 4G, Head-to-Head

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Monday morning, Steve Jobs was highlighting the Pulse reader application for iPad during his WWDC 2010 keynote, but that afternoon a complaint from The New York Times prompted Apple to pull the software from the App Store.

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Doubly annoying given the NYT's pathetic Editor's Choice iPad app.

- Kevin Pedraja

And now restored again?

- Stephen Mack
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June 8, 2010 11:52 AM - Sign in to comment - Link
Why Did The NYT Get The Pulse News Reader Yanked From iTunes?

Pulse On iPad

Is the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) trying to shut down news reader apps that rely on RSS or is it just trying to smack down one in particular? An infringement letter (included in full below) from the New York Times to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) got the flashy Pulse News Reader pulled from the Apple App Store Monday mere hours after it got a shout out from Steve Jobs during his WWDC keynote, as Kara reported. On the surface, the complaint doesn’t seem to match the NYT’s early-adopter attitude towards RSS that started with an agreement between Martin Nisenholtz and developer Dave Winer in 2002. But the NYT’s counsel says the commercial use—Pulse is $3.99 a download—and the the framing of NYTimes.com and Boston.com within the app violates the sites’ Terms of Service. In the complaint, Samson notes “the app is delivered with the NYTimes.com RSS feed preloaded, which is prominently featured in the screen shots used to sell the app on iTunes.” The NYT does not provide full-story feeds, usually headlines and links.

I asked Nisenholtz by e-mail this morning if this signaled a new policy towards news readers, CC’d to spokesman Robert Christie. The first response was to send me the complaint. When I asked if any commercial news reader app, software or browser-based version is at risk, even if the user is the one who picks the feeds, and what this means beyond Pulse, Christie replied:

“The Terms of Use on our RSS feeds makes it clear that the RSS feeds are available for non-commercial use only. By charging for an app ($3.99) that gives users access to our RSS feeds, they are violating that provision of the Terms of Use. Furthermore, when a user clicks on a story in the News Pulse Reader, it takes them to the nytimes.com site, which is framed within the News Pulse Reader app browser, as opposed to taking them directly to our site. (Since our RSS is not full text, once a user of any of our RSS feeds views the RSS headline/summary of any of our articles, a user can click a button in the app labeled ‘Web’ & this opens our web site up but keeps the user within the App.) This is a violation of the nytimes.com Terms of Use. Finally, they are using the Times name/content to promote their app, particularly because the Times RSS feed comes preloaded on the App and we are featured in their demonstration video: http://www.alphonsolabs.com/video.”

“We want to be clear that we are willing to work with Pulse, but only under our Terms of Use.”

I asked again if this has implications beyond Pulse—it’s hard to see how it couldn’t—and will update with any response.

Akshay Kothari, one of the two Stanford students who developed Pulse, told Kara they would be removing the NYTfrom Pulse, which got a rave review from the NYT’s own Brad Stone last week.

———————————————

Letter to the Apple AppStore from NYTCo Senior Counsel Richard Samson

Hello-

I am writing again, on behalf of The Boston Globe, Boston.com and The New York Times Company, about the infringing iPad app, “Pulse News Reader” produced by Alphonso Labs Inc. (please see pertinent details, link and screenshots below).

The infringing app is available on the iTunes store here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pulse-news-reader/id371088673?mt=8

The Pulse News Reader app, makes commercial use of the NYTimes.com and Boston.com RSS feeds, in violation of their Terms of Use*. Thus, the use of our content is unlicensed. The app also frames the NYTimes.com and Boston.com websites in violation of their respective Terms of Use.

I note that the app is delivered with the NYTimes.com RSS feed preloaded, which is prominently featured in the screen shots used to sell the app on iTunes.

I hereby declare, under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in this notification is accurate to the best of our knowledge and that I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyrights and trademarks of The Boston Globe, Boston.com and The New York Times Company. We hereby demand that you immediately and permanently remove this app from the iTunes site.

Please let me know if you need any further information or have any questions. I can be reached directly at this Email or at the phone number below.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Richard Samson

Richard Samson
Senior Counsel
The New York Times Company
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, New York 10018

* NYTimes.com Terms of Service, paragraph 2.2:  “The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to U.S. and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of these Terms of Service), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.”
* Boston.com Terms of Service, paragraph 2.2: “The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to U.S.and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of this Agreement), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.”

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Did Apple’s iPhone 4 Just Kill the Flip?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs just announced the highly anticipated fourth-generation iPhone at WWDC, and the device is bound to make some people at Cisco pretty nervous: The iPhone 4 features 720p HD video recording at 30fps, an LED flash that doubles as a spotlight source for video recording and the ability to edit any video footage right on the device.

Video editing on the iPhone is enabled through a custom version of iMovie, which can be bought in the App Store for $4.99. The development of iMovie for the iPhone was led by Randy Ubillos, whose previous credits include the design and development of Adobe Premier and Final Cut Pro. The software features a number of themes and transitions and makes it possible to export video in 360p, 540p and 720p, all of which can be shared immediately via Wi-Fi or 3G networks.

Compare that to the latest Flip camera from Cisco, and it becomes clear why everyone’s favorite HD point-and-shoot camcorder could be in deep trouble: The Flip SlideHD was supposed to be the next big step for Flip, as it transitioned to a touchscreen-based interface, but it already looked outdated when it made its debut earlier this year, missing multitouch and other UI essentials to which that smartphone users are already accustomed.

Also notably absent was any kind of network connectivity. Cisco promised to bring networking to the camera when it acquired Flip maker Pure Digital for $590 million in March of 2009, but to date, Flip users still have to rely on the built-in USB port, and their desktop PCs, to share and upload videos.

Smartphone users, on the other hand, are increasingly getting used to immediately sharing their footage via their devices’ cellular network connections. iMove for iPhone just gave iPhone users another reason to skip the desktop, making it possible to do some basic editing before they upload clips to YouTube or Facebook.

Then there’s the iPhone 4 hardware. The device features a 3.5-inch screen with a resolution of 960×640 pixels that uses the same type of IPS technology as the iPad to support video-friendly viewing angles and a great contrast ratio. It also has a back-light illumination sensor that should help to capture situations with low and changing light conditions. It’s unclear at this point how much of an impact the integrated LED flash will really have on video recording, but it should help to persuade customers dissatisfied with their current camcorder’s performance under such conditions.

Speaking of customers, one of Flip’s big selling points has always been its low price point; a dead-simple HD camcorder for less than $200 is hard to beat. However, the new Flip SlideHD costs around $280 for 16GB of memory. Apple announced today that the iPhone 4 will start selling at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB.

Expect Cisco to slash Flip prices any day now. However, one has to wonder whether that’s too little, too late to save the device.

Related content on GigaOM Pro: The Nano & Flip: Join the Conversation (subscription required)


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June 7, 2010 6:37 PM - Sign in to comment - Link
Steve Jobs Survives Gizmodo, But Not MiFi

Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes tremendous pride in his public performances, and it pays off. His product presentations are usually seamless and even hypnotic. Even today at WWDC, when faced with a crowd that already knew much of what he was going to say before he said it thanks to Gizmodo, which got ahold of an iPhone 4 prototype that was left in a bar, Jobs was able to highlight still-secret features like a high-resolution screen in a way that left his trademark effect of a crowd desperately desiring his new product.

But one glitch almost took Jobs down. He couldn’t connect his live iPhone demo to the network using Wi-Fi because there were so many Wi-Fi networks in the room. Jobs blamed his audience, saying his tech team detected 570 separate Wi-Fi base stations. Those include MiFi cards and Sprint’s new EVO 4G phone, which can create shareable Wi-Fi hotspots based on mobile Internet. There wasn’t a Plan B, it seemed, so Jobs resorted to telling people to put their laptops down on the floor and police each other. Apple employees started circulating through the audience asking anyone who was using a computer to turn off the Wi-Fi and stop using their machines.

The real problem, it seemed, wasn’t attendees connecting to the open Wi-Fi network, but bringing their own networks as backup — something that has become a necessity, especially for bloggers and reporters, as the Wi-Fi at conferences including Apple’s is almost always slow, crappy or nonexistent. (I’ll admit I had both a MiFi and an EVO 4G on me, though the latter was being saved for backup.)

“I think bloggers have a right to blog, but if you want to see the demos, we’re not going to be able to do it,” said Jobs from the stage.

The thing is, access problems from mobile devices are a point of weakness for Apple. AT&T, the iPhone’s network of choice, has notoriously bad U.S. 3G coverage, and probably 95 percent of people in the room had iPhones. As soon as Jobs started having network problems, the crowd (that had given him a standing ovation just for coming on stage) seemed to feel the thrill of poetic justice.

When Jobs ran into error messages and slow-loading pages from his demo phone, he called out “Scott,” to Scott Forstall, the company’s senior VP of iOS Software, “you got any suggestions?” Multiple audience members shouted back in response “Verizon!” — referring to the network that often has more reliable coverage, especially here in San Francisco. Jobs took the bait, breaking the fourth wall to reply, “We’re actually on Wi-Fi here.”

Jobs didn’t let the subject go, either, even after the presentation got back on track, taking every opportunity to complain about the Wi-Fi. It wasn’t clear exactly what the actual Wi-Fi issue was, but it seemed that his demo iPhone may have had trouble staying connected to the Wi-Fi network it was supposed to be attached to given there were so many other options around. (If anyone can better diagnose the problem let me know.)

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Metered Mobile Data Is Coming and Here’s How

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June 7, 2010 6:20 PM - Sign in to comment - Link
Coda Notes

My favorite demo from the Safari State of the Union. Fun and clever.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes tremendous pride in his public performances, and it pays off. His product presentations are usually seamless and even hypnotic. Even today at WWDC, when faced with a crowd that already knew much of what he was going to say before he said it thanks to Gizmodo, which got ahold of an iPhone 4 prototype that was left in a bar, Jobs was able to highlight still-secret features like a high-resolution screen in a way that left his trademark effect of a crowd desperately desiring his new product.

But one glitch almost took Jobs down. He couldn’t connect his live iPhone demo to the network using Wi-Fi because there were so many Wi-Fi networks in the room. Jobs blamed his audience, saying his tech team detected 570 separate Wi-Fi base stations. Those include MiFi cards and Sprint’s new EVO 4G phone, which can create shareable Wi-Fi hotspots based on mobile Internet. There wasn’t a Plan B, it seemed, so Jobs resorted to telling people to put their laptops down on the floor and police each other. Apple employees started circulating through the audience asking anyone who was using a computer to turn off the Wi-Fi and stop using their machines.

The real problem, it seemed, wasn’t attendees connecting to the open Wi-Fi network, but bringing their own networks as backup — something that has become a necessity, especially for bloggers and reporters, as the Wi-Fi at conferences including Apple’s is almost always slow, crappy or nonexistent. (I’ll admit I had both a MiFi and an EVO 4G on me, though the latter was being saved for backup.)

“I think bloggers have a right to blog, but if you want to see the demos, we’re not going to be able to do it,” said Jobs from the stage.

The thing is, access problems from mobile devices are a point of weakness for Apple. AT&T, the iPhone’s network of choice, has notoriously bad U.S. 3G coverage, and probably 95 percent of people in the room had iPhones. As soon as Jobs started having network problems, the crowd (that had given him a standing ovation just for coming on stage) seemed to feel the thrill of poetic justice.

When Jobs ran into error messages and slow-loading pages from his demo phone, he called out “Scott,” to Scott Forstall, the company’s senior VP of iOS Software, “you got any suggestions?” Multiple audience members shouted back in response “Verizon!” — referring to the network that often has more reliable coverage, especially here in San Francisco. Jobs took the bait, breaking the fourth wall to reply, “We’re actually on Wi-Fi here.”

Jobs didn’t let the subject go, either, even after the presentation got back on track, taking every opportunity to complain about the Wi-Fi. It wasn’t clear exactly what the actual Wi-Fi issue was, but it seemed that his demo iPhone may have had trouble staying connected to the Wi-Fi network it was supposed to be attached to given there were so many other options around. (If anyone can better diagnose the problem let me know.)

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Metered Mobile Data Is Coming and Here’s How


Alcatel-Lucent NextGen Communications Spotlight — Learn More »

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infographic_150.jpgThis morning at Moscone Center in San Francisco, Apple is expected to introduce its newest member of the iPhone family as Steve Jobs is set to deliver another carefully crafted keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). As per usual, the highly-anticipated event has sent the rumor mills spinning as Apple has remained tight-lipped about what to expect from today's announcement (with the exception of a leak or two). So just what should we expect from Apple today at WWDC? For starters, here's an infographic breaking down previous iPhone events that should give you a picture of what's to come.

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A New iPhone, Right On Schedule

iPhoneInfographic-final.jpg

The majority of evidence uncovered so far has lead most to believe that a new iPhone is undoubtedly landing today at WWDC. That last two iPhones were announced in early June and each time saw doubled storage capacity at identical $199 and $299 price points. This year's model will likely follow this trend, reaching as high as 64 GB of storage for the larger iPhone sibling. Additionally, 2009's keynote saw the 2008 model drop in price to $99, and many expect a similar price cut this year for the 3GS.

How soon will we see the new iPhone? It could be as soon as today, some have guessed. Last year's phone was available less than two weeks after its announcement, and the 3G iPhone launched just 2 days after Jobs' keynote that year. Due to leaked images of what is likely to be the next iPhone, Apple may be attempting to shuffle this next device out the door quickly, but we can't be sure. Other evidence pointing to a quick release is AT&T's new data and insurance plans which will launch today.

In the past, an updated OS has also been made available roughly around the same time as the new phone, so expect OS 4.0 to be available soon, if not right away. With the OS update comes much-awaited multi-tasking functionality, as well as many small changes to upgrade the user experience. Keeping with history, Apple will also still likely charge iPod Touch users $10 to upgrade their OS.

Rumors and Speculation

tom_coates_crowd.jpgApple also has a history of making secondary announcements when introducing a new iPhone. In the past years, these products and services has included Apple TV, MobileME and Snow Leopard - so what will the other topic of discussion be today? Some have suggested an updated Apple TV to counter Google TV could make an appearance, or perhaps the next version of Safari could be previewed.

Mostly likely among "one more thing" announcements is a Bluetooth enabled multi-touch trackpad for use with desktop Macs. Late last night, Engadget editor Josh Topolsky posted what look like pretty solid pictures of what Apple could be calling the "Magic Trackpad," if recent patent filings are any hint. The device could make the entire Apple line touch-friendly, which is a logical next step.

The leaked photographs also suggested that the latest iPhone will feature a forward-facing camera, perhaps for mobile video chat. Will we see a Skype executive up on stage with Steve walking the audience through video chat capabilities, or will this new feature be limited to an in-house iChat app placed on the phone? What could a forward-facing camera do for other fields of technology, like augmented reality? Today's keynote may answer some of these questions.

The other long-debated announcement we could see today is the iPhone's departure from AT&T exclusivity - specifically to Verizon's stronger network. Rumors of a "Verizon iPhone" have existed ever since AT&T customers began complaining about their service, but they've reached a fever pitch approaching today's event. But why stop at Verizon? Though less likely, some have suggested that Jobs could announce partnerships with several leading carriers today.

Stay Tuned!

We will be following the announcement closely this morning, so make sure to stick around for breaking news and analysis from WWDC as it happens.

Photo by Tom Coates on Flickr.

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June 7, 2010 12:41 PM - Sign in to comment - Link
Apple Has Paid $1 Billion To App Developers. (And Other Key Stats)

Today at the WWDC event in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage for his keynote address. During it, he gave some key stats about three key pillars of Apple’s recent strategy: the iPad, the App Store, and the new iBooks store.

First, the key iPad stats:

  • There have been 2 million iPads sold in 59 days.
  • That’s 1 iPad sold every 3 seconds
  • It’s in 10 countries now (9 new ones) — and 19 by the end of July
  • There are over 8,500 native iPad apps
  • These apps have been downloaded over 35 million times
  • That’s about 17 apps per iPad

Next some iBooks stats:

  • There are over 5 million book downloads in the first 65 days of the iBooks store
  • That means each iPad has about 2.5 iBooks on them
  • Apple has 5 of the top 6 book U.S. publishers and they say that Apple has taken about 22% of the U.S. eBooks market

App Store:

  • There are over 225,000 apps in the App Store now.
  • 15,000 apps submitted every week (both new and updates) across 30 languages
  • 95% of all apps are approved in 7 days

Jobs also used the stage early on at WWDC to take his first shot at Google. He notes that the developer of Elements for the iPad recently emailed him to let him know that he earned more money in the first day of sales for the iPad than he did in 5 years from Google ads on his periodictable.com site.

Jobs also highlighted something that Apple has begun pushing recently thanks largely to its war with Adobe: HTML5. “We support two platforms at Apple,” Jobs said — HTML5 and the App Store. “Apple’s browsers are in the lead in supporting the HTML5 standard,” Jobs noted.


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Bing Comes to the iPhone - But Google Remains the Default

bing_logo_may09.pngDuring his WWDC keynote today, Steve Jobs just announced that Microsoft's Bing will now be one of the search option in Safari on the iPhone. Microsoft already developed a Bing iPhone application that allows iPhone users to use the search engine's features on the iPhone without having to create a browser bookmark. Now, Bing will take its place next to Google - which will remain the default - and Yahoo Search.

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tagEarly rumors indicated that Bing would actually replace Google as the default search engine on the iPhone, but Kara Swisher quickly crushed these rumors two weeks ago and correctly predicted that Apple would just make Bing another search option on the iPhone.

While it remains to be seen how many users will actually switch their default search engine, this could potentially be a major win for Bing. Bing's market share on the desktop continues to increase slowly but surely (though it saw some minor dips in its popularity recently), but even though Microsoft already offers a mobile version of Bing, it doesn't look like the company has made any major headway in getting market share in the mobile search market recently. Today's announcement is likely to change this, though we will have to wait and see what the actual numbers will look like once Apple releases the next version of the iPhone OS.

Image credit: gdgt

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Bing Comes to the iPhone - But Google Remains the Default

- Sarah Perez
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While we wait for WWDC 2010 to open for business in just over three hours, spare a thought for former Apple CEO, John Sculley, who tells The Daily Beast all about how much he regrets firing Steve Jobs.

Sculley still thinks their partnership could have worked -- if Jobs had been the CEO, rather than the other way round.

The report also includes comments from other members of the Apple board in 1985, who discuss Steve jobs as he was then and as he is now. And we find out where they are today.

This was the board which fired Jobs in 1985 -- he left to form NeXT, and came back to save the company he founded a dozen years later.

“I haven’t spoken to Steve in 20-odd years,” Sculley tells The Daily Beast. “Even though he still doesn’t speak to me, and I expect he never will, I have tremendous admiration for him.”

Sculley does say that he feels Apple’s board of the time should perhaps have understood Jobs’ need to head the company. With the perfect vision of hindsight he tells the Daily Beast of his wish that Jobs had been bought back to the company when Sculley lost the top job.

Sculley famously clashed with Jobs, partially because the latter came across a little undisciplined, according to another ex-Apple board member from the time, Peter O. Crisp, who notes when Jobs and his Apple crew put Apple logo stickers all over the mirrors in David Rockefeller’s bathroom.

Crisp, who left Apple’s board in 1996, won’t discuss the ouster of Jobs from Apple, but does say, “Steve came back and really took the company in the directions that it’s gone in recent years with much skill.”

For the future? Sculley anticipates Apple under Jobs will continue to grow -- way past Microsoft, observing that the same ideas Jobs had when leading the Macintosh team in the ‘80’s “are the same principles,” Jobs pushes for today.


"bless me father for I have sinned it's 25 years since my last confession" John

- Thomas Power
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Steve Jobs & Co. have come a long way. In Jobs’ own words at D8 last week: “[Apple] was 90 days from going bankrupt” when he took over [again]. Today, Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world. Everything has gone according to Jobs’ plan to this point, but we have to wonder, are there any more peaks beyond tomorrow’s summit at Apple’s WWDC? Apple isn’t going down anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that they might not hit a plateau for awhile followed by a decline.

Starts & ends with the iPhone

First of all, let’s start with the iPhone, which while still Apple’s greatest strength, also brings with it the biggest bullseye. At this point, there won’t be very many surprises this week about the iPhone – we’ve all seen the pictures. Couple this relative lack of surprise/awe with AT&T’s announcement this week that they will discontinue to offer unlimited plans to new subscribers starting tomorrow, and a lot of shine has already been taken off of the next generation iPhone.

The phone has good specs, it stillhas all those apps, tethering is finally coming, and Apple continues to push new ideas into the platform such as iAd and a patent for auto-geolocation. That said, we still wonder if the combination of being bound to AT&T and the rise of cheap and comparable Android phones isn’t going to at least slow the purchasing of fourth generation iPhones? Any perception of lackluster (or even average) iPhone sales (Apple has apparently ordered 24 million units) will certainly hurt Apple stocks, and could be enough to convince already teetering app developers to concentrate on Android instead (or at least first).

Fortifying the castle with iPads

Ok, so you think the iPhone is somewhat old news right? 2 million iPads in less than two months you say? Well, this one is harder to argue against, and in fact, we suspect that the iPad will keep Apple buoyed even if iPhone sales trail off a bit, especially around the holidays. Really the only thing that will slow down iPad sales in 2010 in our minds is if Apple has supply problems, which at the rate the tablets are selling wouldn’t be too surprising. However, there are other tablet computers (again, Android powered) that will hit the market this year, and perhaps by sometime next year they will catch up to the iPad – perhaps. In the meantime, expect a lot of bragging this week at the WWDC around the iPad.

Multiple trick pony

Apple is more than a two-trick pony you’ll say. Yes, they are. They have iTunes which is a tremendous money maker. They have MacBooks which do ok. They have the App Store and all those paid apps which they take a cut of, will run iAds on and as John Battelle has predicted will probably make a specialized search engine for. Though they fell behind Google at Google I/O in the “company name + TV” race, Apple is expected to launch a revitalized Apple TV this week. They’re also getting heavier into ebooks, and the iPod Touch – though its being cannabilized by the iPad – is a great little cheap phone alternative and media player. Oh yeah, and they have about a gazillion iPods out there too.

Put all of this together and Apple has reached the top of the technology mountain range and will most likely stay king of the hill for awhile. But it does have…

Enemies on all sides

Everyone seems to be against Apple. Google, HTC and Adobe certainly are. Apple may be putting Bing into Safari, but Microsoft is still fiercely (tries) to compete against Apple. Facebook and Yahoo! don’t go up against Apple too much, but they’re really not in the same game anyway. People that want “open” are against Apple (as they are with all proprietary systems). Content producers play along because, well, they have to – Jobs holds all the keys.

So the question is, how thick are the walls that Apple has built around their garden? Can they keep out all invaders from all sides indefinitely while their coffers (and their shareholders portfolios) continue to swell? Or will one well-aimed arrow – say a super HTC Android tablet that connects freely to well, everything – pierce the world’s most valuable technology company?

If they’re going to take a shot, Apple’s competitors will need to aim really high – a fortified castle on the top of a mountain of success is hard to take down.

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June 7, 2010 1:44 AM - Sign in to comment - Link
Apple's Magic Trackpad revealed?
Of all the surprises we expected to hear about in the WWDC keynote, a multitouch trackpad peripheral didn't exactly pop into our brains. But -- whoomp -- here it is. What we appear to be looking at is a brand new input device that Apple has dreamed up which connects to desktops (and laptops, if you like) via Bluetooth, much like the Apple Keyboard. If you take what you see in the photos at face value, it would seem that the folks in Cupertino are making a play for finger-based input in a big way -- taking the work they've done on Mac laptops and the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and translating it to the desktop realm. This weirdly lines up perfectly with rumors from earlier in the year, emanating from both John Gruber (of Daring Fireball fame), and MacRumors -- the former reporting that Apple was set to release a "Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs," and the latter taking notice of an Apple trademark application for the "Magic Trackpad." It certainly all makes sense given that the company has made not-so-subtle moves away from standard input devices to finger-friendly options in many, many of its recent products. Whatever the case may be, we're potentially just hours away from the truth, so feast your eyes on the photos, and get ready for the big reveal.

Update: New images received with a claim that the device supports handwriting recognition in addition to "every feature you can find on a Magic Mouse (and possibly features of a MacBook Pro trackpad)." This, from a person who claims to be personally testing it. Something we hope to do for ourselves before the day is through.

Update 2: Reader Dan Berte made a quick little cardboard mockup using his Apple keyboard and Magic Mouse for relative sizing and he's estimating the tracking area to be around six inches diagonal. Makes sense -- check his handiwork after the break.

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Apple's Magic Trackpad revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RT @blam: RT Oh boy. Apple's Magic Trackpad? http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/apples-magic-trackpad-revealed/ (via @joshuatopolsky)

- Marshall Kirkpatrick

Apple's Magic Trackpad revealed?

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June 6, 2010 6:46 PM - Sign in to comment - Link
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