Category: iPhone

A testament to the rapid growth of Google Android as well as HTC’s booming popularity, Sprint has sold out of the HTC Evo 4G. The screen grab above is from Sprint’s web store and notes, “Sorry, this device is so hot we can’t keep it on our virtual shelves.” This is good news for the Android platform and great news for Sprint, which has been losing customers like crazy for several quarters.

The initial stock of Evo 4G phones has been estimated by various sources to be somewhere between 200,000 to 300,000. While this makes the Evo 4G Sprint’s most successful smartphone ever, the number will surely be trounced by the iPhone 4’s debut. Looking at it from a phone-to-phone basis makes it seem like the handsets aren’t even competing in the same league. However, when you look at it from Google’s and HTC’s perspectives, that’s two Android phones in a row that have sold out. I have no doubt that the iPhone 4 will outsell any single Android handset, but in terms of increasing its installed base, Google is doing well with products like the HTC Incredible for Verizon and the HTC Evo 4G for Sprint.

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A lot of you are already under Steve Jobs’ spell, lusting for the iPhone 4. One of the most curious features of the new phone is its gyroscope. His royal Steveness said:

We’re adding a three axis gyroscope and we tied the accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It’s perfect for gaming.

I know a lot of you aren’t cool with motion-control gaming, but is the iPhone 4 different? Maybe Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field has you seeing motion possibilities on the iPhone 4 that you don’t see on traditional gaming systems. Let me know if you care about the iPhone 4’s gyroscope. I’m curious to hear your opinions!

Steve Jobs officially unveiled the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010. Are you going to buy one? Take the poll and expand on your choice in the comments section (please)! [Photo courtesy of Gdgt.]

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It’s time for another thrilling Apple World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote by his royal worshipfulness Steve Jobs! The new iPhone is expected to debut today, but there are lots of other interesting goodies rumored to appear too — free MobileMe, iTunes OTA service, MacMini update, MacBook Air Update, Safari 5, and more. Let’s see how it goes down! (Keep refreshing for updates.)

– Steve is doing the “I was right!!!” routine on the iPad. Well…he was right. He shows a funny email from a fanboy saying that the iPad got a girl at a cafe interested in him, hence it really was magic. Jobs playfully cites that as proof that the iPad is magical. Ha! [Photo above courtesy of Engadget.]

– Steve takes his first shot at Google. It’s a small jab. He shows an email from a Wolfram Alpha engineer saying that he made more money with The Elements for iPad in one day than he did with Google ads for five years.

– iBooks are being shown off…*snore* Jobs says he loves HTML5 and the App Store. Going with HTML5 lets developers create for Apple using an open platform. Going with the App Store offers the “curated” experience.

– “We reject apps the crash.” Is that a knock on Google’s Android Market? Sure it is!!! [Photo courtesy of Ars Technica.]

– Netflix for iPhone is coming this summer. First interesting announcement of the day!

– Farmville for iPhone! This is potentially huge!!! [Photo courtesy of Engadget.]

– Next it’s Guitar Hero for iPhone. Eh, it’s okay. Portable Rock Star/Guitar Hero games can be fun, but it’s really all about the peripherals. Unless Activision makes a Steinberger controller for iPhone, I don’t think it will ever be that interesting.

– Last week Apple hit five-billion downloads from the App Store. That’s hugely impressive.

– It’s history of iPhone time. *yawn* But then he unveils the iPhone 4!!! “You gotta see this in person. This is beyond the doubt, the most precise thing, and one of the most beautiful we’ve ever made. Glass on the front and back, and steel around the sides. It’s like a beautiful old Leica camera.” [Photo courtesy of Engadget.]

– The phone has a noise cancelling mic. I don’t recall hearing that one before. Otherwise it’s pretty much everything that has been leaked. Btw, Gizmodo was not allowed into the WWDC keynote. *snicker*

– The metal bound around the iPhone 4 also serves as an antenna. That’s very clever. I wonder if it will make AT&T suck less.

– iPhone 4 uses Retina Display, allowing for four times the pixel density. It’s going to be pretty…though I believe the screen is still physically small.

– They are experiencing technical difficulties. See, it doesn’t just happen to Google and Microsoft. Methinks Steve is going to kill someone seconds after he leaves the stage.

– As rumored, the iPhone 4 uses Apple’s A4 chip, or really system on a a chip. It also powers the iPad. It’s a very impressive piece of tech.

– Battery life is also improved by up to 40 percent for some tasks.

– Look kids, it’s the iPhone Move! Ha, just kidding. The iPhone 4 does have a gyroscope though. “We’re adding a three axis gyroscope and we tied the accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It’s perfect for gaming.” Jobs is playing a Jenga-like came to show off his motion of the ocean.

– “And since this demo does not require the network, I should be okay!” Yeah, Steve’s going to kill the people in charge of Internet at the Moscone Center…and probably a few Apple flacks.

– The new camera has been bumped to five megapixels with better image quality, better low-light performance, and HD video. Tap-to-focus works in video mode now.

– iMovie for iPhone for on-the-go video editing!

– Improved mail, folders, multitasking, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, it’s called iOS 4 now, btw.

– Bing is now one of the search options, along with Google and Yahoo!

– The enterprise features have been improved, but I’m sure IT managers will want to stick with BlackBerry for security.

– iBooks are hitting the iPhone 4.

– I really want to make my morning coffee, but I’m afraid I’ll miss something cool. Hmph.

– Steve is going over iAds, which will help developers and Apple earn money. I’m sure you’re all thrilled by this.

– The “one more thing” is…video calls. Steve is calling Jon Ive. You should all mark out now at the sheer greatness involved in this video call. The software is called FaceTime and will be WiFi only in 2010. Steve said, “We need to work a little bit with the carriers,” which probably means that it will work on a Verizon iPhone in 2011 (half joking).

– $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model. The colors are black and white. If your AT&T contract expires at any point in 2010, you’re eligible for upgrade pricing. iPhone 4 goes on sale on June 24. Pre-orders start on June 15.

– iOS4 uprade available June 21.

Steve Jobs’ keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is a little over 12 hours away, but if you can’t wait for the official unveiling of the iPhone HD, here are some “leaked” photographs (that may or may not be real). Pursuitist claims that the photos are from Chiat Day, Apple’s advertising agency. The branding on the mock-ups shows Rogers, a Canadian mobile provider. The site also shows the iPhone HD in some curious colors in addition to black and white.

What do you think? Real or fake?!?

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Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off on Monday and the Internet is ablaze with speculation on what’s up the company’s sleeves. The announcement of the new iPhone is expected, but there are lots of other interesting rumors floating around. Some are thinking that Apple will finally announce other carriers for the iPhone, others are pointing to evidence of new Mac Minis, and some have guessed that MobileMe will become a free service. Personally, I’m hoping for a MacBook Air refresh (even though I can’t possibly afford one at the moment).

It’s going to be a big show (not Paul Wight) and Steve Jobs’ keynote will surely rock, but what do you think will go down at WWDC 2010? I want to hear your speculation and wishes. Let your comments fly (please)!

AT&T has announced new data plans for all of its smartphones and the Apple iPad. The $15 DataPlus plan includes 200MB of data, while the $25 DataPro plan includes 2GB. Additional data for the latter plan will be metered at a cost of $10 per GB. Tethering is also available for a $20 fee and requires the DataPro plan. Customers that are currently enjoying the $29.99 unlimited data plan on the iPad will be able to keep that rate.

While AT&T claims that 98 percent of its customers use 2GB of data per month or less, this practice will clearly make the company a lot of money. Content is getting more complex — look at Wired’s excellent iPad magazine or Netflix, for example. Richer content demands more data. Pricing schemes like this discourage users from using data-heavy entertainment. It also makes content creators worry more about file size than making something cool.

It’s no secret that the iPhone has led to a ton of network congestion and performance issues for AT&T. It has also made the company a ton of money. While AT&T claims that it is aggressively improving its network infrastructure, it seems that it’s being more aggressive with milking its customers.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs is currently speaking at the D8 conference hosted by All Things Digital. Esteemed writers Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg are moderating. I’ll pull some choice quotes from you, courtesy of Engadget’s excellent live blog. Keep refreshing for updates (if you wish)!

On why he wrote that lengthy diatribe about Adobe Flash:

We aren’t going to make an effort to put this on our platform. We told Adobe to show us something better, and they never did. It wasn’t until we shipped the iPad that Adobe started to raise a stink about it. We were trying to have a fight, we just decided to not use one of their products. They made a big deal of it — that’s why I wrote that letter. I said enough is enough, we’re tired of these guys trashing us.

On the stolen iPhone HD prototype that ended up with Gizmodo:

The person who took the phone plugged it into his roommates computer. And this guy was trying to destroy evidence… and his roommate called the police. So this is a story that’s amazing — it’s got theft, it’s got buying stolen property, it’s got extortion, I’m sure there’s some sex in there (huge laughs)… the whole thing is very colorful. The DA is looking into it, and to my knowledge they have someone making sure they only see stuff that relates to this case. I don’t know how it will end up.

On Google suddenly becoming a competitor:

Well they decided to compete with us. We didn’t go into the search business!

On the iPhone giving more choice to consumers and taking away software control from carriers:

When you bought a phone the carrier dictated what you had on the phone. iPhone was the first phone where we said, “You worry about the network. We’ll worry about the phone.”

We found a way to sell the phone that we want to sell. We didn’t think we could do it, but we did. We’d never been in this business, and AT&T took a big leap on us, and it’s worked out really well. And we really changed the rules of the game.

On the App Store approval process:

We have a few rules: has to do what it’s advertised to do, it has to not crash, it can’t use private APIs. And those are the three biggest reasons we reject apps. But we approve 95 percent of all the apps that are submitted every week.

[I’m still wondering why Google Voice got rejected….]

It’s audience Q&A time and the questions have been boring so far. I’m going to watch NXT and check in again later.

Answering a question on gaming:

Clearly iPhone plus iPod Touch have created a new class of gaming. It’s a subset of casual gaming, but it’s surprising how good some of them are. They’re almost as good as console gaming in terms of graphics. Console games the software is $30 or $40 a game. It’s cheaper on iPhone, so the market has exploded.

[Wow, Jobs has no idea what the hell he’s talking about when it comes to games.]

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