iphone

How developers — and Apple — will make money on iPhone software

Jordan Golson · 10/17/07 11:34AM

After months of enduring whines from programmers, Apple has announced a software development kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Scheduled for release in February, the kit — a set of code libraries and specifications — will let them write programs that run on the iPhone instead of limiting them to Web-based applications. Apple is looking to provide an "advanced and open platform" while at the same time protecting users from malware and viruses and the like. Our guess at what's really going on here? Apple is building an iTunes-based platform to securely deliver apps to users. From movies to music to software, Apple is plotting a way to keep itself in the middle of any money-making transaction on its hardware.

800 Apple employees canned for cashing in iPhone rebate?

Jordan Golson · 10/17/07 10:44AM

When the iPhone was introduced, Apple gave one to every employee. After the price drop, Apple gave early adopters a $100 store credit. It was noted in a few articles that Apple employees would not get any rebate on their free phones. As many as 800 retail employees succeeded in cashing in their credits anyway — and reportedly got fired. No surprise. Why Jobs's smoothly tuned retail machine didn't prevent the rebates from being issued is the mystery here. We call for an SEC investigation! (Photo by Daniel Shaw-Cosman)

Nicholas Carlson · 10/17/07 10:11AM

Wracked with iPhone envy, Sprint is putting out its own touchscreen phone in time for the holidays. (Bitches just jealous.) Which is great for them, but what I really want to know is: Is Sprint's version safe to rub on your crotch? [AP]

Nicholas Carlson · 10/16/07 03:45PM

Apple wants you to know that the iPhone is 100 percent crotchsafe, despite Greenpeace allegations to the contrary. "Like all Apple products worldwide, iPhone complies with RoHS [Restriction of Hazardous Substances], the world's toughest restrictions on toxic substances in electronics," an Apple spokesperson told Macworld. But already, Greenpeace has responded saying that, whether Apple complies with regulations or not, it should still disclose its toxic materials, just like rivals Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson already do.

Steve Jobs and his girlfriend have made up

Jordan Golson · 10/16/07 12:09PM

Steve Jobs has kissed and made up with his French girlfriend. Orange is the official iPhone cell provider in France. Why the delay in signing up Orange? The socialist French have an unlocking requirement for cell phones. Six months after you buy a phone, your provider must unlock it for you. A number of observers opined that this may a sticking point for Apple, but we don't see that there's anything they can do about it if they want to operate in France. Likely, the delay was in negotiating Apple's percentage of subscription revenues. No word on what the final price was.(Photo by mukluk)

Keep your iPhone away from your crotch

Nicholas Carlson · 10/16/07 11:20AM

After testing the iPhone in U.K. laboratories, Greenpeace researchers said they found it contains toxic brominated compounds, indicating the prescence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and hazardous PVC. Sounds unpleasant. Greenpeace published a full report here. In reaction to the news, The U.S. National Center for Environmental Health said it will file suit against Apple for breaking a Californian law which requires products containing certain chemicals to carry a warning label, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The takeaway? However much you love your iPhone, please, for the love of Jobs, do not pry open the case and rub its innards up and down your crotch. It's tempting, we realize. But don't.

Tim Faulkner · 10/11/07 02:37PM

It will hardly appease developers and hackers eager to exploit the iPhone. But Apple has released a directory of the some of the best Web-based applications designed for use on the iPhone. In other words, it's just a list of links. But iPhone owners will take it and like it! [Apple]

Dad! Why can't I unlock my iPhone?

Jordan Golson · 10/09/07 01:21PM

A clinical psychologist has looked at the recent brouhaha between iPhone owners, Apple, and AT&T and come up with a theory. Steve Jobs is the overbearing, tyrant father who knows what's best. Dad dictates exactly what you can and can't do with "your" phone. AT&T is the stepmother, newly married into the family. Some kids are happy with the arrangement and perfectly willing to live by the rules. Others are rebellious, defying the parents and doing what they want without regard for the consequences.

Forget the Googlephone. How about a free iPhone?

Owen Thomas · 10/08/07 06:32PM

I've said it for months: There is no Googlephone. At last, the "industry analysts" so often consulted by reporters at newspapers have come around to sharing my point of view, according to a story in the New York Times. Google is, indeed, working on cell-phone software, including an operating system. But all this software, I believe, is a sideshow. Before you get all excited about the prospects of a Google phone OS, remember: Google is all about advertising. Always has been, always will be.

Apple's new iPhone ads befuddle the nerds

Jordan Golson · 10/08/07 02:42PM

Why is Apple's advertising so successful? Because, one could argue, it doesn't let its engineers design its advertising. Apple is running new iPhone ads which apparently puzzle nerdly sorts like TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington. The ads feature "regular people" talking about how their lives have been improved by the iPhone. Of the three ads, the phone itself makes just one two-second appearance, when a businessman touts its "visual voicemail" feature. The rest of the time, it's just some guy telling a story about how the iPhone makes his life better. Arrington doesn't like the ads, asking "where's the phone?" Michael, don't quit your day job. These ads are brilliant. After the jump, an analysis of why — and a clip so you can judge for yourself.

Jordan Golson · 10/04/07 06:08PM

Research In Motion beat Wall Street analysts' expectations, reporting a profit of $287.7 million in the second quarter as revenue rose 108 percent. RIM shipped more than 3 million BlackBerry smartphones. Guess the iPhone release didn't slow them down at all. [Canadian Press]

A Kegger In Williamsburg

Choire · 10/02/07 02:40PM

There are parties in New York not run by publicists, parties that don't promote perfumes. Tracie Egan (the artist formerly known as "Slut Machine") and Nikola Tamindzic went out in the field this weekend to a real party: A raging kegger in South Williamsburg. There, they discovered oddly-shaped hickeys, uptight douchebags and a lack of alcohol. And we learned a lot about the way we live now. Or did we?

abalk · 10/02/07 08:40AM

Are iPhone owners like a battered wife who thinks that her husband knocks her around for her own good? "Apple users are still blinded sheep. The common teen or geek wannabe will still yearn for the iPhone. Besides, I'd venture that the overwhelming majority of iPhone users DIDN'T tinker with their phone and therefore won't be affected by the bricking issue. And, after shelling out $400 for a phone, they're psychologically locked into defending the product." [AdAge]

Why is Steve Jobs cheerleading Yahoo?

Owen Thomas · 10/01/07 04:25PM

When all else fails, bring in a motivational speaker. For last Friday's management meeting, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker went all out, bringing in Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Glossed over in Kara Swisher's otherwise excellent report was the question: Why would Jobs rally the troops at Yahoo? Swisher treats it as an obvious choice, likening Jobs to Oprah Winfrey. But I think there's more to it than that.

iPhone update is just another brick in the wall

Owen Thomas · 09/28/07 03:55PM

Apple fanboys, apparently, do need some education. And Steve Jobs is glad to supply it. A software update has, as promised, made hacked iPhones useless — "bricked" them, in the modern parlance. Worse yet, the new software has bricked some unmodified iPhones as well. And people are outraged. These are, of course, by and large the same saps who overpaid by $200 to buy their iPhones in June. And you know what? They're getting what they deserve.

iPods Cause Crime

abalk · 09/28/07 11:50AM

Times wunderkind Sewell Chan looks at a recent Urban Institute report entitled "Is There an iCrime Wave?" which speculates that "the proliferation of iPods helps account for the nationwide rise in violent crime in 2005 and 2006." (In 2005, violent crime rose nationally for the first time in eleven years.) But why would thieves target iPods and their owners?

Owen Thomas · 09/28/07 07:05AM

"I'm going to use my $100 rebate I get from the I-had-to-have-it-before-my-brother iPhone to get one! And I'll even have a dollar left over for a refreshing can of soda." — AllThingsD's Kara Swisher on the new, low-priced Palm Centro. Kara, you ignorant slut. Don't you know that you can only use your iPhone credit on Apple products? [AllThingsD]

Steve Jobs still negotiating with his French girlfriends

Jordan Golson · 09/27/07 11:37PM

Apple may have bent British cell company O2 over a barrel, having reportedly extorted a 40 percent cut of subscription revenue from iPhone customers, but it seems they aren't having as much success with their other European deals as previously thought. France Telecom's Orange was named as the French provider for the iPhone last week, but now the deal may be off. The sticking point is the percentage of subscription dough that Apple will get. Let's hope Steve Jobs hasn't pissed off his other "girlfriends" too badly; he might still need to crawl back to them. (Photo by mukluk)

Owen Thomas · 09/27/07 12:58PM

French wireless company Orange is sparring with Apple over the terms under which it will sell the iPhone in France, and the disagreements may not be resolved in time for the holiday shopping season. We suspect Apple CEO Steve Jobs is remembering, too late, why he once called wireless carriers "orifices." [Reuters]