3G iPhone preview at WWDC, Release July 11 - Who, When Where, What, Why & how much

[t0mat0]

The only thunder will be Steve taking RIMs...
When is the Bold and the Thunder earmarked to be released again? hehe.

Google I/O: May 28-29 - Google's "largest developer event".
Will Google bring some stuff out then that'll go straight into the iPhone.

 

[saladiro]

The only thunder will be Steve taking RIMs...
When is the Bold and the Thunder earmarked to be released again? hehe.

Google I/O: May 28-29 - Google's "largest developer event".
Will Google bring some stuff out then that'll go straight into the iPhone.

Q3 08

 

[t0mat0]

That sound... may just be the stable door shutting

iPhone the Time's Best invention of the year 2007


It's evolution

Interestingly, Apple is moving away from previous styles slightly due to the move to add touch - the 2 bridges. It's only a matter of time before Touch is integrated into the main non-iPhone OS. (Till then Apple can span the 2 OS's through tight integration (e.g. syncing, wireless comms between ) iPHone and Apple Macs.

An interesting article on it

Visually here

Analysts eh?
2005:
Apple says its iPod music player and iTunes music store have 74 and 85% of
their worldwide markets.

According to Gene Munster, a Piper Jaffray analyst, the end is near.

Nobody can sustain an 80 % market share in a consumer electronics
business for more than 2 or 3 years

" Mr. Munster told CNN.

It's pretty much impossible

More on Google but it's the weekend. Have fun.

 

[newyorksole]

The iPhone has been out almost a year and not many major software upgrades were introudced besides:

Custom ringtones (should have been available from the get go)
iTunes music store
Google Maps major upgrade
Text to multiple people
New SMS tones
Customize home screen
Double tap home button
Minor keyboard enhancement
Several major bug fixes (which actually helped alot)

Do you guys think that Apple was too busy with the SDK and 2.0 software to add more basic functionality to the iPhone?

 

[t0mat0]

It isn't in Apple's interest to dribble out updates on any given Tuesday of a month
The reason is they have a hell of a lot going on. They won't push it through until it's ready. E.g. iTunes is not doubt going to get a version change soon. Google as stated in a lot of posts recently is going to come in in a big way.

Apple don't want to do it piecemeal. Done well, 1st time, and Integrated well. Usability, ease of use etc.

The Sticky software list will be taken care of to a great extent. A large update = "Boom factor".

The SD and OS 2.0 are huge. Apple is going international with the iPhone - a whopping increase on the sales and places sold. If you look at the rumours of what's expected to be in the pipeline - it's stonking.
OLED, haptics, 3G, WiMax, Apps Store, LBS, Street View Sat Nav, GAMES, Video - links to youtube with video. .Mac refresh, iTunes refresh, OS update for Mac as well as iPhone. New models. Simultaneous work on both MIDs and also Atom based products. Tablets. Japanese and Chinese handwriting recognition..

That's in my view a brief reason, as to why they ain't just dolloping small updates. Basic functionality will be improved shortly!
You've got to remember that Apple proportionately If I remember rightly, has a much smaller workforce dealing with the SDK, OS, iPHone, etc in comparison to other companies. (I don't have the link).

Edited Pictures:
Going back to the article http://www.core77.com/reactor/12.05_ipod_trademark.asp<br />
on the evolution of the iPod, and the article on how to use patents and product design to strengthen links with the consumer (brand marketing, but much more) - The previous design prior to the iPhone has been basically clickwheel plus screen. Whilst you could have a virtual one (as shown in the mockup). The physical appearance has lost that - it's now "one giant screen" to vaguely quote Jobs. Will Jobs go back to this design? I'm flexible on the concept, but my gut feeling is no. the mini got replaced by the nano. The mini is ripe for touchscreen if a design change is wanted (and the back for school August time is going to be fun!) and a great candidate for a uber (yet overhyped) OLED screen.

It's interesting as we're potentially just prior to the fleshing out of the iPhone line, (Jobs could shock us with a nano now, or by September) with a possible iMID / iPhone Max.

 

[Justinerator]

The iPhone has been out almost a year and not many major software upgrades were introudced besides:

Custom ringtones (should have been available from the get go)
iTunes music store
Google Maps major upgrade
Text to multiple people
New SMS tones
Customize home screen
Double tap home button
Minor keyboard enhancement
Several major bug fixes (which actually helped alot)

Do you guys think that Apple was too busy with the SDK and 2.0 software to add more basic functionality to the iPhone?

My assumption is they are trying to make the 2.0 software a little more awesome than it really is by stating there are a "ton" more features in this upgrade (than in previous ones) in order to pull some more of the naive () public that hasn't already switched over to the iphone.

Justin

 

[newyorksole]

Yeah true, well I'm not going to set my expectations high for the 3G iPhone/next update, just so I don't get let down or get really surprised. I just can't wait for this apps store and 3G iPhone (preferably with video record and GPS), anything else is just a bonus for me! lol

 

[Justinerator]

Yeah true, well I'm not going to set my expectations high for the 3G iPhone/next update, just so I don't get let down or get really surprised. I just can't wait for this apps store and 3G iPhone (preferably with video record and GPS), anything else is just a bonus for me! lol

you speak the truth, and I think everyone on the rumors agrees with you. I, for one, certainly do!

 

[t0mat0]

My assumption is they are trying to make the 2.0 software a little more awesome than it really is by stating there are a "ton" more features in this upgrade (than in previous ones) in order to pull some more of the naive () public that hasn't already switched over to the iphone.
Justin

Have you checked out http://developer.apple.com/iphone/ ? I have no idea how many people on this site have gone through the ADC and checked out the SDK materials, or tried out the programs to see what it's like to build an app...

Where have Apple actually said the OS 2.0 will have a ton more features? Remember that if the 3G iPhone comes out at the WWDC, the OS 2.- is still slated for late June. They've got plenty of time.

I might be naïve myself, but this is what Apple have down on their site for the OS 2.0 They're letting everyone else blow their trumpet. Apple representatives weren't exactly mouthing off about tonnes of new features in the recent Earnings call.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/03/06iphone.html

CUPERTINO, California—March 6, 2008

Apple® today previewed its iPhone™ 2.0 software, scheduled for release this June, and announced the immediate availability of a beta release of the software to selected developers and enterprise customers. The iPhone 2.0 beta release includes both the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) as well as new enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks.

“We’re excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community with potentially thousands of native applications for iPhone and iPod touch,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPhone’s enterprise features combined with its revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface and advanced software architecture provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform ever for a mobile device.”

The iPhone SDK provides developers with a rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools to create innovative applications for iPhone and iPod® touch. Starting today, anyone can download the beta iPhone SDK for free and run the iPhone Simulator on their Mac®. Apple today also introduced its new iPhone Developer Program, giving developers everything they need to create native applications, and the new App Store, a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications to iPhone and iPod touch users.

With the iPhone SDK, third party developers will be able to build native applications for the iPhone with a rich set of APIs, including programming interfaces for Core OS, Core Services, Media and Cocoa Touch technologies. The iPhone SDK will allow developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone’s groundbreaking Multi-Touch™ user interface, animation technology, large storage, built-in three-axis accelerometer and geographical location technology to deliver truly innovative mobile applications.

Apple has licensed Exchange ActiveSync from Microsoft and is building it right into the iPhone, so that iPhone will connect out-of-the-box to Microsoft Exchange Servers 2003 and 2007 for secure over-the-air push email, contacts, calendars and global address lists. Built-in Exchange ActiveSync support also enables security features such as remote wipe, password policies and auto-discovery. The iPhone 2.0 software supports Cisco IPsec VPN to ensure the highest level of IP-based encryption available for transmission of sensitive corporate data, as well as the ability to authenticate using digital certificates or password-based, multi-factor authentication. The addition of WPA2 Enterprise with 802.1x authentication enables enterprise customers to deploy iPhone and iPod touch with the latest standards for protection of Wi-Fi networks.

The iPhone 2.0 software provides a configuration utility that allows IT administrators to easily and quickly set up many iPhones, including password policies, VPN setting, installing certificates, email server settings and more. Once the configuration is defined it can be easily and securely delivered via web link or email to the user. To install, all the user has to do is authenticate with a user ID or password, download the configuration and tap install. Once installed, the user will have access to all their corporate IT services.


The iPhone 2.0 software release will contain the App Store, a new application that lets users browse, search, purchase and wirelessly download third party applications directly onto their iPhone or iPod touch. The App Store enables developers to reach every iPhone and iPod touch user.

[That'd be 10 million plus people come 2009]

Developers set the price for their applications—including free—and retain 70 percent of all sales revenues. Users can download free applications at no charge to either the user or developer, or purchase priced applications with just one click. Enterprise customers will be able to create a secure, private page on the App Store accessible only by their employees. Apple will cover all credit card, web hosting, infrastructure and DRM costs associated with offering applications on the App Store. Third party iPhone and iPod touch applications must be approved by Apple and will be available exclusively through the App Store.

The iPhone SDK provides a reliable, fast and secure way to create innovative applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. In addition to the rich set of iPhone OS APIs, the iPhone SDK also provides advanced tools for creating native iPhone and iPod touch applications including: Xcode® for source code editing, project management and graphical debugging; Interface Builder with drag and drop interface creation and live preview; Instruments to monitor and optimize iPhone application performance in real time; and the iPhone Simulator to run and debug applications.

During the beta iPhone SDK program, a limited number of developers will be accepted into Apple’s new iPhone Developer Program and offered the ability to get code onto iPhones for testing. The Standard Program costs $99 (US) per year and gives members an iPhone SDK and development tools; access to pre-release iPhone software; technical support; the ability to get code onto iPhones for testing; and distribution of applications via the new App Store. The Enterprise Program costs $299 (US) per year.

In addition to these new iPhone network and security features, the beta iPhone 2.0 software provides several new Mail features such as the ability to view PowerPoint attachments, in addition to Word and Excel, as well as the ability to mass delete and move email messages.

Pricing & Availability
Apple plans to release the final iPhone 2.0 software, including the iPhone SDK and new enterprise features, as a free software update for all iPhone customers by the end of June. Third party applications created for the iPhone will also run on the iPod touch, and iPod touch users will be required to purchase a software update to run these applications. The free beta iPhone SDK is available immediately worldwide and can be downloaded at developer.apple.com/iphone/program. The iPhone Developer Program will initially be available in the US and will expand to other countries in the coming months. Apple is accepting applications beginning today from enterprise customers who would like to join the private iPhone Enterprise Beta Program (www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise).

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.



AOL
“No question the powerful tools and APIs in the iPhone SDK made it easy to develop a feature-rich mobile application for the iPhone,” said Kevin Conroy, executive vice president, AOL. “The rapid development cycle for this application was very intuitive, and when you add the App Store, it’s an unbeatable combination for development and distribution of mobile applications.”

Cisco
“As a result of this collaboration between Cisco and Apple, iPhone users will have seamless and highly secure access to mission critical information as it is needed from anywhere in the world,” said Richard Palmer, senior vice president of the Security Technology Group, Cisco. “The connected world is becoming more mobile and collaborative where employees need access to private business information no matter where they are.”

Disney
“Apple has really done their homework, addressing issues of security, manageability and integration,” said Randy Brooks, senior vice president, IT Strategy and Architecture, The Walt Disney Company. “We currently have hundreds of iPhone users and expect the demand to grow significantly with this release.”

Electronic Arts
“The animation technology in the iPhone OS enables us to build awesome games,” said John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts. “I think iPhone consumers are going to be blown away by the games we create for this platform."

Epocrates
“By putting so much computing power into such an elegant mobile device, Apple has opened up tremendous opportunities for application developers,” said Kirk Loevner, chairman and CEO, Epocrates, Inc. “The technology and software in the iPhone OS will allow us to create new and innovative applications that help improve patient safety and provide healthcare professionals with an unsurpassed user experience.”

Genentech
“The iPhone is a watershed event in mobile computing for corporations,” said Todd Pierce, vice president, Corporate Information Technology, Genentech, Inc. “Genentech’s pilot with iPhone has shown its potential to be the most useful business mobility tool we’ve ever used. We now have 3,000 planned for deployment based on how easy and simple it was to integrate iPhone with our corporate email system.”

Microsoft
“Licensing Exchange ActiveSync to Apple enables them to build support right into the iPhone for simple, out-of-the-box connectivity with Exchange Server,” said Terry Myerson, corporate vice president, Unified Communications Group, Microsoft. “Microsoft believes in building open and interoperable products, and Microsoft Exchange Server is no exception.”

Nike
“With support for Exchange ActiveSync in this new iPhone release, Apple is offering a plug-and-play enterprise solution," said Roland Paanakker, vice president and CIO Nike. "We already have Nike employees using iPhones, and now look forward to deploying more iPhones across our business.”

Salesforce.com
“The opportunity to use the innovative iPhone OS platform to deliver compelling Software-as-a-Service applications to mobile users is empowering to us, and ultimately, our customers, “said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com. “They are asking us for new ways to harness the power of Force.com to access their business information on any device regardless of location.”

Sega
“The iPhone OS is a robust development platform that will allow Sega to deliver mobile gaming experiences that are truly compelling,” said Simon Jeffery, president and COO, Sega of America. “Using the iPhone’s accelerometer to power a tilt control feature adds a whole new dimension to Super Monkey Ball, and we can’t wait for gamers to try it.”

 

[Justinerator]

^^^That seems like a lot to me!

I wasn't just referring to additional features the upgrade will offer, but more the awesomeness of the feature(s) Apple will be offering, such as allowing games to run on it, the addition of consumer-made apps, and all of the other goodies being offered with the new update. I would say those are some pretty cool new features!

Justin

 

[t0mat0]

^^^That seems like a lot to me!
I wasn't just referring to additional features the upgrade will offer, but more the awesomeness of the feature(s) Apple will be offering, such as allowing games to run on it, the addition of consumer-made apps, and all of the other goodies being offered with the new update. I would say those are some pretty cool new features!
Justin

Edit - anyone seen the front page - that's how interesting Touch is. If a kid can knock up a multi-touch surface, and Lux can do what's shown, it's easy enough to see possible futher applications in the real world. None of this Surfaces melarky it's coming, it's coming melarkey. Imagine what Apple R&D has in line?!

Aye. Awesome is the word


Google & the relationship with Apple

Now more visited in the U.S. than Yahoo! dot! com! - Google is currently the number 1 visited site in the U.S.

From an interesting article by MacWorlds editor on Google, and it's philosophy about Apple. (I'm not sure how many read the links, so i'll dissect it a bit if people want a digested form.

Amit Singh, a Google Engineer (& author of Mac OS X Internals), thought something was missing from OS X - “There was no easy way to do file systems.” So Singh, whilst he wasn't even part of Google's Mac development efforts, used the 20% time Google philosophy. 20% time is there to encourage its engineers to pursue other Google-related interests for up to 20% of their work hours—even if that interest has little to do with their regular duties at the search and software company. Google encourages employees to pursue subjects they find interesting as they see it as a critical part of its own development goals - empowering people to come up with ideas and pursue them if
they are good.

So the reaction of his bosses to this use of company time? Go for it. The project became the file-system utility MacFUSE
Other 20% projects include: Google News, Gmail. Mac specific 20%ers include Notifier (offers Gmail & Google Calendar notifications, the Google Mac Developer Playground (an online collection of open-source Mac projects created at Google.

Google’s Mac offerings weren’t always so vast. The company has stepped up its Mac efforts in the past couple of years, as a result of a strategic push from executives as well as prodding from Mac-using Google employees. e.g. Google Docs gives users access to online tools such as a word processor & spreadsheet app, though support for the Safari browser has been spotty.


Google’s corporate philosophy is to make information as accessible and useful as possible. When Karen Grunberg, now a product manager for Google’s client software on the Mac, first joined Google, she found the limited portfolio of Mac products to be “very ungoogley”
(i.e. something that doesn’t measure up to the company’s way of doing things).

Prior to the official Mac development team being in place in 2005, there was more ad hoc work. Now, “across the company, a lot of people are doing some sort of Mac development.” Google keeps the exact size of its Mac development team under wraps, pointing instead to the frequency of Mac product launches—from 0 to 6 in the past few years—as a sign of its commitment to the platform.

Singh, a recruit to the Mac team, found MacFUSE as an open-source project was ”the easiest open-source release ever,”
[I'd love to work in a place with that much intellectual freedom - so much assurance that good ideas will be embraced by the company’s higher-ups.]

An interesting point
Besides the challenge of bringing the Mac versions of applications in line with their Windows counterparts, the Mac team also had to consider issues that are particular to the Mac OS—or, taking “existing products and getting the same experience while maintaining the standard Mac users expect,” as engineering director Marc Pawliger puts it.

e.g. Google Desktop - Google's desktop search application. In consideration of OS X’s own built-in search technology, Spotlight, Google positioned its desktop search utility as a companion to Spotlight, giving Mac users the ability to search content from Web pages they’ve visited and Gmail accounts in addition to desktop files. [Which said something about Window's search tech, which Xeroxed the idea from Google later on it appeared].

E.g. Picasa - a Windows program that finds, organizes, and shares photos. Google in a 20% project built an uploader that allows Mac users to share photos online via its Picasa Web Album offering, as they bore in mind that iphoto already was doing much of the functionality of the Windows version

Areas of work to be done could include improving online Google Docs' spotty support for Safari, and making Google Gears
(an open-source effort to let Web apps work on the desktop) compatible with Safari. The reasons for the compatibility issues with Safari and how Google plans on addressing them by noting the company’s commitment to making its applications available across different platforms?
“We want to provide great products and services to the tens of millions of Mac users around the world, because it’s the right thing to do, and because Mac users inside and outside of Google demand it,” the spokesperson said. “As part of our ongoing commitment to innovation, Google constantly tests new tools, features and interfaces to improve our Mac feature offering and provide additional benefit to our users who use the Mac platform.” [It's in the pipeline, we aren't going to step on Apple's toes]


As Google’s Mac offerings become broader, its Mac development team can put more emphasis on cross-platform collaboration. In many ways, Pichai says, the Mac team is “helping lead development” with the contributions it’s making to Google products.

As work continues on its Web-based apps, Google is turning an eye toward other areas where it can apply its information-management focus. Mobile platforms will certainly be a key part of Google’s future, with the iPhone taking center stage. [ no mention of Android in the article]. The company is also looking at ways to bridge the gap between Web-based applications and the desktop, largely through Google Gears. Google has announced plans to let users of its online word processor view and edit documents offline. [If Google is bridging the gap with Gears, where is it for Apple?]

Whatever direction the company pursues, expect Google’s Mac team to be in the thick of things. “Now comes the time to really experiment on the platform,” Pawliger said. “Now is the time to find opportunities, whether they’re on the Mac platform or elsewhere.”

A portend of Cool Apps to come?

For sheer conecptness Synchstep Greg Elliot of Poke's app, that chooses songs based on your walking pace sounds cool (There's a thread up here on what you can do with the accelerometers, I guess this is another one to add!). If people didn't mind lugging around the iPhone when exercising - this would = beat matched songs - a BPM mixer to your speed. (Though some may prefer it the other way around - to adjust walking pace to the music being listened to - i.e. the desired run speed could set the pace of the music, which in turn helps the runner to stay at the desired pace (e.g. a fast 15 minute run with 20 medium jogging after).

Something equating to a a real-time, personal soundtrack. Groovy.

Pictures
An old skool drum machine ported over for those naughty jailbroken folk. iJack - a reminder that the Mac press hasn't even started re-looking at the possibility that iPhone to iPhone connections should be possible and the implications of that (file-sharing, music choice sharing, multi-player gaming). GPS and Sports based links to the iPhone were a personal wish. Another one was that iPhones could make their own ad hoc networks even without 3G etc. My example would be on the tube in London - you create an app that can locate nearby iPhones with the app, and the app allows you to share Fairplay tunes (that's the reason the DRM is there, right? To legally share) and all sorts -
Speaking of which, Game Spy might want to catch this up - be the universal match maker to then find any iPhone gamer who wants to play a game, and show others what game it is. I wonder if you could actually also get free apps sent iPhone to iPhone, rather than just Apps Store to iPhone? Presumably you might need a checksum from the Apps Store, and then be able to get from another iPhone? (I'm not saying this is feasable to be creted by June, just pushing the box i'm outside of).

3rd pic is share price vs device launch. Seeing as this Quarter was a bumper crop, i'd imagine this keynote to go down much better than last (which was a no one more thing and a damp squib ending). Act II - Multi-touch gets mainstream.

 

[aulds]

Accessories already ?

Not much of a poster on this site but I thought I would share this link on here.

From the easyishop.co.uk website on their 3G iPhone page

"The original Apple iPhone was a huge success selling millions of units all around the world. The new model is even better with even better features and bigger memory. We have the largest range of 3G iPhone Accessories in the UK."

http://www.easyishop.co.uk/section.php/315/1/3g_iphone_

Don't know where this has come from as nothing official has been announced & I don't know how they can offer accessories for a phone that few people officially know anything about.

Nothing listed for sale though

Cheers

 

[t0mat0]

Not much of a poster on this site but I thought I would share this link on here.
From the easyishop.co.uk website on their 3G iPhone page
"The original Apple iPhone was a huge success selling millions of units all around the world. The new model is even better with even better features and bigger memory. We have the largest range of 3G iPhone Accessories in the UK."
http://www.easyishop.co.uk/section.php/315/1/3g_iphone_
Don't know where this has come from as nothing official has been announced & I don't know how they can offer accessories for a phone that few people officially know anything about. Nothing listed for sale though

Cheers

Seeing as Apple is currently pursuing another company vis a vis the made for iPod label - it'd be interesting to see where Apple goes with this. I can't see anything wrong with offering iPhone related merchandise, it's all a matter of making sure copyrights, patents, trademarks aren't stepped on. I can't see anything being sold using IE or Safari. Nothing interesting in the source code - the <!-- 's just mention searching to see if anythings ready. Probably the site prepping to see it can add stuff on the page / a placeholder.
Prospective marketing?


Lineup after WWDC

Thoughts on probabilities - too high, too low?
3G - 100%
GPS - 95% (GPS, A-GPS, and a big hook up with Google, and a move more towards Core Location)
Better Camera - 95%
Mobile TV - 80% - it'll be offered either this time round or next update. Again, Swisscom shows the way. N96 will have it.
Official iChat - 95% Apple will have IM and chat. (With an elevator backdrop available for those who want to relive rumours)
Better battery life - 95% - Bound to - either better battery, or a larger one.
Brighter screen - 90% Hopefully OLED
Double storage - 90% 32GB in come June.
Multiple colours - 8%
Slimmer (bezel) - 90% (Not as slim as the iMID)
Wireless sync - 90%
Video 1 way (With 2 way audiuo) 98% (Swiss carrier move, it's also supplied by AT&T (1 way currently but that may change)
Video recording - ~98%
Video chat 2 way ~80 %
Size - 16 GB & 32GB ~85% (Where is Apple's NAND order for all these phones?)
64GB iTouch - 50%
Subsidies - Varies regionally, just like "unlocking"
EDGE only model 5% (They are tapering down production, and whilst there may be calls to produce more, the v1 seems EOL - it seems v2 3G iPhones are successors, not stable mates.)


Skyhook, GPS, Apple

Skyhook Wireless (founded in 2003) is currently being used by Apple. Apple uses both Skyhook and Google's my location (which uses cellphone tower info)
on the iPhone. The iPhone looks for Wi-Fi signals first, and if there are none, it switches to Google's cell-tower information.

Skyhook in February 2007
- Announced plans for locating handheld and mobile devices, announcing that GPS chip and software company SiRF will license its technology to offer a dual GPS/Wi-Fi location based system for phones.

CEO Ted Morgan said:
1) Wi-Fi can help GPS in locating a device in problem areas, e.g. dense urban environments/indoors.
2) Wi-Fi can help GPS devices with getting their first location fix.

Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) can easily deliver LBS. From the website:
- It has a <6 second time to fix, +99% indoor availability and 10-20m accuracy in urban areas
- The kit was demoed at 3GSM in February 2007.
- The SiRF deal isn't the only one - at CES 2007 Skyhook announced a hookup with ReignCom to get Skyhook’s Wi-Fi LBS technology
into the iRiver W10 PMP
- A link in with Loki?


Recent moves?
May 13, 2008 - Skyhook Wireless announced a series of new partners representing a broad range of content and services,
are leveraging Skyhook's Loki Javascript API, in order to deliver hyper-local content and services.

Loki is a creation of Skyhook Wireless and leverages Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) to deliver accurate location information
through a web browser. With just a few lines of Javascript, Loki enables websites to easily incorporate precise location information
into the user experience. Buzz words including "location-aware web"

Companies helped by Loki include:
Social Discovery - Whrrl
Location Based Gaming - Geocaching.com - world's largest geocache listing site
Local Search - Krillion - a provider of local shopping search info, serving today's ready-to-buy consumers who research products online for purchase from retailers in their neighborhood. can provide real-time, location-specific product availability information from major retailers in the U.S.
Location Sharing - Yahoo! Fire Eagle - A way to share your location with sites and services online.
Local Content - CitySquares & UpNext - hyper-local content for urban and suburban communities.


Asides- Could a jailbroken GPS enabled iPhone hack the gallileo code?
- TV-GPS? http://www.popsci.com/gear-gadgets/article/2005-06/television-signals-plug-holes-gps
- http://www.gomite.com/locogps.html

 

[Skilgannon]

Not much of a poster on this site but I thought I would share this link on here.

From the easyishop.co.uk website on their 3G iPhone page

"The original Apple iPhone was a huge success selling millions of units all around the world. The new model is even better with even better features and bigger memory. We have the largest range of 3G iPhone Accessories in the UK."

http://www.easyishop.co.uk/section.php/315/1/3g_iphone_

Don't know where this has come from as nothing official has been announced & I don't know how they can offer accessories for a phone that few people officially know anything about.

Nothing listed for sale though

Cheers

That's just a google trap.

People calmly doing they're research about new rumors or hints about the new 3g iPhone and then...

!!!BANG!!!

They'll be sucked to that website like it was a black hole.

 

[t0mat0]

LBS, GPS, Skyhook, More wifi places through Wayport?

Skyhook & Eye-Fi Inc.
May 12th 2008

www.eye.fi - makers of the the 1st wireless memory card for digital cameras, announced the Eye-Fi Explore.
This card allows users to automatically upload photos from more than 10,000 hotspots while away from home or from their home wireless network. It also automatically tags users' photos with information about where the image was captured.

Their service automates geotagging and their hotspot access allows people on the go to upload, share and save their pictures before they even get home." Like all Eye-Fi cards (they've got a whole family) the Eye-Fi Explore allows users to automatically send photos directly from their camera to their Mac, and also to one of 25 online photo sharing, printing, social networking, or blogging sites using a wireless network. Eye-Fi partnered with Skyhook Wireless to provide geotagging capabilities and Wayport to enable hotspot connectivity for the Eye-Fi Explore.

Through the partnerhip of Skyhook Wireless and EyeFi-Inc, the card allows users to map where their photos were captured with automatic geotagging. "The card uses built-in wireless technology to locate nearby Wi-Fi access points when pictures are captured within the Skyhook coverage area. The Eye-Fi service uses this information to encode each photo with geographic locations, and the images arrive on the user's computer and online sharing account automatically tagged.

Geotagging helps photo management and search. It also gives the photo more meaning and relevancy
In North America, Skyhook currently provides coverage of >70% of the population (more than the U.S. 3G coverage).
In Europe, the top 50 metropolitan areas are covered, along with 70% of the population in Germany, France and the UK.
"The rest of Western Europe will be covered in mid-summer 2008."

Mark Geller, Business Product Manager of Google's Picasa Web Albums: "Eye-Fi's efforts to make geotagging automatic will help make it a fundamental element of digital photography for everyday users."

The ability to upload photos while away from home at one of Wayport's 10,000+ hotspot locations is useful


- Is this a sign that Wayport is going to get a deal with Apple?
- (Could it be the U.S. "The Cloud" ?)
- Wayport enables public and private applications across the U.S. in major hotels, McDonald’s restaurants, Hertz airport locations, and other top retail brands.

By turning on the camera in a Wayport location, the card will automatically connect to the wifi & start uploading photos to the Web, user's Mac [and presumably potentially their .Mac]
You don't need a Wayport account or a laptop to upload pictures for free. Eye-Fi will notify users via SMS or e-mail messages regarding the progress of the upload session.

2GB Eye-Fi Explore (MSRP $129.00) includes unlimited Web uploads, unlimited geotagging and 1 year of hotspot access at Wayport locations. The Eye-Fi Explore will be available at major online retailers beginning June 6, 2008.



May 6, 2008 Skyhook Wireless upgraded the Skyhook SDK
- Now includes
- LBS targeted advertising (for app developers to make money from)
- Added Virtual GPS to ease WPS development, and flexible new deployment modes that optimize the WPS for any type of LBS application.
- this could potentially lead to more real-time ad campaigns (and some epic flash mob ads? )
- Push-to-Fix deployment, Continuous Scanning mode and also WPS Tiling mode as an efficient way to provide autonomous WPS location.

SkyHook & Trapster -April 2008
Trapster launched the the world's 1st speed trap sharing social network for mobile phones.
Users alert other members to police speed traps in real time, using a simple button push on their mobile phone.
The community includes a sophisticated ratings system to measure the reliability of members thereby increasing confidence in the alert data.
Downloadable at http://www.trapster.com.
With Trapster, drivers electronically mark the location of observed speed traps or traffic light cameras.
With this user contributed data, the Trapster system tracks your driving location and alerts you when approaching a marked speed trap or camera.
Users rate each other's traps, and over time the system establishes a confidence level for traps, and learns the credibility of users.
Trapster uses GPS and Wi-Fi positioning from Skyhook Wireless to build the foundation for this new community.

A good example of a decent use LBS giving real time Location based information.


Apple, iPhone, Science
Is Apple making a stronger move into Science? There's a Science & Medicine community at the WWDC Developer page

"Learn how the latest Apple tools and technologies can help you develop world-class applications and content for science & medicine on Mac OS X and iPhone."

The Lunchtime Discussion Group will touch on Medical Information Management, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences

It's interesting for me, as Apple is pushing the iPhone here, not just Leopard on laptops and desktops. This may be shown by their recommendation of the iPhone session tracks, with key sessions including

3D Graphics for iPhone using OpenGL ES
Introduction to Mac and iPhone Development
iPhone Application Optimization Lab
iPhone Device APIs: Location, Accelerometer and Camera
Mastering the Mac Graphics Architecture
New Compiler Technology and Future Directions
Tuning OpenGL Applications for the Mac

How would Location, accelerometer, and camera be used in Medicine? The mind boggles.

 

[iphonesarecool]

Can't wait untill WWDC

I can't wait to see what the new iphone will look like and what it will have on it, if they do announce a new one.



Come on


_______________________
30GB ipod

 

[newyorksole]

I just read an article that said Google is going to have a slew of applications ready the day the Apps Store is released. I can't wait!!!

 

[Justinerator]

Lineup after WWDC

Thoughts on probabilities - too high, too low?
3G - 100%
GPS - 95% (GPS, A-GPS, and a big hook up with Google, and a move more towards Core Location)
Better Camera - 95%
Mobile TV - 80% - it'll be offered either this time round or next update. Again, Swisscom shows the way. N96 will have it.
Official iChat - 95% Apple will have IM and chat. (With an elevator backdrop available for those who want to relive rumours)
Better battery life - 95% - Bound to - either better battery, or a larger one.
Brighter screen - 90% Hopefully OLED
Double storage - 90% 32GB in come June.
Multiple colours - 8%
Slimmer (bezel) - 90% (Not as slim as the iMID)
Wireless sync - 90%
Video 1 way (With 2 way audiuo) 98% (Swiss carrier move, it's also supplied by AT&T (1 way currently but that may change)
Video recording - ~98%
Video chat 2 way ~80 %
Size - 16 GB & 32GB ~85% (Where is Apple's NAND order for all these phones?)
64GB iTouch - 50%
Subsidies - Varies regionally, just like "unlocking"
EDGE only model 5% (They are tapering down production, and whilst there may be calls to produce more, the v1 seems EOL - it seems v2 3G iPhones are successors, not stable mates.)

We should make a poll here, showing what people would want most about the new iphone. Then we could compare the poll results to the numbers/percentages above! What do you guys think?

 

[newyorksole]

When you guys talk about iChat are you referring to video conferencing or using AIM? I think half the people that refer to it are talking about video and the other half about AIM.

Anyways, I don't see Apple releasing iChat sadly, because AOL is creating instant messenger. I would have liked to see Native iChat, but oh well.

 

[t0mat0]

The predictions from Wired
"Disclaimer: 90% of what is written below (or on any gadget blog) will turn out to be far from the mark or just plain wrong"

1. 3G iPhone Likelihood: 10/10

2. Proper New MacBook Pro Likelihood: 8/10
The MBP is is almost exactly the same in looks as the original PowerBook G4, announced back in January 2001.
It's time for a change. We expect a big multi touch trackpad, the new chiclet-style keyboard, an almost bezel-less screen
and perhaps some 3G connectivity. We'll probably see a version without an optical drive, too, perhaps with a second hard drive filling the space.
It could be time for Apple to drive home a powerful, well endowed twelve-incher.

3. Aluminum MacBook Likelihood: 4/10
If true, expect nothing more than a new case and a multi touch trackpad.

4. Internet Tablet Likelihood: 1/10
Steve Jobs said that Apple would never make a Tablet Mac. He also said there would never be a video iPod.
...If anybody can take a flailing (read: all current tablet PCs) category and make it attractive, it's Apple. Remember the iPod?

5. Touch Screen Nano Likelihood: 5/10
Why not? We don't expect a full on mini iPod Touch, but an iPod of the current Nano's size which is all screen on one face is certainly possible.
Apple could leave out email and Maps...but Wi-Fi would be likely, if only for buying tracks from the iTunes Store.

Some interesting May tidbits

May 15th - Garmin announced a lifetime of Navigation for your BlackBerry or Smart Phone here

- Starting price is a one-time-purchase plan of $99.99 for customers who own a BlackBerry device (one-time-purchase plan requires no monthly subscription fee)
- gives you navigation anywhere, 24/7
- turn-by-turn directions with coverage of North America and over 6 million points of interest
- no network coverage required for smartphones
- Includes Garmin Online™ — avoid traffic tie-ups, view the weather forecast, find the cheapest gas prices and more

A move of alliance with RIM?



Skyhook
Skyhook on the other hand is starting to offer WPS as Push to fix, continuous scanning, and WPS tiling - (where the software will download all the access point data for the area (you're in) and store it locally on the device, thus eliminating a constant connection to Skyhook's servers. (i.e. The abiliity now to potentially cache up location data for an area while connected, and then later cruise around and use it is there).

- Can do “40m accuracy 95% of the time with just 3 access points.”
- Is a natural companion as Jed Rice, VP of market development at Skyhook points out - GPS satellite signals can be hard to get in high rise built up areas. (presumably the WPS works hypothetically with TV signals and also WiMax). It's a metro-area positioning system
- Profiled here
- In Europe Ted Morgan says: “we expect to have finished the coverage of the United Kingdom, France and Germany in March”,
- video here

- On the downside/upside, Skyhook has integrated the LBS ad platform from Quattro Wireless into the upgraded Skyhook SDK.
“When developers implement WPS location, they can immediately start generating revenue via location-based ads embedded in their mobile applications”

- Other companies include Spotigo partnering with ad comnpany Smaato; Navizon(is wifi & cell towers currently afaik) ; Garmin's moves with RIM


http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/508278
http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/index.php?action=article&numero=813
http://code.google.com/android/images/adc1r1_deck.pdf
iPhone - the local directory (Apologies to Thomson Directories, but it needs to be said).
http://seekingalpha.com/article/477...ed-to-have-lost-out-on-iphone-gps-partnership
A great article on 3G by seekingalpha (who as previously mentioned, knock out a good number of Apple articles each week):
http://seekingalpha.com/article/77405-3g-iphone-wireless-standards-chips-and-platforms

SiRF's up?
SiRF says that it will use the Skyhook software as part of the SiRFLoc Multimode location platform. Combining GPS and Wi-Fi location improves accuracy, provides indoor locations, and faster location acquisition during startup.

Virtually simultaneously, SiRF said that would integrate its SiRFLoc Server with Openwave’s Location Manager. Openwave will resell the combined product internationally.

Whether SiRF got the iPhone GPS chip remains to be seen...

 

[t0mat0]

Paranoid Android
The top 50 apps chosen.

http://www.thomashowe.com - Found the pdf here of the descriptions of the apps: Some interesting ones

The article points out SynchroSpot , gWalk , BioWallet , FreeFamilyWatch. I'll go over some more:

I'd expect market leaders like Amazon to lead the way here - they put a hell of a lot into customer friendly innovations. They'd love to get
purchases by mobile phone, rather than someone looking up
the local store with the device they want.

Stuff that already has multiple apps fighting it out:

• e.g. Beetaun/BreadCrumbz - Social networking - rated content (places events, things to do, travel routes)
• e.g. e-vents/Social Monster- Planning social events
• e.g. HandWx/Weather Channel- weather forecasts + radar
• e.g. IMEasy /Multiple Facets/Talkplay IM - IM apps (supports handwriting/Video
• e.g. JOYity - multiplayer Geo games
• e.g. Commandro / LifeAware (where are your friends real time, what they doing)
• e.g. PedNAv/Wikitude - Travel plans, Creates itinerary of plans
• e.G. Rayfarla/Splashplay/etc - On screen musical instruments
• e.g. Several pork barrel/ "family" apps - e.g. SafetyNet - automated alert system - 1 button
• e.g. Teradesk - File virtualisation software - online file storage, collaboration, remote access
• e.g. Tune wiki - karaoke for your tunes via synchronised lyrics to tunes
• e.g. Writing Pad - short hand
• e.g. AndroidScan / goCart - Finds pricing and reviews for anything with a barcode, Automatically searches dozens of online stores, brick & mortar merchants, and local libraries. Shows CD, DVD or book cover along with detailed reviews. Plays sample music clips on the phone with a single tap (Kinda like a nice Amazon page).

• BreadCrumbz - Akin to Street View for a route. Canalso publish routes, share and navigate by pictures
• Call a Cab - Hail one from anywhere in the world "With a single click" (versus single whistle)
• Cooking capsules - recipe on a mobile, with instructions, grocery list,step by step
• Dyno -Evaluate car performance on the road - Hore power & speed, acceleration (presumably from weight of car). 0 - 100 km timer. No mention of Quarter mile, so not drag racing (As previously mentioned on the accelerometer uses thread )
• GolfPlay - I have to laugh this is Jack Bauer playing golf!! - Shows you the satellite imagery, updates real time
• Jigsaw -Capture, process and share whiteboard data
• Locale - Dynamic settings manager - (This could be native to Apple iPhone at some point - kinda like coming into you pad and the lights setting, music turning on etc)
• Phonebook 2.0 - Phonebook integrated with presence and IM capability. Turning contact list into dynamic social app
• Piggyback - Car sharing
• synchrospot - LBS - personal reminders and booo: LB ads.

All doable on the iPhone. I think many users won't want spam or adverts on their iPhones. Yuck. A port of Ad-block perhaps?

I like the idea of linking you contacts to a dynamic presence/IM/ other capability. heck, if you had enough CPU you could actually Plot real time on a google map with pins, where everyone was. Want to know where Clive from 3rd floor is? (I could imagine of much harsher practises in the Square Mile e.g. CCTV trained on people and their monitors, with a direct link to effectively the bosse's CCTV console and a speaker to shout at them if they're doing something unproductive like blinking...)

The more social networking comes in the more I hope the walls come down. (There's a great qik movie from Scoble on the tech to rip off all your pictures and posts that are currently locked into your Facebook account for example. (And also real time collate info from all your social networking sites and use then how you like (A bit like Plaxo but less scary, and more powerful afaik).

So - how many will Apple claim it's own natively?
Geotagging, video getagging and uploading, .Mac sync, file contacts etc etc sync, video chat, IM, barcode recognition*


* No need at all to stop with barcodes too - anything can be recognised now. Going back to Gates's last keynote - a server with the grunt power could crunch a real time video stream or picture, recognise an object and return data. Especially if you've got Geolocation data down to 10 metres.
Wonder if there will be a compass added too? (You could presumably infer direction from the position of the sun's light, but that's a more complicated indirect method). It's something not really mentioned that i've seen - On google maps when in street view, the symbol for where you are has a pointer showing the direction you're pointing in. You'd presume this would come in to help people using maps soon - it's pretty basic.


Is Apple going to push the limit of hardware?
If they're updating once a year -thy're more likely to have a shed/lorry/metric double decker bus load of competition that will be superior to the handset in all parts of hardware (but not software necessarily).
There are rumours of a nano come September, and the opening of the market to India, China, Japan could be linked with a nano to complement the range, or a iPhone Pro. Kinda hard to extrapolate.


Google Maps vs Microsoft Live
I just lost all my info I had in a FF 3.0 RC1 Windows XP moment. lets just say Live has caught up, youngsters generally prefer google, Live has a nice slightly at an angle view google doesn't. Live does KML.




WhereCamp
Prior to Google's Late May I/O conference - Wherecamp is pushing LBS related info.
It's free - Google is providing the food!
- It's an unconference so attendees drove the content of the sessions instead of having a prescribed schedule and set of content.
- It's finishing today U.S. time, so it hasn't really started the 2nd day yet (May 17&18th May 2008)
It's sponsor list is interesting:

• Skyhook - You know them a bit more now, right?
• WhereIgo - http://www.wherigo.com/ Wherigo is a toolset for creating and playing GPS-enabled adventures in the real world. Use GPS technology to guide you to physical locations and interact with virtual objects and characters.
• Meadan- Nothing interesting on first glance.
• Poly9 - Poly9 is a technology studio in Quebec City specializing in 2D & 3D web mapping, and interactive media.
• Since 2005, we have designed and developed some of the most exciting and popular web mapping applications for major clients. We are also behind highly visible Google Gadgets, running on iGoogle and the Google Gadget Ads platforms. Take a look for yourself at the Our work page.Poly9 is a technology studio in Quebec City specializing in 2D & 3D web mapping, and interactive media. Our company's flagship product, Poly9 FreeEarth, is the first geographic 3D globe that works in all browsers, and does not require any download or installation.

Scoble is there (lucky git!) From the 1st day he's got some qik videos out already

Qik look into WhereCamp

An alternative to Google Earth - concept that'll hit the Apps Store come later this year.

WhereCamp, scanning images off of cell phones video
Scoble with Poly9 at WhereCamp - and there iPhone app. Scans an uploaded image, recognises it, get a return telling you what it is.
They want a community version. (Check out his number of apps hehe). Request is about 3 .30 minutes

Poly 9 stating Visual search is going to become "the norm in 6 months"
It consumes barcodes (ISBN, QR codes etc )in the venn view - barcodes are just part of the visual part of many objects.

GPS + Buses = Knowing that you won't miss the bus. Linking in with Google transit.


Lux, Multitouch, Surface, Wall, Apple

The price differential:
Microsoft, and Han here

Han's unit was offered for $100,000 in Niemen Marcus' luxury holiday catalog last year, and CNN is using one in its election coverage.

versus Lux - shown on the front page.
I remember seeing Microsoft's Redmond development unit from one of Scoble's recent videos - the room didn't seem that big for an R&D section...
Maybe it was only for showing wares? It seemed though that the main tinkering room was quite small.
Lux shows that you can knock one up with kit probably under $100 in bulk. And it can easily be used with current Macs - the video shows it running off a standard MacBook. So that's using just some software, and knocked up hardware. I think Perspective Pixels and Han showed that it's primarily about the software than the hardware.

(I note that TouchWall not being developed by the Surface unit, but rather is a collaboration between Microsoft Research and the company's newly formed Office Labs unit. - so it wouldn't have been in the lab shown to Scoble).

Here - about 42 minutes in
(it ain't quicktime so it cant stream forward. sorry - either download via Realplayer (uck) or similar, or wait till it's buffered to near the end.)
(Is a great building at Redmond btw. And an interesting video to watch. Microsoft did well in the design).

 

[t0mat0]

I just read an article that said Google is going to have a slew of applications ready the day the Apps Store is released. I can't wait!!!

It was linked here on the 16th and posted by arn posted a catchup note on the blog
of iPhone notes that "we missed last week" on the 19th. Fair does - as you don't want replication of each story on every mac website, and arn keeps the site stories under control well for a reason.

Going back to

Visual Identification of objects
This links in with the Video Scoble did on qik (1st on feed currently ) - WhereCamp, scanning images off of cell phones

There's no reason why if the video was good enough, you couldn't pull 1 in 20 frames from the video (or 2 successive ones, and clean the image up), and use that, as opposed to taking lots of pictures. Then you browse your book titles/covers/ backs of books with isbns, and you can do a job as quick as a barcode scanner - you could get instant feedback in part of the screen, and touch yes to confirm the version from say Amazon.
This would be huuuuge for Amazon - as they'd get a hell of a lot of information about books that people might really enjoy, but have not reviewed - this way they could add them, give them a quick star rating at the time, and this could then link to a social network - i'd recommend these sectio, or cluster books by type, by how many other friends have the book etc (like a book reading profile of friends).
Thought came from trying to use FB's Visual bookshelf.
I'd imagine that the dominant app 1st out of the blocks will gain huge marketshare. If Amazon or Barnes and Noble come in later, they might be able to muscle in - i'd suggest Amazon has a potential app coming with this possibly in mind either for June of the near future.


The Apple store Gear Guide seems to still be pushing 802.11n. Seeing as the benefits are greatest when you aren't mixing n with b and g - you'd think v2. iPhone will be 802.11n compatible (as noted here ) ?
More thoughts here. I might be getting this wrong, but is this article saying that as of June 2007, it was more likely the IEEE could finalize the 802.11n after 802.21, or WiMax?


If this http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/19/3g-iphone-revealed-in-third-party-case-render/
is right, it might explain how the iphone could go 32GB, get a better battery, and also have GPS. Looks a bit like a guitar fret X-section shape.
Note e.g. that http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/25/the-second-gen-iphone-3g-gps-only-slightly-thicker/ story has shipping in July, which seems to be slightly later than other rumours.


Bonjour

"Bonjour. Presto, instant network.

- Bonjour is there to get computers and smart devices to work together - no configuration, no complication.
- Computers and devices with Bonjour automatically broadcast their own services and listen for services being offered for the use of others.
- e.g. Your laptop might see a printer, an iTunes playlist, iChat buddy or even another computer available (printing, music, audio and video chat)
- Safari uses Bonjour to find any web pages on your local network.
- With the help of Bonjour, iChat lets you see which buddies are available for audio or video chats on your local network
- iTunes & iPhoto use Bonjour to help you share music and photos on your local network.
- Bonjour is also the underlying technology behind Back to My Mac in .Mac and Remote Disc in MacBook Air.
- Bonjour works with the popular standard connection technologies, including Ethernet and AirPort (802.11).
- It uses the standard, ubiquitous IP networking protocol for its connections, the same protocol that runs the Internet itself.
- And all of the technologies driving Bonjour are open — part of the standards creation process of the IETF, like Bonjour itself.
- Even Windows PCs can take advantage of Bonjour. For free via the Bonjour for Windows
- If you’re an open source enthusiast, you’ll be able to download the Bonjour source code to create software for virtually any platform.


So a technology thats underpinning Back to my Mac in .Mac, Remote Disc in MacBook Air. Used to join apple computers & smart devices together - so why not iPhone to iPhone? iPhone to printer, iPhone to .Mac?

We're talking hypotheticals -
- iPhone as remote control to Mac
- iPhone as games console Wii like device, with game on iPhone or on an iMac for example (streams data to iMac, MBP etc)
- iPhone to iPhone game play
- >2 iPhone gameplay
- iPhone straight to Bonjour ready printer
- iPhone to any MB, MBP, MBA interactino of files - flick them off, flick them on
- iPhone as a slaved multi-touch pad for e.g. a iMac
- iPhone as a roving webcam for a Webchat or audio conversation, streaming back to either the wifi router itself, or through a Mac
- iPhone as ...

Expect this to change come June 9th.

 

[saladiro]

"BreadCrumbz - Akin to Street View for a route. Canalso publish routes, share and navigate by pictures
Call a Cab - Hail one from anywhere in the world "With a single click" (versus single whistle)
Cooking capsules - recipe on a mobile, with instructions, grocery list,step by step
Dyno -Evaluate car performance on the road - Hore power & speed, acceleration (presumably from weight of car). 0 - 100 km timer. No mention of Quarter mile, so not drag racing (As previously mentioned on the accelerometer uses thread )
GolfPlay - I have to laugh this is Jack Bauer playing golf!! - Shows you the satellite imagery, updates real time
Jigsaw -Capture, process and share whiteboard data
Locale - Dynamic settings manager - (This could be native to Apple iPhone at some point - kinda like coming into you pad and the lights setting, music turning on etc)
Phonebook 2.0 - Phonebook integrated with presence and IM capability. Turning contact list into dynamic social app
Piggyback - Car sharing
synchrospot - LBS - personal reminders and booo: LB ads.

All doable on the iPhone. I think many users won't want spam or adverts on their iPhones. Yuck. A port of Ad-block perhaps?"

any way to block this spam....
dont want to go for these apps if I am gonna get spamed ( I hate spam)

 

[t0mat0]

Parallels for iPhone, then maybe Firefox 3 with Ad-block and the G filter set

The problem with advertising and the iPHone is there just isn't enough room to have an ad - it takes up a disproportionate amount of space, which means it' could piss viewers off, and actually lose sales.

Unless it's an ad, then quickly to a video stream, or an ad unobtrusively on a web page. - I'm sure Apple, having the final say on Apps, will have ads under control. Interesting point though - will ads through apps be allowed?

Google Maps could have them, but that's through a web search result, not baked into the main app section.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/05/19/asus.eee.pc.drops.wimax/
Got to make you wonder. bit touch if you live in the sticks - but
this intrigues:

iPass on Monday announced that its iPassConnect and Mobile Office services now officially support WM6 6 phones.
- (Allowing owners of supporting smartphones with Wi-Fi to access hotspots on both their individual and work accounts without first turning to a computer.
- e.g. For users abroad, away from the country they signed up with, who may either exit a 3G cellular coverage area or face roaming charges.
- Over 100,000 international hotspots already tap into iPass, including those run by Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott hotels as well as those run within McDonald's and Starbucks.

iPass
Apple to hook up with them or provide something similar?
Demo (Picture attached of demo)

The WM option available today costs $10 per month as part of the Connect service for unlimited access within North America. International pass costs $15.

"iPass will also include support for Apple devices, including the iPhone and iPod touch, later this year"
(BlackBerry support is promised in a similar timeframe and should involve all modern BlackBerries) (The service already supports Symbian-based smartphones as well as Mac OS X Leopard and Windows 2000/XP/Vista systems)

iPass Gives Individuals New Mobile Service That Unifies Wi-Fi Hotspots and 3G Broadband (Press release here
iPassConnect mobility service for individuals :The iPassConnect service unifies Wi-Fi hotspots, 3G data in the US, & also includes wired hotel broadband & global dial-up. ==> This gives businesspeople & consumers a subscription-based service to stay connected and productive virtually anywhere in the world.


So what's the deal with Starbucks, iPass (a member of the WiMax forum) , and AT&T?

"iPass combines Wi-Fi & 3G into one simple service so that busy road warriors can choose the option that best suits their situation. Users can access nearly 1,000 hotspots in more than 500 airports, including 83 of the world's 100 busiest; more than 20,000 hotels such as Hyatt, Hilton and Marriot; and more than 70,000 retail locations including Starbucks coffeehouses and McDonald's restaurants. iPass' nationwide 3G network provides data rates of up to 1.4 Mbps with coverage reaching over 230 million people in the U.S. As a last resort, subscribers can take advantage of iPass' global dial-up network to make local modem calls in over 160 countries.

iPass won "Networking and Communications Supplier of the Year" for the 2nd year in 2007 - beating off Cisco & RIM amongst others. They were considered to provide the best quality, value-for-money and innovative networking or communications products.

iPass' "complete solution" for mobile workers enabling "high workforce productivity, business continuity and IT management effectiveness"
iPass Mobile Office - the company's flagship service, allows to access secure wired and wireless connectivity at 10s of 1,000s of locations worldwide. Using the iPassConnect universal client, users can access the Internet and their corporate network with a one-click connection process and promptly attend to their clients' needs and new business opportunities while on the move.

Sweet.

From here
the switch of Starbucks from T-Mobile to AT&T hasn't affected iPass -

Who gets it free?
- Unlimited use at no extra charge: AT&T DSL or U-Verse fiber-optic users; AT&T remote-access business customers; U.S. Starbucks employees; AT&T's Wi-Fi roaming partners users, including Boingo Wireless and iPass (opening it up a bit to get Boingo in too).

(MobileStar then) T-mobile provided the T-Mobile HotSpot service at Starbucks for 6 years, but AT&T has worked with Starbucks for 10 years the article says.

Chris Bruzzo, Starbucks chief technology officer: "Think about us broadcasting Web services across that signal, broadcasting highly specific information about where that store is, making it possible to be located on a map,"

The shift? T-mobile gets 7,000 less locations of a total of ~nearly 9,000 (?) and become roaming partners. AT&T gets 7,000 to get to ~ 17,000 locations.

PC Mag does an iPass review here and PC World here

Is BT's Office Anywhere something similar? BT has a 2,000-strong hotspot network via the BT Openzone WiFi network and it can couple to the Wireless City project apparently http://www.currentanalysis.com/r/2007/Wireless-Europe-04-1.htm

Ok - it's officially 3 odd weeks away!

Time to start stalking Walt Mossberg: Why? because -

"We have been testing the iPhone for two weeks, in multiple usage scenarios, in cities across the country. Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer."

You'd imagine this:
"He writes his columns the day before they're published. (Now he types quickly with two fingers rather than one.) He has no backlog. He begins work at 7 am and often tests products at home at night and sends emails until 1 am."
might not happen for the major reviews...

Anyone know when those 2 weeks were last year? Anyone near his office in Washington D.C. or from
Potomac, Maryland? http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/mossberg.html

Wonder if we get a new head set to go with the v2 iPhone? Mmm similar tech to the Jawbone 2.0?

Any given Tuesday

Either the 20th, 27th or 3rd - Some of the Apple line will be bumped. It's not saying much, but take a gander at the Buyer's Guide - a lot of kit is nearing "wait - update imminent" stage.


Breaking - Gizmo
we interrupt this post, for breaking news from Gizmodo

 

[t0mat0]

Gizmodo firms up the launch date - June 9th

As of 2:30 2 stories have hit techmeme.com - Given the audience size of gizmodo and techmeme - this is tantamount to a public outing of Apple's release date for the U.S., (& possibly also for Korea & Japan).

http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/05/20/report-iphone-headed-for-joint-launch-in-japan-and-korea/

Gizmodo
UK Gizmodo doesn't cover it Here and U.S. Gizmodo actually does cover it here

Gizmodo's source is "close to the 3G iPhone launch "

Announcement at WWDC keynote, and available worldwide right after the launch. [Maybe APple will do soe late night openings too - it's worthy of it potentially )

- Spain - for sale by June 18th grand opening of Telefonica's megastore, "with nationwide availability right the next day or after a few hours. "
- The other European countries ? "iPhone availability will have similar launch schedules." (i.e. 1-2 weeks after keynote tops).



Fortune
Report: iPhone headed for joint launch in Japan and Korea (There source being Apple insider here
"Apple may be close to a deal that would add two of Asia’s hottest cellphone carriers to its growing list of international partners."

• "Telecoms Korea news service reported late last week that Apple is planning a special joint release of the next-generation iPhone with two carriers whose names are synonymous with 3G: Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and Korea Telecom Freetel."
  
• NTT DoCoMo has >50 million subscribers, & is Japan’s predominant mobile phone carrier. In 2001 it launched FOMA (Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access), the world’s first W-CDMA 3G service.
  
• KTF, in which NTT owns a minority stake, adopted DoCoMo’s 3G technology in 2004. >12 million subscribers in South Korea and operations in several other Asian countries, including India, Indonesia and China.
  
• Apple must have something good to bring to 2 hugely technologically advanced countries, where mobiles are predominant to PCs for the most part. Gives a hint that a “wave to pay” rollout is coming this June.
  
• "If Apple can conclude the deal before June 9, that would leave China as the last big Asian market without an authorized iPhone carrier."

Reuters T-Mobile & exclusivity in Germany
T-Mobile expects to remain the only seller of Apple's iPhone in Germany, T-Mobile Chief Executive Hamid Akhavan said on Tuesday. (Sorry - old news, but it is on techmeme.com).

• "We have a very good relationship with Apple...at least in Germany it is exclusive, and we expect it to remain as such," Akhavan told the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Paris.
  
• "If and when there is a 3G iPhone we expect to have it exclusively in Germany as well," referring to a yet-unconfirmed new model of Apple's touch-screen device that will support third-generation mobile phone networks with faster data speeds.

So that's 3 Apple stories on techmeme already this Tuesday!
- Gizmodo's story
- This on Germany exclusivity
- Fortune story (source = Apple Insider)

All within a minute of each other if you go off Techmeme's time counter.



Which begs the question - OS 2.0 when?

2 Main possibilities I can see
1) 3G iPhone gets it June 9th, current iPhones and iTouch get it late June
2) Everyone gets it June 9th

Flick that switch, Stevo...


Also http://www.cnet.com/8301-13641_1-9947905-44.html is worthy of reading...

NB to those wanting to sell current iPhone, to buy new one
Your current potential market price for sale will go down*, fast, correlating with the percentage of people picking this story up.
It's easily possible national newspapers will run with this rumour, and national news companies love stuff like this too.

* My view, take it with salt.