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Apple Considering Adding Contacts to iPhone Home Screen?
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a patent for putting contacts on your home screen.
yup, our patent system isn't hopelessly broken and misguided. sure.
yup, our patent system isn't hopelessly broken and misguided. sure.
That's actually not the subject matter claimed by the patent application, and even if it were, I'm not sure how someone APPLYING for a patent (but not at this point receiving such a patent) has anything to do with the state of "our patent system," but glad you got that off your chest.
I agree. I want them to take the Spaces idea and transfer it to the iPhone. Have a 2D grid instead of a 1D line of "Spaces" or home screens, and have an overview that, perhaps, you can assign an icon to each screen, or merely have a number assigned to each of the home screens so you can memorize which one contains the apps you need, but have two-swipe access to any screen, as well as enable them to allow more screens more easily.
jW
You may be on to something.. But I think a simple 2-tier hierarchy may suffice. In other words - an icon on a root screen can represent either an app or another screen (Games, References, Communications, etc - categories are user-definable). This way you have a one-click access to most common apps, and one-click access to any other screen. Hopefully with 4G iPhone supporting higher resolution - you should be able to fit more than current 20 icons on a root screen.
Another thing they need to re-do is notification system. Pop-up messages are no good with multiple Push apps competing for top screen. Android or WebOS implementation of "message drawers" is vastly superior.
It's also already a feature in Android. I guess if you're Apple, it's OK to patent stuff that other people are already doing.
So android has a feature where, based on proximity to a contact, an icon may be made to appear on the device's home screen automatically, and where that icon is linked to both contact information and applications relating to that icon?
I don't think so.
+1.
The day I have random advertising pop up on my phone, is the day I get rid of my smartphone.
Or, at the very least, it had better be the day that my carrier no longer charges for data.
You guys, seriously think that patent was granted for a shortcut? There is no way this is whole picture. I think this shortcut talk is related to a broader change in OS itself. For example, I have an important contact in my contact list - what the shortcut can do than is to keep tabs on his/her activity - mentioned proximity, e-mails, photo sharing and a like. If you get an email from that particular contact - alert appears under his icon. This is much more than shortcut you press to go contact app. This idea requires OS and hardware integration (such as proximity sensor) to work flawlessly. In addition based on network requirements, the OS can ran a background process to dynamically invoke more services available for contact and the user. Say the video chat if wifi is available for both and so forth. That is what the patent was granted for, I suppose. By the way if that is what Android 2.1 does (which I doubt) it will have it be removed as the patent was granted for 2008 claim - way before Android.
So you'll need to add a bunch of businesses into your contacts? One contact for each location too? If you are within proximity, why would you need to order via your phone? Just go inside and step up to the counter. You want to call when you are not close to the business so your order is about ready when you get there.
It should also be noted that the homescreen layout is from 1.X before there were apps. There was space at the bottom of the screen for icons to appear/disappear. There is nowhere for icons to just appear now (save it be the at the very end) without completely messing up app organization. Like most of the other patent applications we've seen headlined, this one is not going to be implemented.
Maybe they will have a new screen that you access with a up or down swipe like they do for the search screen with the left swipe. The up swipe could be your contants screen, while the down swipe could be a location based screen that updates depending on your location to those particular contacts or services.
This is a patent APPLICATION. No patent was granted yet.
Also, all that matters in the US is who invented first. If some dude at google thought of it first (and didn't suppress it, and worked diligently to reduce it to practice) Apple can't patent it no matter when it becomes available in Android.
I agree that the application has nothing to do with the mere idea of putting a contact on your home screen, however.
Let's think about this a little harder.
Regarding your first point, and going back to my chipotle example. The point is not necessarily that I am going to use the icon right away. There is a certain utility to the phone realizing I frequent certain establishments and adding them to my contacts so that I can use them later. This is, after all, what a business card is all about. By your logic, no one should ever hand me a business card - after all, why would I call the person since he's standing right in front of me? So in the chipotle case, the fact that I bought a burrito today indicates I might want to buy a burrito tomorrow, and, assuming I've enabled the appropriate options to add the contact, it might be nice if a contact was added to allow me to order my burrito remotely in the future.
Now, as to your point on organization - do you insist apple would add such a feature but keep everything else constant on the phone? Do you suppose there's no way apple could improve icon organization? Like by, I dunno, adding a home screen specifically dedicated to these automatic icons? Perhaps accessible like the search screen by swiping in a particular direction, or swiping with multiple fingers or something? Perhaps swipe down for these icons, up for a today screen, left for search? Or perhaps these contacts show up in the Phone app when you select a particular tab?
I suspect the location-based stuff is part of a plan to monetize retail locations:
1. Movie theaters. Walk into the lobby, your iPhone pops up a point of sale app with movie listings, you buy two tickets over the app, your iPhone generates a bar code, the theater guys scans it, and you watch your movie. If you bought tickets two days ago, it just pops up the bar code.
2. Starbucks. Walk into Starbucks, your iPhone pops up your Starbucks app which says 'The usual?' and gives you a Yes/No, you click yes, they call your drink, and you pick it up.
3. Restaurants. Walk into the lobby, OpenTable app tells the restaurant you arrived, vibes your iPhone when your table is ready.
A lot of the apps are already out there and just need a little tweaking and a license from Apple to generates a few cents of revenue from every transaction. Starbucks is already testing something like this, and the OpenTable app already allows you to make reservations on the fly. There will be independent apps out there that do the same thing, so Apple will want to make it very desirable for retailers to use their payment system by keeping it cheap and easy to use.
1. Movie theaters. Walk into the lobby, your iPhone pops up a point of sale app with movie listings, you buy two tickets over the app, your iPhone generates a bar code, the theater guys scans it, and you watch your movie. If you bought tickets two days ago, it just pops up the bar code.
2. Starbucks. Walk into Starbucks, your iPhone pops up your Starbucks app which says 'The usual?' and gives you a Yes/No, you click yes, they call your drink, and you pick it up.
3. Restaurants. Walk into the lobby, OpenTable app tells the restaurant you arrived, vibes your iPhone when your table is ready.
A lot of the apps are already out there and just need a little tweaking and a license from Apple to generates a few cents of revenue from every transaction. Starbucks is already testing something like this, and the OpenTable app already allows you to make reservations on the fly. There will be independent apps out there that do the same thing, so Apple will want to make it very desirable for retailers to use their payment system by keeping it cheap and easy to use.
No it hasn't. Did you read what the patent application actually refers to? It's not just sticking icons on the home screen.
Sounds complicated. I like the Nokia Point and Find concept better:
With Nokia Point and Find you point your mobile to a movie poster, the app recognizes the movie and you can buy your ticket, view reviews etc.
Also works with other products etc.
http://pointandfind.nokia.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1wM6nlcALA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYhkJX8sdn8
I have tried Opentable on my Android phone and I get the idea of that software, but is it really that inconvenient or time waster to wait in line to order your coffee or purchase movie tickets?
Yes. And location services etc. are even integrated into the S60 contact system. Hell there are even apps for S60 that support exactly that idea, like for example "Here and Now".
1) Google goggles was announced around a year after P&F.
2) Google goggles basically only searches the web and shows you the result of Google web search, pictures etc. In P&F everyone (including companies and end users) can add their own "worlds" which contains all the information about the products etc. So a retailer can add products and define exactly which options will be available to a cutsomer (like buying a ticket, buying product, show reviews or more information, etc.).