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Tag: apple

  • iPhone Interface Allows Call Center Mangement


    Smoothstone IP Communications has developed a mobile interface that allows corporate call centers to be controlled from anywhere in the world using the iPod and iPhone.

    The company says Apple’s new support for corporate security standards allows it to provide a secure, enterprise solution for IT professionals to use when they are out the office environment.

    Utilizing the new technology available in Apple’s handset, clients with Smoothstone’s Intelligent Call Control (ICC) suite can now use the mobile version of the revolutionary ICC application to:

    * Manage call queues across multiple locations in real time

    * Reroute any calls to any other agent or call center location on the fly

    * Transfer held calls through a drag-and-drop interface

    * See instant statistics and analytics of call activity and agent performance

    * Listen to live calls via Bluetooth headset or speaker

    * Record and review calls for training and quality assurance

    The announcement comes a year after the initial launch of Smoothstone’s ICC suite, a completely integrated solution.

    ICC requires no customer purchased equipment, is flexibly priced according to client size, and can be tailored to each organization’s individual needs.

    ICC is a part of Smoothstone’s comprehensive managed solution for mid- to large-size enterprises, which delivers next generation applications over Smoothstone’s nationwide, private, MPLS network that utilizes proven Cisco Systems technology.

  • iPhone Downloads Top 100m – Why Isn't Everyone Happy?


    More than 100 million applications have been downloaded from the App Store since the launch of Apple’s 3G iPhone two months ago.

    This landmark was announced today to a chorus of iPhone programmers voicing their displeasure over Apple’s unclear and seemingly arbitrary “approval” policy.

    Fraser Speirs, developer of the popular Exposure program for the iPhone, even went as far as declaring he would not make any further submissions to the App Store until sweeping changes were made.

    “I will never write another iPhone application for the App Store as currently constituted,” he said on his blog.

    He added that while he isn’t pulling Exposure from the store, he isn’t “going to invest time and money into new ideas for the iPhone until this mess is resolved”.

    Apple said today that more than 3,000 applications are currently available on the App Store, with over 90 per cent priced at less than USD $10 and more than 600 offered for free.

    However, its approval policy has already left developers of completed iPhone apps with programs they are unable to distribute after getting an official rejection letter.

    Among those refused recently is Podcaster, which despite following official guidelines fell foul of Apple because it duplicated iTunes’ functionality.

    This is despite other software – calculator and weather apps – that also duplicate Apple’s being approved.

    Another reject is Pull My Finger, which was judged to be too tasteless for customers.

    Null River has also finally received an official response from Apple about its tethering app, NetShare, which was pulled from the App Store twice.

    Apple has decided it will not be allowing any tethering applications in the AppStore.

    What is angering many developers is that even following Apple’s guidelines to the letter is no guarantee their apps will be approved.

    In Speirs’ words, “writing software is a serious investment of time and energy".

    Yet he says Apple’s “current practice of rejecting certain applications at the final hurdle – submission to the App Store – is disastrous for investor confidence”.

    “Developers are investing time and resources in the App Store marketplace and, if developers aren’t confident, they won’t invest in it.

    “If developers – and serious developers at that – don’t invest, what’s the point?” he asks.

    Speirs suggests Apple perhaps wants the App Store to be a “museum of poorly-designed nibware written by dilettante Mac OS X/iPhone OS switcher-developers and hobbyist students”.

    He adds: “That’s what will happen if companies who intend to invest serious resources in bringing an original idea to the App Store are denied a reasonable level of confidence in their expectation of profit.”

    Speirs goes on to make some suggestion for improving the current situation.

    With Apple celebrating the 100 millionth download mark it may be in no mood to appease disgruntled developers, but it would do well to pay some attention to their comments.

    Whoppee cushion apps may not be to everyone’s taste but taking an approach smacking of censorship has an equally bad smell about it.

    Please let us know your thoughts on the subject.

  • Nokia dominates global smartphone ad traffic

    Nokia may lead the world in smartphone mobile ad traffic rankings but iPhone fastest growing device

    Smartphones accounted for 25.8 per cent of worldwide mobile ad traffic in August, up 3.4 per cent since May 2008, according to AdMob’s August 2008 Mobile Metrics Report.

    Nokia dominates globally, with a 62.4 per cent slice of the traffic in August and more than 50 per cent in every region except North America. In the US, where Nokia does not have a top 20 ranked smartphone, RIM rules the roost.

    The Canadian company has 31.2 per cent of US smartphone traffic and manufactures three of the top 10 devices.

    According to the report, the Apple iPhone was the fastest growing device in the world last month and ended August with more than 2.9 million ad requests per day.

    AdMob stores and analyzes data from every ad request, impression and click and uses this information to optimize ad matching.
    In the latest report, AdMob has highlighted the rapid and global growth of smartphone usage.

    The anticipated launch of new smartphones in the coming months, including the first of Google’s Android phones, the RIM Bold, and the Nokia N96, is a strong indication that this growth is likely to continue throughout the year.

    According to the report, the iPhone ended August with more than 2.9 million requests per day.

    The top five smartphones in the US – the BlackBerry Pearl, Palm Centro, BlackBerry Curve, Apple iPhone, and Samsung Instinct – generated 12.9 per cent of all US traffic in August, a 2.4 per cent increase over July.

    Other highlights from the August 2008 report:

    * RIM is in second place worldwide with 10.8 per cent of smartphone traffic with the large majority of that coming from North America.

    * Motorola and SonyEriccson have a large share of overall mobile traffic, but neither has a smartphone ranked in the top 20 worldwide.

    * Smartphones continue to increase marketshare in the US, accounting for 23.7 per cent of traffic in August, up 3.5 percent since May 2008.

  • Market for mobile touch screen worth US$5bn in 2009


    Apple’s iPhone has done much to thrust touch screens firmly into the public’s consciousness – a place they seem certain to increasingly inhabit.

    A report from ABI Research forecasts that revenue from the global touch screen market for smartphones and other handheld devices such as MIDs, UMPCs, and PNDs will reach USD $5 billion in 2009.

    Shipments of touch screen-based mobile devices increased 91 per cent in 2007 compared to the previous year.

    Yet according to Kevin Burden, research director at ABI, said nearly all mobile handset manufacturers were getting into touch screens to a greater or lesser extent.

    But he added that there were strong regional differences in the uptake of touch screens.

    The Asia/Pacific market, where more than 80 per cent of the world’s touch screen-based mobile phone production was consumed over the past year, has been a major driver in the rising demand.

    “The acceptance of touch screens to date has varied by geographic region, which has been a significant factor in determining the success of individual handset vendors,” he said.

    Samsung and Motorola have been the most successful, commanding 33 per cent and 30 per cent shares of the touch screen mobile phone market respectively.

    “Samsung and Motorola lead the market for touch screen phones primarily because of their scale and significant presence in the Asian markets,” said Burden.

    “Because it’s difficult to represent even a fraction of the common Asian characters on a QWERTY-style keyboard, touch screen devices on which characters can be written with a stylus are immensely popular.”

    At 24 per cent, Sony Ericsson has the third-largest market share, while all the other handset vendors – including Apple – are essentially niche players.

    The ABI report said that a number of factors are driving further adoption of touch screen-based mobile devices.

    *Consumers are looking for more intuitive user interfaces and personalization options as device functionality increases.

    *Prices for touch components and panels continue to decrease and are falling on an average of nearly 10 per cent per annum.

  • iPhone rivals beef up camera offerings


    The launch by Samsung in the UK this week of what it claims is Europe’s first 8 megapixel camera phone is being seen as an attempt to highlight shortcomings in the iPhone.

    A number of other handset vendors are preparing to launch similar high-end camera phones in time for the Christmas period.

    Sony Ericsson is expected to launch the 8.1 megapixel C905 in the fall, while Nokia and LG are reported to be planning similar moves.
    The fact Apple’s 3G iPhone only packs a 2 megapixel camera is regarded as one of its key weakness.

    Samsung’s i8510 will be available in the UK through Carphone Warehouse and free on a £35 a month contract with Orange UK.
    The smartphone is being positioned as a genuine alternative to digital cameras.

    Mark Mitchinson, vice president for Samsung, said the cell phone industry was playing catch-up, selling only 4 and 5 megapixel camera phones.

    “But the 8 megapixel is a new milestone, I think the vast majority of consumers will see it as a credible alternative,” he said.
    “For the first time ever you will not need to carry a camera as well as a phone on your holidays.”

    The i8510 is based on Symbian’s Series 60 platform and includes HSPA connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS and FM radio functionality.

  • Samsung accepts offer for Symbian buyout

    Nokia said it would buy out other shareholders of smartphone software maker Symbian for US$410 million

    Samsung has accepted Nokia’s offer to buy out its stake in software firm Symbian, and Nokia now has acceptances from all Symbian shareholders to sell their shares.

    Nokia said in June it would buy out other shareholders of UK-based smartphone software maker Symbian and make its software royalty-free to other phone makers in response to new rivals such as Google.

    Symbian’s assets will be contributed by Nokia to the not-for-profit organization, Symbian Foundation, in which it would unite with leading handset makers, network operators and communications chipmakers.

    It aims to create a group offering members a royalty-free license mobile software platform using open-source coding.
    Earlier, in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Symbian’s chief executive, Nigel Clifford, hinted that there could be future consolidation among mobile phone platform makers.

    However, he declined to comment specifically on partnerships or co-operation with rival products such as the Google-backed Android, Microsoft’s Window’s Mobile, or Research In Motion’s Blackberry platform.

    “We have seen consolidation in the past, and, I’m sure, as the market place matures, as every other market place has done, we will see a consolidation in the future,” he said.

    “Whether we participate in that, will be a decision for the Foundation when that is up and running next year.”

    Clifford said a demand for service-rich smartphones is expected to be a catalyst for success in telecommunications markets such as the US.

    Earlier this week, Symbian’s reported that 19.6 million handsets with its operating system were shipped in second quarter 2008, bringing the total cumulative number of Symbian handsets in the market to 225.9 million.

    However, the company said the average royalty per unit declined from US$4.40 in the first half of 2007 to US$3.70 in the first half of 2008.

    Symbian said the reason for the decline was because licensees were migrating to the v9 of Symbian OS, which has a different licensing pricing structure.

    There are currently 159 Symbian phone models available globally from eight handset vendors. Another 92 handsets are in development.

  • Pay-as-you-go 3G iPhone due soon

    Price announced for pre-paid iPhone but unlimited browsing and wifi included for first year

    UK customers are to be offered a pay-as-you-go 3G iPhone from later this month starting at GBP 349.99 (around US$630) for the 8GB model.

    O2 , which has the exclusive handset franchise for the UK, will also be selling the 16GB model for GBP 399.99 (around US$720).

    The phone will be available from September 16 at O2 and Apple stores, as well as at Carphone Warehouse.

    While the price is high, it doesn’t compare that unfavorably with other high-end smartphone handsets on PAYG terms.

    There are also likely to be customers happy to avoid an 18-month contract at GBP 30 (US$52) a month.

    With PAYG tariffs popular in the UK, the strategy is being seen as a means of O2 broadening its customer base.

    The telecoms company said that the price included unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12 months after activating the Apple handset.

    The company added that users could continue to receive unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi at the end of the 12 month period for GBP 10 per month (US$18).

    The “unlimited browsing” is subject to O2’s excessive usage policy.

    Existing customers who upgrade to the 3G iPhone may be eligible for a reward, the company has said.

    The phone will get a “favorite place” tariff, meaning that for US$20-28 a month you get 500 minutes of calling to any UK landline or other O2 mobile.

    The operator said handset activation will be done through iTunes, as applies to contact customers, although some settings will need to be changed before users can access the mobile Web.

    Do the sums add up for consumers and will they go for the deal? Would PAYG appeal to other markets? Please send us your comments.

  • iPhone app developers target of VC funds

    The success of Apple’s App Store is encouraging venture capitalists to invest in smartphone software start-ups

    A  venture capitalist with a US$100m fund to invest in start-ups specializing in iPhone applications has told the New York Times he expects to tap into the success of Apple’s App Store.

    Matt Murphy, who oversees the iFund created earlier this year by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has received 2,500 business plans for potential iPhone application start-ups this year and has invested in four.

    He tells the Times that until the iPhone emerged, finding hot mobile start-ups was difficult – largely because control over what was on a cellphone was controlled by the wireless carriers, not entrepreneurs.

    That changed with the launch of the App Store, from where iPhone owners have already downloaded more than 60 million applications.

    This, and the emergence of smartphone software opportunities, such as Google’s new Android operating system, has sparked a creative boom among software developers.

    Now other investors and phonemakers are looking with increasing interest at potentially lucractive investments in innovative developers.

    The Times report says Research in Motion is expected to announce soon a fund for developers who want to create applications for the BlackBerry.

    JLA Ventures, which is based in Canada, along with RBC Venture Partners, is co-managing the US$150 million BlackBerry Partners Fund.

    Google announced a US$10 million challenge for software using its Android operating system.

    Are app developers are a good financial bet? Please send us your comments.

  • Apple sued over iPhone's 3G issues


    Tech-Ex reports in his blog that Alabama resident Jessica Alena Smith has filed a complaint against Apple.

    He says that although the lawsuit hasn’t been granted class action status yet, he believes it will, eventually.

    According to Tech-Ex, Jonathan Kudulis, an attorney with Birmingham, Alabama-based Trimmier Law Firm, representing Smith, said:
    “Apple sold these devices on the promise that they were twice as fast as the pre-existing phones and that they would function suitably, or properly, on the 3G network. But, thus far, Apple and the phone have failed to deliver on this promise.”

    The blogger explains his own experience of what he describes as an almost complete “3G outage”.

    “I work at a company that works on mobile phone software, and any of our other 3G phones work just fine, with full bars of coverage, at work, while the iPhone has one bar at best,” he said.
    “Additionally, while some try to pin the problem on AT&T, complaints from other carriers in different countries indicate it’s not a network issue.”

    Tech-Ex says he doesn’t believe Smith is looking for a rich payday. Instead, he suggests she is trying to get Apple to fix the issue, if necessary by recalling and repairing existing phones.

    He concludes by saying that after calling AT&T, they refunded him an entire month on his data plan – which seems to have satisfied him.

    What have your experiences been with your iPhone? Please let us know.

  • Copy and Paste comes to iPhone

    Openclip framework adds Copy and Paste without violating the iPhone SDK agreement

    A college student has developed an open source framework that allows cross-application Copy and Paste on the iPhone.

    Zac White says his Open Clip framework uses a shared space on the iPhone that can be accessed by applications to enable Copy and Paste – without falling foul of the iPhone SDK agreement.

    Apple forbids applications from running in the background because it would take up too much of the iPhone’s resources.
    Also, developers are not allowed to create plug-ins that make their apps work with other apps on the iPhone.

    However, when a developer adds the OpenClip framework to an iPhone app, that app can then access the common area and write to it, and read from it, thereby enabling copy and paste between participating apps.

    In an interview with Geek Brief’s Cali Lewis, White explained that OpenClip is a way for developers to include system wide Copy and
    Paste on the iPhone.

    The Oklahoma University student has started a non-profit, open-source community project for OpenClip.
    “It’s a device that allows apps to talk to each other,” he said. “It’s a very extensible way to get data between applications.”

    A key element is for as many apps to implement the OpenClip framework – since the wider the participation, the more apps users can Copy and Paste between.

    White suggests iPhone users email app developers about the advantages of OpenClip and asks app developers to show their participation by placing the OpenClip badge on their websites.

    He stressed that the framework created is not on a jailbreak phone and fully complied with Apple’s SDK agreement.

    In the interview with Geek Brief, White explains how he met iPhone App Store developer Juviwhale (creator of the MagicPad app) at iPhone Dev Camp, where the OpenClip framework was developed as a “weekend hack”.

    He effectively gave MagicPad’s localized cut/copy/paste cross-application functionality with the open-source OpenClip framework.
    It uses the API used by Apple on OS X to allow developers to easily implement OpenClip with the minimum of coding.

    Zac White

    White explains that the biggest factor was making it easy for developers to integrate it into their  apps, including having the documentation written for the API on Apple.com.

    Another element he considered was ease of transition for developers and users when Apple, finally, implements its own Copy and Paste. By adopting the API used on OS X, White expects a future transition to be “very easy”.

    He does admit that OpenClip has some limitations. “It is completely possible that apps that use this wouldn’t get on the App Store. Not for any real reason other than it will eventually step on Apple’s toes,” he said.

    “It is also conceivable that the technology this is built on will break in the future. The hope is that the update that breaks this also brings copy and paste support.

    Greg “Joz” Joswiak, Apple’s head of iPod and iPhone marketing has previously stated that cut, copy, and paste is on the future feature list.

    But his view that the function is not a “priority” is not shared by many users.
    Please let us know what you think about the OpenClip development and how – if at all – Apple will respond to it.