The iphone Web Apps Rock

A lot of talk has been centered around the App store and Jailbreak Apps but what i find really exciting is the web apps that are being designed and formatted for the iPhone/iTouch. No installation, no jailbreaking, no disk space is necessary. And with the iPhone’s/iTouch’s ability to store a bookmark on the Home Screen, these apps can appear and be accessed just like any other app.

There are several different ways to locate web apps. First, Apple has a web page that allows people to register their web apps. I highly recommend those with RSS readers subscribe to this feed. Some very cool apps are showing up. Another cool way of seeing these web apps are using the Web Apps [iTunes Link] application that you can download from the Itunes App Store. It allows you to create a list of favorites and navigate to them easily (if you don’t want to have a direct bookmark icon on your desktop) and lets you see what is out and try out the apps on your iphone.

Some of these apps are just web pages reformatted for you iPhone/iTouch, but some of them really take advantage of the IPhone GUI and technology. One that caught my eye yesterday is the Dominos Pizza Tracker. According to the Apple page “The Domino’s Pizza Tracker takes a phone number as input and connects to Domino’s Pizza Tracker XML backend to return information regarding your order, including time of creation, cooking, and delivery status. “ I haven’t tried it yet, but i think i’ll be having Pizza tonight!

Palringo for iPhone Updated,Now Supported PPT

It has been less than one month since Palringo added its IM application to the iPhone App Store and we already have the major revision promised when it was released on July 29. The most notable addition of course, is Push-to-Talk (PTT) support. PTT, or vocal IM as they often call it in this case, is the feature that sets Palringo apart from competitors on various other platforms and now the great functionality is available to iPhone users as well. So how does it work? Just like standard PTT services, simply select a contact from your contact list and hold a [virtual] button while speaking. Finish talking, release the button and your audio recording is quickly delivered to the recipient. Incoming PTT messages can be played automatically or manually depending on your settings and they will play right from within the app. Of course Palringo also supports messaging to a variety of other IM platforms such as GTalk, Yahoo and AIM and they aren’t left out when it comes to PTT.

The catch of course is that these IM services don’t support PTT so any vocal messages, just like picture messages, will be delivered as a link to the file hosted on Palringo servers. The recipient can then easily click the link and view your image file or play the PTT message right from within any standard browser. Of course the addition of PTT support doesn’t change the fact that the app is free and since all iPhones are sold with unlimited data, you’ve now got unlimited PTT as well – to any handset running Palringo on any network! Take that, carriers.

iTunes 8.0 New Features

Apple recently released their iTunes 8.0 with “new” features. But what new features? It seems as though pretty much nothing changed. I’ve scowered through iTunes looking for improvements and things they got rid of. Let’s start with the most obvious first.
Many people will have noticed a new way to browse your music called “Grid View.”  It shows all your music in a grid and displays them by album showing their artwork (as long as you have them).

Apple added a new visualizer that uses 3D gravity & magnetism effects. You can quickly switch to the visualizer by pressing “Ctrl+T.”

The new update enables support with 2.1 firmware iPhones, iPod Touch 2G, and the new Nanos.

In the iTunes Store, iTunes 8.0 allows for quality TV Shows to be downloaded & bought for just $2.99. More and more of these affordable high quality videos are being added everyday so why don’t you go check them out.
Probably the most unique and special feature to hit iTunes, is Genius Playlist Creation and Sidebar. You can get more info on that here.

Lastly the one thing that wasn’t mentioned is that they removed the movie convert feature to watch on Apple TVs, iPods, and iPhones. You no longer see a “Convert Selection to Apple TV” or “Convert Selection to iPhone/iPod” when right clicking a movie. Why did they get rid of this feature? Nobody knows… It may be because of the long time it takes for the movie to be converted. Only non-iTunes DRM protected files can be converted into other formats, and probably Apple realized other 3rd party software is best for this (Videora, Crusoft, etc). Apple is getting rid of our rights in the technology world. App Store submissions constantly get rejected, their service agreements and private policies become stricter and stricter… When will it ever end?

iPhone 2.0 Worldwide Launch on June 9th

A June 9 launch date for the iPhone 2? No surprises there, and now it looks like inside sources are confirming the June 9 date, which is also when Steve Jobs’ keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled.

But Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz has got wind of the details of the launch, and his source tells him that the Second Coming will be a worldwide event — not just in the United States. He also claims that his snitch, “someone very, very close to the 3-G iPhone launch”, says that the current fixed pricing model will be discontinued in favor of a more Euro-friendly flexible price point, one that can shift subject to the markets and the whims of the telcos.

The last point concerns Spain. As we reported this morning, Telefónica will indeed carry the iPhone, and will be launching it along with its brand new Madrid megastore on June 18.

This seems plausible enough. Despite the odd delay, all of Apple’s hardware ships worldwide immediately upon launch. And the evidence coming in from around the world corroborates Jesus’ story: The million and one one-line press releases from cellphone carriers announcing deals with Apple, for one, and the iPhone drought in the UK, Germany and even the online Apple store, for another. What is amazing is that Apple kept things quiet for so long, considering the amount of people involved.

So far, we count over 40 countries with iPhone deals, and in some of these there will be multiple carriers offering the iPhone. Here’s what I believe to be a comprehensive list, not including the countries where the iPhone is already on sale, in no particular order (actually, the order I found them on Google):

Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, Turkey, Italy, India, Austria, Philippines, Argentina, 
Brazil, 
Chile,
 Colombia,
 Dominican Republic,
 Ecuador, 
El Salvador, 
Guatemala, 
Honduras,
 Jamaica,
 Mexico, Nicaragua,
 Paraguay,
 Peru,
 Puerto Rico, 
Uruguay, Canada, Singapore, Belgium, Jordan, Romania, Switzerland and Slovakia.

Fortune has a fancy infographic coloring the iPhone territories in red:

If Jesus’ tipoff is right, it looks like Apple is poised to conquer the world with the iPhone, much as it has done with the iPod, only a lot quicker. Piper Jaffray consultant Gene Munster put the numbers into his calculator and totted up the potential market for the iPhone now that these deals are in place. The number is 575 million. If Apple does nothing more than keep its existing 3 percent market penetration, that means it could sell 17.25 million iPhones. Muster doesn’t stop there, though. He reckons that Apple could shift 45 million units by the end of 2009. Truly, the iPhone could be the phone on which the sun never sets.

Apple’s Latest iPhone Sees Slow Japan Sales

Two months after its launch, the latest version of Apple Inc.’s iPhone is showing strong sales around the world — except in Japan.

Apple’s partnership with Japan’s third-largest mobile operator, Softbank Corp., to sell the iPhone 3G certainly created a buzz. Like elsewhere, Japanese consumers lined up at stores in advance of the phone’s release on July 11, and many locations sold out almost immediately. But now analysts estimate that demand in Japan has fallen to a third of what it was initially and analysts are now expecting fewer iPhone sales. There is no supply shortage: The device is readily available in Apple and Softbank stores and other outlets. Major electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera’s megastore in the western city of Osaka, for example, recently had more than 100 of them stacked up in open view.

A spokesman for Softbank, which has 19.5 million wireless subscribers, said the iPhone continues to be popular, but declined to provide details. A spokesman for Apple Japan declined to comment. Sales have been slowed by the iPhone’s relatively high price and the fact that Japan is already home to some of the world’s most advanced cellphones. The iPhone’s limited success so far shows how tough it continues to be for foreign manufacturers to crack the Japanese cellphone market.

More than 10 domestic handset manufacturers compete for a slice of Japan’s cellphone market, one of the world’s largest with annual sales of 50 million phones. Nokia Corp., the industry leader in global shipments, has less than 1% share in Japan. Instead, Sharp Corp. leads the Japanese market, with about 25% of shipments. The global market is more than one billion phones.

Still, expectations had been high that if anyone could break into such an insular market, Apple would with the iPhone 3G because of its strong brand name and popularity of its iPod players and Macintosh computers. The original iPhone wasn’t sold in Japan.

According to market-research firm MM Research Institute, Apple sold about 200,000 phones in Japan in the first two months. Since then, however, demand has been falling steadily, and analysts now widely believe sales are unlikely to reach a total of 500,000 units. That is half the one million units that they previously thought Apple could sell. One big challenge is that Japanese users already have access to some of the most advanced mobile-phone technologies in the world. Models currently sold by Japanese cellphone makers typically contain a high-end color display, digital TV-viewing capability, satellite navigation service, music player and digital camera. Many models also include chips that let owners use their phones as debit cards or train passes. Noriko Tanaka, a 34-year-old Softbank customer in Tokyo, said she likes the iPhone’s touch screen, but would prefer a phone with digital television capability. “The touch screen looks fun, but I’m not sure I could get used to it,” said Ms. Tanaka.

Another challenge for Softbank is that Apple’s marketing for the new iPhone has touted the devices compatibility with 3G wireless networks, which give users faster access to the Internet. While this is a relatively new service in the U.S., 3G access has been a standard feature on Japanese phones for years.

“The iPhone is a difficult phone to use for the Japanese market because there are so many features it doesn’t have,” says Eimei Yokota, an analyst with MM Research. He said one small but must-have feature that is often cited as a deficiency in the iPhone is the lack of “emoji,” clip art that can be inserted in sentences to jazz up emails. Japanese consumers have also shied away from the phone because of its high price. Through a complex discount equation, Softbank makes a 16-gigabyte phone available for about 58,560 yen, or around $540, for current Softbank customers or 34,560 yen, or around $320, for new customers, both prices require a two-year contract. That compares with a U.S. price of $299 with AT&T Inc. under similar conditions.

In addition, Japanese customers pay as much as $60 a month to access the Internet and download software applications, along with the usual calling charges. Softbank has lowered its starting data service price since the iPhone launch, but the potential cost is prohibitive for some people, particularly when many Japanese phones are on sale at a lower price.

One iPhone feature that is unique even to Japanese users is the App Store, Apple’s online clearinghouse for software, such as games and reference guides. The App Store is popular among U.S. users, but hasn’t taken hold as much in Japan, where consumers tend to be more cautious about making purchases online.

Takuro Hiraoka, an analyst for GfK Marketing Services Japan Ltd., says Apple could take more advantage of this feature to boost sales going forward. “Japanese users don’t know what to do with an iPhone,” he said. “Sales could grow if Apple provides specific examples of how it can be used.”

DiY for iPhone Black Grip Skin

The slimmest of iPhone cases is still too thick to use with the dock, so I came up with this skin-tight wrap for the iPhone that has really great grip (my key reason for needing a case in the first place).  I’m not worried about scratching the glass, but the slippery sides cause fear of dropping it.  Otherwise, I want to be true to the sleek, thin form factor, and even enhance the illusion by going matte black.  Just download the template here, and then just follow these simple instructions.

Here’s the materials you’ll need:

Pencil (Not Pictured)

Push Pin

X-Acto Knife

Hole Punch

Gaffer’s Tape

My template

Straight-Edge Ruler

Non-Stick Cutting Surface

Sandwich (Optional)
1.Lay a length of Gaffer’s Tape down on your non-stick cutting surface.  Mark out 4 centimeters with your ruler and trim. It’s important that you not use another kind of tape.  Gaffer’s tape is cloth, giving the best grip, and the glue used does not leave behind the residue you would get with other tapes (especially duct tape).

Trim from both sides; the edge of the tape is too ragged for a clean fit.

2.Repeat with a second piece, and then butt the two strips up perfectly on your non-stick cutting surface.

3.Print out the template and align it directly over

your tape strips.  Then press firmly with the push pin on all the corners of the outline.

4. Connect the dots with a pencil and ruler.

Trim along the outlines with your X-Acto and ruler.

6.Use the hole punch for the camera lens

7….And punch a half circle for the audio jack

8.Now take the left strip and line it up exactly along the mirror edge of the iPhone; right on the corner where it starts to curve, leaving the mirror trim on the front exposed.

9. With your thumbnail, tightly press down the wrap until any bubbles are worked out.  The right edge should be in the dead center of the phone’s back.  Then stick down the tabs.  Gaffer’s Tape is fabric, so it stretches. You can stretch the tab for a seamless corner.

10.  Now take the second piece and butt it up exactly with the edge of the first piece.  This might take a couple of tries to get a seamless fit.

If you did it right, the right piece will wrap around the side for a flush fit with the face of the phone and you’re done!  You’ve got a stealthy, ninja-like, skin-tight grip for your iPhone.

This post from: http://web.mac.com/steffan/Blue_Ember/EmberBlog/Entries/2008/5/19_DIY_iPhone_Stealth_Skin.html

There are Five Reasons to Be Super Psyched for Android

The launch of Android is the most important event in mobile phones since the release of the iPhone. It could actually be more important, in the long run. Even if it doesn’t exceed Google’s wildest dreams to become a ubiquitous mobile platform, it’s sure to re-stoke innovation in mobile phones as platforms slug it out for supremacy. But besides all that, Android just looks pretty damn cool. Of course, Android isn’t all Google-y amazingness—there are some definite reasons to take a step back from the love-in. So here are five reasons why you should be absolutely hyped for Android on Tuesday, and five why, well…

1. It’s open! The single best thing about Android is that’s a modern mobile phone OS that’s also almost completely open, unlike some other locked down mobile OSes. (There are a few restrictions in accessing the hardware for security reasons.) It’s based on Linux, and once Google has released Android, most of it will be totally open source, so it’ll be incredibly easy to dive into its guts and mess around, which will help build a robust developer community, along with all of the other benefits of using open software. Most of its other awesome traits grow out of its openness, actually.

2. We’ll keep the Steve references to a minimum here, but Android will accelerate the process that the iPhone helped kickstart last year—the gradual devolution of carriers to open, dumb pipes. Before, carriers controlled every single facet of what a phone could and could not do. They still do to an extent, and it’s not completely “anything goes” on the iPhone and Android, but together they have and will make the mobile landscape change far more rapidly than before. As Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner told me a few days ago, just a few years ago, carriers thought that the idea of full internet access was ridiculous, not to mention dangerous, threatening the obscenely lucrative business they have set up around minuscule bits of data like text messages, crappy “web portals” and ringtones. Android phones will be constantly connected and totally revolve around the internet, incessantly sucking down ever cheaper data—a carrier’s worst nightmare not so long ago.

3. You’ll have tons of hardware options. Android’s designed to be versatile, so lots of manufacturers will be putting it on lots of phones—ones with QWERTY keyboards, touchscreens, T9, outrageously spec’d out phones, as well as ones that are kinda crappy in the spec department, actually. But this also provides a common platform for developers, making it easy to put their apps on millions of phones. It’s the benefit of any OS that runs on a lot of hardware—like Windows or Linux, etc. Of course, this is also the Windows Mobile argument against all of the other proprietary OSes like Palm and BlackBerry.

4. There’s even more potential for amazing apps than the iPhone, because developers are almost completely unencumbered by arbitrary rules and restrictions. So awesome apps like Podcaster or Instictiv Shuffle won’t be mercilessly killed for not fitting into a tightly controlled framework or navigating a byzantine approval process.

5. It’ll have the best Google apps experience of any mobile device, and play super nicely with Gmail, Gcal, Maps and everything else Google puts out. Or at least it damn well better, since you know, it’s Google’s baby. Simple, direct syncing with Gcal is tops in our list, since doing it on the iPhone requires sacrificing a goat while chanting from a book covered in the skin of baby unicorns.

Bonus reason: Not an iPhone. And our software geek sister Lifehacker has some more too.

1. Google can see into your soul. If you’ve ever been wary about how much Google knows about you, how are you going to feel when they’re all over your cellphone? While a lot of the reason Android came to be was just to get people really using the internet on their phone (because when people use the internet, they use Google), we won’t be surprised to see contextualized local ads, kind of like the sidebar ones you see offering you a date from hot local girls in Brooklyn or whatever hovel you’re holed up in. But this will be hot girls just around the corner, since the phone will know where you’re at.

2. It’s not on the US’s two biggest carriers, AT&T or Verizon. Statistically speaking, you’ve got one of them. But so far only the two runts of the majors, Sprint and T-Mobile are going to have Android phones. T-Mobile’s 3G network is pathetically tiny compared to the other three, and well, Sprint’s the only carrier actively losing subscribers, if that tells you anything. It’s possible we’ll see some Android action on Verizon’s mythical open network though.

3. Buuut, carriers still have the right to gimp Android to their liking, precisely because of its Apache licensing. So a Sprint Android phone could have its built-in “store” stocked only with, say, Yahoo! apps—or no store at all. In Verizon’s hands, the UI could still look like it fell in a bucket of gaudy red paint.

4. Android is designed to run on a ton of different of hardware—phones with and without touchscreens, with and without QWERTY keyboards, phones with amazing specs, crappy phones, and everything in between. While this is a strong point as mentioned above, it could also be a point of suckiness. That means there won’t be a consistent Android experience, and it’ll depend heavily on the device you’re using. Devs told us that you’ll likely see different versions of their apps, so that on weakass phones, you’ll have more diluted apps, which might be an issue for people picking up a cheap Android phone expecting to do everything a more expensive one will.

5. Relying too much on developers to fill in features could result in a phone that’s not quite totally seamless and consumer-grade across the board. For instance, from what we’ve seen in the SDK, there’s not a built-in, Google-made media player. It’s rumored that the excellent TuneWiki will be Android’s default player, which is great, but doing this for too many key features could make things a bit bumpy, since you’re talking several developers instead of just one.

Getting Inside Google’s GPhone

Still coming to terms with Apple’s iPhone invasion, the cellular industry now finds itself bracing for yet another intrusion by a mighty outsider bent on altering the way wireless does business. This time it’s Google.

New signals and speculation about Google’s (GOOG) mobile initiatives emerge daily, but with no clear proclamations as yet from the Web search leader. One day there’s buzz that Google will follow Apple’s (AAPL) lead by introducing its own mobile device, the gPhone. Next comes word the company has developed its own mobile operating system or Web browser. Against this uncertain backdrop, providers of wireless service, handsets, and software have been left to guess anxiously at Google’s true intentions, not unlike children gathered about a campfire, scanning for monsters in the shadowy forest.

Google Platform?
So what’s really lurking behind those trees? A source familiar with the situation tells BusinessWeek.com that Google may be preparing a new mobile platform, a would-be rival to the Nokia-dominated (NOK) Symbian OS, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile, mobile Linux, Palm (PALM), and other operating systems.

The new operating system, which may be named gPhone, was developed in part with know-how Google acquired with a startup named Android in 2005. The platform is designed to enable lower-priced “smartphones” featuring more robust Web browsing and multimedia applications. Most importantly for Google, it will work hand in glove with the company’s mobile search engine and other Google applications that are already popular on personal computers. And it would allow Google to bring new applications to the wireless market faster. Google declined to confirm or deny this information.

A number of handset makers have already created prototypes of lower-cost phones based on the Google platform, the source says. These handsets, expected to sell for about $100, are being shopped around to carriers worldwide, including those in the U.S. On top of the lower price tag, Google also hopes to attract customers with the promise of lower monthly cell bills. But in Google style, that means users will have to agree to receive ads on their mobile phones, an approach that’s enjoyed some limited success in certain trials by other companies with far less clout than Google. In effect, Google will attempt to introduce not just a new platform, but also a new business model for the wireless-services industry.

Yahoo’s Mobile Search Success
This project marks just one of the many ambitious mobile initiatives Google has undertaken. The search giant has indicated it would likely bid in a federal auction to use new swaths of the public airwaves for wireless services. The plan would be to either build its own cellular network or to partner with another company to do so. All the while, Google keeps beefing up its arsenal of mobile applications. On Aug. 30, the U.S. Patent Office published a patent filed by a Google inventor for a mobile payment system designed to allow people to pay for goods and services via text messages. Consider also that Google currently has 67 openings on its Web site for mobile-related positions, mostly in wireless software development, and it becomes clear that something big is afoot.

It’s easy to see why Google is turning so much energy toward wireless. The company generated nearly all of last year’s $10.6 billion in revenue from online search advertising. But while it dominates that arena with a 62.7% market share, according to research by the consultancy Compete, the company is lagging Microsoft and Yahoo (YHOO) in mobile search and other applications for the cell phone.

More than 20 million devices will ship this year with either Mobile Windows or other Microsoft software on them, according to the Yankee Group. But Google—despite deals with handset makers including Motorola (MOT) and LG and carriers such as Sprint Nextel (S)—won’t come anywhere near to that sort of distribution, figures John Jackson, an analyst at Yankee.

Yahoo has also enjoyed more success in its wireless endeavors. Thanks to its new mobile search engine, oneSearch, Yahoo has actually stolen some business away from Google. In January, Opera replaced Google with oneSearch as the default search engine on its browser for mobile devices. Though Opera’s share of the mobile browser isn’t huge, such developments could spell trouble if, as some experts expect, Web searches on mobile devices begin to exceed those on PCs. To protect its core business, then, Google needs to carve its spot in the cell market now.

A Slice of Apple’s Approach
This might have been easier to accomplish had Google not forged a somewhat acrimonious relationship with big cellular carriers such as AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ). Even before Google revealed its plan to compete directly with them in the wireless auction, the company rankled the cellular establishment with its decision to build a Wi-Fi broadband network in Mountain View, Calif., and join EarthLink (ELNK) in constructing a Wi-Fi network in San Francisco (a plan that’s since unraveled).

Now, as it charts more of an independent course, Google may even use the gPhone as Apple has the iPhone, stoking discontent with the current state of mobile Web access. Today’s cellular providers, to prevent their customers from wandering the Internet freely on phones as they do on computers, herd users to their own branded mobile portals and a limited selection of approved partner sites—a model reminiscent of the “walled garden” that AOL thrived on a decade ago until customers rebelled. Thanks to such obstacles, while 15% of U.S. wireless users have browsed Web pages on their mobile phones, only 3% have used a mobile search engine, according to JupiterResearch.

Though its brand doesn’t generate the same passions among consumers as Apple’s, Google may hope its new platform will present an irresistible attraction to handset makers and carriers seeking the next “it” phone, replicating at least some of success the iPhone has managed since its U.S. launch through AT&T.

Google’s new, ad-supported business model may ultimately appeal to the carriers as they struggle to boost revenues in markets where the price competition is fierce and first-time users are becoming scarce. “The addition of new business models simply creates more opportunities for all companies in the industry to sell more products,” says John Starkweather, general manager of mobile communications at Microsoft.

Boost to Wireless Broadband?
While analysts have long frowned on the idea of mobile ads, Virgin Mobile recently reported that 330,000 of its 4.8 million subscribers have agreed to view ads in exchange for free calling minutes (BusinessWeek.com, 07/09/07).

When a small carrier named Revel recently gave 5,000 subscribers a one-time $10 discount for agreeing to receive ads on their phones for a 12-week trial, “the satisfaction levels were off the charts,” says Jon Jackson, CEO of Mobile Posse, the ad technology provider in the trial. In fact, Mobile Posse’s research shows that marketing on mobile phones can generate up to $40 in ad revenue per month—which isn’t very far from the $50-plus that carriers generate from monthly service plans. Mobile Posse says it’s now conducting trials with two other larger carriers, offering free text-messaging and mobile data access to users who’ll accept ads.

Meanwhile, if Google succeeds in bringing a lower-priced yet more robust phone to the market, the gPhone could have some broader impact than the iPhone, which still costs $400 after a recent price cut. “Today, the overall mobile experience, candidly, is not great,” says Shawn Freeman, chief technology officer at Handango, a provider of mobile content and applications. With better Web-surfing and search capabilities, such a handset could fill a void in developing markets where many people can’t afford computers. Elsewhere, by increasing interest in mobile Web access, Google also might speed consumer adoption of wireless broadband. “If they produce something that’s a good experience, the whole market will rise,” says Barry West, chief technology officer at Sprint. “Google is a big name on the Internet. This reaffirms that the Internet is going mobile.”

But the main goal for Google is to provide mobile phone users with devices that smoothly integrate all Google applications so that, at a push of a button, they can launch a search or use the mobile payment service. Today, carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless only provide access to a smattering of Google applications, such as Google Maps and YouTube video, and not on all phones.

Wireless Players Gearing Up
Yet by launching its own operating system, Google faces a disadvantage in terms of the limited number of applications that will be available for that platform. It will take time to build the sort of ecosystem that surrounds Symbian and Windows Mobile, where there are thousands of third-party applications to choose from and more being written by software developers every day. “If you have a smaller platform, it’s harder to get people to develop for it,” says Julie Ask, an analyst at JupiterResearch.

It is possible to build a mobile platform from scratch without having a ubiquitous operating system like Windows as your foundation. Symbian says it now commands a 72% share of the smartphone market. But it has taken 10 years and more than $750 million in investment to get there. “It’s fairly easy for someone to trivialize creating a feature-rich operating system, but there’s a lot of man-years involved,” says Jerry Panagrossi, vice-president of U.S. operations at Symbian.

Despite such hurdles, there’s no doubt that major wireless players are factoring in the potential game-changing tactics of Google and Apple as they compete with their traditional rivals. On Aug. 29, Nokia unveiled a new suite of mobile Internet services called Ovi. And at a recent investment conference, a Microsoft executive hinted that his company may be working on a phone version of its Zune music player. “Competition breeds innovation,” says Rich Nespola, founder of consultancy TMNG (TMNG). “If Google is planning on entering this business, everyone gets prepared.”

It’s important to remember Google’s end goal, though: changing the wireless business. “They want the carriers to open up,” says Handango’s Freeman. “This is another way to drive the market in the direction they want to go.”

iPhone Safari Guide

The Web browser in the iPhone is a version of Safari found on both Mac and Windows. In fact, it is almost the same browser, right down to obscure features such as a JavaScript drawing canvas and drop-shadow effects not found in other browsers.

What is missing from the iPhone version are a lot of interface elements. Instead of dozens of menu items and settings, we’ve only got a handful of buttons on the iPhone version of Safari. Plus, we lose features like multiple windows and tabs, which are replaced with something in-between.

When viewing a Web page in Safari, you get A search button (magnifying glass) at the upper left, the current URL in a field, and a refresh button (circle arrow) to the upper right. At the bottom, you have left and right arrows, a + button to add the page to your bookmarks, a bookmarks button and a page button.

If you tap on the URL address field at the top of the screen, you can enter any URL using a keyboard. You will also get a second field for searching using Google. You can also switch to use Yahoo search in the iPhone settings for Safari.

The pages button puts Safari into Pages mode, where you can flip to the left and right to view multiple windows. Use the New Button at the bottom of the page to create a new window. You can tap the red X button at the upper left of a page to remove that window.

When viewing a Web page, you can pinch and stretch the screen with two fingers to zoom in on areas. You can tap and move your finger to move around on the page. However, Web designers can set their pages to not allow this if the page is already formatted nicely for the screen. You can also turn your iPhone horizontally to get a wide-screen view.

Another way to zoom in on items is to double-tap on images or data entry fields. This will cause Safari to automatically resize the page to view the item.
When you tap on a data entry field, a keyboard appears to allow you to enter in data. If the field is a pop-up list of items, you will get a scrolling wheel of choices. 

The bookmarks in Safari include a History listing that shows you recently visited Web pages. The rest should sync with the Bookmarks on you Mac’s Safari browser.

To edit bookmarks, click on the Edit button at the bottom. Then you can tap the bookmark to edit its name, location or move it to another bookmark folder.

With the Edit button depressed, you can also tap and drag items by the right right to move them up or down in the list. Tapping on the red circle on the left will allow you to delete the bookmark.

Tapping on an email link in Safari will open up Mail and allow you to start composing a message. Tapping on a sound or video file will open up a player, provided that format is supported.
Safari on the iPhone can also read RSS feeds, but with a little help from a Web-based RSS reader from Apple. If you type in the location of an RSS feed, you will be redirected properly and see the feed. A better solution might be to use Google’s RSS reader, which works well on the iPhone.

Guide to iPhone Maps

The iPhone Maps Application is allows you to view and search Google Maps. It also lets you see traffic reports in some cities, satellite views, and will give you directions from one location to another.
   

The main screen for Maps has a search field at the top and a few buttons at the bottom. Press the search field to bring up the keyboard. Then enter a location. You can enter a specific address, a zip code, the name of a city and state, or any search term to allow Google Maps to take its best guess.

Moving around the maps is done by pressing and dragging on your screen. You can zoom in by pinching the screen, and zoom out with the opposite gesture.

To get directions, press the Directions button at the bottom of the screen. You will now have two search fields at the top. Enter something in each field. You can use the squiggly button at the left to swap the fields.
  

You can then press the Edit button to change the start or end locations, or use the Start button to see the first step in following the directions. Arrows will then replace the Start button and allow you to go through the directions step-by-step.

The iPhone can also find your current location with varying degrees of accuracy. Press the bulls-eye button at the lower left.

You can enable more Maps features by pressing the eye button at the bottom right. This brings up more options, such at the ability to drop a pin in the map at the current location, and to turn on traffic reports. You can also switch from map view to Satellite image view, or use a hybrid of map and imagery. The List view can be used when you are getting directions and simply wish to see a list of all the of the steps on one screen.
  

The traffic reports show up as green, red and yellow lines, usually on interstate highways in major cities. You may have to zoom out quite a distance to see them.

The Satellite and Hybrid views will show satellite pictures of the area. Different areas may have different quality and levels of depth.
   

Guide to the iPhone Stocks

The iPhone stocks application is a simple app that displays the current stock price of a list of stocks that you provide.

The main screen shows the stock symbol, the current price, and the relative change for the day. Red is used to indicate a falling price, green to show a rising price. The chart at the bottom of the screen shows graph of the stock price for the selected stock.

Pressing the i button at the bottom right of the screen will bring up the list of stocks you are tracking so you can edit them. You can click on the button to the left of the stock to delete it from your list. You can also click on the % or Numbers buttons on the bottom to choose to display a percentage of change, rather than actual dollars per share value.

You can re-arrange the stocks by pressing and dragging the right end of the stock line up or down.

To add a stock, press on the + button at the top of the screen. You can then type the symbol of the stock or the stock name and it will look up the stock symbol for you.

To add the Dow Jones Industrial Average, use ^DJI. The Nasdaq is ^IXIC. The Standard and Poors Index is ^GSPC.

Next Page »