Recent Cellular News

Apple's iAd Also the Subject of Investigation
May 5, 2010
U.S. antitrust enforcers are taking a keen interest in recent changes that Apple Inc. made to its licensing agreement with iPhone application developers and are likely to open a preliminary investigation into whether the company's actions stifle competition in mobile devices, according to people familiar with the situation.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, which are jointly tasked with enforcing federal antitrust laws, are holding discussions over which agency would hold the inquiry, these people said. Apple, the FTC and Justice Department all declined to comment.

The process is at a preliminary stage and any resulting investigation wouldn't necessarily lead to action. It's also unclear what grounds an investigation would cover. News of the regulators' talks were earlier reported by the New York Post.

The growing interest in Apple's activities by antitrust authorities shows the extent to which the Cupertino, Calif., company has become a powerful player in mobile devices like smartphones, which many people see as the next dominant computing platform after personal computers.

People familiar with the matter said the latest interest from regulators was triggered by complaints from Apple competitors and application developers over the terms of company's agreement with iPhone and iPad app developers.

Apple recently revised the terms to forbid developers from using software tools other than Apple's tools to build their programs. It also banned apps from transmitting certain technical iPhone data to third parties.

Adobe Systems Inc., whose software can't be used by developers under the revised agreement, has recently escalated a public-relations war over the issue. An Adobe spokeswoman declined to comment.

Apple's new language forbidding apps from transmitting analytical data could prevent ad networks from being able to effectively target ads, potentially giving Apple's new iAd mobile-advertising service an edge, executives at ad networks say.

One wireless-advertising executive said he was contacted a few weeks ago by an official from the FTC who wanted to talk about how the mobile-ad industry works, the Apple developer agreement and how it could affect the executive's business.

The FTC has also taken an interest in iAd in the context of the agency's investigation of Google Inc.'s $750 million purchase of mobile-ad company AdMob Inc. Several developers said they have been contacted by the FTC about the Google-AdMob probe, with two saying they were told that the agency was also looking into the iAd service.

AdMob has also had conversations with the FTC about Apple's clout in the mobile market, according to a person familiar with the matter. This person said the conversations were part of the FTC's review of the acquisition.

Apple has increasingly attracted scrutiny by the government. Over a year ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission made an informal inquiry into the company's disclosure of CEO Steve Jobs's health when he went on medical leave to receive a liver transplant.

Last year, the FTC investigated whether Apple sharing directors with other companies violated antitrust laws. As a result of the probe, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board.

Concerns have mounted over Apple's practices as it has become a dominant smartphone maker. It has sold more than 85 million iPhones and iPod Touches and on Monday said it has sold one million iPads, the multimedia tablet launched last month. Still, Apple's business model has remained closed, with owners only able to download apps from its iTunes App Store.

Some critics contend Apple is now engaging in the kind of tactics that got Microsoft Corp. in trouble with antitrust enforcers in the 1990s. "Apple is playing right out of Microsoft's playbook—and it's one they complained about a lot," said David Balto, a former FTC official now at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.

Apple could try to head off trouble with antitrust enforcers by changing the terms of its developer agreement, one person familiar with the situation said.

Some developers said it would be difficult for Apple to enforce the provision about not transmitting iPhone data to the extent that the language implies. Ads inside apps are a key revenue source for developers of free or inexpensive apps.

"At the end of the day, developers need a way to make money," said Krishna Subramanian, a co-founder of ad-exchange network Mobclix Inc.

Andrew Lacey, chief operating officer of Tapulous Inc., which makes games for the iPhone, says Apple's new terms are designed to protect third parties from hijacking data and from violating the privacy of iPhone users. "I understand why it's causing concern," said Mr. Lacey. "Apple is very concerned that people's privacy is protected."

Source: (www.online.wsj.com)
Boost Beefs Up Unlimited Plan with Free 411, Email
May 4, 2010
Boost Mobile today improved its $50 Monthly Unlimited Plan by offering free, unlimited calls to 411 directory service. Subscribers will also get unlimited email and instant messaging, in addition to the text messaging that the service also provides. Boost BlackBerry users, who already enjoyed unlimited email and messaging, will now benefit from unlimited 411 calls.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
Own Voice for Ovi Maps Lets You Tell Yourself Where to Go
May 4, 2010
Nokia has released a new feature pack for Ovi Maps that lets you record your own voice for turn-by-turn directions. With Own Voice, your phone will basically record you dictating a number of directions ("Turn right in a quarter mile"), then construct a customized Voice Pack for your Ovi Maps navigation. The app will then upload your voice pack to the Own Voice Web Site, where you can also browse other users' Own Voice packs and pick from the most popular uploads. You can even share your voice packs over Facebook and Twitter. The Own Voice app is only available for English speakers. It is available today as a free download from the Nokia Ovi store for all users with the newest version of Ovi Maps, version 3.03.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
Virgin Mobile with a new $25 unlimited plan and 3 new phones
May 4, 2010
This article contains unofficial information.

Seems like Virgin Mobile is about to roll out a new Beyond Talk set of pay-per-month plans, which all include unlimited text, email, data and web. The cheapest one will cost you $25 per month, and it packs 300 Anytime minutes. Then you have the $40 plan with 1200 Anytime mins and finally the all unlimited plan, which comes at a price of $60 per month.

The carrier is also planning to launch 3 new phones - the LG Rumor Touch, Kyocera Loft (candybar with front-facing QWERTY keyboard) and the uber cool RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530. However, if you want to snatch the BlackBerry, you'll need to add $10 on top of the Beyond Talk plan you've picked. Prices for the phones seem to be as follows: $70 for the Kyocera Loft, $150 for the LG Rumor Touch and $300 for the BlackBerry Curve 8530. Of course, the Beyond Talk plans will work with Virgin's other offerings too.

So there you have it - a new tempting offer by Virgin - $25 for unlimited text, email, data and web. The only thing that's left now is for Virgin to launch it, hopefully soon.

Source: (www.phonearena.com)
Deutsche Telekom is still going to support T-Mobile USA
May 4, 2010
With no major placement shifts among the four major domestic wireless players, T-Mobile's stance of being fourth place made Deutsche Telekom consider at one point ditching their losses with T-Mobile USA. We've heard many things potentially going down over the course of the last year – such as the possibility of Sprint being bought up by Deutsche Telekom to strengthen its presence in the US market. There were slight echoes a couple months ago that hinted to some disappointment seen with T-Mobile USA with the possibility of Deutsche Telekom selling them off. Thankfully things have cooled down a bit after Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann reiterated to investors that the company is still committed in supporting T-Mobile USA. In fact this isn't the first time we're reported something like this, but back in 2005, we saw how Deutsche Telekom also remained committed in supporting T-Mobile USA. Obermann said, “After all, it is making us a great deal of money.” Even though they still lag behind Sprint in terms of customers, we've seen a huge resurgence in the company as a plethora of devices that have landed and are proving to be gold for the company. If T-Mobile can follow up the HTC HD2's stellar performance, they could eventually see themselves move out from their current position and into third place.

Source: (www.phonearena.com)
Swype keyboard is expected to grace 10 million handsets by the end of the year
May 4, 2010
For those who detest it, news about Swype's fortunes will come as a blow. Conversely for those who adore the non-traditional text input method, they can rejoice in knowing that more handsets are expected to make the Swype keyboard their default choice. The company responsible for Swype intends to speed things up for the hasty text inputting method as they have the expectation to pack it on to about 10 million smartphones before the year is up. That's a considerable goal especially now that the company is planning on deploying it in markets like Asia, Europe, and South America. Swype's Chief Executive Officer, Mike McSherry, is glad to know that there are six smartphones right now that currently offer Swype with another 14 models being added later in the year. He went on to say, “We want to be the default keyboard for every screen. We've got a number of major deployments coming up.” Interestingly enough, McSherry did approach Apple on bring Swype on-board the iPhone as they were initially impressed with the technology. Their position soon changed and expressed “disappointment” later when it was made known that Swype was going to be licensed to other phone manufacturers. There's no doubt that Swype can be extremely useful for some people out there, but it definitely requires a bit of time getting adjusted to it.

Source: (www.phonearena.com)
Reports: Apple Developer Rules Draw Fed Scrutiny
May 4, 2010
Apple's restrictive new developer rules have attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, according to anonymous sources cited by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.

The two federal agencies are currently in discussions to determine which of them will conduct the investigation, according to the publications. The agencies are interested in whether Apple's new rules for its application developers are anticompetitive.

Apple recently changed its license agreement to ban app developers from using third-party software to create applications, forcing developers to use Apple software. Apple also prohibited apps from sending analytical information to outside programs, affecting the ability of developers to effectively target ads built into applications.

Developers must agree to the new rules in order to download the software development kit for the iPhone OS 4.

Last week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs penned an open letter explaining in blunt terms why the company would not allow Adobe's Flash software to run on its devices.

Adobe CEO Shantan Narayen rebutted the charges, calling Job's claims that Flash drained batteries "patently false."

Source: (www.wirelessweek.com)
Free Android phones coming to Adobe employees
May 3, 2010
Adobe confirmed Thursday that it plans to demonstrate a version of Flash for Google's Android software in May at the Google I/O conference, in responding to Apple CEO Steve Jobs' criticism of Flash in an open letter. And the company wants to make sure its employees use those phones: it's preparing to give away Android phones running Flash to employees, according to three sources familiar with the plan.

It's not clear which phone employees will receive (various HTC phones and the Nexus One were mentioned) and it will not be a mandatory shift. But in the time-honored technology industry practice of "dog-fooding" one's own products, Adobe and Google want to encourage Adobe employees to spend as much time using Android and the Flash Player 10.1 as possible.

Google gives away Android phones like they are party favors: it's planning to give every Google I/O attendee either a Motorola Droid or Nexus One, and it gave away Nexus Ones to an audience of CIOs earlier this month at an event for Google Apps.

It's also not clear if this will be a perk just for developers or for the entire company: Adobe had about 8,600 employees worldwide at the end of last November. The company did not respond to a request for comment about its plans.

Source: (www.news.cnet.com)
CTIA Campaign Encourages Responsible Wireless Use
May 3, 2010
CTIA today announced a new campaign for the month of May that is designed to highlight responsible use of wireless technologies.

"While parents/legal guardians, educators and policymakers need to encourage these kinds of beneficial mobile usage, we also need to prevent children from using the technology in an irresponsible or inappropriate manner," says a statement from CTIA.

During the month of May, CTIA will be featuring information on responsible wireless use as part of its "Wonder of Wireless" (WOW) webcast and throughout the month on the organization's blog (www.ctia.org/blog).

As part of CTIA's education on responsible wireless use, this month's webcast includes two "Insider Interviews" on the topic. According to Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, wireless online safety is a key area of interest for state attorneys general. Bruning talks about the combination of sensible legislation and parental responsibility to keep children safe in the wireless world.

In addition, Nat Wood of the Federal Trade Commission discusses the agency's website, www.onguardonline.gov, and its role in assisting online safety efforts. The video discusses ways for parents to educate their children on responsible use of their devices when connecting to the Internet.

Other features include "Policy Point," which reminds users to familiarize themselves with their devices before leaving for a trip, and the "Wireless at Work" segment, which highlights eco-friendly wireless products that use solar power.

Source: (www.wirelessweek.com)
iPad Sales Hit 1M
May 3, 2010
Apple says it has sold 1 million iPads just 28 days after the Wi-Fi version of the product was released last month. The tablet is selling at twice the rate of the first iPhone model, which took 74 days to reach a million sales when it came out in 2007.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement that "demand continues to exceed supply" for the company's iPad device.

According to Apple, iPad users have already downloaded more than 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from its iBookstore.

Developers have created more than 5,000 apps tailored to the iPad, which also can run most of the 200,000 apps created for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The 3G-enabled version of Apple's iPad came out on Friday. In a note to investors, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that about 300,000 iPad 3G devices were sold in its opening weekend.

Source: (www.wirelessweek.com)
Apple to Face Antitrust Threat from U.S. Government
May 3, 2010
Federal regulators are days away from launching an antitrust inquiry into Apple's policy of barring iPhone and iPad developers from using third-party tools, stemming from the company's refusal to support Adobe's Flash platform.

The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are "locked in negotiations" over which agency will take the lead on the case, according to people familiar with the situation.

The inquiry will attempt to determine if Apple's new rule, which took effect last month, discourages competition by forcing programmers to create apps that run only on the iPhone and iPad devices or across "platform neutral" mobile operating systems like Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile software.

Analysts say this causes many programmers with limited funds to have to choose one platform and foregoing another, effectively hampering competition.

Earlier last week, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs published a scathing essay that sharply criticized Adobe's popular Flash software, calling it unfit its products.

Apple posted its best non-holiday quarter on record last month, nearly doubling its profit on "staggering" sales of iPhones.

Source: (www.mobiledia.com)
Bikers in California can soon face a ban on using a cell phone while biking
May 3, 2010
The consensus around using a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle is pretty unanimous across the country as there are plenty of local state laws that ban it. Although there are some loopholes around it, one state in particular is looking outside the normal perception of “distracted driving” among drivers which can lead to something fatal. Much like other states, California enacted a law more than one year ago to ban texting while operating a motor vehicle, but it looks like one lawmaker wants to go beyond just that and impose it on cyclists. State Senator Joe Simitian is taking the helm in drafting a new law which would make it illegal to use a cell phone while riding a bicycle. It's becoming apparent that this is causing a commotion among both sides as some find it excessive while others deem it as fitting. Cyclist Jesse Daniel finds it a bit overboard and said, “If you're going to ban it while biking, you might as well ban it while walking.” If this is passed, it could lead to additional states to adopt a similar law to combat the ever growing problem of cell phone distractions that can lead to fatal accidents.

Source: (www.mobiledia.com)
LG's First Android Phone Will Be Iron Man's Ally
May 3, 2010
LG today announced upcoming availability of its first Android phone, the LG Ally. The Ally will be marketed in conjunction with the new Iron Man 2 movie, coming to theaters this weekend, though the phone will be available on May 20. LG is emphasizing the augmented reality app that will be bundled with the phone, which adds enhanced visual content on the phone's display when the camera is pointed at specific objects. Specifically, buyers will get a special edition Iron Man 2 comic book that will feature a variety of augmented scenes. Specific carrier details and pricing have yet to be announced. For the original Iron Man, LG also produced a special edition LG Shine plated in 18 karat gold.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
Apple Buys Start-Up Behind Fast Chips
April 30, 2010
Apple wants the fastest chip for its iPhones, buying another closely-held chip maker to boost the performance of its smartphones and gain an edge over its competitors.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said it has acquired Intrinsity, the silicon chip maker behind technology used in the A4, the Apple-designed processor used in the upcoming iPhone HD and new iPad devices.

The terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but analysts report a purchase price in the range of $120 million.

Last July, Intrinsity's engineers, working with Samsung, which manufactured the A4 processor for Apple, found a way to crank up speeds to 1 gigahertz -- more than 50 percent faster than rival products which run at about 650 megahertz.

By acquiring the Austin-Texas-based start-up, Apple would be able to maintain a lead over other device makers by keeping the speedier edge to itself.

In 2008, Apple paid $278 for P.A. Semi, another chip maker, which formed the core for its microprocessor design team, specializing in making fast, low-power units.

However, soon thereafter, a number of disgruntled P.A. Semi employees left Apple over compensation issues and started a company called Agnilux, which was acquired by Google, maker of the Nexus One, earlier this month.

Friction between Google and Apple has intensified as both Silicon Valley juggernauts expand into the fiercely competitive smartphone sector.

Earlier last month, Apple filed a lawsuit accusing handset maker HTC, which manufactures Google's Nexus One device, of infringing on 20 of its patents covering technology such as the iPhone's user interface, internal architecture and hardware. The move, experts speculate, has a broader scope and is seen as an attack by proxy on the Internet search giant.

Source: (www.mobiledia.com)
HP Buys Palm for $1.2 Billion
April 30, 2010
Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest technology company by revenue, plans to purchase Palm for $1.2 billion, ending a flurry of rumors over the fate of the struggling handset maker.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said it will pay $5.70 per share in cash for Palm, representing a 23 percent premium over its closing price on Wednesday.

The deal is planned to close by July 31.

Once a pioneer in the budding handheld business, Palm had started exploring a sale after struggling to generate interest for its touch screen Pre and Pixi smartphones amid a marketplace dominated by Apple's iPhone and Google's Android devices.

"We're thrilled by HP's vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm WebOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre," said Jon Rubenstein, Palm's chief executive. "HP's longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of WebOS."

HP also said that Rubinstein is expected to remain with the company.

The PC maker sees WebOS as the prized asset, and said it plans to scale the mobile operating system "across multiple connected devices," leading analysts to speculate that it may enter the table device race and compete with Apple's iPad.

Source: (www.mobiledia.com)
Apple Surpasses Motorola, Now No. 1 U.S. Phone Maker
April 30, 2010
Based on the quarterly reports of both Apple and Motorola, it appears that Apple is now the nation's largest provider of mobile phones. Apple sold 8.8 million iPhones in its most recent quarter, and Motorola sold 8.5. Motorola has held the top spot for years. According to Forbes, Motorola sold more than 46 million RAZR phones in the first quarter of 2006. Since then, its sales dropped steadily in the face of fierce competition. Despite Motorola's surprise profit posted this quarter, it now ranks second among U.S.-based mobile phone makers. For comparison, RIM, which is based in Canada, shipped 10.5 million handsets in its most recent quarter. Nokia remains the overall world handset leader. It sold 107.8 million handsets, though its share of the U.S. market ranks below 10%.

Source: (www.phonescoop.com)
Steve Jobs Explains Apple's Position on Adobe's Flash
April 30, 2010
Apple has a long relationship with Adobe. In fact, we met Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage. Apple was their first big customer, adopting their Postscript language for our new Laserwriter printer. Apple invested in Adobe and owned around 20% of the company for many years. The two companies worked closely together to pioneer desktop publishing and there were many good times. Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products. Today the two companies still work together to serve their joint creative customers – Mac users buy around half of Adobe’s Creative Suite products – but beyond that there are few joint interests.

I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.

First, there’s “Open”.

Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.

Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.

Apple even creates open standards for the web. For example, Apple began with a small open source project and created WebKit, a complete open-source HTML5 rendering engine that is the heart of the Safari web browser used in all our products. WebKit has been widely adopted. Google uses it for Android’s browser, Palm uses it, Nokia uses it, and RIM (Blackberry) has announced they will use it too. Almost every smartphone web browser other than Microsoft’s uses WebKit. By making its WebKit technology open, Apple has set the standard for mobile web browsers.

Second, there’s the “full web”.

Adobe has repeatedly said that Apple mobile devices cannot access “the full web” because 75% of video on the web is in Flash. What they don’t say is that almost all this video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads. YouTube, with an estimated 40% of the web’s video, shines in an app bundled on all Apple mobile devices, with the iPad offering perhaps the best YouTube discovery and viewing experience ever. Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.

Another Adobe claim is that Apple devices cannot play Flash games. This is true. Fortunately, there are over 50,000 games and entertainment titles on the App Store, and many of them are free. There are more games and entertainment titles available for iPhone, iPod and iPad than for any other platform in the world.

Third, there’s reliability, security and performance.

Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.

In addition, Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it. Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010. We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath. Who knows how it will perform?

Fourth, there’s battery life.

To achieve long battery life when playing video, mobile devices must decode the video in hardware; decoding it in software uses too much power. Many of the chips used in modern mobile devices contain a decoder called H.264 – an industry standard that is used in every Blu-ray DVD player and has been adopted by Apple, Google (YouTube), Vimeo, Netflix and many other companies.

Although Flash has recently added support for H.264, the video on almost all Flash websites currently requires an older generation decoder that is not implemented in mobile chips and must be run in software. The difference is striking: on an iPhone, for example, H.264 videos play for up to 10 hours, while videos decoded in software play for less than 5 hours before the battery is fully drained.

When websites re-encode their videos using H.264, they can offer them without using Flash at all. They play perfectly in browsers like Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome without any plugins whatsoever, and look great on iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Fifth, there’s Touch.

Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on “rollovers”, which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn’t use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

Even if iPhones, iPods and iPads ran Flash, it would not solve the problem that most Flash websites need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.

Sixth, the most important reason.

Besides the fact that Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. We have discussed the downsides of using Flash to play video and interactive content from websites, but Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices.

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.

Flash is a cross platform development tool. It is not Adobe’s goal to help developers write the best iPhone, iPod and iPad apps. It is their goal to help developers write cross platform apps. And Adobe has been painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms. For example, although Mac OS X has been shipping for almost 10 years now, Adobe just adopted it fully (Cocoa) two weeks ago when they shipped CS5. Adobe was the last major third party developer to fully adopt Mac OS X.

Our motivation is simple – we want to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to our developers, and we want them to stand directly on the shoulders of this platform and create the best apps the world has ever seen. We want to continually enhance the platform so developers can create even more amazing, powerful, fun and useful applications. Everyone wins – we sell more devices because we have the best apps, developers reach a wider and wider audience and customer base, and users are continually delighted by the best and broadest selection of apps on any platform.

Conclusions.

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

Steve Jobs
April, 2010

Source: (www.apple.com)
Top 5 bright spots for Android — plus a dark cloud
April 30, 2010
Google's mobile platform has a ways to go before it can even think of surpassing the smartphone market share of RIM or Apple, but Android's been buoyed by a flurry of good news that points to greener pastures — although a recent hiccup with Google's would-be flagship phone, the Nexus One, should give the big brains in Mountain View a moment of pause.

Android's market share on the rise

When it comes to smartphone market share in the U.S., the 800-pound gorilla is still RIM and the BlackBerry, with a commanding 42.1-percent slice of the pie (according to the latest figures from comScore). Up next is Apple with 25.4 percent, followed by Microsoft's Windows Mobile with 15.1 percent. Where's Android, you ask? Back in fourth place, with a mere 9 percent market share. That's not the end of the story, however; of the top U.S. mobile platforms in the comScore survey, Android managed the biggest percentage increase of all: 5.2 percent, versus a 0.1-percent drop for Apple. Still quite a mountain to climb, no doubt, but at least Android has some momentum going for it.

Strong handset sales

Sure, the sales figures for any one Android phone pale compared with the staggering 8.75 million iPhones Apple managed to sell in the second quarter of 2010 (although according to Eweek.com, the Motorola Droid didn't do too badly). Put all those Android phones together, though, and you've got some impressive numbers, with Google's Eric Schmidt boasting in February that about 60,000 Android phones were being sold per day. That total is well shy of the more than 97,000-ish iPhones sold each day in Apple's last fiscal quarter (that's the number you get when you divide 8.75 million units by 90 days), but I'm sure it's got Apple's attention.

Android app store gaining traction

No question, Apple is king of the hill when it comes to mobile applications, with a whopping 200,000 apps crammed into its ever-popular app store. But an unofficial tally of the apps in the Android Marketplace by AndroLib hit 50,000 last week (although, as Android Central points out, Google will only officially cop to 38,000 apps for now), about double AndroLib's count back in January. Meanwhile, a recent survey found that 81 percent of mobile developers are "very interested" in building Android apps, a close second to developer interest in the iPhone. Not bad, but it's worth noting that the Apple App Store is growing by leaps and bounds too, having doubled its inventory within the space of barely five months.

Flash support is on tap

Love it or hate it, support for Flash videos and websites is a prime concern for consumers when it comes to picking a cell phone (indeed, I wish I had a nickel for every time someone asks me if I like the iPad "even though it doesn't have Flash"), and Google just announced that the next version of Android — 2.2, code-named "Froyo" — will support Adobe's upcoming Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones. Of course, there are those who argue (with Steve Jobs leading the charge) that Flash is a buggy, insecure battery hog that's better suited for a desktop than a cell phone, but I can already see the "Android vs. iPhone" comparison charts, with Android getting a big, proud "X" in the "Flash" box.

Hot new phones on the horizon

Yep, we all know about the next iPhone (or the iPhone prototype, at least) thanks to Gizmodo, complete with (supposedly) a thinner, glossy shell, a higher-resolution display, and a front-facing camera for video chat. Pretty nice, but tech bloggers swooned earlier this year over the HTC Evo 4G, a slim new Android handset with a gorgeous 4.3-inch WVGA display, a 1.3MP lens in front and an 8MP snapper in back, 720p video recording, and support for Sprint's 4G WiMax network ... hot stuff. Also nice: The slim and light HTC Incredible on Verizon, which lacks the Evo's front-facing camera but still packs in an 8MP camera and an eye-popping WVGA display. Also worth considering: a consumer survey released January — well before the Evo 4G and Incredible were even announced — that found "skyrocketing" interest in Android phones, while excitement over the iPhone had dropped a few percentage points (or so the survey claimed).

The dark cloud: Google's Nexus One falls flat

It was a bold experiment: Google would bypass the big U.S. carriers, selling its own Android phone (designed by HTC, under Google's strict supervision) on its own Web storefront, thus (so the reasoning went) shaking up the national wireless market in the process. With its slim profile, speedy 1GHz "Snapdragon" processor, and version 2.1 of Android under the hood, the Nexus One went on sale in early January ... and promptly flopped.

What happened? Purely as a phone, the Nexus One garnered positive reviews, but as Wired points out, Google's slick Nexus One page proved to be a poor substitute for chipper sales reps giving customers the full-court press in an actual store, while those who did sign up for the Nexus One online were annoyed when their calls to Google's customer support line (which, after all, the search giant hadn't needed until it started selling cell phones) went unanswered. The result: While Nexus One handsets for T-Mobile and Vodafone remain on sale, Google scuttled plans to offer a version for Verizon Wireless, directing would-be customers to the Verizon-ready HTC Incredible instead.

Source: (www.news.yahoo.com)
Family, Verizon far apart over nearly $18,000 phone bill
April 30, 2010
Bob and Mary St. Germain say they can’t believe it. Four years after their son, Bryan, used his cellphone to connect to the Internet, the couple is still trying to fight the bill: a nearly $18,000 tab from Verizon.

Bryan, now 26, thought his family’s plan included free data downloads. It didn’t, and in August 2006, the St. Germains’ phone bill ballooned to more than 100 times the normal amount.

“You can’t print what my husband said’’ when the bill came, Mary St. Germain said. “He was very shocked.’’

Verizon eventually offered to reduce the bill by half, but Bob St. Germain, 66, a retired marketing professional, said he rejected the offer after consulting with state utility officials who advised him not to pay. So Verizon sent the reduced bill to a collection agency.

Verizon officials said that the charges were legitimate and that they have tried to work with St. Germain to resolve the dispute.

“We go to great lengths to educate our customers on their products and services so that they avoid any unintended bills,’’ Philip Santoro, a spokesman for Verizon Communications Inc., and Michael Murphy, a spokes man for Verizon Wireless, wrote in an e-mailed statement.

The case highlights how confusing wireless plans can be and how any misstep can be costly for customers. Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, D.C., said cellphone contracts have become so bewildering that he fields at least one complaint a month from customers with sky-high bills looking for help. Meinrath said what outrages him is that many carriers offer unlimited data plans for about $30 a month and are “making money off that.’’

“So how is it that they were charging $12,000 a month?’’ he asked. “How is it conceivable that is not price gouging?’’

Kevin Brannelly, an official at the state Department of Public Utilities, tried to help the St. Germain family fight the bill because it did not seem right.

“Never in my 25 years here have I seen such stubborn and senseless resistance to what is obviously a mistake,’’ he wrote in an e-mail to St. Germain.

Telecommunications experts said it is difficult to know how much it actually costs Verizon to transmit data. Verizon and other wireless companies typically do not release that information.

Srinivasan Keshav, a professor of computer science at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, said the problem is not the cost of the service, but whether the customer knows the cost. He said customers are making mistakes because they do not have the time to sort through pages of fine print to understand the terms and conditions of a plan.

What carriers are doing is akin to the government’s posting signs that the speed limit is 16.6 centimeters per millisecond, instead of 40 miles per hour, said Keshav, who testified before a 2009 US Senate hearing on excessive text-messaging charges.

“Even though it’s correct, it’s incomprehensible, even to me,’’ he said.

The St. Germains’ problem erupted in 2006, shortly after Bob St. Germain renewed his wireless phone service contract, which included his cellphone and cellphones for his son and daughter. The two-year wireless promotional period allowing free downloads had expired, and under the terms of the new contract, Verizon began charging for downloaded kilobytes.

St. Germain said his son, Bryan, a student at Framingham State College, had been tethering his cellphone to his laptop computer, using the phone to connect to the Internet because it was faster than his parents’ dial-up connection. Bryan St. Germain surfed the Web on evenings and weekends, downloading songs, when he thought minutes were free.

After the monthly bill came, and Bob St. Germain got over his shock, he saw that his son had downloaded 816,000 kilobytes, a unit of data storage capacity, at a cost of $12,233.

St. Germain said he called Verizon to see if it was a mistake and got more bad news: His son had downloaded another 375,000 kilobytes of data at a cost of $5,600 that he would be charged for in his next bill.

“If there’s extreme activity on your account, they should let you know,’’ Bob St. Germain said, adding that Verizon should alert customers of big charges, as credit card companies do. “Nobody should get surprised like I did.’’

Bryan St. Germain said he felt duped, because his Verizon phone came with a “Get it Now’’ feature that allowed downloads, and he thought they were free.

“It was pretty unbelievable, seeing the bill and all the kilobytes,’’ he said.

Bob St. Germain said the agent never told him that the free promotional offer for downloads had ended when he renewed his Verizon contract.

Santoro, a spokesman for Verizon Communications, said Verizon officials noted that they informed St. Germain in notes on his account. “We made it very clear what his new plan was all about,’’ Santoro said.

Weeks after receiving his August 2006 bill, St. Germain complained to the Department of Public Utilities. State officials tried to negotiate with Verizon, using their leverage as the regulator for Verizon’s landline operations. But they were unsuccessful in part because the state has no regulatory power over wireless carriers, which are overseen by the Federal Communications Commission.

St. Germain said he has not complained to the FCC, but he has filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office and sought help from two state senators.

“It’s a rat hole, you feel so helpless,’’ he said.

Source: (www.boston.com)
Expert: Invalid Warrant Used in Raid on iPhone Reporter’s Home
April 27, 2010
Police raided the house of an editor for Gizmodo on Friday and seized computers and other equipment. The raid was part of an investigation into the leak of a prototype iPhone that the site obtained for a blockbuster story last week. Now, a legal expert has raised questions about the legality of the warrant used in the raid.

On Friday, officers from California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team in San Mateo, California, appeared at the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen while he was not there and broke open the front door.

Chen and his wife discovered the officers when they returned from dinner around 9:45 that evening. According to an account he posted online, Chen noticed his garage door was partly open, and when he tried to open it completely, officers came out and told him they had a warrant to search the premises. The warrant had been signed just hours earlier, at 7:00 p.m., by a San Mateo County Superior Court judge. It allowed the police to search Chen, his residence and any vehicle in his control.

The officers were in the process of cataloging the items they had already taken from the premises and told Chen they had been in his home a “few hours already.” According to California law, a search warrant may be served between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. unless otherwise authorized.

The officers told Chen he could request reimbursement for the damage to his front door.

Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Chen is protected from a warrant by both state and federal laws.

The federal Privacy Protection Act prohibits the government from seizing materials from journalists and others who possess material for the purpose of communicating to the public. The government cannot seize material from the journalist even if it’s investigating whether the person who possesses the material committed a crime.

Instead, investigators need to obtain a subpoena, which would allow the reporter or media outlet to challenge the request and segregate information that is not relevant to the investigation.

“Congress was contemplating a situation where someone might claim that the journalist was committing a crime [in order to seize materials from them],” Granick says.

California state law also provides protections to prevent journalists from being forced to disclose sources or unpublished information related to their work.

“California law is crystal clear that bloggers are journalists, too,” she says.

Apple is on the steering committee for the REACT task force that raided Chen’s house. Formed in 1997, REACT is a partnership of 17 local, state and federal agencies tasked with investigating computer- and internet-related crimes.

Among the items seized from Chen’s house were four computers and two servers, an iPhone, digital cameras, records from a Bank of America checking account and the printout of an e-mail sent to Chen from Gawker Media Managing Editor Gaby Darbyshire earlier that day. The e-mail referred to California’s shield law and specifically stated that police cannot use a search warrant against a journalist to identify a confidential source, or obtain notes and other unpublished information from a news story.

Darbyshire and Chen wouldn’t respond to requests for comment, but according to a letter Darbyshire sent to Detective Matthew Broad, of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department, when Chen encountered officers in his home Friday evening, he asked if they had seen a copy of Darbyshire’s e-mail, which he had printed out earlier in the day. The officers said they had seen it and took it into evidence. One officer told him that in 25 years of working such cases, he’d never seen a letter like that.

The e-mail did little good, however. The officers told Chen and his wife to stand aside while they finished sweeping the house. Before they left, one of the officers told Chen “something about this possibly being a misunderstanding that could be cleared up if I answered some questions.”

Earlier this month, Gizmodo, which is published by Gawker Media, published a story about a new iPhone prototype that it had received from an anonymous source who had seized the device after an Apple engineer named Gray Powell reportedly left it on a barstool at the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, California. According to Gizmodo, the source didn’t initially know what he had until he removed a fake cover from the device and realized it was Apple’s next-generation iPhone. The source offered the device for sale to several journalists. Gawker Media paid $5,000 for it, but has subsequently returned it to Apple after the company requested it.

Chen is a fulltime journalist for Gawker Media and works from home. He did not respond to a question from Threat Level asking if he encrypted his computers and servers.

Granick notes that the warrant involved in the search of Chen’s house was also overly broad since it allowed officers to seize entire computers instead of limiting the search to material directly related to the iPhone story in question.

“Certainly when you’re talking about a journalist’s computers, you’re talking about [other] sources and information and reporting,” she says. “There’s nothing in the warrant that limits the search, once the computers are seized, to whatever it is that they’re investigating in this case.”

Source: (www.wired.com)