Posts Tagged ‘Apple iPhone’
4 Out of 10 iPhones Sold to Business Users
Who was it, again, who said Apple’s iPhone “doesn’t appeal to business because it doesn’t have a keyboard”?
Because the device clearly does appeal to business. In fact, quite a few of the iPhones sold today are purchased by business users, according to Ron Spears, chief of AT&T’s Business Solutions unit.
“Four out of 10 sales of the iPhone are made to enterprise users,” Spears said at an investor conference Thursday. “When the iPhone came out, what most people heard in the first year from ’07 to ’08 was ‘oh my God, it’s not BlackBerry secure. This is not going to work on the enterprise space.’ At the end of the day, it’s just software. That’s all it is.”
Elaborating on the history of adoption of the iPhone by business users, Spears notes, “And by the time the 3G came out in ’08 [Apple] had solved about 80 percent of the security issues. By the time the 3GS came out last summer, most CIOs will tell you today they have very few issues around the security that they need provided, as they have come to know that RIM can do it because of the way RIM provides their solution. So enterprises today view the iPhone as a mobile computer.”
Evidently, Apple has succeeded in overcoming enterprise’s early misgivings about the iPhone’s security and business-readiness. Recall that last fall, the device scored highest in both the consumer and business categories of JD Power’s Smartphone Satisfaction Study. The iPhone scored 803 points out of a possible 1,000. That’s 79 points more than Research in Motion’s BlackBerry, which took second place with a score of 724 points, the industry average.
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Ubuntu 10.04 Now with iPhone and iPod Touch Support
Whenever I mention Ubuntu (or for that matter any other Linux distro), I’m invariably asked whether the OS offers support for Apple’s iPod. The answer has always been “no” … until now.
It seems that the Alpha 3 release of Ubuntu 10.04 “Lucid Lynx” offers out-of-the-box support for the iPhone and iPod touch devices.
Integration seems seamless. The Nautilus file manager accesses the tracks, playlists and apps, while RhythmBox can integrate with the contents much like iTunes can (although it cannot play back any DRMed files you might have …). This has been tested using the latest hardware, and the latest firmware.
In my opinion Ubuntu is fast becoming the most user-friendly and versatile of the Linux distros, and offering iPhone/iPod touch support only makes it even more user-friendly.
This should help open up Linux to a whole new audience.
Scammers phishing for sensitive iPhone data
iPhone users beware – an ongoing phishing campaign impersonating Apple.com, attempts to trick users into submitting sensitive device information, with the scammers in a perfect position to use the data in a countless number of fraudulent variations.
Here are more details on the campaign, and why would phishers want access to such information.
The phishing campaign has been in circulation for over two weeks, and continues using the “FREE 1 Year Warranty Extension Offer” theme in emails coming with subjects such as “IMPORTANT: Your FREE iPhone Warranty Extension for 1 Year!“, leading to domain using fast-flux hosting infrastructure – www.apple.com.PHISHING.com/uk/iphone/warranty.htm.
What’s also worth pointing out is that the phishers require the user to submit their email at the first stage of the process, presumably saving themselves time in validating it, or in an attempt to contact the recipient in the long-term requesting more data.
What are the phishers after? The email of the user, the Serial number, IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), the type of iPhone (ie. 3G / 3GS) and the capacity of the device (ie. 16GB / 32GB).
Why would a phisher want access to such data? Whereas some would point out that they’re interested in the practice due to the blocked IMEI numbers of stolen devices, which they can now change to ones that are not blacklisted, the long-term possibility of building inventories of such data to be re-sold to criminals looking for ways to bypass prepaid SIM restrictions, is a fully realistic one.
Consider going through related posts: iHacked: jailbroken iPhones compromised, $5 ransom demanded; Source code for ikee iPhone worm in the wild; iPhone’s anti-phishing protection offers inconsistent results; Apple adds malware blocker in Snow Leopard; Apple (Snow Leopard) malware blocker collecting cobwebs
Over the past year, there have been numerous developments internationally aiming to restrict the selling of prepaid SIM cards, which offer a safe heaven for criminals since no personal identification is required/stored when purchasing them.
With safety measures varying from mobile carrier to mobile carrier, with only a few publicly disclosing the protections they’ve built in order to limit the use of cloned devices on their networks, there are still countries where the lack of basic restrictions is naturally resulting in demand for such data, which the cybercrime ecosystem can easily supply through phishing campaigns.
The entire business model can be undermined by the mobile carriers realizing the potential for abuse, and by those actually obliged by law to ensure such activities cannot take place within their networks.
How will Xbox Live work on Windows Phone 7
Apple may have the iPhone, but the iPhone doesn’t have the Xbox. On Monday, Microsoft leveraged its most compelling entertainment asset, the Xbox 360, into the Windows Phone 7 Series. But what does this mean, practically speaking?
Here’s the official word from Microsoft on how WP7 will incorporate Xbox Live.
Games–This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox Live experience on a phone, including Xbox Live games, Spotlight feed, and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements, and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox Live unlocks a world of friends, games, and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.
What we saw in Microsoft’s demo Monday fleshes that concept out a bit. There will be a Spotlight section, with your Xbox Live avatar and notice of friends’ achievements. And of course, there will be games–”premium titles” with achievements and multiplayer connected to other cell phones, PCs, and Xbox 360 consoles.
Don’t let the simple interface fool you. Xbox Live on a phone is more than having your avatar on one more screen because of the three types of games I believe we’ll see on Windows Phone 7.
Three games of Windows 7 Phone
The first type of game will be a lot like an iPhone title. Powerful pocket hardware will push impressive graphics (that make the PSP and DS look sad). That’s a simple idea that I know all of you can wrap your heads around.
Now, some of these games may be released cross-platform, as Microsoft teased Monday. They’ll be what I classify as the second type of gaming on Windows Phone 7–casual, connected titles that allow anyone with a Live account to join in (no matter if they’re on a WP7, 360, or PC). You won’t see the most beautiful XBLA titles on the phone, of course, but something like Worms? Why not? A buy-it-once, play-it-anywhere model would make this type of game incredibly enticing.
The third type of game–the one that will appeal most to the hard-core gamers–is the Xbox 360 expanded title, something unmentioned by Microsoft but that I see coming a mile away. Imagine a mini game accompaniment to Halo that could unlock more content/resources/anything. Now imagine that such a game is driven by some of the most powerful handheld processors in the world. (You should be picturing something that looks a lot like Call of Duty’s Nazi Zombies on the iPhone.) But with the iPhone, Nazi Zombies never leaves your phone–nothing about it will affect your Call of Duty experience on your home console.
This no longer needs to be the case when the game is connected to Live. AAA franchises can make their way to the mobile space with Microsoft in a way that they never could with Apple. Put differently, pocketable games can have console-level repercussions.
Microsoft’s mobile trump card
While the iPhone is a treasure trove of pocketable amusements, they’re pretty much self-contained entities working in a closed box. Sadly, pretty much the same thing can be said about the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP. Nintendo and Sony have both experimented with connecting their mobile and home platforms on a title-by-title basis (and no doubt, the PSP’s early promise of Remote Play still sounds like a revolutionary idea today), but neither company has been all that successful in bridging the gap to create a seamless digital experience.
Plus, let’s face it, neither Sony nor Nintendo is relevant in the smartphone business–the present and future of pocket gaming. And while the iPhone is tough competition, it’s one phone. Windows Phone 7 Series is a specification (that includes baseline hardware specs and software specs) for many phones that could potentially be on many carriers.
Imagine if Nintendo let any willing manufacturer integrate Wii/DS services. That’s essentially what Microsoft is doing here.
But when it really comes down to it, is Microsoft selling us the Xbox 360 experience on cell phones, or is it pitching putting cell phone games on the Xbox 360? And will anyone want to create original, non-ported content for the Windows 7 Phone Series when there are 75 million iPhones and iPod Touches out there already?
Time will tell. Despite what promises to be the most full-featured mobile gaming platform of all time, Microsoft must woo developers to create compelling mobile content before any of this matters.
Apple HDTV is an iPhone without a screen; 1080p
It wasn’t an hour after a pressed “publish” on my story about a reader’s speculation that the Apple TV would get a refresh at Apple’s WWDC on June 7 that I saw this post on Engadget about just that.
According to its sources, Apple TV will indeed get a major refresh at WWDC, actually it’s more like a completely new product. The story goes like this: the new Apple TV will be based on iPhone OS and will include an A4 chip, 16GB of flash memory, cloud storage and 1080p high-definition output. Word is that the new device will only have two ports, power and video out.
Storage will be on the cloud, but it remains to see how Apple will charge for it. I sincerely hope that Apple doesn’t plan on charging $100 per year for storage (like it does with MobileMe) or it’s simply taunting the jailbreak community to build a better mousetrap — and they will.
Sources describe the ATV sequel as “an iPhone without a screen,” but the real kicker is the price – rumored to be $99. I’m calling it the “Apple HDTV,” but feel free to chime in in the TalkBack with your prediction. For $99, I’d buy one.
I don’t know about you but my current Apple TV almost never gets turned on, except for when there’s a software update to write about. The damned thing runs so hot that it will literally singe your fingertips and there’s no power switch or sleep mode (that I’m aware of) so it’s an electricity vampire. Apple TV meet Craigslist.