The Iphone Blog

After each Apple press event, there is a visible track of turbulence online, in the technology market and on Wall Street that some cannot help but get caught within. There is no denying that when Apple decides to head in a particular direction, it will lead. And all that is left for the rest of us to decide is whether or not we will follow or get out-of-the-way.

When you continually take such wide strides in innovation, intentional or unintentional, there will always be casualties. In 2010 alone, Apple held no less than five major media events that in some way affected the way markets were defined and revenues were earned for a significant number of companies.

Dead or Dying Already

This year we have witnessed the fall of HP’s Slate that Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer introduced at CES, a massive shift in consumer purchasing behavior in the netbook market and media moguls struggle with the hard decision between propping up traditional print or adopting newer digital technologies. When it comes to development platforms, Steve was more than willing to speak out and share his thoughts on the subject, while evidence continues to mount that he was right about Adobe Flash on mobile devices. With just one of two new lenses, two consumer markets were affected: the digital snapshot camera and the handheld HD video recorder. I loved my Flip Mino HD video recorder (past tense). With HD video recording capabilities, on-device editing, and the ability to share instantly online, the justification for a separate Flip video recording device just did not make sense any more.

September 2010 Media Event

There is a reason the entire tech industry pauses a moment to see what Steve will say next at these major press events. Many are holding their breath to see if their bottom line will be affected in either a positive or a negative manner. Every time Steve talks, things change. And yesterday’s event was no different. In many ways, the latest media event from Apple will shake more things up than any previous media event yet this year.

Multi-Room Entertainment Systems: AirPlay has some pretty big names backing it including Denon, Marantz, B&W, JBL and iHome. Simply having the ability to stream music simultaneously to multiple rooms could add some serious competition to products like the Sonos Music System, Bose SoundLink, Yamaha MusicCast and Klipsch LightSpeaker to name a few. Apple is potentially cannibalizing its own product by competing with the presently available AirTunes capability of the AirportExpress.

Print Apps in App Store: So what will happen to the sale of printing apps now that Apple will support printing on the iPad? Until we see exactly how printing will work, it is hard to say at this point. But rest assured that consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for specialized printing abilities will be at a minimum. Currently there are more than a dozen apps for the iPad that can print. Many of these are currently priced anywhere from $4.99 to $9.99. These price points will likely drop, as will support for some of the apps simply because the market will shift in this category.

HDR Apps in App Store: Just as the 5.0 MP camera that Apple introduced with the iPhone 4 has likely cut into the sales of casual point and shoot digital cameras, updating the on board camera app supplied with each iPhone will undoubtedly affect the sales of HDR Apps. This includes wonderful Apps like HDR Camera, TrueHDR and Pro HDR. I have tried these apps and I must say that the when the camera is held steady, the results are stunning.

Roku and Boxee media Devices: While the new Apple TV is not revolutionary, the price point sure is. At the magical price point of just $99, it will be hard for any household with iPads, iPhones, iPods and iMacs to refuse. Especially when this device will make it easier than ever to view all of the memories captured, organized and edited with each of those iPads, iPhones, iPods and iMacs. If Apple would ever decide to make MobileMe free to Apple customers again, this one time cost would be easy to justify. Devices like Roku and Boxee now have some serious competition to contend with.

Everyone wants to lead, but just how far out in front is Apple? Can any company, including Google, have as dramatic of an impact across the entire technology industry, each and every time they decide to have their CEO invite the media over for a chat? In fact, it may be a good idea to check with Steve before you make any sudden moves in the tech industry.

So how has Apple affected your life in 2010?

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With all the Apple hoopla yesterday, we missed the fact that Epson announced a new all-in-one printer it says is the “fastest in its class.” The wifi-equipped all-in-one Epson Stylus NX625 printer will run at a blazing 15 pages/minute in black (but only 7.2 in color) — compare that with the Artisan 710 we tested [...]

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Its name suggests it might be a ’70s-era diet soda laced with LSD, but the Galaxy Tab is actually the latest iPad challenger from Samsung — a 7-inch tablet unveiled today at Germany’s version of CES. Seems Samsung’s stuffed the Android-powered Galaxy Tab (giggle) with enough hardware to make it a worthy challenger: a bright [...]

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Calling all Wii owners! WiiPhoto beams pics from your iPhone, iPod, or iPad straight to your console-connected TV. It can tap your Flickr and Facebook accounts, too.
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Introducing the release of new app for iPhone and iPod devices called GameQuartet 1.0. The app was developed by KeitaiArts and it is their first game released for Apple users. GameQuartet 1.0 is app combining four newly created, different and unique games: Peg Solitaire, Boule, Sliding Tiles, and Word Squares.
According to the legend Peg Solitaire game was invented by a French aristocrat imprisoned in the Bastille in the seventeenth century, traditionally played with small pegs or marbles. GameQuartet version of Peg Solitaire is based on the classic board puzzle but is enlivened with entertaining animations, sound effects and the player attempts to clear the board by jumping the pegs.

Boule game is based on unfamiliar form of roulette, nowadays played in France only and comes from eighteenth century. New version is more like original casino roulette type game, containing animated layout board and rolling ball.

Sliding Tiles is based on traditional American sliding-tile pocket puzzle formed in the end of the nineteenth century. Sliding Tiles displays a mathematically generated pattern, which varies from game to game, instead of showing numbers on the 15 tiles. This game offers visual challenge of a jigsaw puzzle featured with the mechanical challenge involved in moving the tiles to their correct positions.
Word Squares is challenging game including 30 different games and having a simple content. The game is associated with nineteenth century England and is based on popular word-square amusements.

Other Features:
* Each game has a distinct objective and evaluates the player’s performance
 * The games can be configured and sound effects turned off for discreet playing
 * On iOS 4, GameQuartet takes advantage of the suspended mode so that users can pause the app and then quickly resume play
 * On all supported iOS versions, game states are saved and restored, so the player can resume right at the point where play was interrupted
 * No advertisements

Device Requirements:
 * Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
 * Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later
 * 1.5 MB

Pricing and Availability:
GameQuartet 1.0 is currently $0.99 (USD) and is available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.

For more information click here

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The FCC have taken the new iPod Touch, with fancy-ass retina display and two cameras, and done that wonderful think they do, where they rip it to shreds. Interesting stuff, if you’re interested in chip numbers, and individual components.

Also on the subject of the new iPod Touch, when it popped up at the presentation and was announced to be even thinner than the previous generation, we all wanted to know how they managed to fit a camera and sensor in the damned thing! It turns out the rear camera’s resolutions is…underwhelming. Check out the specs page, it can only take images at 960×720, aka 0.6 megapixels, aka the size of 720p video. You’re not going to get nearly as awesome shots with this thing as the iPhone 4, though if the sensor isn’t too small, you might get pretty good quality.

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The ads for Apple’s new iPod Nano and iPod Touch are both available on the YouTubes, as well as on the pages for each device. The Touch ad uses Chappo’s “Come Home”, and the Nano has the classic “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” by Cake.

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Twitter’s official iOS app has finally made its way to the iPad, with a huge number of new features! They’ve massively overhauled the interface to make it work on the iPad, and it now has panes, gestures, and in-line media.

The new version appears to be damned good, though there are still issues. Most noticeable is Twitter’s insistance about doing RTs their way, without adding any comments of your own.

This free app is obviously pushing to become king of the iPad Twitter apps. What’s your Twitter app of choice? Do you go for the official version, or is there a third party one you love? Tell us in the comments!

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One of the big announcements that Apple made yesterday was ABC and Fox show rentals for just 99-cents, as part and parcel of the new Apple TV. Amazong quickly jumped on this, beating Apple at their own game, by offering shows by the same companies to buy for 99-cents an episode. No waiting four weeks, available right now. And you get to keep them.

Given how low of a price this is, some are even theorizing that Amazon is losing money on these sales, as they’re priced lower than DVD purchases.

[via Engadget]

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Like every other Apple addict on the planet, as soon as I downloaded iTunes 10, I fired up Ping to have a look around. It’s deserted, and there’s no easy way for me to link up with my friends, other than spamming their email, or individually entering every name of a person I can think of. Admittedly, it’s still less than 12 hours after launch, so not everyone’s on board yet, but it’s still missing a lot of what a good social network needs.

When I signed up for Ping, I received an email from Apple that said I could connect Ping to Facebook, a feature that I see nowhere in iTunes.

Apparently there were talks between Apple and Facebook, but they didn’t go anywhere.

Other major problems that have popped up: you can’t like songs in your library, only through the iTunes store. Even though Apple has my entire song collection on hand, it doesn’t recommend artists to follow.

On the plus side, iTunes 10 is feeling pretty light on its feet, and now has individual volume controls when using AirTunes to broadcast to multiple speakers.

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