All Things Digital

Google’s Android mobile platform will become commercially available before year end, just as the company promised. But with one caveat: It will lack some of the features Google (GOOG) first intended. Seems that in order to get Android out the door in time for the holiday shopping season, the company has been forced to defeature it. Google has dropped planned APIs for Bluetooth and Google’s own GTalk instant-messaging service in Android 1.0, according to the Android Developers Blog. Seems there are issues with both APIs that need to be resolved before Google is comfortable releasing them into the wild, and the company couldn’t do that before the end of the year. “… We plain ran out of time,” said Android engineer Nick Pelly. “The Android Bluetooth API was pretty far along, but needs some cleanup before we can commit to it for the SDK. Keep in mind that putting it in the 1.0 SDK would have locked us into that API for years to come.”

Unless you simply kept it in beta for a few years like some of your other products. …

Today is fast turning into an ugly one for Apple (AAPL). In the past 24 hours the company has been beset by bad news. Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that one of the company’s iPhone ads is misleading. Apple is being accused of censorship after banning the Murderdrome comic from the App Store for violating the terms of its SDK, which prohibits “content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.” And now a nasty security bug has surfaced in the company’s iPhone. Seems the passcode lock that allows users to limit access to the device is easily bypassed with just a few finger taps. All an intruder need do to access much of the private information stored in an iPhone’s address book, e-mail or voicemail is simply press the “Emergency Call” key on its passcode entry screen and then double tap its home button. What’s most unfortunate about all this is that Apple fixed a similar vulnerability back in January with iPhone v1.1.3.

The best laid plans of mice and men “gang aft agley,” as they say. iPhone carriers as well, apparently. Because British wireless carrier O2 claims it was well prepared for the iPhone pre-order event that felled its Web site earlier this week. It just wasn’t well prepared enough. In an email to customers today, O2 apologized for the failure of its online ordering system, explaining there was little it could do to prepare for the 13,000 orders per second that overwhelmed it. That’s right: 13,000 orders per second.

“We had invested heavily to add a huge amount of additional capacity, 250 times its normal rate, and backup systems,” O2 said in a statement. “We tested this carefully in advance. The massive simultaneous crush exceeded even our worst-case assumptions. Demand was at 13,000 orders per second. Frankly, we have to admit we just weren’t prepared for this unprecedented level of demand. No website is.”

O2 Sees Unprecedented Demand for iPhone 3G

O2 today announced that Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 3G will go on general sale from 8.02 a.m. Friday in O2, Apple and Carphone Warehouse retail stores. To ensure fairness, O2 will sell the device on a strictly first-come, first-served basis to both new and upgrading customers in all retail outlets.

Demand for the revolutionary device is already at unprecedented levels, far in excess of the original iPhone. ‘We’ve never seen any mobile device create the excitement and demand of the iPhone 3G,’ said Ronan Dunne, CEO of O2 in the UK. ‘We want to ensure that everyone who wants an iPhone 3G can get one, so we’ll be working with Apple to continually replenish our supplies throughout the summer.’

This morning, customers who had pre-registered their interest in iPhone 3G were given the opportunity to purchase via O2’s online shop (http://shop.o2.co.uk) a limited stock of devices that had been set aside. The response was so great that the online store completely sold out of iPhone 3Gs within just a few hours. Though O2 had invested several million pounds to increase the order capacity of the site (with order processing capacity increased by over 250 times its normal rate), at times the site still couldn’t process the sheer weight of demand.

Details of when new supplies of iPhone 3Gs will be available via the O2 online shop will be updated regularly via the website.

Business customers can, from today, also start placing orders for iPhone 3G through O2 business channels. Delivery timings will be communicated when an order is placed.

iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is significantly faster than the first-generation iPhone. The device has built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, iPhone 2.0 software (which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync) and runs the hundreds of third-party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. These can be accessed via iTunes.

The 8GB iPhone 3G will be available for free to customers opting for the £45 or £75 tariffs and £99 on the £30 and £35 per-month tariffs. The 16GB model will cost £159 on the £30 and £35 tariffs, £59 on the £45 tariff and it will be free on the £75 tariff. All customers will continue to receive unlimited UK data browsing over O2’s mobile network and unlimited access to over 9,000 Wi-Fi hotspots through both The Cloud and BT Openzone.

Existing iPhone customers can upgrade early to the iPhone 3G through O2 channels by re-signing a new 18-month contract, taking advantage of the same great offer as new customers. They will then be able to give their existing 2G iPhone to a friend, family member or colleague, who can transfer onto an iPhone tariff if they are an existing O2 Pay Monthly or business customer, stick in their existing O2 SIM and buy the appropriate Bolt Ons for unlimited data, or buy an iPhone Pay & Go SIM card from 11 July offering unlimited data and unlimited Wi-Fi access to The Cloud and BT Openzone hotspots for £10 per month. Full information is available on o2.co.uk/iPhone.

The iPhone 3G will launch on O2 Pay and Go (Prepay) in time for the Christmas shopping period, with pricing details to be confirmed closer to launch.”

Apple’s much lauded iPhone captured 28% of the smart-phone market in the States by the fourth quarter of 2007–just six months into its launch. Today it holds something less than that–about 19.2%. But to look at the headlines, you’d think it controlled the market in its entirety. A quick search on Google returns 19,035 results for “iPhone”– from Jun. 2, 2008 to today. Why? Because in a few hours, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will address the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, at which he is expected to unveil the next version of the company’s iPhone.

And for Apple’s (AAPL) sake, I hope he does. Because with expectations running this high, I’d hate to see what happens if he doesn’t. Although the new Apple Store housed in a life-size replica of the Golden Gate Bridge pictured in the invite would certainly take some of the heat off …

Anyway, I’ll be live-blogging from inside Moscone West in San Francisco starting at 10 a.m. PDT. Here’s something to read while you wait …

• From Moscone West: This is crazy. They just opened a single door to let cameras in and the media rushed the gate. Its like that 1979 Who concert in Cincinnati.



• The hall in Moscone West is filling quickly to the sounds of Jerry Lee Lewis. From the looks of it media and developers are here in equal numbers.
• Jobs takes the stage. I’m sitting about 20 rows back, but even I can see he’s looking pretty thin from here. He gets right into it, pulls up a slide of a stool and describes Apple as a three-legged company. Macs, music and the iPhone.
• Jobs will spend the morning talking about the iPhone. This afternoon Apple will discuss OS X “Snow Leopard.”

Read more »

Dust off your sleeping bags and Therm-a-Rest and get in line, Apple’s 3G iPhone will reportedly arrive at market in just a few weeks.

“Someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch” tells Gizmodo that the device will debut as expected at Apple’s (AAPL) Worldwide Developers Conference 2008 on June 9 with immediate availability.

A plausible rumor, and one that jibes with other similar ones we’ve been hearing for some time now–specifically the one about AT&T (T) employees being asked not to schedule any vacation between June 15 and July 12 to ensure sufficient staffing for “an exciting summer promotional launch.”

Normally a consumer product announcement at WWDC would seem unlikely. That said, it would make sense for Apple to uncrate a next-gen iPhone at the event this year, given its recent software roadmap and SDK announcement. Wouldn’t it?

Try as they might, financial analysts attending Apple’s (AAPL) Q2 earnings call yesterday were unable to goad company execs into giving up a launch date for the 3G iPhone. Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, and Tim Cook, the company’s COO, refused to confirm rumors that the company plans to announce the device this summer, though they did–as they always do–claim Apple has a number of exciting products in the pipeline.

And that was confirmation enough for analysts. Citigroup’s (C) Richard Gardner promptly issued a research note pitching June 9, the kickoff of the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, as the likely date of the 3G iPhones’ debut. Wrote Gardner, “We expect a steady stream of new products beginning on 9 June with a 3G iPhone and iPhone/iPod touch SDK, continuing with a refresh of the complete laptop line in July/August and concluding with a complete refresh of the iPod line in August/September.”

June 9 seems a plausible, if not bleedingly obvious launch date. Announce the 3G iPhone at WWDC, with an eye toward an official release on June 29, the first anniversary of its predecessor’s debut? That gives Apple plenty of time to reach its goal of shipping 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008. The company has so far sold 1.7 million iPhones worldwide, leaving 8.3 million more to go if it wants to hit the 10 million mark. Uncrating the 3G version of the device in early summer, perhaps in concert with a move into the massive Japanese and Chinese markets, would make reaching 10 million iPhones shipped an easy matter.

In the run-up to Apple’s (AAPL) Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June, the Mac faithful are sifting entrails for portents of iPhones to come.

Yesterday the creators of the popular ZiPhone jailbreak discovered in the latest test firmware for iPhone developers a reference to Infineon’s (IFX) SGOLD3H chipset–a chipset that supports 3G wireless broadband of up to 7.2 Mbit/s.

Now “industry sources” cited by TG Daily are claiming that the next-gen iPhone that runs on that chip will debut at WWDC. And there’s more. The device will be slimmer than its predecessor (by about 2.5 mm) and it will be offered in least two configurations at current price points: an 8GB version for $399 and a 16GB $499.

Well, this certainly throws a bit of a wet blanket on Apple’s (AAPL) aspirations for the iPhone in enterprise.

The iPhone Dev Team, the folks responsible for the notorious iPhone jailbreaks, have cracked iPhone 2.0–before the software has even shipped. After decrypting the version of 2.0 included in the recently released iPhone SDK, the Dev Team jailbroke it so that it will run most any application (see video below).

Quite an achievement. And one that may have inspired shrieks of rage at Apple HQ. Many companies will obviously be put off by the security issues raised by such a hack, and it’s not going to be easy for Apple to close this hole. What’s more, if 2.0 is indeed hacked, it means Apple has potentially lost control of the sole point of entry to the device through which it had hoped to vet third-party applications.

Research In Motion (RIMM) must be smirking into its cornflakes this morning. Unless, of course, this is all part of Apple’s master plan. In which case, Steve Jobs is smirking into his soy yogurt.

We’re telling IT executives to not support it because Apple has no intentions of supporting (iPhone use in) the enterprise. This is basically a cellular iPod with some other capabilities and it’s important that it be recognized as such.”

–Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney, July 2, 2007

Today’s an important one for Apple (AAPL). The company is hosting a “town hall” meeting to discuss an iPhone software roadmap. Presumably, this event will see the release of more details about the eagerly anticipated iPhone SDK, but perhaps not the debut of the SDK itself. Certainly, that’s the impression given by the invitation to the event–”Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.” Enterprise features? Ready to eat your words, Dulaney?

But whether the SDK is released to developers today or not, this event promises to be a watershed one. Because it heralds a vast new addressable software market for developers. After all, the iPhone and iPod touch run OS X, and presumably most future iPod models will as well. Which likely means that applications written for Mac in Xcode–Apple’s development toolset–will be deployable on any OS X device. They’ll be “write once, run anywhere”–anywhere there’s OS X, that is. And word on the street has it that we may see a few of them as early as today.

The event begins at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). Updates to follow …

UPDATES:

• The event’s begun. You’ll find streaming video of the event here.
• The next iPhone software update will include support for Push Email, Push Calendar, Push Contacts, Global Address List, Cisco VPM, Certificates and WPA2/802.1x, Security Policies, Device Config, and Remote Wipe. Wow.
• Responding to customer demand for Microsoft Exchange on the iPhone, Apple has gone ahead and licensed ActiveSync for the device.
• Exchange will be native to the iPhone. Jobs must be muttering multiple “BOOMS” from backstage.
• Nike and Disney have been testing Exchange for iPhone and are pretty happy with it.
• Scott Forstall is now taking the stage to talk about the iPhone SDK. Apple giving developers the same tools and APIs it uses to develop iPhone apps.
• Apple took Cocoa and created Cocoa Touch, a new framework for building apps.
• The OS X kernel is the same for desktop and iPhone.
• Xcode has been expanded to support iPhone. It will code complete APIs for the iPhone SDK. (See? What’d I tell you: write once, run anywhere there’s OS X.)
• SDK includes Interface Builder and iPhone Simulator that allow developers to run their apps on their desktops. “It runs on a Mac and simulates the entire API stack on your computer,” Forstall says.
• Forstall builds a quick “Hello World” app, drops it on the iPhone and runs it. Quick and easy.
• “This is an app I just built in two minutes. But we wanted to see what we could build in two days. So we built Touch FX,” Forstall says. It’s an image editor that allows you to warp photos by pinching them.
• Forstall then demos Touch Fighter, a point-and-shoot game.
• Did I mention the SDK is available today? Good luck downloading it …
• Whoa. Travis Boatman from Electronic Arts takes the stage and demos an iPhone version of Spore. They’ve already ported 18 levels. (Hope SDK includes tool for building spare batteries.)
  

• Apple really pulling out all the stops on this one. Chuck Dietrich from Salesforce.com onstage now.
• Salesforce ported one of its automation tools to the iPhone, one that graphically displays how salespeople are performing against their goals.
• Next up: AOL. AIM for iPhone. Took five days to build.
• Larry Ellison takes the stage to announce Oracle Database 11g for iPhone.
• Kidding.
• Epocrates demo. Clinical reference app for doctors.
• Ethan Einhorn from Sega up next.
• Ha! Super MonkeyBall for iPhone. “This is not a cellphone game. This is a full console game. … We had to fly in a developer to upscale the art for the iPhone,” Einhorn says.
• Jobs back onstage. Announces the iTunes App Store. “You’re a developer who just spent two weeks or a bit longer writing an application. What’s your dream?” Jobs asks. “To get it in front of every iPhone user.”
• Apps can be downloaded wirelessly or sideloaded via iTunes. “This is the exclusive way to distribute iPhone applications,” Jobs says, adding: “We are controlling distribution.” (We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to… The iTunes App Store.)
• Developers price their own apps and they get 70% of the revenues they generate. Apple takes 30% for running the App Store. ” … To be clear, we don’t intend to make money off the App Store. We’re basically giving all the money to the developers, and the 30% that pays for running the store, that’ll be great.”
• Apple plans to release an iPhone 2.0 software update in June that will include enterprise capabilities, App Store, etc.
• One more thing …
• Oh, look: It’s KPCB’s John Doerr. Must be here to demo i’MRich for iPhone.
• Doerr announces the iFund for iPhone developers.
• $100 million to start. Boom.BOOM. BOOM! “That should be enough to start about a dozen Amazons, or even four Googles! … If you want to invent the future, the iFund wants to help you build it,” Doerr says.
• END

(Spore photo courtesy Gizmodo)

Odd, isn’t it, that Google will award up to $30 million in prize money to anyone able to land a privately funded spacecraft on the moon, but it’s willing to pony up just $10 million to spur interest in development of its new Android platform for mobile devices. Apparently Google’s dominion over space figures higher on the list of company priorities than its dominion over the mobile market.

This morning, Google’s Open Handset Alliance released the Android Software Development Kit in concert with the Android Developer Challenge, a contest that will see Google doling out $10 million in prize money to programmers able to create workable applications for the platform.

“We’ve built some interesting applications for Android but the best applications are not here yet and that’s because they’re going to be written by developers,” Google co-founder Sergey Brin said in a statement. “We’d like to reward these developers and recognize them as much as possible.”

Cash prizes will range from $25,000 to $275,000. Half of the $10 million will be awarded for entries submitted between Jan. 2 and March 3 of next year. The other $5 million will be distributed in a second round that will start after the first Android-based phones arrive at market in the second half of 2008.

Android is built on a Linux 2.6 kernel and supports multitouch interaction, which means we’ll likely be seeing quite a bit of creativity on the platform.