Results tagged “iphone”

PayPal just announced Here, it's answer to Square's device that let's you accept credit card payments from your iPhone.

The little triangle piece dangling down in front is driving me fucking nuts.

I'm never above being proven wrong, and I would love to know what Yves Behar's thinking was on that. Yves designed it with his team at fuseproject.

Update: OK, I think the limp triangle is explained over at Co.Design:

Additionally, the device had to tell you that you could swipe a credit-card through it, which Behar's team accomplished by layering light and dark plastics atop each other, so you can tell that there's a surface for sliding.

I still think there was a better way to convey the *swipeability*.

via Cult of Mac via Co.Design

Last month marked 5 years since the iPhone was first introduced.

Research In Motion has had their research in motion for the last 5 years and they've finally responded to the smartphone challenge and the current leaders in this space, Google and Apple:

You've had 5 fucking years and this is your response?

Looks lovely, but I hope they don't count on this saving their company.

Image via The Verge

Hinoki Wooden iPhone and iPad accessories (via The Verge)

via Alex Rainert

Instagram is one of the most used applications on my iPhone. So I was happy to see Apple pick them as iPhone App Of The Year for 2011.

Nate Bolt at TechCrunch boils down Instagram's popularity to quality, audience and constraints (via Working Title).

So it pained me to read news like this one at CNet (via The Brooks Review):

"I think the advertising experience is going to be extremely engaging," Systrom said. "It's much harder with text," but Instagram offers photos, and brand names such as Audi, Kate Spade, and Burberry have joined Instagram.

The optimistic and delusional side of my brain read the CNet article in the context of the Android version of Instagram they're working on. Having advertisements on Android is a natural thing - it's how Google pays the bills. And it's how Google encourages developers to pay their bills. But there's other ways to pay the bills.

Right now Instagram is free. Maybe hindsight tells us even just charging $.99 would have been better than giving it away. Maybe charging for Instagram would have also prevented it's rise in popularity. Maybe not.

My hope is that Instagram will figure out a classy way to integrate advertising that doesn't disrupt the experience. Even better, offer a premium, ad-free version. I'd be willing to pay and I bet many others would be too.

via Technabob

"It is simply a tool."
—David Hockney

Of course Don uses an iPhone.

via Mail Online via TheNextWeb

Microsoft has built a Windows Phone 7 simulator in HTML5. It lets you get a feel for it on iPhones and Android phones.

I tried it out, and yes, it would be better if the iOS chrome went away to give you the full experience, but it's still pretty cool.

I don't find myself saying this often, but Microsoft did a nice job with WP7.

Influencer: Square

Influenced: Kudos Payments

Ingredients

• 8 slices of ciabatta bread
• 1 clove of garlic
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 balls of buffalo mozzarella
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
• a small handful of fresh basil leaves
• zest of 1 lemon

With everyone building apps these days, I thought I might share this tasty recipe for all to enjoy and build.

via Mash Creative

ZDNet: Adobe ceases development on mobile browser Flash (via MG Siegler)

It was only a matter of time:

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.

I know. Adobe wanted to prove Steve Jobs wrong after Apple made their technical decision not to support Flash on the iPhone. Instead of seeing Steve's point of view, they decided to act like a teenage girl, screaming and crying about this atrocity. In addition to all the money they pissed away trying to shoe-horn Flash onto Android phones, they took out full-page ads saying "We ♥ Apple". Very cute.

Now here we are, four years after the debut of the iPhone and Adobe finally concedes defeat. Imagine all the money and resources they could have saved if they had managed things differently. Perhaps they could have avoided the 2,000+ layoffs they've had in the last 3 years.

I'm indulging in some schadenfreude at Adobe's expense, but it doesn't change the fact that Flash has been an extremely powerful tool which has allowed me and many other interactive designers to express ourselves and create truly immersive experiences and applications.

Even today, HTML5 still does not provide the level of granular control and fluidity that Flash does for desktop experiences.

It's necessary we as interactive professionals keep up with technologies and frameworks like HTML5, but it's also just as necessary companies like Adobe lower the barrier for entry by making tools that allow creative people to focus on creating experiences and not getting bogged down in the minutia of code.

The web is an amazing canvas to work on. If you're taking away our Flash paint brush, you have to replace it with a tool of equal power for expression.

I originally wrote this piece back in 2009. With Apple recently introducing Siri, it is interesting to go back and read what I wrote:

The posting of specific product launches or reviews of these products is not something that deserves a spot on this site--we'll leave that to the engagets of the world. So it is with some apprehension that I make a post specifically focusing on the new iPod Shuffle and what it represents not only to Apple, but to people in general. After all--it's the people that end up using these products.

Apple announced its new iPod Shuffle with less media spectacle and usual hoopla that follows much of its product line. It has been a pattern that I have started to notice, and that is the fact that there seems to be a lot more to the products that receive less attention. There always seems to be a lot of things that go missed by the mainstream reviewers, and less thought into these patterns that keep appearing. There is more to this phone--oops, I mean iPod--than meets the eye.

This new iPod Shuffle is a culmination of many technologies that have been championed by Apple over the years. One of the key elements that is missing from this new device is a physical interface contained on the unit. This has now been placed on the headphone cord and now makes it very easy to control, using various clicking combinations. The other bit of technology to accompany this addition is the use of voiceover to alert people as to the name of track and artist that is playing in their headphones--this was something that was lacking in previous models of the iPod Shuffle. With all this said, there is a reason for it, and it's not just to sell more units. This is one step closer to the perfect interface and the perfect phone--oops, I mean iPod.

This iPod demonstrates a device that is not only less intrusive to use, but it is a device that is completely accessible to visually impaired people. The use of the headphone controls along with the voice feedback on the device, make it something that opens up the doors to people who could not enjoy the full experience of the screen-based iPod. These people can now navigate tracks and receive feedback as to what content is playing, giving them an experience in a mainstream music device that has not been achieved before.

This furthers Apple's quest for the perfect interface, the interface that doesn't have somebody bound to the use of a screen, but can offer an experience that is just as enjoyable--or maybe even more enjoyable. Only time will tell, but I think this represents a movement into a realm never seen before.

For those of you that know me--you know that I have always talked about how I would like to see somebody put a screen-less phone to market. There have been attempts by some companies to do it, but nothing that has produced good results. I think Apple has an opportunity to do it, and to actually pull it off.

The addition of the voiceover technology makes me think about voice coming from the other direction. I don't mean the lousy attempts by other companies to integrate voice commands into their devices, I mean a system that actually works. A system that would allow people to place calls through the use of their voice, along with being able to go through their address book and place calls. We may not be able to get rid of the phone keypad, but just imagine a phone/iPod that was contained in a pair of headphones. It may not be that far off.

Thanks for listening and keep on heeding.

Over at Fotune, Philip Elmer-DeWitt tells us iOS's Internet market share hits a record 54.65%.

He writes:

You would think that with nearly 50% of the global market for smartphones that Google's (GOOG) Android would also dominate the Web.

So how does the competition stack up?

Android, with 16.26%, is still trailing Java ME's 18.52%. Nokia's (NOK) discontinued Symbian, at 6.12%, is fading fast and Research in Motion's (RIMM) is holding steady at a negligible 3.29%.

Elmer-DeWitt points out the fact that Apple has an advantage with iPhones and iPads and iPod Touches. This is true, but I think there's another piece to this equation.

If you've opened a Best Buy flyer/insert in the last year, you'll usually see a 2-page spread of Android phones. They range from $199 to $99 to free with no recognizable differences to the average, non-techie user.

Now with over 50% of the phone share, Android is clearly kicking ass in raw numbers, but if you happen to have used some of the phones in the in range featured at Best Buy, you'll know some of them offer horrible user experiences.

Chuggy, choppy, buggy, crashy.

So my theory on why Android has over 50% market share but only 16.26% Internet market share is: People are getting suckered into buying these Android phones ("hey, they look slick like the iPhone"), not understanding there's a huge difference in quality between models. Then they start to use their phone, only to realize it sucks. People don't like their Android phones, so they stop using them.

I was in the car with a good friend of mine recently and I handed him my iPhone 4 to help me navigate to our other friend's house. He started flicking around the Google Map, and said "Oh my god, this interface is so smooth." He happened to have an Android phone on the lower end of the quality spectrum and was only now coming to understand what he had bought.

Quality and quantity are mutually exclusive characteristics.

Influencer: Steve Jobs announces the iPhone, January 2007

Influenced: Jeff Bezos announces the Kindle Touch, September 2011

via The Vimeo Blog

Sometimes I feel like the guys at 37Signals are the only voices of reason in the realms of business, design and technology.

With everyone saying the platform is the end-all, David says fuck the platform:

For all the 200,000 apps in Apple's app store, I use two on a regular basis: Echofon and Bloomberg. Once in a while, I use Instapaper and play Civilization. And yet I use my iPhone all the time. It's my favorite piece of technology and has been for years.

Do you know why? Because Apple nailed the basics. Safari, Camera, iPod, Clock, Weather, Photos, Messages, Mail, and Maps are the apps that I use 95% of the time. Those are the ones that made me buy the phone and stick with it. If I had to read Bloomberg on the web and couldn't play Civilization, I'd be sad, but my day would surely go on.

I know I'm not alone. The pattern I've seen for many people new to iOS is a rush to try a bunch of apps and then never use most of them again. There's a large market for people who just want the core ten apps executed even better. I'd be happy to trade my iPhone for a N9, if that core experience was stronger.

I agree 100% with David. While I admittedly have more than 10 apps on my iPhone, I rarely use more than 10 on a regular basis (I can't delete Shazam, you never know what you'll need to find a track, dude!). Update: I hear where David is coming from, but his essential apps are different from my essential apps which are different than your essential apps. Platforms are important.

I also find his easy dismissal of platforms ironic, given the company he works for has built a great platform for collaboration, project management and communication.

For me, I use the basics: Safari, Mail, iPod, Messages, Camera, Maps

As far as 3rd party apps: Instapaper, Reeder, Twitter

It really is a shame companies like RIM and Nokia are dropping like flies in the face of Apple. We need competition to have a healthly mobile market. As Victor Brunetti points out, a lot of time and attention went into designing the N9 experience.

During a race, there's a different between turning your head to watch the other cars and keeping your eyes on the road (and watching the other cars in your peripheral vision).

Make a great product, don't try and make an iPhone killer, you won't be able to.

From the MegaPhone product page:

Passive Amplifier for iphone made of ceramic. the form is designed to amplify and optimize the best sound output. the amplifier is based on a thin wooden frame that allows the object to float off the table. this in order to increase the vibration of the object and to optimize the emission of sound. designed for the iPhone is perfect for listening music without headphones, for audio conference to hear the person on the phone as live voice.

Badass.

via Co.Design