iPhone

Study gives insight into iPhone users

About half of them are under 30 years old, 15 percent of them are students, and they now have bigger mobile phone bills. Who are they?

iPhone users, according to a recent online survey conducted by research firm Rubicon Consulting. Rubicon conducted the survey of 460 iPhone users in the U.S. last month (PDF). (The margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.)

What's the most popular data function on the so-called "Jesus phone"? Reading e-mail. Respondents also said that their monthly mobile phone bill had increased by an average of 24 percent, … Read more

Simplify Media adds options

One of the most promising freeware programs of 2007 was Simplify Media, a plug-in for iTunes and Winamp on both Windows and Mac that lets users share their music collections with friends and themselves via the Internet. The application is expecting an official release in June, but until then you'll have to appease your appetite for music with these beta builds.

The program still eats a voluminous amount of virtual memory--near the 100MB range, on average--but if you're not using a lot of other system processes it makes for an attractive way to get your tunes across the … Read more

Nationwide iPhone shortage reported; 3G model soon?

LAS VEGAS--All of a sudden, it has gotten a lot harder to find an iPhone.

A few weeks ago, New York iPhone shoppers noticed that Apple's Manhattan retail stores were running low on iPhones. Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, during an intermission in his three-part series on why Apple is the coolest ever, called up 20 different Apple stores across the U.S. and confirmed that the shortage extends nationwide. Apple's online store reports a five- to seven-day wait on iPhone shipments.

There's usually a couple of reasons for a product shortage. One, demand is outstripping the … Read more

Symbian CEO pitches middle ground between iPhone, Android

Q&A For a man staring down Microsoft, Google, and Apple, Symbian's Nigel Clifford doesn't have the deer-in-the-headlights look as much as you might expect.

Perhaps because, at the moment, those three juggernauts are staring up at Symbian. Clifford, CEO of the company since 2005, has a dominant share of the market for smartphone operating systems and a strong backer in Nokia, the world's largest handset maker.

Still, Symbian is sitting on top of the market at a time when it appears destined for change. Apple's entry into the market has galvanized the American consumer, … Read more

Analyst: Apple on track to sell 45 million iPhones next year

For Apple to sell 45 million iPhones next year, it would have to quadruple its sales from 2008.

Yes, that's more than a bit optimistic. The analyst who originally made that sales prediction for Apple back before the phone was even launched is at it again, though, on Monday explaining how he thinks it could happen.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster insists--despite consensus that his prediction is entirely overeager--that Apple will do so by introducing a 3G version of the iPhone in the second or third quarter of this year, as well as a lower-price version of the … Read more

Apple, Google vie for hearts (and wallets) of developers

For the last four months, Howard Chau has been developing a mobile application that's designed to alert people to their next calendar appointment, factoring in data like the person's physical location and traffic conditions en route to a meeting.

In the next two weeks, Chau plans to submit the GPS-based application, called Mappily, to Google in the hopes of winning its Android Developer Challenge, a developer contest with $10 million in total prize money. Because Chau only stands to win tens of thousands of dollars in the first round of the challenge, the money would just be gravy.… Read more

Five things I love/hate about the iPhone

I've had my iPhone for a week now and am amazed by how much it has changed the way I use a mobile device. My Blackberry was all work: I used it for email and to read stories on Arsenal. (Yes, that counts as work these days.) The iPhone is much different. There is so much to do with it. I find that I use it far more, but for less drudgery and more fun.

A bit like how I use my Mac.

I thought I'd compile a list of the five best things about the iPhone, and the five worst. It's not a perfect device by any means. It's interesting to see that some of the iPhone's greatest strengths pave the way for its greatest weaknesses.

But first, the good:

The typing on the iPhone is lightning fast. I never would have guessed this, but it's true. I was pretty fast on my Blackberry 8700 and then 8800, but I'm at least 25 percent faster on the iPhone. I worried about the lack of tactile feedback, but the iPhone gives visual feedback (the key you're about to hit enlarges to meet your finger) which is arguably superior. In addition, it's very, very smart about correcting misspellings. Often I'll keep typing, even when I know I made a mistake, because I know the iPhone's software will correct my mistake for me. It usually does.… Read more

Apple rumors run wild, slow news day confirmed

When it comes to writing about Apple, deciding what you should and should not cover can be tricky.

You can take the machine gun approach: Anything said, written, rumored, or signaled via smoke should be dutifully blogged with a hint of snark and just enough insight to make readers think, "Heeeeeeey, that fella must know the inside dope." This, unfortunately, is what most of the tech press (mea culpa: sometimes including CNET) following Apple does these days. If you don't give readers their Apple fix, the other guys will.

Then there's the high-end approach: you have … Read more

Which is more addictive: Blackberry or iPhone?

As I was obsessively checking my Blackberry at OSBC I realized that my usage is no longer about anything but the data. That is, I have no interest in the user experience or how I get from piece of information to another. I only care about the constant flow of information.

Counter that with my experience with the iPhone and an informal poll I did in which iPhone users said that they feel like they are participating with the device, not just consuming it like the Blackberry.

Leaving the form factor aside (I for one, like the BB keyboard) and … Read more