iPhone OS Got a New Name, So When Will iTunes?

Nick Santilli asks the right question. Synchronization is the killer application for the connected world, but Apple’s major sync tool is strangely placed: iTunes, which long ago transcended its name. Neither the online store nor the local application is primarily about music. It’s about media and synchronizing personal content. Then there are those curmudgeon business owners or technology managers who wouldn’t want their companies relying on a synchronization service called iTunes.

I’m all for MobileMe as new name. It’s already Apple’s sync service for email and other Net content. MobileMe is plenty good enough for the whole shebang. But whether MobileMe or something else, the time for change is long overdue.

Do you have a music story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

TechFlash Podcast: Apple, Microsoft Retail Clash in San Diego

Editors Todd Bishop and John Cook invited me to join this week’s TechFlash podcast to talk about the epic retail clash in San Diego, where on the same day Apple released iPhone 4 to the masses and Microsoft opened its fourth retail store in the same shopping mall.

I’m a better interviewer than interviewee. Too many “ahs.”

Do you have an Apple or Microsoft story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

The Future of the PC as Seen From 2003

Sometimes the past feels all the more distant.

In November 2003, Jupitermedia held a small event competing with the then massive and now defunct Comdex. As a senior analyst working for the company, I was asked to give presentation: “Evolution of the PC.” The topic is so broad I griped: “Why don’t you just give me a bag of rocks and tell me to hit one of the great lakes.” So much about computing has changed since that presentation, the content seems simply ancient to me.

Next Wave of Computing, from 11/2003

During the presentation, I spent some time talking about the importance of cell phones. At one point, I took out my mobile and explained how it had speedier processor, better graphics, more storage and faster Internet connection than my first home PC purchased in January 1994. I observed that the cell phone should be a boon to the kind of lighter-weight applications that ran in the tiny memory space of DOS PCs.

Joe: Netflix for iPhone, huh? Well, what do you think of those new 200MB, 2GB metered data plans now, assuming Netflix supports 3G?

Joe: [Steve] Jobs is making the right pitch to developers: $$. How much they can make. Successful platforms make third parties lots of $$.

Greg Glockner responded: @joewilcox Great point Joe. Windows is successful because it's a platform that made many others successful.

Joe: Apple Store online is open, which means no new products for sale today. Otherwise, the store would be down during Jobs' keynote.

Joe: Nice smoke and mirrors by Jobs about "Retina Display". There's more to the display than ppi. For text, font rendering, for example.

Joe: My criticism aside, iPhone 4 contrast ratio and clarity look pretty good.

Joe: My Nexus One has 252 ppi; 854 x 480 pixels. Human eye can see 300 ppi. iPhone 4 is 326 ppi; 960 x 640 pixels.

Joe: I've said smartphones will replace PCs. iMovie for iPhone is taste of the future. If you can shoot and edit on phone, who needs PC?

Joe: RT @teedubya: the new iPhone4 seems more impressive than the iPad... [Joe: Agreed. Too bad about those new AT&T data plans]

Robert Scoble: I turned my phone off. Steve Jobs is that convincing. :-)

Joe responded to Robert: @Scobleizer You're giving up on Android so soon? That Kool-Aid is intoxicating. Cover your ears! Close your eyes!

Joe: RT @anildash: Attention Apple keynote attendees: You don't have to put down your laptop just because Steve says. You paid to be there...

Tim Conneally: I'm missing #wwdc, but while 9000 ft up in the Alps. I theres full 3G with tmobile where I am...so #iphone 4 would work here.

Joe responded to Tim: The Alps. You're still in Europe, Tim? How is that T-Mo 3G over there.

Tim answered: @joewilcox 3 more days then back home and probably out to E3. T mobile is going strong. Its been good everywhere but poland.

Mugunth Kumar: Someone edited wikipedia already. There is no more iPhone OS page. It redirects to iOS!

Joe responded to Mugunth: @mugunthkumar Not just iPhone OS. Someone edited the [Backside] Illumination page to include iPhone 4, ignoring CMOS makers like Toshiba.

Mugunth answered: @joewilcox Looks like they are much faster than twitter :)

Kawika Holbrook: @joewilcox Nice thing about @Scobleizer giving up on "Android so soon" is that he—nor anyone else—doesn't have to. Use both.

Joe responded to Kawika: @kawika I'm sticking with Android. New iPhone looks cool, but AT&T metered data plans, termination fees and calling problems keep me away

Joe: iBooks for iPhone is no shocker. Good usage rights, like when iTunes launched. DRM is there, but most people won't notice it.

Joe: RT @rossrubin: Three stores is not a benefit. One integrated store for everything is a benefit. [Joe: Excellent point]

Joe: Does everyone get Jobs' "emotion + interactivity" pitch for iAd? "Emotion" is missing from the Google ad model.

Joe: All this integration & exclusivity may haunt and help Apple, like Microsoft. Office locked in Windows sales & trustbusters balked.

Joe: About iPhone 4, I don't see much more than Gizmodo already revealed in stories and videos about the lost prototype. Anyone else?

Joe: iPhone 4 video calling is the One More Thing? Like Nokia has offered on N-Series handsets FOR YEARS?

Frank V. responded: Many of the things Apple introduces have been done before. Just not widely adopted. The Ipod was not the first MP3 player.

Joe answered Frank: @StationA It's all about marketing. Scoble's tweets suggest he's going back to iPhone. He just got to Android. Jobs is the master salesman.

Frank: That is true Joe. But like most things Apple does, this will signal the time when people actually start to use it.

Frank: @joewilcox I figured more people would have picked up on that M.O. by now..

Joe to Frank: @StationA I'm definitely not going to iPhone 4. I did a 29-day refresher in May. I'm Android and T-Mobile. AT&T is more the reason though.

Kawika: @joewilcox Curious which plan and carrier you have that doesn't have termination fees? (Obviously AT&T is still the weak point for iPhones.)

Joe answered Kawika: @kawika I switched to T-Mobile in Oct. Lower termination fees than AT&T (as of 6/1) and unlimited phone, data and text.

Kawika: @joewilcox @nokia doesn't have Sam Mendes directing commercials about video chats with kids, moms, and sign language. Very different.

Joe: So iPhone 4 video calling is WiFi-only in 2010. Many overseas carriers offer the feature over 3G on Nokia phones. Don't forget HTC EVO 4G.

Patrick Gauthier: @joewilcox But Nokia doesnt have a superstar CEO and legions of fans...

Joe responded to Patrick: Nokia doesn't have an all-star CEO, but it does have legions of fans. What strikes me is iPhone 4 similarities to some Nokias.

Patrick: @joewilcox NOKIA will capture 3rd party developers like APPL and GOOG can. I wish it was different. But numbers tell otherwise.

Joe: @PRGauthier Nokia doesn't have an all-star CEO, but it does have legions of fans. What strikes me is iPhone 4 similarities to some Nokias.

Joe: @PRGauthier I agree that Nokia has fallen behind in design. But Nokia still delivers quality, performance and price to emerging markets.

Patrick: @joewilcox Yes when it comes to emerging market the line up of phones AND services is strong. India is poster child there.

Joe: @PRGauthier Last I checked, Nokia's market share in India was something like 70%. It's pretty high in most BRIC countries.

Joe: Boy Genius Report says 200,000 HTC EVO 4G sales over weekend: http://tinyurl.com/2amzrf6

Joe: iPhone 4 launches June 24, but in only five countries—US, France, Germany, UK, Japan.

Nicole N.: Thinking I should get an iPhone ...but I really don't want AT&T...their coverage is so terrible....#decisions

Joe warned Nicole.: @NicolePRexec Nicole, take a week and let Jobs' Reality Distortion Field wear off some before deciding on iPhone 4. Breathe.

Nicole responded: @joewilcox That is good advice. I've stayed away from the iPhone hype for years...but now I'm starting to appreciate the video/app qualities.

‘Oh God No’ is Right

Cupidtino? A dating service for Apple fans?

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington writes:

My thoughts on this: Apple fans can be annoying when they’re on their own. The thought of them breeding and creating little Apple fans, a whole family of hard core hipster Apple lovers, is just not a good thing. On the other hand, making sure that Apple fans only date other Apple fans is a good way of stopping them from spreading their Apple fan genes to the general population, I guess. So maybe this site isn’t all bad.

Yeah, and maybe the site isn’t all good either.

Cupid and Psyche

From the Cupidtino site:

Cupidtino is a beautiful new dating site created for fans of Apple products by fans of Apple products! Why? Diehard Mac & Apple fans often have a lot in common—personalities, creative professions, a similar sense of style and aesthetics, and of course a love for technology. We believe these are enough reasons for two people to meet and fall in love, and so we created the first Mac-inspired dating site to help you find other Machearts around you.

Machearts? Clearly the rapid decline of Western civilization has come.

Do you have a weird Apple culture story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

Editors Shrewdly Handled Gizmodo-iPhone Drama Act II

cop cars

The toughest challenge for any newsroom is being the story. How should editors report about the news when they’re it, particularly if there are legal matters? That’s exactly Gizmodo’s situation, following a Friday night police raid of editor Jason Chen’s home. Gizmodo waited until Monday to post about the search and seizure of items from Jason’s home, which included four computers and two servers. Gizmodo has responded tactfully from editorial and legal perspectives.

Shield Laws Protect Sources

Gizmodo Editor Jason Chen

There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding among many bloggers, journalists and the general public about the purpose of shield laws. They are not meant to protect journalists. The laws exist to protect journalists’ sources. The shield extends to journalists so they can’t be forced to reveal confidential sources or to have information about their sources forcibly seized.

This context is vital to understanding the problem with the search and seizure of computers from the home of Jason Chen, a Gizmodo editor. Whether or not Gizmodo, its Calif.-based editor or the person selling the lost iPhone prototype broke the law is immaterial to a potentially huge violation of other sources’ rights.

Gizmodo Made the ‘Next iPhone’ a Great Story

Gizmodo iPhone Scoop

I have deeply mixed feelings about siding with Apple and not Gizmodo regarding the iPhone prototype the Weblog paid to acquire. After all, as a seasoned journalist, I should strongly advocate no-questions-asked free speech. Instead, last night I blogged for Betanews: “Apple should sue Gizmodo over stolen iPhone prototype”. I had planned to write something at Oddly Together, but Betanews founder Nate Mook asked for a story, which I gladly delivered.

“
For the old-line moguls atop companies like Dow Jones, New York Times Company, Condé Nast and Time Inc., the excitement around the iPad must have seemed like a godsend: Suddenly, they could stick to their old business models, with only the slightest of tweaks, and maybe even return to the salad days of long lunches and other perks. The pain of adapting to the cutthroat world of Web publishing could perhaps be avoided, or at least delayed.

And yet the signs keep piling up that this was a false dawn—and that, far from a savior, Apple’s CEO is (gasp!) actually a capitalist American business executive, at least as ruthless and calculating as any other. The Pixar chief-turned-Disney-director has been predictably savvy in dealing with the media, using their weakness to grow Apple’s control over distribution, creation and even content itself.

Ryan Tate, Valleywag analysis “The Dark Side of Steve Jobs”.

I was gouged by the Macalope and Lived

I’m not the most popular journalist among the so-called Mac faithful. I’ve written some tough stuff about Apple over the years, and most of my analyses proved right long after my public lynchings. One of my posts from summer 2009 set off John Gruber, aka “Daring Fireball.” The blog post was a personal challenge to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs to return to work and do well.

Macalope logo But something about the tone offended MacGruber, who ripped into it. From that point, there was only one point of view from Macheads—that I somehow showed insensitivity to a cancer survivor and liver transplant recipient. Hey, Steve Jobs is a big boy and CEO of a hugely successful company. There also were nasty comments about who was I to challenge the great Mac cult leader. I write for a living. Get a life.

On April 1st, for the Steve Jobs challenge post and some others, I made the Macalope’s “Fools of the Year”, coming in No. 3 on the top-10 list. The anonymous Macalope referred to the “A Personal Challenge to Steve Jobs” post but couldn’t link to it and so concluded: “Wilcox himself apparently decided the post was too jacktastic and has since summarily deleted it.”

Oddly Together