Latest featured links
Popular Categories
Drazr | General Web DirectoryArticle Details
IPHONE OS 4: APPLE TAKES ON GOOGLE, SONY, NINTENDO, MICROSOFT, |
|
| Date Added: April 17, 2010 04:29:01 PM | |
| Author: Drazr | |
| Category: COMPUTERS & INTERNET | |
Last Friday Apple launched iPhone OS 4, which is already available as an SDK to download, and will be released for the iPhone in about June, and for iPad in about September. Apple is trumpeting “over 1,500 new APIs and over 100 new features” – in that order: this month’s launch is all about attracting developers ahead of the consumer release in the summer. OS 4 will be a free upgrade, although not all features will work if you’ve got an early generation iPhone / iPod Touch. Of the new features, Steve Jobs highlighted seven “tentpoles” which are central to the improvement to the platform: 1. Multitasking — catching up with Android, some will say, but Apple claims a unique and efficient approach that aims to minimize battery drain and not to reduce performance. This means that developers don’t get true unfettered multitasking but they get APIs for things like background audio, VoIP, background location, push notifications, local notifications, task completion, and fast app switching. The debate has already started among the tech community as to whether this form of multitasking is good or bad, but the average user won’t know the difference if the developers get their act right. Bottom line, with OS 4 you’ll be able to run Spotify / Pandora / Skype / Loopt / whatever on your iPhone in the background while you’re running other apps. 2. Folders — for app management. Now you’ll be able to have a folder for games, another for comms, or whatever. This is a catch-up for Apple; most smartphone OS’s have had this as standard for years. Apple will also increase the app limit per device from 180 to 2,160, so now you’ll be able to download many, many more apps, use them once or twice, and forget where you put them! 3. Enhanced email — a unified inbox for all your email accounts, including support for all major services and even multiple Exchange accounts. Or fast inbox switching if that’s what you prefer. This will be a big boon for people who want to use the iPhone for work as well as personal. Apple is also adding APIs for apps to integrate with email and/or open email attachments. 4. iBooks — an official eBook reader that integrates Apple’s iBookstore across multiple devices, with synchronization of pages and bookmarks. So for example, you can start an e-book on one book reader, and later pick it up at the same point on your iPhone, when you’re travelling light. 5. Enterprise — enhanced security & device management for better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution, support for multiple exchange accounts and SSL VPN support. Apparently iPhone is already officially in use or pilots in 80% of Fortune 100 companies. These features will make it more attractive in other large companies. Maybe even in Ericsson? (but certainly not in Microsoft, where employees have to keep their iPhones well hidden from management!). 6. Game center — this is similar to Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. Users will have access to their ‘achievements’, and also leader boards and match making to find online competitors. Apple says there over 50,000 games in the App Store, which compares with 2,477 for the Sony PSP and 4,321 for the Nintendo DS. And the PSP and DS don’t have access to a network either. So there! 7. iAd — “To keep free apps free”. This is by far the most unique “tentpole” in the OS 4 launch, and Steve J kept it for last in his presentation. He said that mobile advertising today “sucks”, so iAd is Apple’s new mobile ad management system. Apple believes that that app use is / will be the primary form of mobile interaction, and therefore iAd will allow advertisers to effectively place ads that function within another app. Should a user click the ad, this then opens another app for the ad which could open as a game, a movie, or an app purchase. Apple will share 60% of these revenues with developers (which is less than the 70% shared for purchase of an app from App Store). You can watch Steve Jobs presentation in full (about 1 hour). The iPhone Blog have been putting the beta download through its paces, and they have a detailed review of what’s new. There’s lots to reflect on here, and quite a few of these enhancements could have impact on our industry. I’ll add more comments in a future post, but for now I can observe that the range of features in OS 4 raises the stakes in Apple’s competition with strong rivals across a surprisingly broad range of markets, eg: • In advertising, iAd is a direct challenge to Google. Apple has a very different view of the future of the internet, as I’ve said before. iAd makes the $750m Google spent on AdMob look very expensive compared to Apple’s purchase of Quattro Wireless. With iAd, Apple is also targeting rival mobile makers, e-book sellers and videogame firms. |
|
|
|
|
Latest links
Latest articles
Simple Muscle Building Tips
Muscle building is crucial for so many reasons, including making a person stronger and improving overall health.
Muscle building is crucial for so many reasons, including making a person stronger and improving overall health.
Baldness - Causes and Solutions.
Baldness: It is a subject that many people will actively try to avoid talking about and not something that will come up in a lot of public conversations.
Baldness: It is a subject that many people will actively try to avoid talking about and not something that will come up in a lot of public conversations.