Kyle LeBoeuf

Pretty much everyone by now has heard of the iPhone 4 antenna “issue”, since information on the “issue” trickled down into the mainstream media.

Because of the mainstream media picking up the story, there’s of course been wild speculation on what’s truth, what’s just rumors, and what’s been blown way out of proportion.

I’m not going to get into the details of the situation too much. You can find plenty of good information on this subject on the internet (informative sites include Daring Fireball and Engadget). Essentially, some users encounter issues with cell quality in already low-quality areas when they bridge the gap on the lower left antenna with their hand (now nicknamed the “death grip”.) The issue is usually resolved by a) moving into an area with better coverage, b) holding the phone a different way, or c) using a case to put a gap in between the antenna (part of the structure of the phone) and your hand.

Apple’s argues that every other smartphone has this issue. This is fact. You can effect signal on most phones by holding it in a similar manner. I can and have done it with my iPhone 3GS. I have a problem with this argument though.

Marketing is a huge part of Apple’s strategy, and it works really hard to get it right. Since the introduction of the original iPhone, Apple has bragged that their phone is different from every smartphone on the market. Notice however, that Apple quickly takes the opposite viewpoint when faced with this antenna issue. “Every other smartphone has this issue” they say.

But according to your marketing language, this phone is different from every other phone, so why is it plagued with the same problems?

Anyone who knows me knows that I drank the kool-aid. I’m a huge Apple fan. However, I’m somewhat put off by this whole ordeal, and Apple’s insistence on calling it a non-issue. If it’s a non-issue, why do you offer free bumper cases to correct the problem?

I don’t buy all of the BS about wanting to please all their customers. I love Apple and their products, just want to see it a little bit of honesty and transparency when it comes to stuff like this.

Valve recently released it’s monthly hardware survey detailing various statistics on hardware in use by its vast Steam user base. The newest survey now includes data culled from its new OS X user base, and the effects that OS X has on the hardware survey is interesting.

Of the biggest note is OS Share. According to the survey, every version of Windows indicated in the survey saw a decrease in users (with Windows XP taking the biggest hit at 4.70%).

All told, OS X took 8.46% of the Steam user marketshare in May. It should be noted that Steam support for Mac officially began on May 12, so the numbers should see some increase in the June survey.

It will be interesting to see the effects of OS X on the Steam user base as time goes on and developers release more titles on the Mac through Steam.

For the past couple of weeks I have been playing around extensively with Valve’s recently-released Mac version of their Steam software distribution platform for games. I really like it, and I think it has the potential to make a huge impact on both the Mac and gaming markets. Here’s why:

Game developers have long resisted porting their products for Mac, and for good reasons. Until recently, Apple products used special hardware that was different from most PCs and made porting games complicated due to the highly differing hardware configurations between the platforms. This is no longer the case, as Apple’s Mac products are running the same software as their distant PC cousins, making it easier for developers to make the switch.

Another problem plaguing developers has been one of exposure. How do you get the word out to Mac users about games? If you walk into any electronics retailer or any retailer in general that sells games, you can find large, easily distinguishable sections in the store that are dedicated to PC games. Unfortunately, there are very few retailers that carry Mac games (since very few retailers carry Macs in general), and this presents a problem of exposure. Even when there are Mac games available, the selection is usually limited to a few well-known titles.

The Steam platform solves this is a simple way: it allows users to download their titles. Its been a proven platform in the last several years on the PC and as this platform moves to the Mac I think it will be successful there. Apple users are already quite accustomed to getting most of their software via downloads, as a majority of Mac software is distributed in this manner already.

Through the well-known and already established Steam platform, developers now have a window through which can be visible to Mac users. They can promote their products through Steam, get their word out to gamers, and increase their bottom line (and make up for development costs associated with porting).

I just hope that developers take the risk and make the plunge.

Today, Apple let me into the MobileMe Mail beta, so I spent a little bit of time with it and now I have a few impressions.

First, let me say this: the interface is absolutely beautiful. Obviously inspired by the Mail interface on the iPad, the new Mail interface takes advantage of widescreen resolutions and displays everything in a neat, 3 column view. On the far left column is are your usual mail sections like Inbox, Sent, etc. In the center column is your mail, and it looks just like the Mail app on the iPhone and iPad. On the far right is a preview section for the email, again very similar to the (widescreen) email interface on the iPad.

In my experience so far, it’s very clean and its very snappy, loading most of my email with no problems and not really noticing any display issues with the email either.

I did notice some additional perks that make using the interface a little more pleasurable of an experience. For starts, email sent to an alias on your account now shows the account in bright green text next to the sender’s name, so you have an obvious visual indicator of which email was sent to what address. This is great for me, because I often find myself replying to email using the wrong alias/address.

Overall I love the iPhone OS inspired design and features, plus a few perks here and there that round out the package into a solid update and worthy successor for MobileMe Mail.

I wonder if they will roll out some of these changes Mail on the Mac?

This morning, Apple posted an open letter from Steve Jobs to the technology community in which he explains in great detail Apple’s stance towards using Flash in it’s iPhone OS products.

He pretty much hits the nail on the head, in true Steve Jobs fashion.

Adobe’s platform is closed and proprietary, insecure, unstable, and simply is not the best solution for touch-based computing as Apple is trying to define it.

While Apple does use plenty of proprietary software and tools, the big difference is Apple’s contributions to open-source computing. Apple incorporates a lot of open elements into it’s own products.

Also, allowing developers to develop in Flash brings their products away from the iPhone. From a business standpoint, this makes a lot of sense. Apple wants developers to code for the iPhone using it’s own tools because that is the best way to make quality applications for the platform, and that will bring the best apps and developers to the iPhone OS platform.

From the letter, on Adobe’s approach to iPhone development with Flash:

“We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.”

You’re only as good as your weakest link. Apple is removing the weakest link. Goodbye Adobe.

AppleCare is probably the most misunderstood product/service that Apple offers. Because of the stigma associated with most extended warranty-type programs offered by retailers, it is often ignored by customers without a closer examination to the benefits.

I used to work for an Apple Authorized Service Provider/Specialist and of course one of the biggest pressures we received from management (and Apple) was to sell AppleCare to people. Like every other retailer, this company carefully tracks “attachment rate”, or the percentage of applicable unit sales that have AppleCare attached to them.

I no longer work for the company, and it is of no personal benefit to me (I say this in disclosure), but I would highly recommend that you consider getting AppleCare for your future Apple products (and current, if they are eligible).

I say this for more then just the practical reasons. Yes, the out-of-warranty repair costs for most repairs on Apple products are outrageous, but my reasoning is founded on more then just that.

Part of the reason why Apple has such a loyal customer base is because it has systems in place that are very beneficial to the customer. It’s warranty repair system would fall under this category.

When you have an Mac (I’ll use a Mac as an example for this because the iPhone/iPod programs are a little different) that is under warranty that encounters failures, you have three options (four under some circumstances):

1. Take the computer to an Apple Store. This seems like a no-brainer. The folks at the Genius Bar can take a look at your machine and look into having repaired.
2. Take the computer to an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP). This is usually one of the quickest solutions to getting your computer fixed. I’ll explain later.
3. Ship your computer to Apple. This solution is for people who don’t have an Apple Store or AASP within a decent distance
4. If your computer qualifies, have Apple send a technician to fix it onsite. This solution is only available for certain machines (iMacs, Mac Pros, and Xserves)

Have you ever bought a computer from Best Buy and had to go and bring it in the get looked at by the Geek Squad? Yeah. I know.

The process sucks. You have three solutions when trying get warranty service from Best Buy:

1. Take the computer to the Geek Squad to get it looked at. This is annoying. Since you can’t schedule an appointment with the Geek Squad, you usually end up waiting in line for awhile before you get any kind service. On top of that, there’s a good chance that Best Buy will either tell you to use option 3 on this list or use option 3 themselves
2. Have Geek Squad come to your house and look at the computer. This can get expensive because Best Buy usually charges for this service regardless of your warranty.
3. Contact the manufacturer. Easily the most frustrating of three (unless you purchased a Mac!).

Biggest difference between Apple and the Geek Squad is this: training and specialization. Apple’s “Geniuses” fly out to Cupertino for service training before they are put on the Genius Bar. Apple Certified Macintosh Technicians (ACMTs) go through a rigorous testing process before they are certified to service Mac computers for AASPs. Geek Squad offers no real training for it’s technicians and a majority of the work on your computer is performed off-site, so you end up having to wait for several weeks before getting your computer back.

While Apple Stores do ship their computers to a service center for hardware repairs, AASPs typically employ technicians on-site who diagnose and repair your machine in-house, having the parts shipped to them and usually generating a turnaround time of about 3-5 days for most repairs, rather than 2 weeks that is typical for most repairs that are shipped out.

You can also ship your computer to Apple. Apple sends you a pre-paid shipping box and you ship the computer back to them. They diagnose and repair your computer and send it back to you. Turnaround time is usually 1-2 weeks. Just this alone is more convenient then dealing with Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

And in-case you didn’t know, AppleCare also entitles you to 3 years of free phone support with Apple. Apple can answer various questions about OS X, iLife, iWork, networking within OS X, and help troubleshoot issues, all for free. This costs about $50 per incident once you are outside of the initial 90-day support window that Apple provides.

The point of this post was to clear some common misconceptions about AppleCare and about its usefulness. Apple’s service program easily distinguishes itself from the rest and doesn’t warrant the resentment many customers have towards it because of practices that are standard in the electronics retail industry. As always, Apple is a cut above the rest. Faithful Mac customers know this, and should expect the same from their service and support of their products.

For a Mac, getting AppleCare grants you amazing service for three years (two years for iPods, iPhones, and iPads). Crazy deal if you ask me, especially considering that AppleCare for a MacBook Pro is a small fraction of the cost of a major repair.

Think about it.

Twitter just announced that it acquired Atebits, maker of the popular Tweetie app for iPhone and Mac.

I wonder what this means for other Twitter application developers, like Tweetdeck (which is what I use). Before, Twitter simply owned the platform that these applications were built upon. Now, Twitter actually has a vested interest in this application space and will move to increase it’s exposure amongst the users of Twitter.

Is Twitter going to restrict or possibly even ban other applications in this space?

As Ryan Block tweeted, “As of today, if your app depends on Twitter for anything other than identity or content syndication, you are officially on notice.”

It will be interesting to see how Twitter moves forward with this acquisition.

There has been a ton of heated discussion all over the internet about some changes made to the developer’s agreement in the iPhone OS 4.0 that includes the banning of tools that allow developers to port applications written in other languages not supported by the iPhone. The most prominent of these tools is a part of the new Flash CS5 that is being developed by Adobe.

The tool included in the Flash CS5 product will allow developers to export code written for Flash so that it is supported by the iPhone.

As of iPhone OS 4.0, developers will no longer be able to use these tools. This has caused a severe backlash from some in the developer community and we are beginning to see the battle lines being drawn.

On one hand, you have Apple, who stands by their decision to ban these tools based the fact that applications built with these tools will not get along with features and APIs that are being introduced in the update.

On the other, you have companies like Adobe, who’s product will be left out in the cold. Adobe took such offense at Apple’s move that one it’s prominent employees blasted Apple on his personal blog.

My own personal opinion follows:

==Begin Rant==

Flash sucks. Get over it Adobe.

Apple doesn’t support Flash’s platform because it’s terrible. The number one cause of crashes in OS X are flash-related. The number one cause of crashes in Internet Explorer are plug-in related. Guess which plug-in is the most common on Internet Explorer? Yep. You got it. Flash.

If Adobe would put more effort into improving the stability of its media platform, perhaps companies like Apple would consider adopting it into their devices.

Instead, we get this craptastic plug-in.

Apple is not really to blame here. They are protecting their platform and their users and encouraging open innovating through the use of HTML5 over technologies like Flash.

The clock is ticking Adobe. HTML5 will replace your Flash platform.

==End Rant==

As noted earlier this evening, Apple is holding a media event tomorrow to showcase the upcoming OS 4 for the iPhone.

I’ve been combing through all of the big rumors this evening and this is what I want to see the most:

1. Multi-tasking: This one’s a no-brainer. Apple is running out of excuses NOT to have this in the iPhone. Jail-breakers do it and it doesn’t kill their battery life that much (and if it does, so what? I want mutli-tasking!)
2. Orientation Locking: The iPad already has this feature, though it’s through a switch. Seems like it would be easy just to add a setting in the software that disabled it. I use my iPhone a lot when I’m laying in bed and would love to be able to prevent it from flipping around automatically.
3. Unified Inbox: This one was pretty much confirmed from “the man” Steve Jobs himself. I want to be able to view all of my inboxes at once I want to, like I already do on my Mac.
4. AT&T Tethering: I know that it’s very unlikely but this would be nice. Come on you guys, you promised this to us LAST YEAR!
5. UI Refresh: The iPhone UI has remained largely unchanged since it debuted in 2007 with the original iPhone. Some updates to bring it up to speed with current trend would be nice. Especially…
6. Customizable Home Screen: Yes we have this already with the iPad. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to change the background on our home screens?

Find out what Apple is up to with OS 4 by following the live blogs like gdgt.

Apple sent out media invitations to a private event showcasing the 4th version of the iPhone OS this past Sunday.

Typically for these events, the bigger tech media outlets such as Crunchgear, Engadget, and gdgt will have live blogs of the event. I personally plan on using gdgt’s live feed. It’s the cleanest and least cluttered. Good pics too.

Link to gdgt’s live feed for tomorrow is here. Check it out.

Wonder what’s next for the iPhone?

Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.