last100 » iPod touch

The Guardian newspaper’s iPhone app offers off-line mode – mobile Internet’s killer feature?

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:57:24 +0000

The Guardian has released a paid-for iPhone (and iPod touch) app that makes reading the UK newspaper on Apple’s device a truly smartphone experience.

Along with features such as the ability to customize the newspaper’s ‘front page’, support for audio, finger-friendly navigation, including ’swiping’ through photo galleries, the feature that really stands out is off-line browsing.

As I write over at TechCrunch Europe, the functionality…

… works in a similar way to music streaming service Spotify’s own iPhone app. Sections of the newspaper can be ‘cached’ in advance to enable access when outside of a WiFi network or mobile signal. As with listening to music, this is particularly appropriate for reading a newspaper on-the-go, such as when commuting on London’s Underground or any other subway for that matter. The app also offers access to the various Guardian podcasts, which can be downloaded in advance or streamed.

Even though we are (slowly) moving towards a world where our data lives in the cloud and broadband access is ubiquitous, there are always going to be times when a reliable Internet connection simply isn’t possible. However, with mobile apps incorporating caching functionality, such as Spotify and now The Guardian’s offering, we’re seeing the lines being blurred between cloud-based and locally stored content. This hybrid approach, if the user experience is done right, has the potential to offer the best of both worlds.

Might an off-line mode be the mobile Internet’s killer feature?

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BBC iPlayer downloads coming to iPhone?

Steve O'Hear — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:15:56 +0000

It looks like a proper iPlayer app for the iPhone (and iPod touch) is on its way. A recent press pack issued by the BBC includes images of a dedicated iPhone app for the TV catchup service.

Of most interest is that unlike the current browser-based offering for Apple’s iconic smartphone it appears that the new app will support both streaming and downloads. This was thought to be near-impossible given the iPhone’s lack of support for any ’standard’ form of copy-protection, a necessary evil given the way the Beeb licenses third-party content, and will bring it in-line with existing versions of iPlayer for Symbian and Windows Mobile.

As it stands, when asked to recommend a smartphone I usually try to ascertain if iPlayer support is a priority. If it is, and downloads are in particular (better battery life, off-line playback), I’ll more often than not point them towards a Nokia.

Soon that may no longer be the case.

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Spotify hits the iPhone and Android app stores

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:57:32 +0000

The stars were already aligned: a preemptive PR strike, a premium business model, and regulators questioning anti-competitive practices with relation to the iPhone’s app store — making it less and less surprising that Apple should give Spotify the green light.

As of today, the iPhone version of the music streaming service is available for download from Apple’s official App Store — UK, Sweden, Spain, France, Norway and Finland only (with the U.S. debut planned for sometime next year) — while a mobile client for the Google-led Android has also launched. The app is free for either platform but you’ll need to be a Spotify premium subscriber — £10 per month in the UK — to access the service.

The key feature that sets Spotify apart from other music streaming services is the ability to play any track or album on-demand rather than at random within a particular genre or ‘artists similar to’. While the mobile version also one-ups its competitors by offering an off-line mode that caches play lists for when your phone is out of coverage or wireless is switched off. This means users can access the service while on the subway or a plane, for example, or utilize the feature to conserve battery life.

As I predicted, however, the iPhone version of Spotify has one major floor. Music can not be played in the background if a user switches applications. Not the fault of Spotify but a limitation imposed by Apple with relation to multitasking on the iPhone. Unsurprisingly, the Android version doesn’t suffer the same fate.

The is the first phase of Spotify’s ambitious mobile plans, with a version for Symbiam S60 (Nokia etc.) next, and a rumored tie-in with Hutchison Whampoa-owned carrier 3 and INQ Mobile, makers of the so-called Facebook and Twitter phones. The Really Mobile Project recently reported that Hutchison Whampoa “head honcho” Li Ka-shing has invested in Spotify and that INQ CEO Frank Meehan now sits on Spotify’s board.

Video demos of Spotify on iPhone and Andriod after the jump…

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Real’s Rhapsody enters App Store submission hell, could bode well for Spotify?

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:58:27 +0000

Adopting a similar PR strategy to Spotify, U.S.-only music subscription service Rhapsody ($14.99-a-month) has published details of its iPhone app, mid submission process to Apple’s App Store. While submitting an app alone far from guarantees that it will ever see the light of day through Cupertino’s official channel, by showing off the app now, including a video demo (below), it does ensure that any dirty linen on Apple’s part is aired in public. It also helps to build consumer demand from existing Rhapsody subscribers who also own an iPhone in preparation for a backlash should the app be rejected.

And rejection is certainly a possibility.

While other music streaming services have been green lighted by Apple, like European-based Spotify, it’s the on-demand nature of the service that potentially competes too heavily with the iPhone maker’s own iTunes. Unlike traditional Internet radio-type offerings, subscribers can pick a specific song or album from a catalog of eight million tracks for near-instant playback.

In other words, it’s like having the largest iTunes library in the world or kinda.

That is, it would be, if Rhapsody’s iPhone app enabled you to cache playlists for offline playback when you’re outside 3G or WiFi coverage, a feature that Spotify offers, even if like Rhapsody, the app has also yet to be approved by Apple. Rhapsody says it plans to offer caching in a version 2.0 of its iPhone app, presumably taking a one step at a time with regards to App Store submission hell.

Should Rhapsody’s iPhone app be rejected, it could actually help Spotify’s case, especially in the context of the current FCC investigation into the whole App Store submission process. Spotify is a relatively new startup, albeit one backed by the major record labels, and is currently a Europe-only offering, while Real’s Rhapsody has been around for a lot longer and is an American company. Real also hasn’t been shy of upsetting Apple’s legal team in the past either.

Rhapsody on iPhone from Jamie on Vimeo.

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Microsoft takes on iPod touch with Zune HD

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:03:00 +0000

New Zune HD

Microsoft today announced its latest Zune portable media player designed to go head to head with Apple’s iPod touch. Dubbed the Zune HD, the device features a 3.3″ 16:9 widescreen capacitive OLED with multitouch, WiFi, and a built-in web browser, along with existing Zune media playback features. Talking of which, the “HD” moniker refers to both HD Radio (offering higher quality audio and additional track and station data), along with support for 720p HD video playback. Interestingly, the device itself only offers a screen resolution of 480 x 272, meaning that High Def videos played back on the device are downscaled, which shouldn’t matter all that much on such a small screen. To view content in its full HD glory, the Zune HD features a HDMI-compatible docking station for plugging into a high definition television.

Of course to really take on the iPod touch, not only will the Zune HD’s web browsing experience need to up its game compared to existing Windows Mobile devices, but it would need to foster its own third-party software eco-system. Something that Microsoft hasn’t yet announced and it’s unclear if the company plans to do so, although I’m not ruling it out. Remember Apple doesn’t call the iPod touch a media player, instead referring to the device as the “first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform, running all kinds of mobile applications.”

(via Gizmodo)

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Weekly wrapup: Hulu takes on Boxee, Sky and XBox 360, Spotify on Android, Nokia Ovi app store, Zune HD

Apple bans iPhone apps related to BitTorrent

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:51:09 +0000

Drivetrain for iPhone

It’s not a fully fledged BitTorrent client, but Apple has rejected Drivetrain from the iPhone App Store nonetheless. The software, developed by Maza Digital, turns the iPhone/iPod touch into a remote control for the popular PC BitTorrent client Transmission (Mac and Windows). After a slightly longer review process than other iPhone apps, Apple turned down Drivetrain on the grounds that anything BitTorrent related “is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights.” Of course, while the P2P protocol can be used for downloading pirated content, such as the latest DVD releases, it’s also a legitimate way for copyright holders to distribute large files, while sharing the bandwidth ‘costs’ with users.

In terms of functionality, Drivetrain enables the monitoring of BitTorrent downloads, including being able to pause, resume or cancel them altogether, as well as providing a web browser so that new torrents can be searched for and remotely downloaded. It’s the latter feature that probably set off the red light at the iTunes Store HQ.

(via iLounge)

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iPhone’s ‘In App’ purchases will be a boon to micro-payments

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:19:50 +0000

If it wasn’t already clear who owns the customer – Apple or its mobile carrier partners – yesterday’s announcement that ‘In App’ purchases will be a prominent feature of the next version of the iPhone’s OS suggests, once again, that power resides very much with Steve Jobs and co. in Cupertino.

When iPhone OS 3.0 is rolled out this summer, developers will be able to charge for additional content within their applications – so that, for example, an iPhone game could at anytime prompt a player to purchase additional levels or other in-game content, such as maps, without the user having to leave the app and billed through their existing iTunes account. For the privilege, Apple takes its standard 30% cut, once again bypassing the carriers. That in itself is disruptive enough. However, there’s another force at play.

Micro-payments. Or more broadly, in an era of free and ad-supported, getting consumers used to the idea once again of actually paying for content, albeit online.

Dave Zatz, over at Zatz Not Funny, has rightfully compared the iPhone’s ‘In App’ purchasing to Microsoft’s XBox Live service, which heavily relies on micro-payments — selling lots of add-on content for a few dollars at a time. So what kind of content will the iPhone’s ‘In App’ purchase feature spur?

The most obvious, as already noted, is game add-ons. Think additional levels, maps etc.

Next up are eBooks – leading the way to Kindle-like book stores, perhaps even one from Amazon itself.

It’s not clear if Apple would enable an iTunes Music store competitor, although technically that’s a possibility.

We know that turn-by-turn navigation is on its way, and so GPS maps, along with city guides, are another likely form of content.

And then there’s magazine and newspaper subscriptions – again Kindle-esque – as well as one-off or season tickets to sporting or live events – concerts or the Olympics maybe?

The possibilities, as they say, are endless – and all the time Apple takes a cut, leaving the carriers dumbfounded and further dumbed down.

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iPhone 3.0’s dichotomy: playing catch-up while pushing the envelope

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:42:34 +0000

At a special press event in Cupertino today, Apple previewed the next version — 3.0 — of the iPhone’s OS. And in doing so, the company showed once again how on one level it’s playing catch-up by delivering features that all other existing smartphones (and some feature phones) already have, while at the same time pushing the envelope further than its competitors.

In the catch-up camp is copy and paste, support for MMS and stereo Bluetooth (A2DP), media library access for third-party apps, and the previously announced ‘push notification’ system, Apple’s alternative solution to true multitasking and background apps.

At the same time, there was some genuine innovation on show, not least the opening up of the iPhone’s hardware port and Bluetooth access to enable third-party developers to build support for new accessories and software, such as a blood pressure monitor, glucose testing (finger pricking device) and other sorts of input devices. This will lead to all manner of new consumer and enterprise iPhone accessories, and will take the device into areas that aren’t traditionally thought of as smartphone territory.

Another example saw Apple take its ‘App Store’ business model to the next level by adding support for in-app purchases and subscriptions. For example, you’ll no longer need to download a new e-book reader app or game in order to purchase new books or game levels. Instead, these can be purchased within an existing app or paid for as part of a subscription. All payments are linked to a user’s iTunes account, with the same 70/30 revenue split in favor of the app’s developer. This ‘innovation’ in itself should go a long way to appease developers who feel the existing pricing model is too restrictive and, at times, encourages a 99 cents race to the bottom, and will likely attract more big guns and ambitious offerings to the platform.

Two other features, Spotlight and Bonjour (zero-config networking), saw existing technology found in the desktop version of OSX making its way onto the iPhone. The former is very similar to one of the yet-to-be-released Palm Pre’s flagship features (Universal Search), while Bonjour, which enables the iPhone to auto discover other iPhones over Bluetooth, paves the way to Nintendo DS-like social gaming and other types of peer-to-peer networking.

Image credit: Engadget

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Boxee releases remote control iPhone app

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:54:10 +0000

Another ‘remote control’ app has landed on iPhone, this time for media center software Boxee. The Boxee Remote app works over WiFi and operates in two modes: ‘Gesture’ and ‘Buttons’. In Gesture mode users drag the Boxee logo around the screen to trigger up, down, left and right and clicking on the logo activates play/pause. Alternatively, Button mode offers up a virtual version of Apple’s own hardware-based remote control, which although less imaginative is probably more practical. Either way, the free app is very bare bones, making it all the more baffling that, according to Boxee, Apple took such a long time to approve it.

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CBS to stream NCAA’s March Madness on iPhone and iPod touch

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:14:27 +0000

Buoyed by the success of last year’s March Madness on Demand and, presumably, its experiment with live streaming on Joost, CBS is making video coverage of the college basketball tournament available to owners of Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. Available through a dedicated iPhone app, users will be able to view live games (WiFi only) and access real-time scores, stats, and other related content. Interestingly, the app isn’t free but costs $4.99 available through iTunes and the iPhone’s App Store, another example of media companies using Apple’s mobile software store as a way of charging for content.

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What Kindle on iPhone says about Amazon’s eBook strategy

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:00:09 +0000

The news today that Amazon has released a Kindle client for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch says a lot about the company’s eBook strategy. Amazon’s Kindle device has often been described as wanting to become the iPod of books, but unlike Apple it’s clear that the e-tailer sees itself in the business of selling content and not just to drive sales of hardware.

In terms of music and video sales, Apple’s iTunes Store exists purely to add value to and increase uptake of the company’s iPod and AppleTV devices, with the major record labels and Hollywood studios receiving the majority of revenue from any content sold. Until fairly recently, content from iTunes could only play back on Apple’s hardware – for movies and TV shows this is still the case – helping to lock customers into the iTunes/iPod ecosystem. In contrast, eBooks bought from the Kindle store are now able to be read on at least one non-Kindle device, Apple’s iPhone, with more to come. This suggests to me that Amazon is taking a large enough cut from each eBook sold to justify potentially diluting sales of the Kindle device itself.

Having said that, Amazon is publicly pitching its iPhone app as being complementary to the Kindle rather than competing directly against it. And in some ways this is true. There’s a high degree of synergy between the Kindle experience on either device. Using technology Amazon is calling Whispersync users can pick up reading where they left off from the Kindle to iPhone and vice versa. Additionally, since eBooks purchased through the Kindle store are kept on Amazon’s own servers, you can access any content from your existing Kindle library ‘over the air’ on the iPhone or iPod touch.

However, aside from the Kindle’s superior e-ink screen technology, which is optimized for readability, there are a number of features that are missing from Amazon’s iPhone app. Most notable is the inability to browse and make purchases from the Kindle store directly within the app itself, instead you’ll need to fire up the iPhone’s web browser or make purchases first via a Kindle or desktop PC. Another omission, reports mocoNews, is access to newspapers, magazine and blog “subscriptions”, which due to copy-protection are currently tied to a single Kindle device.

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Why you may never see Spotify on iPhone

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:30:15 +0000

The video demo of the upcoming version of Spotify for iPhone (and iPod touch) that was yanked from YouTube has reappeared via Tech Digest. The mobile version of the streaming music service looks as polished as Mike Butcher over at TechCrunch UK first reported, although now that I’ve had a few hours to ponder its existence, I can see a number of reasons why Apple may never allow Spotfy into the iPhone App Store. Spotify isn’t the only music streaming app for iPhone (and therefore iTunes competitor) but it differs in two crucial ways:

Unlike Last.fm or Pandora, specific tracks and whole albums can be streamed on-demand, as apposed to having to be content with the choices or recommendations of the app itself – with no limits aside from the size of Spotify’s music catalog.
According to reports, Spotify on iPhone is able to cache tracks referenced in the playlists it creates so that the service can still be used outside wireless coverage. This solves one of the major drawbacks of streaming-only offerings and makes Spotify a much more direct iTunes competitor. Interestingly, Slacker offers similar functionality in its Blackberry mobile app but stripped off-line plackback from the company’s iPhone version.

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