Apple Admits Not Much iPhone music

Apple has approached some major music labels trying to improve the future 3G iPhone by expanding the range of ringtones and other musical content available on it. The negotiations are very active at the moment and a final deal has yet to be set. A deal may come after June 9, a logical date for the introduction, but the company’s plans are not given publicity to.

Ringtones are profitable part of music business these days, because the price for a short piece of a tune is higher than for the full one. Now Apple offers 99-cent upgrade ringtones, the same as to its regular 99-cent songs, but Apple is looking to expand its inventory, as not all tracks can be converted into ringtones.

Apple is going to add answer (ringback) tones (songs a caller hears while waiting for answer. These command is even higher in price than ringtones.

Also Apple discusses whether it can sell songs from iTunes store right to the iPhone via the cell-phone network, as the next generation of phone is expected to have much faster 3G technology. To add more, music labels argue that they are not enough paid for an over-the-air download, contrasting a standard track bought over the internet with the wholesale price of 70 cents.

Expectations are high, as Apple is known as the successful dominant player in digital music. Apple has arranged deals with most carriers of the world. (575 million cellphone users estimated, as well as more than 153 million potential customers from the six countries where the iPhone is nowavaliable).

But the wireless market is growing and developing, and everyone is trying to add more music features to their devices. So Apple should count with other labels in order not to lose music market. In Europe the positions of Nokia and Sony Ericsson are strong and the cold reaction to the iPhone is evident.

Read press release

Share This

Surveillance System Information On Touch Screen iPhone

Lextech has come up with an application that enables you to control surveillance system via your favorite iPhone with the help of the touch screen interface.

The developers added a mobile interface to systems that were supposed to be monitored by a person at a desk, and that will open up many new opportunities. The new system will get surveillance system information with touch screen interface and is supposed to change the way we interact with them, creating new ways to use technology. For instance, traditional surveillance systems are controlled by a joystick or mouse for adjusting camera positioning. With the iPhone, the user handles much more intuitive interface to zoom in or out on things by pinching the picture.

Now let’s see what it got:

Remote system with PCI Plug in card
Advanced MPEG4 (H.264) & Motion JPG
Hybrid Network Video Recorder for CCTV/Analog or IP Cameras
Supports Video Encryption and direct burn to DVD(CD)-RW
Attention metric for measuring the attention span of security officers
Smart Voice detection recording
Events alarm alert
Virtual keyboard with lockup function
Remote backup of video data
Bookmark playback and Easy Search (date, hour, minute)
Video enhancer software for visual enhancement of surveillance video data
Central monitoring system with up to 128 channels with PDA/Mobile Handy view
320 x 240/640 x 480/720 x 480 NTSC/PAL Preview/Recording

Wattch Youtube video on iPhone touch screen surveillance system

View more details and buy this product at Amazon.com

Share This

5 Steps To Upgrade iPhone Firmware

Firmware, a computer program, is designed for embedding inside a specific hardware device. The main advantage of firmware in is the capability to be updated even after the distribution to customers in manufactured devices. Apple issues updates to the iPhone firmware, correcting bugs and making it simple for further upgrades.

Follow these 5 steps to upgrade your iPhone firmware:

Back up all the important data you have stored on iPhone before the upgrade prodedure. You may save the information to your PC’s hard drive, flash memory, DVR or other memory storage drive. The iPhone may remove some files while updating the system, so you’d better follow the backup.

Restore your iPhone’s original settings in case you have installed some unauthorized software. The firmware update might not install properly in case you have hacked to jailbreak your iPhone. So it would be very important to completely restore the basic iPhone settings. Just plug it in your PC, launch iTunes and click on “Restore” button in the main menu to automatically reset to iPhone’s default settings and clean its memory.

After the connection to the computer launch iTunes. There will be the notification that a firmware upgrade is available. Via a pop-up message click the install button for the upgrade. Or you may click on “Don’t Install” to cancel the installation for better times

Let iTunes install the firmware upgrade and do not use your iPhone or any other programs on your PC before the procedure is accomplished. No calls or messages will be recieved during the upgrade.

When the installation is finished and iTunes sends the notification that it is safe to unplug your iPhone from the computer, disconnect it. Check out your iPhone’s firmware upgrade by tapping “Settings” - “General” - “About” to see the latest firmware version number and date.

Share This

iPhone 3G Generation: Some More Rumor

Now the fuss about the new iPhone is hot as never before. With the release so close some companies try to guess the dimensions and specs of the device to be the first with accessories and thus get a competitive edge. Some of the rumors are credible while others are really hard to believe (like for instance the one where the 3G iPhone is considered to be a mini-version of the previous device).

But, nevertheless, there are some speculations that I personally think is worth paying attention to. I’ve collected the rumor I would more or less trust myself and now want to give it out to you.

1. Glossy Black Plastic iPhone

To my mind this speculation is the most credible of all. In this case plastic doesn’t stand for cheap, but rather for functional.

Let me explain why. Plastic back might be the indicator of a number of options and features:

The ability to swap SIM cards
SD slot. The device is expected to have GPS and SDK enabled applications. If a user has dozens of applications and associated data, the inbuilt 4 Gb will hardly be enough for him. So an SD slot seems a good solution.
The ability to swap the battery. With 3G, GPS and all other apps the battery life simply cannot be real long, so the possibility to swap it seems very convenient
GPS doesn’t give out high-quality performance through metal

So you see that the back aluminum shell might disappear forever, replaced by a slightly larger plastic one. But the silver bezel is likely to remain on the front. The front of the new model is likely to remain the same. The bottom speakers and mic might become bigger.

The screen of the model stays the same – 3.5”. They say that Apple is introducing a number of changes in the ear speaker. The camera is likely to remain the same and stay where it used to be.

As for the colors of the new device here it is possible that the new one will be added. Besides the glossy black and white iPhones we might get a red one. But all the color changes will be on the back, while the front will be the same – the same silver bezel with black material around the screen.

All the provided data has been collected by me over the Internet and I wouldn’t say that is 100% correct. After all, only Apple (plus a number of its key partners) knows what the new device will look like. So, it is a matter of a few weeks before we know if those third-party developers will come with the right accessories or we will have to wait for them much longer.

iPhone SDK: Downloading Games from Third-Party Developers

Share This

Apple Shows Innovative Leopard & iPhone SDK Development Platforms

Apple today announced that the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference will begin on Monday June 9, 2008 in San Francisco to showcase two innovative development platforms for the world’s advanced mobile systems OS X Leopard and OS X iPhone.

WWDC 2008 will give nearly 150 information sessions and labs to cover in-depth the innovative techs of OS X iPhone and OS X Leopard. The conference will introduce the first iPhone track with exploration of the OS X iPhone 2.0 software capabilities, including the the App Store and iPhone SDK.

The iPhone track lets mobile developers work with Apple engineers and create revolutionary iPhone’s Multi-Touch user interface applications, as well as animation technology, iPhone SDK, rich set of programming interfaces for Core Services, Core OS, geographical location technology and built-in three axis accelerometer in order to deliver amazing innovative mobile applications.

The conference will include:

presentation sessions to provide an analytical look at OS X iPhone, OS X Leopard and other new tools and technologies, for instance the Cocoa Touch, iPhone SDK, Interface Builder, Xcode and many others
Practical sessions to show Apple’s own coding strategies and techniques
Tech labs for one-on-one work with major Apple engineers
Special events, like the Apple Design Awards, Welcome Reception, Stump the Experts and Lunchtime Speakers.

Let’s recall that Apple made the PC in the 70s with the Apple II and reinvented Macintosh PC in the 80s. Today’s OS X operating system and iLife show the results of hard work and creative attitude. Apple’s iPod portable music, iTunes online store, various media players, and now its revolutionary iPhone have colorized our life.

You can visit Apple’s WWDC website for complete session details and registration here

Share This