Iphone, IPad and Mobile Phones

Both the iPhone and the Tilt are AT&T smartphones (at least in the United States), however, the overall main difference between the iPhone and the AT&T Tilt, according, at least, to the way the two devices are being marketed, is that the iPhone is being targeted more towards the consumer-user and the AT&T Tilt towards the business-user. Both smartphones, however, have excellent qualities appealing to both types of users.

Both the AT&T Tilt and the iPhone are touch screen smartphones, though the iPhone touch screen can be controlled by your fingers whereas controlling the AT&T Tilt touch screen requires using the included stylus. Beyond the touch screen, the iPhone has a single multi-purpose navigator button while the AT&T Tilt has several additional buttons.

Unlike the iPhone, the AT&T Tilt sports a unique screen design that allows users to slide out a full QWERTY keyboard from behind the main casing and tilt the display upwards so the user can view and control the phone similarly to the way one would a laptop or PC. The iPhone is a single candy bar unit with no sliding parts, though both the iPhone and the AT&T Tilt can be turned sideways for a widescreen view of the display screen as an alternative to the standard portrait.

The weaknesses of the feature-rich iPhone are in the way of the basic, essential functions of a smartphone – call quality and speed of the data network. Even though the AT&T Tilt uses the same EDGE data network as the iPhone, the Tilt has a wider array of wireless options available, including access to the 3G network, a feature the current generation of iPhone’s cannot claim (though a 3G iPhone is reportedly in the works). Also, according to a perusal of online customer feedback, the Tilt also boasts superior call quality over the iPhone. Having said that, however, the iPhone has up to 480 minutes of talk-time whereas the max talk time on the AT&T Tilt is only about half that.

In the way of features, the digital camera on the AT&T Tilt is 3.0 megapixels while the iPhone’s is only 2.0 megapixels. The Tilt includes a GPS but the iPhone does not. The call history on the Tilt is more substantial, indicating talk time duration and other details not available in the iPhone’s call history. Likewise, the Tilt displays a distinction between calls received and calls made whereas the iPhone does not. The processor on the AT&T Tilt is significantly slower than that of the iPhone, with a much higher tendency to freeze up and necessitate a reboot. The iPhone has a much larger built-in storage capacity (at 4-8 GB) while the AT&T Tilt can only hold 128 MB.

The major sweeping difference between the two devices is that the iPhone runs on Apple’s Mac OS X while the AT&T Tilt runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional, which is tantamount to the difference between any Mac PC or laptop and the equivalent Windows PC or laptop. So the AT&T Tilt offers users, for example, the full Windows Office Mobile suite of programs (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) while iPhone users benefit from all the innovative software resulting from the newly issued iPhone SDK (software development kit). The bottom line here is that, since most computer-users classify themselves as either Mac-people or Windows-people, the decision as to which device is “better” really boils down to one’s personal preference between Mac and Windows.

The AT&T Tilt sells for at least $100 less than the iPhone.

The basic idea is that there are over 100 new user features, but 7 major ‘tentpoles’ that have been discussed in depth. These will also be the main noticeable things that you’d first come across when you first start to use OS 4. These 7 items were (I might have the titles slightly wrong): Multitasking, Folders, Mail Improvements, iBooks, Game Centre, Enterprise and iAd. Some obvious, some less so, I’ll look at some of the features in each of these categories below.

Multitasking
After switching over to the iPhone from Windows Mobile the main thing that I found difficult was the lack of Multitasking. On WinMo, I’d been using CorePlayer for music and MSN application for IM. Both of these aren’t on the device by default but can be run in the background. On the iPhone, last.fm can’t be run in the background, which shocked me. The main benefit I see from this is that you’re not tied to any of apple’s default apps as you’ll now be able to keep 3rd party ones running… hopefully. Then of course there’s all the usefulness of having the ability to run applications x and y in the background, you will find your own uses for it.

Folders
For people who may have jailbroken their iDevices, folders won’t be new but the news that Apple is supporting them is great news. Hold your finger to make icons jiggle then drag one App over another to make a folder automatically, sounds so… simple.

Mail improvement
Being able to open attachments seems like a logical thing for an email client to do, so here it is. The feature I’m most excited about though is the ‘Unified Inbox’, one inbox for all your accounts. None of this tap in, in, in, out, out, out, in… and so on.

iBooks
Great I’m sure, if you’re into that sort of stuff good for you, on a screen that size, I’ll stick to the non-i varient, but if it’s your thing.

Enterprise Features
Again, if you’re a business and have been after these new features that’s great for you, but for the average user including me, this one just doesn’t excite me.

Game Centre
AKA Xbox LIVE I suppose. This ‘Social Game Networking’ is promised to offer Inviting Friends, Matchmaking, Leaderboards and Achievements. I’m sure you know what these are, it worked for Microsoft. This is Apple, I’m sure it’ll be great.

iAd
This is mobile advertising, despite it not really being a service an end user would use like Game Centre or Multitasking, it actually seems quite innovative. At first I was worried Apple simply wanted more money and were going to paste adverts over my beautifully serene lock screen, but I got it all wrong.

The basic idea is that Apple wants to change the type of adverts it’s users see and interact with. Currently these adverts are in free games, so that developers can still make money even though they don’t charge for the actual application. But as you may realise, if you’ve ever clicked one, you’ll be taken out your game to visit a website or play a video, which ruins the gamin experience, so few people actually click the ads.

iAd appears to be a built in advertising engine, that allows adverts to be run almost as mini applications over the application you’re currently running to give you a seamless transition into the advert and then back to the application you were running to start with. As I said earlier it’s not a user feature, nobody will be saying: Oh have you tried iAd, it’s fantastic (well developers might). I’s the most visible underlying feature I’ve seen, if there must be adverts, it seems like a great way of going about it. If it keeps Apps free, you can’t complain.

If you’ve been counting, you’ll realise that’s the 7th big feature so that’s it. Developers can apparently get it now. Though I’m sure that if you’re a developer, you’ll already know about it so won’t be reading this.

RESTRICTIONS – When I thought the news was about over, one major slide was posted that drew my attention. Despite my recent post, I definitely did buy my iPhone 2G at the wrong time.
Only the 3GS and 3rd gen iPod Touch devices will get the full features of OS 4, 3G and 2nd gen will be able to run someof the features but not all ‘like multitasking’. I can understand why multitasking would be the first feature to pull on older devices. The processor would work harder so the battery life would decrease, but I’m all up for losing some battery life for the sake of multitasking. After all, I would probably leave the feature off 90% of the time and only use it for specific applications like Last.fm.

OS 4 will be arriving on the iPad this Autumn… or Fall if you’re that way inclined. That’s it, they’ve done the presentation and finished the Q&A session. It’s lunch time over there! I was just thinking about finding something good on TV.

With Apple’s new iPad Launch Just around the Corner, Can the iPad compete with Laptops and netbooks?

Apple has really moved the multi-touch user interface forward but will touch screen tablets like the iPad replace mouse driven interface on laptops and netbooks? This is an interesting question and one that we will have an answer to Saturday April 3. This is the date when millions of the first generation iPad will reach the doors of eagerly expectant geeks awaiting with open arms. Indeed, the iPad is the newest of Apple’s toys but can it replace our laptops and netbooks? The creation of the iPad was to fill the void between a person’s smartphone and their laptop.

Steve Jobs noticed an opportunity in the personal device market and started with the idea to create a sleek gadget that had the capability of a laptop with the portability of an iPhone. The mystery creation had a list of necessary tasks that it must do better than a laptop such as browse the internet, manage e-mail, watching movies and video, and gaming. The newest “Apple” of Steve Jobs’ eye is the iPad.

The interesting thing about the iPad is that the interface is almost exactly the same the iPhone. The Multi-Touch navigation (Multi-touch allows the user to apply several gestures to manipulate the screen and send demands to the device) uses the same flicks and swipes that the iPhone uses so the learning curve is reduced and the interaction is more organic. The use of multi-touch also shows that the mouse and keyboard combo could be on the way out. By creating a device that is uber-portable and needs no external keyboard (although there is a blue-tooth keyboard available) or mouse to interact, the iPad really is a computer with no strings attached.

It will be interesting to see how much the American consumer jumps on the latest Apple toy. Some may wait a few years to see where the technology is going but my prediction is that one day everyone will be carrying around their iPads along with their iPhones and iPods. The interesting thing will be to see how quickly the iPad takes off or if Apple will see any type of backlash.

The iPhone is undoubtedly the most popular smart phone on the market today. What’s not to like? Along with its awesome iTouch Technology,wide screen interface, social connectivity, SMS text messaging and email capabilities and built in Safari browser, you have access to thousands of games, utilities, and social networking applications.

Competing against such a vast volume of software programs would seem to be a daunting task, yet we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. Most of the social buzz has centered around the “best sellers” leaving the impression that there is no room left for the average internet entrepreneur to get in on the action. It’s simply not true.

Have you ever thought of publishing and marketing your own iPhone App? More and more digital content is finding its way into Apple’s AppStore. Why not yours? If you currently have your own digital content then getting it published in the form of an iPhone app has never been easier.

Technology has now made it cost effective for the average internet entrepreneur to easily publish their own app without knowing anything whatsoever about coding. Forget about learning AppleScript, xcode, Objective “C”, Cocoa Touch, or how to program java into the iPhone’s OS. Never mind about having to purchase Apple’s SDK developers kit and a Mac.

Numerous companies have come online that offer the would-be iphone marketer a push-button solution. Basically, your app platform already exists; you just have to fill it with your own content. Of course, if you wanted to create a sophisticated game or utility, then you would have to learn to code it yourself or hire a developer to do it for you.

Why publish your own app? What are the advantages of getting your digital content into the Marketplace?

First of all, by making your content available as an iPhone app you immediately gain access to the expanding mobile market. The majority of experts agree that most internet browsing in the future will be done from wireless mobile devices such as the iPhone 3gs and other smart phones. Making your content “mobile” automatically expands your market reach. Because your app will be hosted on its own server, you can update your app any time you want.

There are three main ways you can generate extra traffic and expand your marketing presence by going mobile.

Three iPhone Marketing Strategies:

The Giveaway: Smart marketers have been giving away their content as a way to generate new traffic and convert existing leads into paying customers ever since the internet first began. It works. An iPhone app is just another method of distribution. Many marketers have already discovered the value in distributing their digital content through iTunes, mainly in the form of audio and video podcasts.

But to pull this off successfully you have to offer more than just a four-page “Special Report”. While you don’t need to publish a lengthy book, you should offer something substantial. Turning your blog into an iPhone app is another possibility to be considered.

The Option or Add-on: Are you currently selling an online digital product? Consider adding your own iPhone app as an “option” or “addition” to your regular product and make it available on your sales page.

For instance, say you have a how-to digital ebook already for sale, you can allow your new customer to download your app for free (using a special discount code provided by Apple) or make it available for a small “extra” fee. The same strategy can be used from the AppStore.

The Mobile Blog/Advertising Model: Many website owners and bloggers monetize their sites with advertising revenue. Making your blog or website mobile is a good way to add an extra revenue stream to your business with content you already have.

There are many mobile advertising networks and agencies out there, but the largest of them is AdMob, which has already served a few billion ad units to millions of consumers. Before you rush into this kind of venture, you should check out the demographics first – not all web content is suitable for mobile advertising. A blog about knitting won’t attract too much advertising revenue!

Targeting and relevance is not as advanced as say Google’s AdSense, but I suspect this will improve now that Google has bought AdMob for a reported $750 million.

Doing business with AdMob is as simple as pasting their code into your iPhone app. And they provide you with the metrics and analytics you need in order to maximize your revenue streams.

Going mobile is definitely part of the future of IM. Don’t miss out.