Joy of Gadgets

Here is some feedback I have sent to Apple regarding the latest issues related to Apple killing “Google Voice” type applications in the App Store and Apple’s statements that jailbreaking your iPhone will cause the world to end. I would encourage you all to do the same.

I’ve seen a number of news stories that says that Apple thinks people shouldn’t hack the baseband software in their iPhones because it can cause damage to the mobile phone network. If there was a simple way to unlock the iPhone people paid for without hacking the baseband, people wouldn’t be hacking the baseband. Make it dead simple like a Nokia–enter a code into the phone, boom, the device is unlocked.

People would not be as interested in jailbreaking iPhones, either, if there was some way for people to install apps that Apple does not approve of. The best app on a Nokia is something called Gravity. It is digitally signed, but frequently not by Symbian (who is owned by Nokia). Other platforms have this concept as well.

Both of these issues–and resulting bad PR–is entirely self-inflicted. Please consider changing your policies in these areas to more customer-friendly ones. Permit people to unlock their legitimately paid for iPhones and install applications of their own choosing.

While I admit I like the idea of a more capable Apple iPod Touch (with a built-in mic and camera), and I agree that it will be a great mobile multimedia device, I disagree with Andy Abramson’s assertion that it will be big for VoIP.

One of the use cases Andy mentions that he think will be huge is “Pre-teens who need a phone but can’t afford a contract.” First of all, the iPod Touch is quite a pricey device for most teens, whereas your typical prepaid phone is a lot cheaper. Sure, some teens will get an iPod Touch, but unless the price goes down, not as many as Andy thinks.

Once you get past the price issue, the second, more important piece of functionality is missing from the iPod Touch: SMS. This is the killer app for teens. I know, I had one staying with me for 10 days. I know there are probably services that make that happen, and with Apple’s Push Notification Sevices, realtime SMS on an iPod Touch is doable.

Even if such a service exists, how will the teens find out? Word of mouth, I suppose. Even so, most of these services require credit cards for payments, making them non-starters again for teens.

Now, I do agree that an iPod Touch with an integrated microphone would make a compelling VoIP device. The reason I don’t think it will be big? The lack of background applications. In order to make and receive calls, you have to leave an application running in the foreground. That might work for making calls–which I could see some business travelers using–but for receiving calls? A non-starter from my point of view.

Pat Phelan and others gotta be thinking about this: how to pair up their global SIM with the iPhone without, say, encouraging people to unlock their handset or using SIM hacking tools. My answer: become an authorized “carrier” partner with Apple. Sell the iPhone with your SIM. Make it easy for people to go iPhone and not be ripped off for global roaming.

My guess is that the price would have to be unsubsidized, since there’s no proper monthly fee charged by these service providers. You might also consider disabling GPRS data by default since many of these “global SIMs” don’t offer data, or don’t do it at an affordable enough rate to use for anything more than a small amount of data.

Or do one better. Does Apple allow you to use, say, an iPhone you bought through AT&T with an O2 SIM? O2 is Apple’s carrier partner in the UK? If it does, then provided Apple “authorizes” the MaxRoam (or other global) SIM for use in the Apple iPhone, they don’t even need to sell the phone!

Of course, this will probably never happen. But it’s a nice idea.

I would expect someone like Andy Abramson to be excited about his client, Truphone, getting an application on the Apple iPod Touch that makes it possible to make VoIP calls over WiFi. Eventually, according to MarketWatch, you’ll be able to receive calls as well, though I’m not sure how that will work given Apple doesn’t allow background apps on their iPhone and iPod Touch.

However, when I look at it in the bigger picture, I go “meh.” It’s not exciting to me. Turning something that isn’t a phone into a phone is old hat. That’s been a reality on the Nokia N800/N810 for a while thanks to Skype. I’m sure you can think of other examples of this as well.

I don’t see a lot of “average” people go through the trouble of downloading the Truphone app from Apple’s App Store, getting the necessary microphone adapter from Apple, and using this to make calls versus some other method. No doubt some people will do it–perhaps people aided by geeks like me, perhaps not.

Most of the people I know can barely use their mobile phone. Anything more complicated than making a call, receiving a call, and perhaps using the camera requires assistance from someone like me. I helped my wife’s aunt over Thanksgiving with her LG Dare, never having seen the phone before.

Now granted, not everyone has an iPhone, or an iPod Touch. Apple does make it dirt simple to get apps onto the handset. I’m sure the smart guys at Truphone guys have also done a brilliant job of making this application dirt simple to use, much like they’ve done on the Nokia handsets.

I am struggling to see the market for this. It might seem like there is with 300 Million applications downloaded from Apple’s App Store. However, what percentage of Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch user base have actually downloaded an application and installed it? How many Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users are actively using third party apps on their devices? My gut says not nearly as many as people are thinking.

The other niggling question is: of the people that download Truphone’s iPod Touch application, how many will turn into paying users instead of just using the free features of the application?

I would love to be wrong and have this be a mainstream game changer. I’d love to see more people using VoIP, but I’m having trouble seeing how this vision will work. Can anyone help clarify it for me?

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The folks at Master Lock are taking the threat of iPod theft or loss very seriously and have come up with an intertesting product: the iCage Locking Skin.

The iCage Locking Skin is durable, lightweight protective skin complete with a 3-digit combination padlock and a flexible cable to make lockdown easier. Despite this, all of the buttons and ports of the supported iPod models can be used when in the iCage.

My question is: where the iCage for the Nokia N95?

The folks at Blendtec have a really funny series of videos that ask the proverbial question: Will It Blend? They have blended oh-so-many interesting things with these blenders in an effort to prove that if their blenders can blend the crazy stuff they show in these videos, it will do just fine for your household or commercial blending needs.

Given that they did this before with an iPhone, do we really need to ask the question about whether the 3G version will blend? We know the answer:

Did they put the phone up on eBay? Of course they did.