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Apple to Become Wireless Provider?
nonsuchworks writes "Forbes reports on the possibility of Apple becoming a 'mobile virtual network operator,' or MVNO, in order to extend the iTunes and iPod brands into the cellular phone market. This would allow Apple to circumvent the cellular carriers who have so far balked at carrying the iTunes-enabled mobile phone." From the article: "It might sound far-fetched, but the pieces are in place for it to happen later this summer. Apple is already developing a hybrid iPod/cell phone with handset maker Motorola. And companies ranging from the Virgin Group to The Walt Disney Co. are proving that a new network model can allow all kinds of businesses to easily enter the mobile market."
This is about as likely as Apple switching to Intel x86 chips... oh.. wait.
The "hybrid iPod/cell phone" this guy is talking about is just a phone with a "iTunes" on it. I put that in quotes because it's obviously not iTunes. It's a tiny program, probably Java, that plays Apple's AAC files from the iTunes Music Store and looks sort of like the iPod color interface, if the pictures floating around the web are to be believed.
"hybrid iPod/cell phone" Ha!
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I always thought that Apple should have made some sort of uber-wi(fi|max) iPod so that iPodders could stream the internet radio stations on an iPod like they could on iTunes. And besides, if it all works out as predicted, this could help crush Bill Gates' dream of destroying iTunes and the iPod and their dominance over the digital music market. It sounds like fun :)
Perfecting Discordia
www.stevenvansickle.com
MVNO
Apparently we have exhausted all the good TLAs and must venture further into FLAs.
This is an unfortunate start as it looks/sounds like
mv? no.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Who actually listens to music on their cellphone anyway? When's the last time a company built a cellphone just for the purpose of making and receiving calls?
Apple continues to do absolutely everything possible to do everything they can except enter the PDA market.
So expect increasingly powerful phones, increasingly powerful mp3 players, everything else, but as soon as you suspect they might try to harness that power or color screen or brand recognition power to do anything useful, or suggest they could challenge the PocketPC's increasingly total dominance of its segment before it becomes impossible to enter the market, or suggest they could pull out some of the truckload of IP and good ideas they're sitting on from the Newton... GACK! NO! NO SOUP FOR YOU!
When is the last time you saw someone with a cell phone from one of those so-called competitors?
This is a big market for a company to jump into. Apple may be doing well, but they are no Virgin or Walt Disney, and they don't have those kind of resources.
Apple has surprised us all before at one time or another, but I'm going to say it anyway: I don't think this would happen.
-Daniel
Walmart already has a big network in place. Install a WiFi Max mobile station at each WalMart and you have close to an instant cell network not to mention ISP, and Cable TV replacement. I for one welcome our Walmart overlords.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
OK, so this is one of those "well, I just pulled this idea out of my ass so I could write my column thought".
But if nothing else, it's a very interesting one. Several commentators, including Bill Gates, have stated that they believe that the cell phone will overtake the iPod. You're more likely to carry around a cell, it has an established system of purchasing music (among other things), and so on.
Granted, I still take that with a heavy grain of salt, considering that my own PDA/phone (Treo 650) tends to go about a full day on the charge, and that's from a heavy user who uses it for email, AIM, speech, ebook reading, notes, calendar, and so on. I have to make sure I plug it in before I go to bed. My iPod lasts a bit longer (though if I used it as much as the Treo, it would probably die as quickly, if not faster). The iPod is just a better interface for music, and crappy for all else.
So the concept that Apple could go after the wireless market isn't so far fetched. Would anyone have thought of them a major player in the music industry? They have a brand name that's good (if not growing), and it would be a good way to suppliment the PC business. And it would remove some problems. Right now, according to the rumors, most wireless carriers don't want to carry the iTunes Mobile Phone because it would cut into their business.
So, fine: Apple makes their own service and gives the finger to the phone companies. How many iPod users (and Mac heads) would switch?
For it to work, they would need:
Capital - check, they still have a few billion left in the bank.
Manufacturing - check, not a major problem
Engineers - check, though they'd probably need to hire some
Wireless access points - Hm.... That may be a reach, but as the article points out (yes, I did RTFA) if Disney can do it, so can Apple. Whether that means they go out and buy someone, or just buy up/rent the wireless access points, they certainly have the means and the business acumen. Jobs has demonstrated the ability to negotiate in the past, if done right (say like the current Sprint model I'm using, where $40 gives 500 minutes, and an extra $15 gets me unlimited Internet access), they could make it work. Make the phones a combo phone/802.11 device for Skype/Gizmo like communications, and those Airports become all the more useful to their business model. Or start installing WiMax stations around the country for the same effect.
So, points to the author for coming up with a possibly viable idea. Will Apple do it? Probably not now - they have enough risk on their hands with the shift to the Intel processors and dealing with a potential loss of sales over the next 18-24 months. But if the wireless companies continue to play hardball with Jobs's (note to the picky: his name is Steve Jobs, the plural then becomes Jobs's, thank you) music domination plans, he might just do an end around.
We'll see. Most of this I'm pulling out of my ass, so of course I could be wrong.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
that a half-baked story predicting that Google will enter the wireless provider market in order to support the foray into their online music business. GMusic store will allow you search 7 billion recordings using lyrics, instruments used, and sound patterns.
.NET, .ORG, ethic, combinatorial global business synergies and leverage points and Windows on the Power PC.
Also, in 3 to 6 months Microsoft will apologize to their employees, customers, and vendors for falling so far behind as an MVNP and music distributor. But Balmer will commit to catching Apple, Google, and AllOfMp3.com within the next 3 to 4 quarters. It's Microsoft's top priority next to releasing Longhorn, WinFS, security, DRM, the next version of SQL Server, Exchange 2007,
Lastly, Apple frustrated with the iPOD to car stereo interfaces and refusal by many automobile manufacture to integrate the iPOD directly into their automobiles will purchase an Korean automobile company and begin manufacturing iCars. These cars will include new design innovations including ergonomic steering wheels and see through dash panels. Initially the automobiles will run on Honda gasoline engines, but Jobs will announce in the first 4 years of production that the iCar (and soon to be released iSUV) will switch to Toyota engines that can run on electricity, gasoline, jet-fuel, whiskey, and the sweat of some breeds of Tibetan mountain goats.
Step aside Dvorak I have spoken.
Finally, now not only can I hook up wirelessly and access the net from anywhere, but I can hook up wirelessly AND be trendy and sexy at the same time!
Props to Apple for making me cool!
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
Or is there something I am unaware of here?
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
Apple can decide what goes on the phone and control the user experience. They don't have to put on every bell and whistle that Cingular or Verizon wants. Nor do they have to cripple features like bluetooth or limit syncing to over the network.
.Mac, iCal & Address Book. Some widgets would be nice too!
I would love to see tight integration with
The phone has been "ready" for a while now.
Starting their own company gives them more control, but they also have all these other big companies that are going to try to run them out of business. However, if Apple sticks to its $.99 per song and allows people to use a full song for a ringtone rather than selling crappy midi files for $2.50 that play 10 bars of some obscure part of the song, they might put a dent in the other company.
I understand that Apple is trying to expand and stay one step ahead of the competition (especially with Microsoft wanting to get in on the market), but it seems like Apple is starting to wander out of its realm a little bit, which makes me think of another company that tries to do everything and usually ends up with a subpar product that is beaten by a company that focuses on that area.
Then again, if the other big phone companies aren't willing to play ball (which they probably aren't. Would you want to stop charging ridiculous amounts for a ringtone?) what choice does Apple have other than this one?
Hopefully they'll make a product that's fair to the consumer. Basically, I'd want good coverage, the ability to upload songs I've already purchased, and the same $.99 to purchase a song on my phone. Capacity for 100+ songs would be nice as well. Price doesn't matter since you can give it away for a lot less than it costs when you make someone sign a service plan for a few years.
If it met those conditions, I might consider getting one.
Wireless is a thing of the future, everything, eventually, will be wireless (unless an evironment or process forbids it).
Also, combining devices is also a thing of the future..it doesn't make sense to have 3 different devices with three different chargers that can't communicate, or communicate with some beat-arse protocol
It was destined that the iPod, since it is the defacto portable music player would become wireless, integrated with a cellphone, and eventually into a PDA/ICBM launcher.
The integration could go the other way, with the cellphone becoming the Mp3 player, but since the iPod is proven, and has a large fan-base (who in all likely-hood own cellphones), going in this direction will snare many more people.
This would allow Apple to circumvent the cellular carriers who have so far balked at carrying the iTunes-enabled mobile phone
Odd statement, considering that phones which interoperate with iTunes have already been spotted in the wild.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Will this start a sequence of "availability wars" like we saw in the early 80's wafer biz? I'm afraid my interest will drift off pretty fast if this does get dirty.
I don't know about the author, but I beat the living crap out of my cell phone. iPods are different - you put them in your pocket and they stay in your pocket. Cellphones get thrown around, drop when you're fumbling to answer, and are handled far more often than iPods. If anything, a cell phone/iPod would be used more and have the potential to get more beat up.
:
--
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It looks like if they'll be doing this, they'll just be piggybacking on Sprint or CDMA or whatever those wacky kids are using these days. The acronym "MVNO" was used.
So if you were hoping for someone to finally break down and start providing 802.16, or make steps toward some other real city-scale wireless internet access protocol becoming a consumer reality, looks like you'll still be waiting awhile.
And from my limited knowlege of the subject, it seems like someone sitting in that MVNO seat rather than taking the step forward into something WiMax-like would be okay with periodic for-pay one-shot downloads like downloading an MP3, but not so okay with allowing some kind of continuous data stream operation (like internet radio would represent) without charging a relatively hefty fee...
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Merging a cellphone with an iPod make sense. A hands-free mic on the earbud wire would be all that an ipod needs. The thing could even auto-switch between cell and playback modes -- automatically pausing the song (and announcing the caller-id) when a call comes in and returning to the tunes when the call is over. A virtual keypad overlay on the jog wheel could provide a numeric keypad for dialing but most people would probably sync the iPod with iCal or some PC-based PIM and use the wheel to select the number.
One device on the belt and one device for the ears.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
even just the rumor of this might be enough to spur the current American cell providers to offer internet service somebody might actually find useful...
I could easily see one of these phones with 100 song capacity selling for as low as $150. You'll be selling your soul and signing a 2 year service agreement though.
My Dad got a phone for $80 with a plan. After he accidentally ran over it about a year later, it would have cost him over $300 to buy a replacement phone that was either the same model or similar to the one he had.
One of these phones probably won't cost much more than an iPod with similar storage capacity.
I am looking forward to a handset that costs 2x as much as the average, but has far more fashion and street cred! (I NEED people to LOOK AT ME!)
Hopefully it will come w/ a stylish and sophisticated laniard so you can wear the device around your neck... and of course the option to purchase other laniards that match your outfit.
I'm so frustrated with the lack of vision in the world.
The cell phone companies should be selling phones that come with good quality headsets and double as MP3 players. Make a higher-end model that is a real PDA. Maybe make a low-end model with ( *gasp* ) no screen at all. Someone would buy them if they were cheap enough.
Why aren't they? Myopia and strategizing, I guess. The hardware companies have given over their sales front end to the carriers, who are busy coming up with calling plans with "free" this or that (for only $49.95/mo) to get you locked in for a year. And consumers are programmed to like it that way.
Or maybe only geeks want to listen to the music of their choice and not carry around a Batman's utility belt full of gadgets?
sigs, as if you care.
I wonder what Cingular and Verizon will do with their $2 ring tones now?
If Apple makes their DRM lax enough so that songs on a person's Ipod can be both on their computer and cell phone, then we could have our own, free ringtones (if we already own the song). A utility that lets you select where the song should start and end for the ringtone would be nice.
The iTunes Ringtone Store? Ack!
-Brad V.
one button cell phone work? Or do we get one of those spiffy thumbwheel doohickeys?
antipaucity
Very interesting. I suppose if this takes off, you could buy the iPod Cell phone and a wireless plan at the Apple Store with prepaid minutes like you can at Virgin now. Given that cell phones have become something of a fashion accessory, Apple could have a great deal of success in that market even if their wireless plan ended up being pricier than the competition. Imagine all of those current iPod owners who would happily dump that current cell phone in favor of Apple's new hybrid. Mo money, mo money mo money! As Bill Gates can attest to, one of the secrets of long term success is to get your customers to keep buying the same products from you periodically!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
GMusic store will allow you search 7 billion recordings using lyrics, instruments used, and sound patterns.
"Man, I've had these three PCM frames stuck in my head all day: 21C9, 94C2, 1D32! I can't wait till I can get home to GMusic and figure out what song it is!"
--- What
You sound scared and lonely. Do you need a friend?
there's the treo you know.
It does pretty much what you're looking for.
"Wal-Mart...could very well launch an MNVO," says Current Analysis analyst Weston Henderek. "A Wal-Mart offering would most likely be targeted at value-oriented and credit-challenged prepaid customers looking for the best price."
Cringely called it, sort of.
Still waiting for my McDonalds phone.
Free, legal music for iTunes users.
Being that Deutsche Telekom has been rumoured to be shopping around T-Mobile, this could be the property Apple should be looking in.
T-Mobile is profitable and fast growing, however, the carrier is said to require a $10 billion investment in order to extend their coverage one standard deviation, to stay competitive with Sprint and Cingular.
T-Mobile and Cingular both use GSM with its IP like structure carries data with the minimum of encasuplation and overhead, and while Cingular has leaped ahead with its EDGE 3G rollout, T-Mobile is stuck at any average of 56k on its GPRS network.
T-Mobile doesn't have the subscriber base that Cingular has, but it does have enough network capacity for its community - unlike Cingular that is oversubscribed, and faces the challenges of integrating disparate network types - Analog, TDMA and GSM, into a single GSM-Edge network.
Anyway, if Apple can bring their brand perception to T-Mobile, and roll out custom handsets that take advantage of T-Mobile ubiquitious internet service, this may be the birth of a subscriber based iTunes on demand, allowing customers to listen to streaming, 40k AAC stream, today, over existing tech.
T-Mobile has the network, sufficient speed and is for sale - Apple has the product and the technology to make 56k worthwhile as a communications medium.
Right, so how is the dry wit in the OP flamebait, when the above "Captain Obvious" flogging of the same joke is +2 Funny?? I thought Apple fanboxes were supposed to be sophisticated.
I have a Razr V3 from Cingular. It's unlocked to work with any carrier, but otherwise it's unmodified. All the cingular menus, restrictions, etc (there aren't too many restrictions) are still in place.
If you have the Phone Tools software from Motorola and a USB cable or bluetooth adapter on your PC, you can convert mp3 files into a format the phone can use and use them for ringtones.
Actually, I'm not sure you even need the Phone Tools software, it just has some stuff that automates the editing and recompresses them into lower quality files to take less space. I think you could probably go in via Bluetooth file transfer and just dump a mp3 into the phone if there was enough space.
This probably wouldn't work with Verizon since they (apparently) restrict file transfer.
Apple is not going to be able to survive for very long with just the iPod/iTMS stuff as they are squeezed out of the hardware/OS biz over the next few years. (Sorry all the KoolAid drinking Mac fanatics who think Apple being forced to turn to x86 is going to lead to 'cheap fast Macs' and 'marketshare growth')
What is going on at Apple is very similar to what is going on at MS right now with their OS/offic suite software. It is still bring in big bucks but down the road they see it isn't going to last and they need to find something, anything, to replace the future loss of revenues.
MS so far has failed miserably in all their attempts, we'll see how well Apple does. The iPod sales seem to have peaked and are slowing down. Apple is in deep shit if that trend continues.
"Apple is already developing a hybrid iPod/cell phone with handset maker Motorola." This is not going to be something that will catch on quickly, or even at all. How many people are going to rush out there to get one of these? Not many. Most people already have cell phones and will have to wait till their service contract is up to get a new phone, unless there is a promotion to get people to start using them. And how much is this going to cost? Right now iPods sell for $200+ and a new cell phone with the features that will allow you to support the software needed are $250 retail. So that makes $450 for something that I will probably use for only a year, or so that is usually the life of my cell phone. All in all, this will take a LONG time for Apple to see any profit from this venture.
An uncrippled bluetooth cellphone that lets me iSync, transfer files and is also a gateway for my laptop... Plus a cellphone carrier who I've known to have excellent customer service and most likely won't put me through the same crap everybody else has... Count me in! And that's without and iTunes phone.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
But just because Bill Gates wants a slice of that pie doesn't make his dream worth crushing, and just because you're a Mac fan doesn't mean you should applaud Apple for every goddamn move they make.
Because remember, kids.
What makes a company worthy of "rooting for" isn't its business practices, or the quality of its products, or the way it treats its customers, or whether it represents growth or stagnation within its industry, or its absolute size, or whether it perserves against difficult odds. It's whether it's successful!
Of course, while success is always the only thing that is important, the presence or absense of success could mean different things depending on who you are! So please remember to stay in your faction's acceptable camp of thought:
If you are a "libertarian": Anything successful = good, anything unsuccessful = evil!
If you are a "slashbot": Anything successful = evil, Anything unsuccessful = good!
Remember that thinking outside these guidelines-- for example, being a pro-free-market libertarian yet believing that Microsoft has been a negative influence on the computer industry, or being a slashdot socialist yet continuing to approve of "underdog" companies such as Google or Apple after they have attained some degree of financial success in some market-- will not be tolerated. Anonymous Coward has forbid it.
But can it allow me to put people on hold and force them to enjoy my musical selections?
Will they have a Tom Jones edition?
These are the burning questions.
One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
These business gyrations are all based on the monopoly model. Mobile telcos have monopolies on access to their customers: witness their blocking the iPodPhone because they demand a "royalty" for every download, even when their network isn't in the loop (synced to a computer which downloaded over the wired Internet). Record labels are in the critical path, because their cartel insists on collecting a toll on music transactions, even when they're out of the loop (fair use of copyright in listening to your own home music collection across the mobile Internet). Even Apple is consistent with this model: they're in the lead with negotiations with those other "legs" of the path from the musician to your ears, while they run their little empire as the sole supplier of their OS and HW, while enforcing "look and feel" to the narrowest spec in the industry.
We are teetering on the watershed, between mobile multimedia network terminals ("phones") which do whatever we want, constrained only by our imagination and sustainable monetization, and a vertical stack of monopolies controlling the pipeline to your senses. It looks like the odds, the big money, all favor the monopoly. Which sounds terrible.
--
make install -not war
Cell phones, outdated 3G networks, and phone service providers are becoming obsolete within the next couple of years.
Wireless VoIP phone are the latest and hottest thing and in conjunction with wireless neighborhood mesh networks that are popping up everywhere 802.11g and very soon WiMAX(802.16) are becoming the wireless standards of the future. For both, internet and phone.
...thank you, Captain Obvious!!!
.....people realize they can't call 911 because they have drained their cellphones battery listening to music.
for a moment there i thought the headline said "Apple to Become Wirehead Provider".
/puts the Protector back in its closet ..
phew.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Trying to merge devices isn't necessarily dumb. My car lets me drive around, but it also has a radio. And a CD player. And an air conditioner. And heated seats. Etc etc. Despite all that, I have no problem using it. Why? The interface (at least in my Saab 9000) is good. One button turns on the air conditioner and restores my last settings. If I put in a CD, the radio automatically stops. If I eject a CD, it goes back to the radio. If I adjust the volume for the radio, it handles the CD too (obviously). Yet, despite the fact that your average car nowadays is just as complex as a new cellphone, it is easy to use. The problem with cellphones is that the interfaces are TERRIBLE. Most mp3 players have shit interfaces too, yet the iPod is a joy to use. If anyone can get this right, it is Apple. No, they're not perfect, and no, they're not gods, but I can't think of any company who knows what they're doing more than Apple in this field.
When I read the Slashdot article title, I got the impression Apple was considering building its own complete cellular network. But the article doesn't seem to be saying that at all.
Rather, they're talking about what amounts to "VARs (value added resellers)" in the world of computers.
Companies like ESPN, Disney or Apple just pay one of the existing cellular companies (like Sprint) for rights to use their infrastructure - and they resell customized phones that do some things the carrier doesn't wish to offer with the phones packaged on their regular plans.
Big deal!?! I grant that this might, indeed, be a way for Apple to get their way rolling out phones that play iTunes purchased music and still sync with PCs - but what else does it really offer anyone?
The cellular carriers are still going to call all the shots as far as prices to use their networks - so they're not likely to give Apple some sort of huge discount. Therefore, I'd say you can expect monthy pricing to be the same or higher than you pay now. And if you have issues such as poor reception, slow data xfer rates, or customer service hassles with your carrier, that won't change either.
Being that wireless companies give away expensive phones to entice subscribers, imagine if Apple were to make a phone/ipod in the 5-10 gig storage range, and give it away free to new subscribers. I suspect people would flock to the device and service (Apple folks for sure at the least,) and thus not only gaining wireless customers, but iTunes customers as well, who can actually store a significant amount of songs. I don't see how that wouldn't be ridiculously profitable.
You shouldn't get flamed. As a self-proclaimed Mac zealot (I have never purchased anything but), I have always had to concede the one-button mouse is a dumb idea. I currently use a wireless Logitech three-button, scroll-wheel mouse. (One button is on the side.)
Not to spread FUD, but I once read - I think right here on Slashdot - that Apple Corporate made the "informed" decision to stay with the one-button after consideration and review. If anyone knows anything about this I would be very interested to either have this denied as FUD or to have an explanation of just WHAT THE HELL THEY WERE THINKING?!?
I couldn't believe it. To ignore the issue is one thing, not justifiable but every corporation has to evaluate its priorities. To decide to stay with one button after reasoned consideration, however, just boggles my mind. If the goal is to be different from the rest of the PC world, ship a three-button mouse.
Sheesh.
This actually makes sense. While Sprint does sell their own branded SprintPCS service, they are increasingly selling the network itself. Qwest Wireless and the Virgin prepaid services are good examples: they buy access to Sprint Spectrum's wireless network at wholesale rates and then sell their own branded service. AT&T was *going* to launch a new cellular service in this manner until Cingular acquired them outright.
As for data, which would be necessary for an "iPhone," SprintPCS already offers EV-DO which can reach some pretty good speeds, but they've also signed a deal to test WiMax with Motorola, the rumored maker of the "iPhone."
I am not going to go Cringely and suggest an Apple-Intel-Motorola-SprintPCS merger, but there is a very strong synergistic opportunity here.
I love this for two reasons. iPods are incredibly useful and well designed. Who'd have thought you need your entire 200 CD collection with you at all times? But now that I do, I can't live without it. So I'm not so impressed by this device as I am about the upcoming Nokia N91 which will have a 4GB hard drive onboard. Sure, they're making higher capacity SD & MMC cards, but 512 MB just isn't quite enough space for a really useful MP3 player. So I like the route Nokia is taking.
The other thing I love about this is that a big company, Apple, is trying to do an end-around of the telcos and the cable internet providers. And sure, I know they're not taking them head-on, and this is just a rumor at this point, but we gotta turn up the competition if we're ever going to see a really dynamic internet. The promise of a digital commons just isn't playing out like we'd want, and I think the "owners" of the networks are largely to blame. So kudos to Apple for seeing this and taking some steps toward busting up that logjam.
" Come to think of it, the iPod's Clickwheel would probably do okay for a cell phone. Just get it to emulate an old rotary phone or something."
Like this one from Nokia.
An interesting phone in that it only has start and stop call buttons plus two "soft keys" and the wheel. To enter numbers you spin the wheel until you come to the right number and then press the soft key to move on. This means it has to sync with something else really to make it work and yet the styling is aimed at the opposite end of the market from people who spend their lives synching things together, perhaps the intended market would get their butler or PA to do this or only ever use them for incoming calls. Anyway, although I've seen them in shops I never saw one in the wild.
Well as somone who supports the Razor on a daily basis(guess where I work, wirless providor that is.
Motorola has several new models that were announced about six weeks ago, all in the Razr line. With transflash memory slots within the phones.
Actually moto made this announcement back in Feb.
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1256
A razrlike smartphone
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1256
Also some nokias have been playing aac for quite awhile now.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Maybe it will come with an armband too, so I can jog, listen to music, talk to my mom, and be too cool for school. Just can't wait to see a nation full of people running around with phones clipped to their upper arms looking and behaving like Biff's posse in Back to the Future II.
I have something to say. It's better to burn out than to FADE AWAY!
with a scroll wheel for my Mac (actualy make that Macs,) and it works just fine. The right mouse button works fine (pops up the same menus as pop-and-hold-for-two-seconds but instantly) and the wheel works fine too (scrolling through the XCode docs a lot easier.)
I only use the Apple while the mouse batteries are recharging.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
the parking lot when they determine that they were ripped off when they didn't buy the cheap-ass product as the front of the aisle, but instead wandered further into the store?
As a Wall*Mart clerk once told me, "If they're that stupid, fuck 'em." I don't think that the'll auto-censoring phones. Even Microsoft is into porn these days.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
I've already synced my SonyEricsson bluetooth cell phone with iCal and the address book on my Mac. So if the iTunes can sync, so should these things.
Add something similar to Salling Clicker as well and the phone is now a remote for the Mac. http://www.salling.com/ Since this doesn't currently work with Motorola
Finally, since I have a charger for my cell phone that can plug into a USB port for power, include a dock that provides syncing and power ( though BT syncing should still be possible.)
Apple had said no PDA, but a modern phone has Contact Manager, Caledar, Camera and Voice. Improve the music player and it could be a slick package.
You've got that all wrong. Only geeks want to carry around a Batman's utility belt full of gadgets.
If you don't lust after Batman's utility belt, you're not the geek you think you are. At minimum, your belt should have cell phone and an iPod. Maybe a smallish GPS device? And of course, a grappling hook...
Sure, my wife would make fun of me. But if I came across a utility belt half as cool and half as full of useful gadgets as Batman's, I'd wear it almost every day...
Practical, sane, non-gadget-crazy individuals like yourself don't want to carry more electronic devices than can comfortably fit in a pants pocket. Because they're afraid they'll look too geeky...
It's a Motorola cell phone with a mobile version of iTunes that can sync up with your desktop version and copy a playlist over, similar to the iPod shuffle. Then, you can either use the phone to play Mp3s through a pair of head phones or you can use a song as a ringtone.
Nothing to see here, move along. No surprises.
And mod the grandparent down since it's factually incorrect.
(And yeah, I'm a Virgin Mobile user myself, so I knew that Virgin Mobile uses Sprint's CDMA network.)
Looks like Raffi almost had it right... (though the first person to make this a ringtone on their ApplePhone gets shot.)
.... bananas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananaphone
http://gprime.net/flash.php/bananaphone
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, Banana phone
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, Banana phone
I've got this feeling,so appealing
for us to get together and sing - SING!
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, Banana phone
Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding, Donana phone
It grows in bunches, I've got my hunches
Its the best, beats the rest
cellular, modular, interactivodular
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, Banana phone
Ping pong ping pong ping pong ping, Ponana phone
Its no baloney, It aint a phony
My cellular Bananular phone
Don't need quarters, don't need dimes, to call a friend of mine, dont need computer or tv, to have a real good time
I'll call for pizza, I'll call my cat
I'll call the whitehouse, have a chat
I'll place a call around the world
Operator get me beijing jing jing jing
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring, Banana phone
Ying yang ying yang ying yang ying, Yanana phone
It's a real live mama and papa phone
a brother and sister and a dogaphone
a grandpa phone and a grandma phone too - oh yeah
my cellular bananular phone
Banana phone, ring... ring... ring...
Its a phone with appeal (a peel)
Banana phone, ring... ring... ring...
Now you can have your phone and eat it too
Banana phone, ring... ring... ring...
This song drives me
Banana phone, ring... ring... ring...
Bo ba do ba do do doob
Actually, the rule is a little more complicated than that. Another sibling respondent already quoted from Strunk and White (The Elements of Style), so I'll just add what s/he didn't: Possessive forms of proper nouns that are biblical and/or ancient typically omit the additional "s," but contemporary proper nouns keep it. This is by convention, so not all writers may adhere to this, but most style manuals seem to be in consensus on this.
So, Moses' and Jesus' are correct possessive forms of Moses and Jesus, but Jobs's is considered to be the currently correct form, not Jobs'.
(Then again, I recall growing up that the rules for lists of items, and whether you should use a comma prior to the last item in a list, have changed every decade or so. In the 1970s, you would write "The plane, the train, and the automobile are all forms of transportation," whereas in the 1980s, the preferred form was "The plane, the train and the automobile are..." I always found the omission of the last comma to be troublesome, so I always used it. Luckily, in the 1990s, grammarians decided that the trend was swinging back toward keeping all the commas, so I felt vindicated.)
Just to further stir the pot, there are varying rules of style and grammar depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you reside on. In the UK, for example, corporations are treated as plural, whereas in the US, they are treated as singular. Thus, in UK publications, you might see "Microsoft are suing..." whereas in the US you would see "Microsoft is suing..." I guess my point is that natural language isn't as cut and dried as computer languages are, so you shouldn't expect everything to be neat and tidy. Grammar Nazism tends to devolve into hair-splitting bordering on the religious, if not the absurd.
Your apostrophy does not show plural, but possession. And there for it would be "Jobs'"
From englishplus.com:
If the singular noun ends with an s, add apostrophe s if the extra syllable is pronounced. If the extra syllable is not pronounced (or if it otherwise looks confusing to add apostrophes), simply add an apostrophe.
Some authorities always add an apostrophe only to any word ending with s, regardless of its pronunciation. This is acceptable. Whichever standard you follow, be consistent.
Again, no offense intended.
... I occasionally give a training session at work about the architecture and organization of the internet, including covering things like the domain registration hierarchy (ICANN/RIR/LIR/registrar/reseller/customer), ASN's and of course, IP allocation. I usually use some phrase like "ARIN handed out IP space like crazy at the start, so companies like Ford and Apple got a whole class A each. Apple could become an ISP if it wanted to."
Heh. Maybe Ford is next?
I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
Seriously, if your big gripe is the mouse, then Apple is definitely doing something right.
For the beginning user, one mouse button is easiest. Take your grandmother (or, rather, mine) and try to explain right-clicking. Sure, she can get it, but it takes a little time (she likes to double-right-click and often mis-clicks the left button for the right or presses the center activating both buttons).
For the rest of us, is it such a big deal we have to guy pay $10-$70 for a multi-button mouse? Sure, I wish Apple at least gave the option with a new Mac, but come on, is this worth an entire thread over? Or rather, again? The post was about Apple becoming a phone company.
I'm not sure how I feel about apple becoming a cell company. Would I buy an iPod/Phone? Doubtful. I'd rather have an all-in-one PDA that plays music instead of an iPod that makes phone calls. My Treo plays MP3s, does AIM, surfs, has a Nintendo emulator, as well as my calendar and work emails being constantly in sync wirelessly. I'd rather be able to subscribe to the iTunes cell service on my phone than buy an iPod phone.
But, then, I'm still a bit cautious about this whole itunes on the phone. Given the spotty cell reception I get, any sort of streaming service would be painful at best.
I've got Windows Mobile 2003 phone (orange spv-c500). I'm sooo disappointed. This thing has poor performance and it's full of usability problems/annoyances. I'm not using any power features, because they're not worth time and effort it takes to access them.
If Apple is able to make powerful phone that has "it just works" user interface, I'll go for that.
Speculate: Will the Apple iPhone have more than one button?
"It's not unusual for me call out to anyone . . .na, na, na, na, naaaaaa!"
LMAO: http://www.randommaccess.com/news/1120852492.shtml
These constant speculations and rumours breed ignorance about the capabilities of Apple.
I doubt Apple is in any position to create their own wireless empire, despite their other recent success stories. While the company is successful, they are still quite small, and do not have enough revenue to blow on these kinds of projects. Also, setting up a wireless cell network isn't a simple process. Also, the current trend tends to be wireless networks combining and absorbing each other, rather then new ones being offered and networks proliferating. In Canada, I think we are down to 2 distinct networks when once we had 4 or 5.
I am sure that Apple will be more then happy to get some other cell phone carrier to support iTunes music sales, an I am REALLY sure that any carrier would be happy to license iTunes from Apple. I don't see why there would be reluctance as its a win/win situation for both. The carrier will get money from data usage fees, and a portion of every music sale, and Apple will get some change too. With the pending release of a Motorola iTunes phone, the cell carriers will find another market they can exploit. I.e. once carriers see there is a popular handset that can integrate with Apple iTunes, they will definitely rush to add support.
I think this is a case where, why bother to add support when nothing can take advantage of it. Cell phone carriers are actually quite conservative, only offering new services when it is well established or guarantees that the service will be popular and profitable. There is no point adding iTunes support now when there is no phone to make use of it.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
"Motorola has several new models that were announced about six weeks ago, all in the Razr line. With transflash memory slots within the phones."
:) Same goes with the Nokia segment you mentioned. Although it would be hopeful that Nokia could at least make their phones' hardware capable of AAC+Fairplay through a licensing agreement. Shouldn't be impossible or improbable since Nokia is working with Apple on porting Safari to their phones.
:) (smirk)...
True. But none of those RAZR models have been announced as supporting AAC+Fairplay...yet...
"Well as somone who supports the Razor on a daily basis(guess where I work, wirless providor that is."
T-Mobile?
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Via a Bluetooth enabled iPhone? Download and share? Somebody will hack this feature in.
You are correct sir. Well not on the t-mobile part.
t ib ility.112.html
However, too hard to tell if Nokia would not be pushed hard by wireless providers to not provide compatibility. Ringtones are a big moneymaker at 2.49 for a smidgen of the song, instead of apples 99 for the entire song.
I advise most customers to get data cable, moto tools, blue tooth dongle, etc so they can use their own music on the phones for ringtones.
As for aac+fairplay(fairplay, another oxmoronic title, like friendly fire) Again, the monetary issue is there. The carriers are not going to want to let Apple control the entire enchilada. S
So the nokias that support planin jane aac are the
way to go
Check below link for instructions of dealing with the pesky itunes drm to get your music on your phone.
http://www.mobymemory.com/Content/iTunes.compan
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
that would be so sweet! everyone's been wanting to have wireless headphones with their ipod. although logitech has come out with an excellent product:
s /US/EN,CRID=2439,CONTENTID=10540
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/detail
(i like how it even has a remote control on the headphones)
the $150 price tag is quite hefty.
with bluetooth, we're now open to any bluetooth headphones accessible!
HD Trailers
Never mind the fact that PacBell, even before SBC bought them out, closed all of their customer service centers in the entire state of California, so that you have to deal with them over the phone. Two reasons they did this: it is expensive having to actually give people customer service, and much less expensive to make them wait on hold. And if everything is done over the phone, then they can charge $10 for you to pay your bills over the phone if you want to pay them immediately, whereas when they had customer service centers, you could hand them a check.
Of course, you can still do that, at some dubious $20 check cashing place that caters to the 'I found this check on the ground outside a bar' crowd, but I've always been a little leery of doing that. Plus, of course, since the people who work there don't actually work for SBC, they can't answer any questions or anything.
I also use a third-party DSL provider. (dslextreme.com) My experience with them has been quite good, except for the occasions where SBC disconnects their entire northern California network for between 12 and 30 hours (2), disconnects me from DSL by adding some sort of filter and then lies and says that it is my DSL provider's fault (1), or disconnects my DSL because if I want to have a DSL line I need to either buy it through SBC or buy an extra phone line for it, even though that's not only false but illegal (1).
And that's not even touching the fact that they closed up port 135 for their DSL customers. I called them and received the following valuable insights:
Me: Yes, I understand there have been some virus problems, but my client uses port 135 to contact his mail server.
Rep: That can't be true. Port 135 isn't for mail, it's a Microsoft Windows communication port.
Me: Er. Right. Well, look, he needs to use it.
Rep: We recommend using a VPN.
Me: Yes, that's another thing. I tried to set him up with a PPTP VPN.
Rep: PPP isn't a VPN, it's a way of contacting the internet.
Me: Yes, thank you. I tried setting him up with a VPN, and it appears that that port is blocked as well.
Rep: We don't support VPNs.
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
Do you think Virgin has their own towers, or MetroPCS or the other MVNOs? No, they lease airtime from others (Sprint in the case of MetroPCS and Virgin).
MVNOs provide the customer service, pick the offerings, choose the phones to support, and sell the service. The towers are operated by established players.
It's kind of like Earthlink selling SBC DSL under their own name, with their own additional features.
simply never miss having a second mouse button in OS X.
Then I don't think you're using OS X very effectively. When I use OS X with a one-button mouse, I find myself issuing the Control-click combination -- a *two-handed* operation -- quite frequently. So I bought a two-button mouse, which turns that into a *one-finger* operation.
And don't you miss having a scroll wheel? If your answer is no, an Apple two-button, scroll-wheelin' mouse would be Pearls Before Swine for you!
That that is is that that that that is not is not.