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Google Gets Its iPhone Voice
snydeq writes "Google has found a way to let iPhone owners use Google Voice, launching a Google Voice Web app that runs on iPhone 3.0 OS devices, as well as on Palm WebOS devices. The Google Voice application leverages HTML 5's functionality for running sophisticated Web applications on a browser at speeds matching those of native applications, Google said. The Google Voice-iPhone conflict is one of several issues putting the companies on a collision course, the latest of which involves Apple potentially courting Microsoft to tap Bing as the iPhone's default search."
You're just shooting yourself in the foot otherwise.
I switched to Mac so I wouldn't have to use a Microsoft product ever again.
I'll keep using Google as my search engine, even if it means I have to use a bookmark instead of the search field!
If I run out of minutes I can use my data package?
If I had an Iphone, which I don't...
It's just you. If Google wants Google Voice to succeed in the market space they have positioned it for, users must be able to use it on the Iphone.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Is it just me or does Google have this disgusting sense of righteousness that makes them think they are always right and can do whatever they want.
Apple told you No, stop trying to circumvent it.
Hi Steve,
I think Google is trying to increase the visibility, for the average user, of Apple's strong handed walled garden approach. Most people outside of Slashdot don't know how ridiculous Apple's policies are with the iPhone, so Google is helping Apple make an ass of themselves in a way Google can publicize.
Hmm.. first complex HTML5 app maybe?
I'm probably not the first person to say it, but thank GOODNESS somebody is pushing HTML and web markup tech forward again. Even though some folks don't like some of the new elements present in HTML5, at least it's progressing again. Let's hope this continues!
-6d
Yet another comment without any prior knowledge. I just remembered why I stopped reading slashdot.
Flash has been allowing this for years. Along with web cam access.
Yeah, this is impressive, but it will not function properly on an iPod Touch. Google needs to have a way to switch to a different mode of operation that is Touch compatible.
Yeah, I could use the Skype App....but then I'd have to pay.
Anyone have some first-hand experience with Google Voice willing to share their thoughts? I find it very intriguing but am very hesitant to use it without knowing more...
I don't think there is a way to get access to the microphone from a web page. On iPhone, Safari doesn't allow any plug-ins to load. From the description, it sounds like this just tells the phone to make a local call over the cell network to a special number that then forwards your call to the desired destination.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
In short: this does not work with an iPod Touch.
"Google has found a way to let iPhone owners use Google Voice."
Really? There's a patch for that.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Now if they can just manage to invent websites which let you check the weather or news, then the entire App Store model will be history!
Seriously, games I get, but for any app which is only useful when you're connected to the network anyway... why not just use a website?
Who the fuck cares if Apple said no. If I owned an iPhone and wanted Google voice I could now have it.
Why anyone would want either is beyond me. I alreay give up enough freedoms.
My addiction: Arguing with idiots. AKA Slashdot!
There is no Flash implementation on iPhone in Safari.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
yea I also think its just you. Apple didn't want them to have their app on iphone for business reasons that were bad for Apple. People got upset about it and Google needs this to be more available in order to make it a business for them. So of course they're going to keep pushing.
It's just you. Personally, I think it's great to see someone get around Apple's AppStore on a non-hacked iPhone.
There is a war going on for your mind.
Use GV Mobile, available through Cydia. Much much better. An actual app for starters. :-)
We do have wifi, and a mic.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Not really.. I run Google Voice with a landline, a blackberry, and a dumb cell phone (crappy Motorola Flip phone) All you really need internet for is to setup the call routing or change it. I have it send SMS to my mobile phone (free incoming texts) with transcripts of my voicemails, as well as emailed to my gmail account. I could, just as easily call in and listen to them too.
The iphone app is just a handy way to manage it all, to use all the screen real estate. I guess there could be some functionality with SMS, or when calling someone from GV, it just puts your phone in "talk" mode, instead of calling it.. but the power of Google Voice is the simplicity of management, and the backend stuff. I almost never deal with the website.
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
Anyone can develop and publish apps to run on OS X, but it hasn't harmed Apple's reputation. Same thing can be said of *nix and even Windows. The reason the iPhone is treated as a special case almost certainly has more to do with potential liability issues regarding AT&T's network. But of course it still sucks.
Caveat Utilitor
At the very least, Flash prompts for permission before accessing them (well, usually).
Most people outside of Slashdot don't know how ridiculous Apple's policies are with the iPhone,
Do you think perhaps that for the tens of millions of people who've bought an iPhone and seemingly like it, really don't care that much? Apple are making $$$ hand over fist and the phone is still selling like crazy. Little in this world comes without strings attached and if you don't like the strings that come with the iPhone then just jailbreak the bloody thing or move on and buy something else but quit whining that the world doesn't work how you think it should.
Is it just me or did this post seem like sarcasm?
I really hope so.
If you stopped reading, how did you get here?
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Wrong, Thanks for playing. The website does not use the mic. You clearly have never used it or you wouldn't have posted this.
Do not read this
Apple didn't purchase the iPhone, the user did. So Apple can go suck a bowl of dicks.
Actually, I would not mind seeing a case for ALL OS vendors where all apps must be signed in order to be run. Not really a process of review, but simply complete validation of who published an app so if it turns out to have illegal content the owner can be quickly found, and so that viruses basically become obsolete unless they're honest vulnerability exploits that can bypass that system (ie, no more mailware or trojans or gernal viruses, only outright hacks could infect a system).
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
I use Google Voice in conjunction with Gizmo on my PC, and it works brilliantly for free, cell-phone free calling. So I guess now we need a Gizmo app to complete the circuit, no?
Websites can't access the microphone, I don't think, but its immaterial, since Google Voice isn't a VoIP app and wouldn't have a use for the microphone.
Websites can request the phone to dial a number, which creates a pop-up window and requires active user confirmation to actually dial. It is this functionality which the Google Voice iPhone web app uses to place calls (it calls a Google Voice phone number, which is set up to route your call to the actual number you dialed via the web interface.)
And Google has (Temporarily) killed the best VOIP service out there: Gizmo5.
I only wish I picked up a Gizmo SIP while I had a chance. I'm extremely depressed that I didn't. :(
Google, please bring it back!
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
It's easy to stop reading Slashdot. I've done it hundreds of times today alone.
----
Whoops... we'll get you your signature with fries in just a moment.
Uh, this has NOTHING to do with Apple. Likely, AT&T is also right in that they had no involvement. OTHER phone companies however, including those that do not yet have but are negotiating for iPhone access have some sway. (Verizon, here's looking at you).
Initially, when the Google Voice app was presented, it WAS against AT&T's contractual terms with apple. AT&T has since amended those terms opening the door, however, both google and apple admit to be "continuing research" on making this happen. I'm sure this has to do with other provider contract terms they're being cautios of.
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
Have fun with the Bing! crap. VZW shoved that down the throats of some (or possibly most, I'm not certain) BlackBerry and Droid users. Come to use my phone one day, with the Bing! app icon on my BBs "desktop", and the default search in the web browser set to Bing as well..... Dammit, let me have my Google, please. (In all fairness, I can still use Google... I was just ticked at the fact they went ahead and shoved Bing on my phone)
It's not really "getting around": Prior to the SDK/XCode release, Apple's preferred approach was that devs should write webapps. With HTML5 this is even more tempting than before, and there is no vetting process at all.
Bingo!
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
"Is it just me or does Google have this disgusting sense of righteousness that makes them think they should have the right to deliver their product to whoever wants it. "
There, fixed that for you..
Or more accurately, the converse statement:
"Is it just me or does Apple have this disgusting sense of righteousness that makes them think they can dictate what their customers are allowed to do with their own devices after they've paid for them?"
-- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
I was seriously thinking about jailbreaking mine just to get the Google Voice app. I might not need to now.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Great in theory, but ultimately even the best security measures at the OS level can be compromised by a dumb user. While at least in OS X (and I expect Linux, but don't have enough experience to say) a majority of apps are correctly running in user-space and don't require admin permissions to run/install, there are still plenty that do have that requirement for whatever reason. Because of that, I'm not nearly cautious enough when apps ask for elevated privileges during installation, so it would be pretty easy to slip something past me. And I'm a slashdotter who works in a very security-conscious industry; imagine how much easier it would be to pull the same trick on my parents.
Requiring everything to be signed would be a great step in the right direction, but ultimately one could still do a lot of damage in the time it took to discover the problem and send out a kill signal via an OS security update, especially if it's something relatively silent like a keylogger.
Never mind the logistics of making something like that happen. It would take an entirely new OS to pull off, and I can't imagine Google has that kind of thing up their sleeves for Chrome OS (even if it was as simple as adding a meta tag to your web app's head tag with a signing key before you could save it as a home screen app or something)
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Of course someone named "Sandbags" would advocate "sandboxing" apps. Like a good pusher how else could you corner the market? ;-)
or it uses the web interface to Google Voice, lets you search your phonebook or select a person to call and is prepositioned so that your iPhone number is the forwarding number. With just these parts, Google Voice will call your iPhone and once you pick it up, they'll then make the call out to that person you wanted to call. The phone number the other person will see is your Google Voice number, not your iPhone number.
ie, not a VOIP app. I could be completely wrong too.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Anyone can develop and publish apps to run on OS X, but it hasn't harmed Apple's reputation. Same thing can be said of *nix and even Windows
Well, except for all those lousy Windows drivers, and the viruses, and tons of crapware. Come to think of it, at least some of Microsoft's bad reputation can be tracked to horrible implementations done by other people.
"I see undead people" Warcraft III - Necromancer
Anyone can develop and publish apps to run on OS X, but it hasn't harmed Apple's reputation.
Sure it has. As OS X grows in popularity, a LOT more spyware and crapware has been popping up, so much so that there now exist anti-spyware and virus scanners for OS X, something unheard of only a few years ago. All of this crap could easily be prevented by having Apple be the arbiter of quality for all applications before they are authorized for use on OS X. They already do this on the iPhone and (hopefully) the iTablet, so why not extend the metaphor to the desktop? The only thing holding them back, in my opinion, is some kind of false sense of duty to failed ideas like shareware and open source. As I have pointed out in the past, these niche development models are a key vector whereby spyware and security holes are added to the Apple ecosystem, so eliminating them (or at least bringing them under much tighter control) would be a key step towards making computers "just work", something Apple has traditionally been very good at and has proven to be extremely effective with the iPhone.
But of course it still sucks.
It only "sucks" if you are a greedy or incompetent developer looking to cash in on Apple's hard work. Apple has proven that for an end user experience to be seamless (and thus popular), it has to have much tighter control over what developers can and cannot do and as an investor I hope Apple closes these loopholes that have allowed developers to put out terrible quality software for too long.
That's the whole idea. Dumb users can only run SIGNED apps... Signed apps likely are not viruses/trojans.
No, this won't stop dumb users from opening up vulns, but it will stop general virus distribution in P2P channels, email, and other systems that "trick" a user into clicking install.
yea, it's a huge system to implement, and yea, at least a new OS release is needed (likely not a whole new one, but enough to not call it Win 7 anymore or somehow designate the difference). I didn;t say it would be easy, just a good idea. :)
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
if the first Google Voice iPhone app was a VOIP app, then this is probably something much different. I doubt this is a VOIP implementation of Google Voice and is probably just a small interface to their call forwarding service built into Google Voice. In this setup, you tell Google Voice what number you want to call but also them them what local phone you want to use( one on your desk or iPhone ) and Google voice will first call that local phone and then call the other person. In this case, they would be just calling the iPhone over the AT&T network but the calls would all be going through Google Voices exchange and the remote phone would see your Google Voice phone number, not your iPhone number.
The only problem Apple might have with this is probably via AT&T who may not like how Google is starting to move into the phone network business. Apple shouldn't care much because it's basically a simple web app to a server which then results in the wireless phone service being used. BFD IMO
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
The sad thing is, I confidently predict that the Apple tablet will be crippled the same way as the iPhone--which means that I won't be buying one no matter how good it is, even though I'm a long time Mac user.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
lol. i had not caught the correlation. My handle is actually from my days playing beach volleyball, when I refused to wear the (forgive me) faggy shorts common at the time and wore traditional beach shorts (denim, torn khacki, etc) with pockets, and always had pockets full of sand...
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
That's not what Google did.
Apple refused Google Voice in the app store. So Google's not dealing with the app store.
So they just rewrite it for the web: Javascript, HTML, and CSS. This happens to work on the iPhone, and if they add some enhancements for iPhone users who want this program, how's that anything bad? This also runs on Palm's WebOS, and perhaps other smart phones with modern browers. This is a good thing... many people want this, and if Google had to write a phone-specific version for every phone, some people might be left behind. And in fact, this is the future... many apps will be written this way. WebOS, in fact, is largely based on using Javascript, HTML, and CSS to deliver applications. With Palm and Apple and various others fighting to get better Javascript benchmarks, this was only a matter of time.
They have a nice and very functional Google Voice app for Android, which will work just dandy, and better than an iPhone app would anyway, since it can run background servers. If you can run the program you want on your iPhone, aren't you better served? Why should you have to put up with Apple's plans.
It's kind of amazing... Microsoft, for years, did stupid little things to ensure their future dominance. They were usually keel-hauled for it, in forums like this. Didn't change anything .. they still did it. Well, up though Vista, which is where this "we're building an OS for us, but charging you for it" really caused them problems. So they backed off a bit.
Apple, on the other hand, is taking a hard-line approach, with draconic censoring of applications. So you can't run a Commodore 64 emulator on your iPhone, because its ability to run "programs Apple doesn't get paid for" is a major threat to Apple's future. And you can't run Java programs, for the same reason. And you'll never get Flash or Shockwave, for the same reason... it doesn't even matter that this makes iPhone a second-class web browsing engine.. Apple cares more about a few more pennies from users than it does about you getting what you think you paid for (eg, the often touted best pocket web browsing experience... which it's not anymore, not by a long shot).
Javascript was the only loophole... the only method of code execution that Apple didn't cut out of your typical web browser experience. And they made it fast... last year, they were faster than Android and twice as fast as WebOS, even though most WebOS needed the speed (this changed in WebOS 1.3 and, more still, in WebOS 1.4). Palm has pretty much shown the way... while there won't be a serious level of video games done this way, for many pocket-sized applications, web-based apps work fine. They're going to run on Palm, on Android, on Nokia, and, unless Apple further works to break their support of the Web's official and de-facto standards, on iPhone.
And the funny thing... Apple is pushing developers toward this kind of development, through their approval policies.
-Dave Haynie
Congratulations on buying into media hype and FUD. Only pople who don't actually have any experience with OS X believe it. In reality the only malware any Mac user needs to be concerned with is trojans, which of course are also very easy to avoid.
Not much of a thinker, are you?
Ah. Callback. Yeah, that would work, too. Actually, that's probably more likely. Either way, no microphone access needed.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Nah. The APIs and laughable security policies established by MS are the root of all that.
I would say that's one of the many reasons I don't like flash, but there at least you have to enable it explicitly.
No, I haven't used it, I don't have an iPhone. Thanks for the info.
If the call itself is made using regular voice minutes, then I can't see why Apple or AT&T would have a complaint.
Please, show us all of this malware that's just 'popping up'. Can you actually point us to any of this supposed malware or spyware? As far as I know, the only real threat is a trojan in a cracked version of Adobe Photoshop which still requires an admin password. Your arguments are ridiculous. If the underlying OS is secure, it invalidates serious threats from applications. Take a look at any *nix build.
Good idea that. It's about the only chance they have for hanging on to their market share.
Javascript is amazing and flexible, especially given the new VMs like V8,Squirrelfish,Tracemonkey and advances in DOM... but then again, for our internal app devleopment, we don't care to do special support for IE, if it works with Firefox, Safari and Chrome, it's considered standard enough (for the IE stragglers, we alert to use ChromeFrame as a workaround)
Also, I really loved making sure everyone was on the latest patch release of my client back when I had to deploy my thick-client/client-server app to internal machines... that was great fun </sarcasm>
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Apple's problem is probably, I would guess, that the GVoice UI is commoditizing most of the phone-related features that are phone-functionality selling points for the iPhone.
AT&T's problem is probably the free SMS with convenient forwarding options, and the phone forwarding options and visual/web-based voice mail that provide alternatives to services for which AT&T charges fees (SMS, and airtime to access voice mail), and the fact that it provides alternative contact management and voicemail storage so that its even easier to switch phones and service providers that government-mandated portability of phone numbers makes it.
In both cases, the problems are around GV weakening lock-in to the companies respective products and services.
I bought an iPhone -- seemed to be the best price for features at the time I bought it -- and I like it, but I do, in fact, care about the walled garden, and its the one big negative of the phone, and the biggest reason that (1) I expect to replace it with something else, probably Android-based, when the time comes to replace it, and (2) I don't by expensive apps for the phone, as a direct consequence of #1.
Though, ironically perhaps, if good rich HTML5 apps that work on the iPhone take off, I might stay with iPhone (though I still wouldn't buy expensive native apps through the app store), so, for me at least, Google is mitigating my concerns with the walled garden rather than highlighting them.
Most people outside of slashdot don't give a shit. I know what they do and I don't give a shit, I'd much rather have Apple monitoring the app store and pay for apps at the risk of reduced functionality than to randomly download software from someone else, with no checking and find out tomorrow that the app stole all my contacts using an exploit.
Reality check: slashdot's crowd is in no way normal, and generally consists of a bunch of wanna be techies who are completely out of touch with both real techies and normal people.
Google and slashdot can bitch, moan, and scream all day long, and people will still buy an iPhone because no one gives a shit. They'd prefer the interface and reliability of a closed system to the crap that is called android. Google is good at a lot of things, making a phone OS isn't one of them.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Explain exactly how the 'walled garden' has any direct effect on 1 or 2?
Its not like you can't export your data from your phone to standard formats.
Its not like the app store isn't full of free apps, and since most apps are a couple bucks at most, I find your definition of expensive to be ... well, something even a homeless man wouldn't say.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
If by 'getting around' you mean using the original method of developing apps for the iPhone, before there was an SDK, and which has never had any restrictions at all ... then sure, they got around it ...
They didn't make an app, they updated their google voice web page to better support the iPhone.
I've been using GVoice for a while on my phone, its not like you couldn't do the important things already.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
I see a decision looming on the horizon. The choice between a device and a service.
Apple provides a method of access - a hardware platform to access information. The design and implementation are second to none.
Google provides information to be accessed through hardware. The type of information and the services they provide as second to none.
Which is more expendable? The information, or the method through which people can access the information...
I have a feeling that Google may be ahead in the longrun, even if they are playing catchup in the short term.
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
Which is exactly how it works on every phone, even android.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
The reason apple disallowed the commodore emulator is that they don't want unauthorized code running on the iPhone. *any* code that can be compiled directly on the iPhone can be used to jailbreak their sandbox and do bad things. Notice how all the exploits and hacks for the iphone only work on jailbroken phones? Theres a reason. Notice how nexus one/gphone has already had spyware apps running that harvest user data? No vetting process, no one reviews the code, shitty software gets posted. Sure the "bad" apps get pulled when they are discovered, but that doesn't help the idiots running the trojans for the last 3 weeks letting it collect their bank passwords before it was discovered.
When that story broke, suddenly we had news sites saying "well, maybe a little code review is a good thing.." You can't have it both ways. Either all code is reviewed, and people are kept from running unauthorized code, or you open everything up and deal with the bad PR and publicity from every third app on the store harvesting your users data. Apple made their choice, and to be quite honest, I really don't think they give a flying fuck about the VERY small, VERY vocal slashdot population that has a problem with it. Not many other people do, from their sales numbers...
Personally, I LIKE Apple's review process. I LIKE not having to worry about my phone gathering my call data and sending my contacts out via some virus or trojan or something. I LIKE having a phone that "just works" even with Apple's limitations. I LIKE the fact that when some idiot developer ships an app with 200 bugs, Apple sends the shit back to them and makes them fix it before releasing the app on the store.
As far as the endless complaining on Slashdot goes, it comes down to this. Don't like it? BUY SOMETHING ELSE. we don't care... I made my choice, go make your own and stop trying to convince other people that your choice is better.
Early on Steve Jobs said the iPhone didn't need an API because everything you wanted to do could be done with web apps.
Did Google just prove that for him?
don't get too excited, it's not functional yet. Trying this out, you just get a "coming soon" message on the iphone.
ôó
My thoughts exactly - please tell me it was sarcasm.
I think we're going to have to start applying Poe's Law to Apple fanaticism.
Wow, 10 million phones out of a market that sells about a billion a year. Wow. I guess the remaining 99% actually do care then.
that come with the iPhone then just jailbreak the bloody thing
Yeah, here we have it. Only earlier today, we had the story about Iphone viruses, and morons were pleading "But you only have this problem if you jailbreak, and no one would be stupid enough to do that". Yet, here you are, telling us we need to jailbreak it to get basic functionality working.
Which is it?
I'd much rather have Apple monitoring the app store and pay for apps at the risk of reduced functionality than to randomly download software from someone else
Er, you have that choice with any phone. The difference is, it's your choice, and not Apple's.
Google and slashdot can bitch, moan, and scream all day long, and people will still buy an iPhone because no one gives a shit.
The reality is that most people buy phones other than Iphones, but it's Slashdot that whines and pretends otherwise.
Reality check: slashdot's crowd is in no way normal, and generally consists of a bunch of wanna be techies who are completely out of touch with both real techies and normal people.
Fully agree - it's only on Slashdot that there's this delusion that Apple are the market leader in phones.
They'd prefer the interface and reliability of a closed system to the crap that is called android. Google is good at a lot of things, making a phone OS isn't one of them.
Ah yes, pro-Apple tactic number 43 - only compare to Android, the only platform with less share than Apple. Unfortunately you forget every other phone company that's selling vastly more than Apple.
If your argument is that popular must mean better, I fail to see why you're using the little-used Iphone.
Notice how nexus one/gphone has already had spyware apps running that harvest user data? No vetting process, no one reviews the code
Nonsense, there's vetting for the Android Market.
Notice how all the exploits and hacks for the iphone only work on jailbroken phones? Theres a reason. Notice how nexus one/gphone has already had spyware apps running that harvest user data?
You might risk a virus if you run an Android app not vetted. You might risk a virus if you hack your Iphone and do the same. Not sure what the difference is, other than one is less nanny-state.
Personally, I LIKE Apple's review process. I LIKE not having to worry about my phone gathering my call data and sending my contacts out via some virus or trojan or something. I LIKE having a phone that "just works" even with Apple's limitations.
My 5800 Just Works, without Apple's limitations.
I LIKE the fact that when some idiot developer ships an app with 200 bugs, Apple sends the shit back to them and makes them fix it before releasing the app on the store.
Same for any other store.
As far as the endless complaining on Slashdot goes, it comes down to this. Don't like it? BUY SOMETHING ELSE. we don't care...
Endless complaining? Endless hype and advertising, more like. You evidently do care, we get nothing but Apple Apple Apple, and heaven forbid someone mention another more popular phone.
Be nice--it's somewhat on-topic and I wanted to stamp my predictions. Post McGraw (dang it). I got the iPhone OS 4.0 already by the way. Here we go.
The tablet will have .n wireless, 1280x720 resolution, OLED deluxe model, front facing camera, 32/64 GB. Runs a variant of iPhone OS 4.0--thus 4.0 will be described as well. $799/$999 (OLED)--no subsidies yet.
Way to pull numbers out of your arse. 10m iPhones? Try 40-45m. And way to compare Apple's smart phone market penetration with the entire dumb/smart phone market. As for "basic functionality" and jailbreaking, are you on crack? Basic functionality for a smart phone is it being an actual phone, calendar, email, messaging and web. It does this just fine. You want more, you jailbreak - but change your root password after. You're on /. and you don't know that having a default root password is bad? Like, really??
It only "sucks" if you are a greedy or incompetent developer looking to cash in on Apple's hard work.
Or you just want to do something that Apple don't like for one reason or another. Want a emulator? Or an alternative browser? Or a program to download podcasts? Or a free tethering app? Tough, Apple say no you're not allowed to install that.
I've got ScummVM and a program that works as an HTTP proxy for free tethering (without any additional network charges) on my android phone *without rooting*, I can't ever imagine Apple agreeing to those.
Woopti do.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
It has a direct effect on #1 (which was, again, that I plan not to replace the phone with another iPhone when it needs to be replaced) because it limits choice.
It doesn't have a direct effect on #2 (the fact that I don't plan to spend lots of money purchasing anything that depends on the expectation that I will continue to have an iPhone), which I stated was a direct consequence of #1, not the walled garden itself. Of course, #1 is a direct consequence of the walled garden.
Uh, the free, $1, and $2 (and even $5) apps aren't the "expensive apps" I said I wasn't going to buy. Saying "I'm not going to buy expensive apps as a result of the walled garden" isn't the same thing as saying "I'm not going to buy any iPhone apps, all of which are expensive". What I said was what I meant. Your argument against something different is, well, misdirected, at best.
.n, no subsidy (actually it's more for 3G), close resolution, got the capacity.
Surely there will be a buy out between the big 2 at some point.