iOS Artwork - iTem 0234 and Episode Transcript

Hi Rob,
I hope you like the attached artwork I created with my 3rd Generation iPad. I used the app "Mandala HD" to make the background and the app "Superimpose" to add the tii logo. Regards,

Greg T, in Lebanon, Missouri

 

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Episode 234 Transcript

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 Apple had their quarterly conference call earlier this week and Per the Analysts Predictions of iPhone sales the winner was… Well No one - Everyone went over the actual number of 26 Mil iPhones sold in the quarter.  Katy Huberty, T. Michael Walkley and Shaw Wu tied for closest as all 3 had guessed 27 mil iPhones would be sold last quarter.  I came in 2nd worst with my what was I thinking guess of 35.5 Mil iPhones sold.  Only one analyst was higher than my guess.  Themelani Kewtane had a 38.50 Mil prediction.  Still it is a rare rare rare event when Apple's actual performance was worse than ALL the analysts including the ones that are almost always very bearish on Apple.   

 

 

Switching to the iPads sales last quarter - the winner of guess the closest was Analyst Robert Cihra with a guess of 16.5 mil which was pretty close to the 17 mil actual number.  I thought it would be around 18.75 Mil - Nope - Too high this time.  Guess I need to go back guessing conservatively low again.  

 

 

Other bits of interesting details from the call.

Apples total cash now is at 117.2 Billion dollars up 7 Billion for the quarter. 

iPods sold a total of 6.8 Mil in the quarter - per usual Apple did not break out numbers specifically for the iPod touch other than to once again say iPod touch accounted for over 50% of iPods sold.

To date over 410 Million iOS devices have been sold.  There are over 650,000 iOS apps in the App store.  And over  225,000 iPad specific apps in that group.  The iPhone is now available at over 250 carriers in over 100 countries. 

iPad is now for sale in 97 countries.  

Apple to date has paid out $5.5 Billion dollars to developers. 

And Apple sold 1.3 Million Apple TV's last quarter and a total of over 4 Million in the last 3 quarters.

 

 

 Now there has been a lot written since the quarterly call.  If you want to see if someone is an Apple fan boy or Apple basher - just look at the title of their posts.  Those that talk about / mention just the iPad sales record - those are Apple Fan boys. 

Those that talk about the iPhones sales and the big drop from the past 2 quarters and being below all Apple analysts predictions - yeah those are the Apple Bashers. 

Here is how I look at - they are both partially correct - Apple did have great iPad sales - 17 Mil is a new record and represents over 2/3 rd of the unit sales for Tablets and over 80% of Revenue and probably somewhere north of 95% of Profits for tablet sales for the last quarter.

But the iPhone drop off was pretty significant.  And that was not the bad quarter for iPhone sales - this current one is.  So expect this quarter that number to dive much lower.  

 

 

Now again all was not horrible on the iPhone side - we talked about iPhone sales at Verizon last episode.  And since then AT&T reported their numbers - AT&T said Tuesday that it activated 3.7 million iPhones during the second quarter, down from 4.3 million in the first quarter. But that 3.7 mil represented nearly three-quarters of the total 5.1 million smartphones it sold last quarter.  Or put another way - Windows phone 7 that AT&T spend more marketing money on than the launch of the iPhone - yeah it and all the Android phones and Blackberry phones it sold only added up to 1.4 Million units vs the iPhone 3.7 Mil units.  

 

 

Switching to Sprint - they reported their sales last quarter and said they sold 1.5 Mil iPhones in the quarter.  Of those 1.5 Mil iPhones sold - 40% were to new to the Sprint network - which Sprint was very happy about.  They also commented on how the iPhone costs less than other smartphone to support.  No numbers were given on Smartphone sales overall. But it is important to note that last quarter Sprint sold about the same number of iPhones - so unlike Verizon and AT&T where there was a significant drop of iPhone sales last quarter vs the previous quarter - with Sprint the iPhone is holding the line and per Sprints accolades bringing in new customers to sprint. 

 

 

And by the way those that were / are down on apple - just remember this - Microsoft just posted it first quarterly loss in company history. Now granted the loss was really a paper loss due to write downs.  But still at 18.06 Bil in Revenue for the quarter Apple's 35 Bil in Rev was almost double that of Microsofts.  Or put another way Apples revenue last quarter was more than Microsofts, Googles, RIMs and Netflix's combined.  

Ok and that is enough of the Financial stuff for now. 

  

 

Play VOICE MAILS ON STRAIGHT TALK.

Hi rob
You can use the iphone on straight talk. To activate data you have to change the Apn. The easiest way i found was to be connected to wifi. After you insert the sim and activate your plan you open safari and head to unlockit.co.nz  very simple sight and in 2-3 clicks you are all set with unlimited everything for $45 a month. On a jailbroke and software unlocked 3gs it took me aroun 15 min total but imessage and  mms(i think) do not work. Iphone 4 it was around 10 mins total and everything works perfectly. Those 2 phones save me ~$120 a month. Now i am waiting to get out of this stupid verizon contract and straight talk will have another customer. Please pass this info on to everyone that uou can. If the big 3 notice enough people leaving maybe they will improve service instead of just raising prices. 
Thanks 
Dan

Aberdeen. Wa

Thanks all that called in and sent in info about Straightalk - so if you are in the US - you have one of those officially unlocked from AT&T iPhones - and want a cheap service - it sounds like a visit to unlock it.co.nz is something you want to look into.  FYI - that is a site we have mentioned in the past for other updates on APN's - so it is not a site we are just hearing about for the first time - this is one many listeners used in the past. 

Back to the email bag.

Hi Rob,
Regarding the question about the message "Charging not supported with this accessory" mentioned in a recent podcast:
I had not seen that on my iPhone until I installed the podcast app. Actually, the podcast app was open when I plugged my phone into a computer using the USB cord. So, I'm wondering if there is any connection between the podcast app and that message? My phone is up to date with iOS updates and I have not changed anything else lately.
Regards,

Frank P

Hi Frank - I highly doubt that is the issue - I am running the Podcasts app all the time and I have not seen that issue. 

 

Rob, for your listener on July 19 episode asking about a good stylus that has a small point. Here is the link to a Kickstarter project I ordered 6 of them for family members & friends. We need for writing orders & signing documents. 
Your listener should find these to be the smallest tips! Other cool factors & features too! http://handstylus.com/ 
Regards, 

Phil C 

 

 

Hi Rob,
The stylus that I use is the JOT and it is far superior to any other stylist that I have used. They make several styles like the mini, the classic, and soon to release a Bluetooth one, with two buttons that can be assigned to different types of brushes.
Regards,

David V

 

 

Thanks to John for this next one which is about a contest - which you can enter - the City of St. Petersburg Russia is planning on a monument / statue / tourist attraction featuring the late steve jobs and they want your ideas - the best idea will win some apple gear - you have until August 6th to submit your idea. Obviously submitting the idea of a naked steve jobs posed as the rodin's thinker holding an Apple - yeah - I am sure that one is taken. my first thought was that of bronze 3d version of Sistine Chapel Ceiling Artwork you know the artwork with Adam and God reaching out a finger towards each other. Except replace Adam with God and God with Steve and Steve holding an iPad and God reaching out to touch the iPad. Yeah that would be cool - and I can't at all imagine the church objecting to that Or some of you for that mater - please note that was meant tongue in cheek.   

 

 

Hey - an iPod Touch 5th gen rumor.  This one comes from KGI Securities Analyst Ming-chi Kuo - and he claims that Apple will be updating the iPod touch later this year with an all new design.  Ok up to this point not much of stretch - as the 4th gen iPod touch is basically two years old now - so a new update this year would be more surprising if it did not happen then if it did and a new design - well year the iPod touch design is a bit dated.  

ming-chi also said it would have the new in-cell touch display and 4 inch display making the rumor rounds for the iPhone 2012.  So again - nothing special.

He did say the design would be one of buffed aluminum of the rear shell vs the highly reflective Stainless steel case of the current 4th gen iPod touch.

One other item that was strange is the report of a hole in the lower back of the iPod touch.  

This info of course comes from un-named sources.

But if the parts about the iPod touch turn out to be true sans the hole in the lower back - it is possible the whole was just added to let Apple know which prototype it was - and track back leaked photos to those Apple new they gave it to.

Guess we will be waiting until late Sept / early Oct for more info on this one. 

 

File this next one away in the back of your mind for future Apple offerings - Seems Apple just purchased the company AuthenTec for $356 Million. Authentec is the leading supplier of smart sensors and embedded security devices such as Fingerprint readers. This seems to go well with rumors about NFC and smart wallet tech that might show up in a future iOS device. Anyway - that this is something Apple would do - is clear from the purchase price. $356 Million is a lot of money for an acquisition for Apple. Sure it is small compared to what Microsoft or Google do - but Apple is not one that acquires many companies. To put this in better context - This is the 3rd largest acquisition Dollar wise Apple has ever made in its entire history. And the two ahead of it. At 390 Million dollars was Anobit back in Dec 2011 - they provide tech for Flash memory - kind of an important part of iOS and now macs. And the number one acquisition was at $400 Million - and that was NEXT - which brought Apple two important things - the base code for OS ten and Steve Jobs. So yes - at 356 Mil for AuthenTec - this was not an acquisition that was on a whim - it is strategic and look for this tech sooner rather than later in Apple ware. 

 

PLAY VOICE MAIL FROM KEVIN ON IPAD MINI

Ok this next one falls into that iPad Mini rumor territory.  It is a post from Mashable - that I have to admit makes a really good point - and they make the point with a chart.  They show all the price points for the iPod line up.  And all the price points for the iPhone lineup.  And then they show the iPad price points - and you can see there is a glaring hole below the $400 price line.  Now some are saying the price point of the iPad mini needs to be in the $200 range to match the nexus - Ummmm no.  Apple does not need to match the competitions price point - just be within $100 of it.  So a 16 GB iPad Mini at $299 - would actually be within $50 of the 16 GB Nexus.  At the end of the day most consumers will pay a little bit more for a simpler device with a much better eco system.

Plus Apple does not sell products for a loss.  So I just don't see a price below $299 if and when Apple announces an iPad mini or whatever it will be called - which is almost definitely not the iPad Mini. 

Hi Rob,

I have an alternative theory around the mini iPad.

I don't think Apple will make one. Instead I think the iPod touch will be upgraded to a 7 in screen.

The target demographic for the iPod touch seems the ideal one for a bigger screen.

As of now, due to the lower cost of prior generation iPhones through carriers, I don't think

it makes much sense for the existing iPod touch. Parents would typically buy the touch to

save money, but with a free 3GS or an iPhone 4 for less than $100, it makes sense for a 

parent to buy an iPhone instead of a touch and have the added benefit of phone access for

the child. Now, an iPod touch with a bigger screen will introduce a new lure for the device which

is very distinct from the iPhone and the iPad without any cannibalization. 

Regards,

Sergio

Hi Sergio the only hole in your logic and it is kinda a big one - is that iPhones are not quote  free unquote from carriers - you still have to spend thousands for the cellular plan - so an iPod touch is a great one time purchase - no additional cost option for parents to get for their kids. 

I am of the belief that there will continue to be an iPod touch similar in size to the current iPhone.  Per an iPad mini - I think eventually there almost has to be something that falls somewhere between the size of the iPod touch and the iPad - what is now being called the iPad mini.  Just not convinced that is a 2012 device - I think it will be 2013 - but we shall see.  

 

 One thing to remember about Reuters - They do do link bait.  Which I think some people forget or do not realize - you can trust everything they say when it comes to Apple rumors - or actually most of what they say on the rumor front - Reuters does link bait - well some did not realize that and put out posts titled - Confirmed next iPhone will have a smaller dock connector.

Now it is very possible maybe at this point likely that the next iPhone will have a smaller dock connector.  But at this point all it is is rumor attributed to unnamed sources at best. 

Remember that when reading posts about the smaller dock connector being confirmed and they lead back to the Reuters article and their sources familiar with the matter.  

Hi Rob
I have an iPhone 4, running ios 5.1.1. 
Recently my battery performance has gone down significantly. I usually get at least a day and a half on a full charge. Maybe more. However over the last couple of weeks I'm lucky to get a day out of a charge. I wonder if it's caused by the new ios?  I'd be interested to find out if anyone else is having the same problem.   Regards

 Paul M.

Hi Paul - it is likely do to an app you recently installed requiring location data - check to see if you see a purple triangle at the top on the right half of the iPhone.  If so go into the settings and turn off location settings for all the apps you have that you don't feel need your location data.  Actually do that even if you don't see the triangle.  There are way to many apps asking for your location info - with the only reason being for ad networks. 

FYI - a few of you sent in links to the Best buy page / flier showing that Verizon has lowered the price of the iPhone 4 to $49.99 - Ok - beyond what I said back in October - which was don't buy the iPhone 4 - just the 4S.  What this reduction means and why I am mentioning it - it does seem to be something done to clear inventory.  I was pretty much of the mindset the iPhone 2012 would not launch until mid to late October.  But given the big drop off in iPhone sales last quarter - maybe a September launch is not out of the question now.  And one indicator of an early launch would be when folks like Verizon and best buy and Radio shack start dropping prices.  Thanks to those that sent in the emails on the lower price iPhone 4. 

Back to the email bag.  

Hi Rob - with the upcoming adidtion of VIP lists in iOS6 it got me thinking.

Why doesnt Apple colour code each of your mailboxes, so when viewing the Unified Inbox, you can see at a glance which email is allocated to the various email addresses i have.

My iPad currently has 6 email addresses, and the ability to link a colour or even a coloured icon on the email would make my workflow a lot simpler.

Appreciate your thoughts Rob

Thanks

Simmo (from New Zealand)

Great idea - Hopefully someone is listening in Cupertino - and if not there then a dev on the Jailbreak side hopefully is listening.  

As always if you get a project you heard about here from Kickstarter - I highly encourage you to send in feedback on said projects when they finally ship.  One product that just started shipping in the last two weeks is the Geode - that was the case with the finger print scanner and swipe card programmer - so you could make your swipe card look like any of your swipe cards - and this way you would not have to cary your credit cards, debit cards or any other rewards cards - well I have a couple of detailed reviews of the Geode - but since they are detailed and that means long - I will put them at the end of the episode today. So after the music at the end - stick around for the feedback on the Geode.  Thanks Hector and Bob for your feedback. 

 

Well Apple update the Podcasts App - and most of the update was to help bring more stability to the app - which you know is kind of important for an Apple App.  It does appear to have worked - at lest for me with the new version of the podcasts app appearing to crash a lot less for me and pause a lot less. Still not instant access on launching - but much better.

Officially here is what changed / updated on the podcasts app.

• Significant improvements to performance and stability
• Podcasts in your library now show the number of unplayed episodes
• Top Stations now show the podcast title if artwork is missing
• Playback speed is now remembered when playing the next episode
• Fix for a problem where the Subscribe button is inactive
• Resolution of an issue where Top Stations artwork may not appear

I had the following email come in on the Podcasts App.

Hey, Rob,
I really like the podcast app after using it for just a couple days. One comment: I find it annoying that the latest episode is at the top of the list. I like the idea that one plays after another and I can keep my hands on the car's steering wheel, but I wish the order of the episodes could be reversed so last in would be the last played. Maybe
I just don't know how to do that yet.
Regards, 

Frank Phillips

Hi Frank thanks for the email - yes you can do this.

Here is how you do it - Launch the Podcasts App and then make sure you are on the Library side - that is where you manage your podcast subscriptions.  Select one of your podcasts - Then at the top right you will see an arrow pointing right - tap that - That brings you to the quote settings unquote screen. If you scroll down you will see the Options for Sort this podcast - just select oldest first.  You may also want to change the number of episodes to keep - especially for a podcast with lots and lots of episodes.  For example for Mac OS Ken - I set it to keep the last 5 episodes and sort oldest first. This way if one week I get behind I can go to the oldest episode at the top hit play and it will continue down the list.  Frank I hope that helped you out.

Back to the email bag.  

Good Morning Rob

It's about time the Apple Podcast App got an update! On the whole the app does appear more solid & a lot more stable but it's still very much, a work in progress.

There's still no Playlist or even Catalogue Grouping options or Push Notifications when new shows drop & more worryingly it would appear that the app WILL download new shows via 3G, there doesn't appear to be any options yet to download via WIFI only.  This is a must when you only have 1 gig of data a month!   Where is the app wide options? Why do I have to set up options for each individual podcast?

It's an improvement but still only a 2 star app, Downcast is still King.

Thanks for all you do

Cheers

Craig

Liverpool   

 

Philip Elmer Dewitt over at fortune had a good article about Apples fight with the DOJ and the basic petty nature of the DOJ in this case.  Look plain and simple - the US government is siding with Amazon who was basically in a monopolistic position when it came to ebooks.  And well it is crazy.  When public comments were allowed there was a 10 to 1 ratio of comments for apple vs the US Government.  Heck even Chuck Schumer - the US senator from NY put up an op ed piece in the Wall Street Journal calling on the current administration to drop this case. 

Any way this is a perfect example of the US Government backing a monopoly and hurting an industry that was already hurting. 

Hopefully someone in Washington wakes up and drops this case.  And kudos to Apple for not caving on this.    

 

Into the email bag.

Hi Rob,

Since I upgraded to ios 6, beta 3, Siri does not work.  Do you know if anyone else is experiencing the same thing?   
Regards,
Steve Appleseed

St. Louis, Mo.  

Hi Steve - Nope have not heard that from anyone else.  Did you do a partial update over the air - or the full update via iTunes on the computer?

If anyone else out there is experiencing the same issue - please let us know. 

206-666-6364 - that's 206-moon-dog. 

More emails on iOS 6 beta 3.

Hi Rob,

iOS 6 beta 3 on my iPhone 4S seems better than it ever has been in the past!

Regards,

Kevin Appleseed. 

Hi Rob,

Below is a picture of my New iPad (AT&T) in the Washington, DC metro area running the SpeedTest app.

I live close to Philadelphia and can't wait until LTE comes to my area.

Regards,

Walt D.

Hi Walt thanks for the photo which showed 19 MB down and 26.26 MB up.  Nice - again folks if you have an LTE iPad run a speed test and let me know what you are seeing for upload and download speeds in your area. 

Back to the email bag.

Hi Rob,

We Dutch and I think the French have a problem with the addressbook of the iPhone/Ipad.

Oure full names you can split in four parts instead of three.

Example:
Jan Pieter van der Zand
"Jan" is the first name
"Pieter" is the second name
"van de"
is the insert
and "Zand" is the last name

French example:
Jean Claud e la Monde
"Jean" (first name) "Claud" (second name) "de la" (insert) "Monde" (last name)

When we put the "insert" into the "last name" field, the names are sorted by the "insert".
When we put the insert into the "second name" field they seem to be sorted well but in web forms the "second name" is ignored, because some forms you have to enter the "insert and "last name" field.
On other sites you need to enter the "insert" seperately.

OK, I know you're not from Apple, but maybe you or some users with much better English can help to get the "insert" field in the iOS addressbook.

Regards,

Marcel van de Lindt 

 

Apple has a new Siri commercial this one starring Martin Scorsese or as Siri calls him - Marty.  I love the homage to Taxi Driver - as the whole commercial is out of the back of a NY Taxi.  Interestingly I saw a couple of reviews of the commercial that stated most people would not know who Martin Scorsese is?  Hmmm Really  guess I am out of touch with the masses on this one.  But I do love movies and am from NY originally.   

 

We talked previously about a Russian hacker that figured out how to work around in app purchases so that you did not need to you know purchase them.  Well that Hacker is reporting that in iOS 6 - Apple has a fix to the exploit he used.  Apple also says iOS 6 will fix the issue and then gives advice to devs on what to do in the interim to patch their apps to prevent this. 

This includes being allowed to use a previously restricted API.  

If you are a dev and need more info on this - look for the link in the show notes for ep 234 titled - Apple says iOS 6 to fix in-app-purchase fraud

over at today in iOS dot com.

 

 

My son recently said to me and I paraphrase Dad you can have to much ice cream and you can have to much candy but you can never have too many toys.  Oh such wisdom for such a young boy.  Anyway I mention that because it appears with iOS 6 you can have too many toys or in this case apps.  In the past you could only see 11 screens of apps - but you could have any amount you wanted on your iOS device - as long as you had enough storage for all the apps. 

However in iOS 6 beta it seems there is a limit to the amount of toys we can have on the iOS device.  

Essentially what is being reported is that when you have over 500 apps installed you will begin to experience slow booting issues.  Exceed 1,000 apps and your iOS device won't even boot at all.  

I know some of you in the past have emailed in or called in about having well over 500 apps and a couple of you reported over 1000 apps.  If you are one of these people and you are running iOS 6 - please let us know what your experience has been.

 

 

Hi Rob,
I have photos and videos in events in iPhoto.  I use iTunes to sync what events I want to my iDevices. Sometimes I want the videos in the events to be synced too, sometimes it depends on the event.  I know the check box in iTunes that says "Include Videos" but that is a setting that is too large for me.  Do you know of a way to choose which events sync photos AND videos, and then other events not sync the videos so it doesn't fill up my iDevices with videos of stuff that I don't want?
Thanks,
Drew K

Hi Drew I think you are SOL on this one - I do not know of a way to do this - but if anyone has any suggesting for Drew - Please let us know - 206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog - or email today in iOS at gmail dot com. 

Hi Rob, as far as you know, is there any such limit specifically for photos on the iPad? I have read in several discussion forums that people experienced limits restricted to 16 GB regardless of whether they had a 32 or even 64 GB iPad? And these people supposedly had way more than enough available storage left in their iPads to accommodate the photos otherwise.

Regards, Ben

Hi Ben - I know of no such limit and was able to easily get over 16 GB of photos and movies on my iPads.  However I did not have of 16 gb of just photos - so I will ask if anyone knows for sure that they have over 16 GB of photos on your iPad - let us know - call or email  

Hi Rob,

About Olympic apps in Canada we have the CTV Olympic London 

Regards,

Kevin

Hi Rob,

 

Do you know if I can have one iCloud account to two iPhones (me and my wife)?

I already backup my iPhone to iCloud since it doesn't backup to the computer and I want to backup her iPhone also to iCloud because her backup to computer stuck and doesn't manage to finish (me and my wife use different computers). 

Thanks for your help

Alon

Hi Alon - Don't thank me - as I am not really sure.  I will send this one out to the audience - For those of you that use iCloud for backing up your iOS devices - Can you send some advice for Alon.

206-666-6364 - that 206-moon-dog or send an email to today in iOS at gmail dot com.   

 

Thanks to John for this next one.  In the gee never saw this one coming category comes the story of a women that brought her iPhone into best buy and handed it over to a geek squad member.  This women wanted the geek squad member to transfer hundreds of photos, numbers and contacts to her newly purchased iPhone.  Now you can see the issue already - yup - in those photos there were racy photos and the geek squad member copied them to  his computer and not her phone and then told her to come to his house if she wanted them back.

Folks - If you put racy photos of yourself on your phone and you give said phone to a stranger - a likely under sexed geek squad type person - ummm what did you think would happen.  Ok in fairness his telling her to come to his place is way way way to creepy.  In most cases all that happens is the photos wind up on some amateur porn site.  And this case was way worse than that - but still it comes back to the original person handing over a device with racy photos - which you should never do.  

 

 

Thanks to Tony for this next article - which is more a really really really long rant about iOS v Android from the perspective of a dev trying to make money. So if you are a dev and are thinking of crossing over and developing on the Android side - well you definitely want to check out this post - look for the one titled Closed for Business in the show notes for ep 234.

 

 

This next one has nothing to do with the iOS universe other than reminding you the grass is definitely not greener on the other side. It is a post from ZDNet about malware for Android - I know nothing special there - ton of that on the android side - but this one is funny from an iOS perspective because the malware is packaged with a legit copy of the opera browser. What does this malware do - well it sends international text messages which cost the user mucho denaro. As the article points out the first sign the user is infected with this malware is when they get their phone bill. But hey on the glass is half full side -  here is an example of some devs making money on the Android.  Just Sayin. 

 

I often get down on reporters - be it for blogs or mainstream media for their lack of anything close to journalism 101 behavior. And this past week saw a great example of that when WPCentral reported the Surface Tablet prices would start at $1,000 - which lets face it - it just bat dung crazy - Say what you will about Balmer - but he ain't that dumb. But that did not stop a whole bunch of people on reporting it. I think the best article I read about this was from Ed Bot at ZDNet that really called out a few on this - and I just wanted to say kudos to Ed Bot for his article - Well done. Nice to see some sanity in a see of craziness this week. 

 

 

In the Oh no they didn't category. Comes the following quote - quote Both PhoneArena and App4Phone, neither of which has a proven track record with pre-release iPhone rumors unquote - This is with regards to the latest rumor of Sept 21st for the iPhone 2012 launch. That quote was from wait for it wait for it - BGR. Yikes. Talking about people in glass houses throwing stones. If not for Digitimes BGR would have the worst track record on rumors. But for now they will have to just settle for second worst record. Just sayin. 

 

 

Curious to see what some iPad and iPhone prototypes that were created and rejected by Apple look like - well normally you would never get to see said prototypes - unless  one winds up on ebay - and then yanked shortly there after. 

But thanks to Apple v Samsung - some photos of different iPhone and iPad prototypes have made the light of day - the Verge has a nice post showing a bunch of photos - which they got from the legal docs filed in the case.  One has octagonal corners - kind of looks like something you would have seen in Battlestar galactica - and interestingly it had no doc connector. There are some others sans the home button.  There is even a thinner iPhone barely wider than the 30 pin doc connector - Over all - it is pretty clear why many of these never made the cut.  But still interesting to see none the less.  

 

Into the email bag.

Hi Rob,

I noticed I had never submitted a review of the Tii app so I have corrected this oversight.

Perhaps you could mention that others should also write a review so they can post your rating for the most recent version.

Regards,

John

Hi John - Well I think you just did mention it on the show - Thanks.  Folks - if you have the Tii app and like it a positive review in iTunes would be great - if you don't like - then yeah - ummm - well we are working on it.  But if you don't have the Tii App - it is just $2.99 in the App store and it is the best way to consume this show.  Forget Instagram or the Podcasts App - only the Tii App gets you Push messages from me and only the Tii App lets you email or call in to the show directly from the app.  Just search Tii in the App store. 

 

 

As mentioned earlier - here is some of the feedback on the Geode Kickstarter project that just started shipping. 

Hi, Rob -->

I backed the Geode on Kickstarter and got mine last week. Here's a very early review:

The Geode is an iPhone case that is supposed to be a digital wallet. It contains a card with a magnetic strip that can be configured to be all of the credit/debit cards you currently carry in your wallet. Additionally there is an e-ink window on the back that can display your so-called loyalty cards. Mine arrived late last week and I followed the instructions to download the app and let the app walk me through the setup. The setup was very well done. In putting the case on the phone, I noticed it didn't quite fit...there are two clam shell pieces that don't slide together as nicely as they did when there was no iPhone in the case. That left a small gap, but it doesn't seem to affect the operation. 

I managed to get all of my debit/credit cards scanned in easily. They provide you with a small magnetic strip reader that temporarily attaches to the base and it works well. Likewise, using the phone's camera I was able to scan in my loyalty cards. There is a fingerprint scanner at the base of the unit and it works well. I scanned in my right thumb in setup and the scan seems to work every time. I tried to trick it using other fingers and it wouldn't let me into the app.

When I first tried to magnetize the Geode card I got an error message stating that there was no card in the slot. I contacted iCache and they got back to me immediately and FedEx'ed a new card, acknowledging the fact that some other users had a similar problem. The new card arrived today along with a $15 iTunes card for my troubles. Nice touch.

Now, here's the problem. The Geode card is thicker than a credit card. Today when I went to use it at an ATM it wouldn't fit! Not good. I'm sure it will swipe just fine at point of sale scanners, but not if you have to insert it into a slot. I haven't used the e-ink feature yet, but it appears that it should work. I'll let you know more soon, but I'm not sure if I'll be using the Geode much. From the time you launch the app and scan your fingerprint and the card is magnetized and the e-ink is updated takes about 25 seconds. I can pull a card from my wallet in 2-3 seconds. Additionally the 30-pin connector is swallowed up in the case, negating any peripherals such as the custom phone holder/charger on my dashboard. They give you a mini USB cord to charge without removing the Geode case, but that doesn't help much with peripherals, so I have to continuously put on and remove the Geode. Not sure how the plastic case will hold up to that.

I'll keep you posted. Hopefully they can address some of the issues that make the Geode not nearly as convenient as a wallet and actually unusable in some instances.
Regards,

-Bob Stewart

Hi Rob,

I received my Geode from Icache one week ahead of the scheduled delivery date and right of the bat I found an issue. I received a faulty card that would not activate and show a data error with card not found. It turns out that they had a few reports already so they are going to ship me a new card on Monday. The device seem great but the right side seam where the top and bottom meets does not like to stay flush not to much of a big deal but I wish it would get and stay together like the other side. I found that you can charge the phone with the geode on but you can’t sync via the micro usb, and being that the geode will always be on for most people you would figure they would find a way to make it sync with out having to remove the geode (Time for me to look into air sync). Overall I like the feel and look of the geode on my phone, it feel like it is more firmly and secured on my hand and I don’t feel like it's going to fly out of my hand at any minute.

The fingerprint feature it great, it allows you to setup more than one finger to be use with the geode. It is pretty sensitive, my thumb had a little dirt on it which I had wiped away with a cloth and it would not recognized my thumb until I washed my hand.

All buttons are easily accessible they did a good job with that. The barcode generator looks great but I have not had a chance to use it yet.

Battery, yes it does make your battery diminish a little quicker not too much so I don’t mind it but do expect a change in how long your battery last. It would be nice if in the future they came with a battery backup also but that could be little bulkier.

The geode software very nice, you can tell they took the time to plan all the extra details like the credit card images and they way they would display on the screen.  The cards when generated get a color assigned to them and I wish there was a way to assign a color of your choice maybe in the next release that would be an option.

Well that's all I have for now I am liking the geode a lot.

Regards,

Hector From Auburn NY.

Hi Rob

Hector again, I found that the goede will sync via the micro usb connection. What I found is that it depends on the micro usb cable you use if it will sync. I have a few of those cables so opted for using one of my own instead of the one that came with the device, while using the phone I had a another cable at work which was from samsung and that showed the phone on the computer actively connected but I did not have itunes at work.. So once home I tried the cable included with the unit and we have sync, the cable is branded monoprice and I bough from them before but I wonder what is different able all this 3 cables. The samsung will connect but will bot do a full sync it will disconnect half way through and the other cable only charges while the one that came with the unit from monoprice will work just fine. Can this be a propertary thing where we have to get the cables from the makers of the geode? In any case I wait ti hear what others say about the geode.

Thanks Hector from auburn ny.

Hi Rob,

icache sent me two geode cards so far and my geode fried both of the cards so now I have 3 useless geode cards. They are going to ship me a hole new unit with a new geode card so lets see how this one works out. They sent me a 15 dollars Itunes gift card with every piece of mail they sent so far so I am very happy with support plus they responded with in hours every time you send them a message. Just trying to keep you in the loop on my geode experience.

-- 
-Héctor- from Auburn NY