William Goodall's Blog Occasional mutterings

Is Apple Buying VoIP Provider iCall? [Apple]: “Apple is flush with cash, and as it looks like we’re coming out of the recession (fingers crossed!), it’s in prime position to make some acquisitions. Last week, Apple purchased music startup Lala, for example, and it was sniffing around mobile ad network AdMob before Google acquired it. So what will Apple buy next? One reader just sent us a message that Apple is in talks to acquire VoIP company iCall in a $50 million to $60 million deal. Is this true? iCall co-founder and CEO Arlo Gilbert, reached by phone, would not confirm or deny any talks, but that’s the response he’s supposed to give us. We have not yet heard back from Apple. (Anyway, everyone talks to everyone, so it’s worth discussing.) So, should Apple buy a VoiP company — the way Google, increasingly a rival — has acquired two? (GrandCentral, now Google Voice; and recently Gizmo5.) For its long-term strategy, it makes sense for Apple to at least have a VoIP product available — even if only for defensive purposes, even if it never launches. In the short term, it would probably piss off Apple’s carrier partners, which sell the majority of Apple’s iPhones, and currently make the vast majority of their revenue by selling voice phone service. But for Apple’s longer term strategy, it is a good idea. Why? It’s obvious to everyone but wireless carriers that wireless carriers are increasingly becoming dumb pipes. People are sick of carriers’ ridiculous fees and policies, and just want a good device that can connect to the Internet and make calls. As data networks evolve, it will be possible to make calls as well over the Internet as by using a voice network, and cheaper. (It’s already getting there.) And that’s when Apple may seek to increase its control over iPhone owners — and recurring revenue from them — by becoming a VoIP service provider. Moreover, as that becomes a bigger industry, Apple should not give that business to Skype, Google, or anyone else. So for that long-term interest, Apple may already be hiring (or acq-hiring) today. iCall has more than 100,000 iPhone users, its CEO tells us, so it already knows the business pretty well. It also owns the trademark to ‘iCall,’ which Apple may or may not want to own. And perhaps it has executives and/or technology that Apple could want. So whether true or not, it would not be too surprising.

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(Via Gizmodo.)

This rumour makes too much sense to be true.

Tech-savvy South Koreans began getting their coveted iPhones on Saturday amid fanfare and expectations they will shake up a local market dominated by domestic giants Samsung and LG. Hundreds of iPhone fans lined up to get the phones at an official launch event in Seoul, some waiting overnight. [From Apple’s iPhone Finally Arrives in Tech-Savvy South Korea]

Despite local market peculiarities the iPhone ended up doing well in Japan. It will be interesting to see what happens in South Korea which also has some odd local preferences.

Provision profile expiration time: does it leave you wondering?: “Filed under: Bad Apple, Developer, SDKBack when the iPhone Developer Program was first announced, developer provisions (the ‘permission slips’ that allow developers to distribute pre-release builds of apps in progress) lasted one year. It seemed natural to have a one year expiration, as our developer memberships also lasted one year.

Everything was all fine, developers created new provision profiles as they grew, and each lasted one year. However, sometime in May of this year, provision profiles seemed to start expiring after 90 days. At first, many thought this was linked to the expiration time of their iPhone developer memberships, which would decrease the time to use a provision.

However, it seems that it’s been set that provisions are only going to last 90 days. Also, distribution provision profiles, which are needed to submit applications to the App Store or distribute applications via ad-hoc, now only last about six months instead of one year.

If your provisions are expiring, your iPhone will remind you to renew your provision, and will state when that provision will expire.

If this is the way it’s going to be, we may have to live with it — it’s just something that I would like to stay consistent, rather than wondering every time I renew a provision whether Apple has swapped out its stopwatch again.TUAWProvision profile expiration time: does it leave you wondering? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments”

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

Just long enough for me to forget how to do it all over again every time. I’ve started getting reminders and it’s still 29 days till the profile expires.

It appears the hubbub over iTunes LP production fees was indeed unfounded. As promised last month, Apple has released the complete specifications for its Cocktail extended digital content format, aka iTunes LP for music and iTunes Extras for video content.

Along with the relevant specifications, Apple has released a series of guides explaining development, design, navigation, and asset delivery best practices, as well as how to test an iTunes LP or Extras package before submitting it to Apple. There are also special instructions to make sure your content will work on an Apple TV using the standard Apple remote.

[From Apple releases iTunes LP and Extras specs, TuneKit SDK]

I haven’t bought a complete album off iTunes yet.

Filed under: iPhone

When I visited Liverpool last month, I saw that Tesco was everywhere — as big box store, as a gas station, in smaller markets, and even Tesco Mobile, a joint venture with O2. So, it’s no surprise to me to hear that Tesco is planning to offer the iPhone at its stores in the UK. A spokesperson told the BBC that the phone will be available “in time for Christmas.” Tesco joins O2, Vodafone and Orange in selling the iPhone.

[Via Engadget]TUAWUK to get 4th carrier for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [From UK to get 4th carrier for iPhone]

And yet they all charge about the same.

But there’s an Android approachingApple’s iPhone now accounts for 50 per cent of worldwide smartphone usage, according to a new report. But off in the distance, there’s an Android approaching.…[From iPhone conquers half the (smartphone) world]

Or perhaps receding? The mavens posit a two horse race between iPhone and Android but the handset makers like Android because it’s free as in beer rather than as in speech which doesn’t indicate an interest in investing in the expense of competing with the quality of the iPhone OS. Also I don’t see Microsoft giving up so easily, even if it means abandoning their licensing strategy and building their own Zune-phone.

Go figure, right? You get a relatively hot phone out onto more carriers, and just like that, sales increase. It ain’t rocket science, buster. As AT&T grins happily while enjoying a death grip on Apple’s cash cow here in the States, things are a lot more wide open for consumers across the pond. In both France and the UK, the iPhone has been given the all-clear to be sold on multiple carriers, and according to research from Bernstein, the “widening of the distribution has boosted Apple’s value market share to 32 percent in the latest quarter from 21 percent just three months earlier.” The notes also mention that Apple’s increase is coming at the expense of RIM, with over 600,000 iPhone handsets being sold during Q3 2009 in France alone. The point to all this madness? Oh, not much — just to tell Sir Jobs that he can count on quite a bit more dough should he decide to sell this elusive “iPhone” device on Verizon in the US of A.The end of exclusivity leading to big iPhone sales in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Electronista | MarketWatch | Email this | Comments [From The end of exclusivity leading to big iPhone sales in Europe]

Apple originally entered into exclusive carrier agreements in order to get the concessions they needed on controlling the iPhone experience. It seems unlikely any of these agreements are now necessary or will be renewed given these sales figures.

With the USA still the largest single iPhone market (over 40%) there is potential for a substantial boost in iPhone market share growth when the AT&T exclusivity arrangement ends in 2010.

eldavojohn writes “If you think the iPhone app store is the only mobile game store suffering an exodus, some game publishers claim Android’s app store isn’t much better, for a different reason — it doesn’t generate much revenue. In fact, French game developer Gameloft (which owes 13% of its profits to iPhone game sales), said, ‘We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like… many others. It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue. We are selling 400 times more games on iPhone than on Android.’ So the trade-off seems to be more sales but an annoying approval process, versus a lack of sales promotions and no annoyance around approval. It seems that those in it for money will opt for iPhone, and those in it for distribution will opt for Android. Or maybe someone will get it right one of these days?”Read more of this story at Slashdot. [From Some Claim Android App Store Worse Than iPhone’s]

A hint that Android isn’t going to overtake the iPhone as easily as some commentators have assumed.

Mostly posted to test the Shrook->ecto->WordPress workflow.