iPhone got it going on..taking the market by storm

Apple's iPhone is already the second best selling smartphone platform in North America, trailing only RIM's BlackBerry, according to a report from Canalys.
Roughlydrafted.com apparently got a hold of the study from Canalys commissioned by Symbian, the operating system owned jointly by Nokia, Ericsson and others. The study looked at third quarter sales of smartphones and found that in its first full quarter, the iPhone has already outsold all of the Microsoft Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm phones and now holds a 27 percent market share in North America.

This despite being on the market since late June on only one carrier AT&T, which doesn't sell throughout North America and doesn't have solid coverage in several states.
NPD, the research firm, reported much the same thing last week, with the iPhone selling 1.12 million of the 4.2 million smartphones sold in Q3, giving it 27 percent of the market. NPD said the iPhone has clearly helped grow the smartphone market, which expanded by 180 percent since it launched.

RIM is still in first place, though it's now facing serious competition from the surging iPhone. But for Microsoft, Symbian and Palm, the numbers could be cause for concern.
Business users are still favoring the BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices. But there is more pressure on IT departments to try to do something for the iPhone. And perhaps more importantly, there are just a lot of regular consumer that are moving into the smartphone market because of the iPhone. And they're clearly willing to spend money for quality.
So that should be good news for the entire industry. People are looking to do more with their phones and they'll shell out the cash to whoever can do it in an elegant and intuitive way.

iphone news: iMake apps

A Mountain View, California company is launching today a platform designed to let developers create telephony applications they can embed in Web pages and existing Web-based services.
Ribbit's back-end technology includes a software switch that essentially connects Internet-based voice communication services with mobile phones, landline phones and text messages. On top of that connection is the Ribbit API that lets developers build applications that unify the wide variety of communication methods.

Developers can build applications that include functions such as recording, sending and receiving voicemail, and making and receiving calls. The applications can be built using Flash, embedded into any Web site, and integrated into existing Web-based services. The platform supports many existing Web-based calling services, such as Skype, GoogleTalk and MSN.

Developers can charge end-users for the applications, and Ribbit can handle the billing for them. There are several ways developers can offer and charge for their products, and in some cases Ribbit will share revenue with developers.

Ribbit showed off one application a developer has created that embeds phone capabilities into Salesforce.com. By keying a code into a mobile phone, users essentially replace their current voicemail with Ribbit for Salesforce. Then users can listen to or see text transcripts of their mobile voicemail messages within Salesforce. They can send the messages to colleagues and tag them for easy sorting later.

Users can also make and receive phone calls through their Salesforce page. Such calls are automatically logged in their Salesforce application.

Ribbit for Salesforce will cost US$25 per user per month for end-users. It is currently in a private beta with more than 90 companies, and should be widely available in February, according to Ribbit representatives.

Salute America's Heroes, a veterans' association, has built essentially a call center application that lets veterans who work for the group make and receive browser-based phone calls while at home. The capability is integrated into a Web site that also hosts tools they use while making the calls. The capability allows the association to take on the cost of the calls rather than reimbursing workers for the use of their home phones.

Ribbit designed its own softswitch, which runs on Linux blades and has been certified in an Alcatel-Lucent lab to meet the capabilities and reliability that telecommunications providers typically require, said Ted Griggs, CEO and co-founder of Ribbit. Ribbit's network operations center is hosted by a third party in Virginia, and the company is working on opening one on the West Coast to offer geographic redundancies. It can add capacity simply by adding more servers.

Another, more consumer-oriented application is available to try on the Ribbit developers page. The AIR iPhone is essentially a software-based voice over IP phone that looks just like Apple's iPhone. Users can make and receive calls to mobile and fixed-line phones, including from the contact list in the phone, on their computers.

Ribbit hasn't quite yet configured its offering in terms of pricing for such consumer applications, but expects to in the first quarter of next year. In the case of the AIR iPhone, Ribbit would share revenue from end-users with the developer.

Ribbit says that more than 650 developers are working on new applications, although on Friday only two were listed on the developers site. "Dozens" are near release, a few additional applications should be available on Monday, and many more should be available in the early months of next year, according to the company.

Ribbit opened its offering to developers in August but plans to officially launch the company, along with details about how its technology and business model work, on Monday.

iPhone Alert..waste of a 2k

The Apple iPhone is easily one of the hottest electronic gadgets of the year, getting everyone excited about touchscreen displays and the marrying of music with voice conversations. It's not exactly an exclusive device, however, because just about anyone can waltz into an AT&T dealer and ask for a touchtastic mobile. If you want to be a little more special, you may want to consider getting a Platinum Edition Apple iPhone. This is because only 250 units will be produced.To be sold through GoldStriker, the Platinum iPhone comes at quite a premium over its non-platinum counterpart. Whereas a regular iPhone goes for about $400, the platinum version is ringing up at a cool �1099.95. That works out to about US$2,230, meaning that you can have one of these or five of the garden variety phones.Looking for special features? Keep looking, because the Platinum iPhone still boasts the exact same spec sheet. Then again, with a production run of just 250 units, you can feel pretty darn special showing off that Platinum iPhone... until someone steals it and posts it up on eBay.

iComic: The iPhone Gets Graphic

I don't actually have an iPhone in front of me to try this out, but anything that allows for the reading of comics on previously untapped platforms is certainly a good thing, so long as it doesn't make your phone explode or anything.
Developed by Japanese programmers--and subsequently translated into English by this person--the app seems to have been created with Manga in mind, understandably. But I'd imagine that iComic works with an e-comic saved in ZIP form. The app offers three options for "turning pages," letting you advance to the next page by tilting the phone, tapping the side of the screen, or swiping a finger across the screen.
iPhone users can download iComic here. As for the rest of us, I'm thinking it might be high time for another Webcomics roundup

iPhone users don't care about 3G? hmm..I care.

Although a 3G iPhone has been guaranteed for 2008, its importance has been overrated, says Shaw Wu of American Technology Research. HSPA 3G is intermittent in Europe and Japan, Wu says, let alone in the United States; so while the technology can offer speeds up to 3.6Mbps (through the likes of AT&T), users end up defaulting to 2G technologies such as EDGE most of the time. 3G also comes with increased costs: parts such as power amplifiers may add as much as $15 to the price of building a phone, an amount that may then be saddled onto the backs of shoppers.
As Apple itself and other analysts have noted, 3G is additionally a sharp drain on batteries, consuming between 35 to 40 percent more power than standard data access. Apple is unlikely to implement 3G until it can provide as much battery life as the current iPhone.Wu says that based on information from supply chains, a 3G iPhone will only ship in the middle of 2008 at the earliest, possibly later as demands dictate. In the meantime, Apple stock is expected to continue increasing within the next six to 12 months, reaching a target value of $210

ATTACK OF THE CLONES CLONES aka iSuck

In the commnets section, list what the name of all of the clones shown below, if you dare!




Verizon

Please!

Not in the USA

Looks like it sucks anyways.

iHaveNoIdea

Sprint

LOL

Not sure either, anyone?

Nice try though.

iPhone GPS rumors confirmed!

Following last week's TomTom rumour (which has now sadly been debunked) official news has broken of a working prototype GPS module which will be released early next year by little known company, part foundary.
Dubbed ‘locoGPS', the SiRF Star III based module operates with all jailbroken iPhones (including v1.1.2) and works by simply plugging into the defacto connector on the base of the handset. Currently the module has to use two different modes which I suspect will be automated in a final product. The first let's the unit be detected on the iPhone, after this pressing a button switches the module to GPS mode where it can start locking onto satellites.
Currently achieving a lock takes approximately 60 seconds and the user gets a flashing confirmation light on the module once it is ready. From here a user simply selects the new GPS icon on the iPhone and their position shows up on Google Maps and routes can be planned.
To back up this bold prototype, part foundary has posted a video detailing the process and while many questions remain about topics such as battery life and future firmware compatibility, a highly appealing anticipated RRP of just $89.00 for its February launch suggests we won't really care about the answers…
Link:part foundary iPhone GPS page

iPhone Exchange Support

E-mail on the iPhone needs to be addressed, NOW.

I am on way way into work and I attempt to check my e-mail. It is automatically updated so it was fine, but throughout the day, if I want to updated it, I expect to wait a good 5 minutes.

I suspect the number of e-mail address it has listed on the iPhone impacts the update time, but I'm not sure.

My point is there should be a better way to do this. When I was on the Treo 700wx program, I had the pleasure of being placed on the GOOD Link server. It wasn't quite as integrated as the Blackberry Enterprise Server client, but it provided almost instant e-mail updates.

If there could be some applications similar to either the Blackberry or the GOOD Link on the iPhone, I think it would almost immediately overtake the enterprise market. Only lasting concern is the typing. I personally noticed I am slightly slower on the iPhone then I was on the Blackberry. I would say, I'm about as fast as I was on the Treo. If Apple could develop the iPhone keyboard a little more, the it would be a clear winner in the business market.

I also want to refresh my request for a OWA interface similar to the web based Gmail.
This would be a big winner.
I wonder if our on site engineers could develop the OWA interface, HMMMMMM.

I will do some research and get back to you with updates.