23 Musings

It seems the mobile web is beginning to come of age at last. Could it be down to the iPhone? The greater occurrence of phones with wireless built in? Better mobile web apps? Increasing addiction to the internet so you just have to get at it everywhere you are? Well, personally I think it's down to our increasing need for data, connections with our networks and need to access email on the go. Definitely the iPhone has made a big difference but I believe it's social networks which will really kick start the mobile phenomenon. Just look at Japan and the iMode surge a few years ago, the majority of apps used were related to social uses and email.

Anyway, ZDNet are reporting that Google have seen a 20% increase in mobile search usage.

I blogged last week about the rumour of an Android phone appearing this week and lo and behold more than one have, in fact there's been a veritable plethora of Android based phones on show at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The BBC have a report on it here, and Techcrunch have a video of an Android phone in use (see below).

It looks good so far but obviously these are all a work in progress so not that pretty and definitely not iPhone competitors as yet.

The latest rumours have surfaced about the infamous Google GPhone. The latest (via Marketing Week) is that Google have teamed up with Dell and will be announcing the new phone next week at the 3GSM conference in Spain.

Great news if it does happen! It'll give me a real option over an iPhone I hope, I've been looking and nothing comes close for functionality, but then the iPhone lacks 3G, has a rubbish camera and seems a bit too much form over function for a user like me. As the link above says, Dell are well overdue a proper move into mobile after their pretty awful attempt with PDA's.

Apple has a reputation of being a fair and open company and has acquired a massive die hard fan base thanks to this approach. They are seen as one of the good companies compared to others such as Microsoft (and sometimes Google).

However, they've not been doing themselves any favours of late...

First they crippled peoples iPhones when they tried to update, hack or unlock them. I can understand the desire to do this but it's fairly narrow minded and unnecessarily antagonises the types of customers they rely on as a tech company.

Now they've committed what to me is a cardinal sin. According to Techcrunch there is a feature in the iPhone which sends data back to Apple all the time. This data includes IP address, stock quote preferences and other preference data, worst of all though it sends the IMEI number for the users phone back as well.

Now an IMEI is one of those rare bits of data which can instantly be linked to a person, unlike things like IP address which are more transient and changeable. This means that Apple could be building a profile for all it's iPhone users with more than just who they are and the fact they own an iPhone. This could contain data that would be hugely attractive to advertisers around the globe.

So could Apple be planning a Facebook? Possibly. Are they harvesting information on their users? Undoubtedly, yes they are. What they plan to do with that data is anyones guess at the moment but Apple should expect to receive some backlash from their customers for this as it seems a breach of privacy to me.

Update - 20th Nov: The latest from Techcrunch is that this isn't 100% true, apparently the iPhone doesn't send an IMEI back to home base.

Time Magazine has released it's Inventions of the Year issue. Unsurprisingly the iPhone is number one, but as a whole the list makes for interesting reading (I particularly like the idea of a spandex spacesuit).

The whole list is here!

In the news today Google has come out to say that usage of it's mobile services have soared during the summer months. Usually the summer months can see a dip in web usage and perhaps this is evidence that users are getting more comfortable with the small screen so continuing to use it when on the move.

Visits to Google's maps, Gmail and mobile searches on mobile phones and wireless handheld devices rose 35 percent between May and June. Thats a reverse of last years pattern which saw a decline at that time of year.

They attribute a jump in use of 40 percent to the launch of the iPhone. However I know that it's widely used in the UK too and we don't have the iPhone yet.

This is definitely all about better handsets being available, more people having decent handsets and the public at large getting more savvy with ways of accessing the web. I'd expect it to keep rising rapidly. For the UK, we've had such a poor summer weather wise that I'm surprised that usage hasn't shifted back to PC's, the test will be when we have a decent summer (we can pray that may be next year...).

Here's a useful link from Apple's Developer Connection which tells you all you need to know to get your web site or application ready for use by iPhone users.

To be honest it should be fairly straightforward as it's the Safari 3 engine under the hood of the iPhone so if it works in Safari it should be fine in iPhone. Of course you may want to look at serving up a different version scaled to fit the iPhone as I for one find the zoom browse of modern phones a pain in the neck*. I'd much rather use a web app that sizes itself to the device I am using, it makes the browsing experience so much easier.

Anyway, the link above has all you need to know and some handy hints on how to utilise mail and maps on the iPhone. If you're in any doubt about whether your app will work on iPhone then read the above.

*Of course, AT&T's lousy 2G connection speeds make the browsing experience a pain in the neck anyway at the moment for anyone who owns an iPhone.

So the iPhone has been launched, over 500,000 handsets sold in the first weekend, massive buzz in the blogosphere and in traditional media and reviews coming in thick and fast.

It still looks great! The interface is brilliant and I can't wait to try one in the flesh when they make it to the UK. But has the massive hype and publicity it's generated put it at risk of falling foul of the inevitable experimental attacks from hackers?

Being so high profile has made the iPhone the device that hackers want to get under the skin of. Various reports have been coming out of people breaking them open to find out what's under the hood and trying out various attacks to breach the security. People have been trying to break the protection that stops 3rd party software being used for example.

So, it's no surprise that hackers have already cracked and published two passwords. One is the password to give an application root access, the other allows mobile access. Both are fundamental to the security of an iPhone and also potentially fundamental to Apples revenue models...

As of yet, those passwords do not have a specific use, but if somebody finds a service which allows a hacker to access the phone and gain root access then that will be a different story. A story which has the potential to damage the reputation and momentum behind the iPhone.

If someone does prove they can gain root access then surely Apple will have to start releasing patches. To do so this soon after launch would not be good for their reputation at all. And how far would the cracking have to go before iPhones required a mod to make them secure? That would be disastrous.

So, in the next week or so I'd expect to see the digital rights management features compromised, third party software downloads springing up and phones being unlocked for use on other networks.

I'm sure the iPhone will still be a success and with so much hype this was bound to happen, but I'm pretty glad that I won't get one until the vulnerabilities have been fixed (and 3G is added).

All that said though, if any other smartphone (Nokia, Windows, HTC etc) had generated so much buzz and been put through the same level of hacking and cracking I'm certain the results would be comparable.

So, the iPhone gets announced to much fanfare by Mr Jobs and the Apple PR engine moves into top gear to push yet another guaranteed hit.

And yes, it does look rather impressive! Aesthetically, it's the first phone I've seen that really looks like it deserves to be part of the 21st century of technology that we currently live in, the departure from standard candy bar/clam shell etc style is a welcome relief.

The iTunes/iPod connection will I'm sure make this a massive success for Apple and guarantee the revenue streams in, but there are aspects to this phone that make me think it is definitely not for me!

My main gripe is that it's not an open platform. Being unable to install software from other manufacturers is a killer for me. Every smartphone I've owned has allowed me to install anything I want that is compatible and that's the way my phone use will continue, so iPhone wil not be for me!