iphoneos posts

A reader has sent us the above screen shot. It clearly shows six application icons on the iPad dock.

I was messing around with the iPad simulator, and I noticed that I could fit 6 icons in the dock. There was no modding involved. Since the iPad has a roomy screen, this could be very plausible. And since I am a jailbreak person, I know how uncommon this kind of thing is. But it goes along pretty well with Apple allowing the modification of the background.

Given that the the iPad has a much larger screen, this would be expected. However, none of Apple's official shots of the devices shows six dock icons. With everything that's been leaking out from the dev SDK in the last two days, there are surely many more surprises to come.

The Apple Developer Center is providing iPhone OS 3.2 beta, complete with iPad developer guides and support for Apple's latest creation. Unfortunately, just as Apple has done in the past, they have enshrouded the details of developing for the iPad in yet another NDA, preventing developers from discussing the OS outside the highly sanitized Apple forums.

It's possible that Apple will lift the NDA once iPads start flying off the shelves (or cargo containers) in about 60 days, but it is disappointing that developers continue to be hamstrung by what is, frankly, a futile effort to contain SDK details. The idea of an NDA is great, and it is an agreement, but it's not going to deter people from sharing details if they want to send an email or post in a forum. Granted, you won't be developing long if you do this, but doesn't that seem a little ridiculous?

This adversely affects honest developers who wish to share information. Looks like we'll again have to wait for books on development to get the green light once Apple gives their green light. Again.

Mobile analytics firm Flurry tracks usage of mobile apps and lo and behold, look at what popped up this week. There are 50 devices running iPhone OS 3.2 within the Apple Campus.

Flurry also reports that they've been tracking 200 apps across 50 devices since October of last year, and that usage has really ramped up in the last few weeks. Internal testing typically increases sharply just prior to a release. Flurry's report doesn't give a lot of concrete evidence that these devices are tablets, but they do note that "...we have a fair level of confidence that we are observing a group of pre‐release tablets in testing." If only they had shared what raised their "level of confidence."

As you can see from the chart above, the majority of these devices are running games, with the entertainment and news & books categories tied for 2nd place. Apps in the lifestyle category come in third. Flurry also reports that they've been tracking activity on these 50 devices since October of last year, and that usage has really ramped up in the last few weeks.

It's interesting for developers to note that the devices seem to be running iPhone apps. If they are tablets, that means it'll be easy to move applications over (though we don't have any information on how they will scale or the final resolution for the device).

At the end of the day, we have data collected by Flurry from apps installed on 50 or so devices placed inside Apple via geolocation that are running on iPhone OS 3.2. They could be tablets -- rumors have suggested that the tablet's release is delaying the next iPhone OS upgrade -- or they could be test unit iPhones running an unreleased version of the OS. Either way, two things are certain:

1. There's cool stuff inside 1 Infinite Loop
2. All of this conjecture will end on Wednesday

OK, so number 2 is a "probably."

[Via Engadget]

The folks at Boy Genius Report (BGR) have been speaking with a little birdie from Cupertino again, and this time it's allegedly spilled details on iPhone 4.0.

If the source is to be believed, this update will bring multitasking and a new interface. First, there will be "A few new ways" to run applications in the background, which means multitasking -- something developers and users have wanted for a long time. Also, multi-touch gestures "...will be OS-wide," which makes sense if we're to believe that the tablet OS is preventing the iPhone OS release.

Other rumor nuggets include improved navigation (which was on our list of requests) and improved syncing for contacts and calendar apps. Finally, the update will be limited to the iPhone 3G and 3GS (we assume this also includes the iPod touch), and will "...make them more like full-fledged computers."

Now, we know that a single iPhone OS release may offer platform-specific features. For example, VoiceOver and Accessibility, as well as hardware features like Magnetometers, are not available on iPhones earlier than the 3GS. For that reason, we're unconvinced that the anticipated "Multitouch Revolution" expected for the tablet device will extend in all of its glory to the iPhone. In other words ...

Is it the 27th yet?

[Via MacRumors]

All the big guys have been receiving their golden tickets this morning. So what can little sites like TUAW do to play along? Why, Zapruder the heck out of the invite of course. Zaprudering, as the SciFicast explains, "is a neologism derived from the Zapruder film, the amateur 8mm film that is the only known visual record of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It's used here to indicate painstaking analysis of the trailer." Zaprudering refers to a detailed extraction of evidence from a limited set of image data.

As you can see in the image at the top of this post, several features stood out to our TUAW team. Mike Rose was first to notice that the art used spray paint rather than finger paint, as you might expect for a tablet event invite. "Could this be a hint of MacPaint Pro?" asked Steve Sande. "That would harken back to the original Mac (MacPaint) and be very cool."

Dave Caolo noticed that the Apple logo front-and-center, along with the thin (tablet-shaped?) border pointed to a Macbook-like presentation. It would be awesome if the tablet really could mimic and/or replace many laptop features, although all early Humint rumors point to an iPhoneOS-only system.

So what does the art-styled presentation hint at? To most of the team, this seemed a vote for augmented reality interaction a la Excelitech's Virtual Graffiti app [iTunes link]. Maybe we'll be able to interact in new ways with maps and images through a touch-based interface.

Will the target audience differ from the anticipated Kindle crowd? Maybe this touch-based creation will be aimed more at tangible creative media than at simple video and book display? Maybe the rumors about gestures gone wild with a high-powered CPU we've been reading about give a better sense of who Apple is aiming their "latest creation" at.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Update: Commenters point out that the colors used almost perfectly match the current nano line.

Update: TUAW's Megan Lavey adds "I think Apple is announcing the release of its interactive paintball set. It uses the built-in iSight camera. You mad at someone? Click a button on iChat and the paint color of your choice blasts that person in the eye." *hee*

With Apple's rumored media event only two weeks away, people are hopeful that it'll bring an announcement of the tablet. Could it be that the next iPhone OS update is also waiting for that event?

iPodNN quotes a source who suggests that the next version of the iPhone OS is laden with references to its forthcoming sibling, and therefore must wait until the tablet is made public. Last month, The Boy Genius Report pointed out alleged evidence of iPhone firmware 3.1.3 and 4.0 in private testing, which is likely, but these builds have not yet been made available to developers or the public.

Just this week, Boy Genius suggested that the tablet is a sort of "iPhone on steroids," that is to say, a larger and more tricked-out version of the little guy. At the same time, John Gruber relayed one of those "friend-of-a-friend" tales suggesting that the iPhone is actually a by-product of the device they originally intended to build. Only now has the technology caught up to allow for the tablet's existence.

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

Yo, Apple. February's coming, and likely with it, the iPhone OS 4.0 SDK. And you know what? We're totally over this infuriating ducking NDA thing when it comes to the iPhone software development kit.

NDAs refer to nondisclosure agreements. They are contracts -- in this case, between Apple and would-be developers -- that prevent those who have been granted beta access to early releases of Apple's software development kits from discussing any aspect of the SDK in public forums.

Apple has pulled this NDA on us a few times before, for iPhone SDKs that anyone and their brother could download and look at freely. I'll say it for the record: NDAs on new iPhone OS SDKs are a bad, bad thing.

These NDAs provide no protection against competitors discovering Apple's proprietary secrets. Apple places no restrictions on who may sign up and access those materials. At the same time, they limit developer discourse outside of Apple's rather minimal members-only developer forums.

Under past NDAs, TUAW could not publish how-to articles or code samples, which was frustrating. The fundamental problem is not limited to this site, though. Developers couldn't tweet about their experiences, write about them on developer e-mail lists or otherwise engage in the kind of productive peer support that makes a development community thrive. Limiting discussion to a vendor-approved site where posts can be modded and/or deleted at the vendor's whim does not exactly cultivate open discourse.

Of course, we're talking about Apple. As avowed "Gearhead" Aleksandr Milewski puts it, "It's Apple. They'd NDA their customers if they could." So you can take it as likely that once again Apple is going to slam down an NDA on our collective selves. At least unless enough people proactively stand up and say: "We're mad as hell about NDAs and we're not going to take it any more."

So what can you do? Add your voice to this post. Leave a comment and express exactly how you would feel about Apple NDA'ing the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 SDK. Tweet it. Status wall it. E-mail it to your friends and to Apple. File a bug report at bugreport.apple.com. Give some unofficial feedback. Post about it on your own blog and leave a link in the comments.

It's time to be heard. We're tired of REDACTED and we want change.

In yet another drop of information from the firehose of tablet rumors, French blog Mac 4 Ever claimed earlier this week [English translation] that a beta version of the iPhone SDK -- used by developers to create applications for the iPhone, iPod touch, and now possibly Apple's new tablet device -- could be unveiled during the upcoming event to be held on January 27th.

What I find interesting about this tidbit is the timing: most of the rumors we have heard concerning which operating system the tablet might run have generally pointed towards a newer build of the iPhone OS. So, if the tablet will be running a new build of the iPhone OS, and that build is only expected to be in beta stages by the end of this month, then it stands to reason that the tablet may not actually hit the market until later this year. I'm thinking somewhere around March, maybe?

Then again, it is possible that the device might ship with a preliminary version of the OS which doesn't make immediate use of the App Store, buying some time for developers to get their feet wet using the beta SDK and giving Apple the chance to ramp up a good selection of apps to be ready for sale when the App Store becomes available.

Either way, the idea that Apple may release a beta version of the SDK more than a month ahead of schedule serves as an indication that Apple has indeed learned from past mistakes, and hopefully developers will be able to get their hands on the SDK sooner, rather than later.

[via AppleInsider]

Apple's campus is a surreal place to be. You're surrounded by a loop of buildings where some of the most advanced technological innovation is going on behind closed doors. That excitement aside, another great thing about being on campus was being able to dine at Café Mac. Café Mac is Apple's cafeteria/restaurant for employees. It's some of the best food you'll ever eat and the café rivals whatever Google has. But I loved Café Mac for more than the food. It is a place where you can meet and mingle with people from all different departments, be that legal, marketing, IS&T, software, or hardware.

Now before I go any further, let me state right now that every single Apple employee I've ever met takes their NDAs very seriously and no employee has ever revealed insider knowledge or let any secrets slip (to me anyway). I've remained iChat friends with a bunch of Apple employees I've met from some very cool departments on various trips to campus. I can tell you, though Apple would never admit to being influenced by sites like Engadget or TUAW, individuals at Apple do read those sites and do take into consideration what they read on them.

Now, here's where you come in: I know there's been a ton of excitement about the impending Apple iSlate, but let's not forget that, if past years are any indication, the iPhone OS 4.0 will be previewed sometime this Spring with a probable Summer release. I'm sure you all have your hopes and dreams what you want the next iPhone and iPhone OS to include, so here's your chance to get your voices heard – hopefully by many of the people on Apple's campus too.

I'm writing a series of features about what people want in the next iPhone and I need you to send me emails detailing what you would like to see in it. I'll have one iPhone article a week for the next month. Each article will deal with a specific wished-for area of the iPhone: next week's article will deal with the iPhone OS as a whole (settings, home screen, search, general behavior, etc.). Week two's article will cover iPhone hardware, while week three and four will cover the iPhone's built-in apps like Mail, Maps, Calendar, etc.

Until Friday, January 8, I'll be collecting your wishes and ideas for the next "general" iPhone OS. You have until then to email me your feedback, wants, mock-ups, and concept drawings. Don't be afraid to link to concepts you've seen at other places on the web either. And don't be afraid to borrow features from the Palm Os or Android, too. If they have something you like there's no reason Apple can't learn from them, so by all means include it if you think it would make the iPhone better. I'll present everything you guys tell me in an article and hopefully the boys in Cupertino will take notice.

Only feedback sent to tuawiphone [at] me dot com will be considered, but please feel free to lash out your thoughts in the comments too. Also, please only send me your "general OS" wish-lists now, or things could get lost in my mail box if you send your hardware wishes for articles down the line, etc. And, judging from the amount of email I'll get, it would be a great help if you could put your ideas in list form with a description for each if necessary.

Now that 2009 is officially behind us, web metrics firm Net Applications has released their final report of the year, which finds Apple up in some areas and down in others. Specifically, the iPhone OS has grown significantly, while Chrome has surpassed Safari.

The iPhone jumped to 0.43 percent of the total OS market in December, a 20% increase over November and the largest monthly gain since its introduction. While holiday sales estimates are still unavailable, its expected that the quarter's numbers will eclipse the previous quarter's record-breaking 7.4 million units sold.

At the same time, usage of Google's Chrome web browser has exceeded that of Apple's Safari for the first time. As for alternatives to the nearly-ubiquitous Internet Explorer, Firefox is first, Chrome second and Safari third, according to Net Applications. Specifically, Chrome is now at 4.63 percent of browser share and Safari is at 4.46 percent.

The novelty of Chrome probably plays into these numbers, but it's also a nice product. I've been using it on Windows and Mac OS X (in beta, of course) and found it snappy and responsive.

Overall this is a positive report for Apple. Here's to 2010.

I was eating a late post-Christmas breakfast this morning and perusing my email when I came upon a note from my friend and fellow Apple Consultants Network member Michael Kimble. Mike's been involved with Apple products since before the Mac arrived, so he has seen product trends come and go for decades. In his email, he mused that:

"I've been wondering if Apple, on their Jan. 26th product announcement, won't start to differentiate OS X to include OS X Mobile, OS X Touch, OS X Desktop & OS X Server. But rather than discreet versions of the OS, it is a spectrum where features of one version can slide up and down the scale depending on the functionality of the hardware platform it's running on. It seems to be moving in that direction whether a formal acknowledgment is made or not."

It's not that far a stretch to see Apple adding another variety of OS X to the family tree. As a result of yesterday's post about the as-yet-unannounced Apple tablet, TUAW reader Dillon made a similar observation to Mike's:

"Just a thought, but if the new Apple tablet ran straight iPhone OS, then it would probably be released in June with annual iPhone update... meaning that the Mac tablet will probably run a cross between Mac OSX 10.6 and iPhone OS or just Mac OSX 10.6.

Apple really won't release something unless it is speedy enough. They don't even let you run a background app or multitask on the iPhone due to speed issues. If they wanted to make a speedier tablet it would make sense that they would [deliver] a hybrid of the two operating systems, allowing better speed, battery, and more functionality than the iPhone, yet something not as relatively bulky as Snow Leopard."

Three of the four operating systems already exist (and there's always the family member they keep locked in the closet -- the Apple TV -- with its odd edition of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger). All it would take is for Apple to add a new version of the OS that would, as Dillon points out, allow background processing and true multi-tasking, yet pull out a lot of the more weighty components of OS X.

What do you think? Is a new, formal acknowledgment of a new Apple OS on the way, or will the tablet run a beefier version of the iPhone OS? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Illustration from Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tigerpixel/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

ComScore has released a list of the top smartphone operating systems by market share in the United States in October. Who's on top? Research in Motion (but for how much longer?), followed by Apple, then Microsoft, Palm, Symbian, and finally Google.

The guys at FierceDeveloper have put together this nifty chart showing the top smartphone operating systems by number of active users in the United States in October, based on comScore's data.

What's interesting about comScore's latest number is it's the first time iPhone OS market share has surpassed Windows Mobile. According to the data, approximately 36 million Americans are smartphone owners, with 40% of those owning Blackberries and 25% owning iPhones. Windows Mobile share has shrunk to 20% and with the increasing popularity of the iPhone and Google's Android OS, it's not looking too hot for WinMo.

Below: the chart of comScore's data. The yellow bars are the most recent statistics.

No, you didn't click on the wrong link. We haven't changed our name to The Unofficial Audio Weblog. "Why, then, is my beloved Apple-centric site doing a review of a car stereo?!" you're no doubt asking yourself. 'Cause this thing rocks your iPhone like you've never heard before!

Sony was nice enough to send us one of its newest models, the Xplod MEX-BT5700U, which happens to be the company's flagship head unit. With things like iPod integration via the front-mounted USB port and Bluetooth audio streaming, the $299 single-DIN stereo has an interesting mix of features that you'd expect to come at a higher price.

First off, some ground rules. I'm not an audiophile. This isn't going to be a review chock full of decibel ratings or fancy audio terms. While I've had quite a few aftermarket stereos in my time, and I've installed my share of head units, car stereos aren't my living. Instead, I'll be focusing on its interface and various connections to iDevices.

The specs
The Xplod MEX-BT5700U is no slouch when it comes to traditional stereo benchmarks. It outputs 52W per channel without external amplification and has a separate subwoofer out. It'll play nearly any audio source including HD Radio (via an optional kit), satellite radio, CDs (the store-bought pressed ones in addition to CD-Rs and CD-RWs with MP3, AAC, or WMA data files), USB sticks and drives, a CD changer, and of course MP3 players. Oddly enough, there is no Memory Stick slot. (Thank goodness!)

Oh yeah, it even gets AM!

Those of us in the Mac rumor and news business (is there a difference?) love it when we get a good tip, especially when that tip is from someone who has given us good, solid info in the past. iLounge featured a post last night called "Ten New Details on the Apple Tablet" that passed along some rumors that they've received from one of those solid sources.

While I won't parrot back the bullet list of ten details that are in the iLounge post, here's the gist of the article: Apple has created at least three prototypes of what editor-in-chief Jeremy Horwitz calls the iPad. The prototype that is still in the running has a 10.7" diagonal display, runs iPhone OS, and looks like a large iPhone 3G.

The device will have two variations, one with 3G networking built-in (think of it as an über-iPhone 3GS) and another without it (a mongo iPod touch). The larger display is expected to have about 7 times the surface area of the iPhone, and about 6 times the resolution, allowing easy reading of books, magazines, and cropped newspapers.

With the extra screen space, the new devices are designed to bring ebook functionality to the iPhone platform as well as make a more compelling platform for games, media, app, and the web. Apple doesn't expect this device to compete with netbooks, hence their continued denial that the company will come out with a netbook killer. Instead, this will be an extension of the iPhone platform.

Horwitz finishes his list by noting that the device is still awaiting a green light from Steve Jobs, and that it has about an 80% chance of making it to market. If it's given the go-ahead, the source is stating that the device would be announced on or before January 19, 2010 and would go on sale in May or June.

While this is still a rumor, the information is from the same source that gave iLounge the scoop on the iPod nano 5G, the iPhone 3GS, and the Chinese iPhone 3G. It appears we'll still have to wait until 2010 before the fabled tablet appears in our local Apple Stores.

The legendary Dev-Team has done it again. It just released the new version of the Pwnage Tool, a desktop application that's used to create custom firmware packages to jailbreak iPhones and iPod touches.

Jailbreaking is the act of modifying the official firmware in order to run applications not approved by Apple. Chief among those applications, at least for the iPhone crowd, is the SIM unlock that allows the phone to be used on unofficial cell phone service providers.

The Dev-Team has found holes in previous versions of the iPhone OS that allow this code modification and has developed tools to make exploitation easier for the average user to accomplish. Once implemented, the jailbreak process installs an app that acts an unofficial App Store of sorts. The iPhone or iPod touch user can browse and install games, utilities, themes, and general applications. Cydia, one of these installer apps, even has a store with applications for sale.

Traditionally, when Apple releases a new iPhone OS version, that software upgrade breaks any jailbreak and SIM unlock present on the device. And so, you end up with the cat-and-mouse game that Steve Jobs alluded to shortly after the first firmware loophole was exploited and the original iPhone was unlocked.

Well, the mouse has stolen the cheese once again, and the Pwnage Tool released today will jailbreak the latest firmware, version 3.1.*

The big asterisk at the end of that previous sentence is that the Tool will only work on about half of the devices that use the iPhone OS -- only the original iPhone, original iPod touch, and iPhone 3G. The iPod touch line just released, as well as the 2nd generation iPod touch and the iPhone 3GS, cannot be jailbroken at this time. That means if you've already upgraded to 3.1 on your 3GS, you still won't be able to SIM unlock it as of the time of this post.

So, if you want to SIM unlock your iPhone 3G or the original model, Pwnage Tool 3.1 should do the trick. On the 3G, you'll need to use Icy or Cydia to also install the ultrasn0w app that actually performs the software unlock; however the original iPhone should be unlocked without this additional step.

You will need a Mac to run Pwnage Tool 3.1, but a Windows version is expected in the near future. Also expected soon is redsn0w, for both Mac and Windows, that further simplifies the jailbreak process by avoiding the need to create a custom firmware package.

Keep in mind, if you've been waiting for a jailbreak solution before upgrading to the latest firmware, many users have had fairly substantial issues with iPhone 3.1. My fellow TUAW blogger, Josh Carr, has reported that lots of iPhones and iPod touches are working poorly after upgrading. You may wish to hold off and stick with 3.0 or 3.0.1 until a solution is found, either by Apple or some other group of smart people.

But, if you're so inclined, you may find links to download Pwnage Tool 3.1 on the Dev-Team's official blog. Make sure to read the instructions thoroughly, and take heed of all of the warnings. They are there for a reason.