Mobile Application Development Company

Mikael Ricknäs, IDG News Service

Microsoft has reinvented its mobile phone operating system, showing a new version Monday at Mobile World Congress designed to make the software company a more viable competitor with Apple and Google.

The Windows Phone 7 series will integrate message, gaming, music, video and productivity software in a way that brings together Microsoft's businesses with Outlook, Xbox, Zune, Office and Bing.

"This is a phone built for people in motion," said Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer in a news conference in Barcelona, Spain. He also acknowledged the company's lack of progress over the past three years. "There's no question in my mind we go back a couple of years that we wanted to think ouf of the box clearly differentiated from our past and clearly different from other things going on in the market," he said.

The phones will not be available for sale until the holiday season this year. Microsoft says it plans to release more details about how developers can build applications for Windows Mobile at its Mix conference in March.

Here is a hail of bullets on the new features of Windows Mobile 7:

• The phone will have capacitive touch screens, meaning screens with pinch and pull technology, and three buttons for Windows, search and back. The demo phone had a touchscreen keyboard, but Microsoft said device makers can design phones with physical keyboards as well.


• The start screen will feature customizable "live tiles," icons that link to contacts, music, messaging, games and photos. The tiles will pull updates from the Web, such as Facebook status changes and new uploaded photos. They can also be edited -- a source of criticism of the Apple iPhone -- and users can create a tile for individual contacts, Web sites and photos.


• Zune and Xbox Live are integrated on each phone. The phone displays your Xbox avatar as a Live Tile. The design of the phone overall mimics the Zune with its large clean type, square tiles and black background.


• The calendar displays Outlook Exchange work items and Web hosted calendar items.


• The search refines results, rather than just returning a list of relevant links as you would see in a Web browser. It automatically returns local results and, for instance, displays phone number, directions and nearby businesses for a specific restaurant.


• The e-mail mirrors many features from Outlook, such as the ability to sort messages based on read and unread, flagged, urgent categories. It also allows multiple deletion of messages.


• Social networks are well integrated, so pulling up a contact also pulls up that person's updates on social networks.


• The Office integration, which is the big differentiator Microsoft has over its competitors, is also redesigned, with a note-taking area, documents screen and Sharepoint integration.


• In general, the software appears to have been designed with the phone, rather than the PC, in mind.


• Devices makers that have signed on to make Windows Phones include HTC, LG, Samsung, Garmin, Asus, HP, Dell and Sony Ericsson.


• Wireless carriers have signed on, including AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Sprint in the U.S. International carriers include Telefonica, Orange and Vodafone.


• Ballmer reiterated Microsoft's business model to license the operating system, rather than go the free route as Google has. He also remains committed to working with device makers and multiple carriers, rather than doing a soup-to-nuts phone like Apple.


• The themes hammered on in the news conference: "A phone is not a PC," "integrated experiences," "smart design," "delight the user."

Adobe went to Spain this week to try to get some love for its Flash software, the dominant platform for viewing Web videos and playing games online.

Flash took a hit in January when Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet, billed as the ultimate multimedia device. Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad when it is released in March won't support Flash. So iPad owners won't be able to watch videos at popular sites such as Hulu, JibJab or Nickelodeon.

On Monday at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Adobe unveiled a beta version of a new mobile Flash Player for software developers and touted support from most of the wireless industry, including Google's Android operating system, Palm, Samsung and Research In Motion's Blackberry.

The Flash Player is on 98% of all computers, including Apple's desktops and laptops. But Adobe can't seem to get Apple support for mobile devices.

Apple declined to comment. Adobe says the conflict has to do with one thing: economics.

Even though the Flash Player is free, "Apple wants to move rich content off the Web and into the App Store, where they can monetize it," says David Wadhwani, vice president of Adobe's platform business unit, which includes Flash.

The App Store is where Apple sells (and gives away) software for the iPhone, iPod Touch and, soon, the iPad. Adobe profits from Flash by selling the software to create programs — and offers a free Flash Player for viewing Flash projects.

The absence of Flash on such high-profile devices doesn't help Adobe, which counts on new software sales and active developer support to keep what Piper Jaffray estimates to be a $600 million Flash business thriving.

Apple is urging developers to get video onto its mobile devices by encoding them in an up-and-coming competitor called HTML5 instead of Flash.

Adobe Flash is "yesterday's technology," says Richard Doherty, an analyst at The Envisioneering Group. He believes Flash is susceptible to hackers and says it hasn't had a major refresh in years.

The future for Flash

But switching is not easy for millions of websites that are created and presented in Flash.

"For a rich-media site like ours, Flash is the only option," says Gregg Spiridellis, a partner at JibJab Media, which makes online greeting cards. "We could support a second platform just to serve the Apple user base, but there are so many more opportunities to grow on the Web, it makes more sense to put our efforts there."

Google's YouTube video site and Vimeo, a competitor, recently opened up HTML5 support with test pages. "We did it as an experiment to see what the response would be," says Andrew Pile, vice president of products for Vimeo.

The pages load more quickly than Flash, but videos can be seen only in Google's Chrome browser and Apple Safari — not Internet Explorer, because it doesn't support HTML5.

"Right now, Internet video is about Flash. That's all there is to it," Pile says. "If you want to see video online, it's in Flash. It works on every kind of computer and browser. Bringing everyone around to HTML5 is going to be a huge leap. I don't see Flash going away any time soon."

In Barcelona, Adobe is showing its new Flash Player 10.1, which the company says is its most advanced yet.

But what took so long? Flash has been around for 13 years, why isn't it seen on many phones?

Wadhwani says computers have stronger processors and memory capacity and getting Flash to run effectively on mobile devices "has taken quite a bit of effort."

The current mobile version, Flash Lite, "could have worked on an iPhone," he says. "It plays most Web content but not all Web content."

Apple has survived consumer angst over the lack of Flash on the iPhone, but Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster isn't so sure it will have a clear ride with the iPad.

"For the first six months, it won't matter, because people will buy the iPad anyway," he says. "Then we'll see what happens."

Ross MacMillan, an analyst at Jeffries & Co., says the scuffle with Apple won't hurt Adobe in the long run, because the player is free. "Adobe will still sell its software to creative professionals to create for the Web," he says.

"Every person in the world would have to buy an iPad for Flash to go away," Munster says. "And we don't see that happening."

Source: usatoday.com

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By Audrey White

Daily Texan Staff
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Published: Saturday, February 6, 2010

Updated: Saturday, February 6, 2010

Two conflicting iPhone applications designed to serve UT students and alumni spurred a legal dispute that may lead to the removal of one of the “apps” from the Apple Store.

Computer science junior Michael Miller developed the iTexas app over the course of 2009 and sold it to Mutual Mobile, an Austin company founded by two UT alumni. Mutual Mobile released iTexas on Jan. 5 — the same day UT launched the official University of Texas at Austin app. Wendy Larson, an attorney at Pirkey Barber LLP, filed a complaint with Apple on behalf of the University on Feb. 1 requesting Miller rename iTexas. Larson refused to comment to The Daily Texan.

The inclusion of “Texas” in iTexas violates University trademark rights, which guarantee UT ownership of the brand “Texas” when used in reference to the University.

Craig Westemeier, UT assistant athletics director for trademarks and licensing, said that the name could cause confusion among consumers who think the University produced the iTexas application.

“The app could communicate incorrect information or provide recommendations that do not fall within what the University would [offer],” Westemeier said.

Tarun Nimmagadda, Mutual Mobile’s co-founder, said around 2,000 people have downloaded the iTexas app. About 50,000 people have downloaded the official UT app, said John McCall, the associate vice president of the University Development Office. The applications have very distinct features.

The official UT application is focused on alumni and guest needs, providing resources such as sports news, a guide to campus landmarks and access to President William Powers Jr.’s blog, Tower Talk. Nimmagadda said the iTexas app is more focused on day-to-day student needs such as campus maps, schedules, grade access and meals that the dining halls are serving. Both provide access to the UT directory.

“The iTexas app was built by students for students, and it allows students to access features relevant to their UT activities,” Nimmagadda said.

The University first began looking at applications as a source of trademark violations two months ago and has since investigated five to 10 applications, Westemeier said. He said that the production of such applications has the same function as selling non-licensed T-shirts with the UT brand: decreasing the value of University trademarks.

Another application Miller developed, UT Directory, was removed from the application store at the end of November after a trademark debate regarding the application’s burnt-orange color scheme. Miller said he hopes the legal questions surrounding the iTexas application can be resolved without removing it from the store.

“I started this project because, as a student, I wanted an app that could do things like show my grades,” Miller said. “I think it’s an excellent app, and taking it down would make a worse experience for students.”

Miller’s iTexas app will most likely be temporarily removed from the Apple Store on Saturday, Nimmagadda said. He said nobody from the UT legal department contacted Mutual Mobile directly and that the company does not have the resources to fight a legal battle if the University chooses to prosecute.

“If they had told us to change the name, we would have been open to that,” he said. “They did not contact us. They just got in touch with Apple directly. But they know who we are. We are all UT people, and they have talked to us at different times throughout these processes.”

Westemeier said that it is standard procedure to file complaints directly with Apple because they have an efficient process for responding to and working with both parties, which has worked well in the past. He also said no members of Mutual Mobile had contacted the University’s legal or trademarking departments about the complaint.

Nimagadda said that as they investigate the application further, other issues may arise that force the trademarking and legal departments to fight the application’s return to the store.

“We’ve got to look at the bigger picture as far as what they’re doing, the information they’re using and confusion of the brand,” Westemeier said.

Jack Koenig, a Plan II and electrical engineering freshman, has downloaded both applications for free from the Apple Store. He said he finds them both extremely useful and hopes students will continue to have access to the services both applications offer.

“The University has a valid complaint, but the iTexas app has really cool stuff that the UT app doesn’t,” Koenig said.

Source: dailytexanonline.com

Nokia fired the latest salvo in its ongoing patent dispute with Apple, saying Tuesday that it has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission charging that Apple infringes its patents “in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players and computers.”

The complaint involves seven patents that Nokia says Apple is using to “create key features” in products related to the user interface and camera, antenna and power management technologies. Nokia wants the ITC to investigate its claims.

Nokia and Apple are already locked in a legal struggle that started in October when Nokia filed suit against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Nokia, the world’s largest mobile handset maker, alleged in that lawsuit that Apple infringed 10 of its patents related to wireless technologies used in the iPhone. Apple countersued earlier this month, charging that Nokia has infringed on 13 Apple patents.

“This action is about protecting the results of … pioneering development” of “key technologies in small electronic devices,” said Nokia’s Paul Mellin, the general manager of patent licensing in a statement about the ITC complaint. “While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple’s attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple’s practice of building its business on Nokia’s propriety innovation.”

An Apple spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday morning, but when it filed the countersuit Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell said: “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours.”

Source: http://www.itnews.com/patent/12378/nokia-files-itc-patent-complaint-against-apple

In 2008, the iPhone grew up, evolving from its status as the "it device" of the moment into a burgeoning ecosphere. In 2009, that "it" device went thermonuclear. The iPhone software turned 3.0, the barrier of entry dropped to $99, and the App Store hit 100,000 applications and an astounding two billion downloads. With all of that, it's hard to believe that Apple's iconic cell phone is still weeks shy of the third anniversary of its unveiling. As 2009 comes to a close, we wrap up the year in iPhone by the numbers.

3.0

If the iPhone OS 2.0 update turned an amazing device into a world-beating platform by allowing third-party apps, then iPhone 3.0 was all about sanding off the software's rough edges and turning it into a full-featured experience.

Apple made no secret about iPhone 3.0, holding an event in March, months prior to its eventual launch, to show off the catalog of new features and developer APIs that would define the next-generation of iPhone software. With Steve Jobs on medical leave, the presentation fell to the capable team of Greg Joswiak and Scott Forstall, who ran through iPhone 3.0's high points, as well as yet another series of interminable developer demos.

While end users got some nice additional features in 3.0, such as the much anticipated cut, copy and paste, the long-run impact of the update has been more about what lies under the hood--it was the iPhone's equivalent of Snow Leopard. Developers got the ability to communicate with hardware through the dock-connector port or Bluetooth, peer-to-peer networking, in-app purchase, and the long-awaited push notifications. The testament to iPhone 3.0's importance is the number of programs on the App Store that require it.

Not all was rosy with this latest software update: while two of the features most demanded by consumers--support for Multimedia Messaging (MMS) and tethering--were promised by Apple for 3.0, MMS didn't arrive until September, three months after 3.0's release, and tethering remains imprisoned in an oubliette of AT&T's devising to this day.

3GS

With the iPhone 3G only a year old, it might seem surprising that Apple would roll out a brand new model, but that's just what it did at June's Worldwide Developers Conference. This time it was Phil Schiller stepping in as maestro for the proceedings, which included unveiling the iPhone 3GS. If the name, with its 'S' for speed, was a bit of a head-scratcher, its performance was anything but. Though outwardly it looked the same as the iPhone 3G, it was unquestionably a horse of a different color on the inside.

Source: http://www.itnews.com/smartphones/12381/2009-review-year-iphone

Apple appears to have blocked iPhone applications related to the Dalai Lama in its China App Store, making it the latest U.S. technology company to censor its services in China.

Those apps, which appear in most countries' versions of the App Store, do not currently appear in the Chinese version. Another app related to Rebiya Kadeer, who like the Dalai Lama is an exiled minority leader reviled by China's authorities, is unavailable in the China App Store as well. The apparent censorship comes after carrier China Unicom launched iPhone sales two months ago, making regulatory approval of the phone's contents in the country necessary for the first time.

"We continue to comply with local laws," Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in an e-mail when asked about the missing apps. "Not all apps are available in every country"

At least five iPhone apps related to the Dalai Lama are unavailable in the China store. Some of those apps -- named Dalai Quotes, Dalai Lama Quotes and Dalai Lama Prayerwheel -- display inspirational quotes from the Tibetan spiritual leader. Another, Paging Dalai Lama, tells users where he is currently teaching. A fifth app, Nobel Laureates, contains information about Nobel Prize winners including the Dalai Lama.

Test searches done on four out of five iPhones displayed at the Apple Store in Beijing this month returned no results for the term "Dalai." The apps also did not appear for searches done with a computer on iTunes after switching the country selection in the program to China. One of the iPhones at the Apple Store did display the Dalai Lama apps, though it was unclear why.

Chinese officials condemn the Dalai Lama as a dangerous "splittist" seeking to separate Tibet from China, and have called him a "devil with a human face." The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the capital city of Lhasa, solidifying Chinese control there. The religious figure remains widely revered by Tibetans.

Kadeer, an exiled leader of China's Uighur minority group, gets similar treatment by Chinese officials and state media. An iPhone app named 10 Conditions, based on a documentary about her life, also did not appear in test searches of the App Store in China.

Apple lets developers choose in which countries' versions of the App Store to sell their products, but it is unlikely that the Kadeer and Dalai Lama apps are unavailable in China by the choice of their makers. The app about Kadeer was submitted to the App Stores in all countries, James Boldiston, the app's developer, said in an e-mail. Other developers said they could not recall if they had excluded China, but most had other apps for sale in the China store, showing that in other cases they had included the country.

"Given that Apple has cooperated with China before (by not distributing games), it’s of course very likely that it’s Apple, not the developers, that are preventing certain apps from appearing,” said one China-based app developer, who asked not to be named, in an e-mail. Games were not sold in the China App Store before recent months.

Boldiston and other developers of the missing items said Apple had not told them their apps were unavailable in China.

Source: http://www.itnews.com/internet-based-applications-and-services/12394/apple-censors-dalai-lama-iphone-apps-china

Apple on Tuesday reduced the price of its least expensive notebook to $728 for students, teachers and educational staff.

The company's educational online store yesterday listed the MacBook for $728 , a 19% reduction from the new $899 standard price for students and teachers -- earlier, the educational price was $949 -- and 27% less than the $999 price tag for other customers.

It was the lowest price Apple had slapped on the MacBook since the machine first appeared in May 2006 for $1,099.

The MacBook sports a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive and integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics.

Apple's entry-level laptop was revamped Oct. 20 , when Apple started shipping the 13.3-in. notebook with a sleeker "unibody" enclosure, similar in look to the more expensive MacBook Pro line. Apple's MacBook remains the only Apple portable that uses a polycarbonate case; all others feature a more stylish and sturdy aluminum enclosure.

Computerworld's Michael DeAgonia called the MacBook "a solid deal" in his first take review last month, but noted that at its full price, it was only $200 less than the $1,199 low-end MacBook Pro, which features the aluminum case, a FireWire 800 port, an SD card slot, and backlit keyboard. The educational price for the entry-level MacBook Pro is $1,099.

Apple did spell out how long the MacBook's $728 educational price would last and by late Tuesday, the price was listed at $899.

College students, as well as teachers, administrators and staff at both college and K-12 levels, are eligible to purchase Apple products at the company's educational discounts.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld . Follow Gregg on Twitter @gkeizer , send e-mail at gkeizer@ix.netcom.com or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed .

Source: http://www.itnews.com/mac/12401/apple-briefly-cuts-student-price-macbook-728

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WASHINGTON (AFP) – Bowing to Chinese law, Apple is reportedly blocking iPhone users in China from downloading applications about two figures Beijing considers "separatists": the Dalai Lama and exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.

IDG News Service said at least five iPhone software programs related to the Tibetan spiritual leader are unavailable in Apple's China App Store along with one related to Kadeer.

IDG, publisher of Macworld, Computerworld, PC World and other magazines, said the move would make Apple the latest US technology giant to censor its services in China.

Asked for comment on Thursday by AFP, Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, repeated a statement she made to IDG. "We continue to comply with local laws," Muller said. "Not all apps are available in every country."

China regularly blocks access to websites deemed sensitive and a number of US companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, Google and Yahoo!, have been hauled before the US Congress in recent years and accused of complicity in building what has been called the "Great Firewall of China."

US technology firms contend they must comply with China's laws in order to operate there.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to establish an independent Tibet and photos of the exiled leader have been banned in Tibet for years.

The US-based Kadeer has been branded a "criminal" by Chinese authorities who have blamed her for bloody riots in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi pitting mainly Muslim minority Uighurs against members of China's dominant Han group.

IDG said the paid and free iPhone applications which are unavailable in China provide inspirational quotes from the Dalai Lama or information about Nobel peace prize winners. The Dalai Lama is the 1989 Nobel peace laureate.

IDG said tests performed on four out of five iPhones at the Apple Store in Beijing did not return any results for the term "Dalai." It said one did display the Dalai Lama applications but it was unclear why.

Test searches for a Kadeer application called "10 Conditions" did not return any results, it said.

IDG said Apple lets software developers choose the countries where their products appear but it was unlikely the Kadeer and Dalai Lama program developers had decided to make their products unavailable in China.

"It's of course very likely that it's Apple, not the developers, that are preventing certain apps from appearing," an unidentified China-based app developer told IDG.

James Sugrue, designer of the Dalai Quotes app, told IDG he "wasn't informed" by Apple that his program was unavailable in China.

"Apple reserve the right to do this sort of thing, and while from a censorship point of view I disagree with this, I can understand why they did," Sugrue said.

In August last year, access to iTunes was temporarily blocked for users in China after a pro-Tibet album became a hit on Apple's online music store.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday said it had asked Apple about the reported blocking of Dalai Lama iPhone applications.

"In the spirit of transparency, the company should release a complete list of the censored applications -- if indeed censorship is going on -- and the criteria used to make the selections," RSF said in a statement.

"If Apple has agreed to remove products from the App Store under pressure from the authorities, the American company would join the club of those complicit in censorship of information in China," the France-based group said.

"This would be a big disappointment on the part of a company known for its creative spirit," the media rights group added.

Chinese telecom carrier China Unicom began selling the iPhone in China two months ago.

Source: Yahoo NEWS

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