Here are today’s @MacStoriesDeals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
Posts tagged with "iPhone"
#MacStoriesDeals - Thursday
ListBook: A Simple List App for iPhone
ListBook, a new iPhone app from the developers of MoneyBook, wants to be the simplest solution to create lists on an iPhone, and check off completed items with ease. The App Store is full of apps that enable you to create lists: just think about Simplenote, the popular note-taking application for iPhone and iPad (and the web) that, among other things, also allows you to convert notes to lists. Not to mention the hundreds – if not thousands – of Dropbox-enabled apps that you can use to set up quick shopping lists, todos and reminders and have them always available anywhere you go. The ListBook’s developers, though, recognize that setting up a Dropbox account and having to mess with plain text files, folders and, why not, Markdown support might be a pattern average iPhone users aren’t ready to learn. We, as geeks, love to fiddle with OTA sync, filenames and tags: the majority of iPhone users, however, might not want to do that. And that’s why ListBook doesn’t come with any of these features, but still enables you to create lists, with a beautiful interface and a clever use of gestures.
In ListBook, you create lists and assign new items to them. There are no due dates or tags – you just check off an item once it’s been taken care of. Every list can have a name, as well as a badge on the homescreen to tell you how many tasks you still have to complete. There is no sync or iPad version, no web app or Dropbox integration. You can navigate between lists in a Safari-like UI that displays lists as “pages” in the browser; you can also pinch & zoom to reveal a list and close it.
ListBook won’t satisfy the geeks, but it should be a good alternative to Apple’s Notes app for most iPhone users. Get it in the App Store at $0.99.
Verizon: 2.2 Million iPhones Activated In Two Months
Following yesterday’s official AT&T iPhone activations for the first quarter of 2011 (3.6 million units) and Apple’s Q2 financial results (18.65 million iPhones sold), Verizon reported its Q1 2011 earnings results this morning, confirming that the company activated more than 2 million iPhones 4s since February.
As noted by Peter Kafka at MediaMemo, Verizon’s earnings results public PDF document indicates the company activated 2.2 million iPhones in two months – the device went on sale on February 10th, thus granting Verizon only two months of availability during the quarter. Apple didn’t officially disclose Verizon iPhone sales numbers at its earnings call yesterday, however they did say that adding the iPhone to Verizon’s line-up meant begin offering the device to an enormous customer base.
The CDMA iPhone is expected to be released in more countries on different carriers in the next months, but Apple hasn’t confirmed any of these plans yet. Initial speculation on Verizon iPhone sales claimed numbers were “low” and “under Apple’s expectations”, but 2.2 million units activated in 2 months seems to suggest the device has been selling strongly in the quarter.
Apple Investing In Toshiba’s New Plant for iPhone Displays
According to a report by Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, Apple is planning to invest in Toshiba’s new LCD plant in the Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, for the manufacturing of iPhone displays. The report, relayed by MarketWatch, claims that Apple has picked Toshiba as the sole Japanese supplier for iPhone LCDs, effectively ceasing talks with Sharp over an investment in their facility.
The report said that Sharp was no longer a candidate for Apple’s investment. Sharp said in a statement released Wednesday that the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun report “contradicts the facts.”
A spokesman for Toshiba’s LCD display unit declined to comment.
After Apple’s Q1 earnings call in January, Apple COO Tim Cook told the press and analysts that the company had entered a $3.9 billion component supply deal in a key area that was “an absolutely fantastic use of Apple’s cash”. Many speculated that, after flash storage supply deals and agreements, Apple identified high-resolution LCD displays as a key factor to iOS’ devices manufacturing process. Back then, speculation and Tim Cook’s own words suggested that Apple had entered a deal with three manufacturers, including Toshiba and Sharp. A month before the the Q1 financial results, Apple was indeed rumored to be discussing with Toshiba an investment in a new $1.19 billion factory – the same that Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun is mentioning today. But at the same time, several reports suggested that Apple was also considering a second investment in a $1.2 billion facility from Sharp – with over $60 billion in cash, a double investment in LCD manufacturing wouldn’t have surprised anyone. But today’s report seems to confirm that the deal with Sharp hasn’t gone through, implying that Toshiba has been chosen as the only Japanese manufacturer of iPhone LCD screens.
Apple’s Q2 earnings call is scheduled later today at 5PM ET.
#MacStoriesDeals - Wednesday
We’ll tweet the daily deals at @MacStoriesDeals as well as exclusive weekend deals too, so please follow! Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
Researchers Discover iPhone File That Keeps Track Of Your Moves
Security researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden have discovered a file in Apple’s iOS local backup system that keeps track of your entire location history, in format perfectly readable by a computer. The file, by default stored unencrypted in the iOS database that can be backed up to a computer using iTunes, keeps track of “everywhere you go” by triangulating the 3G signal against the nearest cell towers, and offers a way to private detectives or people who might get their hands on your device / computer to have access to your moves in the past. The researchers have also created an open-source app called iPhoneTracker that recognizes the file from your local iOS backup, parses the results and displays your most-visited locations on a map. The screenshot above, for instance, was taken using my iPhone’s unencrypted backup.
As the researchers note on iPhoneTracker’s webpage, it is unclear why Apple is doing this. Cellphone network providers have been allegedly tracking users’ location for years through their towers, but they never stored the location info locally on a device, nor did they provide a way to back up this information on a computer and parse it. Allan and Warden (who’s a former Apple employee) speculate this might be functional to new location features Apple is working on for future versions of iOS; the location tracking was apparently introduced with iOS 4 last year, and data collected so far might come in handy for the company to build an online location-based social service for iPhone and iPad users. The file, however, was only discovered in the past weeks, and the researchers claim it’s present both on iPhones and iPad 3G units.
Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you’ve been,” said Pete Warden, one of the researchers.
Warden and Allan point out that the file is moved onto new devices when an old one is replaced: “Apple might have new features in mind that require a history of your location, but that’s our specualtion. The fact that [the file] is transferred across [to a new iPhone or iPad] when you migrate is evidence that the data-gathering isn’t accidental.” But they said it does not seem to be transmitted to Apple itself.
Apple declined to comment, but it’s very clear that the file is created and stored locally without an explicit user’s agreement. As noted by the researchers and other security / privacy experts polled by the Guardian, Apple is storing both location data and timestamps in a readable format that can be accessed from a stolen (possibly also jailbroken) device or a computer. I have tried the iPhoneTracker application personally, and while it really works with unencrypted backups generated using iTunes, choosing to encrypt a backup breaks iPhoneTracker’s functionality – thus granting users an additional level of security. The file, however, is still there – Apple doesn’t offer a way to avoid tracking of your moves.
The discovery of this location-tracking file in the iOS backup system is worrying as it raises question on Apple’s user privacy policy, and the reason why such data is collected without a user’s consent. Apple has been rumored to working on new location features for iOS 5, so the location info might be a solid data foundation for the company to build a new social location service. You can download iPhoneTracker here and try for yourself. Read more
AT&T Q1: 3.6 Million iPhones Activated, 322k Tablets
U.S. carrier AT&T reported its first-quarter financial results this morning, announcing a 10.2% of wireless revenue growth, with an 8.6% increase in wireless service revenues. The company reports the quarter that ended on March 31 was the best-ever first-quarter with smartphone sales over 5.5 million; consolidated revenue topped $31.2 billion in the first quarter.
As far as the iPhone goes, AT&T announced 3.6 million iPhone activations in the quarter, with 23% new subscribers. The company stressed how they managed to activate 1 million more iPhones from the year-ago quarter, a remarkable result considering Apple ended AT&T’s exclusivity of the device in the US with the release of the Verizon iPhone. Following these numbers, many are already speculating the big exodus to Verizon Wireless from AT&T didn’t happen. It’s too early to tell, as we also want to wait for Apple’s Q2 results later today, but it’s worth noting that Verizon iPhone sales were rumored to be low, under Apple’s initial expectations.
iPhone activations increased nearly 1 million year over year to 3.6 million, with 23 percent of subscribers new to AT&T; iPhone subscriber churn unchanged year over year.
AT&T had another strong quarter of smartphone sales. (Smartphones are voice and data devices with an advanced operating system to better manage data and Internet access.) More than 5.5 million smartphones were sold in the first quarter, the third-highest quarter ever and an increase of more than 60 percent year over year. During the quarter, 3.6 million iPhones were activated. Approximately 65 percent of postpaid sales were smartphones.
AT&T also revealed 322,000 tablets were added in the quarter, although it’s unclear how many of them were iPad 2 3G units, older iPad 1 models, or other non-Apple devices. Statements from the press release after the break. Read more
RockMelt Coming To The iPhone With “Desktop Sync” Feature [Update: Available]
RockMelt, the social browser based on the open-source Chromium engine that aims at enriching the desktop browsing experience with visual previews and Facebook / Twitter integration, is coming to the iPhone. As reported by Venturebeat, the developers – who have received several rounds of funding in the past months and are committed to making RockMelt the ultimate social browser for Mac & Windows, especially after the departure of Flock – have been busy creating a smaller iPhone version that’s not really a full-featured browser, but it’s focused on the “app edge” aspect of RockMelt. On the desktop, RockMelt features a series of vertical sidebars that display the latest updates from your Facebook and Twitter friends, or emails from Gmail contacts, and so forth. In the developers’ vision of today’s browsing, people are more likely to discover content through status updates from social media, rather than manually typing a URL or spend hours looking for news on Google. That’s why the iPhone version – coming soon to the App Store – will be focused on letting you quickly open the app, and check on the latest updates from your friends. You can search and browse the web regularly, too, but the focus is on “favorite feeds”, read later and most accessed bookmarks.
Most mobile browsers provide a similar experience to PC browsing, just with a touch interface and smaller screen. But RockMelt co-founder and chief executive Eric Vishria pointed out that when you’re waiting in line for a cup of coffee, you don’t want to whip out your phone and type in a long website address. Instead, you’re more likely to check the latest updates on Facebook or Twitter.
With Facebook and Twitter support, users will be able to send their own status updates, or check on links shared by their friends. These links will be previewed inline by RockMelt below a Facebook message or a tweet, and you can also decide to view them later thanks to the Instapaper-like “read later” option introduced in RockMelt beta 2. Last, the iPhone version will feature a “desktop sync” option that will allow you to sync your bookmarks and, we assume, read later material across the iPhone and RockMelt for the desktop. This sounds very similar to what Mozilla did with Firefox Home, and we’re looking forward to seeing sync in action.
RockMelt for iPhone will be available “in the coming days” on the App Store. Read more
Giveaway: Remix the Beat with djay for iPhone & iPod touch!
Let’s cut to the chase: djay is polished, good-looking, and a downright handsome virtual mixer that’ll have you scratching virtual vinyls like it was made all tiny for your thumbs and stuff. You’d think djay’s miniature client for the iPhone & iPod touch would be too small to get a proper remix of your favorite rap attack and guitar jam, but that little iPhone can instantly become the party superhero when equipped with an amateur DJ such as yourself and some stereo output to the nearest boom box. Choose any two tracks from your iPod’s library, adjust the equalizer to your liking, pump the gain, and position the needles to start laying down Scratch n’ Sniff quality beats. It’ll take some practice to get good, but all of the tools are available with a quick tap to help you combine tracks, and there’s even an automixer if you want to let djay do some the hard stuff. I couldn’t resist buying my own copy of djay for $0.99 in the App Store, currently on sale from $4.99. That’s a steal, but you can risk it all on one of two copies we’re giving away past the break.