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- Apple Doubles iPhone's Cellular Network Download Limit
I’ve cursed the 10MB over-the-air cell data download limit on Apple’s iPhone many a time, especially when trying to grab a podcast or game for use on the train while traveling. Things got slightly better in that regard today, since Apple doubled the download limit for apps, games and iTunes content over 3G and Edge data connections.Of course, I noticed the bump in download capacity when I absentmindedly tried to download a podcast that exceeded both the old and new limits, so it’s hard to say as of yet how much of an improvement in user experience this actually represents. Likewise, so far every other article I’ve seen regarding the change has found out about it by trying to download something that’s far larger than 20MB.
So why the change? Well, presumably there actually are some apps, video or podcasts out there that are between 10 and 20MB in size, so there is that. Maybe it indicates that a milestone has been reached by AT&T in terms of its ability to handle greater bandwidth usage, but somehow I doubt that, too. I can’t help but think that the real reason has to do with the upcoming iPad.
Since half of the iPad models will sport 3G connectivity, it makes sense to expect users to want to be able to access more content using that connection, especially given that they won’t be using the cellular connection for making calls or doing anything phone-related. I’m just speculating, but I think it’s also possible that the sweet spot for Apple’s visually rich e-book and e-magazine content will fall somewhere in that 10 to 20MB range.
Pocket Gamer has another interesting take on why Apple upped the limit. According to them, many iPhone developers were tailoring their games and apps to fit just under the 10MB cap, so that it would be easier for customers to purchase the software on the go from anywhere. An impulse buy, after all, isn’t nearly as likely to be made when you’re at home in the comfort of your Wi-Fi network, where you have so many other diversions vying for your attention.
Accordingly, a cap increase should result in a corresponding increase in the level of App Store software releases. As Pocket Gamer’s Spanner Spencer puts it:
Double the available app size for remote users should therefore make for some doubly impressive products. In all likelyhood this is in preparation for the inherently larger size of iPad games and apps.
Let’s hope this analysis proves correct, because it should mean promising things are on the horizon for iPhone and iPad users alike.
Related GigaOM Pro Research: How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic
Переслать - Apple's e-Book Pricing May Start High, But Won't Necessarily Stay That Way
One of the main reasons I like buying e-books for my Kindle instead of physical ones is the price advantage. Yes, portability is nice, and I don’t have to line my apartment walls with bookshelves just to hold everything, but I still do value the book as an artifact, so pricing is really the major attraction. Apple’s $12.99 to $14.99 price range for the iBookstore has begun to erode that primary advantage.Luckily, according to a new report by the New York Times, Apple’s higher prices aren’t necessarily a permanent thing. Instead, sources at the publishing houses who’ve made agreements with Apple suggest that built-in discounting provisions will result in book prices dropping as low as Amazon’s fast disappearing $9.99 price point.
Under the agency model Apple uses, it will take 30 percent of each e-book sale made, while the publisher gets 70 percent of the take to distribute between itself, the author and other involved in the making of the book. The agency model along with a complicated formula related to the price of print books led publishers to suggest that price points for new fiction and non-fiction releases would fall somewhere between $12.99 and $14.99. Publishers then took that higher price point back to Amazon and essentially insisted that the online bookseller institute a similar model.
Under Amazon’s model, the Kindle maker actually lost money on every e-book, counting instead on revenue from hardware and on building market share to turn a profit. The New York Times describes how this worked:
Amazon has effectively lost money on each sale at that price because it buys and resells e-books as it purchases printed books, by paying publishers a wholesale price generally equivalent to half the list price of a print edition. That means that on a $26 hardcover book, Amazon would typically pay the publisher $13, losing just over $3 on a digital edition it sells for $9.99.
The NYT’s sources, three people involved in the discussions between the publishing houses and Apple, note that even though books will indeed be sold at a higher initial price through the iBookstore, Cupertino built provisions into the agreement that would allow them to discount the prices of hot selling e-books, including those found on the NYT’s bestseller list. Apple wants the ability to undercut or match competitors’ prices for these books, which are often offered at significant discounts in other sales venues.
A book that becomes a bestseller could then see a price drop from say $12.99 to $10.99, or even as low as $9.99, according to the sources. Even books not on the bestseller list would be eligible for this lower-than-normal pricing, since it will be tied to the going print rate for the book. The $12.99 to $14.99 number is based on a new hardcover selling price of $26, and Apple wanted the ability to offer more attractive prices for books that have a lower starting print price.
Apple has the right idea. The reason e-books are attractive to many is a combination of convenience and pricing. But the pricing advantage only exists if consumers aren’t willing to wait for paperback editions of the books they’re purchasing to come out. If they are, though, they can probably buy a physical book at around the same price or lower than its e-book counterpart.
If Apple and its publishing partners really want to make a splash in the e-book market, they have to extend their policy of ultra-competitive pricing to the paperback market, too. $9.99 is, for me, the exact price at which I will opt to buy an e-book over a paperback, even if I can find the print version for slightly cheaper, owing to the convenience factor. I suspect I’m not alone, as Amazon didn’t just pull the number out of a hat. If Apple can hit that sweet spot more often than not for books that have been around for awhile, I’ll gladly give them even more of my hard-earned cash.
Переслать - 10 Ways to Make MobileMe Perfect
When Phil Schiller unveiled MobileMe onstage at WWDC in 2008 and described it as "exchange for the rest of us," I was sold. Who wouldn't be? All my email, contacts and calendar data pushed to all my devices, all of the time? My entire digital life kept seamlessly, perfectly synchronized with zero effort on my part? I was completely sold.But MobileMe had a rocky start. By “rocky,” I mean to say that it was an unmitigated disaster, released to the public when it wasn't even properly baked. Since then, only about five people (including me) have bothered to pay for an annual subscription. But despite all that early negative coverage, I can honestly say that the vast majority of the time, MobileMe works brilliantly.
Of course, there are things that could be done to improve it. And at a time when about half of all new Macs are sold to Switchers, and the iPhone is dominating the smartphone market, it seems a prudent time to ponder what Apple could do to make MobileMe not only brilliant, but irresistible.
So, in no particular order…
Webmail
The web-based mail interface is sleek, minimal and…a bit rubbish. I totally get Apple's design aesthetic, but every other webmail service on the planet offers more compelling functionality and mail management. The UI feels like it was made in 1998, not 2008. There's no reason it can't make it totally modern and totally “Apple.”
Performance
This is another web app issue. The web-based Mail, Contacts and Calendar are too slow. There are odd days when they just pop on the screen -– sometimes so fast I have to wonder whether it was the browser doing a little javascript burp. But other days they're so painfully slow they time out. This happens to me on different machines, on different networks, in different browsers.
Browsers
While we're on the subject of browsers…if Google can get Gmail to work in different browsers without resorting to smug incompatibility warnings, Apple should be able to do the same. Dear Apple Engineers: So what if a customer is using IE7? Plenty of people are. That's not going to change any day soon. Stop worrying about it and just deal with it.
Sync Speed
There are times when a change takes an interminable length of time to propagate through the system to my other devices. Not often, but it would just be awesome if that never happened.
Gallery Overhaul
The MobileMe Gallery looks beautiful. It's also fantastic for sharing pictures and videos with family who would feel intimidated in Flickr. Yet, Apple really ought to look hard at Flickr and take notes; there's a lot more the Gallery could do to make it a killer web app.
Massive Storage Upgrade
This one's easy. In fact, I expect to see this happen, and soon. Google offers gigabytes upon gigabytes of free storage via Gmail, Picasa and Google Docs. Even Microsoft offers more generous storage with Mesh, FolderSync and other Windows Live services. By comparison, MobileMe's 20GB is not only meager, it's downright mean-spirited.
More Granular Sharing Options
A MobileMe “family pack” already exists, but doesn't offer the same kind of flexibility and fine-grained data-sharing one would find in an Exchange service. I'd love to "link" my MobileMe account with my spouse's so we can both access and edit selected calendars. A global address book would be awesome, too. In a multi-Mac/iPhone household, that kind of granular sharing would be invaluable.
iPhone Backup
Speaking of iPhones, how about automatic wireless backup of an iPhone's other data not already synced through MobileMe? Sure, emails, contacts and calendars are already covered, as well as Safari Bookmarks. But how about adding SMS messages to that list? Or application preferences? I dream of a day when I can restore my iPhone, or migrate to a new iPhone, and not have to spend an inordinate amount of time tediously configuring app settings one by one; instead, I'd enter my MobileMe data into the iPhone and a few minutes later all my preferences for all installed apps would be set for me. Bliss!
iWork.com
Schiller did say that iWork.com was free while it remained in beta. So once that service gets upgraded into something worth actually using (issues which range far beyond the scope of this article!) and Apple starts charging us to use it, it makes sense that all paying MobileMe subscribers should get unfettered access. Right?
iTunes in the Cloud
Imagine being able to synchronize your entire iTunes library (and I do mean everything in your library) to the cloud and then being able to access it over the web through any Internet-connected device. Would that be worth something to you? Say, $99 per year?
So there you have it — that's my modest list. Ten simple suggestions for improving and expanding the MobileMe service that will make it a no-brainer for both Mac and PC users alike.
What do you think MobileMe needs to lift it from the doldrums? Share your ideas in the comments below, but, do me a favor -– resist saying "You're crazy for paying when Gmail is free." I know I'm crazy. But this isn't about me.
Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):
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