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Video Review: Griffin Standle for iPad
I’ve long been looking for a decent iPad case that can double as a stand. Enter the Griffin Standle: It’s a stand; it’s a handle; it’s a case. But aside from clever naming, how does it stack up? Check out the video for my full review.

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Estimating the Verizon iPhone Impact
Updating the latest rumor, the Wall Street Journal is now reporting as fact that Apple “is making a version of its iPhone that Verizon Wireless will sell early next year.” The question then becomes one of how much a Verizon iPhone will help Apple in the U.S. smartphone market.

The U.S. wireless market has just under 300 million subscribers, with around 90 percent accounted for by the four biggest carriers. As of July, Verizon and AT&T were roughly the same size, while Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile combined have fewer customers than either. Considering that Android devices are available to triple the number of potential customers as the iPhone, Apple hasn’t done too badly, though arguably AT&T has done better.

At the beginning of the year, AT&T was approximately 5 million subscribers behind Verizon. As of July, that number is 2 million, and it’s very likely that lead will shrink further with the first full quarter of iPhone 4 sales being reported this month.

AT&T iPhones have made up a large minority of total iPhone sales in every quarter since the iPhone launched, the last four quarters seeing activations of 3.2, 3.1, 2.7, and 3.2 million devices respectively. For the last three quarters, between 30 and 40 percent of all new iPhones activated have been on the AT&T network. While it should be noted that Apple’s and AT&T’s respective fiscal quarters don’t align perfectly, the difference is measured in days and doesn’t impact the trends.

For AT&T, a Verizon iPhone will mean the loss of an indeterminate number of customers. AppleInsider reports on a survey by Credit Suisse that suggests as many as 23 percent of AT&T iPhone subscribers want to switch to Verizon. That translates to 1.4 million customers, but that’s a best-case scenario. For Verizon, 1.4 million customers, with more to follow as contracts expire, is a great thing, but Apple will be the big winner starting in January.

Assuming Verizon customers are no different from AT&T customers, Apple can expect around 3 million additional iPhone sales per quarter. Before the iPhone 4, iPhone sales had stabilized at between 8 and 9 million units for the last three consecutive quarters. The perpetually supply-constrained iPhone 4 will probably drive that base number to 10 million per quarter, at least initially.

Apple is currently on track to sell between 35 and 40 million iPhones in 2010, vs. 25 million in 2009. A Verizon iPhone will make that more like 50 million iPhones in 2011, or even 60 million with additional market growth. On a related profit note, it’s hard to imagine Apple not offering the iPad on the network of its new best friend, too.

Finally, a Verizon iPhone will have at least some impact on Google and the seemingly unstoppable Android. Android activations have climbed from 100,000 per day in May to as many as 250,000 a day in October. That’s nearly 8 million phones per month. A Verizon iPhone will slow, though by no means halt, Android’s growth.

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How-To: Import iPhone Images When iPhoto Fails
From SMS messages to saved images in Safari, there are dozens of iOS apps that both create and edit photos, not even including the stock camera app. When things go well, iPhoto can transfer these images to your Mac’s library quickly and easily. But what if things don’t go so well? What if certain photos refuse to leave your iPhone? What are your options?

Snow Leopard’s Image Capture Application

Most of the time you can isolate the culprit by individually selecting other images with Apple’s Image Capture application. Upon launching it, select the iPhone from the list of devices on the left. The contents of the iPhone’s camera roll should then appear on the right. From here you can select files individually, or choose to import all images. There’s even a drop down selector where you can choose where to download the images to.

This is also a great utility to use if you just want to delete a large number of images from your iPhone. Unfortunately, this application utilizes the same technology as iPhoto, and will therefore choke on the same erroneous images.

iPhone Filesystem as a Flash Drive

There are several third-party applications for the Mac that will allow you to mount your iPhone as an external flash drive and retrieve files. I like to use Macroplant’s iPhone Explorer. Since this application is looking at the images on the iPhone as files, it uses a subtly different technique than either iPhoto’s or Image Capture’s import functionality.

Once launched, navigate to the folder titled DCIM on the iPhone. This folder will contain all of the images stored in the iPhone’s camera roll. Simply drag and drop the folder onto the desktop or any other location. If all you want to do is get rid of all of your iPhone’s images, then select all of the contents of the DCIM folder and delete. There have been times when my iPhone’s camera app would start behaving badly and it appeared as if the camera was not working at all. Clearing out the DCIM folder fixed the issues I was having.

iTunes iOS Backup Files

Now we’re entering extreme desperation territory. Image Capture has failed to import the images, and all attempts to copy the files directly have failed. The only course of action remaining is to see if the latest backup of the iPhone in iTunes still has the photos. For this reason, I always backup before I import photos.

Besides being useful for a restore operation, you can directly access the = files included in any device backup. The backed-up files are located in the user’s /Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup folder. The problem is that the names of the content don’t make any sense. There are however third-party applications that can translate this layer of misdirection.

I’ve been using Padraig’s iPhone Backup Extractor for a while now. After launching the application, I simply choose which iOS device’s backup files I want to extract. After making the selection, I scroll down until I see a line item labeled “iOS Files”. Select it and click on the extract button, and you’ll be prompted for a location to extract the files too. In the extracted folder ,there will be a DCIM folder containing all of the photos from your camera roll.

Even if the iPhone is a closed platform, that doesn’t mean you have to access its content only via official means. Hopefully these three different methods for getting at your device’s photos will help you out of any jam you may find yourself in with the camera roll.

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Microsoft and Adobe: A Threat to Apple's Creativity?
The New York Times’ Bits blog is reporting that two companies with very good reason to fear Apple’s growing influence in the tech industry recently got together to discuss the current state of affairs. The hour-long meeting saw Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer meet Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen at Adobe HQ in San Jose, Calif.

On the agenda were discussions of Apple’s control of the mobile market, and what the two companies might be able to do together to make sure Cupertino didn’t go unchallenged in that space. According to the NYT’s sources, which it cites as employees and consultants to both companies involved with the discussions, one of the topics of conversation was a possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft.

In the past, Microsoft had considered an Adobe acquisition, but didn’t think the move would hold up, owing to antitrust fears by industry regulators. Now that Microsoft isn’t the biggest kid on the blog any longer, and considering the rate at which Google and Apple have been buying up companies, an Adobe purchase is probably worth a second look for Redmond.

A spurned Adobe is the perfect target for Microsoft’s overtures. First, Apple’s complete shutout of Flash from its wildly popular iOS mobile platform must mean that Adobe is missing out on an incredible amount of potential revenue. And even though Apple recently relaxed its App Store rules to allow apps created with third-party tools like Adobe’s Packager, Narayen admits that the resulting effect on his company’s bottom line has been negligible.

Whether Microsoft actually does end up acquiring Adobe, or just forms a much closer partnership with the interactive media firm, both would be an effective means of striking at Apple. The Mac-maker’s roots are in creative tech, after all, and Adobe is a huge part of that legacy, whether or not Apple is willing to admit it. Try to find a photography or design professional who doesn’t use Adobe’s Creative Suite in some capacity.

In a worst-case scenario for Apple, Microsoft would buy Adobe, and though it probably wouldn’t be able to make CS Windows platform-specific, it could hobble the software on OS X the same way it seems to have done with MS Office in the past. A slow erosion of Apple’s creative user base could also undermine the reasons it became a success to begin with: “Think Different” is a slogan born of the Mac’s appeal to the artistically minded.

On the other hand, Apple’s focus is moving more and more toward the consumer market and away from creative professionals, thanks to the growing success of iOS devices. It might be content to let the chips fall where they may with Microsoft and Adobe, since neither seems like a significant player in the mobile market at this juncture, even with Windows Phone 7 poised to drop just next week.

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Spotify's Move to U.S. Could Spur iTunes Subscription Service
Spotify is a huge hit in Europe, where it provides ad-supported, free streaming music via desktop application. The software comes in three flavors for Linux, Windows and OS X, and it’s attracted roughly 7 million users since its launch in 2006. Spotify is now in the process of trying to extend that success to U.S. shores, but it faces stiff opposition from at least one influential tech giant.

Apple is whispering in the ear of major record labels, heightening their fears that the ad-based model doesn’t provide enough revenue, and that download sales of music content, which already suck, could get worse still if Spotify is allowed to make landfall here. According to CNET, at least one of those record label’s CEOs, Edgar Bronfman Jr. of Warner Music Group, is already firmly set against Spotify’s way of doing business. Though it’s worth noting that Warner Music Group is traditionally last on board most new technology initiatives.

If Spotify is willing to pay big royalties for content up front, chances are music labels will allow them entry into the market. Rumors are circulating that Spotify will be part of Windows Phone 7 launch coming early next week. If it does come that soon, though, it’ll probably only offer a limited catalogue.

Record industry buzz suggests that Apple is taking the opportunity of Spotify’s looming presence to renew its talks with labels around a streaming music subscription service. Cupertino may be banking on the fact that with Spotify and possibly Google knocking at the door with ad-supported models in hand, a paid subscription service (which guarantees revenue up front) may be much more attractive to the music industry. Apple also offers a built-in device ecosystem that boasts an attractively large prospective subscriber base, owing to strong sales of the iPod, iPhone, iPad and now Apple TV.

Apple’s iTunes chief Eddy Cue is certainly hoping that’s something a tune record execs will find pleasing to the ear, as he’s been on the phone within the past few weeks trying to get talks about subscription plans moving again, according to the New York Post. One thing’s certain: The future of music (and media in general) is in the cloud, and the first company that gets the music industry to finally submit to that idea in a big way will have a huge advantage over its competitors.

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