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AirPlay Apps Add New Value to Locally-Stored Video Libraries
AirPlay-enabled apps are beginning to trickle out ahead of iOS 4.3′s imminent launch, which will be on Friday, Mar. 11 at the latest (if not today). This morning Air Video, which lets you stream video from your computer to any iOS device remotely, got AirPlay support, making it incredibly easy to keep your entire personal movie collection with you at all times. The only downside of Air Video is that it only works if your collection is stored locally on your own Mac. If you depend on subscription services to scratch your video itch, you may find yourself left out of the party.

Air Video isn’t the only remote video streaming app to get AirPlay support. StreamToMe also recently updated its app to include AirPlay support for iOS 4.3 users. I prefer Air Video because it can function both as a streaming and remote conversion tool, as it is creating a second, streaming-optimized file which can be automatically added to your iTunes library for later use. StreamToMe offers other great features, however, like music and photo streaming from your iTunes and iPhoto libraries. You can’t stream movies bought in iTunes using either thanks to DRM measures, but there are ways around that for the truly dedicated.

Whichever you choose, you get video streaming over Wi-Fi and 3G to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, even when you’re outside of your home network (with the help of a simple companion application on the computer where your media is housed). And with iOS 4.3, you can stream that stream (stay with me here) from your device directly to a screen or projector connected to an Apple TV.

Other iOS video apps haven’t been so quick to embrace the new functionality. As Janko noted after Apple’s press event last week:

[I]f you're looking to get additional TV content on your television via AirPlay, you'll be disappointed. Hulu's iPad app won't support AirPlay for the time being, and Comcast and HBO also are on the fence. Netflix, which is usually keen on supporting as many platforms as possible, isn't interested in AirPlay — and don't hold your breath for AirPlay becoming part of the ABC app.

That list isn’t likely to get any shorter as the launch proceeds. For many of these subscription streaming apps, the question of whether or not to support AirPlay becomes a thorny legal one that involves licensing and specific platform rights. In many cases, neither rights-holders nor licensees may yet even have a good idea of what they can and can’t do regarding AirPlay.

That could be just how Apple wants it. Despite persistent rumblings that Apple wants to get into the streaming game (and its first steps in that direction with the latest all-streaming Apple TV revision), the company still does the bulk of its media sales business by selling individual, locally stored files to users. AirPlay reinvigorates this older model of content distribution in the face of the looming shift towards more cloud-based solutions.

It’s good news, too, for users who are uncomfortable with that shift and prefer truly owning (rather than merely leasing) content. Air Video and StreamToMe are ideal solutions for users with extensive physical media libraries who’ve taken the time to back up that content in digital formats. The hesitation of video streaming services to embrace the new tech is also a great reminder why local libraries are still relevant: Every new platform and technology requires new, exhaustive licensing negotiations and agreements.

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The MacBook Air Succeeds as Apple's Post-PC PC
Apple’s redesigned MacBook Air is selling very well, according to Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via mlm,k), having reached 1.1 million units shipped in its first quarter of availability. That would make the new MacBook Air one of the most successful Mac launches of all time. But don’t think that just because Apple’s newest PC is succeeding, its post-PC rhetoric is mere iPad 2 marketing babble.

The MacBook Air may not be a tablet or a smartphone, but it might actually be more post-PC than any of these other devices, including the iPad. Plus, it stands as the best possible bridge available to help make the transition from PC to post-PC as painless as possible.

Obviously, the MacBook Air has lots of PC in its family tree. It’s a traditional clamshell notebook with a full hardware keyboard that runs OS X. On the other hand, though, it uses all-flash storage, has no built-in optical drive and the vast majority of its hardware design details were dictated by the need for portability, instant on, and battery life. Often, the MacBook Air capably stands in for or excels at tasks for which one might otherwise use a tablet. Colleague Kevin Tofel, for instance, found he was getting less use out of his iPad once he purchased a MacBook Air due to fast boot and wake times as well as the device’s light weight.

Consider also Jobs’ own characterization of how to approach computing in the post-PC era:

[A] lot of folks in this tablet market are rushing in and they’re looking at this as the next PC. The hardware and the software are done by different companies. And they’re talking about speeds and feeds just like they did with PCs.

The MacBook Air raised some concern that it might be underpowered when people looked at its stats on paper. After all, it didn’t benefit from any new processor technology. But, as with the iPad, the numbers didn’t tell the whole story. I’d say the most common thing I heard from MacBook Air-owning friends and colleagues was that they were surprised at how closely their computing experience resembled the one they’d previously had on more powerful MacBooks. Kevin agrees, having sold a unibody MacBook for the MacBook Air and feeling that he made little, if any, performance compromises in the process.

As with the iPad, the MacBook Air is less about what it’s made up of and more about what you can do with it. That, combined with pricing that seems to have struck a chord with buyers, and put the Air on top of the Mac line in terms of units shipped. Apple sold a total of 2.9 million notebooks last quarter, so the Air took the lion’s share, accounting for 38 percent of that volume. Apple has to be pleased with those numbers, since it means its overall mobile focus really is where consumers are thinking and spending their money.

The MacBook Air is a personal computer, but according to Jobs’ articulation of what constitutes a post-PC device, it fits in much more comfortably with the iPad and the iPhone. If it continues to gain traction among consumers, don’t be surprised if it comes to represent everything the Mac brand stands for. Not a bad vision of the future, if you ask me.

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iPhone Flat in U.S. as Android Takes Market Share Lead

This week, the latest U.S. smartphone market share report from comScore has little good news for Apple, except possibly that things could be worse. For the three-month period ending in January, the iPhone was flat at 24.7 percent, up just 0.01 percent from October. In sharp contrast, Android surged 7.7 percent during the same period, ending at 31.5 percent, and taking the number one spot previously held by RIM. The Canadian smartphone maker tumbled 5.4 percent, down to 30.4 percent share, and will almost certainly be passed by Apple during the first half of this year. Windows Phone 7 was unable to halt Microsoft’s slide, down from 9.7 to 8.0 percent, while HP’s webOS fell from 3.9 to 3.2 percent.

Last week, Nielsen released market share data for smartphones that saw Google edge out Apple and RIM in the U.S. From December to January, Android was up from 27 to 29 percent, while iOS on the iPhone dipped from 28 to 27 percent, and RIM was flat at 27 percent. While that wasn’t great news for Apple, it at least showed iOS keeping pace with Android, which the comScore report seems not to indicate.

Looking back at 2010, the rise of Google’s smartphone OS is simply amazing. Last January, Android was at just 7.1 percent according to comScore. The question now becomes whether Apple can stop Google from achieving a majority, if not a super-majority, of smartphones sold in the highly lucrative U.S. market in 2011, and avoid becoming a niche player. To do so, Apple needs to address to address two major issues with the iPhone business model: distribution and price.

In 2009, the Motorola Droid was launched on the Verizon network, beginning Android’s rapid growth. One can only imagine what might have happened had there been a Verizon iPhone available at the time. In 2011, Apple has finally rectified that mistake. Expect the next report from comScore to show the impact of Verizon’s 90 million potential iPhone buyers.

As for price, the LG Optimus V running Android is now available in the U.S. on Virgin Mobile for $149 without a contract, and that’s just the beginning for low-priced Android smartphones, but Apple may be prepared this time. An article from Forbes highlights a meeting between Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi and Apple COO Tim Cook that offers some hope. According to Sacconaghi, Cook "appeared to reaffirm the notion that Apple is likely to develop lower priced offerings," that Apple is “not ceding any market," and that company does not want its products to be "just for the rich."

Aggressive pricing on the iPad is evidence of that, and were the iPad, and the iPod touch counted in mobile platform totals, the market share numbers would look very different. If Apple transitions the iPhone to a similar business model of wider distribution and lower price points, Android’s world conquest might yet be halted.

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iPad 2 Does Javascript 4X Faster Than The Original
The iPad 2 arrives Friday, and it’s gonna be a fast one: CNET UK did some Javascript benchmarking with the iPad 2 running iOS 4.3, and found that the new hardware’s improved internals as well as the new iOS version do provide a considerable kick. The site has since pulled the review, but here’s the gist:

CNET ran the iPad 2 through the SunSpider benchmarking tool, which measures Javascript performance. It found that the iPad 2 had the best overall scores of devices it tested, with a score of 2097. The original iPad running iOS 4.2 scored 8321, and lower scores are better when testing with SunSpider. The iPhone 4 on iOS 4.2 scored 10414, and the Nexus S and Galaxy Tab had scores of 6128 and 7066 respectively.

In addition to the iPad 2′s dual-core A5 processor, a lot of the increase in performance can be attributed to changes made to the iPad’s operating system in iOS 4.3. CNET also ran the SunSpider test on an original iPad and iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3′s latest beta, and those numbers showed huge improvements. The original iPad on iOS 4.3 scored 3261, and the iPhone 4 scored 4151. That’s great news for users who aren’t planning to upgrade, since you should experience much snappier browsing even with just a software update.

Android fans shouldn’t feel too badly about the poor performance of the Galaxy Tab and Nexus S, since SunSpider tests performed using the upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 found that it scored 2256, which is nearly on par with the iPad 2.

Bottom line, Apple mobile device users are about to get yet another improvement to the overall iOS experience, with or without the hefty price tag of buying new hardware.

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Using Your iPad on Sprint's Network With a Virgin MiFi

Virgin Mobile provides a MiFi option that doesn’t require a contract, ideal for use with your iPad. It even uses the same hardware as Verizon’s. Best of all this gives you access to a whole new network (specifically, Sprint’s). Too good to be true?

The Wallet Angle

The Virgin MiFi is priced attractively at a MSRP of $150 (but can often be found for $129 or less) and does not require a contract — service can be bought on an as-needed basis. Compared to Verizon’s non-contract price of $269.99, it’s a great value. When compared to their bundle pricing with an iPad Wifi + MiFi, the price is exactly the same. Verizon also offers their MiFi for $49 along with a 2-year contract if you’re willing to make a commitment.

Data pricing plans for the Virgin MiFi is tricky. Because it’s a pay-as-you-go program, you aren’t locked into a pricing plan. This means Virgin can change the terms of the contract at will. When I first started testing the unit back in December, they offered an unlimited data plan for $40.00 for 30 days. It seemed too good to be true, and eventually, it was. Whether due to the recent changes regarding net neutrality, or simply because Virgin is following industry trends, the company will now “throttle” you after 5 GB of usage and new users can no longer get this plan. As with AT&T’s policy changes, those currently on a $40 plan can renew at that rate. Should they ever fail to renew, or switch to the $10 plan, they’ll only be able to buy the $50 plan and will be throttled after 2.5 GB. Of course, that could change again, and you may or may not be able to lock in. Without a contract, both sides share a bit of risk.

For light users, Virgin offers 10 days of usage, up to 100 MB, for $10. That’s the lowest data plan available to any iPad user, though it’s not a great value compared to AT&T’s $14.99 for 250 MB or Verizon’s $20 for 1 GB (both of these last 30 days). But if you purchase the device at Wal-Mart, a third pricing option is available: $20 for 1 GB per month.

Technical Considerations

Verizon and Virgin’s MiFi are the same Novatel product with different branding. However, as the ads often say, the network makes a difference. When I used the device in San Fransisco at Macworld Expo, coverage was more adequate compared to the oversaturated AT&T network. The Virgin MiFi came in handy for checking email as my iPhone could barely even handle that on AT&T.

Outside of Moscone, both in San Fransisco and in Kansas City, AT&T and Verizon were much faster. Ironically, Sprint is actually based in the Kansas City area. Many reviewers online complained about the slower speeds. For email and basic web surfing, performance OK, but simply couldn’t keep up to the offerings from AT&T and Verizon. Video streaming is unacceptably slow (though FaceTime seemed to work well from my iPhone). On occasion, for example in crowded coffee shop, the MiFi was slightly faster than the provided WiFi. I also liked being able to have a more private Wi-Fi experience when working on confidential data.

Other aspects of the MiFi are identical to those I reported in the review of the Verizon version. GPS functionality won’t always work. I also failed to notice while doing the Verizon review that the unit will not charge via the USB port on your Mac. You either need to bring their charger or use a charge-only USB cable.

If you do purchase this unit, be sure to set everything up in advance, because when I tried to renew my plan via my iPad’s browser, the site didn’t work. I had to go to my desktop to re-up. This was annoying, but it might have been a temporary glitch.

Conclusion

The Virgin MiFi is a great option for iPad users who occasionally find themselves without a WiFi connection and need to do basic web surfing or email. As AT&T and Verizon are offering options for turning your iPhone into a portable hotspot, the need for devices like the Virgin (or Verizon) MiFi will become less necessary. Given it’s relatively low cost, especially when you can find it on sale for less than $100, and lack of contract, it’s a good tool to have in your bag just in case. Just be sure to set it up before you need it.

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Mac OS X Lion Includes Many Small but Significant Changes
The OS X Lion developer preview was released about two weeks ago, and while the marquee features such as Launchpad and Mission Control are getting most of the Mac blogosphere’s attention, there are some smaller changes in Lion that I think are worth pointing out.

Resize Windows From Anywhere

In Lion, you can resize windows from any border, just like in Windows. This is a pretty radical change for Mac OS. Some even said it couldn’t be done because of how thin OS X window borders are. The traditional resize handle at the bottom right corner is gone, too, probably due to the addition of iOS-style scrollbars that fade in on mouse-over.

Local Snapshots in Time Machine

Time Machine in Lion is able to take hourly local snapshots, meaning you can back up to your own hard drive rather than having to plug in an external one. I’ve always hated having to connect my MacBook to my external HDD to back up, so it’ll be nice to be able to go a couple of days without having to.

Migration Assistant Supports PCs

The Migration Assistant in Lion is able to transfer over files from a PC that’s on the same network, which should make it much easier for new Mac converts to acclimatize. I tried this out with a Windows 7 laptop, and Migration Assistant didn’t seem to recognize it, so I’m not sure if the software’s still only partial or if Apple will be releasing a companion Windows program to handle the other side of the transfer. When I tried it with a Mac, it said I needed to update the version of Migration Assistant on that Mac.

Finder View Settings No Longer Global

In the Snow Leopard Finder, when you change the view style from, say, icon view to list view, that change is applied to all folders unless otherwise specified in the view options. In Lion, when you apply a view style, it’s only applied to that folder, which will always open in that view style. If you uncheck this setting in the view options, that folder will always open in icon view instead.

Spotlight’s Bigger and has Previews

Spotlight’s search field is significantly bigger in Lion, as are the search results themselves. When you mouse over a text document or an email, a preview pane slides out so you can read it, which is pretty useful and blows the pants off of Windows Desktop Search.

Easy Access to Accented Letters

You can access accented letters easily in Lion by simply holding down the key for the letter you want to accent – just like in iOS. This change means a lot fewer trips to the Special Characters palette (which, by the way, is also different in Lion).

Even Smaller Changes

There are some changes in Lion that merit a brief mention:
- When you download an application from the Mac App Store, the icon flies into Launchpad rather than the Dock.
- Dock badges look exactly like they do on iOS.
- When you’re moving more than one file in the finder, a red number appears showing how many items you’re moving.
- When you highlight a word and use the Look Up in Dictionary command, a pop-up appears with the definition rather than launching the Dictionary app.
There’s surely more secrets lying in Lion, just waiting to be found, so stay tuned.

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New Study Finds AT&T iPhone 4 Dominates on Downloads
The comparative merits of the iPhone 4 on AT&T and Verizon may vary depending on location and user needs, but a new study shows when it comes to pure iPhone data downloading power, AT&T’s network is in a league of its own. Metrico Wireless, a mobile performance evaluation firm, found AT&T’s iPhone 4 downloads data twice as fast as its Verizon counterpart.

The Metrico study (via Network World) covered five U.S. cities (Baltimore-Washington, Chicago, Dallas, New York and Seattle). and included thousands of individual field tests, making it one of the largest surveys of its kind. In addition to average download speeds, Metrico also looked at a number of other factors, including average web page load time, download performance when moving and when stationary, and comparative call quality with other devices.

Despite a wide gap in download speeds, Metrico’s test found the average web page loading time was the same for the iPhone 4 on both networks, so users should only notice experiential differences when loading extremely data-heavy email file attachments or applications. Download completion rates were also measured, with the study finding that AT&T’s network was 10 percent more successful at finishing downloads while a user was moving in a bus or car, while Verizon’s worked 10 percent better while the user was standing still.

Finally, Metrico measured call quality on the iPhone 4, though the company only revealed the AT&T model’s performance versus other AT&T devices, not how it compared to the Verizon version. The iPhone 4 scored either average or below average on many call quality metrics, including Bluetooth speech, where it ranked in the bottom half of available devices. Many early reviewers noted that call quality on Verizon’s network was much better on the iPhone 4.

Metrico’s data backs up what we heard earlier from Ookla, which gathered early comparative data using its Speedtest tool. Ookla also found AT&T was twice as fast when it came to data downloads. Metrico’s study is interesting in that it also compares less tangible factors, like actual browser performance. But readers should note that San Francisco, which has been a major sore spot for AT&T iPhone owners, wasn’t included as a test city in Metrico’s survey.

It’s also worth noting that EVDO isn’t really capable of competing with a modern HSPA network, so it’s no surprise that AT&T won out in Metrico’s comparison on this point. The real test will come when the iPhone is finally capable of 4G speeds, which should (technically) give Verizon the edge, so long as LTE is widely available by then.

As always, the real test of a network is whether it works for you, and since the download speed difference doesn’t appear to affect website load times in Safari, AT&T’s victory in this regard may be more of a marketing win than one that will make a huge difference to real users.

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Apple Could Go With Aluminum Back for iPhone 5
Apple might be considering a move from glass to aluminum for the next version of the iPhone, sources say. The original iPhone had an aluminum back, which was subsequently replaced by plastic for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, and then by glass with the iPhone 4.

Taiwan’s Economic Daily News is the source of the new report, which relies on information it received from a Chinese manufacturing source. The aluminum back was originally abandoned to allow for better wireless and cellular connectivity. Advances in antenna design might have helped make that a non-issue.

The report claims the iPhone 5′s antenna will be housed in the Apple logo on the back of the new iPhone, just like Wi-Fi does right now on the iPad. It’s worth noting that even in iPad 2, cellular signals require the Wi-Fi + 3G model iPad to have a plastic section on the back cover to allow for unencumbered transmission, but Apple may have found a way around this limitation for the smaller device. As it showed with the iPhone 4, it’s not shy about experimenting with antenna design.

The reason for the switch in materials, according to the report, is that the glass was difficult to paint (hence the white iPhone’s delay) and that the glass adds considerable weight to the device. Aluminum would allow for a much lighter and slimmer design, much like the iPod touch or the iPad 2.

The move makes sense; Apple would probably like to achieve a greater degree of visual similarity between its iOS devices, since that could help them stay grouped together in the minds of consumers and increase the halo effect, whereby the purchase of one type of device leads to the purchase of another. It could also help Apple distance itself from the steel wraparound antenna design of the iPhone 4, which caused (and continues to cause) signal attenuation problems that have resulted in bad press. A sleeker device could also help Apple keep a hold on its claim of offering “the thinnest smartphone ever” in its advertising campaigns.

What do you think? Does a return to aluminum make sense for the iPhone?

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