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iPhone Still Hot for AT&T, Verizon Looms Large
AT&T has sold a million more iPhones in the first quarter of 2011 (ending March 31) compared to the first quarter of 2010, the company announced today, as part of its first quarter 2011 earnings report. The company, pointed out that the iPhone sales were largely unaffected even though Apple extended the iPhone platform to Verizon Wireless.

While technically it is true, there are signs that Verizon iPhone will become a deciding factor as time goes by. Verizon iPhone went on sale earlier this year. During the quarter, 3.6 million iPhones were activated, AT&T said. When compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, you can see that the iPhone activations have taken a dip. In the fourth quarter of 2010 ending December 31, AT&T had 4.1 million iPhone activations.

The company said it added 2 million new subscribers during the quarter to take its total to 97.5 million total subscribers. The new subscriber additions are down from 2.8 million additions for the quarter ending Dec 31, 2010.

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. Nearly 46.2 percent of AT&T’s 68.1 million postpaid subscribers use smartphones, up from 34.7 percent a year earlier. The strong sales at AT&T shows that despite competition from a multitude of Android-based phones, iPhone is still going strong.

AT&T said that its total wireless (including equipment sales) revenues were $15.3 billion during the quarter, of which $5.1 billion came from data services. However, when you just take wireless services revenues, you see that AT&T’s quarter wasn’t all that hot — $14 billion compared to $13.8 billion it logged during the fourth quarter of 2010.

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5 Apps to Get You Back On Your Bike
Depending on where you live, you might be experiencing a slight hiccup on the way to spring right now. But a slight delay doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen. And when it does, you’ll be ready to get back out on your bike with these five great iOS apps.

Bike Repair and Bike Repair HD ($2.99 each)

If you want to do any of your own bike maintenance at home (it’ll save you buckets of money), Bike Repair and Bike Repair HD are the apps you’ll want to grab. They provide step-by-step instructions for repairs and general maintenance procedures, organized by bike component or part. The instructions provided by the app are written, and include illustrative photos for each step that show you exactly what each part is and what you have to do with them. Great for beginners especially, and available in either an at-home high res version on the iPad, or in more pocketable form on the iPhone.

Ride the City (2.99)

This may have more limited appeal, since the Ride the City app and website only provide biking directions for a few cities currently, but if you happen to live in one of the 26 cities worldwide where it works, it’s a very handy tool. It provides bike-friendly directions from point A to point B, and tells you the location of nearby bike shops where you can get some gear or stop in for repairs. The app provides a choice between safer, safe and most direct routes, so you can make your choice based on your comfort level and how fast you need to get there.

Cyclemeter GPS Bike Computer ($4.99)

If you’re into tracking your rides, including things like your speed, elevation, time and distance, and you want to do it all with just your iPhone, this is the app to get. It keeps a history of your rides locally on your phone, and you can export tracked rides for use in spreadsheet applications or on social fitness sites. You can even share near real-time progress of your ride and location to friends and family members. Strava Cycling is a more recent addition to the App Store that offers similar (albeit fewer) features for free, complete with syncing to the Strava.com social training site.

Bicycle Gear Calculator ($4.99)

This app provides you with a handy, easy-to-use calculator that lets you calculate your gear ratio using your chainring and sprocket size, your chainring length, and your bike’s tire size. Fixed gear enthusiasts especially will appreciate things like the Skid Patch calculator, but it’s a great app for any bike enthusiast with a geeky side.

Singletracks (Free)

This app ties into the Singletracks.com website to provide gear reviews and blog content, but most importantly, it offers trail locations and reviews. The app itself could use some work (it basically just provides a wrapper for a mobile website) but it does the job, and it offers a lot more content than many competing apps for a lot less money. I’d love to see this app develop more of a native feel, and provide the opportunity for users to contribute trail reviews and locations from their mobile devices, but it’s still a very useful tool, especially for mountain bikers.

After the long winter here in Toronto, and since I’m not crazy enough to bike through the cold, I’m super eager to get out there and hit the roads and trails. Anyone else looking forward to the beginning of (enjoyable) biking season?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Richard Masoner.

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How To Host GoDaddy Domain Names on MobileMe
In order to acquire your own domain name you must go to a registrar like GoDaddy and pay the annual registration fee to become the registrant of that domain name, but how then to point that name where you want it to go? Besides being just a catchy name that people can easily remember, what makes a domain name valuable is the content or service behind it, and MobileMe is a good repository for that content, especially for those who are already subscribers to the service. Here’s how to connect your GoDaddy-registered name to your MobileMe site.

Linking Your MobileMe Web Content to Your GoDaddy Domain Name

Once you have a domain name, you will want to associate it with the content you have created on your web site. The servers that this content resides upon will already have an IPv4 address, something like 2.19.140.59. That address will have at least one domain name assigned to it. Most online hosting services allow you to associate your domain name with the content of your hosted solution. This includes MobileMe. Both domain names, yours and MobileMe’s, can be registered to point to your content. To associate your domain name registered on GoDaddy with your web content hosted on MobileMe, all you need to do is the following:
1. Log on to your MobileMe account in Safari
2. Navigate to your Account Settings and select Personal Domains
3. Click on the Add Domain button and enter your GoDaddy domain name (e.g. “ggeoffre.com”) twice
4. Log on to your GoDaddy account in Safari
5. From “My Account”, click on “View in Domain manager”, select the domain name you want to work with, and launch the DNS Manager from the Tools menu
6. Click on the www record in the CNAME section of the Zone Filter and enter “web.me.com”
At this point, your GoDaddy domain name, www.ggeoffre.com for example, is just another name or alias for web.me.com. MobileMe will take care of routing the incoming request for www.ggeoffre.com to your MobileMe account’s web site.

Fixing the Root Domain Problem

What you will notice is that if you try to access your domain name directly, without the “www” in front of it, you will be directed to what GoDaddy refers to as a parked page that claims that your domain name is for sale. To get around this, you will need to Forward your domain to the “www” address you created above as follows:
1. Log on to your GoDaddy account in Safari
2. From “My Account”, click on “View in Domain Manager,” select the domain name you want to work with, click on “manage” from the Forwarding item of the Domain Information section
3. Enter the URL you what to forward to (e.g. “www.ggeoffre.com”)
In the example above, ggeoffre.com will be forwarded to www.ggeoffre.com which again is just an alias for web.me.com. So now both ggeoffre.com and www.ggeoffre.com will each be directed to the appropriate web content hosted on MobileMe.

Getting Around iWeb’s Sites

Internally, iWeb has its own idea of what a ‘Site’ is. This iWeb ‘Site’ is not a separately hosted location to which you can register a unique domain name to. Each ‘Site’ created in iWeb will become a separate folder of your root domain name. Trying to create something like a “ggeoffre.com” ‘Site’ within iWeb, the resulting URL will actually be more like “http://www.ggeoffre.com/ggeoffre.com/home.html”.

To resolve this, you basically must stop using the convenience feature to publish directly to MobileMe. Instead you need to publish to a local directory on your Mac. At this point you can then elect to promote or copy the individual ‘Site’ content that you created with iWeb to MobileMe, not the entire contents generated by publishing from iWeb. I like publishing content to my Mac user account’s local ~/Sites folder so that I can test the site out before promoting it to MobileMe.

All you then need to do is replace the MobileMe content located in your iDisk’s /Web/Sites folder, with the content you published from iWeb in may case located in my user accounts ~/Sites folder.
1. Move all content on your iDisks’s /Web/Sites folder to the Trash.
2. Copy the contents of your locally published ~/Sites folder to your iDisk’s /Web/Sites folder.
Ready to Surf!

Now you have a unique domain name of your choosing that anyone can use to access the content you create in iWeb and publish (via a partial copy) to MobileMe. And by following the technique outlined above, it will behave exactly the way you likely expect it should.

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What Apple's App Store Changes Mean for Users
Apple appears to be changing up the criteria for how apps are ranked in the App Store, and seems to be blocking content that tries to “game” or artificially alter rankings by offering users in-game credits or other virtual rewards for installing other apps. The changes will make the App Store a better place, especially for shoppers.

The new App Store rankings now account for things like frequency of use and ratings, according to a report Monday. That appears to be the case because popular, frequently used apps like Facebook, Pandora Radio and Skype experienced significant ranking bumps late last week. That means that apps that people use most, and enjoy most, will be surfaced more effectively in the App Store, versus ones that just get more downloads. Many apps are downloaded and then promptly deleted or seldom used after that, which is not what users new to the platform are looking for when they first open the App Store.

Localmind developer Lenny Rachitsky suggests that the new ranking system, if it really is predicated upon app use and ratings, will be good for developers, which will in turn make for a much better experience for all iOS users:

The discovery experience in the App Store has historically been a rough experience. You either shoot up the rankings and make your own gravy, or you are selected from on-high to be featured. The more opportunity Apple gives to apps to gain exposure and to catch on, the better for everyone. Especially if that push up the rankings is based on engagement, which is the key metric in determining the quality of an app.

Better rankings will have a positive effect on user experience, as should blocking apps that offer pay-per-install reward systems. Such campaigns not only artificially boost the App Store rankings of apps whose quality doesn’t necessarily back up their position, they also directly interfere with the user experience of the App Store itself. Says Rachitsky:

Apple is looking to block anything that circumvents the model they’ve created. They saw what happened on the Facebook platform and the trouble they had forcing everyone over to Facebook Credits after-the-fact. In the end this should lead to a better user experience, something Apple takes extremely seriously, as anything that separates the user from their money will flow through a unified Apple process. No doubt this will hurt companies like Tapjoy that count on the existing model, but they had to know this was possible from the start.

The end result? Apps that are surfaced for iOS shoppers will be better designed and more useful to consumers than those that have occupied top spots in the past. That doesn’t necessarily mean users won’t encounter poorly made apps or that all of Apple’s app discovery issues are resolved. In fact, good titles with a small devoted following will still have trouble getting recognition, perhaps even more so if bigger name apps like Facebook and the others mentioned above zoom to the top. But it does mean that users new to the platform will be far less likely to have a negative first experience with the App Store. And first impressions are going to become much more important as the Android Market continues to catch up to the App Store in terms of reach, selling power and software library size.

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Updates Loom as Apple Ends MobileMe and iWork Rebate Program
The $30 rebate on MobileMe and iWork for new Mac purchasers is now discontinued, according to a leaked internal memo provided to 9to5 Mac from “a source within Apple.” The deal officially ended as of close of business Monday April 18, according to the memo. The move could be a sign that updates to both suites are on the way. Apple still lists the rebates as part of their online promotions, but a quick check of major retail partners finds no mention of the program.

A MobileMe update has been rumored to be in the cards for quite a while now, and the end of this program is another signpost along the way. Apple discontinued boxed retail sales of the syncing, email and online storage service in February, and around the same time various sources, including the Wall Street Journal, suggested that the service was in store for an overhaul, and that the introduction of a completely free version was imminent.

Rumored feature additions include a cloud locker for a user’s music library (similar to Amazon’s new Cloud Storage service), a Media Stream function that allows users to stream photos and other media to their connected Apple devices, and a Find My Friends feature that would work much like Google Latitude, allowing users to share their location with selected contacts.

MobileMe is not available for sale through the Apple online store, but you can still purchase it by signing up for the free 60-day trial and then converting to a paid account. Existing users can also still upgrade. Were the service to go free, it’s unclear what would happen to existing paid users. It’s a good bet that Apple would reward paid subscribers with additional features, like extra storage or higher bandwidth limits.

iWork is also due for an update. The productivity suite last saw a brand new version in January 2009. iWork ’08, the version that preceded the current iWork ’09, was released in late 2007. iWork ’11 was rumored for release alongside the launch of the App Store, but that failed to materialize. If Apple is ending its rebate program around the current iteration of the software, however, it might indicate that an update could be coming soon.

Both a new MobileMe and a new iWork are good candidates for a WWDC reveal, since the developer event has a strong software focus. Recent rumors have also suggested that we might see a revamped MobileMe by the end of this month. Apple does have a massive new data center to play with, so expanded cloud plans that include a better, more far-reaching MobileMe are a good possibility.

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Here's What's Behind the Samsung/Apple Patent Showdown
Samsung has released a dramatic response to a patent infringement lawsuit Apple filed Friday against Samsung. The suit, which was filed with the U.S. District Court in Northern California, claimed patent violations regarding the Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. In the complaint, Apple argues Samsung’s Galaxy line of devices resemble Apple’s iPhone and iPad too closely to be a coincidence. But like a play, most of this back-and-forth is just for show while the real action happens behinds the scenes.

“Samsung will respond actively to this legal action taken against us through appropriate legal measures to protect our intellectual property,” was the official word from Samsung Tuesday according to the AFP. Samsung officials also have been quoted by Korea’s Yonhap news agency as suspecting that in fact, it’s Apple that violated Samsung’s patents. One Samsung official even brought up the cozy supplier relationship enjoyed between the companies, noting that “Apple is one of our key buyers of semiconductors and display panels. However, we have no choice but respond strongly this time.”

Even calling Apple “one of [Samsung's] key buyers” might be understating the case a little bit. Apple was the second-largest revenue source for Samsung in 2010, representing four percent of the firm’s total annual revenue of $142 billion. Recent reports have only indicated a deepening of the supply relationship between the two companies, thanks to a reported large-scale contract for touchscreens and the apparent addition of Samsung as a supplier for MacBook Air SSDs.

A rocky relationship between the two companies could have significant consequences for both going forward. Demand still outpaces supply for the iPad 2, for instance, and it’s still unclear whether the disaster in Japan will ultimately have had an effect on Apple’s ability to get products in the hands of consumers. If the supply relationship between Samsung and Apple becomes strained as a result of this lawsuit, it could eventually make it harder for Apple to source parts, and it could also significantly affect Samsung’s bottom line. And Apple has already been lining up some alternate supply relationships that could help it sidestep Samsung altogether, should the need arise.

Apple knows that Samsung is currently crucial to its ability to get product in stores, but because of the way patent law works, Apple basically had to sue Samsung to protect its intellectual property since Galaxy devices blatantly copy Apple’s designs. My colleague Kevin Tofel has noted that Samsung is clearly trying to mimic Apple’s successful branding strategy with Galaxy devices, and the similarities surely aren’t lost on customers. Basically, because of the way patent law is set up, Apple had to sue first and then can negotiate later in order to work out potential licensing deals with Samsung. Continuing to let things slide would have weakened its claims regarding held patents. Behind the scenes, the two companies are doubtless negotiating furiously over who will get paid what for various licenses — a fight occurring all over the smartphone word at this moment.

Apple’s timing with this suit is a good sign that Samsung is currently or is rapidly becoming the iPhone-maker’s biggest current competitor, but despite bold talk from both sides, it isn’t a showdown that will result in the survival of only one or the other. The relationship between the two companies may change as a result of these legal proceedings, but expect both the iPhone and the Galaxy brands to survive the clash.

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Fresh Apple

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

GigaOMApple (6 сообщений)

Linking Your MobileMe Web Content to Your GoDaddy Domain Name

Fixing the Root Domain Problem

Getting Around iWeb’s Sites

Ready to Surf!

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