As we enter into the holiday shopping season, Apple’s making a blitz into the world of gaming. We’ve all seen the commercials for the funnest iPod ever and have probably experienced the deluge of iPhone and iPod touch games first-hand. But Apple VP of iPod and iPhone product marketing Greg Joswiak has gone on a spree talking to the press about games—and he’s been talking smack.
“The PSP and DS represent the old school of gaming: big bulky devices with an old-fashioned distribution model.”
Them’s fightin’ words! And that was to the BBC, no less. Joz also spoke with British tech pub T3 along similar lines—he’s certainly not pulling punches.
Because again the computer power and the 3D graphic power here [iPod Touch] is significantly greater than what you have here [picks up Nintendo DS]. So this allows people to do significantly higher quality games. And the Touch is always in your pocket, whereas you can’t always carry some other games consoles.
The Wall Street Journal also has an interesting article up about the competition, with a particularly insightful quote from Nintendo USA’s President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé: “Whether you chose to play on your DS or listen to music on your iPod, we’re already in the same competitive space for time.”
It’s kind of fascinating to watch the push into the gaming space, especially from Apple, who has not traditionally “gotten” gaming. Given the advertising angle that the company’s been taking with the iPod, it seems clear that they’re aiming directly at the likes of the PSP and DS. While they might not pick up much of the hardcore gaming market, there’s definitely room to convert more casual gamers, especially when considering the proposition of a device that also does email, web-surfing, and media playing.
And you can bet that there are a number of parents who see it as an attractive option for kids clamoring for high-tech gadgetry as well.
Fans of Rogue Amoeba’s single-track audio editor Fission should be delighted to know that it’s hit version 1.6, which sports such nifty features as the ability to insert silence into recordings and a command to specify the exact location of the playhead, plus a whole bunch of extra tweaks and bug fixes.
But the real news in Fission 1.6 is ringtones, ringtones, ringtones. Got an MP3 or AAC file you want to turn into a ringtone for your iPhone? Fission makes that a snap with its new ringtone creation capability; open pretty much any audio file in Fission, edit it to the length you desire, hit “Save as iPhone Ringtone” and—presto—it’ll send it over to the iTunes.
Fission 1.6 is a free update for all current license holders; a new license will run you $32. And in case the iPhone ringtones capability isn’t enough for you, remember that it’s a fully functional audio editor to boot.
I think people generally like me, but they don’t exactly hand out awards left and right. The same can’t be said for Apple; they’re constantly picking up cheers from groups all over the world. For example, our favorite computer company nabbed a quartet quintet of commendations from the British Technology Awards last week.
The awards, which are based on votes from computer magazine readers and the general public, are given in a baker’s dozen of different categories, ranging from Best Kids Technology to Retailer of the Year. The iPhone topped four categories: Best Mobile Technology, Most Stylish Technology, Gadget of the Year, and Technological Innovation of the Year while iTunes won Best Music Technology. Other winners included Google Maps as Most Indispensable Technology and the Toyota Prius as Greenest Technology.
Well, that’s a whole lot more awards than I’ve received in my life. Maybe we just need some more specific categories. How about Best Mac Blogger in a Red Sox Cap? I think I could totally swing that one.
Update: Hey kids, don’t blog while tired. Because it makes you forget how to count.
[via Macworld UK]
We don’t usually go into too much depth on iPhone stuff over here, but it’s worth pointing out news this big. Apple officially announced this morning that they would be dropping the non-disclosure agreement that bound developers from discussing the intricacies of programming for the iPhone.
…the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.
This is a great move for Apple, and I’m psyched to see that they’ve paid attention to the comments their developers have been making—especially as I railed against the NDA in a lengthy editorial just last week. We’re following this breaking news over at iPhone Central, so if you’re interested in the nitty gritty, keeps your eyes on that space.
I think our dear president put it best when he posed the immortal question: “is our children learning?” Well, if a survey of Amherst College’s incoming class is any indication, the answer is that they’re learning something—namely, what’s the best darn computing platform around?
The survey, conducted by Amherst’s IT department, found a number of interesting—if unsurprising—facts. For example, 432 of the 438 freshmen had Facebook pages (no doubt the remaining six had already jumped ahead to whatever social networking site is next, ambitious kids that they are).
While the exact platform dynamics weren’t broken down, the survey does note that the tide is shifting from Windows to Mac, saying that the classes of 2011 and 2012 were more likely to own Macs, while the classes of ‘09 and ‘10 were more likely to own Windows machines. Honestly, the only thing that surprises me is class of 2012? That’s a joke, right? Seriously, though, that’s quite a change from my freshman year, when I was one of about three people on our floor of fifty that owned a Mac. Of course we were too busy painting on cave walls and running from sabertooth tigers to care much about computers.
iPod touch and iPhone ownership is up as well, with 93 of the incoming class owning one of the devices. That also means that if you spot a student on campus with one of the two, the likelihood that they’re in the class of 2012 (2012, people—12!) is approximately 1 in 2. No word on how many have iPods, but I’m guessing it would give Facebook a run for its money.
We say time for them to rebrand. What are Amherst College’s colors? Do they have a mascot of some sort? Maybe some kind of badger? Might we suggest a change—the Fighting Macs, perhaps?
Traditionally, we leave the iPhone news to our sibling blog over on the mothership, but I thought you might enjoy a glimpse at the raging issues of our day—okay, and a little bit of self-pimping to boot.
Yesterday, Editorial Director Jason “the Hatchet” Snell and I authored a one-two punch on a topic that’s on many people’s minds: iPhone development. While I focused on issues around the dreaded [expletive] NDA that binds Apple developers into a stony cell of silence, Monsieur Snell ably tackled the issues of App Store vetting and communication writ large. I hit ‘em with the left hook, Jason takes ‘em out with a devastating uppercut.
I’m sure that’s not the last you’ll hear out of us—well, unless Steve Jobs’s beturtlenecked ninja death squads have their way. We’ve already instructed our agents to see whether we can get ourselves into the next Rocky movie. Or maybe a remake of Double Dragon.
I often wonder why people go around saying something is an "iPod killer," or an "iPhone killer," or a "Moleskine killer." Why do other products feel like they need to obliterate a specific MP3 player? Isn't it enough for other MP3 players and smartphones (and paper notebooks) to just enter the consumer market and exist in their own right, without embarking on a (possibly foolish) quest to "take down Apple?"
Those are my thoughts as I read MacNewsWorld's article about other companies developing their own smartphone stores. Google recently announed that it would open Android Marketplace, a store featuring third-party applications for its pending Android operating system. Microsoft may have its Skymarket store for Windows Mobile software. Will these new forays into "one store for your smartphone apps!!!" be as dire as some might predict?
Still, aping the iTunes App Store won't be easy. "It's all Wild West days compared to the iTunes store," says Richard Doherty, director with consultancy Envisioneering Group. Each new market entrant faces its own, unique challenges in rolling out a store. And there's danger that some of the new stores won't live up to expectations. "There's almost as much downside to this if it's done poorly as an upside," Doherty says.Personally, I always think a little (friendly) competition is good for everyone. In theory, it inspires everyone to stay on their toes and do a better job. In theory.
Apparently I’m not the only one taking note of some of the tweaks in Apple’s iPhone ads. Unfortunately, while I don’t have the power to do much more than comment, the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority has a wee bit more juice than I do—I know! I couldn’t believe it either!
The ASA has upheld a complaint against an iPhone ad that they’ve deemed “misleading.” The spot in question claims the iPhone is capable of displaying “all the parts of the Internet,” but a pair of complaints to the agency pointed out that since the iPhone does not have Flash or Java, there are plenty of things on the web that are not viewable.
Apple attempted to rebut the claim by saying that Flash and Java are proprietary systems they chose not to implement and the message of their commercial is about page availability and not how they displayed, but the counter-argument fell on deaf ears. In upholding the complaint, the ASA has deemed that the spot should not be run again as it stands.
While we here in the U.S. take hyperbole in advertising as a matter of course, the United Kingdom’s standards are somewhat stricter. This isn’t the first time that Apple’s run afoul of the ASA either. Back in 2004, a similar complaint was leveled against an ad for the Power Mac G5 in which Apple had billed the machine as the “world’s fastest personal computer.”
If this were baseball, Apple would have one more strike to go, but since it’s the U.K., I guess we’ll just say that it isn’t cricket and be done with it.
[via BBC]
