[Feature] SMS Popup Messages Lead to Ruined Birthday Party; Angry Boss and Pissed Off Girlfriend (Try Push Technology Hosting for iPhone)

[Feature] SMS Popup Messages Lead to Ruined Birthday Party; Angry Boss and Pissed Off Girlfriend
This past weekend, we had the privilege of hearing one of the most hilariously unfortunate iPhone stories we’ve ever heard. I know what you’re thinking, some sort of hardware issue, bad reception or an iPhone 3G problem, but no. Far worse, this story revolves around the tiny little SMS bubble that pops up when [...]

This past weekend, we had the privilege of hearing one of the most hilariously unfortunate iPhone stories we’ve ever heard. I know what you’re thinking, some sort of hardware issue, bad reception or an iPhone 3G problem, but no. Far worse, this story revolves around the tiny little SMS bubble that pops up when you get a new message.

When you receive an SMS message from somebody on your iPhone, in most cases, a preview of that message will pop up to the front of the screen.

If you go into Settings > General > Passcode Lock, you have the option to turn those SMS previews off. But then they’re always off. What if you want to use them sometimes, but you don’t want them to show up when you’re using certain applications? As an iPhone owner, I’d like the ability to do this.

The following happened to our friend (we’ll just call him) “Derek” this past weekend, nearly ruining his life.


1. Ruined Surprise: Thursday, August 7, 2008

Derek was driving with a couple of friends to a surprise get-together. The person who’s surprise birthday party it was, was sitting in the front seat of his car. Derek was the person in charge of keeping this a secret, and his friend, who’s in the car, knows nothing about this surprise birthday party.

On the way to the event, Derek and the rest of the people in his car, somehow lost the directions and wound up in an unfamiliar area. Naturally, everyone in the car turned to Derek and said “Doesn’t your iPhone have GPS?” so he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to the person in the front seat.

Now this person opened up the Maps application and started plugging away to get directions to the “Address” that she’d been given, (She doesn’t know what’s going on there, because she is the one who’s birthday it is), but she finds their current location and pinpoints the destination, and starts properly navigating. Now I know what you may be thinking as you’re reading this…”Why would Derek give this person the phone? You’ve got other people in the car, let them do it!” Well, in moments of chaos, such as this, people don’t always think clearly. Handing the iPhone to the person in the front seat (who you trust with using the Maps application), is a natural reaction. Trying to remember that the oh-so annoying SMS screen may popup while he’s staring at the Maps application is another.

Of course, I can assume you know where this is going. Derek’s iPhone got an SMS message saying precisely the following, “What Time is Kat’s Surprise Birthday Party Stuff Going on Tonight?” while the device was in Kat’s hands because she was navigating with the iPhone GPS and Google Maps.

Surprise Party Ruined. Kat finds out. Only 10 minutes before the party.


2. Laura Gets Derek on His Boss’ Shit-List: Friday, August 8, 2008

A little disappointed from the night before, but hey, it’s Friday! Derek gets up and goes to work.

As he plugs away at his computer, checking things off one-by-one, he feels great. Lunch time rolls around and he cleans out his desk and steps out to get some Subway, (What, it’s the healthy option! $5 footlongs people!). When he gets back from work there’s a more relaxed atmosphere in the office, as so happens on Friday afternoons. As 6pm rolls around, he finishes up his work and shuts down his computer.

As his boss walks over to Derek’s desk, he asks him one final question before he leaves for the weekend “Hey Derek, can you show me the email that Jerry sent over about an hour ago? I haven’t gotten a chance to look at the numbers before I head out. You got it up?” Knowing that the email is the third one down from the top of his inbox, Derek whipped out his shiny iPhone and hit the Mail Application, navigated to the email and handed his boss the iPhone.

At the moment Derek was telling us this story, we knew exactly what was going to happen…again. Derek explained to us that “the second he handed his boss the iPhone, a sickening feeling entered his stomach and he thought to himself ‘No Way Can Anything Like This Happen Again.”

Precisely 10 seconds after his boss took the iPhone from his hands, Derek’s girlfriend sends him what she thought was a really sweet message, “Thank God today is over. Can’t wait to see you at home. I’m so glad you don’t have to see your piece of shit boss for Two Whole Days!!!”

Uh Oh.

Derek heard the iPhone SMS beep right as he handed his boss the phone. He looked at his boss’ eyes, and could sense the anger. His boss handed him the iPhone and walked away.

Weekend Ruined. Possible Job Lost.


3. Laura Sees Amanda’s Text From The Night Before: Friday Evening, August 8, 2008

At this point, allow us to clarify… Derek has officially turned ON the passcode and turned OFF SMS previews. He is now living with this annoying passcode screen interfering with his text messages.

When Derek got home, he was still rather shocked from what has just happened. He walked in and met Laura (his girlfriend) and didn’t know how to explain. After trying to wind down for a few minutes, Derek showed Laura his iPhone’s SMS screen, of the text that she sent him about his boss, that could’ve potentially gotten him fired, (we still don’t know). While she was looking at his screen, she noticed the text from Derek’s ex-girlfriend Amanda, who texted Derek “It was fun seeing you at Kat’s Birthday Party Last Night! Will I see you again soon?”

At this point, like most of you would, we were so shocked, we kinda stopped believing Derek, so we asked him to show us his iPhone. We took screenshots of his iPhone (and told Derek we just HAD to post this on MacBlogz), he said he didn’t care.

I know some of you may be saying, “Are you serious? You can turn on an SMS passcode so the iPhone will ask you for a passcode before showing you a preview of the message. Why didn’t he just do that?”

Well, these three experiences are all from Derek. All of them involve that little bubble that pops up with a preview of the message on their screen. And Derek hates having to type a passcode every single time he gets a text message.

Apple has given us, and Derek no other options here.

To prevent stories like this ever happening again, we propose that Apple should implement an App Specific SMS Passcode, where you can turn on and off this SMS preview bubble, based on what Application you are currently using. For example, when the Maps application is being used, the SMS preview won’t show up. Or the same for the Email application. Perhaps you could assign the people you want that bubble to show up for, or not show up for.

We need more options with our SMS passcode options. Derek is living proof of why.

Apple Sells Three Million iPhone 3Gs in the First Month
Only one month after its debut, the iPhone 3G continues to sell sell in record numbers. Analyst, Michael Cote, of the Cote Collaborative and former T-Mobile executive, has reported that the iPhone 3G has hit the 3 million sold mark. If this estimate is accurate, Apple may be in for sales far greater than the [...]

Only one month after its debut, the iPhone 3G continues to sell sell in record numbers.

Analyst, Michael Cote, of the Cote Collaborative and former T-Mobile executive, has reported that the iPhone 3G has hit the 3 million sold mark. If this estimate is accurate, Apple may be in for sales far greater than the three to four million predicted for the current quarter. Cote has been known to be be fairly accurate with past wireless predictions, so this should bode well for the Cupertino-based company.

“They are seeing unprecedented demand,” says Cote, noting that there does not appear to be any sign of slowing down. The pace at which the iPhone 3g is currently selling, seems to defy the trends in current consumer spending, employment levels and overall economic health.

Only three days after the device’s debut, Apple had officially announced that over one million had sold, a feat that took the first generation iPhone 74 days to accomplish. Additionally, the 3G has now sold nearly half of the total amount of original iPhones.

Three main factors have contributed greatly to the overall success of the iPhone 3G’s sales.

First and foremost is the price. At $199, excluding the service contract, the iPhone has now been made available to consumers who may of otherwise not been able to afford it.

Second, is the ability of the iPhone 3G to piggy-back off of the enthusiasm of the first generation iPhone. In addition to practicality, smartphones have often been seen as fashion statements.

And finally, the international roll-out has been a major factor in the success of the device. The iPhone 3G is currently selling in 22 countries, with another 50 slated for sales within the end of this year, opposed to the 4 countries that the original iPhone was sold in. See our iPhone carrier world map for more information.

“But analyst Cote predicts that Apple will find it challenging to keep current outlets supplied while attempting to take on even more. “The demand is so strong it may impact or delay the new countries coming on,” Cote says.” This may not be the worst problem for Apple to face.

[via Fortune]

Apple’s David G. Is Late; Mobile Me Blog No Longer Updated?
This is how the last post from Apple’s David G, on the Mobile Me Status Blog ended: “Next post later this week.” David G. Mobile Me has definitely been on a rocky road of unstability. To ease customers with the pain of losing contacts, emails and sensitive information, Apple set up a Mobile Me Status Blog so that [...]

This is how the last post from Apple’s David G, on the Mobile Me Status Blog ended:

“Next post later this week.”

David G.

Mobile Me has definitely been on a rocky road of unstability. To ease customers with the pain of losing contacts, emails and sensitive information, Apple set up a Mobile Me Status Blog so that an employee named David G. could directly communicate with their customers, and offer updates to Apple’s progress at the same time.

Macnn explains how “David wrote three updates, each came two days after the previous as promised. However, since the third update nothing has been posted.”

It’s now been nearly two weeks, and still the Status Blog has yet to be updated. Is Apple content with Mobile Me’s current state? Or is David G. on vacation?

Steve Jobs: 60 Million iPhone App Downloads; $30 Million in Sales First Month
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs explains the iPhone App Store’s profound success, and how he has never seen anything like it for software in his career. The article reports that the iTunes App Store has delivered more than 60 million downloads to customers during the first month of its [...]

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs explains the iPhone App Store’s profound success, and how he has never seen anything like it for software in his career.

The article reports that the iTunes App Store has delivered more than 60 million downloads to customers during the first month of its existence. These are once again, staggering numbers.

Steve Jobs goes on to explain how he has never seen anything like this before in his career for software. He clarifies that although most of the applications/downloads from the App Store are free, Apple has done an average of $1 million a day in sales from the software store.

“The thing’s going to crest a half billion soon,” Jobs continued.

Explaining the much reported about “Remote iPhone App Kill Switch,” Jobs clarified “hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull.”

[via Engadget]

Numerous Apple Users Left Out of Olympic Games
“Friday’s opening ceremonies not only marked the beginning of the Summer Olympics from Beijing, China—it also marked the start of NBC’s ambitious plans to offer streaming coverage of Olympic events to both computers and mobile devices.” “NBC, which holds exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the Games, plans to offer live streaming of more than 2,200 hours [...]

“Friday’s opening ceremonies not only marked the beginning of the Summer Olympics from Beijing, China—it also marked the start of NBC’s ambitious plans to offer streaming coverage of Olympic events to both computers and mobile devices.”

“NBC, which holds exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the Games, plans to offer live streaming of more than 2,200 hours on its Web site while posting another 3,500 hours of archived video. But if you use an iPhone or a PowerPC-based Mac, you’ll find yourself shut out of the festivities.” via MacWorld.

“AT&T Wireless, the iPhone’s exclusive service provider in the U.S., has also struck a deal to become the exclusive provider of mobile video for the Olympics. The company has a republishing deal with NBC where live competition footage is available to customers of AT&T Mobile TV—a premium content service that costs an additional $15 to $30 per month on top of existing cell phone plans. But the AT&T Mobile TV service isn’t available to iPhone users—it’s only compatible with LG Vu and Samsung Access phones at this time. What’s more, AT&T Mobile TV service is largely limited only to major urban markets.”

“As for NBC, its official Olympics Web site offers a media-rich environment with plenty of images, statistics and other information. The site also features video recaps of events and live video coverage as it happens. NBC has teamed up with Microsoft to enable the live video capabilities—the site leverages Silverlight, Microsoft’s streaming media software that the company has positioned as a competitor to Adobe’s dominant Flash media software. Unfortunately, Silverlight doesn’t work on the iPhone at all—the software depends on a plug-in technology, like Flash, which isn’t compatible with the iPhone’s Safari Web browser.”

“Additionally, Microsoft dropped PowerPC support with the current beta version of Silverlight—beta 2—which now runs only on Intel Macs. As a result, Mac users who want to watch live Olympics video coverage will need an Intel-based Mac.”

[via MacWorld]

Apple’s Secret Product Transition Nothing More than Video Encoding Chips?
Silicon Alley Insider reports that a “tipster” has informed them about Apple’s upcoming secret product transition. From a tipster: “I happen to know that the product transition referred to in Apple’s recent conference call was referring to quicktime encoding/decoding chips built into their products.” The addition of these chips in Apple’s products would take care of [...]

Silicon Alley Insider reports that a “tipster” has informed them about Apple’s upcoming secret product transition.

From a tipster: “I happen to know that the product transition referred to in Apple’s recent conference call was referring to quicktime encoding/decoding chips built into their products.”

The addition of these chips in Apple’s products would take care of most of the heavy-lifting when it comes to processing video, understandably the H.264 codec that Apple is known for. “That could be used in any number of cirumstances, such as a live, hi-def iChat AV video chat, watching HD video off the Web, or faster encoding HD video for distribution,” Frommer explains for SAI.

Although Apple does stand behind their (not-so-ubiquitous) video codec, a fairly small inclusion such as this (no matter how great the results), wouldn’t effect Apple’s margins so much that they announce an expected future decrease in revenue at the Q3 Financial Earnings Conference Call.

More likely, this secret product transition refers to a revamped notebook line, or a major overhaul to a facet/area of Apple’s business.

Although Silicon Alley’s tipster may be entirely right about the addition of these chips into Apple’s products, considering them a “secret product transition” seems like a bit much.

Additionally, speculation about an iSight upgrade to an iSight HD continues.

[via Alley Insider]

Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 Released
The dev team has finally unleashed Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 on us. A couple of days ago, we reported about how the dev team had to wait and release the new Pwnage Tool because Installer 4 (beta) wasn’t ready. Well, the new tool seems ready and able. Click here for some more details. Note: Jailbreak at your own [...]

The dev team has finally unleashed Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 on us. A couple of days ago, we reported about how the dev team had to wait and release the new Pwnage Tool because Installer 4 (beta) wasn’t ready.

Well, the new tool seems ready and able. Click here for some more details.

Note: Jailbreak at your own risk.

[via Engadget]

[Feature] Does Apple Have a Dark Cloud Over Its Head That Won’t Go Away?
Apple, Inc. (AAPL) has some of the strongest brand reputation and customer loyalty in the world. The silicon valley tech giant has an extremely solid foundation of users and an enormous amount of general trust from their devoted customers. But since July 9th, Apple has had a rather large cloud hanging over its head. This past [...]

Apple, Inc. (AAPL) has some of the strongest brand reputation and customer loyalty in the world. The silicon valley tech giant has an extremely solid foundation of users and an enormous amount of general trust from their devoted customers. But since July 9th, Apple has had a rather large cloud hanging over its head.

This past June, at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference, CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be releasing the iPhone 3G on Friday, July 9th. The launch was supposed to be another revolutionary day for Apple. In the months leading up to July 9th, Apple had spent exhaustive resources in securing deals with mobile carriers around the world. They were fast on track to do with the iPhone 3G, what they did with the original iPhone. Only this time, on a global scale, and with a more powerful, faster and surprisingly less expensive device.

One would think that Apple’s slow and steady rate of product releases has surely evolved into a methodical way of doing business. The company’s share prices have nearly doubled in the past 2 years, so they are obviously doing something right. So why did Steve Jobs and the rest of the gang schedule the ambitious release of the App Store, iPhone 2.0 Software and Mobile Me for the same day that iPhone 3G was being launched?


Four Long Weeks

In the past 4 weeks, Apple has been plagued with an overwhelming amount of negative press, almost putting the company in an amateurish light. Even the most devoted of customers began questioning Apple’s intentions and business practices. Countless bugs in the iPhone 2.0 Software, constantly crashing applications from the App Store, dead-end communication with developers, bad iPhone SDK NDA policies and the dreaded un-usability of Mobile Me, are only some of the things that Apple has had to deal with. The iPhone 3G has been getting horrible attention for its battery life, and the lack of certain features (copy-and-paste) are starting to drive people mad. Product review heavyweights like Walt Mossberg and David Pogue have not been able to recommend Apple’s products because of such issues.


With Steve At The Helm

On Monday, August 4th, Steve Jobs wrote an email to the entire Mobile Me team admitting the over-ambitious release of Apple’s products on July 9th. “The launch of MobileMe was not our finest hour. There are several things we could have done better,” Jobs wrote in the leaked internal email. “Rather than launch MobileMe as a monolithic service, we could have launched over-the-air syncing with iPhone to begin with, followed by the web applications one by one – Mail first, followed 30 days later (if things went well with Mail) by Calendar, then 30 days later by Contacts,” Jobs continued to explain. A methodical schedule of releases surely would have made more sense than rushing something as highly anticipated as Mobile Me, along side the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 Software and the App Store. “It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence,” Jobs wrote to the team.

Steve Jobs is more than a great CEO. He is a genius, a devoted, passionate leader, and one of the greatest inventors of our time. However he and Apple are not perfect (no matter what the most devoted of fans says), they are not immune to mistakes. The most successful company in every industry or the best athlete in every sport, will make mistakes. It’s how they regroup and shift focus to recover from those mistakes that defines their ultimate success. When Steve Jobs reclaimed his CEO title at Apple in 1997, he proved that even in the toughest of times, if the company is at his helm, they can not only survive, but thrive. We should not be worried about how Apple is going to recover from the past 4 weeks, but more so what they have in store for us in the upcoming months.


The Next Four Weeks

An overhauled line of Mac notebooks with support for an extremely powerful new Operating System, overhauled Cinema Displays, (if rumors hold true) an unannounced “Special Event” in September and new iPod models are just some of things Apple potentially has planned.

A recent management shakeup has put Eddy Cue, the man in charge of iTunes, in charge of Mobile Me. He will now head all of Apple’s internet services, and will report directly to Steve Jobs. A former Apple employee, who worked on Apple’s email lists for many, many years recently spilled the beans about working under Eddy Cue. “Eddy’s real specialty is to be able to take what Steve asks for, implement it, hit the target dates, make it work, and KEEP THE DAMN THING A SECRET UNTIL STEVE ANNOUNCES IT… So you can bet, MobileMe will get fixed,” the former employee explains.

What about the rest of it? Well, you can rest assured Apple is working around the clock on most of the issues that have been brought to light in the past few weeks. Certain aspects of the company will never change, such as their secrecy. So all we can do (for the most part) is intelligently speculate about the company’s next move.

They have already released an iPhone Firmware update, and they are generally claiming that (most of) Mobile Me is bug-free. The new products that are slated for release in the next few months will bring the company back into the positive light they deserve.

In the coming months, most of us will be awed by a new line of powerful notebooks, or cinema displays, and the past 4 weeks will remain in history. What we can learn from the past 4 weeks is that Apple’s slow and steady method of releasing products is that way for a reason. “We don’t get to do many things in our lifetime, so every one of them should be really great,” Steve Jobs proclaims.

Rest assured, Apple’s dark cloud will soon dissappear.