Oh, $#&%!!! Pre Is An iPhone Killer!

That's right. How do I know this? Well, I don't but apparently, ATT believes that to be the case. I'm rooting for Palm to stay alive but I won't judge until you mobile warriors have a go at it. I don't trust paid bloggers or media reviewers with agendas.

So, ATT has release a comparison document between the iPhone and the Pre. So, Apple folks, what do you think?

Personally, there are valid points but some are kind of weak like the Wi-Fi. Nothing about MobileMe, iPhone 3.0, or integration with OS X. You know where I'm going with this. But ATT's chart is pretty lame. Where do I start?

• QWERTY keyboard. Why talk about something you don't have?
• Limited WiFi. Dude, please, guys. Folks aren't going to stop buying Pre's because they can't have access to the Starbucks hotspots.
• No roaming and stuff. It's a consumer phone. But it's apoint.

So you see, not a very good chart. Let's try this:

• Access to millions of songs on iTunes. Thousands of TV shows and movies.
• Battery life. Push notification.
• iPhone 3.0 - announced and unannounced features.
• MobileMe that keeps getting better.
• Web clipping and other little known features that are useful.
• iPhone's enterprise features.
• LET'S NOT FORGET THIS: It's an iPod Touch as well!!!
• Ease of use, intuitive.

I'm not a fan of this kind of tactic. Listen, ATT, you're the face of the iPhone. You've got the best device in the market. You're simply bringing attention to a challenger on life-support! It shows you're concerned. Maybe even scared. And it's obvious you're doing this without Apple's blessing or knowledge. Let the merits of your product do your talking. Tell people what the iPhone can do for them and why they need it.

Learn from Apple. Maybe do a "Hi, I'm iPhone. Hi, I'm Pre" commercial instead. Throw the Storm in there as well.

Note: I'm not included to believe Pre is an iPhone killer. Yet. And if it's not, it'll certainly come closer to being that than anything else on the market.

Another note: VW and T-Mobile doesn't seem to be concerned. Perhaps, no leaked docs from them yet. G2 versus Pre, anyone?

Via, Engadget, Precentral

Apple Macbook Refreshes

We're winding down April of 2009. Boy, the year has gone by fast. 6 more months until Halloween (I missed last year's decorations), 7 till Thanksgiving, and 8 till Christmas (I also missed this year's decoration).

And if tradition holds, it'll be about 5-6 months until Apple give the Macbook and the iPod lines a major upgrade. So what's a mobile fan to do?

Buy iPods. Hold on the iPhones. Buy on all of the Apple laptops if you need one today or on the next couple of weeks. However, if you don't need one right away, and you're interested in either the Macbook, Macbook, 15" Macbook Pro, or Macbook Air, hold until May or June when Apple is likely to provide minor changes to those Macbooks to keep the interest high.

The 17" Macbook Pro isn't like to receive any profound changes. We might see a speed bump but that's about it. Sales appear to be strong. However, if there are changes, this is what we'll likely see:

• minor speed bumps
• changes to software in preparation for Snow Leopard

There are possible changes but I'm not so sure about. And this is why I recommend holding for about six weeks if you don't need a new laptop right away:

• Macbook Air change to bring it into line with the look and feel of its siblings. Black frame around the screen and all. Maybe adopt the new battery technology from the 17" Macbook Pro.
• Changes to the battery. The 15" Macbook Pro might join also get the new battery technology.
• More memory for the video card.
• Bigger hard drive.
• Price drop for SSD upgrade.
• Price drop for some upgrade options like memory. It is one of the worst recessions we're experiencing at the moment.

The Macbook is the most unlikely to receive any kind of hardware upgrade. For mobile warriors, timing is going to be the main issue for you. And whether you get it today or six weeks from now, the value is pretty much the same. Great notebook all around, unless you believe what Redmond says. And no matter when you get your Appleware, Microsoft thinks you're cool and awesome!

Dear Game Developers

Over at Onxo, we wrote a letter to all top game developers on what they should do to bring games over to mobile devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Take a look and we love to hear how else we can entice Sega, EA, and others to ramp up rich and sophisticated games that are still the domain of the DS and PSP.

Link: Onxo - Dear Game Developers

Hulu's developing an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Hulu's developing an app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is according to Business Insider.

This is more concrete than rumors because of what we're seeing being approved by Apple for the app store. Granted, the Sling Player has seen the light of day (word in the street, ah, blog world is ATT is rejecting on Apple’s behalf), but this Hulu app should be even better than the Sling Player.

CBS’s TV.com app debuted a few weeks ago. Short review: better than nothing. It’s got a way to go but I’ll wager that Hulu app should be better. There are a few more apps like TVU and Joost but programming on Hulu is second to none.

This is a great end of the week. Now, my fellow mobile Apple users, keep in mind. Just because they build it doesn’t meant we’ll get it. To this day, no one understands Apple’s app approval process. Sling submitted their app around the same time Skype did theirs and Skype was approved within days. I’m betting Sling will get their app rejected and that really puts a dampener on any Hulu app.

We’ll know in a couple of months.

Via Business Insider

Note: Will we see a Boxee app soon?

Onxo: Zune Not Dead

Engadget has given us a late Friday excitement by way of a potential update to Zune.  We've always believed that Microsoft wouldn't just abandon Zune and relegate it to an app to simply sit on top of Windows Mobile 7.

Zune Touch?  Perhaps but we'll let you be the judge of that.

Well, it looks like it's time for some analysis and speculation as to what Redmond may be trying to pull here.  Please visit Onxo for updates.

Then come back to On Apple later this weekend and read up on how this may impact our believed mobile platform from Apple.

What's Next For Version 3 of the iPhone (Not the OS Iphone 3)

Well, it's been a couple of weeks and we've already received a second beta of the iPhone 3.0 OS.  There's a lot to be excited about once it's officially released this "summer".  We all know what that means.  There's been too many clues here and there about the release of the next version of iPhone.

We know about the push alert.  The changes in the gaming market.  From some of the rumor sites, we might be getting a few features that Apple did not discuss during their iPhone 3.0 preview presentation.  But what do you and I want to see in the next iPhone?

Personally, I'm not all that excited about MMS.  I don't see what's wrong with email attachments.  I suppose that easier said since most folks I deal with, family and friends, all have emails.

Now, with some of the features that aren't mentioned during the presentation will make me sound like a broken record but here they are:

• Battery Life.  I hope Apple will bring over that new 17" Macbook Pro battery tech.  Others have talked about this and I haven't seen a rumor site even dared speculate this new battery scheme is making its way over to the iPhone or iPod Touches.  Proportionally, we can see the new iPhone sport a 60% increase in battery life (the 17" Macbook Pro went from 5 hours to 8 hours of operation on a single charge).
• Video conferencing.  I don't mind if we are locked into Wi-Fi for the next couple of years until ATT builds out their G4 network.  But even on Wi-Fi, I love to see video iChat migrate over from the Mac OS.  It remains one of the mysteries as to why there is no Apple sanctioned chat app.  At first, I thought this was to give ATT a chance to rip mobile warriors with SMS revenues but as IM apps started appearing in the app store, that doesn't appear to be the case.  
• Battery Life.  Oh, I already mentioned that.  Dude, I know you all agree with me.  What's a mobile platform that requires you to charge it by 3 or 4pm?  
• iLife apps.  With multi-touch, Apple can really rock with their prosumer productive suite.  I'm sure they're working on this.  And I'm sure we'll see this eventually.  Perfection is Apple's middle name and with the online component of iWorks just introduced this year (and still in beta), we probably won't see this for a couple of years.  By then, Dataviz's app and perhaps MS Office should have been in the iTunes store.  Still, only Apple can implement productivity features in the unique way we all love.
• I know we all love to see Apple answer the netbook market but again as I've said on Onxo and On Apple, Apple's netbook won't be a netbook.  We believe there's a good chance we'll see something year, a much better chance of than when an army of Wall Street analysts had said an introduction was due in late 2008.  
• A more sophisticated implementation of multi-touch.  I can see a closer tie-in between Macs and the iPhone platform.  There are apps now that allow iPhone users to control the Mac.  Perhaps not with the iPhone OS but when Snow Leopard gets its moment in the spotlight, we might see something in this regard.  
• Batter...oh, I said it already. Oops.

Again, these are things I love to see in the next version of the iPhone hardware and unannounced OS features.  I have no knowledge that anything else might be introduced nor are these rumors.  Just our speculation.  What would you like to see in the next version of the iPhone?

Macbook Mini: Love It But Hope It's Not True

Is this Apple's netbook? I've always said On Apple will not traffic in rumors but I'm making an exception here. You'll understand why in a bit.

This image was part of a post from Gizmodo.

For weeks (months) now, tech pundits and bloggers have begged Apple to release a netbook. Wall Street have preached doom for Apple because of the opportunity Cupertino is missing in the netbook segment of the laptop market.

Steve Jobs said the iPhone and iPod Touch was Apple's answer to the netbook. More recently, Apple has stated that they've go ideas on where they want to go with their answer to the netbook but has not commited to anything.

Let me just say I hope it's not what we're seeing in the Gizmodo post. Honestly, it's beneath Apple's reputation as an innovator. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a market for Apple with a $900 laptop but not as an answer to the nebooks in the market.

I'm still of the opinion that Apple's answer to the netbook will not be a netbook.

According to the post, this laptop (that's right, it's a laptop, not a netbook) will sport an Intel Atom and NVidia 9400M. It will also have a 10" screen with generous resolutions. What this is is a Macbook Air mini. If that image and specs are real, it's likely an extension of the Macbook Air rather than Apple's answer to the netbook market. At $900, it satisfies folks who thought the 13" Macbook Air was too big to their liking.

Will folks be interested? Sure. I think there is a large market for a MBA mini. A big market. And for folks looking for a netbook answer from Apple, keep waiting. This ain't it.