I Will Not Be Ignored, Steve…

Q: Steve,

Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.

A: Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.

The hew and cry that has circulated around the fact that the iPhone is indeed recording your approximate location has increased in the last few days, and during this time, Apple has kept relatively quiet.  So someone decided to ask Steve directly.  And as always, Steve’s brief answer asks more questions than it answers. 

Of course there has been the blowback that Android does it too. Yes, Android has been shown to also gather location information, but the database is limited to a much smaller list of entries and is regularly wiped by the system. But to use Steve’s own logic, Google is not tracking you either. 

So, no one is doing anything with that unencrypted by default database on my phone showing basically where I’ve been.

So, why is it there?

Of course all of this could easily be bypassed with some simple common sense.  Over the last ten to fifteen years, our privacy has morphed due to all the wonderful little gadgets out there that allow us to be the attention whores we have become.  Some of us, however, still cling to the notion that what I do, where I go and what I think is no one’s business but my own.  And there is a large number of us that really do not like the idea that people, companies, and governments are just getting bits and pieces of our lives without out immediate knowledge.  So I propose to all companies out there a simple solution.  You want to know how I am living my life?  You want to know everything about me, even the bits you really didn’t want to know? 

Pay me.

Money soothes a lot of psychic wounds.  You offer enough cash and people will allow you to set up cameras in their bathroom.   Call it “The Magic Christian” effect.  After all, Steve, you are making money off knowing more about me; all I am suggesting is a real time partnership.  You pimp me out to as many companies as you want, and I will live my life like a Kardashian.  You want to know more, pay me more.  I know, why buy the cow when you’re getting the milk for free, but time’s are changing, Steve.  The more people come to dislike the fact that this is being done without their knowledge, the more my little scenario will make good business sense. Why face a revolt, especially in times like these? 

The New Android Sheriff

The Android operating system has been like the old west, in that it has been open to do just about anything.  With that freedom, however, has come fragmentation of the Android system.  Some say that openess is a great thing.  If you are Google, however, it means a serious dilution of the system that you are building a large part of your company on.  So Google is starting to tell companies that the days of the wide open spaces are starting to come to a close.  No more tweaks to the software. No more partnerships formed outside of Google’s purview.  You want the latest from Google?  Then they need to approve what you want to do with it. 

Google says its procedures are about quality control, fixing bugs early, and building toward a “common denominator” experience.  According to the story, Google has been demanding that Android licensees abide by “non-fragmentation clauses” that give Google the final say on how they can tweak the Android code—to make new interfaces and add services—and in some cases whom they can partner with. Google’s view is that such clauses have always been part of the Android license.  Google has also started delaying the release of Android code to the public. This puts smaller device makers and developers at a disadvantage.

Needless to say, some people are not happy with this.  According to Bloomberg Business Week,

Some of those affected include LG, Toshiba, Samsung, and even Facebook, which has been trying to develop an Android device. There have been enough run-ins to trigger complaints with the Justice Dept., according to a person familiar with the matter.

To be fair, Google owes it to all of its developers to keep from Android becoming a series of balkanized states. This is not the open skies that was promised with the original Android. but times change and given the growth of the platform, something needs to happen.  So the question remains – is Android going to stay the Wild West, or will manufacturers come to accept the fact that there is a Sheriff in town?

Not So Fast, Folks

I have found with a mixture of amusement and annoyance this thought that has permeated the blogosphere over the last year or so concerning the iPad.  Simply put, the meme that the game is over before it has even begun.  Apple won.  Everyone else is doomed.  Doomed, I tell you. 

To those people, may I present a little reality into the Jobsian distortion-field.  You see, while tablets are now white hot, while the iPad is the fastest growing electronic gadget evah, when you combine the number of users of tablet with smartphones, (you know, your iPhone, Android and the like) it comes out to only 0.3% of the Earth’s inhabitants as of the end of 2010.  That represents about 394 million users total.  That number, while quite large falls behind the following:

• Newspaper subscriptions (530 Million)
• TV subscriptions (600 million) 
• Landline telephones (1 billion)
• Total PCs (1.3 billion)
• Mobile subscribers (5.1 billion)

Now I’m not saying the market is not growing; in fact it will continue to grow at a pretty heady pace.  If it wasn’t growing, there wouldn’t be any interest and the iPad would be another “hobby” like Apple TV.  But it is rather ridiculous to call the game before the teams are even introduced.  There are plenty of players and plenty of time and room to disrupt the market.  Because, to quote Exene Czervenka, “this is the game that moves as you play it”.  And there are a lot of groups out there that can play.

…Try the Veal, And Remember to Tip Your Waitress…

Happy New Year to all.  And since it is the new year, it’s time to climb into the Rambler and head to Las Vegas for this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. 

Of course, it would be really fun this year if there was something to see.  But there won’t be.  It looks to be a basic re-run of 2010 with some minor updates.  Do not expect anything massive or unexpected.  People are saying evolutionary, not revolutionary.  Which basically means boring.

You will see tablets.  All kinds of tablets.  So many tablets.  You will hear people gushing about tablets like new parents go on about their child.  That child’s name, by the way, is Honeycomb, the latest version of Android.  Because that is what most of the new tablets will be ready to run.  Do yourself a favor-understand that  if you have an iPad, you’ve still got the best thing out there for the moment.  But if you’re really interested, pass by all the others though, and stop by Research In Motion’s  booth to see their Playbook tablet.  Right now, if there is anything that could take on the iPad and carve out some space, it will be that.  But trust me, Apple is still king for the moment. 

Also, everyone is holding their collective breath over what Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg will say, given he will have the all important keynote address.  Breathe.  He’ll talk about his “4G” network, that isn’t 4G at all.  If you think that he’ll mention iPhone and Verizon in the same sentence, forget it.  If he does, Steve Jobs will kill him and bury him out in the desert before nightfall.

Expect Intel to be talking up its Sandy Bridge chip and PC manufacturers to present Kate Moss thin laptops.  You will also see the next generation of smartphone handsets equipped with dual core chips. Smarter, faster, but yeah, expected.  Nothing surprising or really newsworthy. 

What you probably won’t see is much emphasis on Google TV.  That was going to be the big thing this year and then…nothing.  Google is keeping mum as to what is going on (or going wrong), but the fact is, consumers just didn’t pick it up at Christmas like Google thought they would.  Again, not having the major networks on the same page also makes things difficult. 

So realize that if you’re going to the show this year, you’ll probably have a lot of free time on your hands.  Garth Brooks is playing at the Wynn Encore.  Given the show he puts on, it will probably be more exciting. Just remember, tip your waitress.  They work hard for the money.

One Man’s Hobby is Another Man’s Business

It is well known that Steve Jobs considers Apple TV his “hobby”.  This is one reason why the overall development for Apple TV has proceeded at a relatively glacial pace compared to other items in the Apple ensemble.  Well, I hate to tell you Steve, but you might want to step it up if you want to stay in the game. 

Google unveiled a new standalone portal for its upcoming Google TV platform today and by all looks, this is not a hobby.  This is a full fledged business, which launches this month.  Google TV will be shipping with at least the following applications: Netflix, Twitter, CNBC, Pandora, Napster, NBA Game Time, Amazon Video On Demand and Gallery. Google says that it’s “been overwhelmed by interest” from third parties for future additions to the lineup.  When those third parties are TNT, NBC Universal and HBO for starters, you can imagine what it can look like in the very near future. 

Google said that the Google TV is easy to set up and will work with your current TV, satellite, cable, and internet. It will come in two versions, a full smart TV or a box that can be used with your current television.  And since they want the internet/television experience to be seamless, it even allows you to browse the net and watch TV at the same time. For example you could run a small display of the latest football match in the corner while you look up the league tables online.  Or Tweeting real time to political debates. 

There are some missing pieces at the moment.  Google is talking with Hulu but nothing has been confirmed for sure.  There is also the question of price.  My guess is that anything above $150 and America tunes out faster than you can say “Windows XP Media Center Edition”.  But if the price comes in at an Apple TV $99, then the rumble is on. 

Now,  having said all that, I do have a jaundiced eye concerning the chocolate/peanut butter entanglement of the web and TV.  There’s nothing revolutionary about this concept. It was called WebTV and it failed.  Just because there is now more content does not mean this is a slam dunk.  Many computers have HDMI outs now, but I don’t see a rush to connect them to the fifty two inch screen in the living room.  Why?  Have you seen YouTube on a fifty two inch screen?  Not pretty. 

If anything, this definitely heats up the race between Google, Apple, Roku and Boxxee.  Eventually, this will become a standard thing for your home.  But since I watch so little TV, I’ll wait and see if the hobby or the business wins out. 

WordPress Tags: Media, TV, Gadgets, Apple TV, Apple, Big Tech, Google TV, Google, Android, Pandora

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Android to Apple: Eat My Dust

When Apple unleashed the latest iPhone onto the world, I mentioned that Apple was making the same mistake they made with Microsoft all those years ago, only this time with Android.  And that mistake was simple:  With Apple, you have the iPhone and with Android you have almost any type of phone you want.  Given the choice, what would most people do?

Apparently, given the choice, people choose choice.  Android moved up the charts faster than a Lady Gaga song this past quarter, becoming the top-selling US smartphone OS, according to research firm Canalys.  How fast is fast?  34% of the 14.7 million smartphones sold in the US.  Apple?  21.7%.  Considering that a year and a half ago, Android was Apple’s poorer sister, Steve Jobs better be thinking about what the heck just happened.

Of course, the bottom line is this: Apple is making a couple of bils on the iPhone, whereas right now, Android is making money for Samsung, HTC and Motorola.  But that is not Google’s concern at the moment.  The number of people using Android is.  From the Business Insider:

Last week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt posited that Android could eventually be a $10 billion annual business for Google. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said, “If we have a billion people using Android, you think we can’t make money from that?”

The WSJ’s Amir Efrati continued, "All it would take, he said, is $10 per user per year. Among other things, Google might earn such sums from selling access to digital content from newspapers."

Now I’m not saying that the iPhone is going to fade into obscurity like HD-DVD.  The market is too fragmented for that and the fact there are more than enough fanbois who  pay however much for whatever Steve tells them to buy.  But this now puts the ball in Apple’s court.  Expand to Verizon?  T-Mobile as well?  Its a start, but face it, free is a choice that everyone likes in this economy, especially when it works as well as the iPhone. 

And there is where Apple lost out the last time.  Selling software in a specific package is one thing.  Selling software that can be used anywhere is another. 

But giving software away that can be used anywhere?  It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

WordPress Tags: Android, Apple, iPhone, Business

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Will Someone Call Security?

Just when you thought it was safe to venture out on the web… A few of stories piqued my interest today.  It may just because it’s summer, after all, during the summer the news stories tend to be about dangerous situations (Remember snakeheads?  Shark attacks?).  But since I write about technology, it all boils down to one word – Security.

Let’s start with that bastion of security and privacy, Facebook.  And I ask the familiar question.  When will Zuck and company get it through their thick skulls and make the default setting on profiles non-indexable?  Because security specialist Ron Bowes created a torrent containing over 171 million entries with links to profiles that provide access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of 100 million users.  For those counting, that is one fifth of all Facebook users.  And this wasn’t even a hack.  This was a simple program that simply gathered all public Facebook info. 

Now, the my inner Darwin tells me that all users have to do is set the privacy setting to “Friends Only” and there you go.  Those that don’t deserve whatever they get.  But there is a slight problem there.  As the torrent’s creator notes,

“Once I have the name and URL of a user, I can view, by default, their picture, friends, information about them, and some other details. If the user has set their privacy higher, at the very least I can view their name and picture.”

Say I have mine set as such, but one of my friends could care less and is embracing the public sphere with all their might.  Guess what? If any searchable user has friends that are non-searchable, those friends just opted into being searched, like it or not.

Lesson here: If you are truly paranoid, get to know your friends better, or at lease what their settings are. 

The second story concerns Android.  There was an app on the Android Market, Jackeey Wallpaper.  Users can download it and use it to decorate their phones that run the Google Android operating system.It includes branded wallpapers from My Little Pony to Star Wars.

The problem?  According to mobile security firm Lookout:

“It collects a user’s browsing history, text messages, your phone’s SIM card number, subscriber identification, and even your voice mail password. It sends the data to a web site, www.imnet.us. That site is evidently owned by someone in Shenzhen, China. The app has been downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times. The exact number isn’t known because the Android Market doesn’t offer precise data.”

Nice little app there.  Lesson: Roughly 47 percent of Android apps access some kind of third-party code, while 23 percent of iPhone apps do.  Be careful what you are downloading. Make sure it’s a reputable place.

My favorite story of the day though comes right out of the Terminator films crossed with MacGyver.  Security researcher Barnaby Jack, armed with only a a USB thumb drive or an Internet connection, Mr. Jack can hijack your local ATM.  At the Black Hat hacker conference Wednesday, Jack demonstrated two exploits on stage.  Later in an interview, Jack argued that focusing on any specific ATM manufacturer would miss the point, given that practically every model is likely vulnerable.

"Every ATM I’ve looked at, I’ve compromised," he says. "There’s only so many ATMs you can fit in your apartment before your girlfriend gets mad that they don’t go with the furniture."

Jack had planned to give an earlier version of his ATM-hacking demonstration at the Black Hat conference last year, but was pressured to pull the talk because the ATM industry hadn’t prepared a patch, even seven months after he had alerted them to the flaw.

The Lesson here:  Apparently some banks are so focused on stealing your money, they don’t realize that someone is stealing theirs. 

WordPress Tags: Security, Facebook, Android, ATM

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The Sound of History Repeating

I will restrict myself from doing a bad Steve Martin imitation and yelling “The new iPhone is here! The new iPhone is here!”

Because everyone else has all ready done that today.  The blah blah: June 24,  base cost of $199, still with AT&T,  slimmer, bigger battery and a camera that allows you to make video calls. 

Someone should tell Steve that video calls take a good size chunk out of that new limited AT&T data plan.  But, I’m sure he didn’t see the company that spurred the line “We don’t care, we don’t have to, we’re the phone company” was going to get greedy and make someone pay for those needed upgrades to their antiquated system.  All Steve does is make the phone.  You, dear readers are stuck with the marketing decisions, such as they are.

Yes, JesusPhone4.0 completely overshadowed the other story; the lines outside of Sprint stores for the new HTC Evo 4G launch.  A launch that broke Sprint’s previous first day sales records.  A Android based phone.

Bear in mind that Sprint’s 4G network is limited at this time, making the mandatory $10 premium data add-on tough to swallow for anyone outside of the coverage area. The Evo also lacks support for Bluetooth voice-activated dialing and the battery drains quickly with 4G. But it has a kickstand!.  Perfect for those times when the battery is dead and you want to use it as a mirror. 

But I see a problem coming.  Anyone involved with history could have spotted this one as well.  Apple is making the exact same mistake they did before with Microsoft.  The iPhone is gorgeous, one half-step ahead of the competition.  It has the buzz.  It is the icon for the generation.

But there is only one version.  One version that comes out to great fanfare, much like Detroit does car lines, every year. 

Android?  While a couple of years late to the party, Android is now everywhere;  T-Mobile, HTC, Verizon, Motorola, face it, Android is not particular where it lands.  And that is why it will win in the long term.  Don’t like the specs for the Evo?  Don’t worry, a newer, better version will be out before the end of this summer.   Don’t like that that one?  Look around – there are plenty of Android phones that can offer you exactly what you need.  You choose what you like.  Not what someone tells you you’ll like. 

You would think that Steve would have seen this one coming.  After all, he was there the first time it happened. 

WordPress Tags: Phones, Apple, HTC, Android

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