Users are reporting problems with signal reception when the Apple iPhone 4 is held in the left hand, as opposed to the right. But the earlier iPhone 3 also had reception issues, leading one to wonder whether it is a physical issue or a software issue.
It is starting to appear as though every new smartphone has some issues, despite the strengths. HTC Evo users will tell you that despite the bigger battery and beautiful screen, battery life is poor. Poor as in, if you do a lot of web operations, you might have to charge it more than once a day. Of course, iPhone 3 users probably would agree that heavy web use kills battery life as well.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Is the Apple 4 Steel Band Antenna the Problem, or Something Else?
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Nobody Likes ETFs, But Nobody Wants to Pay Full Retail, Either
Which option do you suspect most people will choose? If you want to know why the hated ETFs exist, it is the subsidy.
AT&T’s ETF on a smartphone like the iPhone is $325, up from $175 in May. Why? Some will carrier greed. But under the old pricing rules, a consumer could buy a phone for $99 on contract, instead of $600. Then the consumer could break the contract, pay the $175 fee, getting the device, without a contract commitment, for $274.
AT&T’s ETF on a smartphone like the iPhone is $325, up from $175 in May. Why? Some will carrier greed. But under the old pricing rules, a consumer could buy a phone for $99 on contract, instead of $600. Then the consumer could break the contract, pay the $175 fee, getting the device, without a contract commitment, for $274.
The customer then could sell the device on eBay or simply sign up for service with no contract.
Nobody likes contracts or ETFs. But nobody wants to pay full retail, either.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Right-Handed Users May Have Signal Reception Problems on iPhone 4
Most people now know that when using a mobile device, moving the antenna just several feet can sometimes change signal reception. Most people may not know that physical objects such as hands can interfere with signal reception.
It appears Apple's new iPhone 4 may suffer from that problem. Apparently, the iPhone 4 signal strength drops when a user grips the phone by the metal antenna band. Gizmodo has over a dozen videos of users showing off this problem.
When held in the left hand with our fingers touching the metal band, the bars representing signal strength dropped from 5 to 1 in less than a minute.
The problem appears to involve finger-contact on certain parts of the metal band. When the phone is switched to the right hand, which put our fingers in different position, the signal strength remained the same. So for many people, user experience may depend on whether they are left-handed or right-handed.
Right-handed people are going to tend to hold the device in the left hand, and navigate with the fingers of the right hand. That means most people are going to be prone to block the signal themselves, simply based on which hand they are using to hold the device.
And you might have thought mobile phone design was easy!
It appears Apple's new iPhone 4 may suffer from that problem. Apparently, the iPhone 4 signal strength drops when a user grips the phone by the metal antenna band. Gizmodo has over a dozen videos of users showing off this problem.
When held in the left hand with our fingers touching the metal band, the bars representing signal strength dropped from 5 to 1 in less than a minute.
The problem appears to involve finger-contact on certain parts of the metal band. When the phone is switched to the right hand, which put our fingers in different position, the signal strength remained the same. So for many people, user experience may depend on whether they are left-handed or right-handed.
Right-handed people are going to tend to hold the device in the left hand, and navigate with the fingers of the right hand. That means most people are going to be prone to block the signal themselves, simply based on which hand they are using to hold the device.
And you might have thought mobile phone design was easy!
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
81% of App Store Downloads are "Free"
His analysis of the Top 50 paid apps reveals that their average selling price is $1.49. Munster estimates that on average, Apple receives $0.29 for every app that's downloaded from its store.
Munster calculates that this means $428 million for Apple based on its 70-30 revenue-share split. Munster estimates that the App Store is generating more than 16.6 million app downloads a day, compared to 8.9 million song downloads from the iTunes Store.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
GetJar Raises $11 Million
GetJar’s app store includes about 70,000 apps for all of the major mobile operating systems, including Apple’s, although CEO Ilja Laurs tells us that most of the company’s growth is coming from “open” platforms where there is less of an “established and convenient place” to get apps.
He says the company, which he calls the “Wal-Mart for mobile apps,” will invest much of the new cash in building up its presence on the Android platform.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Only Issue: Will Apple Sell 1 Million iPhone 4 Devices Today?
Smartphone sales have been climbing for the past couple of years, so the issue is how much of the growth Apple is able to grab. The harder-to-answer question is whether Facetime, the videoconferencing app, which encourage families with widely-scattered members to get the device just for that feature.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Carrier Ethernet Displaces Nearly All Mobile Backhaul Orders
link
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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