News tagged ‘iPhone OS 4.0’

MacStories reader Nik Treiber has found out an interesting feature in the latest iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4. When you push the on/off button three times in a row while in the lockscreen, the iPhone goes in Flashlight mode. We aren't sure if this is a feature or bug, but it certainly would be quite useful.

Check out the video:

Apple released information on self-publishing for those authors who would like to sell their writings in iBookStore.

So the works must adhere to these criteria:

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Gene Munster, who is an analyst at Piper Jaffray, told yesterday that Steve Jobs won't allegedly make a surprise with presentation of the next generation iPhone at the WorldWide Developer Conference 2010. Because of numerous prototype leaks everybody expects the iPhone 4G to have thinner design, front-facing camera, improved battery and 5MP rear camera. But Gene claimed people should not expect that a Verizon-compatible model will be presented.

"We believe that it is unlikely that the next generation iPhone will be available at Verizon (or Sprint) at launch; rather, it is more likely that it remains exclusively available at AT&T in the U.S. at launch".

He also said Apple may start selling iPhone 3GS for $99 instead of iPhone 3G and provide a "limited demo" of new version of Mac OS X (10.7), that has all chances to support multi-touch technology as a key feature. But as we wrote before it looks like WWDC2010 will focus mainly on iPhone OS 4.0 so the preview of Mac OS X 10.7 will not allegedly happen.

Gene is assured that the presentation of iPhone 4G will have a positive influence on Apple's stock.

"...the new iPhone will likely drive unit sales beyond Street expectations, providing a positive catalyst for shares of AAPL in the coming months."

Last week Apple has released its iPhone Os 4.0 beta 4 and redsn0w is finally updated to support this as well as beta 1. New version of jailbreak is 0.9.5.b4 and it can be applied on iPhone 3G only(!).

Redsn0w 0.9.5.b4 is targeted at developers who make jailbroken apps, and will not work if you are already using blacksn0w, ultrasn0w or yellowsn0w.

iPhone Dev-Team warns:

"You should stay clear of this beta software if you rely on a carrier unlock."

To use the jailbreak, follow the guide below:

1. Download redsn0w 0.9.5.b4 here. (Only Mac OS X version since app are developed on this OS).
2. Make sure you have already activated your iPhone 3G with iTunes and your own developer ID.
3. Launch the jailbreak.
4. Select your stock iPhone1,2_4.0_8A274b_Restore.ipsw (beta4) or iPhone1,2_4.0_8A230m_Restore.ipsw (beta1) file that you used to update your firmware.
5. Choose "Install Cydia" and then click "Next". Use DFU mode to install the redsn0w.
6. When your iPhone 3G comes back up, you will notice Cydia has a blank white icon. It also has no sources so you should go to the Sources panel and add this repo: http://apt.saurik.com/cydia-3.7 (make sure you are connected to the Internet before). When Cydia restarts, you should see its real logo now, and the standard sources should be ready to use.

As we wrote before, new iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 had been released today by Apple and here are some other features found today by 9to5mac:

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Today Apple released iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4. New firmware is available for download at its developer's center. There is no changelog, but we already have some information about new features in it.

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Those developers who study new beta-versions of iPhone OS 4.0 reveal that new firmware has features of suggested word replacement and spellcheck imported from the iPad to the iPod touch and iPhone. They were presented first in iPad which has iPhone OS 3.2.

Spelling system allows users to select a misspelled word with a touch and then choose «Replace...» instead of using copy/paste operations. The word that was misspelled is underlined in red like in Mac OS X or Microsoft Word. After that system offers replacement word suggestions that also can be chosen with only one touch.

Apple announced that iPhone OS 4 will also allow iPod touch and iPhone to support iPad's Bluetooth keyboard.

An unknown group of hackers work now on bringing current beta version of iPhone OS 4 to the iPhone 2G (that was released in 2007). As you remember, Steve Jobs mentioned on his iPhone OS 4 keynote that the system won't be supported by iPhone 2G due to its low memory and processing power. Hackers also explained what they are working on:

"We are rewriting the 4.0 beta firmware released by Apple to create a custom firmware that can run on devices iPhone 2G which is no longer available. To do this we studied the architecture of the firmware previously released by Apple on the device trying to understand how is it different from the released versions on other devices, in particular that of the iPhone 3G device, which is what most resembles the smartphones".

According to a shady photo above they've already reached success but still there is no relevant information revealed on their site.

This week's sensation was a Steve Jobs' letter published officially on Apple's site. If you didn't read it or want to remind it to yourself, here are its main tent poles:

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Yesterday The Wall Street Journal reported that this year Apple is going to charge companies 1$ million for iAds on its mobile devices. Citing an unknown but reliable source familiar with the matter those companies that want to become a part of the iAds launch will pay $10 million to be first in the door.

The pricing policy of iAds is pretty simple. Every time user sees an ad the advertiser is charged a penny. If he's tapping the banner, Apple charges $2. So $1 million ad buy will provoke a big amount of its views and user taps.

In addition to a higher price Apple wants to take more control over marketing campaigns of its clients. But still it doesn't reduce companies' interest in iAds:

"Despite the high price, ad executives at agencies from Boston to New York and San Francisco to Los Angeles have crowded into conference rooms in recent weeks to listen to the tech company's pitch for iAd".

One of the advertisements that is already developed is an ad for Nike's Air Jordan basketball shoes. It includes iAd logo and animated banner. If you select it, you'll see an interactive store locator, special videoclip and exclusive offers taking place at local stores. This iAd was also shown by Apple on its iPhone OS 4 preview event.

Some experts think Apple's appearance at the market of mobile advertisement may convince some other selling ads companies to switch to other mobile platforms (for example, Google Android).

With a growing popularity of apps for Apple devices advertisers and developers see iAds as a potential opportunity to reach a wide audience and raise more money on it.

According to the report revealed by Chosun resource 5MP camera sensors for iPhone 4G will be supplied by LG Innotek.

"The electronics component maker began producing the sophisticated cameras at its plant in Gumi this month and will mass produce them starting in the second half of this year."

So the rumors about OmniVision going to supply cameras for a new generation of iPhones that appeared in December 2009 are incorrect.

iPhone 4G is expected to have not only 5.0-megapixels capera, but also a camera flash (probably based on Philips' LUXEON LED techonogy). The functions for flash are already implemented in iPhone OS 4.0.

Today mobile ad firm AdMob has released another Mobile Metrics report that consists of information about the software and hardware that had been used by Apple's handsets owners in March.

The study reveals that only 2% of all Apple devices with iPhone OS are first-gen iPhones. But it is important to notice that since the first sale of iPhone OS-based device Apple sold over 85 million of its worldwide. If we'll take the period between June 2007 and July 2008 (time when iPhone 3G was shipped), then it turns out that company sold 6.1 million of iPhone 2G, which is approximately 7% of the total sum of handsets that were sold.

Fortune Brainstorm Tech journalist Philip Elmer-Dewitt continues to count and then sums up:

"If 7% of those iPhone 1Gs are driving 2% of AdMob's traffic that suggests that nearly one in three is still ticking - and visiting the Web."

Obviously, the popularity of the first-generation iPhones will be further reducing without iPhone OS 4.0 support.

AdMob also found that the most popular iPhone in March 2010 was iPhone 3GS, which generated 39% of all traffic. This is much higher result than 9% in September 2009.

Other information can be seen above on the graphs.

Video above can be described as a humorous quintessence of Steve Jobs' keynote when he presented iPhone OS 4.0. It is made by Neil Curtis who is known for his another 180-sec videoclip about iPad. Looks pretty funny!

Recently Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer had a financial conference call with the press and analysts. Here are some interesting facts we gained from the conversation:

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And we're back now with a new e-mail reply by Steve Jobs, received from a TechCrunch reader. He was interested why Apple doesn't apply parental control to apps released in AppStore but simply denies accepting it. Jobs' answer was suddenly long, and he recommended to buy an Android-based phone.

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