Apple iPhone News

One thing that users of the iPhone have long craved is the ability to get even longer periods of use out of their mobile devices without having to charge them again and this is one place where developers of products have been focusing their energies to try and create an extended market. Many users complain that their iPhone rarely holds a charge for longer than twenty four hours and this would be expected due to the amount of heavy use these phones tend to get on a day to day basis. A number of cases have now come onto the market which offer to help extend the life of the battery that the iPhone comes with in a variety of methods. The X-type is one such device which retails for just under $70 and protects the phone in addition to offering extending of the battery by four and half hours after a three and a half hour charge.

Other, more expensive products have also hit the market such as the Standard which retails for just under $80 and offers itself in 27 different colors and textures. The device uses magnet closures and can be purchased with a belt clip. This device doubles the battery life of the iPhone, but does not go quite as far as the $100 XR, which is identical but increases the iPhone’s normal battery life by a full two hundred percent. It is one of the most sought after, but analysts suggest this is an emerging market that much more can be expected from in the coming years.

In a move that comes as a major shock to many and a merely understandable situation for others, DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is seeking to utilize its hi tech wizardry to create iPhone apps that would be of use to those in the US military. The agency formerly founded what is today known as the internet, one of its most impressive projects to date, and is the most advanced lab of computing in the defense industry and perhaps within the US government at large according to many tech experts. The agency’s stated goal when working with mobile devices and in particular the iPhone, is to explore and uncover both commercial and non commercial apps that might be useful for not only the military, but also the national security sector, as well. By leveraging existing technology in this way, the agency hopes to create programs of aid to the sector it services.

The apps would not be limited to only tactical military situations such as warfare, they would be developed for a range of other military applications such as disaster response situations, recovery efforts after a disaster as struck and humanitarian aid that goes along with large scale calamities such as Hurricane Katrina or other unforeseen tragedies which require a mobilized national response. That said, battlefield situations that would require a high level of technical information such as being able to determine ballistics calculations for snipers or serve as part of a warfighter battlefield scenario with real time information gathering are also expected to be part of the program, even extending so far as a handheld language translator.

When using a phone while driving there are a number of issues that drivers tend to have to deal with and one of the first is that local law enforcement authorities may not be that impressed to discover a driver who has their hands tied up with a mobile phone. Due to this, a number of different products have been developed to help make hands free iPhone use quite a popular trend these days and of the manufacturers on the market, not all make a very solid product. Since the accessories market is not limited to any specific qualifications that a manufacturer is going to need to have in order to make a product that can be used with the iPhone, it means that many see a chance to make some quick money with a cheap product that does not last and will not end up doing what it promises. Out of the few trusted phone products for this smart phone, perhaps the Apple iPhone 3G Brodit holder is the most well known for both strength and quality. Its construction is far superior to many other similar products on the market and this alone justifies it as easily one of the better purchases for those who want to be able to drive safely while using their phone’s capacity to the max.

Since this is a very well known brand to those who are familiar with well made accessories, it has become a case of the Brodit products getting stellar reviews online from people who are extremely grateful to have the sort of product that they provide. This is definitely a much more high end accessory than the vast amount of similar goods, plus it enables the phone to be mounted in a variety of different locations within a vehicle in a smooth, easy way.

Word has now come out that the primary manufacturer contracted by Apple will begin building the next iPhone and is already preparing to produce 24 million units for shipping by the end of the current year. Foxconn, the company based out of Taiwan which will be making the new units has let the press know that by the end of June 2010 there will be 4.5 of the next gen iPhones being shipped out with the rest of the 19.5 being shipped around the world by the end of this year. This is a quick response from Apple after a proto type was leaked earlier and shows the company is trying to scramble to retrieve some of their surprise factor that they prefer to be well known for around the world. Industry insiders have stated that they are surprised at such a huge number because even for Apple, 24 million of a single product is definitely not a standard production level. Since 2007, the debut year for the first iPhone, only 50 million have sold and this represents quite a large jump in initial production.

Analysts speculate that the surge in production could be due to expected price cuts for this model of the new iPhone which is intended to bring in a more robust market saturation for the rapidly burgeoning smart phone market. According to reports in the tech industry, the company will be putting together a CDMA phone that will have another carrier partner this time. That means more outlets and with that, more supply is needed.

The golden child of Apple, the iPhone, has proven to have a much stronger appeal as a consumer device than its rival Android from Google, according to industry experts, due to its ability to lure in the gamer crowd who have done much to patronize the device due to its focus on entertainment products such as gaming apps. Google’s recently released Android was believed to be a competitor for the same demographic, but time has shown that it is not as solid in its offerings of games and not the type of platform that many developers wish to utilize when creating games. Given this in combination with the fact that the iPhone reaches a much larger fan base of savvy gamers, Android has not seen anywhere near the growth that some analysts had suggested would be impending upon the operating system’s release. The revolution from Google in mobile device terms has been lacking in this area from what reviewers have expressed in the press over the past few months.

Surveys have shown that only 17% percent of Android users are actively seeking out game content using their mobile devices while those on the iPhone are doing so at a rate of just over half, 64% and climbing. The statistics were based on a survey of 61,000 Facebook users randomly polled for their activities with their mobile devices. The general consensus is that Android can not compete with the established iPhone that has such a strong grip on the mobile gaming market share at this time.

Plenty could be said about the way that Apple came seemingly out of nowhere to take over the smart phone market, but that is the past and consumers today are interested in getting the best for their money. In most cases, makers of smart phones will tend towards higher end models in keeping with the standards that the iPhone set forth in its initial release, but research in the consumer device market is showing there is ample room for expansion in the lower end sector where products are offered at bargain prices in exchange for having a few less options for features that consumers may or may not truly care about in the end. Research in this market has proven that when it comes to making decisions about which make and model of smart phone they will buy, many buyers are prone to looking at which features they either do not want or are willing to live without. Smart phone maker LG has mixed this into their product philosophy and begun to deliver lower cost units that are designed to trim the so called fat from the more expensive smart phone models which have been crowding the shelves of late. Their aim is to offer a more affordable phone that will work for consumers who want to surf the web and do many things smart phones can do, but who do not want to shell out the cash for state of the art.

This has lead to the development of the LG Pop, which builds upon its predecessor, the LG Cookie and offers up a far lighter design that is a direct result of the fact that it has fewer features taking up on board space. This has given a robust, low cost phone that can create its own market share.

Ease of use has been the war cry for many new pieces of software and various devices that have been coming onto the market in the past decade and 2010 sees no shortage of companies pounding exactly this point, particularly in the smart phone market. These phones are growing more sophisticated with each passing season as they are unveiled at a head spinning pace. The facts, say analysts, are lining up to support the way tech industry manufacturers are delivering their product: making ease of use king. This has been the way that Apple marketed its iPhone, as an incredibly state of the art device with a huge assortment of features that is stunningly easy to use. Consumers have embraced the concept and taken the product to the absolute peak in terms of sales. This has lead many competitors to go back to the drawing boards in an attempt to make their own devices equally easy to use. Because of the vast amount of design work that goes into these phones, it can take a 1 to 2 year design cycle, if not longer, to get things right for a new model that will actually offer the maker a competitive edge. Korean based Samsung knows all about this since they have been creating a powerful electronics industry brand for quite some time and their new phone, the Wave, is definitely going to cause a stir in the coming months.

The behemoth of a market share that Apple enjoys right now just may have a piece of its pie cut right out when it comes to what the Samsung Wave can offer consumers. Bookmarks, shortcuts and a whole range of exceptionally well tuned touch screen features make the Wave a truly competitive entry to the market that is now nearly run by the iPhone.

One of the key things that a huge number of customers have requested of Apple for the upcoming 4G version of the iPhone is the inclusion of software which would enable the device to receive and process vocal commands. While it is not yet known whether the latest incarnation of the iPhone will feature this when it comes out later this year, what is known is the the developer Vlingo has created an App that will allow consumers to access their iPhone vocally and give voice commands for a number of the main functions that are available on the device. Based on extensive research and a very large amount of customer feed back, Vlingo has determined a mix of features that iPhone users wanted to see for their favorite phones and responded by developing a package that caters to their requested interests by making their phones more useful to their every day lives.

There are a number of features that were built into the software, all of them gleaned from the mass levels of feed back that Vlingo received, but chief among these are the ability to send and receive their email using speech activated options which make the process much easier. The users can simply say aloud the subject of the email, the message and the name of the person they want to send the email to. This allows for a hands free experience at sending and receiving emails, plus the same features are offered for users who wish to send a text message. Hands free calling is another strong feature offered.

One of the strongest commercial appeals for developers of both software and hardware on the iPhone has been the fact that many consumers consider it to be something of an extension of themselves and therefore the device is considered to be more than an electronic gadget and more of a ‘life style device’ which is a much different type of product. A life style device has a more loyal market and thus those companies who are able to penetrate sucha  device’s market share are far more likely to be able to build a strong business base even with a single product release. The company called Thinkflood has recognized the opportunity that the iPhone offers to hardware developers and come up with a way to turn the iPhone from a mere mobile device to handy household remote control not by adding anything very expensive, but with one $50 dongle that can convert the iPhone into a convenient remote control that will let viewers channel surf with ease.

The RedEye from Thinkflood is a step in this direction, but it was the decision to step away from WiFi to actually connecting directly with the iPhone’s head phone jack that made the real difference in the design of the product. This new RedEye Mini allows the iPhone to control devices from up to 30 feet away with ease and is priced to a point that experts believe it will sell quite heavily since it effectively creates a touch screen remote that is very easy to use.

As more and more iPhone users turn to gaming on their mobile phones, game developers are responding with new ways to keep fans tuned into their intellectual properties and secure ever larger stakes in a hotly contested market. The rise of gaming on the iPhone and iPod Touch has given way to a whole new way that gamers can keep in touch and add an extra dimension of fun to their gaming experiences. Web company Playhaven is making it even easier for gaming fans to create their own communities with forums and other features to extend enjoyment from all of the entertainment titles on the iPhone.

Developers can then swoop in and claim the communities themselves, using them as official fan sites and proving their loyalty to their customer base. Game creators can easily sign up and since there’s no fee, 40 developers have joined within Playhaven’s first month of operation, taking advantage of the unique service that also costs gamers nothing to utilize. The word of mouth factor is what is attractive to developers who need to be able to create buzz around their titles in order to push them to the level of success seen on Mafia Wars and other phenomenally popular gaming titles. Playhaven is expected to do brisk business as the games for iPhone grow increasingly more complex and user friendly.