Unofficial iPhone Blog

Adobe has got a Flash player in the works for the iPhone 3G, but Apple is still lukewarm on the idea. Let’s find out why.

A Flash application can lead to performance issues on a computer, and even worse on a smartphone: Crash Boom Bang. Professional Flash developers, however, can do things with Flash that will make anyone enthusiastic about the technology.

Microsoft will make the jump with the Internet Explorer Mobile 6 - to be released soon – which will come with an Adobe Flash plug-in. The HTC Touch Pro (coming to Sprint soon) benefits from a nice hardware performance increase, and should be able to handle Adobe Flash fairly well. Additionally, the HTC Touch HD will be released later this year combining the same hardware capabilities with a massive high-resolution display.

The iPhone 3G and Safari Mobile could be stuck at status quo for a while though, despite the fact that Adobe is keen on seeing Flash support being rolled out. As long as one of Apple’s main-selling points is stability and the iPhone 3G didn’t come with the hardware capabilities most people believed it would offer, Flash may actually turn the whole Safari browsing experience into a state where “EDGE only” would be considered to be nitpicks. Of course, it would be easy to turn off Flash in a browser, but “Freedom to choose” wasn’t an Apple trademark last time we checked.

Tired of getting the brushoff from Apple Inc., Israeli researcher Aviv Raff today disclosed technical details about a pair of iPhone security flaws that he first reported more than two months ago.

Raff, best known as a browser vulnerability researcher, told Apple in July that he had uncovered bugs in the iPhone’s Mail application as well as in its version of Safari that could be used to trick users into clicking on malicious links and boost the amount of spam they face.

But after Apple continued to defer patching and declined to set a date for fixing the flaws, Raff decided to go public. “Two and a half months later, and still there is no patch for those vulnerabilities,” he complained in a post to his blog. “I’ve asked Apple several times for a schedule, but they have refused to provide the fix date. Three versions (v2.0.1, v2.02, v2.1) have been released since I provided them with the details, and they are still ‘working on it.’”

In an interview today, Raff said that although he’s used this tactic before to pressure a vendor into patching, he’s reserved it for companies that “act irresponsibly, as Apple did this time and other vendors have done other times.” Raff said he last contacted Apple a week ago.

Apple last patched the iPhone on Sept. 12, when it issued fixes for eight security vulnerabilities as part of the v2.1 update.

Both Mail and Safari truncate URLs to accommodate the iPhone’s small screen, said Raff, a bug that hackers could exploit by feeding malicious links via HTML messages. Because Mail cuts out the middle portion of a long URL, the attacker could spoof a legitimate domain by using a legitimate service such as Facebook to provide the first bits of the address but tuck the malicious part of the URL after the iPhone’s cutoff.

Raff demonstrated a possible exploit by creating a link that, at least to an iPhone owner, appeared to be a URL to Facebook’s sign-in site, but was actually a link to an image he’d posted on his own domain.

“The user will have to look carefully at all links that he clicks,” said Raff when asked for advice on deflecting such attacks. “But this takes a lot of effort as Safari automatically jumps to the end of the URL when clicking on the address bar.”

He called the other iPhone bug “a pretty dumb design flaw” that made it easier for spammers to identify valid e-mail accounts, and thus mark them for more spam.

Because the iPhone automatically downloads images attachments, it would be a cinch for spammers to identify a working e-mail account. “The spammer who controls the remote server will know that you have read the message and will mark your mail account as active in order to send you more spam,” said Raff. Since there is no way to disable auto-image download on the iPhone, he recommended that iPhone users refrain from using Mail until Apple patches the problem.

The same bug has surfaced before in other versions of Apple’s Mail software — the company bundles a much brawnier edition with Mac OS X — but those versions have long been patched.

Claiming that the flaws were easily fixed, Raff called on Apple to get on the stick. “It’s only a matter of time until the bad guys will find these problems,” he said.

Raff isn’t the first security researcher to knock Apple’s patching process. Last month, two other researchers, including Charlie Miller, who is even better known than Raff in the Mac and iPhone vulnerability arena, took Apple to task for dumping several updates on users in a short time, and without warning.

Apple’s had issues meeting many of its self-imposed deadlines in the last couple years. Some of the delays, such as Leopard, have been big; others, like the iPhone SDK, somewhat smaller. As we watched the calendar tick over from the end of September to the beginning of October earlier this week, Apple missed yet another of its targets by not releasing its promised push notification system for the iPhone.

Back in June at the WWDC keynote, Apple SVP of iPhone software Scott Forstall took the stage to discuss Apple’s answer to the lack of background applications on the iPhone. Many developers had expressed concern about the limitation which could restrict the usefulness of certain applications, such as instant messenger clients.

Forstall presented a different solution to the problem. Apple would instead roll out a push notification system that apps could use to alert users when remote content had changed. For example, an instant messenger application could display a badge with the number of unread messages, just as Apple’s built-in Mail program does. Applications would also be able to use custom alert sounds and pop-up messages (à la SMS messages) to notify users.

According to Forstall, the notification system would consume less battery life and offer better performance than allowing applications to run in the background. All notifications would run over one persistent connection, and users wouldn’t have to be concerned about dealing with hidden applications running amok.

The notification system, however, wouldn’t be included in the 2.0 iPhone software that Apple also showed off at the keynote. Instead, Apple said that it would be available as of September. Of course, the ninth month has come and gone with no sign of the feature, despite Apple shipping a major iPhone OS update during the same period.

Indeed, reports from some quarters indicate that Apple may have removed the notification system from its beta iPhone OS as early as August, before the 2.1 update was rolled out. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

If the system was indeed pulled from the beta, it suggests a couple of potential scenarios. With the number of complaints and stability issues that users were experiencing with the 2.0 software, Apple may have wanted to focus on making sure that those problems were resolved in 2.1. Rolling out a brand new feature, especially one as potentially involved as push notifications, could have taken needed resources away from that task.

Another possibility is that after the birthing troubles Apple had with the MobileMe, App Store, and iPhone 3G launches, the company may have decided to spend more time making sure the notification system worked as advertised before rolling it out to iPhone users at large.

Of course, with the revised NDA still covering unreleased software, the status of the push notification system will remain as confidential as Coke’s secret formula until they decide to let us in on the secret.

Apple’s iPhone is, by all accounts, a success, and Apple may be on track to sell 5 million iPhone 3Gs this quarter. A big part of that success has come from the array of software options available from the App Store, the sole distribution point for third-party iPhone software. Though many developers are selling a lot of software, a significant number are becoming frustrated and angry due to Apple’s recent decisions regarding which apps are fit for distribution; the situation has been made worse by reports that Apple has a policy that makes the rejection letters subject to a NDA.

A major point of contention is the reasons Apple has cited in letters sent to developers whose apps were rejected. One reason is that an app has “limited functionality.” Both Pull My Finger, an app that makes fart noises, and Cool O’ Meter, an app that measures how “cool” you are, were rejected for this reason. A letter sent from Worldwide Developer Relations to Cool O’ Meter’s developers reads, in part:

We’ve reviewed your application Cool O’ Meter. We have determined that this application is of limited utility to the broad iPhone and iPod touch user community, and will not be published to the App Store.

If you choose to provide additional features that utilize iPhone functionality, your application can be reconsidered for the App Store after you resubmit a new binary to iTunes Connect.

This might be a good rationale, especially if it were universally applied. However, a quick search of the App Store reveals numerous apps that flip virtual coins, pop virtual shipping bubbles, or allow you to drink virtual beers. The utility of these apps to “the broad iPhone and iPod touch user community” is certainly questionable.

Continue Reading

Apple Tweaks App Store Policies

Apple has tweaked the way applications are reviewed and listed in the App Store over the weekend, potentially easing relationships with developers.

Applications will now be categorized by their release date by default. Prior to the change, any updated application was listed in the new category, thus boosting its sales rate even though it’s not technically new.

Additionally, the company has changed the review policy so that reviews can only come from users who have purchased or downloaded the program. This potentially stops shady developers from propping up their applications with fake reviews, as well as keep users who haven’t tried it from posting negative reviews.

The industry recently saw the latter occur when the highly-anticipated PC game Spore was flooded with bad reviews on Amazon.com because it included what many considered draconian DRM.

These moves could potentially ease a growing frustration that some developers are having with Apple regarding the App Store. Apple determines which programs get into its store, and some are criticizing the company for not being more transparent in its vetting process.

The company has also faced criticism for pulling the iPhone Podcaster app because it duplicated functionality of the desktop version of iTunes, according to the developer.

But Apple seems to be doing something right, as users of the iPhone and iPod Touch are on pace to download a billion programs sometime in 2009. While most of these apps are free, a successful sold app can make developers a lot of money — Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently said the store generated $30 million in sales for its first month.

The official announcement of the first Android phone was naturally cause for much discussion on the Linux blogs last week. We take a look at the issue through the eyes of developers, who see an application market unencumbered by the restrictions of Apple’s iPhone App Store.

Well, Android made its first showing last week in the form of the new G1, and as is so often the case when a brand-new product arrives, there were at least two noticeable effects. The first was a general quickening of the market’s commercial pulses, as consumers began to salivate over the iPhone contender and new latest thing. Second, of course — and our favorite part — was that tongues began wagging afresh throughout the blogosphere.

While countless articles have already chronicled the many differences and similarities between the Android G1 and the iPhone from the user’s perspective, what’s often of greater immediate concern in the FOSS community, of course, is the developer’s point of view.

And that, coincidentally, was a sore subject for those developing for the iPhone last week, as Apple Latest News about Apple began applying nondisclosure agreements to rejection letters sent to those developing for its App Store. What that meant, in other words, was that the developers in question could not reveal or discuss the reason their applications were rejected.

‘The iPhone Is Doomed’

The reaction among bloggers suggests a dark outlook indeed for the iPhone’s future with developers.

“As of today’s news, it appears that the iPhone development process is like this,” wrote Thomas Teisberg on the Linux Loop on Tuesday:

1. “Ask Apple for permission to make an application.
2. Sign a non-disclosure agreement.
3. Invest time and money into an iPhone application.
4. Ask Apple for permission to sell or give away your application.
5. If Apple says YES: start making money and hope Apple does not change their minds.

If Apple says NO: shut up and deal with it. If you say anything, Apple can sue you, further raising the wasted investment money.”

As a result, “the iPhone is now doomed,” Teisberg asserted.

Running Out of Patience

“Apple has not shot itself in the foot — they shot themselves in the leg or heart,” Teisberg added. “If Apple does not loosen up on their NDA policies soon, developers may leave the iPhone for the much more open Android platform or another more open platform.”

If that happens, “Apple has suddenly doomed a potentially promising and incredibly successful platform,” he said. “The only question that remains to be seen is how far iPhone developers are willing to be pushed? My guess: not much more.”

Others agreed with Teisberg’s evaluation.
‘A Very Stupid Thing’

“Apple has done a very stupid thing,” concurred John Bailey on the Loop. “I’ll be interested to watch the Android phones mature, and I would love to see them carve out a nice big market.”

Indeed, “the iPhone was doomed from the start, as soon as people realized what a vastly overpriced, cheaply made, poor performing product it really is!” added kb0hae. “The only reason there were any sales at all is that Apple managed (as it somehow did with the iPod) to get the iPhone to be thought of by a lot of people as some sort of status symbol.”

Because anti-Apple sentiment reached such a fever pitch last week among developers — and because that happened to coincide with Android’s arrival — we here at LinuxInsider thought it would be worth taking a closer look at the iPhone-Android rivalry from the developer’s perspective.
‘Optimistic About Android’

“I’m optimistic about Android, and the ham-fisted way that Apple’s been handling developers for the iPhone has made me even more optimistic,” Slashdot editor Timothy Lord told LinuxInsider. “Apple’s not done anything I consider evil by restricting the apps that iPhone users can download, but it shows they’re giving the iPhone the same treatment that makes me unhappy with OS X — deciding that their way is the way a certain thing will be done.”

A case in point is the “yanking” of the MailWrangler mail application, Lord noted.

“As a Java Latest News about Java developer, obviously I like Android better,” Slashdot blogger Mhall119 told LinuxInsider, “but from a general developer perspective, Android is a potential market, while the iPhone is just a potential partner.”

No developer, “whether an individual or a corporation, would want to put the availability of their product at the mercy of Apple’s own corporate interests when they have the option to sell directly to the Android market,” he asserted. “I think Apple will be forced to allow competing apps on the iPhone, though they will likely continue to restrict applications in order to maintain the iPhone brand.”
‘Terrifying’ Openness

Whether the mobile phone industry is ready for the kind of openness that will make or break Android, however, is another question, Mhall119 added.

“Up until now, they have been able to keep their networks secure and stable by limiting what uses them,” he noted. “Once they allow people to run Android apps that use their network New HP LaserJet P4014n Printer Starting at $699 after $100 instant savings. resources however they want, they are going to have to shift gears and start protecting their networks from their own users, like ISPs have been having to do for a while, and I think that prospect is still terrifying to most of these companies.”

In the end, users will likely dominate, he predicted.

The YouTube Effect

“If YouTube Latest News about YouTube and Facebook Latest News about Facebook have proven anything, it’s that user-supplied content will overwhelm corporate-supplied content by sheer volume alone,” Mhall119 said. “I suspect that Android applications will be the same, and carriers will have to come to terms with the fact that they are no longer selling their customer a product, they are merely the way those customers get to a product made by someone else. That means the carrier will lose out on that piece of the pie, and I don’t see them letting go without a fight.”

Can an open platform alone bring about such seismic change?

“The cell phone market is one of the most closed markets I’ve ever come across — telcos often demand that cell phone makers allow them to disable features to protect their own profit margins,” Montreal consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack told LinuxInsider. “I’m honestly not sure what a more open platform can change in the face of such blatantly anticonsumer behavior.”

Promising Future

Still, Android has at least the potential to bring new openness to a market known for the reverse.

“I’m not a big fan of cell phones generally, but Android-style openness — if it remains as open as people hope it to be — may change my mind on that,” Lord said. “I certainly hope that it puts an end to the foolishness of people paying dollars for ringtones, or [getting] funneled into awkward and expensive picture-sending systems just to get photos off their phone. Shouldn’t every phone already allow users to drag and drop files?”

T-Mobile Latest News about T-Mobile needs to “crow about how open the platform is,” Lord added. “It’s 2008, and I still hear people asking the questions that seemed to dog anything ‘open’ 10 or more years ago, like whether something so transparent can be safe from malicious hackers.”

Source

The iPhone’s App Store–the simple, click/tap-to-install catalogue of add-on programs, available in both iTunes and on the iPhone and iPod touch–is one of that device’s greatest advantages compared to other smartphones. But Apple’s management of the App Store risks destroying the store’s appeal among an important group of users: those who write iPhone software.

When Apple first announced the App Store, chief executive Steve Jobs described it as a marketplace that welcomes any third-party application that wasn’t illegal, obscene or an outright bandwidth hog. But Apple’s recent conduct suggests it’s become a lot pickier about what it will consent to display in the Store, which happens to be the only easy way to add third-party software to an iPhone or iPod touch.

The most high-profile casualty of Apple’s newfound discrimination is a small program called Podcaster, which, as the name suggests, downloads podcasts over the air directly to the device. Apple rejected this application earlier this month, saying it “duplicates the functionality” of iTunes.

To compound the problem, some iPhone programmers have also begun reporting that Apple is trying to place its rejection letters under a non-disclosure agreement, a pushy move even given Apple’s obsessive secrecy. (Whether this “NDA” gag order is for real is not settled; Mac developer and blogger John Gruber suggests it may not amount to anything in practice.)

The prospect of having their work rejected from the App Store–the equivalent of a death sentence in the iPhone software market–and then being ordered not to talk about it, has infuriated some of Apple’s most creative developers.

Further read….

Following on the heels of PodcasterGate, another App has been denied entry into Apple’s iTunes App Store: Mailwrangler. The reason, according to Apple (as cited by developer Angelo DiNardi, via Daring Fireball):

… Your application duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Mail without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion. …

And:

… There is also no way to edit an account once it has been added. …

The latter is a gimme, and the developer acknowledges it, though feels is a capricious enforcement. The former?

Many developers are still in an uproar over Apple’s tight-fisted control of the App Store, and others are distracted by counting the huge heaps of money they’re making, and Google’s “open” Android Market looms on the horizon, we’re left to wonder how this will shake out in the ecosystem.

Some have theorized that Apple rejected Podcaster because iTunes is a revenue stream for Apple, and they don’t want any precedence set for bypassing iTunes, even for “free” podcasts. But MobileMail’s Gmail functionality doesn’t generate any revenue, does it? And all the calculator, weather, etc. App’s already duplicate functionality, so what’s going on here?

We’ll take a look, after the jump…

Since Apple doesn’t seem interested in pre-screening Apps before developers invest time and resources in them, these last minute rejections will continue to throw cold water on the iPhone App Store ecosystem. The results?

Some developers will learn to stay as far away from the 1 ton Apple elephant, their money and premiere Apps, as possible, and content themselves with other areas. Others will simply go elsewhere and develop the next generation of miracle apps on Google’s platform instead. While a few may keep throwing Apps willy-nilly against Apple’s fence, hoping something will stick.

This isn’t a computer. We get that. There will never be unfettered access. It’s not a lock-box either, however, and by remaining unclear, and worse — seemingly uncommunicative and uncaring — Apple will kill the developer community the iPhone Mobile WiFi Platform will need to truly become the Next Great Thing.

In that regard, Apple also needs to trample with extreme care.

Google Mobile Browser On G Android

Although the Internet surfing community is already filled with the likes of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and others, many are saying that Google Chrome is not just another web browser.

Yes, Google’s official foray into the web browser arena has largely been met with positive press and it’s ready to make the leap to mobile.

This should really come as no surprise to anyone, but Google has announced that it will be bringing a mobile version of the newly released Chrome web browser into the mobile environment of Google Android smartphones. Both projects are based on the open-source Webkit rendering engine. They haven’t come up with a name yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they just go with Chrome Mobile.

Interestingly, there isn’t much in terms of Google services integration in Chrome. It’s not preconfigured to use iGoogle, Gmail, or other Google goods. If that’s the case, will Google go light on Google when it comes to Android too?

Visa plans mobile software for Google’s Android phone

Visa Inc. plans to create software so people with Google Inc.’s new Android phones can monitor their bank accounts and receive ads for offers from businesses that want to sell them things.

San Francisco-based Visa (NYSE: V) is doing this work as part of a broad effort to make this type of service ubiquitous in the United States by year-end. The Android phone service will be tested first on customers with Chase Visa cards.

People with Chase Visa cards will be notified on their mobile devices about account activity, they’ll be solicited by merchants and they’ll be able to use map services to find businesses near them that accept Visa cards.

Android: First Step in Google’s Plan to Change Mobile World

A 2007 patent filing by Google (published just yesterday) sheds light on how Google aims to take over the wireless world - shaking from grounds up the wireless industry business model. It appears the Android OS was just a small part of Google’s plan for a wireless revolution.

It would have been too simple if Google launched the G1 phone, powered by its own Android mobile OS, existed just as an iPhone competitor. Android as an operating system is just the launching pad for what the search giant has planned for the wireless industry.

Google’s March 2007 “Flexible Communication Systems and Methods” patent, published for the first time yesterday, could eliminate the need of long-term contracts with wireless carriers, putting the users in control of each call of data transfer they make.

A Truly Open Handset

The patent describes how users will be able to automatically poll - in real-time before they make a wireless call - nearby wireless services and see what is the best price for a voice or data connection on their phone. Then they can make a decision based on various factors, such as price, reliability, bandwidth or coverage, and select the carrier they want to initiate the call with.

Users can automatically select the cheapest rate for each individual call you make, depending on where you are located. Also, users can be freed from the burden of a contract (like the two year one G1 comes with from T-Mobile) and decide which factors they consider when making a call, depending on their needs at that moment.

There are many other technicalities behind this patent. The initial connection to find out the best prices for the calls would have to be done via WiMax (Google invested $500 million in Sprint’s WiMaX network infrastructure, Wi-Fi or via a user selected default cellphone carrier.

The software behind this patent will have to be embedded into Android OS, which would make it more difficult for Google to team up with various carriers around the world to subsidize its phones. And all that, only if the wireless carriers decide they want to play ball with Google and that they can have profits at least as large as they do with the current business model they are running.
Visa will focus first on these three services — alerts, offers and location help. Later it plans to add the ability to actually buy things with the phones.

Google’s first Android-based phone was announced Tuesday and so far, the response has been mixed.

Some believe it’ll be the next big thing in the cell phone business because it adds some basics — such as a physical keyboard — that the iPhone is lacking. Others believe the G1 will fall flat on its face because it’s not unique and its omissions (Exchange support, for one) will make it lose out in the corporate space. (For a full comparison of the two devices, see “T-Mobile G1 Vs. Apple iPhone 3G.”)

I tend to agree on both counts. I think Android could be a major hit in the cell phone space, but the G1 won’t be able to stand up to Apple or RIM. It’s too underpowered and its obvious omissions tell me T-Mobile and Google rushed it before it was ready.

But Android is an entirely different story. At its core, Android is a platform that has tons of potential. It’s not only open (which is probably the best feature), it offers full Google integration, which is a key concept in today’s age of Google domination, and its touch-screen capabilities mean Apple isn’t the only other major company doing something unique in the market.

But my belief that Android will be a success goes far beyond the product itself. Call me crazy, but I can’t think of one reason why anyone would underestimate Google. Countless times, companies have ignored Google and let it slip into a market, only to learn when it’s too late that it’s the leader.

And while it’s easy for Apple and the rest to scoff now, you can bet that that’s exactly what Google wants.

Who would have thought that Google would become such a powerhouse in the tech industry? Ask.com certainly didn’t think it could happen and neither did Yahoo. AOL must have thought Google was just another flash in the pan. Oh how wrong they were.

And what about Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and the rest? Certainly Microsoft and Yahoo didn’t believe that a product called Gmail would make an impact, right? After all, why would anyone actually want to use an online email application from Google when they can use Outlook on any Windows machine in existence? Nice one, Microsoft.

Speaking of Microsoft, where was it when Google was building its online advertising empire? And why didn’t it stop Google in its tracks once the company started bringing Google Docs online to compete with Office? Oh, and what about that whole search thing? Didn’t Microsoft see that one coming?

Google has its grips in countless markets in the tech industry. It leads the way in search and advertising, but it’s a major player in online productivity apps, mapping solutions, and a slew of other places where the leader was supplanted without much worry. And although it’s still struggling with YouTube, we can’t forget that Google was the only company that had both the money and vision to acquire that site.

The key to Google’s success throughout the years is two-fold: it offered superior products because it understood what customers wanted, but it also capitalized on all its competitors that failed to believe that a company with that crazy name could become a powerhouse in any market.

Oh, how wrong they were.

And now, as Android finally hits store shelves next month, companies in the cell phone industry are making the same mistake. Microsoft claims it isn’t worried about Android (we’ve been down this road before, Microsoft), Apple doesn’t see it as a worry, and RIM has practically ignored it. All the while, Sergey and Larry have been forming alliances with companies that will see dozens of Android-based phones hit store shelves over the next few years.

Have any of these companies learned anything? Sure, the search and advertising business is much different that cell phone software, but Google’s knowledge about what the consumer wants hasn’t changed. Worse, Google’s understanding of what the market needs has gotten better over time.

At this point, I don’t know if Android will lead the way in the cell phone industry and I have no idea if Google will supplant Apple and the rest or face annihilation. But if I had to put money on the most likely outcome, I wouldn’t bet against Google. The company has been right too many times to bet against it.

Apple, RIM, Microsoft, and the rest need to wake up and realize that the G1’s success isn’t indicative of the future success of Google in the cell phone industry. Android is.