iPhone Daily News Digest

Prior to Steve Jobs laying into Google and Adobe, Google, Nokia, Microsoft, and Nintendo got their shots in on Apple and the iPad, and here’s what they had to say:

• Google CEO Eric Schmidt: “You might want to tell me the difference between a large phone and a tablet.” [via Business Insider]

Someone might want to tell him people are making Android tablets, or is he still using BlackBerry?

• Nokia social point-main Mark Squires: In a post titled, “A fruit confused”, he takes issue with Apple calling itself the world’s largest mobile devices business (measured by revenue). [via Nokia Conversations]

Fair enough, considering there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, but the title of the post… really?

• Microsoft director of product management in the developer platform, Brandon Watson: “developers of applications for the iPhone OS–which the iPad uses–are not making money. Developing applications for the iPhone and iPad is expensive, he said, because iPhone OS uses the Objective C language rather than Microsoft’s more pervasive .NET platform. And Apple’s control over the platform has alienated some people that make software for its products, he said.” [via Technologizer]

Cue Windows Mobile millionaire dev and their 140,000 runtimes in 5… 4… 3… 2…

• Nintendo President Satoru Iwata: ‘It was a bigger iPod Touch. I question whether those features would be enough to get people to buy new machines.” [via NYT]

Never mind his own company just released a bigger version of their own, the Nintendo DSi LL… He’s missing the same point many others are likewise missing. The iPad isn’t just a big iPod touch. The iPad is a big iPod touch. That’s its killer feature.

And yes, we’ll be saving all these comments, and any others we come across, and looking back at them one year post-iPad launch to see if it works out any better for the competition than it did when the iPhone was mocked in 2007…

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

CEOh-Snap iPad Attack Edition — Google, Nokia, Microsoft, and Nintendo on Apple’s Tablet

I’ve mentioned a couple times already, given the recent flare-up in the discussion about iPad and iPhone not supporting Flash, that not so long ago you had a hard time using any browser other than IE6 because of another proprietary plugin — Microsoft’s ActiveX. Times change, though, and these days Firefox, Safari, and Chrome users seldom if ever come across the big red X. It’s possible Flash and its blue lego block will soon be likewise optional on major sites.

Scobleizer draws the same analogy:

Let’s go back a few years to when Firefox was just coming on the scene. Remember that? I remember that it didn’t work with a ton of websites. Things like banks, e-commerce sites, and others. Why not? Because those sites were coded specifically for the dominant Internet Explorer back then.

Some people thought Firefox was going to fail because of these broken links. Just like Adobe is trying to say that Apple’s iPad is going to fail because of its own set of broken links.

But just a few years later and have you seen a site that doesn’t work on Firefox? I haven’t.

What happened? Firefox FORCED developers to get on board with the standards-based web.

The same thing is happening now, based on my talks with developers: they are not including Flash in their future web plans any longer.

I work in web development and just did a major site redesign for an international company. It went from a lot of Flash, to no Flash. Why? Marketing wanted a site that would be more easily viewed on BlackBerrys and iPhones.

Daring Fireball drives this home:

Flash is no longer ubiquitous. There’s a big difference between “everywhere” and “almost everywhere”. Adobe’s own statistics on Flash’s market penetration claim 99 percent penetration as of last month. That’s because, according to their survey methodology, they’re only counting “PCs” — which ignores the entire sort of devices which have brought about this debate. Adobe is arguing that Flash is installed on 99 percent of all web browsers that support Flash, not 99 percent of all web browsers.

Used to be you could argue that Flash, whatever its merits, delivered content to the entire audience you cared about. That’s no longer true, and Adobe’s Flash penetration is shrinking with each iPhone OS device Apple sells.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Forget Flash, iPhone, iPad Don’t Support ActiveX!

According to an anonymous source in attendance at Apple’s recent, internal iPad town hall meeting at the Cupertino campus, Steve Jobs answered some employee questions by saying “Adobe is lazy” and that Google’s “don’t be evil” motto was “BS”. Wired reports:

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.

About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.

Wired points out that, by getting around the App Store pocket veto and delivering Google Voice for iPhone via an HTML5 web app, Jobs should be careful what he wishes for. Google maps data and YouTube were shown off during the iPad launch, as was PDF support, though no Flash (despite some ad-related confusion).

More than a battle of words, however, this is a battle for control of the consumer internet experience — and the tremendous revenue that comes with it.

MacRumors brings a few more details on that:

• Apple’s next iPhone is an “A+” update, and Android won’t be able to keep up with Apple’s aggressive pace.
• iPad, iPhone, and Mac are the most important products Jobs has been a part of.
• Lala was a talent acquisition to bring their people into iTunes.
• 2010 Macs will take Apple to the “next level”
• Blu-Ray is still a bag of hurt, so Apple is still waiting on it.

An “A+” update for the 4th generation iPhone, eh? Bring it on!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

CEOh-Snap: Steve Jobs Says Adobe Lazy, Flash Buggy, Google Wants to Kill iPhone, Not “Not Evil”, Next iPhone A+ Update?

You would think that the iPad has some serious advantages over a rock, if you compare their features on paper however, the difference might actually not be that astonishing.

That is unless you’re playing “Rock, Paper, Scissor, iPad”.

[TechCrunch]

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• Apple Uses Witty Post-Xmas Humor To Push iPhones & Co.

Today’s giveaway is one of the largest single game giveaways we have ever done, so tell your friends and family members because the odds of winning will be pretty decent.  AppAdvice has teamed up with Rogers George in order to offer you a chance at winning one of 14 promo codes for Nurikabe Vault ($3.99).

Nurikabe is a Japanese puzzle game from the creators of Sudoku.  In the game you must build a single wall by tapping on the open spaces in an attempt to divide the board into sections that are exactly the size the numbers on the board indicate.  The wall must be a single piece and never break, and none of the numbered sections may touch.  Each puzzle only has a single solution.

Nurikabe Vault features a collection of 500 puzzles of varying difficulty, a complete tutorial, optional hints, and OpenFeint integration so you can compare scores and challenge friends.  If you enjoy Sudoku, Nurikabe should be right up your alley.

To have a chance at winning one of 10 Nurikabe Vault promo codes, simply hit that green retweet bottom near the bottom of this page or retweet this post from your favorite Twitter app before 11:59 PM PDT tonight (January 30th). We will then search the Twitterverse for all of the retweets and randomly choose 10 lucky winners. The winners will be notified via Twitter, so please be sure to follow us so we can send you your promo code via a direct message.

Non-Twitter users and those of you who want to increase your odds of winning can simply leave a relevant comment below before 11:59 PM PDT tonight to have a chance at winning one of the other four Nurikabe Vault promo codes.

Feel free to participate in the giveaway via either or both methods. If you end up winning multiple promo codes, just give one away to a friend or co-worker. This giveaway is only open to U.S. iTunes account users.

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Little White Bear Studios‘ match-three game, Compression, is available for free today as part of FreeAppADay.com’s promotion.

Compression employs the usual match-three mechanic by requiring you to spin, slide, and drop colored blocks via touch controls in order to match three or more like-colored blocks in a vertical or horizontal row.  When accomplished, those pieces will be removed from the game board.  The goal of the game is to remove all hollow blocks from the game board before you run out of space, and that’s where the twist comes in.

Compression’s game board is, well, constantly compressing.  Every third piece dropped will move a wall inward.  You are able to identify which wall will be moving via three white dots.  When the dots are gone, the wall moves.  This little twist also requires you to plan ahead since pieces will be pushed together, possibly helping or hindering you in your quest.

The game features unlimited levels thanks to randomly generated game boards, unique techno-ish music, and OpenFeint integration.

Compression is normally available for $.99, but today only (1/30/10) it is available for free.

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According to the NYT’s Bits blog, Amazon has pulled Macmillan e-books due to a dispute over pricing, with Amazon wanting to hold the line at $9.99 and Macmillan wanting to raise it to an Apple iPad iBooks-like $14.99.

Eerily similar to Apple and iTunes Music, where Steve Jobs resisted the music industries desire to raise prices from $0.99 a song, and finally came to an agreement for flexible pricing up to $1.29 in exchange for DRM-free 3G downloads in January 2009. Previous to the change, Amazon was able to use music industry dissatisfaction to offer DRM-free Amazon MP3 music at $0.89. The industry was willing to take the loss in an attempt to break Apple’s control, and now it looks like their hoping similar pressure and competition from Apple’s iBooks will break down Amazon.

Ironic, poetic? Here’s where it stands:

Macmillan offered Amazon the opportunity to buy Kindle editions on the same “agency” model as it will sell e-books to Apple for the iPad. Under this model, the publisher sets the consumer book price and takes 70 percent of each sale, leaving 30 percent to the retailer. Macmillan said Amazon could continue to buy e-books under its current wholesale model, paying the publisher 50 percent of the hardcover list price while pricing the e-book at any level Amazon chooses, but that Macmillan would delay those e-book editions by seven months after hardcover release. Amazon’s removal of Macmillan titles on Friday appears to be a direct reaction to that.

And here we thought when there was competition, prices were supposed to go down…

[Note: Amazon has merely stopped selling the e-books for now, they haven't remote-wiped any that were already purchased, the above graphic is entirely satirical!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple vs. Amazon vs. Macmillian — Begun These e-Book Wars Have?

Redmond Pie has a nifty tutorial up for those who want to give their Jailbroken iPhone and/or iPod touch an iPad look-and-feel (or just a hint of iPhone 3.2!). Here’s what you need:

• Winterboard
• “Simple iPad Theme”
• MakeItMine app
• Shrink app
• ProSwitcher
• NYTimes app
• Classics app
• Kindle app

Making your old device look like an unreleased new device is hallmark of the hacking community (hey, I had the marimba ringtone and iPhone theme on my Treo 680 for months!), so if you want to get your iPad on, check out Redmond Pie and the video after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

How-to: Make Your Jailbroken iPhone Look Like an iPad

Redmond Pie has a nifty tutorial up for those who want to give their Jailbroken iPhone and/or iPod touch an iPad look-and-feel (or just a hint of iPhone 3.2!). Here’s what you need:

• Winterboard
• “Simple iPad Theme”
• MakeItMine app
• Shrink app
• ProSwitcher
• NYTimes app
• Classics app
• Kindle app

Making your old device look like an unreleased new device is hallmark of the hacking community (hey, I had the marimba ringtone and iPhone theme on my Treo 680 for months!), so if you want to get your iPad on, check out Redmond Pie and the video after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

How-to: Make Your Jailbroken iPhone Look Like an iPad

The non-standard Sim Card required by Apple’s iPad might not be as much of a drag after all.

As a reminder, instead of the SimCard we all know, the 3G version of the iPad requires a 3FF card (or Micro Sim) to function. The motives behind this confusing decision are still unclear, but it’s most likely just a way to prevent people from using the iPad’s Data plan on their iPhone.

Well, stay reassured. All in all this new form factor is actually not that different from the old one. The only change resides in the plastic part of the card, so simple scissors and maybe some tape will be all you need to switch…

[via Cnet]

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• Video: Pee-Wee Herman Gets His Very Own iPad

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