Steve Jobs has done it yet again!

He has once again revolutionize the tablet PC. As you know, the tabled PC has been quite a failure for many companies. Not for Apple though. It sold more than 300,000 iPads on the first day of launch and is expected to touch half a million within the weekend.

On the 8th April 2010, Steve Jobs gave a big presentation on what’s coming in the next version of the iPhone operating system.

He said there will be 1,500 new APIs for developers. Of that, he highlighted 7 big new features that most of us iPhone users will be eagerly looking forward to in the new(yet to be released) iPhone OS 4 :-

1.  Multitasking

This is the biggest news of the day from a user’s perspective. Apple is adding multitasking to the iPhone. With Apple’s multitasking, you’ll hit your home button twice. A tray will pop up with the apps you have running in the background.

It is 100% true multitasking though, rather an advanced form of app switching. Apple wants to preserve battery life, while still allowing some background processing. So, the specific functions listed below can run in the background:

• Background audio for an app like Pandora.
• VoIP so you can get Skype calls at any time.
• Push notifications
• Local notifications
• Task completion
• Fast app switching

2.  Folders to organize apps

Apple is adding a way to organize all apps into folders. With your current OS, you can probably store up to only about 9 pages of apps on your iPhone. With the new iPhone OS 4.0, you will be able to store over 2,000 apps on your iPhone. You can make a new folder, label it, then throw apps into it. Click on it, and you can see all the apps in there. So, in future, you will not need to delete apps if you wanted to add more apps.  :-)

3.  A unified inbox

With the iPhone OS4.0, you can get all the inbox in one place. In addition to that, you will also be able to have multiple exchange accounts.

4.  iBooks

Apple is confirmed bringing its iBooks application to the iPhone. Previously, it was for iPads only. Well, for a smart person like Steve, why would he want to limit his sales of the iBooks to iPad users only? If he enable it for the iPhone users as well, he will be able to multiply his earnings. i foresee this is going to be a big revenue earner for Apple in the future. With ebooks priced much cheaper than the hardcopy editions, and the ease of reading an ebook using the iPad or iPhone, this new app should do well.

5.  Enterprise enhancements

Apple’s fifth big announcement for the day was more for enterprise. Apple would like to see more Enterprise users for this neat device and give BlackBerry a run for their money. The below features will be added to enhance the Enterprise iPhone offering:-

(a) Even better data protection

(b) Mobile Device Management

(c) Wireless app distribution

(d) Multiple exchange accounts

(e) Exchange Server 2010

(f) SSL VPN support

6.  Social network for gaming

One of the key reasons why many people loves the iPhone and iPad is because of their super solid apps especially their gaming experience. To make the experience even better, Apple is adding a social network for gaming called the Game Center. In a press release, Apple says it will allow “developers to create apps with the ability to invite friends to play a game, start a multiplayer game through matchmaking and track achievements and compare high scores on a leader board.” This is gonna be a good addition for the gamers out there.

7.  iAd

Mobile ads suck says Steve Jobs, so he’s introducing the iAd. With the iAd, Apple is hoping to help developers that give away apps for free make some money. Developers get 60% of the ad sales revenue, Apple gets the rest. During his presentation Steve Jobs took a swipe at Google saying the search doesn’t work on mobile like it does on desktop. Apple wants iAds to be more interactive, and keep people in the applications. This is a genius enhancement(not so much for the users of iPhones, though) for Apple to make more money from advertisements as well as to encourage more developers to develop free Apps that could benefit the iPhone community. This is what a win-win-win is all about. Win for the developer who develops free apps. Win for iPhone users who will see more free apps offered because of the first win to the developer. And a big win for Apple who shares in the ad revenues as well as more devices sold.

Below is the video of what Steve Jobs shared with the developers recently on the new features of OS4.0 which is coming mid of 2010:-

TECHNICAL TALK AND PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING SESSION

Jointly Organised by

Apple iPhone Platform: Overview & Application Development

By  Percy Chen

25th March 2010 (Thursday)

2:00pm – 5:30pm

Dewan Persidangan University (DPU), USM Main Campus, Penang

Abstract:

Biography:

Apple first started opening its Apps store to developers and the public in June 2007. In just a short time(not even 3 years!), it has tens of thousands of Apps available there for sale and many more being added on a daily basis. This is changing how people view mobile devices i.e. from just a conventional phone for calling purpose only to an integrated entertainment cum business tool for the busy executive.

Below are the list of the Top Selling non-gaming Apple iPhone Apps for 2009:-

10. The Moron Test

Category: Entertainment
Seller: BERKELEY MALAGON
Price: $0.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 2.2.1 or later, iPod Touch

9. Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite

Category: Business
Seller: Quickoffice
Price: $9.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 and later, iPod Touch

8. Pocket God

Category: Entertainment
Seller: Bolt Creative
Price: $0.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later, iPod Touch

7. ColorSplash

Category: Photography
Seller: Pocket Pixels
Price: $1.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 2.0 or later, iPod Touch

6. SlingPlayer Mobile

Category: Entertainment
Seller: Sling Media
Price: $29.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later, iPod Touch

5. Golfshot: Golf GPS

Category: Sports
Seller: Shotzoom Software
Price: $29.99

4. TomTom US & Canada

Category: Navigation
Seller: TomTom International
Price: $69.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later, iPod Touch (only the iPhone 3G and 3GS do not require TomTom car kit for turn-by-turn directions to function)

3. Textfree Unlimited

Category: Lifestyle
Seller: Pinger, Inc.
Price: $5.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 2.2 or later, iPod Touch

2. MLB.com At Bat

Category: Sports
Seller: Major League Baseball
Price: Free*
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later, iPod Touch

1. MobileNavigator North America

Category: Navigation
Seller: NAVIGON AG
Price: $59.99
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0 or later, iPod Touch

Please do take note that some of these Apps are not suitable for the Malaysia market and is more for the US market. i am sharing the list here to show what the range of top selling Apps are and also maybe give some local iPhone developers some ideas on what apps to work on and which can be customized for local contents to suit our Malaysian market!

To all the GPS and iPhone 3G/3GS enthusiasts out there, there is finally a good GPS App with updated maps that are available out there. The Papago GPS App is able to use the community-maintained maps from malfreemaps.com which has the most updated maps for Malaysia. Below is a great write-up by Tan Kit Hoong. It is also available at http://star-techcentral.com/reviews/story.asp?file=/2010/2/17/prodit/20100211165050&sec=reviews&new=1&cat=5&rid=1356

Papago iPhone App

iPhone 3G/3GS users rejoice, for there is finally a car GPS navigation application that works reasonably well on the iPhone.

We’re talking about the Papago! M6 Pro for the iPhone which recently appeared on the Apple App Store.

Retailing for US$19.99 (about RM68) the Papago! M6 Pro’s big draw is that it features the community-maintained GPS maps from Malfreemaps.com, which is probably the most updated ones available for this country right now.

The software fulfils the need of those looking for proper GPS car navigation on the iPhone instead of the rather basic Maps application but it does have some issues.

Features

The Papago! M6 Pro has all the features of a modern car navigation unit — you get 3D buildings, junction view and turn-by-turn voice prompts.

In fact if you’ve used the the company’s purpose-built standalone car navigation units before, the Papago! M6 Pro’s interface will be quite familiar.

There are actually two versions of the software available on the App Store — the US$19.99 (RM68) one comes with 3D building and junction view support, while the US$9.99 (RM36) doesn’t.

Interface-wise, the icons are a little nicer-looking and the layout is slightly different from the car navigation units, but they’re easy enough to figure out even if you’re a newbie.

We’ve said this before when reviewing the standalone car navigation units and it applies equally here — in terms of user-friendliness, the Papago!’s interface is just a little below Garmin Nuvi units and definitely much better than the TomTom software (which you can also buy from the App Store) and even MapKing (which is popular on Windows Mobile smartphones).

We won’t go into detail on the navigation system — suffice to say that you can find points of interest like restaurants and such, as well as enter in road names and addresses to find where you want to go.

All pretty easy to use, and thanks to the maps from Malfreemaps.com, there are extensive listings of restaurants, hospitals, roads etc., covering all of Malaysia as well as Singapore.

The one big advantage of the iPhone version is that it supports both portrait and landscape orientation on the iPhone.

Just turn the iPhone either way and the maps and menus will rearrange themselves to suit the orientation.

Menu navigation is a tad slow — while not deal-breakingly slow, the interface is a little bit laggy and could do with some speed optimisations.

Once you set your navigation, though, the refresh rate is fast enough for navigation, although it sometimes loses the GPS signal due to the iPhone’s relatively poor GPS hardware.

Nevertheless, I had very few issues with it — signal rarely dropped for very long (unless you’re in a tunnel) and the software is very quick in recalculating your position if you take a wrong turn.

Issues

There are a few problems specific to the iPhone however — apart from the hardware limitations of the iPhone, using the Papago! software for car navigation heats up your iPhone really fast.

While I don’t think this will cause your iPhone to suddenly ignite into a ball of white hot flame, it does have one undesirable effect.

If you’re using a car charger, the iPhone’s built-in temperature sensors will turn off charging to keep the temperature down if the unit gets too hot.

This means that the iPhone’s battery power will slowly deplete when this happens, even if the car charger is still plugged in.

However, I found an easy workaround for this — if you bring the iPhone up to your car air-conditioning vent for a couple of minutes, the temperature will come down enough that the temperature sensors will allow charging to resume.

So, if you have a an aircond vent mount for your iPhone, we would suggest using that instead or risk having to cool down the device every 20 minutes or so by holding it up to the vent.

There also seems to be a bug where if you connect the iPhone to a 3.5mm stereo jack while the Papago! software is running, it doesn’t automatically transfer audio to your car stereo.

What you’ll get when you do so is complete silence.

Again, we found a workaround — if you had music in your iPhone playing while running the Papago! software, then the voice navigation will also come through, although, of course, with the voice prompts heard over your music.

The last issue is not really a Papago! problem and it has more to do with Apple — as you probably know, unless you have a jailbroken iPhone, the device’s file system is essentially closed from users.

This means that should you want to load in any of the often-updated map updates from Malfreemaps.com into the iPhone, you simply can’t.

Instead you’ll have to wait until the Papago! software is updated on the App Store with the latest map data.

Conclusion

After a couple of weeks using the Papago! M6 Pro I have to say that the software is pretty impressive as it works as advertised and the Malfreemaps data included is recent enough and detailed enough that it got me anywhere I wanted to go.

The Papago! definitely won’t replace a purpose-built car navigation unit — it isn’t quite responsive enough and it’s a bit disruptive when you get text messages and phone calls while you’re navigating — but it works and is probably the cheapest alternative to getting a true car navigation unit if you already own an iPhone 3G or 3GS.

For the price Maction Technologies is asking for the Papago! with Malaysian maps, it’s practically a steal, really.

Pros: Intuitive interface; 3D buildings; junction view; extensive map data.

Cons: iPhone heats up a lot during navigation.

There have been a lot of buzz around the new Apple’s launch aka the iPAD. So, i thought i should also blog about this. In my personal opinion the iPAD is essentially an “oversized” iPod Touch/iPhone. Having said that, knowing Apple’s previous launches, they can normally turn something very ordinary into an extraordinary launch.

Here is what my “predictions” for the iPAD:-

1.  Apple die-hards will still get one unit for themselves……  :-)

2.  Apple will likely launch a whole new service for ebooks similar like the iTunes Apps. Apple has just found a new way to monetize ebooks. This unit will definitely give other ebook readers like Amazon’s Kindle a run for their money. In the near future, the iTunes will be selling a lot more ebooks than they are currently offering and this can be another potential boost in revenue for Apple.

3.  Tablet PCs will give the laptops a run for their money and there will be more launches of tablet PCs by other manufacturers in the future to tap into this market(if Apple is successful in this launch). Tablet PCs are not something new but failed to kick off in the past. It is yet to be seen if Apple manage to pull this off using the iPAD. My view is that this launch will generate enough buzz and excitement and will eventually contribute to Apple’s revenues in the future.

Below is the video on the launch of the iPAD by Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs:-

Below is another article by New York Times which commented on the new Apple’s iPad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/technology/personaltech/28pogue-email.html

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

For now, i am happy with my iPhone and has no intention of getting the iPad.  :-)

The first iPhone virus has been created by a 21-year-old Australian student, Mr Ashley Towns from South Sydney.

The virus, which can spread from phone to phone, changes the iPhone’s wallpaper to a photograph of singer Rick Astley – best known for his hit Never Gonna Give You Up in the eighties.

The wallpaper features the words “Ikee is never gonna give you up“.

The virus can only infect phones which have been jailbroken by their owners. Jailbreaking allows the owners to run non-Apple approved applications on their phones.

“When people jailbreak their phone, it allows them to install a service on their phone called SSH,” he said.

“Generally you should always change your password after setting up on the iPhone as all iPhones use the same password. This virus pretty much exploits people’s laziness to change their password.”

With the creation of this virus, it is proven that anyone could easily hack into an iPhone.

“I think to raise awareness for one, somebody with more malicious intent could have done anything – read your SMSs, go through your emails, view your contacts, photos – anything,” he said.

Mr Towns says he is unaware if he is breaking any law by starting the virus.

“I’ve been informed that I may have broken some, but not being a lawyer I do not know,” he said.

“The virus itself is not malicious and is not out to hurt people. It’s just poking fun and hoping waking people up a little.”

He says it is the first virus of its kind.

“Yes, especially the first that spreads from phone to phone,” he said.

Mr Towns says he does not know how many people the virus could affect.

“Due to the nature of it, it’s kind of hard to tell, I know my phone hit about 100 alone but from there I have no idea,” he said.

But he says apart from changing the wallpaper on a user’s phone, the virus is not harmful and quite easy to get rid of.

The virus does nothing malicious.  All it does is to change their wallpaper to Rick Astley,” he said.

He says it takes a couple of minutes to remove by simply changing the phone’s password and deleting a few files from the phone.

With this first virus on the iPhone, it may prompt many more hackers to start developing similar threats on the iPhone in the future.

Hopefully this will not get out of hand to the point of being annoying.

The sole telco provider for iPhone in Malaysia, Maxis will be re-listed on the Bursa Malaysia on 19th November 2009. This IPO exercise is to raise an estimated amount of RM11.7billion. Today i was at the Maxis Center to collect the Blue Form. There were many people at the Maxis Center enquiring about the IPO as well as to collect the form. Attached is the picture that i managed to capture on my iPhone when i was there.

Below is the local news on the thestar.com:-

KUALA LUMPUR: Maxis Bhd is offering for sale 2.25 billion shares, or 30% of its total equity, to new investors with an indicative offer price of RM5.20 per share.

This means the initial public offering (IPO) will raise at least RM11.7bil for the major shareholders of the company, that is, Malaysian tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan and Saudi Telecom.

From left: Sandip Das, Information, Communications, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, Raja Tan Sri Arshad Raja Tun Uda and Datuk Seri Nazir Razak at the prospectus launch yesterday.

The final price of the shares on offer, however, will only be determined on Nov 10 after the completion of its institutional book-building exercise.

The final price could be at a discount of around 5% from the indicative offer price.

“It was envisaged that the re-listing of Maxis would attract the attention of local and regional investors, enlarge Bursa Malaysia’s capitalisation and also add to the range of large, well-managed companies available on our stock market,” Maxis chairman Raja Tan Sri Arshad Raja Tun Uda said yesterday at the launch of the company’s prospectus.

With a market capitalisation of RM39bil when the shares begin to trade on the main market on Nov 19, Maxis would reclaim its position as one of the largest component stocks on the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KL Composite Index.

According to Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, group chief executive of CIMB Group, which is the adviser for the Maxis IPO, the exercise is the largest-ever IPO in South-east Asia and the largest in Asia Pacific this year.

Nazir said he expected Maxis’ listing to grab the attention of international investors to the local stock market, with the seductive factors being the company’s large capitalisation, solid fundamentals, good track record, healthy growth prospects and strong liquidity.

“Maxis generates steady cash flow from its mobile communications operations, and enjoys strong upside potential for its broadband and data services,” he said.

Maxis currently commands about 40% of the domestic mobile telecommunications market.

While the mobile penetration rate in Malaysia has already exceeded 104%, based on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s latest statistics, Maxis chief executive officer Sandip Das believes there is still ample room for growth.

“People say the mobile market is saturated, but I disagree. The mobile market in Malaysia is mature, but it is not saturated,” he said, adding that east Malaysia was still “under-served” as penetration rates there were less than 40%.

As for the other two pillars of growth, Maxis has allocated a capital spending of RM1.3bil to boost its broadband and data services capacity this year.

Thus far, Maxis has already secured four cornerstone investors that have committed to subscribe about 28% of the Maxis shares on offer, and to hold on to their equities respectively for up to at least six months. These include local fund managers Permodalan Nasional Bhd and Employees Provident Fund and US-based Fidelity Investments.

Of the total shares on offer, only 2.83% will be allocated for retail investors while the remainder 27.17% will be for institutional investors. In its prospectus, Maxis disclosed an aggressive dividend policy that targets a payout ratio of at least 75% of its net profit as dividends.

“The growth prospects and strong cash flows generated by Maxis will ensure that the company is an attractive investment on Bursa Malaysia for the global and domestic investor community,” Raja Tan Sri Arshad said.

Below is one of the local news on the iPhone adoption in education.  The source of the below news is from the Sun newspaper dated 25th September, 2009 (Friday)

CILC integrates iPhone into curriculum
Liew Shan Verne

CEMPAKA International Ladies College (CILC) will be making use of 100 units of the Apple iPhone 3GS in its daily curriculum when the school opens tomorrow.

“The iPhone will open a whole new world of applications to us and keep our students constantly connected,” Cempaka Group of Schools vice-chairman Dr Iskandar Rizal Hamzah said at the initiative’s launch recently.

“When our students travel to external project sites, they will be able to use their iPhones to record, photograph, interview and take videos for their project files on the go,” he said.

Adopting the iPhone will also give students access to Apple’s vast library of education-based applications such as interactive tables for chemistry, multi-language dictionaries and graphing software for mathematics.

As one of the six learning institutions under the Cempaka Group of Schools, CILC is Malaysia’s first fully residential international secondary school exclusively for girls.

“Cempaka Schools has been a long-standing advocate of technology in the classroom. We introduced the MacBook for each secondary school student in 2007 and we now look forward to the iPhone being a seamless extension of our learning environment,” Iskandar said.

CILC adopted the device as part of the school’s Virtual Learning Environment programme, in partnership with Maxis.

Present at the launch were Maxis vice-president Fitri Abdullah and Cempaka Group of Schools founder Datin Frieda Pilus.

“It will be exciting to see it being deployed as a tool for enhanced learning and for access to education functions outside the classroom,” Fitri said.

To bring the iPhone 3GS closer to students and teachers, Maxis held a roadshow at Sri Cempaka in Damansara Heights to highlight its Maxis Value Plus Family plan.

The plan provides for 20 hours of free voice or video calls and 2,000 free SMS messages for principal lines communicating with a supplementary line, at a monthly rate of RM30.

Supplementary lines will get 15 hours of free voice or video calls and 1,500 free SMS messages for communicating with principal or supplementary lines, while talk-time sharing will also be made possible.

Maxis has given students, parents and staff of the Cempaka Group of Schools 38 free hours of intra-community calls and 500 free SMS messages a month as part of another promotional programme.

Due to the popular demand for this wonderful device, the iPhone 3GS is currently out-of-stock nationwide and the waiting time to get a unit is “expected” or “estimated” to be about 1 month. This is in fact not only a problem in Malaysia but a worldwide shortage. This is definitely an issue for some of those who are eager and keen to get their hands on an iPhone 3GS soonest possible. This posed a problem for Apple but definitely a “good” problem to have in this kind of economic situation. No wonder the share price of Apple has gone up by more than 100% since hitting the low of US$78.20 on 20th January 2009.  The latest price of the Apple share can be found by clicking on the link below:-

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL

The share price of Apple has gone up during this period of time even when there are news about the health conditions of their beloved CEO, Steve Jobs.

KUALA LUMPUR Saturday 1st August 2009(source: thestar.com.my): The newly launched iPhone 3GS by Maxis Communications Bhd is expected to take the market by storm.

Vice-president and head of consumer marketing Tan Lay Han said Maxis was optimistic that the new iPhone 3GS would do well.

“The previous iPhone 3G has done very well for us and exceeded our forecast.

“I can’t share with you the numbers but we’re ahead of others in the region to launch the iPhone 3GS and that is an indication,” he said at the launching ceremony yesterday.

“Maxis is pleased to be among the first in South-East Asia to offer this revolutionary phone, in keeping with our promise to always be first to offer our customers the most innovative and distinctive experience,” he said, adding that the phone received tremendous response when it was launched in the US.

In recent reports, Apple Inc claimed that a million of iPhone 3GS flew off the shelves in the first three days of its launch.

Tan said there were enough stocks for customers who pre-booked the phone.

However, he did not disclose the number of units that had been pre-booked.

“We do not want to over-promise the market but there are fresh batches (of phones) coming through,” he said.

Senior general manager and head of product development and infotainment services T. Kugan said the iPhone 3GS was the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, packed with new features including improved speed and performance, longer battery life, a high-quality 3-megapixel autofocus camera, easy-to-use video recording and voice control.

On the potential influx of traffic on its network, head of broadband Afizulazha Abdullah said Maxis had allocated close to RM1.6bil to modernise its network.

Network locations currently being modernised include the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Baru. He said Maxis was “swapping out” its radio network in stages.

The iPhone 3G (8GB) retails at RM1,990 (previously RM2,540) while the iPhone 3GS (16GB) and 3GS (32GB) are at RM2,490 and RM2,990 respectively. Maxis is offering the iPhone 3GS (16GB) free with its iValue Plan 4, with a monthly commitment of RM375 for 24 months.