Yesterday, I reported that there are now over 100,000 apps on the iPhone. Suffice it to say that there is a heck of a lot that you can do with an iPhone, making it useful throughout the day. With this in mind, I found it interesting that Om Malik reported this week on a study of the increasing number of iPhone addicts, with "addict" defined as someone who uses an iPhone "more than 100 times per month, or more than three times each day of the month." I haven't tried to count how many times I pick up my iPhone every day, but considering that sometimes it is three times a minute, I think it is safe to say that I meet that rather lame definition of an iPhone addict. Stop your snickering; I'm sure that the same is true for many of you. So, fellow iPhone addicts, here are the iPhone-related stories that caught my attention this week:
- Fortune names Steve Jobs the CEO of the Decade. This related article provides thoughts on Steve Jobs from Andy Grove (Intel), Andrea Jung (Avon; Apple board member), Larry Ellison (Oracle; friend of Jobs); Marc Andreessen (started Netscape); Bob Iger (Disney); Ralph de la Vega (AT&T); Jimmy Iovine (Interscope Records); and Bill Campbell (Quicken; Apple board member).
- Speaking of the decade, Mark Kellner of the Washington Times says that the iPhone is not just the gift of the year, it is the gift of the decade.
- A while back, I wrote about the history of the "i" in the iPhone. If you are new to iPhone J.D. and missed that article, I think you will enjoy it. We now know a little more about the origin of the "i" thanks to an excellent interview by Cult of Mac with Ken Segall who used to work at Apple's advertising agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day. He talks about how he coined the term "iMac" even though Jobs hated it at first, and also gives some more background on Jobs that serves as a nice complement to the Fortune articles noted above.
- Every year iLounge produces a great, free iPod + iPhone Buyers Guide. This year's edition is available here.
- Erin Geiger Smith recommends on The Business Insider 10 iPhone apps for lawyers, several of which have been reviewed here on iPhone J.D. and which I also like.
- It's not just lawyers using iPhones. The Orlando Sentinel writes about doctors using iPhone apps.
- Similarly, David Pogue of the New York Times writes about medical apps for doctors and patients. I wonder when someone will start iPhone M.D.?
- Here is a great tip from Dan Moren of Macworld: a way to lock the Photos app in landscape mode so that you can hand someone your iPhone displaying a picture without the screen rotating as you move the iPhone itself.
- Michael Mace, who previously worked at Apple and Palm, writes on his Mobile Opportunity blog about which mobile phone apps are making money.
- Are you looking to create an iPhone app but don't know anything about programming? There are companies that will create simple apps for you using templates, and the price is quite reasonable. BusinessWeek reports on Do-it Yourself iPhone Apps. (Thanks to Alan Cohen for the link.)
- Here is yet another reason that I have not used a jailbreak utility to hack my iPhone. Engadget reports that a Dutch hacker found a way to locate jail-broken iPhones in the Netherlands and display a message demanding money.
- Verizon's new Droid cellphone, made by Motorola, has been getting very good reviews and, for some people, appears to be a decent alternative to the iPhone. Here are three quick reports on the Droid versus the iPhone. First, Greg Kumparak's review for MobileCrunch is a great read if you are wondering what in Droid is different from the iPhone. Kimparak concludes, after weighing the pros and cons of each, that it is difficult to say which is better: "If you want a phone that just works and does damned near everything you could want and don’t mind Apple’s closed garden: by all means, get the iPhone. If you can handle a bit of complexity for the sake of flexibility and don’t mind having to tinker a bit: by all means, get the Droid. At this point, I honestly feel that either choice would make any sane person incredibly happy."
- Second, David Pogue reviews the Droid for the New York Times, and his review is also mostly a comparison to the iPhone. Pogue's conclusion: "Droid wins on phone network [Verizon], customizability, GPS navigation, speaker, physical keyboard, removable battery and openness (free operating system, mostly uncensored app store). The iPhone wins on simplicity, refinement, thinness, design, Web browsing, music/video synching with your computer, accessory ecosystem and quality/quantity of the app store."
- Third, Andy Ihnatko analyzes the "iDon't" ad for the Droid and explains why it is mostly wrong. Ihnatko also posted a helpful set of pictures on Flickr
that compares the iPhone 3GS's 3 megapixel camera versus the Droid's 5
megapixel camera that even includes a flash. On specs alone, the Droid
should win, but as these photos show, because you can touch the screen
to adjust the exposure on the iPhone, the iPhone pictures often come
out better. Finally, Ihnatko's full review of the Droid is here.
- For those of you who know what it means to miss New Orleans music, you can now listen to New Orleans music for free with the new WWOZ app. WWOZ is the community radio station in New Orleans run by the folks who bring us the amazing New Orleans Jazz Fest every year. You can listen the the music in the app itself, or there is a button that launches a background stream via Safari so that you can listen to the music in the background while you use other apps on your iPhone. (Thanks to Ray Ward for the link.)
- Speaking of music, are you going to the Opera? There's an app for that. The Opera app from Italian developers Intermundia will give you lots of details on 24 famous operas, including the script in both Italian and English so that you can understand what is being said. The text is white and gray on a black background so that you can use it in the Opera house. I think you'd also need to turn down the brightness to not annoy the other patrons, but I suppose that could work.
- And finally, Boing Boing reports on German researchers who created a Dodge minivan that can be remotely operated by an iPhone app. (Thanks to Ernie Svenson for the link.) The app has buttons to accelerate and brake, and rotating the iPhone turns the steering wheel. The app includes a live view from the car so that the iPhone user can see where he is driving. As usual, a video is worth more than 1,000 words, so let's roll the tape: