About two weeks ago, I reviewed Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite, an app that allows you to edit Word and Excel files on your iPhone.  My review focused on the Word capabilities of the app, not only because I had already reviewed the previously-available spreadsheet abilities, but also because I know that while attorneys do use spreadsheets on occasion, we spend most of our time working with Word documents. 

If you don’t want to spend $19.99 for both the Word and Excel features of Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite, the company has now released Quickword, an app that contains the Word capabilities of Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite for only $12.99.  I really like the way that Quickoffice, and now Quickword, handles Word files on an iPhone, so I encourage you to check out this app if you want to go beyond the iPhone’s built in ability to only read Word files or if you want a good app for storing documents on your iPhone and easily transferring documents between your computer and an iPhone.

Quickword has some shortcomings right now.  As I noted before, it doesn’t currently handle footnotes or underlining, although it handles italics.  When I first tested the app, it had some quirks with the CAP LOCK key, but as I noted a few days ago, that has already been fixed in an update.  Another current shortcoming is the absence of the iPhone’s built-in text correction abilities — the key feature that makes a virtual keyboard on the iPhone work well.  However, the company informs me that autocorrect will be added in the next update to Quickoffice and Quickword, due perhaps as soon as later this month. 

Another upcoming feature is support for more Word file formats.  The app can currently view and edit Word 97 through 2003 files, but only view Word 2007 (.docx) files.  An upcoming update will handle editing of .docx files.  As an aside, is anyone out there even using the .docx format?  We are well into 2009 and I think only a single attorney has ever e-mailed me a file in that 2007 format.

If you can’t decide whether to buy Quickword or spring for the full Quickoffice app, you could buy Quickword now and update later.  The company tells me that they will offer an upgrade option once the iPhone 3.0 Software is released this summer.  As I have previously discussed, the next version of the iPhone OS will allow you to make purchases from within an app.  The company plans to use that upcoming feature to include the ability to pay an upgrade fee within the Quickword app to upgrade the app to all of the features of Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite.

Now that it is May, I want to remind readers that Quickoffice will soon have some competition in this space.  Any day now,
DataViz will be releasing Documents to Go for the iPhone.  There are preview screenshots on DataViz’s Facebook page, and I can already see that the DocsToGo iPhone app will have some advantages over the current version of Quickword such as, for example, the ability to handle underline. 

But right now, Quickoffice is the only game in town.  As Quickword currently exists, it is a wonderful and easy
way to get Word files on and off of your iPhone, view the files on your iPhone and, in a pinch, edit
Word files and then send them to someone
else.  With the planned updates, the app will become even more useful.

Click here to get Quickoffice ($12.99): 

If you are a law student reading this website, final exams have likely just started for you (and I’m glad to be a part of your study break).  If you are looking for a last minute study aid, you might want to check out the Law in a Flash apps for the iPhone.  Study cards from Law in a Flash have been around for a long time.  I remember using them in law school in the early 1990s.  With these apps, you get all of the information on the cards in an iPhone app.

To give you an idea of what they look like, here are some screenshots from the Civil Procedure I set.

You can work with cards from a specific category or from all categories at once.  You can go through the cards in order or shuffle them.  For each card you have a question (such as a fact pattern) on one side, and an answer on the other.

You can add your own notes to a card or bookmark a card if you want to return to it later.  The app also includes Quick Review cards which contain the key information that you most need to know for your exam.  Here is an example on what to look for in jurisdiction fact patterns:

The Law in a Flash iPhone apps typically cost $39.99 (which is about the same cost as the physical cards), but the apps are 25% off through May 17, 2009, which for just about all of them is $29.99.  (The one exception is the Professional Responsibility app which now costs $44.99.)  The currently available subjects are:

• Civil Procedure I
• Civil Procedure II
• Constitutional Law I (National and State Powers)
• Constitutional Law II (Individual Rights)
• Contracts
• Corporations
• Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Evidence
• Future Interests
• Professional Responsibility
• Real Property
• Torts
• Wills & Trusts

Good luck on your exams!

One of the biggest items of “news” this week in the world of iPhones has been gossip about Apple talking to Verizon about the iPhone.  I don’t think that there is much real news here.  Verizon has a motive to leak a story that it is talking to Apple just so that current Verizon customers have a reason to stick with Verizon in the hopes that the iPhone is coming soon.  Apple has a motive to leak a story that the iPhone might go to Verizon to try to gain leverage in its negotiations with AT&T.  And Apple would be silly to not always consider its options and talk to other carriers.  So perhaps Apple really is talking to Verizon about the iPhone, but that doesn’t mean that it is going to happen.  It may well just be posturing.  Ultimately, I predict that the iPhone will stay exclusive to AT&T for at least another year or two.  But this is just my guess, and nobody really knows what is going on. 

Here are some other iPhone news stories that caught my attention this week:

• iPodNN notes that The Missing Sync 2.0 for iPhone is out and it allows two-way sync of notes, tasks and various documents between your iPhone and your computer.  Sounds useful. 
• Macworld reports (as do many others) that Amazon has purchased the makers of Stanza, a great iPhone e-book reader.   Amazon is certainly doing its part to keep the e-book space interesting, and it is nice to know that even though you can now buy everything from groceries to electronics to clothes on Amazon, they are still thinking of what started it all — books.
• RIM copied Apple and created an app store for the Blackberry.  I’m happy that my Blackberry-using friends can experience an app store, but how does it compare to Apple’s app store?  Not too well, according to this report by Kelly Talcott in the New York Law Journal, who calls it “cumbersome to use.”  But hey, at least they finally have something.
• If you want to watch video on your iPhone, you may want to find a way to prop it up.  I’ve previously noted a virtually free way to do this using a paperclip or a dollar bill, but if you want to shell out the big bucks and spend $5, Macworld reviews Crabble, an iPhone stand that fits in your wallet.
• Do you love your iPhone?  Yes, apparently, you do.  TechCrunch reports that J.D. Power — not to be confused with the powerful website iPhone J.D. — has released the results of its Consumer Smartphone Satisfaction Study, and the clear winner is the iPhone.  
• And finally, the New York Times says that people use iPhones primarily for personal use, not business.  TechCrunch says that this is rubbish, and I agree.  Sure, iPhone users spend a lot of time using their iPhones for personal use such as music, video and games, but that is just because there are so many fun things you can do with your iPhone in addition to business.  If I had to use a Blackberry, I’m sure that 90% to 100% of my use would be for business because, well, what else am I supposed to do with it besides check e-mail?  Please don’t make me use that horrible web browser.  But with an iPhone, you can get all of your work done with it just like you would on another smart phone, plus you can spend additional time with it for personal enjoyment.  Frankly, I think that this is the reason that many iPhone users wish for more iPhone battery life.  It’s not that the iPhone battery is worse than other smartphones; it’s that you use the iPhone so much more than you would other smartphones.

From time to time, I will edit one of my older posts to indicate that something has changed.  I add the note [UPDATE] so that it is clear that I have done so.  But it often troubles me that people who read this website regularly — and hey, I love y’all! — only read the newest posts and may miss an important update to an old post.  Today I have several follow-ups to older posts and I thought it might be useful to note them here instead of burying them in the original posts.

Quickoffice updates.  In my recent review of Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite, I noted that the app did not support e-mailing of files.  That has now been added, making this product much more useful.  You can now e-mail files that are in the documents folder of the Quickoffice app or files that you have online in a MobileMe account.  In theory, you can also receive e-mail attachments if they were sent by another iPhone user via Quickoffice, but I am having some trouble getting this feature to work right now.  Finally, another very useful update is the ability to mount Quickoffice as an external hard drive on your computer.  Instructions for doing so are in this FAQ.  Using a Mac, for example, in your Finder choose Go –> Connect to Server… and then type in the server address that appears in the Quickoffice app (including the http:// part).  A virtual drive will just pop up on your desktop.  This makes it very quick and easy to drag and drop files to and from Quickoffice, add sub-folders, delete items, etc.  It is much faster than using the web interface that I described in my original review of Quickoffice, back when it was called MobileFiles Pro.  There were some other small tweaks to the app (for example, in Quickoffice the shift key now correctly operates as a shift key instead of a caps lock key).  There are still no suggestions or auto-correction as you type, which makes it much harder to type in this app than it should be, but I am happy to see Quickoffice continuing to improve this app.  If you are thinking of buying this app, you should also read this recent review by TUAW.

Is Black’s Law Dictionary app worth $50?  In yesterday’s review of the Black’s app, I pointed out that the $50 price, while steep, is similar to what you would pay for the physical book and for similar iPhone dictionary apps.  But Steve Matthews makes a compelling argument that the app should be cheaper, say $25.  It is a fair viewpoint.  Frankly, I suspect that Black’s would sell many more copies of this app if they priced it at $20 or $25, but perhaps the fine folks at West have more insight into iPhone app economics than I do.

Ninjas – 1, Dragons – 0.  A few months ago, I noted that when an app developer tried to be cute in the descriptions of the update to his app by adding to the legitimate descriptions of what is new in the update the note “Extra Dragons,” Apple rejected the app update.  But yesterday, Google updated its excellent Google Mobile App and noted in the update description the jokes “Longer version number” and “Ninja.”  Here are screen shots from my iPhone and from iTunes:

Why is it that Google can get away with a joke but not the other guys?  Is this a simple oversight by Apple’s app reviewers?  A bias towards Google?  A preference for ninjas and against dragons?  Inquiring minds want to know.

West just released its first iPhone app, the venerable Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th Edition.  At $49.99 and 152 MB, it is now the most expensive and largest app on my iPhone.  So what do you get, how does it compare to the book, and is it worth the price?  Let’s take a look.  This review is a little longer than normal because I suspect that many of you will want to fully understand the app before you decide whether to spend $50 on it.

vs.

Black’s Law Dictionary is, of course, the definitive legal dictionary in the U.S.  First published in 1891, it is now edited by Bryan Garner, perhaps the best known expert in effective legal writing.  The current print 8th Edition contains over 43,000 definitions, all of which are in the iPhone app.  The print edition, which you can get from Amazon for $52.80, has its advantages:  it is easy to browse, you can keep it and use it forever without worrying about computability with future devices, and it looks nice on your shelf.  But the feature-packed iPhone version has a lot going for it, even beyond the obvious advantage of always being in your pocket (assuming that your iPhone is always in your pocket).

You find terms in the app by typing into a search bar.  Results appear as you begin to type, so you don’t even need to finish typing to find what you need.  And impressively, even though there are 43,000 terms defined, this app is very fast.  When you see the term or phrase you are looking for, just tap on it to see the definition.  As you can see, the text is a little small.  Although you can pinch to zoom in and out, the text does not reformat when you zoom in which means you need to scroll back and forth.  (I noted in my recent review of Quickoffice’s Quickword that it reformats when you zoom in on text, and I am really growing to like that feature and wish that more apps would include it.)

Read more

For seven years, Mike Schneider was an IP attorney in the Seattle office of the prestigious law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.  But during his spare time, he wrote iPhone apps.  Some became very successful, such as a $0.99 app called TouchType that allows one to type e-mails while an iPhone is in landscape mode.  After he sold tens of thousands of apps, a Seattle publication profiled him last October in an article titled “Lawyer Strikes Gold Rush with iPhone Apps.”  Mike now has 16 apps in the app store, and he decided last month to resign from Wilson Sonsini and concentrate on being a software developer.  He also runs a nice technology blog called This is Tech.

I recently caught up with Mike to ask him about his experiences as an iPhone developer.

iPJD:  What type of law did you practice at Wilson Sonsini?

Schneider:  My practice was focused on technology and intellectual property related transactions.  I worked primarily with software companies on building and commercializing their technology and content.  Real world examples would be helping draft and negotiate large customer contracts and engaging developers or artists to create content. 

iPJD:  Tell us about your experience with smartphones and software development before the iPhone.

Schneider:  When I was in law school, I used a Handspring Visor and then an HP Jornada.  I started working on a few applications for the Palm platform, and then spent some time trying to learn to write for the Pocket PC platform, which has evolved into Windows Mobile.  For the most part, this was an intellectual exercise.  I have always been fascinated with computers, and software programming is a challenging puzzle to try to crack.  In
my early years as a lawyer, I used a string of Blackberry devices that
were standard issue at my firm.

iPJD:  When did you start using and writing software for the iPhone?

Schneider:  I started using an iPhone when
Wilson Sonsini rolled them out as an option for their attorneys.  Shortly after the SDK was released [in March of 2008], I downloaded a copy and started familiarizing myself with the platform.  In July of last year, my wife and I spent a week and a half in Hawaii.  I spent a fair amount of time during the vacation reading and experimenting with the SDK. 

iPJD:  Tel us about your success with your first iPhone app, TouchType.

Schneider:  TouchType hit the store in October of 2008 and spent about a month in the top 25 apps on the store.  I was used to typing with two thumbs on previous devices I had used, and was frustrated that couldn’t be done on the iPhone.  As I got more familiar with the iPhone SDK and what could and couldn’t be done on the platform, I realized that information could be passed into the email application using a URL scheme.  From there, it was fairly simple to create TouchType, which allows users to type email messages using a large keyboard and send them to Apple’s email application for dispatch.  The app has expanded to include a spell check function, which helps when sending email messages to clients, since the iPhone’s predictive spelling system is not always sufficient to catch misspelled works, or suggest good alternatives. 

iPJD:  You recently told Popular Mechanics how important it is for a developer to be first in the app store because anything successful “will be fully knocked off in
a couple weeks. It just seems to be the nature.”  Tell us about your experience with copycat apps and TouchType.

Schneider:  Shortly after TouchType came out, a wave of competitors hit the app store.  For a while, there was a new landscape keyboard application on the store every day.  TouchType is still among the top Productivity apps on the store, but the imitators have captured a good portion of the market.  My goal was to try to stay one step ahead of the copycats.  Ideas are generally only protectable through the patent system, which means that unless I want to start filing patents on the inventive aspects of my applications, there isn’t much that can be done to stop copycats.  That said, I try to establish a degree of brand recognition around the applications I create, and am perfectly willing to pursue competitors that try to copy my trademarks or copyrightable elements of my apps.

iPJD:  Perhaps the biggest, ahem, complement to the usefulness of your app is that Apple itself is adding landscape e-mail typing to iPhone Software 3.0, due out this summer.  What does this mean for the future of TouchType?

Schneider:  I am excited for the 3.0 software to be released.  It will eliminate the need for an application like TouchType to compose email messages using the landscape keyboard, but TouchType’s spell check functionality will still be worth having.  Also, the 3.0 version of the iPhone OS will allow email composition to be incorporated into third party apps, meaning that once TouchType users compose their message and spell check it, they won’t have to leave the application to dispatch the message but instead will be able to do so from within TouchType.  I think this will make the experience better for users.

iPJD:  TouchType was your first app, but you have developed many more.  You recently released a number apps — Relax, Build Confidence, Disconnect, Quit Smoking, Lose Weight and Visualize Healing — that you developed in connection with hypnotherapist Andrew Johnson.  What was the impetus for these apps?

Schneider:  I have been listening to a copy of Andrew’s deep relaxation CD on and off for a few years.  Whenever my mind was racing and I couldn’t fall asleep, I would put the CD on and it would put me right to sleep.  When I started working on iPhone applications, his content seemed like a perfect fit for the platform.  I reached out to Andrew and we started working on the iPhone apps within the week.  The Andrew Johnson apps have done incredibly well.  I get multiple email messages every day from people telling me how much they like them.   I would urge your readers to check out Relax with Andrew Johnston – Deep Relaxation.  People love that app.  There is also a free version, Relax with Andrew Johnson Lite, for any of your readers that would like to give it a try.  

iPJD:  Your GPS Thief Tracker app is innovative — an app with an intentionally intriguing icon that, when tapped, discretely sends the owner an e-mail with the iPhone’s location.  Tell us more about this one.

Schneider:  The theft tracker app did much better than I expected.  The concept is a bit of a novelty.  Because the iPhone doesn’t allow third party apps to run in the background, the app requires a thief or person who finds your iPhone to open the application (which triggers a silent email to you with your phone’s location).  Fortunately, people have still felt like it is worth the $0.99 and the app has been very popular.  To date I have only heard of one person that has recovered a stolen iPhone using my app.  It turned out that her brother-in-law had stolen it, and with the police, she was able to get it back.

iPJD:  Your most recent iPhone app helps people to teach tricks to a dog.  What can you tell us about this app? 

Schneider:  Best of 101 Dog Tricks includes step-by-step
instructions on how to train your dog to do eight different tricks
(e.g., sit, down, fetch).  Each trick has great photos and a video
demonstration.  It is the best looking app I have made.  I would
recommend that app to anyone with a dog. 

iPJD:  What are your favorite apps on the iPhone, besides your own?

Schneider:  I am a big fan of Tweetie and Evernote.  Air Mouse is also really impressive.

iPJD:  Have you ever thought of developing an app for lawyers?

Schneider:  I made a desktop app for lawyers once called Clause Locker.  The app allowed lawyers to save snippets of text to a database that was easy to browse and search.  I think I am the only person who ever used it, but it worked great for me.  Now that I have left Wilson Sonsini to try my hand at entrepreneurship full time, my immediate plans are to launch a few more iPhone apps, but then I hope to turn my attention to writing more traditional (non-iPhone) legal software. 

iPJD:  You recently spoke at the 360|iDEV conference in San Jose, talking about legal issues in iPhone development.  What are some of the issues that you discussed and that the attendees asked about?

Schneider:  iPhone developers range from one man shops to venture backed companies.  These companies face the same types of issues that any startup would have.  What type of entity should be formed.  Putting good agreements in place with employees and contractors.  How to build and protect intellectual property rights, and not infringe the rights of others.  It was a great discussion.  I learned a lot at that conference about iPhone development, and was glad to be able to contribute something of value.

iPJD:  How can a lawyer with a full-time law practice find time to write apps for the iPhone?

Schneider:  That is a great question.  For about six months I was working long hours at the firm and then writing code in the late evenings and on the weekends.  Once the apps started taking off, I started transitioning out of the firm.  Now I am working about 70% of the time on iPhone applications and 30% of my time building my own independent legal practice.  

iPJD:  How successful can one be as an iPhone developer?

Schneider:  The iPhone presents a unique opportunity for individuals to make a living for themselves.  Companies with lots of employees don’t yet have a big advantage over one or two person shops.  Successful applications can create a very comfortable living for an individual, but instances of people retiring on the money they make on the iPhone are not going to be common. 

iPJD:  How do you compare working as a lawyer at a law firm to working as an iPhone developer?

Schneider:  The latter is a much better creative outlet.  I have and do enjoy working with clients to help solve their problems, but there is something much more satisfying about working on whatever I think is interesting.  

iPJD:  And finally, what are your thoughts about the upcoming iPhone Software 3.0?

Schneider:  I am very excited about the 3.0 software, and most excited about in-app purchases.  I think that will open the door to some programs that wouldn’t otherwise be worth doing.  I have an app that has been sitting on the back burner because I didn’t want to have to figure out how to charge people on the iPhone; entering a credit card would have been cumbersome for the user.  With the in-app payments, users can purchase products and services in the app and have the payments charged to their iTunes account. 

*    *    *

A big iPhone J.D. thank you goes to Mike Schneider
for taking the time to share his experiences.  Thanks to authors like John Girsham and Scott Turrow, many a lawyer has dreamed of quitting his day job and becoming an author.  The updated version of that dream for some may be to quit working for a firm and become an iPhone app developer.  I wish Mike the best of luck as he pursues his dream, and I can’t wait to see what he brings us next.

Mike Schneider’s apps include:

TouchType ($0.99) — landscape keyboard and spell check for e-mail, with Twitter integration. 

TouchType Lite (free) — same as TouchType but without spell check and Twiiter integration. 

GPS Thief Tracker – Private-I ($0.99) — help to track your iPhone if it is stolen. 

Private-I Lite (free) — free, ad-supported version with limited e-mail advertisements. 

Phone Tree Navigator – Direct Line ($0.99) — a directory of customer service numbers for major corporations, and when you tap a company name to call, the app automatically presses the buttons needed to get to a live person. 

I Love Lost ($0.99) — unofficial Lost fan app. 

SMS Touch – iPod SMS with Spell Check ($2.99) — enables users to compose text messages in portrait or landscape mode and then send them through e-mail without incurring text messaging fees. 

Relax with Andrew Johnson – Deep Relaxation ($2.99) —

Relax with Andrew Johnson Lite (free) —

Build Confidence with Andrew Johnson ($2.99) —

Disconnect with Andrew Johnston ($2.99) —

Quit Smoking with Andrew Johnson ($2.99) —

Lose Weight with Andrew Johnson ($2.99) —

Visualize Healing with Andrew Johnson ($2.99) —

Dog Tricks – Best of 101 Dog Tricks ($2.99) —

Fetch – Best of 101 Dog Tricks (free) — includes one of the tricks from the Dog Trips app. 

I recently posted some great iPhone battery tips from Ed Shepard.  This prompted New Orleans attorney Duris Holmes to write me with another suggestion for saving power on your iPhone:  turn it off.  Okay, that sounds like a joke, but Duris learned the hard way that it may be best to turn the entire iPhone off — instead of just turning off the antennas — when you won’t use it for a while.  He explained:

I
haven’t seen this anywhere else, but if you are going somewhere and
will not be using your iPhone for a few days, I would suggest turning
it off.  I went to Canada last week and turned off roaming, 3G, etc.
while I was there so as not to download expensive data.  I was
impressed that my iPhone appeared to still be half-charged.  Something
went haywire, however, as it would no longer hold any charge when I
returned to the US, even though I was charging three times a day.  The Apple Store
ran diagnostics that showed that the phone was
in use for almost as long as it was on, just as if I had talked on it the
whole time.

Fortunately for Duris, the Apple Store replaced his iPhone and he says that the replacement process was “pretty painless and free.”  Indeed, I think that one of the reasons that Apple gets such great customer service ratings is that if an iPhone or iPod isn’t working right, Apple Stores are really good about just replacing the unit without giving you any hassle.  Nevertheless, it would have been better for Duris if this had never happened in the first place, and I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has had similar experiences.

This is a good time to mention that I always enjoy hearing from iPhone J.D. readers, especially if you have tips to offer others.  My e-mail address is on the left, as is my Twitter account if you want to limit yourself to 140 characters.

It’s been an interesting week for the iPhone.  Apple has now sold over a billion apps on the iTunes store and posted record earnings in the last quarter thanks in large part to the iPhone.  Moreover, the excitement continues to build towards this summer with the new iPhone 3.0 software and whatever Apple is preparing for the next version of the iPhone.  Here are some of the iPhone-related stories that caught my attention this week.

• Macworld provides a review of Thesaurus apps for the iPhone.  Or should I say an analysis, an assessment, a survey, an overview, a recapitulation, a report, a ….
• What’s on iPhone reviews an app called WBCapture, an app dedicated to the task of taking a picture of a whiteboard.  I have used whiteboards in the past during brainstorming sessions, and I found it useful to just use the built-in camera app to take a picture.  I suppose this app brings that to the next level.
• Ben Part writes in Mashable about 11 essential iPhone apps for when you are taking a road trip.
• Looking for news on your iPhone?  Rich Rosen compares the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today apps on the O’Reilly Media blog.
• So let’s say that you’re going to be away from the office all day long, and you want to both protect your iPhone in a case and give it the extra power to go all day long.  The $80 Mophie Juice Pack Air might be just what you need.  Reviews are posted on iLounge, Engadget and CrunchGear, and MacNN says that it will be shipping in about a week.
• Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the iPhone and its smartphone competitors.  (I missed that article when it first ran, but thanks to A.J. Levy for bringing it to my attention.)
• Macworld has reviewed a heck of a lot of iPhone apps, and they are now collecting all of their reviews (over 500 so far) on this page.
• Telephony Online reports that AT&T is about to double the speed of its 3G networks from 3.6 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps.  In the real world, I typically see 3G download speeds of almost 1 Mbps and Wi-Fi speeds of around 3 Mbps or more.  It would be great for 3G speeds to get even closer to Wi-Fi speeds.  Will current iPhone 3G owners see these new speeds?  I’m not sure.  This article in AppleInsider says no, so perhaps one of the selling points for the for iPhone to be released this summer will be that it is twice as fast as the prior iPhone 3G.
• Congratulations to thirteen year-old Connor Mulcahey of Weston, Conn. for downloading the 1 billionth app from iTunes.  The app was Bump, a contact manager app.  With his $10,000 iTunes gift card prize, at least we know there is one teenager who won’t be downloading pirated songs.
• And finally, and I don’t know how long this will stay up, the New York Times currently has a great iPhone ad on its homepage celebrating Apple passing the 1 billion app download mark.

At the end of the day yesterday, Apple held its Fiscal Year 2009, Second Quarter earnings call.  As always, Apple executives read a prepared statement and then answered questions from analysts.  Apple has a lot to be happy about; this was Apple’s best non-holiday quarter in the history of the company — and this is during a recession when other companies are laying off people left and right.  Wow.

Just like last quarter, there were a number of interesting things said about the iPhone by Apple’s COO (and acting CEO) Tim Cook and the other Apple executives.  Here are some of the highlights:

• iPhones are now sold in 81 countries.
• iPhones are selling great.  There was only a small decline in iPhone sales this past quarter from the busy holiday quarter, which was a surprise to Apple.  And with iPhone Software 3.0 coming out [not to mention whatever new iPhone model that we all know Apple will release this summer] Apple believes that even more people will want to buy iPhones in the future.
• Apple sold 3.8 million iPhones during the past quarter.  To date, Apple has sold around 21 million iPhones and around 16 million iPod Touches for a total of around 37 million devices using the iPhone operating system.  Pointing out the obvious, the Apple executives noted that the iPhone a huge platform for developers.
• Indeed, iPhone apps are selling like hotcakes.  Apple noted that it is just hours away from selling its 1 billionth app.
• The iTunes app store now offers over 35,000 apps. To put this in perspective, three months ago during the last quarterly earnings call, Apple was thrilled to have over 15,000 apps.  The continued exponential growth in the number of apps is just staggering.
• Apple has no plan to change its relationship with AT&T.
• The iPhone has the highest overall customer satisfaction of any smartphone on the market.
• On the earnings call three months ago, Tim Cook referred to other smartphones such as the Palm Pre and said that Apple would be very serious about protecting its intellectual property.  An analyst asked why Apple hasn’t taken any actions to protect its IP this quarter, and asked whether it was because the Palm Pre isn’t on the market yet.  Cook didn’t answer the question, instead just saying that “competition is great, we think it makes all of us better, as long as other companies invent their own stuff.”
• Tim Cook also made very vague references to Apple’s future iPhone plans, stating that “between the product plans that we’ve got and the app store and the software that you’ve seen and then things I can’t talk about, we have a plan that we believe continues to make us the leader in the space, continues to keep us years ahead of others, and one of the things that we will make sure is that we don’t leave a price umbrella for people.”  So what I hear Cook saying is (1) Apple has some surprises in store for the iPhone — yeah! — and (2) Apple will keep iPhones affordable so that people are not tempted to spend less on a competitor’s product — yeah again.

Finally, Tim Cook had an interesting statement on netbooks.  A lot of people are wondering whether Apple has plans to release a netbook, perhaps based on the iPhone OS.  When asked about netbooks, Tim Cook responded essentially that the current netbooks are terrible, the iPhone is currently a good alternative, and Apple is thinking about a possible netbook.  He said:

If you want to listen to the earnings call yourself, you can do so over the next two weeks by downloading the podcast from iTunes: .  Or you can view a computer-generated transcript of the call on this page at the Seeking Alpha website.

It is great to see Apple having such a great quarter, especially during these troubling economic times.  And the iPhone is clearly a key reason that Apple is doing so well.

The day has come.  We finally have the ability to edit Microsoft Word files on the iPhone, including cut, copy and paste.  For a while now, Quickoffice, Inc. has sold an app called Quicksheet which allows you to view and edit Excel files (and view Word files) on the iPhone.  (I reviewed that app two months ago when it was called MobileFiles Pro, and then the company changed the name to Quicksheet.)

The developer has now released Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite.  The app contains just about all of the features of Quicksheet plus it adds the ability to edit Word files.  (The missing feature is e-mail support, which as I note below is coming very soon.)  The Word or Excel files must be in Windows Office 97 through 2003 format or Mac Office X through 2004 format to be edited. (Windows Office 2007 / Mac Office 2008 files can be viewed but not edited.)

The app does a nice job of viewing Word files.  You can pinch to zoom in and out, and when you do so the text reformats to fit the screen so you don’t have to worry about scrolling back and forth to read a file.  (Yeah!)  Indeed, even if you don’t need to edit Word files on your iPhone, Quickoffice may well be the best app currently available for viewing Word files on an iPhone.

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