With the ubiquity of Flash on the internet, the iPhone’s lack of support for the program has always been a pain for iPhone users. However, Apple has green-lighted a new add-on for Safari that should solve the problem. The add-on, developed in the US by Skyfire will make all Flash video viewable on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. 

Previously, when Apple users attempted to view a flash video they would receive an error message but the new app promises to fix the problem.

Apple and Adobe have a history of bad blood, with Steve Jobs making a point of not supporting Flash on the iPhone, citing security and the fact that Adobe was a “closed proprietary” system.

“Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards,” he wrote in April 2010.

According to Skyfire CEO Jeffrey Glueck his company had to do a bit of “engineering magic” to get around the iPhone’s Adobe issues.

The “magic”, said Glueck, was that it wouldn’t put Flash on the device because that’s “not kosher”.

Skyfire solved the problem by remotely rendering Flash files that a user attempts to view on the go into the Apple-approved HTML5 format.

“It’s a browser for the iPhone that solves that pesky problem when you encounter a Flash video and you get that ‘Flash missing’ error message and you can’t watch it,” he said.

“We’re bringing a technology – a browser – that allows you to see all those videos which we translate in to Apple-approved formats on the fly so that you can on your iPod Touch or iPhone see billions of videos that were previously unavailable.”

The browser only supports Flash videos and not Flash games or Flash apps and not all websites are supported. To check if the Skyfire browser supports your favourite websites, go to http://www.bit.ly/site_check. Even so, with so much internet content built in Flash, this workaround is a welcome relief to frustrated browsers. The current version of the browser is 2.2.1 and it’s a free download.

Buy all your Apple products at the Apple store

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In our view Apple’s history of re-inventing it’s most successful devices (think back to all the iPhone rumours that were circulating before it launched) leads us to believe that this device may be much more than early reports have suggested.

First of all what exactly do we know about the new Apple tablet?  It depends on the source you read but the most commonly accepted description is consistent with a report that appeared on Gizmodo.com in August this year:

“The device…..is going to have a 10 inch screen, and when I saw it looked just like a giant iPhone, with a black back— although that design could change at any time…..with the same black resin back, and the familiar home button….it will come in two editions, one with a webcam and one for educational use.”

Is that all?

In our opinion the key market that Apple will be seeking to gain dominance of will be the electronic book reader (ebook).

Apple already has a strong market position with digital music and video through iTunes and in mini applications (apps) through the App Store.

A new device like the tablet will be expected to leverage those existing strengths but importantly may also provide Apple with an entre into the digital reader market which is currently dominated by Amazon’s Kindle.  With a large colour screen and wireless access the device appears to be ready-made for an assualt on one of the fastest growing market segments.

And why wouldn’t Apple have its eyes on this prize?

Have a look at some of the numbers. At least one analyst of Amazon’s business (Sandeep Aggarwal of Collins Stewart) has forecast US$2 billion of revenue for the Kindle by 2012. This is revenue not solely derived from hardware sales but from the eco-system that surrounds it.  Apple makes enviable profits from those $0.99 downloads on iTunes.  The margins in ebooks should be at least as good.

In its first full year of sales back in 2002, Apple sold just under 400,000 iPods. Two years later that number was approachng 4.5million.

By comparison in its first year of sales Amazon has sold over 500,000 units.

Apple is a savvy operator and arguably the best in the business at developing products that change the way we live, work and play.  The Apple tablet will just not be a bigger iPhone or iPod Touch: it’s going to change the way we buy books.

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According to close sources, Apple is developing an FM tuner app for iPhone and iPod touch users.

It is believed the app is mostly done at this point, and will likely take cues from the FM tuner interface of the recently introduced fifth-generation iPod nano.

The iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and second-gen iPod touch all use a Broadcom radio chip that combines low-power WiFi, Bluetooth, and FM capabilities.

The newest iPod touch uses the newer chip which also has FM receiving.

The original iPhone and iPod touch used chips from Marvell for WiFi, and the iPhone had a separate chip for Bluetooth, so those devices wouldn’t work with an FM tuner app.

While FM tuners have been features of a wide variety of other media players, they have never featured significantly in the Apple line-up. A separate FM tuner accessory Apple introduced in 2006 never sold in significant numbers and was quietly discontinued.

However, Broadcom’s Chris Bergey said late last year that FM tuning is particularly popular in other areas of the world, such as India; there phones with FM outnumber those with Bluetooth, for instance.

Since the hardware already has the capability, and the software design is most of the way there with work done on the iPod Nano, it would be relatively trivial for Apple to offer up an FM tuner app for the iPhone OS platform.

Integrating iTunes purchasing would also be the sort of compelling value add that should give Apple a good reason to make it happen.

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In the 12 months since the launch of the iPhone, many software companies have capitalised on the download capabilities of the phone and have got rich through iPhone applications.

While many would expect the large scale software companies to dominate the market, it is in fact the smaller ones which have a made a name for themselves.

Apple’s App Store is now crowded with about 13,000 games, many from tiny developers who have based their organisation on the success of the iphone.

But it seems now the big time players are ready to spoil the party. According to managing director at Lightspeed Venture Partners, Jeremy Liew, the inevitable is just around the corner.
“Although the top iPhone games are made by independents today, the big publishers will strike back,” Liew said.

“The iPhone only offers one way for games to get discovered today, and that favours the cash-rich big publishers.”

Apple has sold more than 40 million iPhones and iPod Touches, with more than 1.5 billion apps downloaded. According to Mobclix, the average price paid for a game download is $1.79.

Little software companies do so well at dominating the market as they sell games and applications for under a dollar or for free.

However with the big software players finally realising the potential of the market, it appears the glory days for the small companies are finally over.

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However, according to a recent survey by RBC/IQ ChangeWave, this is not the case. In fact, the results are completely opposite, revealing that almost every iPhone user is satisfied so far with their product.

The survey, which involved 200 participants, found that an astounding 99 percent of respondents were satisfied with the device and 82 percent said they were “very satisfied” with the 3GS service.

The research also found that while users were in love with their handsets, it is in fact the service and software providers they are unimpressed with.

There has been an ongoing argument by many market experts that the recent Apple backlash has evolved from issues completely out of the company’s hands. The survey results support this theory.

It was revealed that most of the customers felt they were being charged a hefty fee for a mediocre service that did not satisfy user’s needs.

When asked what they disliked about the iPhone, 55 percent of respondents said the service providers. 41 percent reported the iPhone 3GS’s battery life was too short; and 8 percent complained that their employer’s IT department didn’t support the device.

So far, the iPhone 3GS has achieved better than the last two versions of the iPhone, which earned favorable reviews from only 73 percent of those surveyed.

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The iPhone 3GS will be sold by Vodafone, Optus and Telstra within the next few weeks, but the carriers did not reveal their pricing yesterday, saying this information will be available closer to the launch date.

Yesterday, Apple senior vice-president of product marketing Philip Schiller announced the new 16GB handset will retail for US $199 ($251) in the US while the 32GB version will sell for US $299.

Mr Schiller said the original 8GB iPhone 3G had dropped to US $99 from US $199 at the start of the week.

The new iPhone features a new video mode allows users to record clips that can be edited and shared by email, MMS or posted to YouTube.

It also includes a “tap-to-focus” feature that tells the camera to automatically re-adjust the focus and exposure.

Previous version of the iPhone introduced new features to the mobile phone industry such as touch-screen functionality, seamless 3G capabilites and a web portal to buy mobile phone applications.

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Unlike other iTunes updates, the main change is this upgrade is support for the iPod Touch. Apart from that, Apple has included the usual accessibility improvements and bug fixes as expected.

One mystery surrounding the latest iTunes update is the mention of “Grace Note’s Blu Ray Support” in one of the disclaimer screens. This mystery was solved by Beta News who discovered that iTunes will not be offering Blu Ray support in the most obvious sense, but rather incorporating Video ID that will allow users to flip between the video files, their cover art, synopses and other information.

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• Mac Rumours claims they have found a screenshot confirming a video recording function. They also predict an auto-focus camera, but Wired disagrees. 
• A video camera will feature on the iPhone’s face and back, allowing video chat on the front end, according to PC World.
• According to reports by Fast Company, Omnivision Technologies allegedly received an order from Apple for 3.2 or possibly even 5 mega pixel camera units.
• Apple Insider claims iPods will be getting camera functions, as well as improvements on the iPhone.

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When the new 3.0 beta firmware is installed, users will get a new warning when they attempt to download an application after the first time.

Apple still allows users to re-download applications an unlimited number of times – but to a desktop computer through iTunes – a definite inconvenience for account sharers. The warning dialog gives only two options: to re-download the app for free from a desktop computer or to buy it again.

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The game allows players to create their own “sim” and work from the bottom up, finding the best jobs, the best-looking partners and building the best pad in the land.

The Sims 3 has full 3D graphics and is huge step up from the mobile version in terms of visuals. The iPhone version also includes 73 different objectives for players to discover and achieve, whether it is buying a big TV or getting a new job.

The iPhone’s high-res display enhances the overall playability of the game, especially where it comes to customising your character to an impressive extent. You can choose their facial features, hair dos, clothes and so on.

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