iPhone

apple / apple news / iPhone / observatory / strategy — 14 Comments
5
Oct 11

Tale of the misnamed iPhone

What’s in a name? Judging by the cries of despair echoing in the night, apparently plenty.

Before yesterday morning’s iPhone event at Apple, the world was consumed by rumors. Seemed like we’d either see an iPhone 4S, an iPhone 5 or both. The 4S would be the economy model while the 5 would be the giant leap that got us all excited.

What we got was the iPhone 4S only. Damn! They gave us the puny one. That little baby step beyond the 4. Woe is us.

I do think Apple made a mistake. But wasn’t the phone — it was the name.

The name iPhone 4S sent the message loud and clear that this new iPhone was an incremental improvement. Meanwhile, nothing could be farther from the truth.

If Apple’s new baby was unveiled as iPhone 5, I doubt that we’d be reading articles with titles like Apple disappoints fans with modest iPhone 4 update and No iPhone 5 and no Steve Jobs send Apple shares lower.

The changes in this generational shift are actually very much in line with the changes in the last one.

When we moved from 3GS to 4, we got the Retina Display (a big leap in displays), the A4 chip (a big leap in speed), FaceTime (major new capability) and a better camera (from 3 megapixels to 5).

In this move from 4 to 4S, we get the A5 chip (a big, dual-core leap in speed), Siri (a major new capability) and a better camera (from 5 megapixels to 8, plus face recognition). So iPhone 4 delivered four major advances while iPhone 4S delivers three. But then 4S tosses in full 1080p HD video with stabilization, plus an extra hour of talk time.

So why is the iPhone 4 a huge leap and iPhone 4S only a baby step? iPhone 4S looks just like iPhone 4. And design is a very big deal, for Apple more than any other company.

One could say that Apple was just being honest. They did the same thing in the move from iPhone 3 to iPhone 3GS. The body style was unchanged, so the model number stayed the same.

But Apple, of all companies, should understand the marketing impact of a word. Or, in this case, a number. The name speaks volumes, and this name said “modest update.” That’s why people are referring to it that way — not because its improvements are insignificant.

If they called it iPhone 5, I believe things would be different today. Some would have written that the changes were modest, but those comments would have been quickly forgotten as the lines started forming again.

The happy ending, though, is that this little episode will be quickly forgotten anyway. Just like Antennagate. The launch details may get technology writers in a stir, but they have little consequence in the real world. To most, iPhone 4S will simply be the latest version of a great phone with great new features.

So why do I even bother mentioning it? It’s because episodes like this are just unnecessary self-inflicted wounds. There was no need for a bad headline to appear on the front page of CNN.com, and little things do add up over time.

I wish Apple had just called it like it is. And what it is, is an iPhone 5.

apple / apple news / iPhone / observatory — 3 Comments
29
Sep 11

iPhone 5 and the riddle of the sphinx

I’m not sure why this tickles me so, but it does.

We know that any move by Apple sets off wild speculation, but this time it was better than than ever. Within minutes of the official iPhone 5 launch invitation going out, articles were being written to “decode” its contents.

Look! There’s a “one” in the phone icon! That means no second model! Yep. It could also mean you have one message, and you’re looking at it.

Look! It says “Let’s talk iPhone.” Talk? Don’t you get it? Real voice recognition is here! It could also mean there’s one message for you, and you’re looking at it.

I wouldn’t normally get swept up in such things, but there are three other obvious clues here and nobody seems to have noticed:

1. The Push Pin. Look closely at that Map icon. See where the push pin is pointing? Not to Infinite Loop. It’s pointing to the middle of De Anza Blvd. That’s right. This event will make history (though the traffic noise may be a problem).

2. Form Factor. Sure, that’s always been the phone icon. It may also be the shape of iPhone 5. It’s been hidden under our noses all this time. They’re toying with us.

3. The Second Hand. The second hand on the clock is conspicuous because it’s atop the minute hand. Get it? “Second hand”? Apple will announce a new program offering second-hand iPhones. It’s obvious.

Let’s see who’s right.

iPhone / observatory — No Comments
28
Jul 11

Dear New York Times: loosen up those i-rules

Okay, this has been bugging me for a good ten years now, and I’m finally going to let it out.

It may not be important in the scope of things, but hey, I’m a writer. Grammar and punctuation count.

Listen up, New York Times. It’s time to get off your high horse and spell like the rest of us. Look at the headline you wrote for the article above and tell me if you see anything wrong.

Obviously, your official style guide demands that the first letter of the first word in a headline be capitalized. Admirable.

But when the first word of your headline is iPhone, iPad, iPod or any other i-device — it’s really okay to break the rule. It’s a product name. This capital-I thing is making you look kinda silly.

I’m guessing that your style guide doesn’t require you to capitalize the second letter of a word. So why the capital P after the capital I? Oh, I get it. That’s how Apple spells the product name.

So it’s okay to respect the P, but not that lowly little i? I see the game you play.

I promise that if you write iPhone the way it’s supposed to be written, wherever it appears in a sentence, it won’t set off a tsunami of grammatical lawlessness. I like a good style guide as much as the next guy, but honestly — these things aren’t carved in stone.

Then again, the spelling of iPhone may be the least of your worries. If you Google the above headline today, you’ll find an article with the same date and same author — and virtually the opposite headline. Up in the title bar, it still says iPhone Bolsters Verizon Results. But the article itself has been retitled Verizon’s Bet on iPhones Brings a Slow Return. Rather an extreme turnaround, isn’t it? (Oh, and in the title bar you actually did spell iPhone properly.)

So I guess you do believe in revising things when you get them wrong. Or wildly wrong, as happened with this Verizon story.

Maybe there’s hope yet for that outdated style guide…

android / apple / blackberry / iPad / iPhone / iPod / observatory / tablets / windows phone 7 — 9 Comments
14
Jul 11

Cult epidemic breaks out in tech industry

As you know, Apple fans lost touch decades ago.

They’re a cult — hypnotized sheep, blindly following their savior Steve Jobs. They line up to fork over their cash for overpriced devices, unfazed by the fact that Apple only wants to control them. By the tens of millions, they surrender their free will, buying technology no one could really like. One day they’ll wake up and see how foolish they’ve been.

But we live in a competitive world. New and even more deluded cults are springing up all around us. Even the smart people are being sucked into them — behaving in ways that defy explanation.

Just two days ago, 700 members of the RIM cult held a meeting. These people have already exhibited irrational behavior by actually purchasing RIM stock. Inexplicably, they applauded the company’s leadership, even though RIM’s earnings are rapidly plummeting as their once-invincible empire continues to crumble. Then people who should know better started voicing strange opinions — like the investment executive who said that he didn’t hear anything that gave him concerns about the company’s direction. His firm was sitting on 100,000 of those steadily declining shares.

Meanwhile, the PC cult was meeting over at Microsoft, at the Worldwide Partners Conference. Here, Steve Ballmer held up the divine numbers, showing 350 million Windows licenses in the past year vs. 20 million for the other guys. “350, the last time I checked, is a lot more than 20,” said Ballmer to the delight of his followers. Yet nobody took note of the fact that PC sales continue to slide, and Microsoft remains far, far behind in phones and tablets.

Then, right on cue, the High Lord of Windows Phone 7 rose to proclaim that Microsoft will never use a mobile OS to power a tablet, because what people really want in a tablet is PC power. It’s Windows all the way. The crowd applauded, seemingly unconcerned that over 25 million people have fallen in love with their puny, un-PC iPads, or that netbook shipments have basically collapsed due to iPad’s runaway sales. Love of PC is core to this crowd, and they’ll cling to it till their last dying breath.

Being the easily led Apple type of cult follower, I’m tempted to join up with one of these other cults. Their kind of irrational thinking appeals to me. I’ll contemplate this more when I return from my daily Apple Store visit.

advertising / creative / iPhone / observatory — 6 Comments
12
Jul 11

Apple tries on a business suit

Apple always had this nagging little problem getting computers into the corporate world: the IT guys were ready to shoot Macs on sight.

Happily, the Mac’s business woes are mattering less these days, mostly because the real fun is happening in mobile.

With iPhone and iPad, Apple isn’t quite as taboo anymore. Though IT guys still resist, a revolution is a hard thing to stop. It also helps when the CEO sends over a note saying, “I want an iPhone right now.”

Combine this with the fact that BlackBerry is doing a fabulous job of self-combusting, and Apple has all kinds of good business prospects. Which makes this the perfect time for them to start fanning the flames of discontent.

Personally, I don’t read The Economist. I get too depressed when I think about money. But someone over at MacRumors does — and spotted this iPhone ad on the back page.

And this gives me the opportunity to do something I don’t think I’ve ever done in this blog: review a print ad from Apple.

Headline:
Business-savvy.
Copy:
iPhone loves business. With over 425,000 apps, the best phone for apps just keeps getting better.

There’s no mention of IT’s old objections to iPhone here. It’s all apps, all the time. So this ad appears to be designed to seduce those who don’t answer to IT, and to dial up the pressure on IT by feeding the groundswell of iPhone requests.

Apple has a web page devoted to the business market, where it deals with all the standard business arguments: security, Microsoft Exchange compatibility, remote locking/wiping, etc. But this ad references neither those features nor the URL.

That aside, is the ad any good? Well, it’s not exactly an Apple Hall-of-Famer. The best Apple ads get torn out of magazines and taped to office walls. They generate buzz. They make other advertisers wonder why they can’t have ads that good. This ad is more … workmanlike.

In fact, you could replace the iPhone in this ad with an Android phone and it would still make perfect sense. (Especially since, iWork aside, the featured apps appear to be available on Android too.)The only real point of difference is that little number “425,000″ tucked in at the bottom. But then we all know that the number of business apps is far, far less.

When I was a tiny little ad writer many years ago, it was explained to me that when we talked to business readers, we couldn’t be as witty or entertaining, because these guys are serious. I never bought that argument. Neither did Apple.

One reason Apple marketing is so widely admired is that the Apple spirit is alive in every ad, whether it’s aimed at consumers, educators or business people.

Maybe it’s in here somewhere and I just haven’t found it yet…

advertising / creative / iPhone / observatory / technology / windows phone 7 — 8 Comments
28
Jun 11

Jony Ive’s long-lost brother

Meet Marko Ahtisaari, fraternal twin of Jony Ive.

Interestingly, though Marko and Jony were separated at birth, Marko ended up working in the same line of business. He’s Senior VP of Design at Nokia, responsible for that company’s new N9 smartphone. DNA is a powerful thing.

But it gets even more interesting.

It turns out that everyone in Apple’s creative department has a twin sibling — and they all work at Nokia. That would include the launch video writer, the director and the entire video production crew…

It is absolutely true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In the world of global commerce, however, it’s also a big, lazy ripoff.

It’s just not possible to create a video so uncannily similar to Apple’s unless you set out with the specific goal of duplicating their work. (With the obvious motive of trying to duplicate their success.)

We should keep in mind that this is the sad work of Nokia’s marketing department, not their engineering department. However, the guys who designed and built the N9 aren’t off the hook yet.

It was last April when Nokia announced their new partnership with Microsoft, which was to result in Windows Phone 7 replacing their Symbian and MeeGo OSes. Yet the N9 is a major new phone from Nokia — still running MeeGo.

A high-stakes double-cross? Playing both sides of the street? Or just a ploy to thoroughly confuse the investment community?

Whatever, all of the above shows that Nokia is one company who has much to learn about sending a simple message. Or an original one.

[Thanks, cbee, for the tip.]

apple / apple news / iMac / iPad / iPhone / iPod / itunes / mac / observatory / steve jobs / strategy / tablets / technology — 3 Comments
7
Jun 11

WWDC 2011: the morning after

Ah, the joy of software. This really is the stuff that makes Apple Apple, and it was fun to see such widespread improvements in one fell swoop.

As usual, some random day-after thoughts.

Mac OS X

Full-screen apps. This is a personal favorite. Can’t wait to see it in action. I currently use full-screen with all apps that enable it, and always appreciate the focus it brings. We’ve got the screen space — it’s a shame not to use it all.

Auto-Save. I look forward to not repeating some of the more humbling failures of my past. Turning the window title into a pop-up menu to access past versions is a nice touch. Being able to copy and paste from old versions is even nicer.

The feature count. Poor Lion. Only 250 new features. Leopard had 300.

Lion power, kitty price. $29 is amazing. Snow Leopard was the aberration at $29, compared to all the $129 Mac OS X upgrades before. But there was a reason for that — Snow Leopard’s changes were mostly in the plumbing. Lion is as rich an upgrade as any upgrade in history, but the price stays remarkably low. Why? My guess is that (a) Apple wants to move the entire base forward, because (b) there is far more money to be made down the road with a new foundation. I’m not being cynical, it’s just good business. The more people shopping in the Mac App Store and purchasing future iCloud capabilities, the merrier.

Space travel. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick to death of the current log-in star field and Time Machine theme. It wore out its welcome a long time ago, so I expected it to be replaced — but not by another space scene. Apparently, now we have a galaxy image. Apple has always delivered simplicity and elegance, and the space thing always felt like someone else’s idea of “cool.” Can’t we just pick our own backgrounds?

iOS

Feature count, revisited. Only 200 new features in iOS, compared to Lion’s 250 features. Obviously it’s harder to fit new features in a smaller screen.

The big payoff. To excite the crowd, Forstall showed off a slide stating that Apple has paid developers a total of $2.5 billion. It’s a great number until you do the math with the slide right before: customers have downloaded 14 billion apps from the App Store. Let’s see … 2.4 billion divided by 14 billion … that’s about 18 cents an app. Obviously, this says a lot about how many free apps are downloaded.

Notifications. Yippee! At last! It’s interesting that Forstall first confessed that there are problems current notifications, and then said, “We’ve built something that solves some of the problems…” Some?

Safari Reader. One of my favorite features. People may accept that ads pay the bills, but the ultimate reading experience will always be an ad-free zone.

Reading List. Love it. File away an article to be read later, and have that list appear on all your devices.

The geo-fence. Probably my favorite new term from the show (and very cool feature). In telling how Reminders work, Forstall talked about setting up a geo-fence around Moscone, so when he left the building he’d get a reminder. Hopefully, by winter we’ll have geothermal fences.

Camera. Despite talk about the quality of the iPhone camera, I rarely use it. One reason is the damn shutter button on the screen. Sorry, it’s awkward and just not the way we’re accustomed to using cameras. Using the hard Volume Up button as a shutter button makes me an instant fan. Photo-taking is also way improved by the new editing capabilities.

iMessage. It was presented as working across all iOS devices. What about the Mac? Wouldn’t I want to text people while I’m stuck at my desk?

iPhone 5 clue. With iOS 5 coming in the fall, the obvious conclusion is that it will come hand-in-hand with iPhone 5. I can hang in there that long.

iCloud

Demoting the PC. What a great example of Steve Jobs’ ability to simplify in the boldest way. He said they were demoting computers to be just devices, and moving the center of your digital life to the cloud. You get it in a second. And what PC company CEO on earth would say they’re “demoting” one of their biggest moneymakers?

Facing facts. When promoting iCloud, Steve paused to say: “Now why should I believe them? They’re the ones who brought me MobileMe … MobileMe was not our finest hour.” Say what you will about Steve, he dares to be honest.

DropBox killer? Nope. At least not yet. And I’m glad, because DropBox remains one of the greatest Mac utilities ever created. DropBox far out-iDisked iDisk, and its makers deserve to be rewarded, not obsoleted.

What about Me? Obviously the me.com site will ultimately be the icloud.com site. Do we still want me.com email addresses (did we ever?). Does the “me” word really have a place in the iCloud concept? We’ll soon find out…

Documents in the Cloud. Not the shortest name Apple has come up with. But it does have that “gorillas in the mist” meter going for it.

iTunes Match. Huge question mark. No one seems to know if this is a way to subscribe to iTunes versions of the songs you already own, or if your $24.99/year allows you to download the higher-quality versions of your songs to your own computer forever. So $24.99 is either one of the world’s great bargains — or not.

Antiquities. On one of the slides appearing behind Steve Jobs is a stack of CDs. Damn, they’re hideous. Did we ever actually use those things?

AAPL is down. It dropped five bucks yesterday. Down another $3.50 as I write this. Call this “iPad Syndrome.” Remember the industry’s reaction to the original iPad? “Just a big iPhone.” “No surprises, no new breakthroughs.” “Apple’s first dud.” The stock dropped. In broad strokes, just about everything we saw yesterday was “expected.” However, what’s expected can be the start of a whole new world. Like iPad.

The prognosticators. Not that we need to be reminded to take people’s opinions with a grain of salt, but… John Gruber’s pre-WWDC idea was “Think of iCloud as the new iTunes.” In fact, he’s still describing it that way after the show. It’s a good sound bite, but not totally accurate. In truth, iCloud is exactly what Steve Jobs said: the new hub of your digital life. Yes, that includes your iTunes content, but it also includes the things you create. For now, that includes the documents you create in iWork, but that capability will no doubt expand. iCloud is about your whole life — documents, photos, contacts, calendars, etc. — not just your entertainment. The Cult of Mac’s “exclusive” was obviously absurd, yet was quoted by many blogs and news services. They said iCloud would not be hosted in Apple’s new data center after all, but instead would reside on your Time Capsule (purchase required if you don’t already own one). Somehow it never struck them that Apple was signing contracts with the music companies for the rights to do something new with their music, not just store it on a personal hard disk.

All in all, good show. Let’s do it again sometime.

apple / apple news / iPhone / observatory / technology — 10 Comments
31
May 11

Anatomy of an Apple rumor

“Daddy, where do Apple rumors come from?”

Good question. Though conspiracy-mongers believe Apple masterfully manipulates journalists and bloggers, providing millions of dollars’ worth of free buzz, that’s hardly the case.

The Apple rumor/buzz machine stopped needing any help from Apple eons ago. That, thanks to years of phenomenal success and a famously mercurial CEO.

It takes only a hint of a fact, a mere whiff of a story, for journalists and bloggers to spread the story like wildfire. A good example of this is the recent avalanche of rumors surrounding the mysterious launch date of iPhone 5.

It started innocently enough:

Two months ago, Apple sent out an invitation its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The invitation had only one line of text: Join us for a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X.

This invite was accompanied by a release from Phil Schiller, in which he said, “If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”

Jim Dalrymple is a blogger known for his reliable sources. Jim immediately posted an article entitled No iPhone, iPad or Mac hardware coming at WWDC. His first sentence: “Apple closed the door this morning on any speculation that it would announce new hardware at its Worldwide Developers Conference saying it would focus on iOS and Mac OS.”

Apple “closed the door”? Yikes. A bit extreme, considering:

1. The invitation went out two months in advance of the WWDC. Apple has never, ever announced an intention to unveil new products two months in advance.
2. Apple’s developer event is, by no coincidence, aimed at developers. Every WWDC invitation in history has focused on software.

However, none of this stopped the story from being picked up by tons of news services and blogs, including the well-respected John Gruber at Daring Fireball. Most ran with with headlines like No iPhone 5 at WWDC this summer.

Of course Jim Dalrymple may well have other sources that lead him to this conclusion. But again, Apple did not close any doors.

And that was only the start of this rumor. Following this “definitive” word from Apple came more reports trying to scoop the initial reports. Analysts gleaned information from their sources. An Asian manufacturer had information indicating there would be a summer launch after all.

Just a few days ago, it was reported that Apple has been urging journalists around the world to attend the WWDC. To those all over this story, that meant something big was going to happen. One blogger said, “the obvious conclusion is that Apple is announcing a new iPhone.”

Gruber quoted that story, but doubted the “obviousness” of the conclusion by noting, “Again — Apple spread word just two months ago the WWDC wasn’t going to be used to introduce new hardware.”

Cut that out! Apple did nothing of the sort. Apple simply sent out an invitation to its annual software event, as they do every year. Everything else is a hunt for hidden clues.

I have absolutely no idea when iPhone 5 will be announced. Nor do I have any idea what will be announced at WWDC. Hard to tell with so much detective work going on.

But if you’re going to draw any conclusions, you might want to read between the lines of those who are reading between the lines.

 

apple / iPhone / observatory / steve jobs — 11 Comments
2
May 11

Apple’s double-edged sword of silence

Any good musician will tell you that what you don’t play is as important as what you do play.

Filmmakers have milked the pregnant pause as long as there has been film.

Apple, as we well know, is a big believer in silence as well. In fact, the most intense buzz actually begins when Apple says the words, “no comment.” That’s merely the cue for rampant speculation to begin.

But hey, this is part of the fun. Apple has relied on secrecy for years, all to build anticipation for the moment when Steve Jobs gets on stage to pull the curtain once again.

However, Apple is also enamored of another kind of silence. They tend to shut down when things take a dark turn — as they did with the iPhone antenna issue, or the more recent iPhone location-tracking issue.

Unfortunately, these are the times when people most need to hear something. Anything.

In talking about the location-tracking flareup the other day, I used the analogy of air travel. It’s horribly frustrating when the pilot keeps passengers in the dark about a long delay, but he relieves all the pressure by simply getting on the PA system to acknowledge the problem.

I get — and totally appreciate — Apple’s explanation that these are complicated issues, that they need time to understand what’s happening and formulate the proper response. They certainly need to be thoughtful. But the airline pilot doesn’t need to understand all the reasons why that airplane is blocking our gate before he tells us we’ll be delayed. It’s common courtesy. It doesn’t make passengers gleeful, but it does quell the mass rebellion in the cabin.

In both Antennagate and Locationgate, Apple could have done the same thing — acknowledge the issue and promise to tell us more as soon as they are able.

The Apple of old might have been able to get away with the silent treatment. But this Apple is different. As the biggest technology company on earth, it’s become a huge, juicy target. By going silent when negative issues arise, they gain nothing — they only encourage the image of arrogance and unresponsiveness. It’s just not necessary.

Last week, Apple came up with yet another way to play the silence card. They announced that the white iPhone is finally shipping, but failed to mention one little detail. It’s a tiny bit thicker than the black iPhone.

(Update, May 3: I fell into an embarrassing trap, and I have to take it like a man. With so many sites reporting that the white iPhone was thicker than the black one —with photographic evidence — I assumed it was true. Not. Consumer Reports stepped up to the plate with a micrometer to put the rumor to rest. So … never mind. I’ll be more vigilant next time.)

This isn’t the kind of thing you shout in a TV commercial. But it is the kind of thing you note in a press release — spinning it to show how cleverly Apple overcame the engineering challenge. To say nothing, and leave it for others to discover, is just asking for another black mark.

(Phil Schiller went on record this morning to say the thicker white iPhone story is “junk.” Interesting, because that doesn’t exactly match up with the photos. Anyone have a micrometer?)

Maybe Apple should tweak their policy on silence a wee bit. It’s inevitable that the brand takes a hit now and then. It’s just a shame when the damage is self-inflicted.

apple / apple news / iPhone / observatory / steve jobs / technology — 7 Comments
28
Apr 11

iPhone’s perfect storm

How I spent my winter vacation, courtesy of iPhone

If the iPhone location-tracking mess has you alternately muttering, “How dare they,” “Who the hell cares,” and “You tell ’em, Apple,” there’s good reason.

This particular blip in iPhone history is being fueled by three different forces.

For starters, there’s the growing national/global paranoia about our personal information falling into the wrong hands.

Then we have the never-ending obsession with Apple — with anti-Apple forces eager to pounce on any perceived chink in the armor and admirers eager to leap to the company’s defense.

Last, we have Apple tossing out its own statement yesterday — too late for some people’s tastes — and with enough fodder to give both sides some good ammunition.

Personally, I find it odd that people would get bent out of shape that their approximate location history has been stored somewhere in iTunes. (A) I could care less who knows where I’ve been, and (B) I thought we Mac users were so smug about our computers being safe and secure.

If someone did break into my computer, the iPhone location file is the last thing I’d care about them finding. My computer contains everything: my contacts, credit cards, bank accounts and information about the secret second family I have in Wisconsin. (Damn, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.)

The story gets bigger mostly because it involves Apple. In the last few weeks, there have been two far more serious threats to our confidential information, neither of which seems to have gotten as much press as LocationGate.

Just days ago, the Playstation Network was hacked. About 77 million had their email address and possibly credit card number stolen.

A short time ago, the marketing company Epsilon was hacked in the largest name and email heist in history. You’ve probably received a number of warnings from big companies who relied on Epsilon, advising that your email address has been compromised as a result. They’re very sorry for the inconvenience.

So excuse me if I don’t get upset that a hacker who hasn’t yet broken into my computer might one day sneak in and find out that I drove down to Florida a couple of months ago.

But now Apple blasts into the news with an official explanation. They say they’ve been silent because, basically, they’ve been working on it. They should know that the most frustrating part of air travel is when the pilot leaves us in the dark. A simple “we’re experiencing a delay, and I’ll get back to you when I have more information” would have sufficed.

Reportedly, Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall worked on the response together because they wanted to get it right. Unfortunately, parts of their explanation sound more like spin than they should. For example:

The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location…

Kind of the same thing, isn’t it? I look at my own iPhone location map, and I’m sorry — those are in fact the locations I visited.

They say that saving a year’s worth of data is a “bug,” because it should only save a week’s worth. It’s also a bug that data collection continues even when you turn off location services. To common folk, bugs are things that make software crash or perform improperly. In both of these cases, the software is doing exactly what Apple told it to do. They seem to be more errors in judgment than bugs. Especially when we know that this information is collected on purpose.

In the end, I don’t think it’s a big deal. Apple could have been more straightforward, but I take them at their word that the collected data is anonymous and used only to improve future services.

In fact, this could be a huge moneymaking opportunity if you have the hacking skills. Imagine: Location Maps of the Stars. How fun it would be to see the 12-month location maps of the rich and famous — starting with Jobs, Schiller and Forstall.

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