GP Apps

Dave — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:13:49 +0000

We will miss Steve deeply.

iPad 2 – March 11

Dave — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 19:18:38 +0000

Our team is excited to get our hands on the new iPad 2. It’s amazing that in less than a year Apple has shrunk the thickness by 33%. And we can’t wait to see the Smart Covers in action.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dave — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 03:37:35 +0000

We’d like to wish all our users a Happy Thanksgiving from the team here at GP Apps.

Real-time app download wall at WWDC

Dave — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:19:51 +0000

From Mona and Lino at WWDC: We want to share this photos we took this afternoon. It is about the visualization of the 50,000 most popular apps in App Store displayed on 30-synchronized 24-inch LED Cinema displays. The app falls when downloaded as being signified by the falling images. We were happy to see Period Tracker Lite and iVidCam Free.

All the apps being downloaded separated by the color of their icons

the falling icons of the apps being downloaded

Period Tracker Lite is one of the many apps downloaded here

iVidCam Free together with the other apps having red-colored icons.

First Keynote Experience

Mona Torib — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:06:26 +0000

It is my first time to attend an International Developer’s Conference and I must say the first day was more than what I expected.

The highlight for WWDC 2010′s first day was the Keynote presented of course by Steve Jobs. Knowing its importance, Lino and I lined up 2 hours before the event and luckily despite the long queue, we were able to get inside the conference room before it got full. Then we waited and watched as the camera men were focusing on different attendees who were busy talking and doing their stuff. Some were even trying their hardest to get the camera men’s attention. That was a fun moment. In the midst of that, the song “What a Wonderful World” was played in the background. I felt a bit melancholic listening to it. (Up to now, I am still wondering why it was played.) Then finally appeared on stage, Steve Jobs.

All of us inside that room were delighted to see Steve in his normal outfit, jolly and excited to see us all waiting for the good news. I was very eager too to hear what he has to say especially about the coming iPhone which untimely exposure brought a lot of buzz the previous months. But I wasn’t expecting much. Our team has been discussing about iPhone OS 4.0 and it’s features. I was certain that will cover majority of the Keynote. Little did I know, I was in for a very pleasant surprise.

Steve Jobs mentioned about the statistics reports for iPhone and apps sales, some updates about iPad, AppStore, HTML 5, etc.. (You will see all the details in the coming Keynote to be posted in Apple site.) But Steve Jobs was just not there to discuss about those stuff. When it was time for iPhone’s Keynote, all of us in that room could not contain our excitement. The talk got more and more interesting as each mind-blowing features were revealed to us one by one. Steve Jobs’ mentioned about the new iPhone 4 hardware design and hardware components, 5-megapixel camera, Retina display, HD video recording and editing, iOS 4, gyro-accelerometer, iBooks new features, new search options, etc… Whew, the features are just too much right? At this point, the attendees were clapping and some were even whistling out of the amazement the iPhone 4 has in store. Apple is giving all users and developers these features even just after 3 years of its birth. As one friend said, nothing beats iPhone but iPhone itself. The surprise didn’t stop there as Steve Jobs had one more. It was FaceTime. I have experienced this kind of feature from a Sharp phone in Japan before so I wasn’t feeling it at first. But when Steve showed us the video clip for FaceTime, I understood what the app was about. For me, FaceTime is not just an app or a new cool feature. It is an app for a families and friends, breaking the communication barrier and giving way to easy connections for everyone with just a wifi connection. FaceTime for me, gave a whole new meaning to iPhone.

At the end of his Keynote, Steve Jobs said that Apple is not just a Technology company. I really do agree. With the Keynote, I am now more convince that Apple isn’t just making products for the sake of making and selling them. Apple innovates not just to showcase new and cool technologies but they always so see to it, as far as I can tell from my own experience, that those new technologies will impact and give users the best experience that Apple can offer. The announcement of iPhone 4 just proves that Apple is not done yet. What I love even more is that Apple did not just make these features to outdo the competition, they have been there in their minds for a long time waiting to be unleashed.

Overall, I am very happy with how the Keynote turned out. It is not everyday that we hear good news and today is an exception. Apple has delivered another great iPhone. I can’t wait for the 15th to come.

iPhone 4: Is it a Gamer Changer?

Dave — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:28:22 +0000

Today Steve Jobs announced the latest and greatest, iPhone 4. He mentioned that they’ve been working on this for 18 months, and it shows. The new iPhone is 24% slimmer than the 3g/3gs model and it’s faster, better battery life, better camera, better screen… basically better everything. He also announced FaceTime, which allows video calls on the iPhone 4. The demo seems very simple, in fact the video Apple put together is quite emotional (Watch theFaceTime video“>See video).

I was especially struck by how much time and energy went into hardware innovation and improvements. (See hardware design improvements). The iPhone 4 gets a gyroscope which basically lets the phone track movement in more detail than an accelerometer. The screen is a retina display which claims to be amazing. And the phone gets a complete overhaul with a custom steel alloy acting as a frame and antenna. The iPhone 4 is the biggest hardware upgrade to the iPhone to date.

The genius of the iPhone 4 is that it’s the most sophesticated phone hardware on the market, yet it’s the simplest. This goes with the new camera, new FaceTime video calls, new OS, etc. This is why so many people love Apple products… they’re beautifully designed, they’ve got great hardware features, and they’re super simple to use.

The big spoiler of the day was AT&T. FaceTime is only with wifi video calls, because Apple needs to “work things out” with the carriers. This is too bad… FaceTime really needs to be via cellular connection to have a mass adoption. Also, there was no Verizon (or Sprint or Tmobile) announcement today. This means people like me still can’t make calls on their phone. I wish Apple and Google would have partnered to buy out a cell company a few years back and use it for cellular data. Let people have a “data only” plan at a reasonable cost with no commitment. Soon people will only need cellular data as voice can go through the internet with Skype and eventually Google Voice and others.

So back to Apple’s headline, “This Changes Everything. Again.” Does it really? I think it really is a big improvement to the iPhone and iOS 4 has some major improvements as well. If Apple didn’t have to work with cellular companies, I think they could blow the competition out of the water. But the cellular companies make things more complicated – distribution is more tricky, releasing features is more complicated, and it’s overall more costly to the consumer all the fees cell companies are charging to consumers. Why has it taken AT&T over a year to release iPhone tethering? (actually it’s still not out yet.) And now FaceTime has to be wifi-only. This is in addition to the terrible voice coverage of AT&T. This really puts a damper on the iPhone. Apple puts all this time/money/effort in innovation and going to market with features like videos calls, only to be hampered by cell providers. The real game changer will be reformation of the cellular provider industry. But in the meantime what will it take for the iPhone 4 to be a game changer right now?

The iPhone 4 needs to be offered on more than just AT&T in the U.S. Apple needs to work with Verizon, Sprint and Tmobile to all carry it. This will give it more potential to be a real game changer. Second, FaceTime has got to work with a cell connection and not just wifi. Hopefully, we’ll get this in early 2011. Third, FaceTime needs to take off as an open standard and get integrated into 3rd party apps like chat clients, Facebook, and others, then it can really be a gamechanger.

What is Apple referring to when it says iPhone 4 changes everything, again? I think it refers to FaceTime. Look for 2011 to be the breakout year for video calls and video conferencing on the iPhone and other phones. Maybe the iPhone 4 introducing FaceTime will go down as a industry changing innovation like the iPod, iTunes, iPhone, AppStore, and iPad.

Apple doesn’t say that it’s introducing a game-changer that often. Today was one of those special days.

iPad Nano and iPad Pro

Dave — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:14:59 +0000

At the All Things D conference, there were two interesting tablet demos. One was the Dell Streak which is a 5″ Android Tablet with 3g/wifi. It’s pretty much a big phone. Then there was the Kno tablet device, which is two 14″ tablets stuck together to simulate textbooks. It’s actually quite impressive. After watching these two demos, I’m starting to see there could be a market for a bigger iPad and a smaller iPad. I’m sure Apple has/is/was considering it. I’d like to see a 7″ iPad targeted more for readers at a lower price point than the current 10″ iPad. If they could get a 7″ iPad out for $349, that’d be great. Then, also I think there’s a market for a bigger iPad, the iPad Pro. This could be a 13″ or 14″ iPad. I think this would overlap with the notebook market, and I think could do very well as more and more iPad apps show the power of the iPhone OS platform.

Kno video demo

Dell Streak demo

AT&T data plan changes

Dave — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:25:05 +0000

AT&T announced changes to their iPhone and iPad data plans today. Press Release

First, I’m disappointed that they’ve changed the iPad data plan options. They’ve removed the $30 unlimited data plan and replaced it with a 2gb $25/month plan. Many people (myself included) were getting a 3g iPad so they can take advantage of the unlimited data plan when traveling along with the option of turning it on or off when needed. Now you’re stuck with a cap on your data usage, something most people won’t go over but it’s still constantly in your head. I wish AT&T would have just kept the $30 unlimited plan, and made some kind of announcement explaining what’s going on… something like “iPad traffic is costing us too much money, but we’ll still keep our plans until June 1st, 2011 and then we’ll make changes then.” That would have been the honorable thing to do. Also, the $30 unlimited plan was one of the major selling points Apple used to pitch the 3g iPad. Sure, AT&T is offering to grandfather those who are already signed up to the unlimited plan, but that doesn’t help most of the folks who wanted to turn on and off the unlimited plan option when needed. Someone on Hacker News wrote a FTC complaint worth reading, See link

Second, I’m disappointed that they’re charging $20 for tethering when they also are limiting data to 2gb for $25/month. Sure, most people don’t use 2gb and it’s $5 less than unlimited. But if you’re paying for 2gb data per month, you should be able to use that in whatever manner you’d like – either on your phone, or tethering to your laptop or iPad. It’s ridiculous to charge $20/month more for tethering when AT&T isn’t even doing anything. The tethering function is built into the iPhone OS and doesn’t require AT&T to lift a dime. AT&T should let people tether for free, now that they’ve capped data at 2gb for $25/month.

Third, I’m disappointed that AT&T is marketing these changes as “lowered data prices.” They should call it just “changed data plan prices.” What they’re doing seems disingenuous.

This is on top of not being able to use my iPhone inside my home because AT&T coverage is so poor where I am. AT&T is not gaining any points with me. The pressure is building. Apple, free the iPhone from AT&T and open it up to all willing carriers.

6/3 Update:
more specifics on the data plan changes
Good and Bad about AT&T Data plan changes by John Gruber

6/5 Update:
David Pogue on AT&T data plans – David Pogue basically agrees with my first two points: 1) bait-and-switch of the 3g iPad unlimited plan, and 2) $20 extra tethering charge. I do agree with him that the $15/month 200mb and $25/month 2gb plan for iPhone is not bad and will save most people money.

Tiny houses

Dave — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Guy lives in 100sqft house for past 10 years. Would love one to try out, but too bad it costs 50k.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37157280/ns/business-small_business

The Apple Roll

Dave — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:08:59 +0000

Great article by John Gruber on how Apple releases first generation core products, then relentlessly improves them over time.
http://www.macworld.com/article/151235/2010/05/apple_rolls.html