Archive for: June 2007

Apple has strengthened two of the iPhone’s Achilles’ heels by boosting battery life and adding an optical-quality glass screen.

The first potential problem, mediocre battery life, has been remedied with significantly stronger power cell. Instead of just five hours of talk time, as reported by Apple when it first showed the iPhone in January, the new and improved iPhone will deliver eight hours, according the company. Internet use increased by one hour to up to six hours, video playback increased two hours, now up to seven hours, and audio playback jumped from 16 hours to 24 hours.

These new battery life statistics, Apple boasted, are better than competing phones like the Nokia N95 , Samsung Blackjack , RIM’s Blackberry Curve 8300 and Palm Treo 750 . The iPhone’s battery, like the iPod’s but unlike most competing smartphones, is built-in and difficult for the user to remove. This makes the device’s solid battery life critical to its day-to-day usability.

“With eight hours of talk time and 24 hours of audio playback, iPhone’s battery life is longer than any other smartphone and even longer than most MP3 players,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

The entire top surface is now glass, which provides for superior scratch resistance and clarity.

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New CEO Mike Volpi said Joost is a piece of software that can reside on a variety of platforms, including a television with an internet connection, a set-top box, a mobile phone, or in some alternative device that might come out in the future.
Perhaps it’s coincidental that at a time Joost appears to be experiencing unexpected problems it also starts talking about embedding its player software in consumer hardware.

David Clark, executive vice president of global advertising for Joost, told TV Week that a year from now there will be a lot more convergence, enough that “you will see Joost in the living room.” He said that the vast majority of consumers will eventually use Joost as their primary entertainment platform. As long as you have an internet connected device you would have access to the Joost community, he said.
Joost founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have to be taken seriously. They successfully developed their own technology to use the net to speed the copying of music tracks (Kazaa) and to carry voice-quality conversations (Skype). Both developments eroded long established and well-heeled industries: music and telecom.

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