Apple Has Pulled Videos Of Smartphones With Antenna Problems…. Sort Of…

I guess “The Steve” has finally gotten the hint that he needs to fix the iPhone 4′s antenna problems rather than take shots at other smartphone companies as the now infamous Apple antenna site is missing all of the videos of all the other smartphones that drew the ire of so many. At least they’ve done that in the US. The Apple Canada antenna site still has the videos intact. I’m not sure what the deal is. Perhaps Apple got a cease and desist order that only covers the US? Perhaps it’s just an error on Apple’s part? Whatever the reason is, it’s interesting that this change took place.

iPhone 4 Launched In More Places… And I Tried One

Yesterday brought the arrival of the iPhone 4  to more places including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. In many places such as Canada, people lined up for hours for one. I’m going to assume that “antennagate” clearly hasn’t had an effect on demand. My “best friends at Rogers” let me know about a post on Redboard that describes their plans for the iPhone including the return of the 6GB/$30 plan that appeared after the “circus” that was part of their original iPhone launch.

On another note, I tried a 16GB iPhone 4 this week while I was in the United States and my impressions are as follows:

• The feel and the construction is top notch.
• The display is amazing
• The quality of the pictures from the camera is stunning
• The speed of the iOS on the phone makes it more than usable.

Now here’s the downside, I could replicate the antenna issues rather easily. In fact, the Blackberry Bold 9000 that I currently own as well as a Droid X that I had borrowed to compare didn’t do this nearly as easily as the iPhone 4 did. So the antenna issue with this phone do exist. It would be in Apple’s best interests to sort that out rather than point fingers at others.

Have you just got an iPhone? Post a comment and let us know what you think?

A Bumper Crop Of Apple News

Boy. Over the last 24 hours, Apple has done a lot. First they released Safari 5.0.1 which according to the docs on this update fixes that privacy bug that I told you about. Mac users who are still using Safari should hit Software Update ASAP. But oddly enough, that isn’t the big news. Yesterday, Apple released a ton of new product:

• New iMacs hit the streets with Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and ATI Radeon HD graphics. SSD drive options also make an appearance.
• New Mac Pros made an appearance with the ability to customize them with 12 processor cores. That’s insane. There’s also options for ATI Radeon HD graphics and SSD drives.
• Also new is the Magic Trackpad which brings MacBook like trackpad functionality to any computer. Even Windows computers.
• Apple now has a 27 inch Cinema Display that has the resolution of the now discontinued 30″ Cinema Display. By the way, the 24 inch Cinema Display has been discontinued as well. Hint: I’m guessing that if you want a 30 inch or a 24 inch monitor, you can likely get a good deal on one now at your local Apple reseller.

Along with those releases is another software update for newer MacBook and MacBooks Pro models that brings the Magic Trackpad functionality to them. I downloaded it on to my MacBook Pro and found it to be a worthwhile update. Scrolling seems smoother and the new functionality that allows you to do things like browse photos with a swipe of your fingers is useful.

The best thing about all of this news is that there’s nothing new on the “antennagate” front from Apple.

Motorola Hits Back At Apple Over Droid X Video

If anyone was wondering what Motorola was going to do about that Droid X video that showed the phone having an antenna problem, they’ve responded. Droid Life has a picture that’s part of a new ad blitz from Motorola called “No Jacket Required” which points out that the phone doesn’t need a case to function properly. They also have this to say:

At Motorola, we believe a customer shouldn’t have to dress up their phone for it to work properly.  That’s why the DROID X comes with a dual antenna design.  The kind that allows you to hold the phone any way you like to make crystal clear calls without a bulky phone jacket.  For us it’s just one of those things that comes as a given when you’ve been making mobile phones for over 30 years.

Ouch. But the truth hurts I guess. Apple, it’s time to man up and fix the iPhone 4 rather than blaming others. In fact, it’s beyond time to do that.

Rogers Launches Chatr…. Lawsuit At 11

The Globe And Mail is reporting that Rogers today launched the Chatr discount brand that I spoke about in a previous story:

In a release, the company said chatr would be launching in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa, with Montreal to follow, and would offer an unlimited talk plan for $35 and an unlimited talk-and-text plan for $45. chatr will not offer contracts and handset subsidies, and is offering a variety of cheap cellphones, some as low as $60.

Charming. But Rogers is going to have to defend this new brand in court as Mobilicty is kind of ticked off about the existence of this brand, as I mentioned previously:

“It is clear this brand was designed to solely go after the new entrants and drive them out of the market,” said Stewart Lyons, chief operating officer, Mobilicity.

Lyons said Mobilicity lawyers are preparing to launch legal proceedings against Rogers and intend to file a complaint to Canada’s Competition Tribunal.

Amazing. Yet another case of two companies fighting it out in court with the lawyers being the only winners. In any case, we’ll see what the end results of this are. But in the meantime, if you’re Canadian, now might be a really good time to get a cell phone.

New Video Posted On Apple’s Antenna Performance Page… Why Won’t They Let This Die?

You have to wonder why Apple would persist in fanning the flames of “antennagate.” This time they’re taking aim at the Motorola Droid X on their spin doctoring Antenna Performance page. Here’s the video:

Is this what happens when “The Steve’s” ego is bruised? Does he behave like a five year old and blames his schoolmates for having the same problem? Perhaps he needs to grow up and just say sorry? Perhaps he should do the right thing and take ownership of the issue? Perhaps he should just fix the iPhone 4 and end this once and for all? People might actually give him some respect if he did that.

Apple Launches Free Case Program

Just like they promised they would during the news conference where they put some serious spin on their antenna issues, Apple have launched their free case program. Just surf to this website to start the process to get your free case. Apple is also offering up “select” third party cases as well as their own, plus they are offering refunds to people who bought Apple cases. Just give them up to 5 weeks before you see your case. Which means that until it arrives, you’ll have to use duct tape to make sure your signal strength doesn’t drop.

Rogers Claims Changes In Its Internet Service Are Unrelated To Netflix

Yesterday, I reported that Rogers had lowered it’s download limits a couple of days after Netflix announced that they were coming to Canada. Many people have concluded that Rogers might feel threatened for a variety of reasons, but my “best friends at Rogers” sent me an e-mail to say that that’s not the case:

As always, new customers have a wide range of plans to select from depending on their usage habits and speed needs. For example, new customers in Ontario signing up for Rogers new Extreme Hi Speed Internet service will benefit from a speed boost – now available with download speeds of 15Mbps up from 10Mbps.

Existing Rogers Hi Speed Internet customers are not affected by changes made to Ontario Lite and Extreme tier plans.

We constantly review our Internet offers to ensure they meet the needs of new and existing customers while remaining competitive. These changes to the Light and Extreme tier plans are unrelated to the Netflix announcement made earlier this week.”.

Okay. So you’ve heard what Rogers has had to say. Do you buy it? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Safari For Mac Has A Serious Security Flaw…. Fanbois Cry In Despair

As if problems with iPhone antennas wasn’t enough, Apple now has a new worry. A serious security flaw with their Safari browser that only affects Mac users. Jeremiah Grossman found the flaw and describes it in his blog:

Right at the moment a Safari user visits a website, even if they’ve never been there before or entered any personal information, a malicious website can uncover their first name, last name, work place, city, state, and email address. Safari v4 & v5, with a combined market browser share of 4% (~83 million users), has a feature (Preferences > AutoFill > AutoFill web forms) enabled by default. Essentially we are hacking auto-complete functionality.

Charming. But Grossman did the responsible thing and reported it to Apple. But…:

I figured Apple might appreciate a vulnerability disclosure prior to public discussion, which I did on June 17, 2010 complete with technical detail. A gleeful auto-response came shortly after, to which I replied asking if Apple was already aware of the issue. I received no response after that, human or robot. I have no idea when or if Apple plans to fix the issue, or even if they are aware, but thankfully Safari users only need to disable AutoFill web forms to protect themselves.

Lovely. Another example of Apple dropping the ball when it comes to security…. Again. It gets worse. There’s proof of concept code floating around for this. Just go to this website to see the exploit in action. Just bring Safari on your Mac and see what happens next.

If you want to protect yourself, you have two choices:

• Go to preferences > Auto-fill, and uncheck “Use info from my Address Book card” if you want to keep using Safari on your Mac
• Switch to another browser. Chrome and Firefox would be my choices.

Choose wisely.

Good News And Bad News From Rogers

First the good news. My “best friends at Rogers” sent me an e-mail to let me know that the Sony Xperia X10 Mini will be making an exclusive appearance at Rogers:

Just a heads up that Sony Ericsson has just announced that the Xperia X10 mini is available exclusively from Rogers.

The X10 mini – the world’s smallest Android smartphone – is available starting today exclusively from Rogers starting at $29.99 on select voice and data plans.

More details on the device can be found in Sony Ericsson’s press release here.

I’m good with small. I’m toying with the idea of getting a smaller phone. The feature set looks pretty solid:

• Four corner touch – users can customize the four corners of their screen according to the applications they use the most, from emailing¹, to taking pictures to sending text messages².
• Sony Ericsson’s Timescape™ application automatically brings together all recent mobile communication and organizes social interactions in chronological order on one screen. From Facebook™ and Twitter™ updates¹ to missed calls and SMS messages². A 3D scrolling menu offers easy viewing and organization of previews, or full views. Press the infinite button to access all of your communications with one person in one place.
• 5 megapixel camera and video – share creations via the web with the Quick Facebook™¹ and Quick YouTube™¹ applications. The auto focus, geo tagging, photo and video light features enable the user to capture all their favourite moments while on-the-go.
• Music player access the world of music with links to YouTube™¹ and stream and play videos¹. Also features FM radio Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)³.
• Android platform – with Google™ services including Gmail™⁴, Google Maps™ with Street view⁵, Google Search Widget⁴, Google Talk™⁴ and thousands of apps from Android Market™⁴.

I’ll have a look at it and I may dump my Blackberry if it’s really cool… If I can get past some issues that I have with Android.

Now the bad news. The CBC is reporting that Rogers is lowering its download limits for their Internet service:

The company lowered the limits Wednesday on several of its service plans in Ontario, its main market. Users who signed up for the cable company’s “Extreme” service after July 21 will be allowed 80 gigabytes of monthly usage, versus 90 GB for those who signed up before.

Customers who sign up for the “Lite” service will now get 15 GB, versus 25 GB before.

Rogers also simultaneously boosted the speed of the Extreme plan to 15 megabits per second from 10, while the Lite plan’s speed was unchanged.

If you’re wondering why Rogers might do this, here’s an answer for you:

John Lawford, a lawyer with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre consumer watchdog, said the move is both a cash grab by Rogers on its internet customers, and a defensive measure to protect its video services. The company is Canada’s biggest cable television provider and it operates a video streaming service similar to Netflix called On Demand Online.

“It’s easier to make money from overage charges because those aren’t really advertised rates. You’re going to make more money from those overages, eventually, than your regular monthly rates,” Lawford said. “It also kind of wrecks [Netflix's] business model if the cost to the end user goes up after they’ve subscribed and then they cancel it a month later because they can’t afford it.”

If that’s true, then that’s disappointing. I would much rather have seen Rogers adopt some or all of my suggestions and alter Rogers On Demand Online so that it is different than Netflix, and I would also would have like to have seen Rogers take some or all of the suggestions that were in my open letter to them. But honestly, I can’t say that I’m surprised by this at all because I suspected that the arrival of Netfilx in Canada would scare the daylights out of them. After all, Netflix has pretty much killed Blockbuster and I suspect that Rogers may feel that it would make Rogers On Demand Online a non-factor as well as threaten their brick and mortar video stores.

Oh well. I’ll just wait patiently for Bell to do the same thing with their Internet service. Sigh.