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Now iPhone developers are stealing Windows Phone 7 apps

August 2, 2011 | By Surur

Taking their cue from Steve Jobs, who called 2011 the year of the copier and promptly stole all the best ideas from Android and Windows Phone 7, this iPhone developer basically stole the design from the Diving calculator and log book wholesale from German developer Sven Knoch.

Sven’s app, Diving Log, which retails for $2.99, was released in December 2010, while Massimiliano Gargani’s Divers Book, which is free, was released only a few weeks ago.

Sven is still to have words with the copyist, but would appreciate if buyers who want a clean metro designed dive log turn to his app, in Marketplace here, rather than a bad knock-off in the app store.

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A lesson worth learning

July 26, 2011 | By rush24

If Windows Phone 7 is so good, how come no one is hearing about it? (And why are so few people buying it?) Because for whatever reason, the important people in the mobile industry aren’t really talking about it much.

That is a quote from Dan Frommer in his article analyzing the Changwave survey on Windows Phone 7 customer satisfaction results. It dovetails with the sentiments of my recent post and a majority of our readers as well.

The point is (not to beat over a dead horse) that Windows Phone has great potential just waiting to be unleashed. The following headline illustrates a huge contrast between the two tech giants, Microsoft’s and Apple’s marketing strategies. From Boy Genius Report

Apple recruiting additional staff for fall iPhone 5 launch

It goes on to say

Apple is recruiting additional staff at U.S. Apple Store locations ahead of the launch of its highly anticipated fifth-generation iPhone. MacRumors reports that Apple is contacting former employees and asking them to come back as part time workers from August 15th through September 15th. In emails reportedly sent from Apple to the former retail staff, Apple says it is looking for part time employees to assist with the “holidays, new product launches and back to school time.”

Continue reading →

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Microsoft has 3 months to make or break Windows Phone – Part 2

July 21, 2011 | By rush24

Click here for part 1

3. Windows Phone Studio

The new IOS 5 will include the iCloud service with allows easy syncing of IOS devices. The old Windows Mobile had a great online component called My Phone. With it, you could…

synchronize your contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, photos, videos, text messages, songs, browser favorites and documents between your phone and your My Phone web account.

Then came the Kin Studio, a revolutionary cloud service that accompanied the short-lived Kin Phone. I hope that Microsoft will bring this back in the form of “Windows phone Studio.” This would include all the features that existed in the My Phone service like lost phone tracking in this new service. I also hope they integrate the Office Web Apps, Office 365, SkyDrive, and Live Mesh Synching capabilities. Something that the Skype purchase could bring is text messaging (as a premium addition perhaps) to cell phones and land lines directly from the the web interface. Adding Xbox live account management, Zune pass streaming, podcasts and Zune social would be a good bonus!

I also would like to see the the Kin Studio UI maintained rather the stale Windows Live UI. With this, Windows phone will be well ahead of Android and IOS when it comes to the cloud component (especially the ease of use) of mobile devices which I believe will be an integral part of the industry going forward.

Continue reading →

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Microsoft has 3 months to make or break Windows Phone – Part 1

July 21, 2011 | By rush24

“if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it still make a sound?”

That is the dilemma I believe ails the Windows phone in its quest to make a headway in the highly competitive mobile landscape. Even with the great reviews of the huge mango update scheduled for the fall, and the prospects of second generation hardware coming from OEMs like Samsung, HTC and especially the much awaited Nokia branded phones, I’m afraid that Windows phone will continue to languish as a so-so mobile OS behind Google and Apple if Microsoft does not fundamentally change their approach in marketing and exposing the OS to the consumers. The new iPhone hardware refresh with IOS 5 and the latest Android 4.0 are set to come out around the same time frame in the fall as Windows Phone Mango. Being the under dog, Microsoft has to actively do more work than their top two competitors.

Here are the six areas that I think they need to fix in order to give Windows Phone a chance to gain market share.

Continue reading →

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ITC rules HTC infringes two of Apple’s patents–may block the importation of HTC’s Android handsets

July 15, 2011 | By Surur

The ITC has ruled in Apple’s favour on two of 10 patents it claims HTC is infringing in its Android handsets.

The ruling stems from an March 2010 complaint, and does not include a July 2011 complaint which ads an additional 5 patents, and which asks for a wide swatch of HTC Android handsets to be banned from importation in the USA.

Android OEMs are universally vulnerable to patent infringement complaints as Google does not warrant that the software is free from infringement and does not indemnify them from damages due to patent complaints.

OEMs like HTC, Samsung and Motorola are all embroiled in patent infringement suites with Microsoft and Apple at present related to such claims.

Rulings such as these may force OEMs to consider using a properly licensed commercial mobile operating system like Windows Phone 7, for which Microsoft provides unlimited indemnity against claims for copyright, patents and trade secrets, and for which Microsoft already has broad cross-licensing agreements with other major patent holders.

More at CNet.com here.

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Apple asks ITC to block importation of HTC’s Android handsets, leaves WP7 ones alone

July 12, 2011 | By Surur

Apple has filed a new complaint with the ITC, asking for an importation ban on a large number of HTC’s handsets and tablets into USA.

The devices include the HTC Droid Incredible, Droid Incredible 2, Wildfire, T-Mobile mytouch 3G, T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide, T-Mobile G1, T-Mobile G2, Evo 4G, Aria, Desire, Hero, Merge, Inspire 4G, Evo 4G, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt 4G, and the HTC Flyer tablet.

All of the handsets are Android powered, and Apple are accusing them of infringing on 5 separate patents on scrolling, rotation and scaling operations on touch-screen displays, as well as touch screens used in vehicle instrumentation, to prove their claims. There is also one that refers to ‘portable computers’ and one that is for a double-sided touch-sensitive panel.

HTC’s Windows Phone 7 handsets are protected from law suites addressing the software by indemnification Microsoft provides with the OS when it licenses the software. Google has so far refused to provide similar indemnification for its OEMs, and has failed to secure a protective patent hoard recently against a consortium including Microsoft and Apple.

The ITC will decide within 30 days whether an investigation should be undertaken on the evidence present in the complaint.

Maybe HTC should spend a bit more time promoting their Windows Phone 7 handsets, in case the worst happens?

Via TNW

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BBC thinks Google and Facebook invented automatic picture uploading

July 8, 2011 | By Surur

stupid_logo_high_res_3 There is a reason why patents were invented – otherwise credit goes to those making the loudest noise.

Such is the case now with Google +. In this BBC article the reporter is apparently under the impression automatic uploading of pictures were a new feature developed by Apple and implemented first by Google.

They wrote:

There is also an Android smartphone app for the Google+ network which I’ve tested briefly. It offers Huddle, a group text-messaging system, but more interesting is an option which automatically uploads photos from your phone to your profile.

That’s an idea which Steve Jobs unveiled as a feature of Apple’s iCloud service. Now Google has got in first.

Of course we know that MyPhone has been uploading our pictures for ages now, and real time uploading started with the KIN phones and was perfected in Windows Phone 7.

Maybe slapping Google with a patent suite will get credit restored to where it is due.

Thanks John for the tip.

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Apple slowly losing App Store trademark

July 7, 2011 | By Surur

U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton has struck down Apple’s initial request for an injunction against Amazon for the use of the trademarked term App Store.

Judge Hamilton has ruled Apple failed to prove that its App Store trademark is “prominent and renowned” further adding that several other companies use the phrase “app store” to describe a place from which mobile software can be purchased and downloaded — in much the same way people describe a place where you can purchase groceries as a grocery store, or hardware as a hardware store.

Hamilton also took issue with Apple’s assertion that Amazon’s Appstore would allow malicious or inappropriate apps to enter the market and that would harm the company’s reputation. That’s highly unlikely, she stated, since Amazon doesn’t offer downloads for iOS devices.

The case is still to go to full trial, but with the judge already ruling that App Store is in generic use Apple does not seem to have much legs to stand on.

Microsoft has been one company who has come out in support of App Store generic term, suggesting at some point we may start hearing about the Microsoft Windows Phone App Store ?

Via Geek.com

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Apple Bin Windows Phone 7 game now in Marketplace

June 22, 2011 | By escdev

Apple Bin is a newly released exclusive Windows Phone 7 title from Escape Development.

Featuring 40 unique levels using the Farseer physics engine, Apple Bin is easy to pick up but hard to master and was recently featured in Microsoft’s Channel 9 Hot Apps.

Taking a light hearted jab at our smart phone brethren , Apple Bin’s main goal is to throw your apple in the bin in as fewest shots as possible.

You’ll need to bounce, roll and smash your way to victory.

Apple Bin is free and can be found in Marketplace here.

Contact:
Email: escdevelopment-at-gmail.com
Twitter: @escdev

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iOS5 faster than Mango at HTML5 rendering? Wrong!

June 21, 2011 | By Surur

Winrumors have claimed that the latest version of iOS5 has overtaken Windows Phone 7 Mango in the HTML5 speed rendering stakes, going from 1-2 fps to 32 fps, faster than the 25 fps demonstrated for Mango at MIX11.

What Tom has not taken into account was that Mango has continued to improve itself, and in testing done by The Next Web Windows Phone 7 repeatedly hit 41 FPS, and this is of course with a Snapdragon processor generations older than that in the iPhone 4.

While it seems the iPhone did a lot to catch up with Windows Phone 7 in iOS5, like with many other features Apple stole from Windows Phone 7 Apple still has a long way to go to do it better.

Now Apple will also help pay for Windows Phone 7 handsets

June 14, 2011 | By Surur

It seems, despite all of Apple’s bluster, the company was not confident enough to see their patent case with Nokia through after all.

The case, which involved fundamental GSM technology which everyone else except Apple licensed from Nokia, has been settled, it appears in Nokia’s favour, with Nokia getting a one-off payment and also undisclosed regular royalties. All complaints between the companies have now also been dropped.

Like with Microsoft and Android handsets, this in effect means Apple’s iPhone will also be subsidizing Nokia’s business, which in the next few months will start revolving increasingly around producing Windows Phone 7 handsets.

Via Bloomberg.com

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iPhone’s stolen WP7 viewfinder on video

June 12, 2011 | By Surur

We wrote about Apple stealing the iconic Windows Phone 7 viewfinder in iOS 5 a few days ago, but then we only had a text description.

Now Redmondpie have uploaded a video of the feature in action, and the copy appears even more blatant than we originally imagined.

Like many of iOS5’s new features however the viewfinder + camera roll appears pretty tacked on, with the UI not giving any indication of the new feature, unlike Windows Phone 7 which uses text and other features rolling off the screen to hint that there is more features and functionality on other screens.

The feature also clearly violates the Microsoft patent for a viewfinder which displays “active and passive content”:

“Integrated Viewfinder and Digital Media”:

A user interface can display active and passive content. For example, a camera viewfinder image can be displayed on a screen, as part of a strip, concatenated with one or more other images, for example, images that were previously taken with the camera. A user can cause the viewfinder image and the other images to move together across the screen. This can allow a user to easily examine the other images and the viewfinder image without, for example, switching between different screens in a user interface. Media captured with a device can be associated with a media category by positioning a user interface element near one or more other elements associated with the category.

(USPTO)

As we mentioned in our original article, Apple never had a huge reputation for being an innovator but rather for perfecting. It is clear now that even this second element to their earlier success is slipping rapidly away.

Via Redmondpie.com

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Now Apple steals Windows Phone 7 camera viewfinder also

June 8, 2011 | By Surur

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore has said they are flattered by Apple copying Windows Phone 7 features like being able to take pictures without unlocking your phone. I suspect they did not see the full extent of the IP theft however.

9 to 5 Mac writes that the iPhone camera app now has a new feature – while in the view finder swiping from left to right now takes you to the camera roll, and if you continue swiping you can scroll through your pictures. A tap on on the picture brings up a menu which will take you back to the view finder.

The system should sound very familiar to any Windows Phone 7 user, although of course Apple’s implementation sounds much cruder and frankly tacked on compared to the sleek and integrated Windows Phone 7 version.

We wonder what other Windows Phone 7 features will show up on iOS next? Maybe a less old and cluttered user interface?

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