Apple Claims Exploding iPhones Due to External Force; Denies Battery Problems

Stupid and unjustified App Store rejection letter of the day

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Bad Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

TUAW has covered the fine iPhone apps from Tapbots more than once. ConvertBot is a beautifully-designed and functional app to do a myriad of unit conversion calculations, while WeightBot is my personal favorite app for keeping track of my incredible ballooning body.

Tapbots posted an entry on their blog today stating that the most recent version of ConvertBot (1.4) had been rejected by Apple. What was Apple's reason for the rejection? As you can see in the graphic at the top of the page, the ConvertBot icon for time conversions looks very similar to the Phone app icon for recent calls. This is the same icon that has passed Apple's scrutiny in previous versions, so it is ridiculous for the company's eagle-eyed app inspectors to suddenly decide that the icon is unfit for iPhone consumption.

Mark Jardine of Tapbots noted "So what's the plan? I need to redo the icon, I suppose. But Convertbot icons were meant to use as little lines/shapes as possible to identify the category. I feel that our current icon represents time as simply as possible. So how can we make Time different? What if it's set at 9 o'clock instead of 3? Is that acceptable? The big problem here is the only way I can get that answer is by making the change, resubmitting the app, and waiting another week or 2 for Apple's verdict."

What gives, Apple? You release a couple of amazing apps to the world this week (Facebook, Spotify, TUAW, and Yelp), but you hold up the next release of an established app over an icon. I'm giving the App Store approval people the "idiots" tag on this post.

Stupid and unjustified App Store rejection letter of the day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stupid and unjustified App Store rejection letter of the day originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW’s iPhone app: it’s alive

If you love TUAW, iPhones, and apps (and let's be honest... you do), then today should be filled with wonderment and excitement. Why you ask? Because our homeboys and girls over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog have released their very own iPhone app -- and it's pretty darn slick. If you know what's good for you, you'll get to downloading it right now. It's what Steve Jobs would want you to do.

Read - TUAW's post on the app
Read - iTunes link

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

TUAW's iPhone app: it's alive originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Closer Look at Snow Leopard’s Wake on Demand Feature [Updated]

MacUser provides an in-depth look at one useful new feature in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: Wake On Demand.

[Wake On Demand] is Apple's name for a new networking feature that lets a Snow Leopard Mac go to sleep while a networked base ...

A Closer Look at Snow Leopard’s Wake on Demand Feature

MacUser provides an in depth look at one useful new feature in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: Wake On Demand.

[Wake On Demand] is Apple’s name for a new networking feature that lets a Snow Leopard Mac go to sleep while a networked base ...

Review: Joyland Bounce for iPhone

In Joyland Bounce, you control a bouncing orange ball trying to gather up stars that have fallen from the sky. It's a simple concept that some players may tire of quickly, though the game does boast 35 levels and interesting animation.

Hell freezes over; Now X Client for Mac now shipping

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Blast From the Past, iPhone

In a surprise move after years of breathless anticipation by users of Now Up-To-Date and Contact, Now Software released Now X Client for Mac on Thursday, August 27, 2009. In case you're wondering, yes, this was the calendar and contact app formerly known as Nighthawk.

Why the snarky tone? Well, Nighthawk Now X has been one of the biggest examples of vaporware in the Mac community for at least two or three years. Many users of Now Up-To-Date and Contact, which was a relatively powerful set of applications for managing calendars and contacts, have waited patiently for the promised app, only to have their hopes dashed year after year. All of my clients who used NUDC have moved on to other Mac / iPhone or cloud apps.

Even this announcement is somewhat tainted. There's no Windows version of Now X for people in multi-platform offices, the much-touted server module isn't done, and the FAQ page states that "Now X runs on both Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard." Uh, guys, while you were developing this application, Apple came out with something called Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Now Software also states that Now X syncs to iPhone, but there's no iPhone client -- it simply syncs Up-To-Date info to Calendar and Contact to Contacts. Most other apps of this type, including Marketcircle Daylite, have an accompanying iPhone app. The company says that the app "is being designed." From past experience, Now X users looking for an iPhone version may have a very long wait ahead of them.

A TUAW First Look of the Now X Client for Mac will be posted soon.

Hell freezes over; Now X Client for Mac now shipping originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hell freezes over; Now X Client for Mac now shipping originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China Unicom Strikes Deal with Apple to Finally Bring the iPhone to China

Apple Resellers Report iPod Stocks Dwindling, All SKUs Being Discontinued

Ars Technica reports that Apple resellers are currently reporting low stocks of most iPod models, and no additional shipments of the existing models are reported to be available. Additionally, resellers report that the stock-keeping units (SKUs) for...

Microsoft Declares Office 2008 Ready for Snow Leopard, Most ‘Spaces’ Issues Fixed

In a blog post today, Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit senior product manager Mike Tedesco announces that Office 2008 has been tested with Mac OS X Snow Leopard and declared ready for use. Importantly, Tedesco also notes that most of the issues rel...

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Officially Launched Today

Photo by Tundraboy
Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 officially launched today, though to much shorter lines than previous launches. Snow Leopard reviews started appearing a couple of days ago and most found it to be a worthy upgrad...

Apple, China Unicom strike 3-year deal

Filed under: Apple Corporate, iPhone

It looks like Daily Finance guessed correctly. Early on Friday, Apple and China Unicom Ltd (CHU) announced a 3-year partnership to officially bring the iPhone to China. CHU will buy the handsets from Apple on a wholesale basis and will not participate in revenue sharing. CHU is the 2nd largest carrier in China, while China Mobile is first with 498 million users. In fact, China Mobile is the largest carrier in the world and China is the largest market. CHU hopes to get a competitive boost with the iPhone.

As we noted in July, the iPhone will be sold with Wi-Fi disabled in China, in accordance with Chinese regulations (the so-called "Great Firewall of China).

If you're in China or plan to travel there, let us know if and when you begin seeing iPhones for sale.

[Via AppleInsider]

Apple, China Unicom strike 3-year deal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple, China Unicom strike 3-year deal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Overheating iPhone reports ‘exploding’ all over France, Apple responds

Reports of iPhones exploding, starting fires and killing people in cold blood have been around since the inception of the handset. They've also been relatively sporadic, seemingly short on evidence, and Apple hasn't given complaints much credence or response. So when we heard a story from France the other day about a security guard's iPhone "exploding" and sending a shard of glass into his eye (though apparently not serious enough to warrant a hospital visit), it was a little hard to believe, but with a few other stories of cracking screens due to overheating cropping up in Europe over the past couple weeks, French authorities have taken an interest in the story. Anecdotally, a teen says his phone "imploded" in Belgium and gave him a headache, a woman's phone cracked without warning, and ten or so victims in France have come forward to complain of similar problems, picking up the interest of a French consumer watchdog group. Apple is naturally not new to the concept of overheating in its battery-powered devices -- in fact, it's just entered into its first full-on iPod nano recall in Korea of the 1st-gen players after numerous reports of battery faultiness worldwide -- but with 26 million iPhones out and about, and the iPhone 3GS tending to run a bit hotter than its siblings, a systemic problem with one or all models of the handsets isn't something consumers or Apple would take lightly.

Herve Novelli, France's top trade official, met with Apple France's Michel Coulomb today to discuss the problem, and so far Apple is sticking to its guns: it claims that reported incidents are in the single digits, and that all cases it's investigated fully so far have turned out to be blamed on "external force" to the screen. Herve and Michel seem to have parted on friendly terms, promising to keep in touch over the issue, and the EU's alert system for dangerous consumer products (inexplicably dubbed RAPEX) is staying in the loop as well, asking the 27 member nations to keep tabs on the situation. Novelli says it's "too early to blame anyone," and we'd have to agree, but we hope Apple keeps up the (freshly) open communication about this issue going forward.

Read - French minister meets Apple exec over iPhone problems
Read - Apple denies 'exploding' iPhones
Read - Apple denies battery problem with exploding iPhones
Read - Belgian teenager latest victim of exploding iPhone phenomenon

Filed under: Cellphones

Overheating iPhone reports 'exploding' all over France, Apple responds originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TomTom’s Car Kit for iPhone hits the FCC

Still not convinced of the benefits of TomTom's upcoming Car Kit for iPhone? Then perhaps a little FCC approval will change your mind. In addition to offering a bit more reassurance that the thing is actually coming, the new listing also reveals a few more details than TomTom's been willing to dish out, including the fact that the mount / dock / charger packs some Bluetooth of its own for hands-free calling, and its very own SiRFstar GPS chipset to give you some better accuracy compared to the standalone TomTom iPhone app. Still looking for more? You can get a glimpse of the device's manual, some internal and external shots, and slew of test reports to keep you busy by hitting up the read link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS

TomTom's Car Kit for iPhone hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Will China go gaga over a crippled iPhone?

How big an impact is the iPhone likely to make in China, without Wi-Fi and on the country's second-largest carrier?

Apple Claims ‘Exploding’ iPhones Due to Screen Pressure, Not Battery Issues

Last week, reports surfaced that Apple was investigating reports of "exploding" iPhones, spurred by publicity surrounding the case of a French teenager who had reportedly received an eye injury when the screen of his iPhone shattered. French news ag...

Apple to Exploding iPhones: Screen Pressure not Battery to Blame

Apple has finished their investigation in the case of the exploding iPhones/Pods and the results are not shocking - the battery malfunction theory has been rejected. It was first rumored that defective batteries were more than likely the cause of the devices going boom but as it turns out, excess force was the reason - according to Apple.

“The iPhones with broken glass that we have analysed to date show that in all cases the glass cracked due to an external force that was applied to the iPhone.”

With 26 million iPhones and 200 million iPods sold to date, Apple claims there are zero confirmed battery overheating incidents for iPhone 3GS and the number of reports of overheating they have investigated are in the single digits.

So are you buying what Apple is selling? Could these isolated incidents actually be due to excessive force in every case or could there still be something up with those batteries? What do you think?

[Via Mac Daily News}

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple to Exploding iPhones: Screen Pressure not Battery to Blame

iPwr SuperPack Follow-up Review

The iPhone is a terrific device, when it was introduced two years ago, it brought desktop internet browsing experience to a "phone-sized" device. Additionally, it could also check mail, tell you where you were (via GPS) and even watch YouTube videos. Ah, yes who could forget the ability to ...

Qik for iPhone 3GS removes ‘WiFi only’ restriction

Qik for iPhone 3GS [iTunes link] gets update: Wi-Fi-only restriction has been removed. It means you can now upload your iPhone videos to the internet over a 3G network. "We just tried it ourselves and, sure enough, it works like a charm," Engadget writes. Last week, Qik announced that their iPhone ...

iBurgh: iPhone app for Pittsburghers

It's a good sample on how to use iPhone technology for public service: iBurgh [iTunes link] for Pittsburghers. The city has launched the free app which lets citizens snap a picture or report an incident quickly to the City for resolution and handling. It requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later. [via AP]