Apple Has Priority List For iPhone 4 In Apple Retail Stores

If you weren’t one of the lucky ones to reserve your iPhone 4 or very lucky ones who bought iPhone 4 without a reservation, you’re likely going to be in for a wait. I dropped by my local Apple Retail Store this afternoon and was shocked to not find a line snaked around the mall. Within a few minutes however, I knew why.

My local Apple Retail Store was out of iPhone 4, and it’s highly likely yours is as well. You can’t reserver one from AT&T and even the few Wal-Marts and RadioShacks I called were out. I didn’t leave the Apple Store empty handed however.

If you show up at your local Apple Store, the staff is allowing you to add your name to a priority list. This list is essentially your way of staking a virtual claim to incoming iPhones. Once you have chosen the model you want, you have to sign in with your iTunes login and you’ll shortly receive an email with the below information.

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When a iPhone 4 comes in, you’ll receive another email stating that you can pickup your iPhone 4. From the time you receive the second email, you have 48 hours to purchase your phone at the store you reserved it. I clicked around on the Apple website, and haven’t seen a link to the priority list anywhere. This appears to be an option only in Apple Stores. The Apple staff I spoke to didn’t know the length of the wait for new iPhones to arrive.

Good luck to everyone still looking to purchase iPhone 4!

Synotes Helps You Take Notes with Ease

I am too forgetful, so I am constantly taking notes to remember anything. There are many options to take notes on my iPhone. The bundled Notes app does not sync to a web site, which is a deal-breaker. Simplenote is very minimal, which is a blessing and a hindrance at the same time. Evernote is too cluttered. Synotes, by Syncode, finds a nice balance between features and getting out of the way.  Syncode also makes Syncopy, which was reviewed previously on Apple Mac HQ.

Synotes_Screenshot.jpgNotes are easy to make. After hitting the plus sign in the corner of the screen, I am brought to the “New Note” screen. Then I put in a title and write my note. When done with the note, an icon can be assigned to label the note. Hopefully a future version of Synotes has a wider selection of icons to better match the note I have wrote.

Notes can be shared easily via e-mail. The web site provides an rss feed as well.

Searching in the app not only searches by title, but also by content of the notes. Being able to search within notes is great and quite helpful.

I can access my notes when on my computer too. The app quickly syncs with the Synotes web site. Notes can be made at the web site, which syncs back to the app. The web site has a few downsides. There is no way to search through notes. Also, there are minimal ways to organize notes.

Each note has important information including creation and last modified dates, where the note was created (in the app or on the web site), as well as version history. Any note can be reverted back to its previous version.

I am pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to make notes in Synotes, and I highly recommend it for users seeking a way to make notes.  Syncode is coming out with an iPad version of Synotes too, and it will be interesting to see how well it turns out. Synotes 1.1.1 is compatible with iPhone OS 3.0 or later for $1.99 (iTunes link).

Apple-Focused Programing Highlights CNBC Lineup This Week

CNBCMy DVR will be working overtime this week as CNBC will be airing some great television programs for Apple fans.

Welcome to Macintosh” is a 2008 documentary chronicling the history of Apple. Important figures in Apple’s past make appearances, including Guy Kawasaki, who was responsible for Macintosh marketing in 1984, as well as Andy Hertzfeld, who worked on the original Macintosh design team. Leander Kahney, the author of the popular Apple book “Cult of Mac,” is in the documentary also. “Welcome to Macintosh” will be airing on January 4th at 9:30 PM EST.

The 2009 documentary “MacHEADS” discusses Apple fans and the popularity of Apple products. There have not been any films in the past that have focused on the legions of fans that are devoted to Apple. “MacHEADS” will be airing January 5th at 10:00 PM EST.

“Planet of the Apps” discusses the phenomenon that is mobile phone apps. The popularity of these apps was fueled by Apple allowing third-party apps for sale for the iPhone and iPod touch starting in July 2008. Other companies have tried to mimic the App Store’s success by launching stores of their own, but have not been nearly as successful as Apple has. “Planet of the Apps” will be airing on January 7th at 10:00 PM EST.

I rarely watch movies so I have not seen either of the documentaries, but it will be exciting to watch them as well as “Planet of the Apps.”

Nintendo Faces Strong Competition from Apple

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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discusses Apple’s interest in competing with Nintendo in the portable games market.  If I were Nintendo, I would be worried.

Nintendo has been able to beat previous handheld competitors, such as the Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx, but Apple is different.  Previous competition was focusing on games only, whereas the iPhone/iPod touch can do so many things very well.  The Sony PSP does do a lot too, but not nearly as much or as well as the iPhone/iPod touch.

iTunes has helped Apple effectively sidestep brick and mortar retailers to provide digital content, which is the future of content distribution.  Nintendo has few digital offerings, but these downloads are limited to the DSi, which makes up a small percentage of Nintendo’s handheld sales.

Developers of all sizes do not have to pay much for development costs and have a far easier time getting on the iPhone/iPod touch platform.  Apple’s review process has been arbitrary and lengthy at times, but less restrictions have been placed for apps compared to DS games.  There is also far more variety in content then the DS provides.

There is already a large library of games for the iPhone/iPod touch.  There are poor titles in iTunes, but there are also many great games.  These games are also priced cheap, which is attractive for consumers.  DS games usually cost upwards of $30.

Apple does face some obstacles.  Like the Wii, many developers have not designed games for the iPhone/iPod touch’s unique controls in mind and have ported games from other platforms that had “regular” controls.  It is a way for large publishers to milk successful franchises.  Publishers have been focusing more and more on popular franchise that do not stray to much from what made them successful, so care is not taken when brining games to the iPhone/iPod touch.  At least for Nintendo they can make good games for the Wii’s controls.  Apple must rely on third-party developers to make games that work well with the touchscreen.

The iPhone/iPod touch does not have as many great games as the DS.  With Nintendo’s franchises on the DS, this is not surprising.  The App Store has not been open for long (since July 2008), and with larger developers making a bigger push to bring popular franchises to Apple’s handheld, the gap will close between Apple’s and Nintendo’s portable game offerings.

It is hard to compete with a device that does many things well, which is why some companies have made devices that do one thing very well (the Kindle for example).  Apple has been able to make a great multi-functional device, while Nintendo has not shown this yet. It will be interesting to see what Nintendo does to maintain dominance in the handheld market to ward off Apple.

How To Rearrange Apps In iTunes 9

One of my biggest gripes with the iPhone is rearranging apps. It is such a hassle to drag apps in a different order or on different pages. iTunes 9 has made things far easier.

App rearrangement is a simple process. First, upgrade to iTunes 9.0 and iPhone OS 3.1. Connect your iPhone OS device to the computer and select it in iTunes. Choose the “Applications” tab and iTunes now displays your app pages as they appear on your iPhone or iPod touch. Apps can be moved around or deleted however you please. Pages can also be rearranged. Sync when you are happy with the order.

The “Applications” tab also lists apps by category and entrance into the App Store. Originally, it was sorted by name only. They will not automatically sync in this order though.

There are a few other limitations. Web apps or apps that came with your device cannot be deleted. Web apps must still be deleted on the device. Both these types of apps can still be moved around within iTunes.

Though far from perfect, being able to rearrange icons in iTunes 9 is a great feature and makes my life easier.


Wednesday Is CCP Day AKA iPhone 3.0 Hits

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Unless you have been under a rock lately, you probably heard of this little conference last week called WWDC. At said conference, Apple announced that iPhone 3.0 software will hit iTunes June 17th. June 17th is THIS wednesday!

I’m glad Apple decided to release the new iPhone OS and the new iPhone 3G S on separate days. The simultaneous launch of iPhone 2.0 software and iPhone 3G was a disaster.

I’m excited about iPhone 3.0 software because I’m not yet sure if I’m going to upgrade my original iPhone to iPhone 3G S. I plan on running iPhone 3.0 for a few weeks to see if I need to upgrade to iPhone 3G S.

Oh yeah, CCP stands for Cut, Copy, and Paste. Finally! What feature in iPhone 3.0 software are you excited about?