Apple Mac HQ

If you’re a new iPhone user, you may have missed the flurry of iPhone tips that were released when the iPhone originally launched in 2007. Here are the top 10 most usefully tips for the iPhone (with software version 2) in no particular order.

1) Period: Tapping the space bar quickly twice will put a period (.) and the proper spacing for the end of a sentence. This is much quicker than going to the .?123 keyboard and tapping the period key.

2) Quick Numbers and Punctuation: Holding the .?123 key will bring up the number and punctuation keyboard (among other symbols). While still holding the .?123 key, slide your finger to the key you want and release your finger. This action will choose the key you want and return you back to the QWERTY keyboard. If you just need one key on the .?123 keyboard, this tip will save you time.

3) CAPS Lock: Need to type in CAPS for some reason? First, you need to enable this functionality. Go into Settings | General | Keyboard | and slide “Enable Caps Lock” to On. When you want to type in caps, quickly double tap the Up arrow on your keyboard and it will turn the key blue. You’re now in CAPS LOCK. To turn it off, just tap the arrow key again.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Were you holding out hope that T-Mobile would soon be able to offer the iPhone to its U.S. customers? I wouldn’t hold your breath for that wish. Nestled in a recent article by USA Today about AT&T was this little nugget of information:

“In exchange for its payout, AT&T got a year extension, into 2010, on its exclusive distribution deal with Apple, people familiar with the matter say.”

If you’re located in the United States, AT&T is your only choice for the iPhone until at least 2010. There is probably no contractual reason the exclusivity couldn’t be extended down the road either. If you’re AT&T and the revenue from iPhone customers is nearly double your average cell phone user, wouldn’t you want to protect those customers?

Popularity: 14% [?]

If you’re looking to upgrade your iPhone and are short on cash or don’t want to deal with the process of selling your 1st Gen iPhone, someone has come up with a solution. FreeiPhoneSwap.com will pay you via Paypal or check for your working iPhone. They are paying $150, $250, or $350 for your 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB iPhone respectively. Depending on your model, the iPhone 3G hardware would basically be free!

The NY Times recently published an article about FreeiPhoneSwap.com (FIS). FIS states on their website they “will re-cycle your old phone in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.” David Gallagher, the NY Times story author, rightly suspects they are not actually recycling your old iPhone. You can bet that “re-cycle your old phone” basically means they are selling them in China or another countries that do not have iPhone carriers. But if you get cash for your old iPhone and the phone doesn’t end up in a dump, it’s pretty much a win-win for everyone.

Disclaimer: I have not tried the FreeiPhoneSwap service so I cannot vouch for their credibility. The NY Times didn’t mention any scammy business practices however.

Popularity: 9% [?]

For everyone who has an iPhone and a WordPress based website, the team behind WordPress is releasing an iPhone app that you will want to download. WordPress for iPhone is currently “In Review” in the app store. The website linked above has a great screencast of the application. I’ll be downloading this the day it’s released. This app sure would be better with cut and paste though!

[Via Matt Mullenweg]

Popularity: 12% [?]

If you don’t want to listen to the Quicktime stream or read a live blog, here are the most interesting numbers from Apple’s 2008 Q3 results which were released today. My comments are in parentheses.

B = Billion
M = Million
YAQ = Year ago quarter
FY = Fiscal Year

Revenue/Financials
-Best June quarter for revenue and earnings in Apple history
-Revenue of 7.46B; 38% increase over YAQ
-Net Income 1.07B; 31% increase over YAQ
-EPS of $1.19
-Gross margin was 34.8%; down from 36.9% in YAQ
-International sales accounted for 42% of revenue
-Europe revenue growth was 43% over YAQ
-Operating Expenses were 1.21B
-Capital expenditures were 304M in quarter
-1.33B in cash generated in quarter
-5.4B in cash generated in first 3 quarters of fiscal 2008
-20.8B in cash on hand
-Q4 estimates of 7.8B in revenue

Mac
-Shipped 2.5M Macs; a new quarterly record
-Mac unit sales up 41% over YAQ
-49% increase in Mac desktop sales over YAQ
-37% increase in Mac portable sales over YAQ
-25% growth in Mac US education sales over YAQ
-Mac channel inventory is currently below average, currently at 3-4 weeks
-Mac products and services accounted for 61% of total quarterly revenue

iPhone
-Sold 717,000 iPhones (iPhone 3G was not released in this quarter)
-Sold 1M iPhone 3Gs in 3 days (sales not recognized in this quarter)
-Over 25M iPhone apps downloaded to date (sales not recognized in this quarter)
-Q4 iPhone sales are expected to be the highest for any quarter yet (well duh; a distribution in over 20 countries will do that)
-”About” 20 additional countries will have an August 22nd iPhone 3G launch; bringing the total to over 40
-iPhone will be in 70 countries by the end of the year
-Apple still expects to sell 10M iPhones in calendar year 2008
-Revenue of 419M was recognized from iPhone sales, iPhone accessories, and payments from phone carriers. This does not include iPhone sales between March 6th and July 10th (due to accounting methods in relation to the announcement and release of iPhone 2.0 software).

iPod/iTunes
-Sold 11M iPods; 12% increase over YAQ
-7% iPod revenue growth over YAQ
-Over 70% market share in MP3 players in the US; based on latest public data
-Over 5B songs sold since iTunes released

Apple Stores
-58% growth in Apple Store retail sales over YAQ
-About 32M visitors to Apple Stores; up 10M over YAQ
-Apple Stores reported 1.44B in revenue
-Average revenue per store was 6.8M; up 33% over YAQ
-Over 50% of in store Mac sales were to new Mac customers
-8 new Apple Stores opened in quarter; including first in Australia
-Q3 ended with 216 Apple Stores
-Apple Stores coming to Switzerland and Germany in 2008
-Expect to close FY 2008 with 242 Apple Stores

Other
-Gross margin will decline for Q4 in part from a “future product transition” (ideas anyone?)
-Added 170 Best Buy mini stores; bringing the total to 570
-Added over 1600 storefronts to Mac distribution in the last year
-In a question about the health of Steve Job’s: “Steve loves Apple, he serves as the CEO at the pleasure of Apple’s board and has no plans to leave Apple. Steve’s health is a private matter.”
-Apple continues to invest in the Apple TV; yet it remains a “hobby”
-Analysts seemed overly concerned about the 30% gross margin Apple predicted for FY 2009

As of this post, the stock is down more than $16 in after hours trading. Record sales, incredible growth, stock tumbles. I guess you can’t always please The Street!

Popularity: 19% [?]

While the iPhone Remote app from Apple is very cool, I just found an app that will blow your mind. Shazam (iTunes link), is equal parts magic/mystery as it is useful.

There’s nothing worse than catching a song on the radio and not knowing who performs it and the title of the song. Shazam aims to answer both those questions with about 15 seconds of your time. The only thing you need is your iPhone, the song playing, and some type of network connection (Edge, 3G, or Wi-Fi).

The first time you launch Shazam you’ll see the welcome screen. Click the Tag Now button and hold your iPhone microphone near the music source. Shazam will listen to about 15 seconds of the song and send the data to their servers. Within a matter of seconds, the application will show you what it thinks you are listening to.

I’ve tried 11 songs and Shazam has identified 9 of them correctly. 10 of those songs were playing in iTunes on my computer while the other was on the radio. Based on my tests the accuracy is pretty good. Some of the songs were live versions of the song and it accurately named the song, though not the exact version of the song. The song tagged from the radio didn’t even have any words during the part when I used Shazam. Other than the Allman Brothers and Ozzy Osbourne, the other artist were not exactly mainstream. The two song Shazam didn’t identify was a song by Will Hoge and a live version of the Airport Song by Guster.

Shazam will keep a running list of the songs it has identified. Just click the My Tags button and you’ll see a list of the songs and the album it belongs to. In addition to keeping a list of the songs it has identified, you can also directly purchase the song from the iTunes Wi-Fi music store. Just click the iTunes link under the More Tag Options header. You might notice several links under that section, just click one until you’re taken to the correct song in iTunes. On my example Black Keys song, there were three iTunes link and only one of them worked.

I can see people using this at a party to see who can stump Shazam. It truly is an amazing piece of software. I’m really amazed at how fast it returns the results. If you’re into music and find yourself wondering who performs that song on the radio, Shazam just might tell you.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Curios about developing on the iPhone? Charlie Sorrel, from Wired, has a short interview with Brent Simmons, the developer of NetNewsWire. The article goes into some of the issues with current development efforts for the iPhone. Coincidently, NetNewsWire (iTunes link) was the first application I uninstalled on my iPhone. Which is odd since I’m such a huge fan of it on the Mac.

[Via Daring Fireball]

Popularity: 8% [?]