Apple Briefs

I stumbled across a nice iPhone site for lawyers recently: iPhone J.D. It doesn’t limit its coverage to lawyer-related tips and news, so its a nice resource for finding out more of what you can do with your iPhone. I have already purchased the F.R.C.P. iPhone app reviewed on the site (and I payed a premium for it since the price has gone up by $1 since it was reviewed in early December!). Well worth the money even after the price raise. The F.R.C.P. is definitely something that should be searchable and this app does it. I’m not a big fan of the icon, though. Needs more pizazz.

Things have been pretty busy around here lately, but I wanted to take the time to point out a great article on the iPhone 3G by John Gruber over at Daring Fireball. I especially like the first part of the article, which discusses the place of the iPhone in the Grand Scheme of Things. It’s a great read, and I couldn’t agree with it more.

According to recent reports, the 3G iPhone has been quite the success in its first month: as many as 3 million 3G iPhones sold and 60 million applications downloaded. The top sales spot went to Super Monkey Ball (to the surprise of no one who had been following the blogosphere prior to the iPhone 2.0 launch).

Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch seems to believe that this success will be short-lived because there are no killer apps on the iPhone:

While the initial impulse is to download as many apps as possible to try them out, there is a limit to how many apps you can juggle on your iPhone. It is not much different than a PC. You have tons of apps, but how many do you actually use on a regular basis? For most people, that number is probably no more than ten apps, and on a daily basis, maybe 3 or 4 tops.

I think we’re past the point where a single application will define the market and be the reason everyone buys into a platform. On the other hand, I don’t think an application has to be used every day to make a platform compelling. It certainly helps, though. For instance, I use OmniFocus on a pretty regular basis. But it’s applications like Shazam that have given me reasons to use a phone that I never thought I would have. Is that a killer app for the iPhone? Probably not, but it’s the total package that I am buying. And right now the iPhone has a total package that no other phone can compare to.

One month later, here is what is on my iPhone:

• OmniFocus
• WeatherBug
• NetNewsWire
• 1Password
• Ebay
• Shazam
• HoldEm
• Trism
• Morocco
• Labyrinth LE
• Koi Pond
• More Cowbell
• Remote

Whats on your iPhone?

Agile Web Solutions has given us a sneak preview of 1Password for the iPhone (with lots of screen shots!). I have to admit that I am pretty nervous about taking all of my passwords with me. The cost-benefit analysis just seems to weigh against it (the benefit seems pretty low because I seldom need passwords on the run). But Agile seems to have thought pretty hard about the security aspect and has come up with some pretty interesting solutions. The good news is that 1Password for the iPhone will be free (at least for a limited time). Maybe I’ll decide I need it all the time once I have it! Look for it soon in the App Store.

Update: It’s arrived.

My first impressions of Apple’s new offerings are a mixed bag. I really like the iPhone 2.0 software update. I have only downloaded a few apps, but I foresee many more in my future. So far, my favorite has to be WeatherBug, which has all the weather information I need with an attractive presentation. I have also downloaded OmniFocus, but I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with it. I plan to download Things as well, but I am waiting for the promised sync feature.

In contrast to iPhone 2.0, MobileMe has been something of a failure. The “web 2.0″ interface is nice, but I haven’t seen anything compelling. I thought push email would be compelling, but there are two problems with that. First, there is apparently no “push” from your desktop (or laptop) to MobileMe. Second, push kills my battery. I can normally surf and call to my heart’s content, but turning “push” on nearly drained my battery by itself. Apple is going to have to fix that if they want to be a serious enterprise email contender.

The other problem with MobileMe is that Firefox can’t handle it. I use Firefox as my normal browser on Windows, but MobileMe kept bringing Firefox to its knees (making it sluggish and often unresponsive). Switching to Safari solved the problem, but MobileMe should work with any browser, not just Apple’s. I don’t like Safari on Windows. It’s too dark and just doesn’t fit in.

I don’t have plans to get a 3G iPhone, but that doesn’t mean I won’t window shop. There are a couple of nice reviews (with plenty of pics) over at Electronista and Ars Technica. I like the look of the new iPhone, but I am still happy with the clean lines and metal finish of my first generation iPhone.