The Smartphone Hub

Mozilla, the not-for-profit entity behind the Firefox browser, knows it’s late to the mobile party. It knows that in Apple and Google it has two highly motivated and well-funded competitors. But it also knows how to compete when the odds are stacked against it.

“We are in the first inning of the mobile browser game,” Jay Sullivan, VP of products at Mozilla, said to me. Until recently, Sullivan was Mozilla’s VP of mobile, which saw him help Firefox get a toehold in the mobile arena. The company started with the Nokia N900; it was based on the Linux variant Maemo, which merged with Intel’s Mobilin and is now known as MeeGo. MeeGo and Android will be two key mobile platforms of focus for Firefox, Sullivan said.

“As a third-party application, we have the brand recognition for people to try us on Android,” he said. “But to succeed we have to do better than native browsers.” If it can build a compelling product that’s better than those of its rivals, Firefox can overcome its slow start, according to Sullivan. Mozilla will introduce the Firefox for Android Browser later this year; desktop synchronization, add-ons and its so-called AwesomeBar are some of the key features that Mozilla plans to include in order to compete against its mobile browser rivals. “Android is where we are going to find out the future,” he said.

Mozilla VP of Products, Jay Sullivan

It’s a smart bet. After all, Apple doesn’t allow either browsing on the iPhone or JavaScript engines, which compete and conflict with the device’s native ones. If Mozilla has any hope of getting Firefox onto Cupertino’s devices, it will be via its new application, Home, which it plans to submit to the iTunes App Store sometime in July.

Home allows you to get access to your desktop browsing history, open tabs and other such metadata via a cloud-based service, Firefox Sync. I saw an early version of the application when the Mozilla folks visited our office, and it’s pretty impressive.

When I asked Sullivan what he thought of being viewed as a laggard, he pointed out that while Mozilla was not “the hot kind on the block” and that “everything Google does gets a lot of attention,” Firefox is still continuing to grow. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Only today news emerged that Google’s Chrome was now the third most popular browser in the U.S. Mozilla has also come under fire from the likes of Blake Ross, a co-creator of Firefox who now works for Facebook.

Sullivan said that Mozilla is paying attention to what others are saying and trying to fix the problems. Much of its focus is on improving stability and boosting performance, while at the same time seeking opportunities beyond the desktop. The recent release of Firefox 3.6.6 is a step in the right direction. The group will release Firefox 4 beta in a few weeks and make the full 4.0 version of the desktop browser available before the end of 2010. And if Steve Jobs thinks it’s OK, maybe Firefox Home will be available on the iPhone before the end of the summer.  “We have never retreated from the competition,” Sullivan said. “And we know we have a lot of work to do.”

Check out the rest: GigaOM

Over the weekend, the Times ran a powerful op-ed piece that shed light on another dark link in the consumer electronics supply chain: the use of Congolese conflict minerals. In an email, Steve Jobs admitted “it’s a very difficult problem.” More »










Steve Jobs – Pioneers – History – Apple – Business

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

Apple acknowledges the iPhone 4′s reception problems. Their solution: Hold it differently or buy a case. But if this is an Apple design problem, they should fix it for real or give out cases for free. More »










Apple – IPhone – iPhone 4 – Smartphone – Steve Jobs

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Taking The Matrix‘s “there is no spoon” concept, Fake Steve Jobs wants you to know that “there is no reception issue.” In fact, every other phone has this issue, but the iPhone 4? No problems there. [FSJ] More »










Steve Jobs – Apple – Fake Steve Jobs – History – Pioneers

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We know that something is going on with the reception on our iPhone 4 devices and some of us are jumping through hoops to avoid any troubles, but according to Steve Jobs‘ latest email: There are no reception issues. More »










Apple – IPhone – Steve Jobs – Smartphone – Handhelds

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

Steve Jobs met with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to talk about his country’s future Silicon Valley. Steve also gave him an iPhone 4, also showed him some really neat antenna tricks too. Magical. More »










Steve Jobs – IPhone – Apple – iPhone 4 – History

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

I’ll believe this when I see it: there are reports that the death grip phenomenon is actually the result of a software error. I’d heard this going around yesterday, but the more specific issue seems to be that the device goes to no signal mode when it should just be switching frequencies. And holding the phone in the “wrong” position aggravates this tendency.

However, I’ve also heard that there may be a coating missing from some of the first batch that would have prevented shorting the antenna array. And I’ve also heard, from Steve Jobs, that this is a non issue and that we’re just holding it wrong — even though that’s the way he holds it.

So. Let’s hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Apparently a bit of tape works nicely.

Check out the rest: MobileCrunch

What’s more sad: the very fact that the iPhone 4 is completely unusable if you’re left-handed—President Obama is left-handed!— or that Apple fanboys are doing everything in their power to divert attention away from the issue? Check MacRumors. It’s a fine site, yes, and one I read every day, but to call it an “Apple fan site” would be like calling the Sun hot. “Upset that your brand new iPhone 4 doesn’t work? Don’t be: other phones do this, too!” Because that’s what you want to hear: your phone may be a piece of junk, but so is the other guy’s phone, so it all works out. Um, no. It doesn’t work like that.

The issue with the iPhone 4 isn’t that by merely picking it up you interfere with signal, it’s that holding the phone in a specific manner renders it all but useless. “A specific manner?” Holding it with your left hand, of course. So when Steve Jobs, who described the phone as “really cool engineering,” says “don’t hold it that way,” well, that’s a load of bunk. Why not, I don’t know, design a phone that works when held in your left hand? Because we’re Apple, and the normal rules don’t apply to us!

And really, how unfeeling of Jobs to tell people not to “hold it that way.” There’s zero sympathy in that statement. It’s like he’s not even bothered—not even a little bit! Nothing like, “Yeah, that sucks. We’re working on a fix and I’ll get back to you. Sit tight.” Nope, just an uncaring shrug of the shoulder. It’s almost like he’s saying, “Hey, not my problem, dude. Go base a case or something.”

Maybe I should just take my business elsewhere? Clearly Apple has demonstrated that it doesn’t give a toss about the plight of its users right now.

The very idea that some people are trying to say, “All phones lose a little bit of signal when you hold it, this isn’t a big deal at all.” What nonsense. Other phones don’t completely die when you hold it in your hand. That’s the whole point—it’s a serious design flaw, and it’s something that would ideally be addressed with a little more urgency than “don’t hold it that way. It’s a non-issue.”

Pretty disappointed with both Apple’s reaction to this mess and the Apple apologists out there.

It’s one thing to be a fan of a company, but it’s another thing to make excuses for said company when it’s so very clearly in the wrong.

Check out the rest: MobileCrunch

iPhone 4, you’re the most beautiful thing. Holding you—so solid, so smooth, your zowielala screen glowing—makes me greedy. My precious. I want to lick you. I can’t stop looking at you. But your industrial design is a failure. More »










Apple – IPhone – Handhelds – Smartphone – Steve Jobs

Check out the rest: Gizmodo

By now you’ve heard about the antenna issues some people are having with the new iPhone 4. Basically, it seems like wireless signal strength degrades if you hold the lower left corner on some, but not all devices. This has been shown on video and there are many reports out there about this issue — something that is particularly troublesome for left-handed people. I’m sure a lot of people have asked Apple about the issue — I have too. So far, I have yet to hear anything back other than they’re looking into it. But one man did hear something back about the issue — from Steve Jobs himself.

Continue reading…

Check out the rest: MobileCrunch