iPhone Xtras

Yes, you read the title correctly. According to Apple’s web site, If your iPad battery fails Apple doesn’t want to bother opening the device to replace it — they would rather ship you a completely new (no word on whether it’s a refurb?) iPad to replace the faulty one within a weeks time period. Of course there is a fee involved – $99, plus $6.95 shipping.

If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee. Note: Your iPad is not eligible for Battery Replacement Service if the product has been damaged, for example, as result of an accident, liquid contact, disassembly, unauthorized service or unauthorized modifications, or if the product is not operating correctly as a result of a component failure. Please review Apple’s Repair Terms and Conditions for further details.

While we don’t expect there to be major battery issues, some of us just may end up with bum batteries so it’s probably a pretty good idea to get into the habit of backing up your iPad on a consistent basis in case you fall victim. That is if you want to secure all of your data (because if one day the battery dies, kiss your data goodbye).

Until Apple clarifies whether or not they’ll be sending out refurbished iPad’s I’m not so hot on this idea. Perhaps I’m being too picky but I’d rather bring my iPad into the store and have them swap the battery out while I wait and go home with my original device then and there and not have to wait a week for a refurb to be delivered. Also, we’re assuming the $99 doesn’t apply if you’re still within the 1 year warranty to 2 years of AppleCare, but again we’re waiting on confirmation.

Enough about how I feel, what do you think?

[Via Engadget]

Apple to Replace Complete iPad for $99 if Battery Fails is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Yes, you read the title correctly. According to Apple’s web site, If your iPad battery fails Apple doesn’t want to bother opening the device to replace it — they would rather ship you a completely new (no word on whether it’s a refurb?) iPad to replace the faulty one within a weeks time period. Of course there is a fee involved – $99, plus $6.95 shipping.

If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee. Note: Your iPad is not eligible for Battery Replacement Service if the product has been damaged, for example, as result of an accident, liquid contact, disassembly, unauthorized service or unauthorized modifications, or if the product is not operating correctly as a result of a component failure. Please review Apple’s Repair Terms and Conditions for further details.

While we don’t expect there to be major battery issues, some of us just may end up with bum batteries so it’s probably a pretty good idea to get into the habit of backing up your iPad on a consistent basis in case you fall victim. That is if you want to secure all of your data (because if one day the battery dies, kiss your data goodbye).

Until Apple clarifies whether or not they’ll be sending out refurbished iPad’s I’m not so hot on this idea. Perhaps I’m being too picky but I’d rather bring my iPad into the store and have them swap the battery out while I wait and go home with my original device then and there and not have to wait a week for a refurb to be delivered. Also, we’re assuming the $99 doesn’t apply if you’re still within the 1 year warranty to 2 years of AppleCare, but again we’re waiting on confirmation.

Enough about how I feel, what do you think?

[Via Engadget]

Apple to Replace Complete iPad for $99 if Battery Fails is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple.com’s new iPad menu item and feature pages shed light on all sorts of interesting new details. We’ve put all of them into an updated version of our Complete iPad and iPhone OS 3.2 Preview article, but here are some of our favorites:

• DRM-Free ePub support. If you already have ePub books that are DRM-Free, just drag them into iTunes and sync them to your iPad. It’s an obvious thing, but Apple doesn’t always enable obvious things so this is nice to see.
• Voice Over for iBooks. Apple’s terrific accessibility feature, Voice Over, will work for iBooks. Amazon got into a lot of trouble with author’s and publishers over this feature and had to make it opt-in for the Kindle. It will be interesting to see if Apple got universal opt-in or just isn’t afraid to pick that fight again.
• YouTube sharing via Facebook. In addition to emailing links, you can also share them directly to Facebook. Social baby steps!
• App Store iPad section. Apple’s iTunes App Store will have a section for iPad apps so they’re easier to find and acquire.
• Data plan management. If you go for an iPad 3G, you can select and purchase your plan on a month-by-month basis right on the iPad. Choose the 256MB plan and you’ll get messages alerting you when you have 20%, 10%, and 0 data left so you can turn 3G off, add another 256MB for an extra $14.99, or upgrade to an unlimited plan right from the device.

If you spotted any other new or notable gems, let us know in the comments and we’ll add them to the list!

iPad Update: DRM-Free ePub Support and Voice Over for iBooks, Facebook Sharing, Data-plan Management is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The New York Time has a full length feature up about the state of the Apple vs. Google rivalry and how it’s getting personal. We’ve heard similar several times before, of course, and Apple has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Android manufacturer HTC. But the details here are interesting:

As Google’s plans took shape, Apple and Google executives either met in person or spoke on the phone on multiple occasions about Apple’s concern about Android, executives on both sides say.

Many of those meetings turned confrontational, according to people familiar with the discussions, with Mr. Jobs often accusing Google of stealing iPhone features. Google executives said that Android’s features were based on longstanding ideas already circulating in the industry and that some Android prototypes predated the iPhone.

At one particularly heated meeting in 2008 on Google’s campus, Mr. Jobs angrily told Google executives that if they deployed a version of multitouch — the popular iPhone feature that allows users to control their devices with flicks of their fingers — he would sue. Two people briefed on the meeting described it as “fierce” and “heated.”

It’s undeniable that Google bought Android before Apple released the iPhone (though Apple was reportedly working on the iPhone/iPad technology for 2-3 years already by then). It’s also undeniable that the early Android prototypes we saw looked more like BlackBerry or Windows Mobile Standard, yet when Google debuted the G1, it was a full screen, capacitive touch device with the same screen resolution as the iPhone. From the Hero to the Droid to the Nexus One, similar form factors have followed while the BlackBerry-esque devices have yet to be seen.

Many other incidents, such as the still-unapproved/rejected Google Voice app for iPhone, Google CEO Eric Schmidt leaving the Apple Board of Directors, and Google buying (and paying a premium for) AdMob after Apple expressed an interest in the company, are all said to result from this souring in relations.

The two remain successful partners for now, and Google keeps saying everything is “stable”. The NYT suggests, however, that someone like longstanding Google mentor and Apple board member Bill Campbell, formerly of Intuit, needs to act as a peacemaker to bring the two giants back together. Otherwise, rumors persist of Steve Ballmer and Microsoft’s Bing standing poised to take Google’s place as Apple’s default search engine, map provider, and ally.

It’s a long article but well worth a read, especially the parts about how Google founders Sergy Brin and Larry Page, and Steve Jobs used to enjoy a close relationship. Check it out and let us know what you think…

Apple vs. Google is Getting Personal is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Much to the chagrin of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Devices and Entertainment honcho Robbie Bach, the Wall Street Journal reports that even publicly stomping on employee iPhones hasn’t stamped them out:

Nearly 10,000 iPhone users were accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, say two people who heard the estimates from senior Microsoft executives. That figure equals about 10% of the company’s global work force.

Outside of specific development units like Bing for iPhone, while using an iPhone at Microsoft isn’t forbidden, it’s discouraged. Microsoft will only re-emburse expenses for Windows Phone-based devices. Likewise, several executives have spoken out against using iPhones, including Ballmer who quipped that his father worked at Ford and so his family always drove Ford.

While a few use the openly, others hide them in generic cases — or make sure not to answer them if they’re in a room with Ballmer. (Or use them if they’re a member of the Gates family!)

Apple employees, of course, are not thought to be using Windows Mobile devices in any perceptible quantity. Could Windows Phone 7 Series change that…?

10% of Microsoft Employees Secretly Using iPhones? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook stepped up and filled in for Steve Jobs during Jobs’ leave of absence last year, and has been given a discretionary bonus of $5 million, along with 75,000 shares of Apple stock (currently worth just shy of $17 million), by way of thank you bonus.

Keeping Apple not only stable but thriving during the absence and then-uncertain future of their famous CEO, however, was no doubt invaluable to Apple and its shareholders.

Congrats to Tim Cook then. Don’t spend it all on iPad pre-orders (though that would certainly explain the 91,000 units in the first 6 hours!)

Tim Cook’s Bonus: $5 Million Cash, $17 Million Stock. Filling in for Steve Jobs: Priceless is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

iPad pre-orders went live at 5:30am PT, 8:30am ET and in the 6 hours that follow, Fortune relays that Apple has moved 91,000 of the magical and revolutionary new devices. (50,000 in the first 2 hours!)

The estimates are based on a bunch of impatient investors on the AAPL Sanity Board inputing and tracking order numbers via Google Spreadsheets. Even if they’re not spot on accurate, they show a good amount of movement for a device many dismissed right out of the gate.

TUAW meanwhile is hearing in-store reservations for iPad Wi-Fi is 41,000.

What do you think, are those good numbers for Steve Job’s most important product launch? Were you expecting more, less?

91,000 iPads Pre-Ordered in 6 Hours? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The AT&T Navigator app and TomTom are my two favorite GPS solutions; TomTom just took the lead with this most recent update.

One of the benefits of the AT&T Navigator app was the ability to search real-time and navigate to a location via the web. Now, TomTom is bringing us that functionality via Google Local Search, and more! Here is a list of changes in the most rescent update, 1.3:

• Real-Time traffic- The best traffic information available today (an additional $19.99)
• Google Local Search- Access the latest listings from within TomTom
• The Latest Maps- The most accurate map
• Music Fading- Instead of music pausing, it fades when navigation is spoken
• Automatic Day/Night Mode- TomTom now calculates the sunrise and sunset and changes the map accordingly
• Add Locations- From other apps and websites

There are some other nuances too such as button placement and how the iPod controls work, but they are definitely for the better. It is disappointing that the traffic component costs an additional $19.99, but to me the Google Search alone is worth this update. Check out some pics after the break!

TomTom updated to 1.3 now with Google Local Search! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple’s claim to the letter “i” has come to a screeching halt as a trademarks tribunal has rejected the companies bid to stop a small company from using their favorite letter of the alphabet. This particular company wanted to name it’s cases for Apple products DOPi, which is iPod spelled backwards. Apple’s argument was that the DOPi name resembled their own products too closely and that it had potential to confuse consumers that they were purchasing a Apple product.

Now if you stop and think about it there are currently other products on the market that use the letter “i” that Apple has not gone after – iSkin or iSoft anyone? So that must mean Apple is protecting the name iPod simply spelled backwards but intellectual property lawyer Trevor Choy has a explanation for that.

“A competitor can sometimes get away with registering the reverse spelling of a registered trade mark – iPOD and DOPi. Here, they said that DOPi stands for ‘Digital Options and Personalised Items’,”

We will let our readers decide this case. Should Apple have a case or is this another case of the company simply trying to throw it’s weight around? Sound off in the comments below!

[Thanks for the tip robert! Via smh.com.au]

Apple’s Claim to the Letter “i” – Rejected is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Tony Hawk for iPhone? Let’s just him do the tweeting… er… talking:

In the PR world, this is considered “going rogue,” but I’m too excited to contain it. This is real & dropping soon.

Happy?

Tony Hawk for iPhone “Real” and “Dropping Soon” is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog