The official advice is to link Apple Music to the Alexa Skill - with its justifiably low review score. But we're hackers, we can do better than that, right?

Here's how to run the native Apple Music app on a FireStick so you can listen to some sweet tunes.

1. Enable Developer Tool on your FireStick
2. Install the Downloader app
3. Using Downloader, download the Apple Music APK and install it
4. Here's where things get tricky. Once you open the Apple Music app, there's no way to accept the EULA using the remote control - so you're stuck on this screen:
   
5. Find your FireStick's IP address (Settings ➡ My FireTV ➡ About ➡ Network):
   
6. Install ADB tools on your laptop / desktop (I use Linux).
7. Open a terminal on your laptop and run adb connect 192.168.1.123:5555 (remember to use the correct IP address)
8. Install scrcpy and run it on the command line
9. You can now control your FireStick from your laptop! Use it to type in your Apple Music username and password.
10. And now you can listen to your Apple tunes via your FireStick. Sweeeeeeet!
    

Well, almost...

What Works

• Stereo audio playback
• The ⏯️ button on the remote
• General navigation

What Doesn't Work

• Navigation is a bit hit and miss as not every UI element gets highlighted when selected
• Text entry doesn't work - no virtual keyboard appears
• The ⏪ and ⏩ buttons on the remote don't skip tracks
• Spatial Audio - seems to be restricted to stereo only

All of the navigation can be controlled by scrcpy if you want to. Or you can try the remote.

Is it worth it?

Meh. I got a free trial of Apple Music. It's basically fine. It's not materially different from any of the music streaming apps. If you're super into the Apple Ecosystem, need it on your TV, can put up with the non-optimised interface, and don't want to cast from your phone, then it's just about acceptable.

Here's my review from 5 years ago of the Chipolo BlueTooth tag. Amusingly, Apple have decided to go with a user-replaceable battery - unlike many of their other devices. I wonder why they didn't go for wireless charging - like the TinTag had a few years ago?

Anyway, the Apple involvement adds three significant things:

1. Better directional navigation. Rather than just telling you how far away from the thing you are, it tells you roughly where the thing is.
2. Improved community features. Having everyone with an iThing being able to find your lost puppy is a game-changer. Companies like Chipolo could never get that traction by themselves.
3. Higher price. Because Apple.

The first two are genuinely useful. First generation tags were able to give you distance and play a little noise. Good for Apple on innovating. With 40% of the UK having an iDevice there's a good chance that someone will walk by your dropped keys.

But the price...

I used the Chipolo and TinTag for a long time - but I couldn't justify the cost. I just don't lose my keys that often. Having them on my luggage was vaguely useful when disembarking from an aeroplane - but hardly essential. In any case, you still want a physical tag with something written on it for people who don't have the right app.

I used Physical Web Tokens which also suffered from the same flaw - overpriced and inaccessible to the majority of people

Is £25 a reasonable price for insurance if you ever lose your bag, keys, or pet? Maybe. And I'm sure the PR teams will shortly begin churning out feel-good stories about how lost dogs were reunited with distraught owners thanks to the magic of Apple.

But do people lose valuable stuff that often? I want to know where I put the spare HDMI cable. Or which cupboard has the nutmug. Or who borrowed my favourite mug. No one is bunging a pony down for that.

I long for the world envisaged by Cory Doctorow in his book Makers - where smart tags are cheap as dirt and ubiquitous.

“One of the big barriers to roommate harmony is the correct disposition of stuff. When you leave your book on the sofa, I have to move it before I can sit down and watch TV. Then you come after me and ask me where I put your book. Then we have a fight. There’s stuff that you don’t know where it goes, and stuff that you don’t know where it’s been put, and stuff that has nowhere to put it. But with tags and a smart chest of drawers, you can just put your stuff wherever there’s room and ask the physical space to keep track of what’s where from moment to moment.

...

He reached for his computer and asked it to find him the baseball gloves. Two of the drawers on the living-room walls glowed pink. He fetched the gloves down, tossed one to Lester, and picked up his ball.

We're a little way off that dream at the moment. RFID tags are getting pretty cheap - but they're short range. You'd need a network of high-powered sensors in a room to be able to do basic location finding.

So, a hearty well-done to Apple for getting in to the physical location game. Let's hope it re-energises the sector and drives the cost down to ubiquity.

Here's a partial list of everything I cannot do on a Mac, but I can do on Ubuntu.

These are all objective facts. These are things which either are impossible, or require adding unsupported 3rd party software - sometimes at a cost.

• Resize the system font
  • I find the menu bar at the top too small. The only way to do this on MacOS is to lower the resolution of the entire screen!
• Change the system font
  • I know you like Helvetica San Francisco - but I find it a bit too thin to read.
• Focus Follow Mouse
  • I have multiple screens and multiple windows. I want to be able to hover over a new one and start interacting with it without clicking.
• Change my mouse button order
  • On Linux, this is a complex command-line incantation. On MacOS it is impossible. I use a vertical mouse and use my thumb to click. RSI FTW!
• Read files from MTP devices
  • If I stick a USB cable between my phone and Linux laptop, I can see the Android files on my laptop. I can open them, move them around, etc. On a Mac I need to install some shonky 3rd party software which rarely works.
• Always on top windows
  • Sometimes I want to keep the calculator on screen while I type an email. Is that too much to ask?
• No way to remove UI elements.
  • I don't want a notification icon in the top right of my screen. I prefer having the clock on the left. Trivial in Linux, static in MacOS.
• Window snapping
  • On Ubuntu, I drag a window to the side or to a corner, and it snaps into position. Vital when using multiple windows at once. On Mac there's a half-hearted splitscreen view which only supports horizontal splitting. Useless on a vertical monitor.
• See tooltips
  • I can't see them on Mac when I have a larger cursor. Weird!
• Mount an SSH or NFS drive
  • In Ubuntu, I get a nice little GUI for picking network shares. Impossible on Mac.
• Wobbly Windows!
  • Seriously MacOS. Where's the fun?

I know you're going to be tempted to reply with "you're using it wrong" - but I'm not. This is how I like to use my computer. And it is clear that the MacBook isn't my computer - it is Apple's. (OK, OK! It belongs to my employer!)

I like having a large mouse cursor. I find it easier to see on my large monitor, especially when sat at a safe distance. But, if I use a large cursor - I can't see the tool-tips underneath it.

Annoyingly, Apple don't include the larger cursor sizes when taking a screenshot. So you get the joy of me pointing a camera at my screen like some kind of troglodyte sharing memes on your neighbourhood's Facebook group.

Broken Behaviour

What does this tool-tip say?

That's from "Finder" the default Mac file system app.

Expected Behaviour

With the "normal" size icon, I can see what the text says.

Usability pervasiveness

OK, it's impossible to test every combination that a user might choose. But it really feels like bits of MacOS are hostile to accessibility changes.

It is impossible to change the system font size. That top menu is fixed at a tiny size. If you want a more readable font - tough.

Apple knows best.

Tool tip size

You can increase the font size of tool-tips with this obscure command-line incantation:

defaults write -g NSToolTipsFontSize -int 20

Restart the app and you'll get a larger font!

Which is still obscured by the cursor.

Report this bug

Apple have known about this bug for at least 10 years.

Apple knows best.

How well are they treated? Are they paid well? Are they trapped in a living hell where many of them feel the only way out is suicide?

Christoph Lutz

@lutzid

"achieve productivity or the sun will no longer rise." #foxconn slogan "motivating" their workers; fascinating talk by jenny chan #oxict4d

---

This is the question posed by Dr Jenny Chan in her upcoming book Dying for an iPhone: The Hidden Struggle of China’s Workers which she talked about in Oxford earlier this week.

You can read for yourself some of the reports written about factory conditions of iPhone workers, including by Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour. You can watch the BBC's Panorama programme Apple's Broken Promises.

I'm not particularly interested in discussing the veracity of the claims - nor whether this is a painful but necessary economic stepping stone. I'll be discussing the points raised in the discussion about how we might go about improving the lives of the people slaving away to produce our electronics. As with my blog post on Communist Robots, the views expressed are not necessarily mine and are deliberately unattributed.

Digital Inequality Research Group

@DIGOxford

2010 - 18 Suicides in Foxconn factory - translation from worker blog "death was to testify that we were ever alive at all" #oxict4d

---

Firstly, it's worth noting that Apple and its partners are making progress on workers' right.

Apple has banned the practice of bonded labour - where new recruits are charged a fee - from its factories.

In its latest audit of factory conditions, the iPhone maker said that any such fee must be paid by its supplier and not the employee.

Apple began the audits following criticism of the working conditions in some of its factories.

"Apple bans 'bonded servitude' for factory workers" - BBC News 2015-02-12

Given that we believe Apple's suppliers - Foxconn - are deliberately mistreating their workers, what are our options for engendering change in these organisations? These are money-hungry companies desperate to cut every corner and bypass every regulatory edict in the face of overwhelming profit.

Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy

@OxfordMediaLaw

"To meet demand for the #ipad, Foxconn violates #China's labour laws" - see undercover vid: bit.ly/1zyfEnD #oxict4d @ciigroup_oxford

---

Broadly speaking, there are 4 major routes to change.

Agitating For Change

Apple trades on its reputation. Its brand relies on customer loving Apple.

It is imperative that the voices of those who are suffering are heard by those who are funding the suffering.

This can be achieved via protests and other methods of consciousness raising - such as posting on social media, holding talks with concerned parties, and encouraging people to watch documentaries.

Pension Funds

Some of the largest investors in Apple are Teachers' Pensions. Chances are, if you have a pension, you're invested in Apple.

We outsource our morality to pension funds. We ask them to provide the best possible return on investment, and we close our eyes to how they do it. Perhaps we should be lobbying teachers - and our own pension fund managers - to insist that Apple and Foxconn behave more ethically. Would it lead to a lower ROI to pay people a living wage? Maybe. Or would a more generous attitude pay dividends by increasing sales?

Conflict Minerals

The mobile phone industry has a large problem with conflict minerals. In particular Coltan is regularly mined by corrupt warlords and used to finance ongoing wars.

There is hope though - regulators worldwide have enacted laws to curb the sale of conflict minerals. It's imperfect, but it's a start.

Continual lobbying of law makers and phone companies has helped improve the lives of tens of thousands of people. There's no reason why the same can't happen with Apple.

Unions

There are two approaches to unionising. The first is, somewhat obviously, getting the Foxconn workers into a strong and recognised labour union. This is not without its problems.

Digital Inequality Research Group

@DIGOxford

Can Foxconn workers organise and make voices heard? - Growing use of mobiles, workers posting online, threaten to commit suicide #oxict4d

---

Digital Inequality Research Group

@DIGOxford

Growth of labour grievances and arbitration as employees try to fight for rights - but still discouraged by costs of arbitration #oxict4d

---

Foxconn workers report that they are victimised and harassed for standing up for their rights. The unions which are afforded to them often report directly to their abusive bosses.

So, what other options are there? Ask Apple workers in the USA and Europe to stand in solidarity with the people who make the products that they sell. Would they be willing to agitate for change within Apple and also explain the problem to potential customers entering the stores?

In some cases, this has already happened - Apple Store employees join with protesters to make their displeasure known.

Organizers picket an Apple store in San Francisco - carrying placards showing the names and ages of the Foxconn suicide victims
Photo credit: Chinese Progressive Association San Francisco.

It's a big ask. And it leads us into the final problem.

Getting People to Care

It's really hard to get people to care. It's one of the hardest things about trying to get people to join a cause, any cause. There are so many worthy causes in the world and we can't devote our time or emotional energy to all of them. Inevitably, people choose causes which affect them directly.

For most Western consumers, China is too far away to worry about. If you think your own job sucks, you don't want to spend time thinking about the depravity, squalor, and misery of those who make your gadgets. And if it means those shiny electronic toys cost a few dollars more...

As I'm fond of saying, we often treat our phones with more intimacy than our lovers. We caress them, rub our cheeks to them, and whisper our most intimate secrets into them. How can we stare at a screen multiple times per day and have so little regard for the plight of those who assemble our devices?

It's Working

All these efforts are ongoing - and they seem to be making a positive difference.

Around the globe, Apple employees are united in bringing equality, respect for human rights and protection of the environment to the deepest levels of our supply chain. While we have made significant progress, gaps still exist, and there is more work to do. We know that workers are counting on us. We will not stop until every person in our supply chain is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Jeff Williams, senior vice president of operations at Apple

Apple provide an API to allow users to search the iTunes store.

Let's suppose that a user wishes to search for Music Videos from The Beatles. The search itself is performed over HTTPS.

https://itunes.apple.com/search?entity=musicVideo&term=beatles

This means that anyone sniffing the connection won't see what the user searched for - nor will they see the response from Apple.

The only fly in the ointment is that some of the resources returned in the results are not served over HTTPS.

For example, here's the response from the Beatles search:

{ "resultCount" : 31,
  "results" : [ { "artistId" : 136975,
        "artistName" : "The Beatles",
        "artistViewUrl" : "https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-beatles/id136975?uo=4",
        "artworkUrl100" : "http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Video/16/d8/ba/mzi.otkgeuyk.100x100-75.jpg",
        "artworkUrl30" : "http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Video/16/d8/ba/mzi.otkgeuyk.40x30-75.jpg",
        "artworkUrl60" : "http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Video/16/d8/ba/mzi.otkgeuyk.80x60-75.jpg",
        "collectionCensoredName" : "Abbey Road",
        "collectionExplicitness" : "notExplicit",
        "collectionId" : 401186200,
        "collectionName" : "Abbey Road",
        "collectionPrice" : 12.99,
        "collectionViewUrl" : "https://itunes.apple.com/us/music-video/abbey-road-documentary/id401187199?uo=4",
        "country" : "USA",
        "currency" : "USD",
        "discCount" : 1,
        "discNumber" : 1,
        "kind" : "music-video",
        "previewUrl" : "http://a157.v.phobos.apple.com/us/r1000/060/Video/72/fe/52/mzm.bxhrrlns..640x480.h264lc.u.p.m4v",
        "primaryGenreName" : "Rock",
        "radioStationUrl" : "https://itunes.apple.com/us/station/idra.401187199",
        "releaseDate" : "2010-11-16T08:00:00Z",
        "trackCensoredName" : "Abbey Road (Documentary)",
        "trackCount" : 19,
        "trackExplicitness" : "notExplicit",
        "trackId" : 401187199,
        "trackName" : "Abbey Road (Documentary)",
        "trackNumber" : 18,
        "trackPrice" : -1.0,
        "trackTimeMillis" : 232000,
        "trackViewUrl" : "https://itunes.apple.com/us/music-video/abbey-road-documentary/id401187199?uo=4",
        "wrapperType" : "track"
      },

As you can see, the following are served over an unencrypted connection.

"artworkUrl100" : "http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Video/16/d8/ba/mzi.otkgeuyk.100x100-75.jpg",
"artworkUrl30"  : "http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Video/16/d8/ba/mzi.otkgeuyk.40x30-75.jpg",
"artworkUrl60"  : "http://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Video/16/d8/ba/mzi.otkgeuyk.80x60-75.jpg",
"previewUrl"    : "http://a157.v.phobos.apple.com/us/r1000/060/Video/72/fe/52/mzm.bxhrrlns..640x480.h264lc.u.p.m4v",

If the client automatically grabs the images - which most will in order to make the user interface look attractive - any malicious actor sniffing the traffic will be able to see these requests.

It's pretty easy to look at the returned image and make a reasonable guess as to the search term submitted.

Impact

Ok, searching for music and videos may not be overly sensitive - unless your parents ban Rock 'n' Roll music.

But searching for other material such as eBooks could be problematic:

It doesn't take a mastermind to work out what the user searched for to produce this result.

Searching for healthcare related information could reveal personal medical details:

If, all of a sudden, the network sniffer sees these images being transferred, it's pretty easy to work out what's being searched for.

Impact And Mitigating

Hey, it's only metadata. The "bad guys" can't see what you searched for, only that it returned a list of books about suicide support, alcohol addiction, and divorce law.

Anyone between you and Apple can see the cover art of everything you search for. Your ISP, the coffee-shop owner, an abusive spouse, a spy.

As I said at the start - this is a very minor privacy hole. You may not believe that your reading habits should be private, but many people do.

I've spoken to Apple repeatedly since the beginning of April, but they don't seem eager to fix it.

Apple can easily mitigate this problem by serving all resources securely.

Take, for example, the seemingly dull task of email unsubscription. A developer wants to make it easy for a user to unsubscribe from an email newsletter. They want to place an unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email, a user can click on it, be taken to a web page, then confirm her unsubscribe.

Let us assume - for a moment - that the developer isn't so sadistic as to make the user manually type in her email address. We are left with an interesting problem: how do we tell the website which email address to display?

The easy way is very simple - example.com/unsubscribe?email=sjobs@apple.com

This is bad. Very bad. Let's take, for example, Apple's developer portal.

As you can see - Apple use this anti-pattern when asking developers to unsubscribe from their marketing efforts. There is no requirement to be logged in, no double checking that the user is the owner of the email address, and there is no email confirmation of unsubscription. If a malicious user hits that button....

And that's that.

Apple have deliberately configured their systems in such a way that they - potentially - leak information about subscribers. Or, rather, they let you confirm whether an email address exists on their system.

Knowing that an email address is subscribed to a developer marketing list is useful if you're a spammer - those are the addresses you may want to target - and useful if you're trying to hack in to someone's account - the email used for developer marketing is likely to be the same as their developer account credentials. So, perfect for a spear-phishing vector.

Finally, what happens if your rivals see that you are subscribed to this mailing list? Would removing you - or your boss - from it cause your business any issues?

The Right Way

So, we can hopefully see why the "easy" way causes problems in the long run. What's the right way?

Generally speaking, we want to minimize the damage that any one individual can do while still making it easy to unsubscribe.

Rather than:

example.com/unsubscribe?email=sjobs@apple.com

The email should be given a unique ID which the website can then examine and validate - for example:

example.com/unsubscribe?email=ed263e3881d6ae44d258eda63a1fbda1

If the ID is found in the database, the website can return and display the correct email address. It is impractical for a malicious user to input random unique ID's until they find a valid one.

There is no additional inconvenience for the user, no risk from malicious use, and only a minuscule amount of work for the designer of the system.

Well, yes, I'd love to move to Android - but all my content is in iTunes.

I discovered that it wasn't apps which were the problem - buying them again is a pain, but most are free. It's media content which traps people into staying with services that they no longer want.

Music, movies, TV, and podcast subscriptions. All tied up in Apple's little ecosystem. A very pretty noose to keep people chained to its hardware.

Imagine, just for a moment, that your Sony DVD player would only play Sony Movies' films. When you decided to buy a new DVD player from Samsung, none of those media files would work on your new kit without some serious fiddling.

That's the walled garden that so many companies are now trying to drag us into. And I think it stinks.

On a mobile phone network in the UK, you can use any phone you want. Hardware and services are totally divorced. It promotes competition because customers know that if they have a poor experience with HTC, they can move to Nokia and everything will carry on working just as it did before.

But, if all of your contacts, entertainment services, and backups are chained into HTC - well, then you're just shit out of luck if you want to move.

I want to see a complete separation of church and state here. Hardware should be separate from software. Software should be separate from services.

I want to watch Nokia movies on my Samsung hardware running Google's Android, and then back them up to DropBox.

That's how it works - more or less - in the PC space. I don't understand why it doesn't in the tablet and smartphone space? Why would I buy a tablet that only worked with content from one provider? Whether that's Amazon, Microsoft or Apple - it's setting up a nasty little monopoly which will drive up prices and drive down quality.

I know, I know. The mantra of "It Just Works". I'm mildly sick of having to configure my tablet to talk to my NAS, and then get the TV to talk to both of them. That situation isn't just due to my equipment all coming from different manufacturers - it's mostly due to those manufacturers not implementing open standards.

I fear what will happen when a provider shuts down a service. I joke about Apple going bust - even if they stay solvent, what's to stop them wiping all your music and movie purchases? After all, they shuttered their Mobile Me service with barely any warning and destroyed all the data their paying customers were hosting there. Adobe killed their DRM servers with only 9 months notice - effectively stopping anyone from reading books they had bought. Amazon wipes Kindles. Google took Google Video to the woodshed and shot it in the head - along with Buzz, Wave, and who know how many other products. Microsoft set up PlaysForSure - and then let it die, trapping millions of music files on devices which are no longer supported.

So, perhaps I'll stick with Google and hope that my Google TV talks to my Google Phone while I watch Google Play videos and listen to Google Play Music on my Google ChromeBook which I share on Google+ and purchase with Google Wallet. And send them the technology geek's prayer "Please don't decide that this useful service isn't profitable."

I just want us all to get along. I want my disparate equipment to talk to each other. I don't want to live in a house where every component has to be made by the same company otherwise nothing works correctly. I don't want to be stuck using a crappy product because they're the only ones offering service X.

I don't want toys that only run on your flavour of batteries.

I don't want to be part of your fucking ecosystem.

Apple is at an interesting nexus with its iPhone. It's hugely popular, vastly profitable, beloved by millions, and plagiarised by its competitors. The only fly in the ointment? It's just a little bit dull!

Dull is, of course, another word for consistent. Predictable. Comforting. Pick up an original iPhone and the newly released model and see if you can spot the difference in the user interface. Yes, the screen is nicer and the processor is faster - but the same basic grid of static icons have persisted throughout the last 5 years. The basic UI elements haven't changed a great deal since inception.

Customers love the fact that they don't have to learn a new set of icons and interactions. That one of the reasons that iPhone users are statistically unlikely to churn away from the platform. Not only do all their games, apps, music, and settings seamlessly transfer to the new device - so does their learned behaviour.

The problem that Apple now faces is how it will incorporate innovative new features into the iPhone without disturbing the existing paradigm of static icons and modal dialogue boxes. It has successfully manage to cram in Android's notification bar without too much trouble. Will it be able to add widgets, screen gestures, radial menus, lateral scrolling, and all the other UI tools which customers are learning to love on other platforms?

This was the problem that Nokia faced with Symbian. The Symbian UI was clean, uncluttered, simple and static - much like iOS. Customers bought Symbian phones in their droves because they appreciated the design consistency.

Then things changed.

The Internet became popular and all of a sudden Symbian users were bombarded by notifications "helpfully" asking them if they were really sure that they want wanted to connect to the Internet?

Notifications - for so long the preserve of SMS only - suddenly had to be extended to MySpace and Facebook.

Apps needed to run in the background to provide a constant source of information to the user.

The architecture and UI of Symbian just wasn't up to the job. Even the very latest - and possibly last - device, the N8, feels like a phone from 10 years ago with the modern features shoehorned in. Last year, Symbian was taken out to the woodshed and shot by Stephen Elop. It was a small mercy (and one likely to be visited on Elop by the Nokia shareholders before too long).

Is the iPhone about to reach that tipping point? Users with "unlimited" data plans are still forced to download certain large items over wifi. Users dissatisfied with the browser or the mapping apps are unable to set other apps to take over their duties. Power users are frustrated that they can't use better keyboards.

All little niggles, for now - and all straightforward to fix. But in fixing those problems, and modernising the UI, Apple risks alienating its core customers

Nokia phones "running" Android

A few years ago, I coaxed my Nokia N810 into running a prototype version of Android - NitDroid. The project has been resurrected by Stephen Hyde at NITDroid.com.

This latest video shows the Nokia N900 running Android's FroYo.

Why Is This Useful?

Nokia coined the term "Mobile Computer" for its range of phones. Computers aren't hermetically sealed consumer devices. They allow the customer to modify both hardware and software. You would be understandably upset if the computer you bought last year wouldn't let you install the latest version of Windows, MacOS, or Linux. But that's the situation mobile phone customers are faced with today.

The Android G1 has been abandoned by HTC and T-Mobile - much to the chagrin of customers. The HTC Hero has only been grudgingly updated to Android 2.1. Nokia left the N800 and N810 to rot. Nokia regularly stops development of its "mobile computer" software even when the devices are in active use.

Mobile phone manufacturers exist to sell phones. They don't get any extra revenue for releasing new firmware. Indeed, the cost of developing, testing, and shipping new firmware is prohibitively expensive. Not to mention dealing with customer complaints when things inevitably go wrong.

We are finally in a position to change that mindset. Hackers (in the original sense of the word) are now able to create custom firmware for new phones. Take a look at the XDA Developer Forums. Almost every Android phone released can have an improved firmware running on it.

True, a significantly older phone may not have hardware capable of running bleeding edge code - but it's enough to give it a new lease of life.

I'd love it if Nokia updated the N95 8GB firmware. The hardware is still incredibly capable.

In these tough economic times, it makes perfect sense to focus efforts on software, rather than hardware.

Look at the PS3 or the Xbox 360. A single model with firmware updates to increase its functionality.

Rather than tooling up a factory for a 6 month run of hardware - phone manufacturers should be looking to keep churning out a limited number of models of high spec phones for years. As manufacturing efficiencies improve, the hardware becomes cheaper and - like the PS3 and Xbox - cheaper models can be produced.

The PS3 came out in November 2006. Nearly 4 years ago. Can you think of a phone released four years ago which is still in production - let alone receiving firmware updates? The original iPhone was released in 2007 - it got a firmware update earlier this year but won't be receiving iOS4. Also, you can't buy a new iPhone 2G. Apple aren't in the business of selling inexpensive hardware.

The Future

I predict - or rather, I hope - we will see the following pattern emerge. Either from Google or Nokia.

• An insanely expensive and over-spec'd phone will be released.  I expect in the £500 - £1,000 range.
• A public roadmap for its OS will be released - new features promised every 3-6 months.
• A guarantee that official firmware development will continue for at least 3 years.
• The OS will be sufficiently open to allow "homebrew" firmware to run.  Hackers will jump at it.
• The hardware will sell - poorly at first.
• As production efficiencies are found, the price will come down.  The hardware capabilities will stay compatible with older models.
• The firmware will progress based upon consumer need, manufacturer desire and what hackers manage to achieve.
• At around the 18 month mark, major new features in the firmware will be announced.  This keeps the MNO happy as they don't have to subsidise the cost of new hardware for customers coming to the end of their contracts.
• At the 2 year mark, the next hardware revision will be launched.  More memory and megapixels - cheaper price.
• If the hardware is still selling, expect others to follow.

The fly in the ointment for this is continuous manufacturer profitability.  Apple, I understand, gets a cut of call and text revenue.  Google gets a cut of apps sold.  Microsoft and Sony sell licences for releasing games on their platform.

Would this "super phone" have to sell firmware updates?  Would MNOs subsidise firmware rather than hardware?  Would customers part-exchange  an unfashionably old phone for the latest model?

Or will we be stuck with phones that are thrown on the scrap-heap by their creator in order to force us into buying the latest model?

One thing's for certain.  Where there are hackers - there will always be updates.

So it was with great mirth that I went along to a BizSpark event a few weeks ago. Microsoft were going to be showing off their latest "innovation" - Windows Phone 7.

I went along expecting to hate it and, instead, found myself curiously drawn to it.

Take a look at the emulator for an interactive demo.

I played with the demo hardware and software and had my expectations blown away.  I'll be honest - I expected crap.  I had horrible memories of the stylus oriented Windows Mobile 6.  The phone which would display an hourglass if you had the temerity to receive a phone call while playing solitaire.

Windows Phone 7 (WP7) was a million miles away from the old Microsoft experience.

Pros

The user interface is refreshingly simple and fun to use.  It's like nothing else I've tried before and I really think that Microsoft has outclassed both Android and Apple.

Pushing so much information to the homescreen really makes you want to use your phone constantly. iPhone only does this half-heartedly and Android does it without much animation or UI consistency.

App Store.  One excellent feature of the MS app store is the "Try Before You Buy" model.  Rather than a developer putting out a free, limited version and a "pro" version they can publish a single app.  They can restrict the features and functionality of the "demo" version until the customer makes the purchase. Or, after a set period of time, the demo version can become non-functioning. Or have reduced function.  Brilliant.

Gaming on this device will be huge. It looks like it will be simple to port games from the Xbox to WP7 - that gives it a great competative advantage. Tie in Xbox Live (or whatever it's called) and you'll get gamers buying the same game twice - once on the console and once on the phone.  The 3D power of the phones was stunning.

Cons

There are some serious shortcomings in the Windows Phone 7 vision of the future which Microsoft urgently need to address.

• Expand the development options.  If you want to write for Windows Phone 7, you'll need Windows installed on your computer.  Given that Android allows you to develop on Windows, Mac and Linux, it doesn't make sense to make developers buy a new operating system.  Especially as iPhone development is tied to Apple.
• Open it up.  I love the idea of integrating my phone with my Xbox live account - but I don't have an Xbox! Open it up so that my Wii or PS3 gaming experience can be pushed to the homescreen.
• The same goes for mail and IM - don't restrict it just to Exchange and MSN.  Openness is hard for Microsoft, but it will attract more customers to the platform.
• Have a firm, public roadmap for enhancements which all manufacturers stick to.  Android is currently being stifled by manufacturers like HTC who refuse to update the software on their customers' devices.
• Revenue share for developers needs to be better. At the moment it's the same 70/30 split being offered by Android and Apple.  It needs to be lower for two key reasons.

1. Attract developers to the fledgling ecosystem.
2. To avoid any accusations of a cartel.  To have all three major platforms "independently" converge on the same revenue share deal looks suspicious.

Now What?

I've played with the prototype hardware and I'm impressed.  The software is really good. Much better that Microsoft's usual standard.

It has to be.

Microsoft are betting their mobile future on this platform.  Win6.5 failed. Kin failed. They can't afford another high profile failure like this.  Mirosoft are putting their best people on this project and, as far as I can tell, are revisiting their Xbox strategy; SPEND SPEND SPEND.

By the time the phones launch (holiday season 2010) you won't be able to move without seeing an advert.  They will crank up their media machine to 11.  Just like the original Xbox, they will buy their way in to the market with a view that - like the Xbox 360 - the real prize is several years away.

I hope they succeed.  Not because I have any love for Microsoft, but because Nokia, Apple, and Google will all have to raise the quality of their software and hardware to compete against Microsoft's marketing expenditure.

I'm a Linux geek - and I think Windows Phone 7 is the best thing to come out of Redmond in a very long time.

Mistake #1

Take a look at this rather charming advert on the Guardian's mobile site. The more astute among you will recognise the problem. I'm being advertised an iPhone game when I'm browsing the site using an Android phone. This is the fault of the Guardian - or, more likely, whoever runs their advertising department.

Well, let's click on it.

Mistake #2

The image expansion doesn't work. This is probably because it uses iPhone specific code.

Mistake #3

Let's take a look at the raw image. The image is a 135KB PNG. That's massive. At a time when unlimited downloads are under threat, it is incumbent on the mobile web designer to minimise needless data usage.

If we convert the image to a JPG, the size goes down to 26KB. Can you spot the difference in quality?

Mistake #4

What happens if we visit the destination? Ah. Apple send us to the desktop version of iTunes. This is better than what used to happen, where they tried to install iTunes!

Preventing The Problem

Every browser sends a User-Agent String. The advertising server should be configured to only send iPhone-specific adverts to iPhones.

It really is that simple. You can use services like WURFL and DeviceAtlas to automate this process if you like.

What Should Have Happened

• The advert shouldn't have been shown in the first place. The Guardian needs to ensure that the advertising space it is selling is being correctly targeted.
• The click should have gone directly to Barclays - if they saw the phone viewing the content wasn't an iPhone they should display alternate content.
• Apple needs to have a mobile friendly page. It really is that simple. A great mobile friendly page with a link that says "Want to play this games? Find your nearest Apple Store here".

Based on the evidence I've accumulated, mobile advertising is subject to a lot of hype and not a lot of professionalism.

Take this example as seen on my BlackBerry 9000.

Flickr iPhone Advert

First off the bat, it gets my phone wrong. It should be using the User Agent to determine which advert to serve.

Well, let's be a good consumer and click on it any way...

What the deuce?!

It has taken me to the Desktop version of the iTunes installation page - despite knowing I'm on a mobile!

What Should Have Happened?

• My phone requests the advert.
• Advertising agency serves up a device specific ad.
• I click on the ad.
• The ad server sees my User Agent
• For iPhone, it should automatically redirect me to the App Store
• For BlackBerry / Android / S60  etc, it should automatically redirect me to the native app store
• For everything else, it should automatically redirect me to http://m.flickr.com/

How Can It Go So Wrong?!

I'm making the assumption that this is an advert by flickr.  It may well be an advert by a third-party who have a (chargeable) app for iPhone.

Even if it is the latter - why are they advertising on BlackBerry?  Or, rather, why is their advertising agency wasting their marketing budget by showing an advert on a device which can't support the content?

Make Sure Your Advert Works

It's not rocket science.  If people can't get to your product, they won't spend money with you.  They'll also get a negative impression of your brand.

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

Well, that didn't take long! To crash BlackBerry AppWorld, select an app, while it's loading, hit the BB key then "Read Review" Crash occurs

---

While a loading screen is running, hit the BB button, then select "Read Reviews".
The crash is nothing too serious, but it does point to a little lack of testing.

Very impressive RIM, let's see how it evolves.

The first - and last - Apple product I owned was a blueberry iMac.

I think it may have had an early version of OS X on it. It was fun enough, but I eventually replaced the OS with YellowDog.

Now I find myself in possession of a 16GB iPhone 3G. Nice! Or so I thought.

For various dull reasons, the iPhone is an unlocked Portuguese model. It was simplicity itself to set it to UK English and add my APN details etc. That's where the fun & simplicity stopped.

I thought I'd try the fabled AppStore. Download a few free apps and the like - and thus the nightmare of "The-One-True-Apple-Way" descended on me.

First of all, all the apps were priced in €. I would have thought me manually setting the phone to UK & having a UK SIM in there & being on a UK network would have convinced Apple to price things in £. Not so.

When I tried to download a free app I was told to enter my iTunes account information. This was problematic for two reasons 1) It was a free app. On every other device I've ever owned I can click on a free app and install it without giving away so much as an email address. 2) I don't have an iTunes account. As far as I can determine, there's no way to obtain one from the phone.

This is meant to be a super-duper converged smartphone but apparently it can't even handle a simple sign up process.

It turns out that the only way to get an iTunes account is to install the iTunes software. Again, this is problematic. 1) Not everyone has - or wants - a computer. Apple has drastically cut its user base for no reason as far as I can see. 2) Not everyone who has a computer has sole use of it. You might not be able to install iTunes on your work computer. If you & your family share a computer, how does iTunes handle multiple accounts? 3) How do you get the software? There's no CD in the box, the iPhone doesn't show up as a USB hard disk, so the software can't stored on there like the Huawei/Vodafone 810.

So, off to the website to download iTunes. It's nearly 70MB! How the 40% of people without broadband are meant to grab this I have no idea.

The installation process was another of Apple's famed usability triumphs...

I can't choose my native language - "English (British)". I can't even trust it not to break Outlook.

It spent ~20 minutes installing the software, agreeing to two separate EULAs, only to be greeted by this screen.

So much for my language preferences.

Oh well, let's ignore that. Let's sign up for an account.

Oh.

All the settings on my computer are set to UK, iTunes is set to English. My physical location is in the UK but I go through a proxy in Germany.

Would it be beyond the wit of Apple's usability guru's to add a "Choose Your Country" option? Apparently so.

It also turns out that Apple insist that their products look like OS X apps even when they run on Windows XP. Great, yet another interface language to learn. I'm sure that Apple's products are the most amazing in the world - but this looks out of place on my system. Why should I have to mould myself to Apple? Shouldn't they work for my needs? No, silly grasshopper, The-One-True-Apple-Way has one path that all must adhere to or face certain death.

At this point, I got bored. If was a paying customer, I'd be on the verge of returning the device.

I'm obviously missing the gene that makes me fall in love with Apple products. Or is the rabid Apple fanboism just an elaborate hoax? Come on guys, let me in on the joke...

May be I'll try again tomorrow.