Apple

A recent survey shows that while Research In Motion continues to lead as the smartphone of choice among consumers, Apple's iPhone is quickly catching up.

ChangeWave Research on Tuesday released the results of its week-long September survey of 4,255 consumers, which showed that RIM retains its lead in smartphone ownership with 40 percent market share. That's actually a dip of 1 percentage point since the last survey in June, and the lowest share RIM has registered in two years.

Despite having more models of smartphones, RIM is facing serious competition from Apple, whose iPhone has 30 percent market share among those surveyed. That's an increase of 5 percentage points since June, when the new iPhone 3GS was released.

(Credit: ChangeWave Research)

Among the same group, Palm has maintained a 7 percent share since June. Though it didn't see any growth even with the introduction of the Palm Pre and more recently the Pixi, the two new WebOS-based phones are helping the company to not lose share. Palm has seen its market share of smartphone ownership erode steadily from its peak of 36 percent in June 2006.

When including all manufacturers, the smartphone market is clearly gaining momentum. ChangeWave reports that 39 percent of those polled in September now own a smartphone, an increase of 2 percentage points since June, but more importantly, double the ownership of consumers polled two years ago.

And that momentum is something that PC makers are taking notice of, according to research also released Tuesday from Gartner. The analyst firm believes that more PC makers will start making smartphones to tap into those consumer dollars being spent in that segment. There's far more opportunity for them to court first-time smartphone owners than first-time laptop owners.

Smartphone revenue is expected to reach $191 million by 2012, which is more money than the $152 million users are expected to spend on laptops, according to Gartner. Apple, Sony, Dell, and Acer are the device makers that currently, or have announced they will, sell laptops as well as smartphones.

Two prominent Web-based programming advocates have left Mozilla for Palm, arguing that the time has come to use browsers to bypass Apple's controlling role in mobile applications.

Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith, who help run the Ajaxian site for elaborate Web interfaces and who worked on Mozilla's Web-based Bespin tool for collaborative programming, announced their move to Palm on Friday.

Palm is a logical place for them to go. The Palm Pre has won accolades as a competitive mobile phone, and its foundation for applications is a WebKit-based browser, meaning that Palm programs are essentially Web programs.

"I will be joining Ben, my best friend, partner in crime, and fellow Ajaxian, as we take a new role as directors of the Palm Developer Relations team. We will have the responsibility of the developer experience with Palm. We will be trying to create a rich connective tissue between the company and the Web developer community that we love," Almaer wrote on his blog.

Web-based programs are typically slower and less capable than alternatives that run natively on a computing device. But they have one big potential advantage: written once, they can run on any device with a browser and hardware up to the task.

Although Galbraith and Dalmaer are excited by the possibilities of Web applications and the new era of mobile computing ushered in most notably by Apple's iPhone, Galbraith appears to be concerned about the control Apple exercises over the applications people can use on their phones.

"Clearly, a revolution in hardware is taking place, and it doesn't take a prophet to work out that the future of computing lies along this new trajectory," Galbraith said. "However, my enthusiasm for this amazing new world is tempered by some unfortunate decisions made by some of the players in this space. It seems that some view this revolution as a chance to seize power in downright Orwellian ways by constraining what we, as developers, can say, dictating what kinds of apps we can create, controlling how we distribute our apps, and placing all kinds of limits on what (we) can do to our computing devices."

He didn't mention Apple by name, and I don't want to put words in his mouth, but who else besides Apple could Galbraith be referring to? The programmers and Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Apple exerts its control to try to give iPhone users a simple, stable, and useful experience. But that control can be at odds with what programmers and users want, as was most clearly illustrated in Apple's rejection of the Google Voice application--though Apple said it hasn't actually rejected the application.

Meanwhile, as it did with its Latitude location application for the iPhone after Apple rejected a native version of that software, Google is working on a Web-based interface for Google Voice. It also offers a Web-based Gmail application for the iPhone.

What's curious is that the Palm Pre, the Google Android operating system, and the iPhone OS all use a browser based on the WebKit project, and Apple is among those working hard to advance the state of the art for Web application programming through its WebKit work. So there is some philosophical agreement along with the differences.

Apple now has the support of a USB industry standards group in its battle to keep the Palm Pre from using the iTunes music service.

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) said in a statement Tuesday that Apple can block the Pre from connecting to iTunes. The group issued a letter to both companies warning Palm that further attempts to use iTunes would violate the group's policy.

The voice of the USB-IF is strong in this case since the group is responsible for issuing Apple the hardware vendor ID that lets its devices connect to iTunes via USB. Palm has used this process to its advantage by simulating the same ID for the Palm Pre, tricking iTunes into thinking the Pre is an Apple device.

That scheme worked until the recent release of iTunes 9, which broke the Pre's access, prompting Palm to complain to the USB-IF that the vendor ID blocks competitors.

But the group supported Apple's stance and cautioned Palm by letter that any further attempts to use the code would be a violation of its rules.

In its initial complaint, Palm told the USB-IF that the latest update of its WebOS would restore iTunes functionality to the Pre. In response, the USB-IF quoted policy and reminded Palm that it may use only its own issued vendor IDs, not those of any other company. The group asked Palm to clarify its intentions within seven days.

Palm and Apple were not immediately available for comment.

Even before the Palm Pre was released in June, people discovered that the device could connect to iTunes. Since then, Palm and Apple have fought a tug-of-war over iTunes access. Apple has issued various iTunes updates to block non-Apple devices, triggering Palm to find a way past them. Despite not-so-subtle warnings from Apple, Palm has remained persistent.

Two years ago, Palm's then CEO, Ed Colligan, rejected a proposal from Apple chief Steve Jobs to promise not to hire each other's employees, according to Bloomberg News.

According to Thursday's Bloomberg story, which cited unspecified "communications" between the two executives, Colligan in August 2007 said that Jobs' proposal was ill-considered. Jobs was worried about losing key Apple employees to Palm and said "we must do whatever we can to stop this," reported Bloomberg.

"Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal," Colligan told Jobs, according to the communications reviewed by Bloomberg.

A number of top figures at Palm once worked at Apple. Two months before the August 2007 communications cited by Bloomberg, Palm had announced that former Apple CFO Fred Anderson would be joining its board of directors and that Jon Rubenstein, who retired as head of Apple's iPod division in 2005, would join as executive chairman of the board.

In June of this year, Palm named Rubenstein as its CEO, replacing Colligan.

In August, former Apple staffer Jeff Zwerner became Palm's brand design chief. Other Apple execs who have jumped ship to Palm in recent months include Senior VP of Product Development Mike Bell and PR head Lynn Fox.

There's no love lost of late between the companies, with the Palm Pre a new up-and-comer for smartphone market share against the Apple iPhone. The two have most recently been squabbling over the Pre's compatibility with iTunes.

The Bloomberg story comes as the Justice Department is reportedly checking into possible hiring collusion among leading technology companies.

Tensions often run high between tech companies over executives moving between potential competitors. Apple last year got into a high-profile scrape with IBM over its hiring of Mark Papermaster from Big Blue.

(Credit: Palm/Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

When Jeff Zwerner joined Palm recently, he was in familiar company.

The man hired as senior vice president of brand design at Palm is, like three other top executives and a board member of the company, a former employee of Apple. Zwerner has been selected by Palm to shape the company's brand, with responsibility for public relations, marketing, advertising, events, and design.

Zwerner comes to Palm most recently from Factor Design in San Francisco, where, as principal, he consulted on strategic design for companies as varied as Hewlett-Packard, Coca-Cola, Gap, Disney, General Electric, and Apple. But before that, he spent two different stints in Cupertino, spending 1995 to 1996 as a senior art director, and returning from 2001 to 2003 as creative director of packaging.

He joins CEO Jon Rubinstein, former SVP of hardware for Apple; SVP of Product Development Mike Bell, who held the same position at Apple; PR head Lynn Fox, who did the same job at Apple; and former Apple CFO Fred Anderson, who joined Palm's board two years ago.

After a tough couple of years, Palm has been rebuilding its brand around the Palm Pre, a smartphone the company hopes will compete with Apple's iPhone. But the brewing competition has caused some recent sniping back and forth between the two companies. Palm initially advertised the Pre as being integrated with Apple's iTunes software, but Apple released a software update that disabled automatic syncing with the Pre. Palm quickly restored the functionality with a slightly controversial fix, but paving the way for perhaps an even larger squabble down the road.

Goodbye Pre.

(Credit: Screenshot by Bonnie Cha/CNET)

This post was updated at 2:56 p.m. PDT with a comment from Palm.

Oh dear. We can't say this was a complete surprise, but it looks like Apple made good on its earlier warning and put an end to the Palm Pre-iTunes synchronization with the release of iTunes 8.2.1.

In the release notes, Apple states that "iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices." Not wanting to believe the news, we bit the bullet and downloaded the latest version of Apple's music software to our PC and sure enough, the romance is dead.

Just as before, we connected the smartphone to our laptop and selected the Media Sync option on our Pre, but this time, it didn't automatically launch iTunes. Instead, it was only recognized as a mass storage device, and manually launching iTunes did not surface the Pre either (*tears*).

When asked for comment, Palm replied with the same response it had when Apple first issued its warning:

Palm's media sync works with iTunes 8.2. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we can consider.

Obviously, this isn't the best news for Pre users, but there are alternative ways to keep the iTunes-Pre synchronization alive. For one, you could just not update to iTunes 8.2.1, or as PreCentral.net points out, there are other third-party solutions, such as doubleTwist and The Missing Sync for Pre, that will allow to sync the smartphone with iTunes.

Anyone else have recommendations or thoughts on this little battle between Palm and Apple? Please share below.

Apple's recently released iPhone 3GS pulled out a victory in Consumer Reports' latest smartphone showdown.

(Credit: Apple)

In handing the iPhone the top spot in this year's smartphone list, Consumer Reports on Wednesday praised the iPhone 3GS for its "superior display, reinforced by top-notch multimedia, navigation, Web browsing, and battery life." However, the iPhone didn't win in all of the categories.

Consumer Reports gave high marks to the Palm Pre and BlackBerry for their messaging functionality. The organization also praised the Pre as a "superior multitasker" for its "deck-of-cards handling of multiple applications."

In light of the changing features and needs of the smartphone category, Consumer Reports changed some of the criteria for this year's showdown. The changes helped some older phones--like the iPhone 3G--move up in the rankings, while other phones--like the Samsung Blackjack II and BlackBerry Pearl Flip--dropped due to the changes.

Changes include putting more emphasis on things like the display, navigation, multimedia, and messaging, while putting less of an emphasis on features such as talk time and voice quality.

It's unclear how the iPhone 3GS would have rated, had MMS messaging been available from AT&T at the time of the tests. AT&T said functionality would be available sometime this summer.

The full report is available to Consumer Reports subscribers.

For all the discussion of the importance of transparency and openness on the Web today, it's very telling that the world's fastest-growing mobile platform may also be the most proprietary.

Apple wins rave reviews (including from me) on its technology but certainly not for its commitment to sharing its innovations with the world...unless, of course, you fork over $299 and sign a two-year mobile service commitment.

Indeed, Apple has earned the dubious honor of being more closed than Microsoft.

And yet, as Marc Hedlund reveals over on the O'Reilly Radar, application growth for the iPhone dwarfs that of the former leader in the smartphone category, PalmOS:

iPhone OS app growth vs. PalmOS app growth

(Credit: Marc Hedlund)

If openness matters so much, why is Apple doing so well with its uber-proprietary iPhone, just as Microsoft dominates the desktop with proprietary Windows?

There are at least two answers. One is that while Apple's iPhone (like Microsoft's Windows) isn't open in the open-source sense, it is open in the sense that it's easy to create applications that run on it. The second reason is that there's a huge financial incentive to do so, given the momentum behind the platform.

For some, these reasons aren't good enough, such as Mozilla Chair Mitchell Baker:

Many of us participate in closed systems where the rules are set for us and we don't see them, certainly can't change them, and aren't permitted to "participate" in building the rules. This is true of very popular web services. For example, I "participate" in Flickr and Facebook, but within the system and rules that those organizations set up to meet their own goals. That's fine; there's no reason for those sites to change.

Mozilla is trying to build a layer of the Internet that's different, where "participation" extends to the very core of what we build.

With 40 percent of Mozilla's Firefox written by outside contributors, it's clear that an open platform works for Mozilla to build a better browser, which is why Mozilla continues to improve the ways in which developers can contribute to it. But it's equally clear that there are other ways to be "open to participation," ways that pay the rent for Apple, Microsoft, and huge ecosystems of commercial partners.

Is one platform approach better than another?

While it's clear that the world has room for both proprietary-but-open-enough and pureplay-open approaches to platform building, I favor the more open approach. The reason is that eventually, it appears proprietary approaches can collapse under their own weight.

Take Windows, for example. To maintain its growth, Microsoft has had to include more and more functionality in the operating system, stepping on the toes (or outright devouring the toes) of its erstwhile partners. (Interestingly, while discussing whether openness matters for Apple over Google Android, Slate describes Microsoft's Windows approach as open.)

Eventually, Windows grew to such heft that the market, including Microsoft partners, started looking for open alternatives, causing then Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to dub Linux Microsoft's "most potent operating system competitor." The "good enough" operating system that performed certain tasks much more efficiently and powerfully than Windows has now grown to seriously threaten Microsoft in a range of applications and markets.

Eventually, even Microsoft's desktop dominance may be threatened by Linux as new classes of easy-to-use, cost-effective devices like Netbooks arise.

Back to Apple. Today, Apple's iPhone seems set to rule the world because it enables a huge community of application developers to reach a paying audience. Tomorrow, however, Google (Android/Linux), Nokia (Symbian, Linux), Palm (WebOS/Linux), and even Microsoft (Windows Mobile) threaten its cozy corralling of the mobile market.

Microsoft has made it clear that it's possible to build a massive business with an "open enough" approach to platform development. The question is, can Microsoft (and Apple) maintain that without truly opening up?

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.

Songs from iTunes synced with a Palm Pre.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET)

An article that appeared on Apple's support site Tuesday doesn't appear to be directed at any other company in particular--unless you read between the lines.

Titled "iTunes: About unsupported third-party digital media players," the article addresses the claims of "some third parties" that their digital media players are able to sync with iTunes. By "some third parties" they clearly mean "Palm," which has manipulated the new Pre smartphone to sync with Apple's music software. Palm execs showed off the iTunes sync feature at last month's D: All Things Digital conference.

The article reads: "Apple is aware that some third parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players."

That can be taken as a none-too-subtle threat that Apple can break the Pre's iTunes sync capability with a simple iTunes software update any time it wants to.

Apparently Palm's chief investor Roger McNamee didn't see this coming. When he and Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein introduced the feature, he acknowledged that Apple could take legal or technical steps to block the feature, but said, "I find it hard to believe they are going to get bent out of shape."