According to Marco Quatorze, Telcel’s Director of Value Added Services, the iPhone 4 sold in Mexico will initially be the same hardware as that sold in the U.S. and elsewhere, with Apple offering a free case to address potential issues with antenna performance. But he also noted that as of September 30th, when the free case program expires, revised hardware without the reception issues will become available.

The veracity of Quatorze’s claim is unknown, as it is unclear whether a carrier executive at his level would even be privy to such information, and it is possible that he may simply be mistaken in his understanding of Apple’s September 30th expiration date for the free case program. At Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference last month, Steve Jobs noted that the free case program was launched with an initial expiration date of September 30th to provide the company with time to continue its investigation of the antenna issue and perhaps come up with a better solution for future customers.

Netflix originally launched the app for the iPad-only and later revealed that the App would come for all iOS devices.

The popular app allows iOS device owners to stream video directly from Netflix. The service does require a Netflix subscription which starts at $8.99/month. The iPhone App seems to support streaming over both Wi-Fi and 3G.

Anecdotal evidence from developer David Smith of Cross Forward Consulting (via Silicon Alley Insider) suggests, however, that the program may not be cost-effective for developers, as a test ad campaign resulted in low click-through and conversion rates for an app priced at only $0.99.
From August 19 through August 25 I ran a campaign on the newly released iAd for Developers platform for our Audiobooks Premium app. The results were, to say the least, disappointing. For all the promise of selling your apps directly within an advertisement, it appears that so far this is not a viable way to drive traffic and create an economically sustainable promotion. For $1,251.75, my campaign generated a total of 84 downloads, thus a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) of ~$15. For a $0.99 app, those economics just can’t work out.

The remainder of the post details the process of signing up for an monitoring the iAd for Developers, and while Smith was pleased with the professionalism of Apple’s iAd staff and the ease with which he could monitor his campaign, the return on investment was simply nowhere near what would be required to be viable. While an application carrying a higher price tag or significant in-app purchasing content might stand a better chance of seeing a profitable ad campaign, conversion rates would likely be even lower for a more expensive application.
Given that the cost for the campaign is entirely based on clicks, we designed our banner to try and provide the audience with all the basic information they need to understand what Audiobooks is and whether they might be interested in purchasing it. This lead to a more textual treatment than a graphical one. Since we don’t pay for impressions we only wanted truly interested people clicking on the advertisement.
Apple’s iAd program utilizes a “targeting system” that helps identify which users might be most likely to respond to and purchase a given application, and for that reason, Apple’s staff encouraged Smith to continue the campaign beyond the first few unsuccessful days in hopes of refining that targeting and boosting yields. Improvement was non-existent, however, and the campaign was canceled after six days and only 84 downloads on over 2 million impressions.
Smith also performed a comparison campaign using the same banner ad on AdMob’s network, finding a click-through rate over five times higher than that for iAd, and with AdMob’s cheaper cost structure, Smith’s cost-per-click was over six times cheaper on AdMob than on iAd. The reason for the significant difference in click-through rates between the platforms is unclear, especially considering the widely-held belief that the iAd program would offer a “premium” branding that would be more enticing to users than traditional banner ads.

The story was a bit suspicious in that apparently the woman had just walked in off the street to a Samsung roadshow and was given the chance to try beating the world record. So, doesn’t really sound like the record is rigorously challenged very often. One iPhone user (gumballtech) who read the report figured he’d try his hand at the same feat and managed to come in under 22 seconds — more than 3 seconds less than this new world record.

Now, we’re not sure the actual rules for it to be a “World Record” qualifying time. Gumballtech relied slightly on the iPhone’s text correction, but that certainly can’t be a disqualifying issue as Swype is entirely based on predictive text generation.

The new email came in response to feedback sent by a customer who expressed frustration over the performance of his iPhone 3G, calling it “dog slow” and pointing to problems with system responsiveness when scrolling, zooming, and typing.
I’ve waited patiently through 4.0.1 and 4.0.2, looking for a fix that will make my phone work again. I’ve read the forums that advise me to jailbreak my phone or use some other method so I can downgrade back to a version of iPhone 3, however I’m not prepared to use a method that is not supported by Apple.

Jobs’ response was unsurprisingly terse:
Software update coming soon.

Sent from my iPhone

While Jobs did not offer details on the planned software update, he was most likely referring to iOS 4.1, which has been in testing with developers. Anecdotal reports have indicated that the iOS 4.1 betas do seem to be improving performance on the iPhone 3G, but confirmation that the company is addressing the issues will be welcome news to users who have been frustrated by iOS 4 performance on their devices.

The patent, titled “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device,” would also protect Apple against jailbreaks and other unauthorized hacks to the device, which were recently excepted from copyright enforcement.

The application, which was filed in February and published Thursday, specifically describes the identification of “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of a SIM card” so that measures can be taken to counter the user. Possible responses include surreptitiously activating the iPhone’s camera, geotagging the image and uploading it to a server and transmitting sensitive data to a server and then wiping it from the device.

Rest assured that this jailbreaking identification, the application would have us believe, is simply a means of protecting owners from unauthorized users.

“Access to sensitive information such as credit card information, social security numbers, banking information, home addresses, or any other delicate information can be prohibited,” the application states. “In some embodiments, the sensitive information can be erased from the electronic device. For example, the sensitive information can be erased directly after an unauthorized user is detected.”

But elsewhere, the patent betrays ulterior motives that are considerably more self serving.

“An activity that can detect an unauthorized user can be any action that may indicate the electronic device is being tampered with by being, for example, hacked, jailbroken, or unlocked,” the patent continues. “For example, a sudden increase in memory usage of the electronic device can indicate that a hacking program is being run and that an unauthorized user may be using the electronic device.

“’Jailbreaking’ of an electronic device can generally refer to tampering with the device to allow a user to gain access to digital resources that are normally hidden and protected from users. ‘Unlocking’ of a cellular phone can generally refer to removing a restriction that ‘locks’ a cellular phone so it may only be used in specific countries or with specific network providers. Thus, in some embodiments, an unauthorized user can be detected if it is determined that the electronic device is being jailbroken or unlocked.”

The application describes plenty of bells and whistles. They include voice-printing of the owner to detect unauthorized users (what could possibly go wrong with that?), activating the accelerometer to detect if thieves are in transit – even a “heartbeat sensor.”

Ignoring the possibility that a false positive in Apple’s proposed theft protection might activate the spy cam while the user is in the bath, or in the middle of some other intimate moment, this technology seems Orwellian for another reason: It gives Steve jobs and Co. the means to retaliate when iPhones aren’t being used in ways Cupertino doesn’t expressly permit.

But remember, it’s for your own good. ®

If you missed our first installment of “119 iPad apps for admins, coders, and geeks”, you might want to take a quick peek at its intro, and read our caveats on testing, ratings, and expectations.

The same rules apply to this week’s episode, in which we delve into inexpensive apps for programmer training, code editing, user-interface development, programming-language reference, and two iPad-based clocks designed to tickle your inner geek.

Training
We all have to start somewhere, and the journey of a thousand lines of code starts with the first keystroke — so here are a few training tools available in the App Store, some to get you started, some to ease you along your way, and some to test or hone your smarts.

Said testing and honing is what C++ Cheat Sheet ($1.99, four and a half stars) is designed to do. According to its developer, this code sample–laden app is good for test preparation or for “reviewing for an interview.” We would, however, have appreciated a keyword search.
If you want to step back to basics, Learn C ($1.99, three stars) can give you help in the ur-language of ANSI C. If you spend your days wrestling with C++ or Objective C, Learn C can offer a pleasant stroll down memory lane.

An arguably more practical education can be had with JAVA Technologies ($9.99). According to this app’s developer, in it you’ll find info on both basic and advanced Java, basic and advanced swings, servlets and applets, security, and J2EE.

The same developer who put together JAVA Technologies, Impressol, offers SQL & PL/SQL ($9.99) and UNIX Programming ($5.99). We’ll leave it up to you to determine what those two tutorials cover. Shouldn’t be hard.

If you’re not ready for quite as deep a dive as is offered by SQL & PL/SQL, iSQL Lite (99¢, two and a half stars) is, well, lite.

As might be assumed, the App Store has a few apps that focus on coding for the iPad/Phone/Pod. SDK Tutorials HD ($1.99, four stars) got high marks from App Store users for its tutorials and code snippets, although we found its UI — especially its black-on-blue text — more fussy than friendly.
Both App Workshop ($4.99, three and a half stars) and CodingPad ($5.99, two and a half stars) are also iPad/Phone/Pod-centric, and both receive mixed reviews. But at least their textual info is easy to read.

Today we launch our first installment of a Reg roundup of iPad apps that provide more utility than do fart-sharing, bubble-popping, and “Yo Mama!” joke-telling apps. We’ll focus on items that can ease your sysadmin chores — and in coming weeks another installment will provide help for coders, and a third will share an assortment of tools for engineers, web monkeys, and other assorted geeks.

A few ground rules: first, we weren’t able to test all the apps, so caveat, Mr and Ms emptor. Check out our overviews and recommendations, read each app’s description in its App Store blurb, peruse users’ comments, then make your choices.

Second, we’ve included user ratings when an app has received enough of them to sufficiently satisfy the App Store police to allow a rating’s inclusion — but don’t take those evaluations too seriously, since it appears that reviewers of utilitarian apps are an uncommonly cranky lot.

And finally, be realistic in your expectations. Most of these apps are one-trick ponies that are either free or cost just a few bucks. You’re not going to find the equivalent of, say, VMware vCenter in the App Store for a buck ninety-nine.

Tools
One tedious chore with which admin staffers are often tasked is to keep track of what machines a company or department has, how they’re configured, and so on. We tracked down three apps that can help.

The developers of Computer Inventory ($1.99, four stars) didn’t waste any effort on fancy graphics, but their app can manage a relatively small company’s computing stock in reasonable detail, and can export its data in XML format via email.
Computer List (free, two stars) is more rudimentary than Computer Inventory, but the price is right. Our third keeping-track-of-everything app, my Geek Things Pro ($1.99), can be password protected, includes fields for passwords, software licenses, and more, outputs CSV and PDF summaries, and links up with the developer’s desktop/laptop version for Macs and Windows PCs.

A different problem is attacked by intraWebPub ($4.99), which claims to turn a normally single-user iPad into a device suitable for multiple users. For reasons we confess not to fathom, this app has a “17+” age rating, a designation normally reserved for apps that involve sex, drugs, violence, and other fun stuff. Possibly Apple’s worried that one user could hack into another user’s photo collection to see – well – you know.

If your office has a stock of iPads that move from one user to another after, uh, “rightsizing”, ShredIt HD ($9.99) will overwrite free space in storage memory so that purportedly deleted files can’t be recovered.

Although zipThat ($1.99, two stars) isn’t strictly an admin tool, it can help if you’ve been emailed or downloaded a ZIP file, and don’t have a laptop or desktop conveniently available to unZIP said ZIP.

Note, however, that zipThat is currently at version 1.0, and the developer admits: “Some issues have been reported to us, and we’re working to correct them now.” You might want to wait until version 1.0.1.

Password utilities
For a single user, password creation and management is enough of a hassle. If you’re setting up a 50-PC office, that chore expands to become a total pain in the arse. As of today, the App Store had at least four password helpers.

The top-rated — and most expensive by far — is 1Password Pro ($14.99, four and a half stars), the iPadification of what its developer refers to as “the award-winning 1Password application with more than one million users worldwide” — meaning the app’s desktop/laptop incarnation. Not just a password creator, 1Password securely stores and organizes password collections.

At the other end of the price curve — and feature list — is Blasphemous Password (free, three and a half stars), which merely creates randomly generated passwords after you select a few simple parameters.