Apple seeks HSUPA engineers; Intel preps budget ultraportable CPU

[AppleInsider]

Apple is searching for lab engineers familiar with a more advanced version of 3G than in current iPhones. Also, Intel is reportedly crafting a processor that would straddle the line between netbooks and costly ultraportables, and Orange France is reporting gangbuster iPhone sales over the holidays.

Apple looking for HSUPA-aware engineers

With less than a year of iPhone 3G being on the market, Apple is hiring staff it hopes will have experience with more advanced standards.

The company is looking for performance engineers for both analysis and pure testing that will both ideally be aware of High Speed Uplink Packet Access, or HSUPA. The standard improves current 3G networks, most of which operate on slower HSDPA (Downlink) technology, by significantly improving the maximum upload bandwidth available to each user.

In current form, upstream speeds reach up to 5.76 megabits per second in peak conditions and simplify tasks such as video conferencing or posting media on the road. Download speeds are also usually faster on these networks and top out at roughly 7.2 megabits in the best circumstances.

It's uncertain if the request for experience in HSUPA is an indication of any immediate plans to introduce HSUPA to future iPhone incarnations; Apple lists the standard as an optional requirement and says only HSDPA is necessary for the job. The faster cellular data is only known to have appeared once before in Apple's recruitment pages, however, in an October posting looking for a firmware engineer knowledgeable in this technology as well as other 3G and even 4G standards.

Intel gearing up economy ultraportable processor?

If loose-lipped Intel staff at CES this past week are accurate, the semiconductor company will have a new ultraportable CPU due sometime in 2009, according to CNET.

The mystery chip is characterized as a compromise between netbook processors like the Atom, which is very low power but also very slow, and the relatively fast but expensive full-featured chips used by ultraportable notebooks.

While not providing much detail, the Intel tipsters do say the chips would be very small with a package measuring just 22mm square and would have most of the same architecture as Intel's ultra-low voltage processors, which today use the Core 2 Duo platform.

By building the new design, Intel would have a way of making whole notebooks under one inch thick but without either driving the cost up or neutering performance, according to the report.

Orange France's iPhone holiday sales triple in 2008

Apple enjoyed a banner holiday season for iPhone sales in France, says a new claim by the French newspaper La Tribune.

Although it doesn't identify its sources for the claim, the publication says that Orange alone sold about three times more iPhones over the Christmas season than its underwhelming 2007, when just 70,000 original iPhones traded hands.

The number is also potentially higher for France as a whole following a mid-December ruling this year that forced non-exclusive sales of the Apple handset in the country, allowing Bouygues Telecom, SFR and other local carriers to offer the device themselves.

None of the involved companies have commented on the claims.

[merdhead]

HSUPA isn't a surprise, it is inevitable that it will show up in the iPhone, just a question of when. My guess is the second half.

[Zandros]

What's the point of a faster uplink? Are we going to see bittorrent clients and web servers in the App Store?

[nine days]

I'm from France and the numbers given here is just iPhones sold by Orange not by the other operator. Even though Orange lost the exclusivity, they still has it as I am speaking now. On SFR, Bouygues Telecom website, the only mention of the iPhone is a "Coming soon" and when calling the support, Bouygues Telecom says they will be ready (technically) in late January!

[silverpraxis]

I think service providers should meet their maximum throughput advertisements before hardware manufacturers need to increase their throughput capacity. Granted for mobile phones, service providers are closer to their targets than landline ISPs vs. router capabilities (in the US).

[ipodrulz]

Originally Posted by Zandros

What's the point of a faster uplink? Are we going to see bittorrent clients and web servers in the App Store?

I don't know about you. But I wouldn't mind if my webpages loaded in under 5 sec. or if an iTunes song would finish it's download the same day I bought it.

[Hoss]

I wish SJ would just invest Apple's $25 Billion into the development of 20 breakthrough products, and juice up on the kind of steroids I took in the Marine Corps.

Then promote the hell out of a single 20 product release that will kick off on a Monday at 9:30am EST right when the market opens.

...and come out on stage to Chicago's Feeling Stronger Everyday.

The whole thing should last about 10 minutes. Sweet!

[Northgate]

Will this give us Copy & Paste?

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by ipodrulz

I don't know about you. But I wouldn't mind if my webpages loaded in under 5 sec. or if an iTunes song would finish it's download the same day I bought it.

That would be downloading...
The uplink is for sending information from your phone to the net--not the other way 'round...

[1st]

better looking hard... Hopefully VZ and ATT are ready for the task too. Isn't ALU got product going?
"The Japanese company NTT DoCoMo has been testing a 4G communication system prototype with 4x4 MIMO called VSF-OFCDM at 100 Mbit/s while moving, and 1 Gbit/s while stationary. In February 2007, NTT DoCoMo completed a trial in which they reached a maximum packet transmission rate of approximately 5 Gbit/s in the downlink with 12x12 MIMO using a 100MHz frequency bandwidth while moving at 10 km/h,[11] and is planning on releasing the first commercial network in 2010."

[mrpiddly]

Originally Posted by MacOldTimer

It looks like the Palm Pre and Windows 7 being able to be installed in full version on Netbooks has got Apple to get off its ass an getting to work.

Windows 7 is reported by many sites as at least as good as OSX and superior in many features (One report came from someone that is a as he quoted it "a FanBoy").

Sony put out a kick ass Sony Mini. TV's are giving access to the Internet. Dish has built in Slingbox to their next receiver, Microsoft has what most sites are saying beats OSX on many levels and Palm put the Kicker in Steve's ass and gave us a phone that makes the iPhone look like last decades phone.

The palm pre has not been released yet and due to the lack of prolonged user experience with the device, it should not be compared to anything.

OSX could run on a netbook if apple wanted it to.

It does not matter what some reviewer on some obscure site thinks about the operating systems. Most of the reviews just scratch the surface levels of the operating systems while ignoring the foundation upon which everything else is built.

Obviously apple is just too damn lazy to take over the entire consumer electronics industry with one super product.

The MacPro is 100 pounds and a POS these days. Did you really make it that heavy to think we needed to pay extra because it weighs more than my 52" TV or are you getting a kick back from Fed X for Shipping it?

Your logic is flawless. They should totally just stick an intel atom processor, nvidia 9400m, and tiny harddrive in the PRO level desktop computer to reduce weigh and size.

Contrary to your statement, some of us actually use computers for more than browsing the internet and word processing.

[razorpit]

Originally Posted by Northgate

Will this give us Copy & Paste?

I was hoping this would make the iPhone powerful enough to handle turn-by-turn directions.

[irnchriz]

Originally Posted by MacOldTimer

1. The lack of prolonged user experience for the Palm didn't stop Apple from putting out Gen 1 and 3G to the public. 3G wasn't remotely stable until 2.2 and that's pushing it.
The iPhone is a single Task Operating System with the exception of a few Apple "Allowed" crossing over to accomodate Google.

2. Apple OSX has not been a great start and is just getting stable. Why would Apple change the core OS to cocoa. Which in itself puts it into the same state as Vista. Not many drivers to support the new OS's needs. MS has admitted this and made MS 7 with the same needs as an OS 2 years ago.

3. Apple could run on an Netbook if it wanted to.
Flaw 1. Apple could have made the iPhone capable of running more than 1 app at a time. But it didn't and the Palm Pre Did.

4. Apple hasn't put out a Netbook and didn't introduce anything to say they would. Microsoft OS 7 runs on Netbooks. If you do your homework OSX can't and Steve Jobs is hampering the company because of it. Currently the Netbook market is ruled by Linux.

5. Thank you for the comment on the MacPro. It's a PIG and should be put in a big grave that can take the toxic fumes it is going to exume in the next 100 years.

I really don't care for people saying Apple could have done it but didn't.

Example. Copy and Paste on the iPhone. Give it to us instead of stupid emoji's for the Japanese market. Take copy and paste away from OSX or MS OS and you can't do your job with any accuracy or speed.

6. To say I only use the computer for the Web and e-mail is presumptuous. I make my living on my computer knowlegde on every platform. I was a Apple fan for 12 years. I switched when I was incorporated into the corporate world (redundant). I was lucky enough to learn that I can link to SQL servers without jumping through hoops and incorporate Macs into a PC enterprise with much more work.

Exit Note. When I have a RAID that goes down I can have my PC users up in 20 minutes. It takes 5+ hours for the Mac users to get access.

I give you credit you seem to know what you're talking about but I am a fan of knowledge and Tech not a company. You should be the same.

1. I have 2 iPhones and manage 50+ units for customers. In the UK there were no significant issues with the 3G capabilities on O2. AT&T's network seemed to be causing the issue and this required a tweak to the timing on the iPhone to compensate for the relatively poor 3G service. The iPhone is still far more stable and useable than any mobile device running WinMo. The BB Bold is probably the best business mobile out there at the moment and I am keen to see if Palm can give Apple a nudge to roll out an update which enables:
Push apps
Cut n Paste both in apps and between apps
Forwarding SMS

2. OSX is still far more stable than even Windows 7 is (in beta form so far) .
As for stability I have yet to have any issues with OSX. For example one of the office systems a 24" iMac 4GB RAM 8800 Nvidia gfx which runs 3 XP machines in Vmware fusion and Adobe CS4, runs flawlessly and hasn't been rebooted since the last patch. Compared to my Dell XPS Vista laptop which is a PITA since service pack 1. (I will probably run windows 7 on it whilst in beta as that seems more stable and quicker)

3. Apple have no interest in creating a netbook at this time. They will be watching how sales of the Sony P series go as Sony have stuck a big price ticket on netbook hardware hoping that the consumer will stump up the Sony Tax for it. If sales of the P series are good then Apple may consider releasing a netbook at the same price of around £800.

4. What a load of crap. You can (and we have) installed and run OSX on many models of netbook. Normally the only piece of hardware you may have a problem with is the WLAN card (although you can now get patched drivers for most of them) which you can swap out. Linux on the netbooks creates such a poor user experience for joe public that is quickly swapped out with XP by many users. Windows 7 runs quite well certainly far far quicker than Vista does.

[Hattig]

I imagine that the reason the Pre can have multiple apps running at the same time is simply because it has a faster CPU (ARM Cortex A8, in a TI OMAP chip) and probably more RAM. This is because it is a design for 2009, rather than the 2007 iPhone. Luckily iPhone OS X can handle multitasking just fine as it is engineered for it from a full desktop OS. Apple will need to consider how to switch applications (as they are already using side-swipe within applications to switch 'tabs', and arguably the Pre's OS is just a web browser running local web applications and is thus no more than Mobile Safari anyway) simply.

The next iPhone will be released in the same timeframe as the Pre, and I expect that the hardware platform will be overhauled. Certainly there will be a faster CPU, and more RAM. To be honest I don't think that PA Semi's work will be ready for this iteration. I expect a next generation Samsung SoC, maybe with two ARM11s on board (if not an A8), and 256 or 512 MB of on-package RAM, like the current 128MB on the current iPhone.

I am happy that Palm have actually engineered something, as they were a good company back in the day, back when mobile devices needed cut down operating systems. I think they're way behind with their platform compared to Android and Apple, but ahead of Windows Mobile, but it means they have been able to learn from them all, so once ready, it should be pretty good.

[1st]

"Obviously apple is just too damn lazy to take over the entire consumer electronics industry with one super product."

I wouldn't make such a comment unless either (1) I know the inside info. (2) I was work there and got lazy or (3) I was working demon and everyone else is lazy compare to me.

you never know what kind of brew steve is cooking.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by MacOldTimer

Apple either get a new CEO or give us something new. The MacPro is 100 pounds and a POS these days. Did you really make it that heavy to think we needed to pay extra because it weighs more than my 52" TV or are you getting a kick back from Fed X for Shipping it?

What is a MacPro?

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by ipodrulz

Apple either get a new CEO or give us something new. The MacPro is 100 pounds and a POS these days. Did you really make it that heavy to think we needed to pay extra because it weighs more than my 52" TV or are you getting a kick back from Fed X for Shipping it?

Way to compare Apples and coconuts. You don't know jack about workstation class computers, otherwise you'd know that Mac Pros fit in that class pretty nicely, in size and weight. Basically asking for a lighter workstation is generally asking for a poorly built one.

I expect that Apple would introduce an updated model in the next month or two to take advantage of the new generation of chips. Otherwise, they are fine machines.

[Corey]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

What is a MacPro?

A computer in SERIOUS need of an update; so I can buy one...

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

Way to compare Apples and coconuts. You don't know jack about workstation class computers, otherwise you'd know that Mac Pros fit in that class pretty nicely, in size and weight. Basically asking for a lighter workstation is generally asking for a poorly built one.

I expect that Apple would introduce an updated model in the next month or two to take advantage of the new generation of chips. Otherwise, they are fine machines.

These guys don't have a Mac Pro, never had and never will.

I don't know anybody that has them, particularly the 8's that are looking for updates. They know that once Snow Leopard is released and the apps they use now are developed to take greater advantage of the multi-cour 64-bit processors, there is no need for new Mac Pros.

Most of my colleagues in the graphic business are still using PowerPC G5's. They have become the horse of the industry. Most of those that moved up to the thoroughbred intel Mac Pros only did so when Adobe CS-4 was released, but never threw out their old G5's, and most likely never will.

[Abster2core]

Re: What is a MacPro?

Originally Posted by Corey

A computer in SERIOUS need of an update; so I can buy one...

I guess you don't get it.

As far as I know, there is or never was a computer called a MacPro.

So, if you are SERIOUS about getting one, you should a least know what they are called before you attempt to buy one.

And so should those that dis them.

Bet you don't have or never seen the Mac Pro two Quad-Core Intel Xeon in action. If you had, you wouldn't be looking for a newer one now. You would be dying to get Snow Leopard first, and then wishing the software developers followed up.

[Corey]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

Re: What is a MacPro?

I guess you don't get it.

As far as I know, there is or never was a computer called a MacPro.

Huh? I will assume that is a typo...