Briefly: Woz's white iPhone 4, CDMA engineers, WP7 developer changes

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently revealed that he has a white iPhone 4 that he modified himself using parts ordered online, while Apple has posted job listings for more engineers familiar with CDMA. Meanwhile, Microsoft moved up its pay date for Windows Phone 7 developers to January and added reporting tools for developers to keep track of app download statistics.



White iPhone 4



During last week's tour of the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, Wozniak revealed a white iPhone 4 to journalists. At first, speculation arose that Wozniak had obtained the unreleased device through his close connections to Apple.



However, Wozniak told CNN in an email that the handset was "modded," and had a few defects. As a result, Wozniak, who admitted he sometimes carries up to 10 phones with him, also has a black iPhone 4.



In response to suggestions that he purchased a modification kit from the New York high school student who gained notoriety when it was revealed that he had made as much as $130,000 from his white iPhone 4 modification kit, Wozniak wrote, "I saw a post and got in quick and ordered my set of parts."



Apple has repeatedly delayed the release of the white iPhone 4, most recently until "Spring 2011." The manufacturing process has proven "more challenging" than expected, Apple said in June. Some rumors suggest that Apple is having trouble with achieving the desired shade of white, while others point to light leaks on the rear camera as the reason for the delay.



CDMA job posting



According to recent postings on Apple's job website, the Cupertino, Calif., company is looking for more engineers with CDMA expertise. One position, Cellular Systems Performance Engineer, requires the candidate be familiar with the following cellular technologies: GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, CDMA. Given that Apple's iPhone already supports all of the listed technologies except CDMA, the job posting has led some to speculate that a CDMA-capable Verizon iPhone is on its way.



Apple hiring engineers with CDMA experience is not new, however. AppleInsider reported in 2008 that Apple was hiring testing and certification engineers with CDMA network experience as part of a global multi-carrier strategy. A search for "CDMA" on Apple's job website displays over 10 positions posted as far back as September 2008.



On Monday, analyst Shaw Wu with Kaufman Bros. wrote in a note to investors that Verizon may be "more willing to give in to Apple's terms" in order to gain shared exclusivity with AT&T, going so far as to pay a hefty sum to prevent T-Mobile USA and Sprint from getting the iPhone as well.



Verizon is widely expected to begin selling the iPhone in early 2011.



Windows Phone 7



In response to requests from developers, Microsoft announced Thursday that it has moved up payouts for Windows Phone 7 applications and has begun providing app performance reporting data to developers. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant drew criticism from Windows Phone 7 developers last month for withholding developer payments until February 2011 and lacking app store analytics.



Developers will now receive the first payments for app downloads in January. Download and transaction reporting information for developers' apps are available as of Thursday. Microsoft now has 18,000 registered WP7 developers and nearly 4,000 apps available. By comparison, Apple has over 300,000 apps in its App Store.



Microsoft's secrecy led some pundits to believe that the company was trying to delay publishing sales figures for the Windows Phone 7 launch, which was characterized as underwhelming and lackluster. That belief was further reinforced this week when Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's director of Windows Phone Program Management, refused to talk numbers during an interview at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference. Belfiore claimed it was "too soon" to discuss sales figures. When pressed, he admitted that Windows Phone 7 could take as long as 2 years to "get back into the market" and compete with Apple and Google.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Woz is a crazy dude that everyone loves. 10 phones? He may want to think about an 11th one! LOL
  • Reply 2 of 20
    Why would anyone ever need 10 phones
  • Reply 3 of 20
    CDMA is a general term. If there were a verizon phone in the works, they would probably want to qualify EVDO, unless they are not permitted to put it into the job description. In a world that is moving universally to LTE, the deal would have to be pretty sweet for Apple to build a legacy-capable phone for Verizon -- but it probably would be.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    bedouinbedouin Posts: 331member
    How awesome would it be to have Woz buy one of your products at age 16?
  • Reply 5 of 20
    After owning an iPhone 3G, which was a great phone btw, I decided to purchase a Windows Phone and know numerous people that have done the same switch. WP7 has nothing to worry about and will gain trending market share in time while continuing to build on a solid 1.0 platform. Microsoft is in it for the long haul.



    Maybe Woz should consider a Samsung Focus for #11.
  • Reply 6 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bedouin View Post


    How awesome would it be to have Woz buy one of your products at age 16?



    Now thats what Im saying!!! damn thats just gotta make a kids day...Woz is a cool dude "and loved by all"
  • Reply 7 of 20
    mgl323mgl323 Posts: 247member
    Ten phones?! Two is okay but ten is just going over board.
  • Reply 8 of 20
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member
    Ten phones? Nine is okay but ten is just going over board.
  • Reply 9 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Technec View Post


    After owning an iPhone 3G, which was a great phone btw, I decided to purchase a Windows Phone and know numerous people that have done the same switch. WP7 has nothing to worry about and will gain trending market share in time while continuing to build on a solid 1.0 platform. Microsoft is in it for the long haul.



    Maybe Woz should consider a Samsung Focus for #11.



    Wow. This is your first post?!



    You shouldn't embarrass yourself in public like this.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Wow. This is your first post?!



    You shouldn't embarrass yourself in public like this.



    Thanks for setting the tone of the boards. I was starting to worry he might get away with saying something like that without being personally abused. Whew!
  • Reply 11 of 20
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kohelet View Post


    Why would anyone ever need 10 phones



    Based on his history as a tinker and engineer, and his wealth, I would expect him to have at least that many, although I can?t figure out why he needs 10 on his person at any one time.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Splinemodel View Post


    CDMA is a general term. If there were a verizon phone in the works, they would probably want to qualify EVDO, unless they are not permitted to put it into the job description. In a world that is moving universally to LTE, the deal would have to be pretty sweet for Apple to build a legacy-capable phone for Verizon -- but it probably would be.



    CDMA/CDMA2000 will be around for a long time to come, even on Verizon.



    The only we have been able to say about a CDMA-based iPhone is that it was inevitable and that Verizon was the most likely US carrier to get it first.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Wow. This is your first post?!



    You shouldn't embarrass yourself in public like this.



    Awe, come on, he didn?t belittle anyone or anything, just that he thinks WP7 fits his needs. Although the part about ?numerous people" he personally knows having already switched is highly suspect. Still, it?s not the anti-Apple vitriol we typically see around here and WP7 is pretty good for MS. I?d choose it over Android if I couldn?t use an iPhone.
  • Reply 12 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Technec View Post


    After owning an iPhone 3G, which was a great phone btw, I decided to purchase a Windows Phone and know numerous people that have done the same switch. WP7 has nothing to worry about and will gain trending market share in time while continuing to build on a solid 1.0 platform. Microsoft is in it for the long haul.





    Really? That sounds so truly marketing speak for me. You genuinely have a windows phone and you know numerous people that chose it over an iphone 4?



    And while MS might be in it for the long haul, I think this war might be over faster than they think. Not to say MS doesn't often win these platform wars, but that was before google. I seem to remember the Zune was going to displace the ipod at one time...or two times. Best of luck to them.



    It is such a strange world, where MS is the under dog and I actually almost feel sorry for them... until my clients get hit with malware and delay my projects...
  • Reply 13 of 20
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jhuke View Post


    Really? That sounds so truly marketing speak for me. You genuinely have a windows phone and you know numerous people that chose it over an iphone 4?



    And while MS might be in it for the long haul, I think this war might be over faster than they think. Not to say MS doesn't often win these platform wars, but that was before google. I seem to remember the Zune was going to displace the ipod at one time...or two times. Best of luck to them.



    It is such a strange world, where MS is the under dog and I actually almost feel sorry for them... until my clients get hit with malware and delay my projects...



    It was also before the UI and other aspects of the OS had to be designed for fairly specific HW. Most notably, the size of the display directly affects the size of the elements and its usability now that hte display is the primary input.



    In MS? defense they have started from scratch with the UI, and are only partnering with specific vendors and require specific HW to license their mobile OS, unlike Android. Unfortunately for Android, the same one-size-fits-all OS model doesn?t work for touchscreen devices.



    AnandTech has a in-depth review of the new WP7 handsets and OS.
    The only major drawback of the OS seems to be the lackluster IE JS engine. Hopefully for MS they?ve made IE9?s engines lite enough that it can be added to WP7 in short order.. but I doubt it, despite there effects with IE9 itself.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    In response to requests from developers, Microsoft announced Thursday that it has moved up payouts for Windows Phone 7 applications and has begun providing app performance reporting data to developers.[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ][/c]



    If your definition of responding to requests from developers means do what they announced they would do back in September and never really change from that then you are correct. Payments will still be going out in the last week of Jan, which is basically the start of Feb, which is when they said the first payments would be when they starting accepting apps.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jhuke View Post


    And while MS might be in it for the long haul, I think this war might be over faster than they think. Not to say MS doesn't often win these platform wars, but that was before google. I seem to remember the Zune was going to displace the ipod at one time...or two times. Best of luck to them.



    I agree that it's going to be a long time before WP7 is more popular than iPhone (if ever), but did they ever say the Zune was going to displace the iPod? I thought they just accepted from day 1 that it was never going to beat it.



    Either way it's not really a comparable device. People all use mobile phones and will regularly change them, whereas a large percentage of people with iPods didn't actually have any need for it. It was a fashionable/desirable device which an excellent marketing campaign that made you want it. If it didn't exist though you wouldn't buy another mp3 player. They also made a really good present to give people, cost enough to show you care and very easy to think of, didn't really matter if the recipient had any need for it or not.
  • Reply 15 of 20
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Based on his history as a tinker



    Tinker: ? Brit., chiefly derogatory a gypsy or other person living in an itinerant community.



    tinkerer? ;-)
  • Reply 16 of 20
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post


    Tinker: ? Brit., chiefly derogatory a gypsy or other person living in an itinerant community.



    tinkerer? ;-)



    Yes, I did mean tinkerer, but ignoring the British-ish definition a tinker is also: a person who makes minor mechanical repairs, esp. on a variety of appliances and apparatuses, usually for a living.
  • Reply 17 of 20
    al_bundyal_bundy Posts: 1,525member
    HSPA is another form of CDMA called WCDMA. Apple is playing head games with all of you with that job posting
  • Reply 18 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Firefly7475 View Post


    Thanks for setting the tone of the boards. I was starting to worry he might get away with saying something like that without being personally abused. Whew!



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Awe, come on, he didn?t belittle anyone or anything, just that he thinks WP7 fits his needs. Although the part about ?numerous people" he personally knows having already switched is highly suspect. Still, it?s not the anti-Apple vitriol we typically see around here and WP7 is pretty good for MS. I?d choose it over Android if I couldn?t use an iPhone.



    You guys are right. I deserve the opprobrium. I must have been in a foul mood last night.



    Welcome to the boards, Technec! Just ignore my rant.....

  • Reply 19 of 20
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Yes, I did mean tinkerer, but ignoring the British-ish definition a tinker is also: a person who makes minor mechanical repairs, esp. on a variety of appliances and apparatuses, usually for a living.



    It's a nice dictionary definition that is now quite divorced from reality. if you called someone a tinker in the UK or Ireland, you had better be prepared to bleed. Tinkers used to do those sorts of things decades ago but these days their principle activities are most definitely less quaint.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post


    It's a nice dictionary definition that is now quite divorced from reality. if you called someone a tinker in the UK or Ireland, you had better be prepared to bleed. Tinkers used to do those sorts of things decades ago but these days their principle activities are most definitely less quaint.



    Would that make me a bleeder or a bleederer?
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