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Posts tagged ‘iphone’

Dec 9

xfinity
4 Comments

Xfinity TV App for iPhone and iPad

Tonight I downloaded the new Xfinity apps for iPhone and iPad from the iTunes App store. Comcast first offered its popular communications app on the iTunes Store in 2009, which enables customers to view integrated email, voice mail, receive home voice mail alerts and manage calendars, among other features.  But the new Xfinity TV app is nothing like the orignal Comcast app.

According to Comcast with the Xfinity app you can:

  • Browse and discover video content from either TV listings or selections from the On Demand library in a rich user interface with colorful poster art and details.
  • Use it as a TV guide so, in just a few finger taps, users can find what to watch by reviewing their TV listings and change the channel in real time.
  • Program their DVRs to record TV shows, series and movies so they never miss their favorites.
  • Sort content based on different filters like Networks and Genres such as Movies, Kids, Sports, or by HD content.
  • Search by keyword or by title A-Z in TV listings or On Demand.
  • Watch movies and TV shows directly on the iPad anytime, anywhere (coming in December).
  • Personalize viewing with a “MyTV” feature to create a “Watchlist” of favorite TV shows and movies (coming soon).
  • Seamlessly access social networking sites to share what they’re watching with others (coming soon). Read more

Nov 11

airprint

AirPrint for iOS

After downloading the OS X 10.6.5 update, I was disappointed to find that AirPrint support for iOS 4.2 devices is missing–at least for the printers on my home network.  From reports on sites such as AppleInsider, it appears that Apple has significantly changed AirPrint during the development process [Inside AirPrint: Apple's printing system for iOS].  According to a modified Apple press release, it appears only HP Printers with ePrint support will be supported initially [Apple AirPrint press release 9/15/2010].

Support for shared printers is not available in the initial release.  Mac OS X shared printers are not available to my iOS 4.2 devices.  According to AppleInsider,

Today’s public release of Mac OS X 10.6.5 does not appear to include support for AirPrint through Printer Sharing, meaning that while iOS devices will likely get AirPrint support in the upcoming iOS 4.2 update, they still won’t be able to print to shared printer queues set up on a Mac, which would appear to limit AirPrint to late-modeled printers specifically supporting HP’s ePrint feature.

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Dec 27

6 Comments

Customer service is not dead!

In the past I have ranted about examples of poor customer service, such as the iPhone 3G launch by Apple, or the exclusive selection of AT&T as the iPhone carrier by Apple.  I thought it only fair to point out an example of excellent customer service I experienced today at Les Schwab.

With all the snow we have had in the Seattle area in the past week, snow chains are almost a necessity.  In anticipation of the storms, I purchased chains for each of our cars.  Since chains were in short supply, I had to visit more than one store to find the correct sizes for each car.  I ended up at a very busy Les Schwab store in Redmond, but was greeted within a few seconds of entering the store and after just a couple of minutes had a brand new set of chains.

Well, the chains worked very well for a couple of days, but after repeatedly putting them on and taking them off, the rubber connector for the chain tightener snapped.  Undoubtedly, I was pulling too hard on the connector when it snapped.  To me it is obvious the part is under-engineered and therefore prone to breaking.  In fact, for my second car, they sold me a slightly different version with a much improved rubber connector attached to the chain tightener.   I decided to take the chains back to Les Schwab to see about a refund or replacement.

Arriving at the store, I was again surprised at how busy the store was, but in less than 15 seconds, I was being helped by en employee at the counter.  After listening to my complaint about the poort design of the chains, the Les Schwab employee  offered to immediately repair the chains.  He left the counter to go find a replacement connector.  As my son and I stood at the counter waiting, in the space of no more than 3 minutes, we were asked by 7 Schwab employees if we had been helped or if we needed anything while we were waiting. After about 3 minutes, he returned to the counter and informed me he was having trouble locating a replacement part, and so I would not have to wait any longer, he would simply swap the chains for a brand new set.  I was amazed.

It is a testament to Les Scwab (died in 2007), and the current Les Schwab management, that every employee understands the importance of the customer and ensuring a positive customer experience.

I imagine that Les Schwab will weather (pun intended) the current economic downturn better than many of their competitors because of their relentless focus on the customer.

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Jul 22

Wordpress for iOS

WordPress for iPhone

Well, WordPress for the iPhone is finally out and this is my first post using it. Very simple interface and simple configuration. It will be great to be mobile and able to blog. Stay tuned…

You can get it at WordPress.org

Jul 15

apple-iphone-3g
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iPhone 3G Launch — Frustrations of a loyal Apple customer

apple-iphone-3gWhere to begin? Do I begin with the 4 hours waiting in lines at two Apple stores, the lack of pre-sale information from Apple, the friendly and well meaning, but essentially non-helpful Apple store employees, the unfriendly, unhelpful and annoying AT&T retail employees, the constantly changing information about iPhone 3G inventories, the useless Apple retail website?

I can’t think of many ways Apple and AT&T could have bungled the iPhone 3G launch more than they did. And in doing so, they are alienating the very loyal customers they need to be successful. I am certainly not alone, the WSJ blogged about the launch calling it “chaos”.  I couldn’t agree more. Let me explain… Read more

Oct 24

AT&T paying Apple $18 per iPhone, per month

Silicon Alley Insider spotted a research note from Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster estimating that Apple is receiving $18 per month for each iPhone subscriber, under the revenue-sharing agreement between the two companies. Apple has confirmed that such an agreement exists, but has not shared the details about exactly how much cash it’s getting from the revenue AT&T makes on iPhone customers using the carrier’s data network.

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Oct 24

IMAP for Gmail

Finally!

To get started, you must first enable IMAP in your Gmail settings.

To enable IMAP in your Gmail account:

  1. Log in to your Gmail account.
  2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
  3. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
  4. Select Enable IMAP.
  5. Configure your IMAP client* and click Save Changes.

iPhone setup instructions:

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Step by step instructions

Update: Some additional setup instructions to properly setup folder with Gmail labels and also setting up Junk, Sent and Draft can be found at http://5thirtyone.com/archives/862

Update 2: Here are some recommended settings for Gmail IMAP

As a general rule, we suggest the following.

Sending:

  • Do NOT save sent messages on the server. If your client is sending mail through Gmail’s SMTP server, your sent messages will be automatically copied to the [Gmail]/Sent Mail folder.
  • DO save draft messages on the server. If you want your drafts in your mail client to sync correctly with your Gmail account’s web interface, set your client to save drafts to the [Gmail]/Drafts folder.

Deleting:

  • Do NOT save deleted messages on the server. Messages that are deleted from an IMAP folder (except for those in [Gmail]/Spam or [Gmail]/Trash) only have that label removed and still exist in All Mail. Hence, your client doesn’t need to store an extra copy of a deleted message.
  • Do NOT save deleted messages to your [Gmail]/Trash folder because this will delete a message in all folders.
  • Do NOT save deleted messages to your [Gmail]/All Mail folder as some clients will try to empty this folder and ultimately fail. This can lead to delayed mail access or unnecessary battery consumption on a mobile device.

Junk mail and spam:

  • Do NOT enable your client’s junk mail filters. Gmail’s spam filters also work in your IMAP client, and we recommend turning off any additional anti-spam or junk mail filters within your client. Your client’s filter will attempt to download and classify all of your existing messages, which may slow down your client until the process is complete.

For your specific mail client:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78892

Sep 7

Cringely: The Puppet Master – Behind Steve Jobs’ iPhone Pricing Moves

…that 1999 quote from Bill Gates about Jobs: “He has to know that he can never win.” I don’t think Steve knows that at all.

This week’s iPhone pricing story, in which Apple punished its most loyal users by dropping the price of an 8-gig iPhone from $599 to $399 less than three months after the product’s introduction, is classic Steve Jobs. It wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t a thoughtless mistake. It was a calculated and tightly scripted exercise in marketing and ego gratification. In the mind of Steve Jobs the entire incident had no downside, none at all, which is yet another reason why he is not like you or me.

Let’s deconstruct the incident. Apple announced a variety of new and kinda-new iPods dominated by the iPod Touch (iPhone minus the phone) and an iPod Nano with video (great for watching miniseries). At the very end of the presentation, Jobs announced the iPhone price cut. Why did he wait until the very end? Because he knew the news would be disruptive and might have obscured his presentation of the new products. He KNEW there was going to be controversy. So much for the “Steve is simply out of touch with the world” theory.

So why did he do it? Why did he cut the price? I have no inside information here, but it seems pretty obvious to me: Apple introduced the iPhone at $599 to milk the early adopters and somewhat limit demand then dropped the price to $399 (the REAL price) to stimulate demand now that the product is a critical success and relatively bug-free. At least 500,000 iPhones went out at the old price, which means Apple made $100 million in extra profit.

Had nobody complained, Apple would have left it at that. But Jobs expected complaints and had an answer waiting — the $100 Apple store credit. This was no knee-jerk reaction, either. It was already there just waiting if needed. Apple keeps an undeserved $50 million and customers get $50 million back. Or do they? Some customers will never use their store credit. Those who do use it will nearly all buy something that costs more than $100. And, most importantly, those who bought their iPhones at an AT&T store will have to make what might be their first of many visits to an Apple Store. That is alone worth the $50 per customer this escapade will eventually cost Apple, taking into account unused credits and Apple Store wholesale costs.

So Steve does things like this because he can. It reaffirms his iron grip over both Apple and Apple’s customers. It’s a lot about ego and a little about business, though with Steve Jobs they are hard to differentiate.

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Sep 6

“We’re sorry” – Early iPhone buyers to get $100 Apple credit

A day after slashing the price of the iPhone, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs today promised $100 store credits to iPhone owners who had paid full price and issued a rare apology for “disappointing” some of his most ardent supporters.

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Jul 10

Will It Blend? | The iPhone

Will It Blend? | Presented By Blendtec: “Ouch!”

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