There are a few big dogs in tech that always seem to know more about what is going on behind the scenes at Apple. These include guys like MG Siegler and John Gruber amongst others. These guys started chatting on Branch, and there are some very interesting blurbs of info which will be of great interest to fans of the iPhone.

Apparently the iOS7 update is bigger than originally planned, and is currently running behind. Apple has moved engineers from the Mac OS X 10.9 team to hurry up the iOS7 development. The big news with iOS7 is that Scott Forstall (which headed up iOS since day one) has moved away from Apple, and Jony Ive (the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design) has taken his place for UI design.

The new iOS7 changes is apparently so big that current engineers are using special filters on their phones so that no one can peak over and see the new design. iOS has been heavily criticised for its skeumorphic heavy interface, and the new iOS will have a lot cleaner design.

Some other interesting observations from the online chat: (more…)

Whatsapp is the little messaging app that has taken the world by storm – it has quickly become one of the first apps most users install on any smartphone. Whatsapp is currently sending 17 billion messages daily, much more than Apple’s iMessage which sends “only” 2 billion. Until now Whatsapp has been using a subscription based pricing model of a dollar per year on a lot of its platforms. But the iPhone has stuck to a once off $1 price.

But now the developers behind Whatsapp have made public that they intend to move iPhones away from this pricing strategy as well. So within this year, Whatsapp will become a free app, that charges you a dollar after a year’s use. Current users of the app (who have paid the once off $1 for the app) will be informed when they will be charged as well.

The new subscription model would apply to new users, Koum said, and would likely follow the same pricing structure as its other apps, which are free for the first year and then cost $1/year, compared to the single, for-life $0.99 purchase that users make on iOS today. “We’re relaxed on dates, but definitely this year. It’s on the road map,” Koum said. (more…)

I’m so sick to death of waiting for the Mailbox app on my iPhone I’m almost at the point of deleting it yet something keeps me hanging out. For those not in the know:

“The Mailbox app uses gestures to make quick work of incoming mail, allowing you to clear out your inbox in a jiffy.”

The app is apparently life changing, however I’m tired of waiting and I think this reservation system is a bad way of going about things. The reservation system is fairly simple: “Demand for Mailbox has been incredible, and in order to deliver a world-class email experience we’re filling reservations on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’ve already reserved your Mailbox, download the app and enter your reservation info. If you don’t have a reservation, download the app to get your place in line. Everyone can watch the line move in real-time from inside the app.” (more…)

I’ve been a loyal MTN customer for around the last twelve years. I started on prepaid with a Nokia 5110 as a teenager and then graduated to multiple contracts of ever increasing values and costs as I started using my cellphone for work and contacting girls. In recent years MTN has gone to the dogs: I had an iPhone 4 with them and almost never saw 3G signal instead being left on EDGE for mobile connectivity. Since data has become more important to me than how many SMS messages I get the lack of speed left me wanting. Add to the fact tons of dropped calls and plenty of dead spots in Johannesburg I was ready to move.

Ever since Allan Knott-Craig Snr joined Cell C they’ve changed their offerings to be highly competitive although I’d heard horror stories about the quality of the network. As mentioned earlier, my priority was data and I’ve had pretty good quality data on my Cell C data stick at home. Another issue is price, the iPhone 5 is currently R399 for 200 minutes, 200 sms’s and 500mb of data. Compared to MTN and Vodacom, this is at least R150-R200 cheaper. Enough about price though, this is an issue of network quality.

I phoned Cell C direct, got asked a million questions about my income and 7 days later an iPhone 5 was delivered to my door. I must commend the call center staff for being knowledgable and really friendly, more than I can say for my previous networks call center. While there was some issue with porting from MTN to Cell C (the sales agent forgot to initiate the porting process which is human error and could happen anywhere) but otherwise they communicated with me perfectly throughout the process.

As a whole I get a consistent 3G connection on my iPhone 5 (there is no LTE yet but this is true for any of the networks) and it’s actually rare for me to see an EDGE connection. There are spots where the quality is terrible, specifically in the Hyde Park area of Johannesburg (I get bumped to Vodacom here) but otherwise it’s perfect.

Cell C is great, don’t believe the negative press.

Once you get into video recording with a modern smartphone you quickly realize how versatile these devices are for even semi-professional grade recording. Cranking out 1080p video from such a small device is great, but you quickly run into a wall if you do want more stable shots. Because of its small size, the iPhone is not very stable to use for longer video use and no amount of Apple software magic can fix that. So what do you do?

That is where professional mounting solutions like the SmartPhocus comes in handy. We previously had some hands on time with the OWLE Bubo (see our review here), which was an impeccably machined kit, but was also quite heavy. Well, the designers have been at work, and this is the replacement. Made from a lightweight polymer, the Smartphocus tightly grips your bare iPhone 4 or 4S, giving it a much more comfortable grip. On the rear you can see the area where your iPhone slides in. (more…)

One of the main complaints of the modern smartphone is that their battery life seems to have just decreased over time. Yet that is not entirely true – these days phones have so many antennas and sensors, that the phone is almost constantly draining power from an ever increasing battery size. Manufacturers have had a tough time – on the one hand phones are becoming ever slimmer and lighter, with more power draining features, yet the battery life has to improve as well with every generation. So battery technology has definitely improved, our demands are just greater than ever.

If you use your iPhone (regardless which model) intensively, you are looking at around a day long battery life, but it can quickly run out within a workday if you are particularly busy with your phone. But there are a few things you can do to make the battery last that little bit longer.

The main idea behind these tips is that you so not have to impede the functionality of the iPhone. Its a great device, and it would be a shame to go and switch almost all functionality. But then what is the point of having a decent phone?

These are the settings I use which do not limit the functionality of the phone: (more…)

Apple and Google are interesting companies to compare. Obviously, in terms of size and profitability they both tick the right boxes. For years they have been partners and that partnership has been very successful in creating profits for both parties. But times change and so does business, probably nowhere quicker than in the information and technology sector. In recent years there has been a drastic shift in these companies from partners to rivals, and there are bound to be some casualties when this happens.

Both companies constantly change their strategies en objectives and always have to weigh up the ‘goldilocks’ zone in terms of cooperation. In other words, as the balance shifts from pure partnerships to a new rivalry, they don’t want too little cooperation where they don’t maximize profits; nor do they want too much cooperation where the part of the other company that has become their rival knows too much. No, they want the amount of cooperation to be just right, like Goldilocks described the porridge. (more…)

Gary Meyer is the MD of iClinic, a digital strategy and management consultancy, a technology lover and amateur futurologist.

On a recent visit to my parents’ home, I had an interesting conversation with my mother that really got me thinking. It started with her excitement at telling me that her iPhone (which she’s had for 3 years now) could play music. This was of course shocking to me. My mother is one of the smartest people I know. When she doesn’t know, she has the skills to find information and learn and she’s also someone whose technological expertise far outweigh my own. How was it possible then for her to be unaware of something as simple as the iPod feature of the iPhone, arguably one of its core features. This told me there was a problem, and I wanted to try and understand where the break in information flow happened. Turns out, my mother’s never visited Apple.com, she’s never read the instruction manual nor has she ever bothered to ask anyone about the iPhone. When I asked her why, her answer was simple. “I had no reason to, my iPhone makes calls and I can send text messages. That’s really all I want it to do”. This really bothered me for sometime, as I felt I had let her down, she has this amazing device that she just wasn’t getting the full benefit of. It took me a long to time to accept the fact that, quite simply, she just didn’t care. It didn’t bother her at all.

(more…)