People Are Not Logical About Spending Money

Image via WikipediaThis is how I feel about buying apps - The Oatmeal

People are Predictably Irrational. Many people are sadly proud of being bad at math, but most people do not realize how bad our "instinctual" math is. It is easy to get caught in VERY wrong estimates and assumptions.

Related articles

• Too Many Options? Try Closing Some Doors (psychcentral.com)
• Book Review: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions -- Revised and Expanded Edition by Dan Ariely (blogcritics.org)

Jailbreaking iPhones Opens Them Up to Security Risks

Image via CrunchBase

Just in case and because it's interesting ...

Worm Infects Jailbroken iPhones with SSH in Australia - Yahoo! News

The Mac Security Blog » Intego Security Memo: Hacker Tool Copies Personal Info from iPhones

Daring Fireball Linked List: Hacker Tool Copies Personal Info From Compromised Jailbroken iPhones

Twitter / Dino A. Dai Zovi: Also, remember that jailbr ...


In addition to allowing you to install apps from places besides the Apple iPhone/iPod App Store, jailbreaking disables code-signing and dramatically decreases the security systems of the phone.  Jailbreaking removes a great deal of built-in security, and installing/enabling SSH opens up remote attacks due to the fact the all iPhones have the exact same root password by default.  This is not normally an issue, since there is no way to use it.  But SSH provides a remote access method to use the root password allowing your iPhone to be remotely pwned!

Many jailbreakers probably will not take the logical next step of changing the root password, which just makes this all worse.  To most people this should be obvious: if you break the security of a device to allow you to do things that had not been allowed, it follows that it will be easier for other people to do things you would rather not be allowed.  But convenience and security are sometimes at odds, and this may be one of those occasions.

I guess we'll all get to see how many people have jailbroken their iPhones by seeing how big of a story this becomes ...

AT&T's iPhone Deal with Apple

AT&T Gets a Fuzzy Signal on Apple's iPhone - WSJ.com

Image via Wikipedia

Image via CrunchBase

Recently, there has been a flurry of reports like the link above discussing the possibility the iPhone was a "bad" deal for AT&T. Most of the commentary I've seen seems to take this at face value, even while some disagree with the conclusion. I have yet to see a discussion regarding the possibility of AT&T beginning to spin Wall Street's perception and expectations of the deal prior to the loss of their iPhone exclusivity. And I think this is the most interesting angle.

Some of the facts discussed are interesting in how the WSJ article seems to spin good news into bad. For instance, the article mentions that of the 10 million iPhone activations, "only" 40% were new customers switching to AT&T. That means 4 million new expensive iPhone accounts activated after switching from other carriers (or possibly new cell users). This seems like fairly good news for AT&T.

Concern is also voiced on the relative profitability of iPhone customers due to the ~$400 subsidy on the phone purchase. It is estimated that AT&T brings in $2000 per customer of a two year iPhone contract after the subsidy. The concern centers around two areas: 1) the relatively larger subsidy compared to other "smart" phones with the same high cost data plans, potentially making the iPhone slightly less profitable , and 2) iPhone owners' heavy use of the AT&T data network has caused problems. While the higher subsidy is a real factor, the iPhone's ability to bring in new customers and convert customers to high cost data plans is ignored in this analysis.

I think the affect of the iPhone users on the AT&T data network highlights an issue with the cell carriers: while the cell carriers sell "unlimited" data plans, their data networks are not engineered for actual heavy use. They were designed and built with the prior generation of devices in mind. I think the underlying assumption was that typical cell devices would only be used for e-mail or other spot use. Models before the iPhone were awkward to use for extended periods of time and were not very good for general purpose web browsing. But the iPhone (and some other recent smart phones) has exposed the fallacy in this thinking. If the cell carriers actually believe in a future where handheld (cell-based) devices are primary (or even significant) tools in the use of the Internet, they will need to engineer and build their networks for that load. AT&T is apparently far behind here.

I think there are two factors more at play in the recent articles: 1) AT&T is sensitive to recent criticism and outright jeering over their data network and coverage, and primarily 2) AT&T will soon see the news officially break that it lose its iPhone exclusivity, and they do not want to see their stock collapse when this occurs. So I think it is not unrealistic to think AT&T may be engaging in some spin control to prepare for a time when they lose iPhone exclusivity and many (most?) of those "only" 40% of switching, new customers buying high cost data plans. By minimizing the financial value of the iPhone to AT&T, they attempt to reduce the perceived damage when the news breaks that they are losing the exclusivity.

Return of the Newton

AppleInsider Article on the Newton's Possible Return

I'll admit it: I still believe the Newton is the best PDA anyone has made so far.
Hell, I'd use my Newton now, if I could find a decent way to sync to my Mac. It seemed to focus on the right things including note taking, document access, and a quality calendar and contacts. It was weakened by it's large physical size and glacial synchronization.

I think Apple could take the iPhone and iPod Touch and move back into the actual PDA space, but I think they delay so they can maximize their income from laptops and the iPhone. They may be able to grow the iPhone and/or Touch to fulfill the niche of the PDA. Or they may continue to keep the product lines very separate and distinct, leaving a gap between traditional laptops and cell phones. I believe they are missing an opportunity to own this space after the failures of Palm and Microsoft.

Personally, I would love to have a device I always had with me that I could cache my most important documents, use for spur-of-the-moment input, and access the Internet when needed. The iPhone can almost do these things, but it almost completely lacks data storage and this deal with the devil forces a relationship with AT&T. And I find it highly frustrating to be so close, but not close enough.

How Google's Gphone and Apple's iPhone could change the cell industry

The Gphone is coming; how Google could rewrite the rules | last100

It is interesting to consider how the creative entry by two companies from different industries might complete change the landscape in the cellular world. The cellular industry has become entrenched and lives off the (still) growing popularity of mobile phones, while they greedily try to create other outsized revenue streams.

If Apple can focus attention of the device and the elegance of the interface offered, we might see an improvement in phones that make it actually easy and intuitive to do the things they can do. Most cell phones now are painful to use for anything beyond basic functionality. But Apple has shown little interest in lower prices.

If Google can provide a phone completely or partially supported by ad revenue, we might begin to see improvement in price competition. Also, Google has a history of rolling features in for free and making their money from volume. Maybe this can help move the industry away from vendor lock-in and high prices.