O2 struggle to keep iPhone in stock as Orange, Vodafone ready sales

O2, until this week Apple's sole partner for the iPhone in the UK, is struggling to supply customers with the smartphone due to lack of available supplies.

Newspapers and enthusiast sites have reported a drop in the number of phones available, particularly the 3GS model, in stores and online.

One Carphone Warehouse employee told Mobile magazine: "They are being delivered sporadically - we just haven’t been able to get hold of them for four or five weeks.Stock has not returned to normal levels since the launch of the new model." Stocks of the original 3G are still widely available.

The Telegraph meanwhile, reports that the majority of O2 shops across the UK have been without the 3GS models for the last two weeks, while the O2 website has suffered similar stock shortages. "We continue to see extremely high levels of demand for the iPhone which means it comes in and out of stock very quickly and will be why the website hasn’t had any since Monday," and O2 spokesman told the newspaper. 


Earlier this The Telegraph estimated that about 30,000 customers have bought the iPhone from O2 within the last two weeks.

Happier days for O2: O2's Matthew Key and Apple's Steve Jobs in 2007.

Mark Mulligan, vice president and research director of Forrester Research claimed Apple still has growing pains when it comes to supplying the phone. "There is no doubt that Apple is still adjusting to being a player in the mobile phone market. It’s a different game than what it’s used to… However I expect it will be building up its supply chain in advance of becoming available on multiple networks in the UK."

"I don’t think it would expand if it couldn’t meet consumer demand, as that would lead to extreme consumer dissatisfaction - which compared to its peers, Apple is usually good at avoiding."

With Orange this year and later in 2010 Vodafone able to officially offer the iPhone, reports suggest the limited stock will be shared amongst mobile phone network providers putting the pressure on O2.

Orange will need sufficient handsets to launch the iPhone successfully sometime before Christmas.

Betting site Paddy Power believes Orange, who are on target to buy T-Mobile to become the UK's largest mobile phone company later this year, are 11-10 favourites to sell most iPhones in 2010.

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Sleepydog announces first iPhone eBooks aimed at young audience

Sleepydog have released a series of eBooks for iPhone and iPod touch specifically aimed at a young audience.

The company claims to be the first iPhone developer to do so, debuting a range of seven titles by international children’s authors Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow.

Titles include Vernon Bright and the Magentic Banana, Vernon Bright and Frankenstein’s Hamster, Vernon Bright and the Faster-Than-Light Show and Vernon Bright and the End of the World, which hopefully has an happy ending.

Authors Skidmore and Barlow made the titles available from books which were no longer in print and the rights had reverted back from the publishers. Titles from additional authors are planned in the near future the company says.

A quiz game is included with each eBook to help attract younger readers with a little interactivity.

Available from the Apple iTunes App Store Sleepydog books cost 1.19 each.

Sleepydog was set up in 1997 licensing IP to the mobile telecoms sector, along with a range of multimedia content for mobile phone operators.

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MCC Group announces free North West Final Cut Studio day

Apple Premium Reseller MCC Group has announced a special day long event focused on Apple's flagship Final Cut Studio.

The free event will be held at the Concorde Conference Centre, near Manchester Airport on Tuesday 13 October.

Aimed at the North West’s thriving digital and creative industries, as well as the educational sector, the event will provide an in-depth showcase of the new software as demonstrated by Apple’s leading product professional for Final Cut, Byron Wijayawardena.

The day will include:

DATE:Tuesday 13 OctoberTIME: 12pm – 4pmVENUE:Concorde Conference Centre, near Manchester Airport

AGENDA12.00pm Registration & Lunch1.00-2.30pm Final Cut Studio Showcase with Q & A session2.30-3.00pm Refreshments & Prize Draw3.00-3.30pm Final Cut Server3.30pm Tour of Concorde

To register for the Final Cut Studio Launch event call 0870 444 4990 or visit www.mccdigital.com/events.php.

For over 20 years MCC Group has remained one of the most successful Apple dealerships in the UK focusing on sales, training, technical support and maintenance to provide the complete computing solution to suite all areas covering consumers, prosumers, education and SMB (Small and Medium Business) markets.

(Visit our sister site MacVideo for in-depth details and analysis regarding all the new features found in Final Cut Pro.)

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Autodesk Vs Vernor: US judge rules secondhand software sales OK

A Seattle judge ruled in favour of a man arguing that he has the right to sell secondhand software, in a case that had some people worried about an end to used-book and CD stores.

The suit was initially filed by Timothy Vernor after eBay, responding to requests by Autodesk, removed the Autocad software that Vernor was trying to sell on the auction site. EBay later banned Vernor from the site, based on Autodesk's complaints.

Vernor argued that since he was selling legitimate versions of the software -- not illegal copies -- he hadn't violated any laws.

Autodesk contends that it doesn't "sell" its software, but instead licenses it and therefore prohibits buyers from reselling it.

But no matter how Autodesk describes the agreement with customers, it is transferring ownership to end-users, the judge, from the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, found. Autodesk had argued that its restrictions on the way that buyers can use the software show that users license rather than own the software.

"A person who buys a home is nonetheless restricted in his use and subsequent transfer of the home by property laws, zoning ordinances, and fair housing statutes," Judge Richard Jones wrote in his ruling. "No one would characterize the person's possession, however, as something other than ownership. Similarly, the court cannot characterize Autodesk's decision to let its licensees retain possession of the software forever as something other than a transfer of ownership, despite numerous restrictions on that ownership."

The judge also agreed with Vernor's argument that owners of software have "first sale" rights under copyright law, which entitles them to "sell or otherwise dispose of" the copy they bought.

Autodesk said it will appeal the decision. "We disagree with the Court's interpretation and application of copyright law so, on that basis, will appeal the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court of Appeals with jurisdiction over this matter. We will rely on more recent Ninth Circuit cases that, as the district court acknowledged, favor Autodesk's position," the company said in a statement.

In previous arguments, both sides warned of dire consequences that could follow the judge's decision. But he said he thinks the impact will be minimal.

Autodesk argued that if the judge decided that people own its software, prices will rise for end-users. But that argument ignores the secondhand market, which offers better prices for consumers, the judge noted. "Although Autodesk would no doubt prefer that consumers' money reaches its pockets, that preference is not a basis for policy," Jones wrote.

Vernor has argued that if the judge ruled that the software was indeed licensed, then any copyright owner could impose severe restrictions on how their products are used. For instance, book publishers could bar resale and lending, eliminating the used-book market as well as libraries.

Even if he had ruled against Vernor, such fear was "misplaced," the judge said. "Although the interpretation of 'owner' in the Copyright Act no doubt has important consequences for software producers and consumers, the court is skeptical that its ruling today will have far-reaching consequences," he wrote.

The judge denied Vernor's charges against Autodesk of copyright misuse.

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Apple purchased Placebase in July, is it set to replace Google Maps on iPhone?

On July 7th, Fred Lalonde, the founder of openplaces.org announced in a tweet that Apple had bought the company that produced the Maps API that his company used in their software.

Pushpin is the name of the software API that Openplaces uses and it is made by a company called Placebase.

"Apple bought PlaceBase - all hush hush. Pushpin site taken offline. Hyperlocal iPhone?"

Then nothing for a few months. I had seen the post awhile back but couldn't find anything to back it up - the Internet drew a blank. This week, however, I revisited the information. I decided to do a background check on PlaceBase's founder and CEO, Jaron Waldman.

Turns out, he's no longer founder and CEO of PlaceBase in Los Angeles. He's now part of the "Geo Team" at Apple. -whatever that is.

Placebase.com has been pulled offline and Pushpin.com forwards to the API help pages.

Yep, Apple bought Placebase. But what are they going to do with this software?

Placebase is similar to Google Maps in that it is a mapping service and has the world mapped out. You can zoom in and out and it has different layers you can superimpose over your mapping data. It does other things better than Google, however. It was featured on GigaOM last year:

"Waldman thought differently. He decided to compete with Google and other free mapping services by doing two things: One, by offering customizations and tons of features that integrated private and public data sets in many diverse ways. (He knew it would be a while before Google would get around to offering customization). His other twist was to offer a way to layer commercial and other data sets (such as demographics and crime data) onto the maps using an easy-to-use application programming interface (API). The product is called PushPin."

Here's a video of Placebase CEO Jaron Waldman demoing his product at an O'Reilly conference last year.

A good example of the software in use is http://policymap.org. Like Openplaces, Policy Map uses the Pushpin API that Apple purchased as the underlying technology in its mapping product. As you can see there are a dizzying amount of layers involved, much more than Google, Microsoft and Yahoo can offer in their mapping software.

But I'm not so sure Apple wants to be so complex. The reason for purchase might simply be for the maps.

I think Apple wants to free itself from depending on Google for its maps on the iPhone and iPod touch devices. Apple also currently uses Google Maps in iPhoto in the Places feature.

Also, here have been issues lately with Apple's use of Google Maps for its Maps.app iPhone application. Google recently tried to get its own mapping application approved at the App Store but Apple said it was too similar to one that already existed. The FCC got involved and now it is a big mess.

Apple also recently let Google's Eric Schmidt go from their board of directors because Apple and Google were competing on too many fronts, notably Operating Systems. If Apple and Google do end up competing down the road, Apple doesn't want to depend on it for its software (See Microsoft Office for the Mac/Windows).

It may be a smart move for Apple to buy its way out of its dependency on Google now, while it has the chance.

Somehow I think those big brains in Cupertino can figure out some even cooler things to do with all of that data - perhaps it has something to do with that tablet we've all been hearing about?

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Adobe, Google sued by Textscape over patents

Google and Adobe Systems have been sued by a New Jersey company for allegedly violating patents used for processing text, according to recent court filings.

Textscape alleges Google is violating a patent that covers a method for managing a body of text on a computer that was granted to the company in 1998. Textscape says Google's Chrome's browser improperly uses the innovation.

The lawsuit specifically mentions the "find" feature in Chrome, which allows a search of text on a Web page and indicates the location of search hits in the scrollbar. Textscape is seeking royalties.

Adobe is accused of violating a different patent but one that also relates to text processing, granted to Textscape in 1999.

The patent covers "a system and method which enables individuals to manipulate text retrieved by a computer in such a manner that the computer user can rapidly and accurately obtain information about the content of a retrieved body of text without reading the text," according to the court filing.

Textscape, which is asking for a jury trial on both cases, wants both Adobe and Google to pay royalties. The cases were filed on 25 September in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Company officials were not available to comment.

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CEATEC: Sony develops high frame rate single lens 3D camera technology

Sony has developed a film camera capable of shooting 3D images with a single lens and plans to unveil it at next week's Ceatec show in Tokyo.

By utilising a single lens the camera neatly solves one of the problems associated with current 3D photographic technique: the complicated set-up required for dual lenses.

When using a camera with two lenses - one for the right image and one for the left - the lenses must be carefully aligned and synchronized so that the resulting images maintain the same degree of 3D perception when see by viewers.

The Sony camera takes a single image and separates it into right and left images that are then recorded by individual image sensors. The light is split using mirrors, not shutters, so the recorded image also appears smoother, said Sony.

Three-dimensional imaging is a hot topic in the consumer electronics industry at present. Sony and Panasonic both said in early September that they plan to launch 3D televisions in 2010 and Sony said it would also add 3D technology to its PlayStation 3 games console.

However other manufacturers are slightly cooler on the idea and have indicated they'll wait and see how the technology is received by the public before launching their own products.

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