Scandy: Yet Another Pointless Smartphone Stand

Chris Velazco is a mobile enthusiast and writer who studied English and Marketing at Rutgers University. Once upon a time, he was the news intern for MobileCrunch, and in between posts, he worked in wireless sales at Best Buy. After graduating, he returned to the new TechCrunch to as a full-time mobile writer. He counts advertising, running, musical theater,... → Learn More

We’re big fans of Kickstarter around here, but for every good project that gets its much deserved funding, there are innumerable lesser ideas trapped in financial limbo. Today’s case in point: the Scandy, a telescoping clamp that promises to turn your smartphone into a scanner.

The idea behind the Scandy is that since your smartphone has a fairly decent camera mounted on its rear end, it would make a half-decent scanner if you managed to hold it just right. Rather than leave that onus on the user, the Scandy clamps onto the nearest table and allows you to adjust its height to get the entire document in view.

This, in short, is completely ridiculous. The time necessary to whip out a Scandy, bolt it onto a desk and adjust the height would completely eclipse the time it would take to snap a few pictures and pick out the best one. Maybe there’s some untapped market out there that really wants to lug around a $40 set of plastic tubes in order to take pictures of paperwork, but with only 13 backers at time of writing, to call it a niche market would be an understatement.

John says it could be useful for library researchers who don’t want to spend 10 cents a copy at the old biblioteca, but seriously? Plus, wouldn’t this ruin the reading table’s finish?

Alas, I could be completely wrong (note: I’m not), and this could be the next must-have accessory for the road warrior in your life. The Scandy is compatible with all smartphones, mostly because you’re expected to just rest your phone on top of it and get snapping. If the $40 base model doesn’t strike your fancy, the limited edition model (plus capacitive stylus!) can be yours if you pledge $100, and a $500 donation nabs you the laser-engraved Signature Edition.

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Yet Another Questionable iPhone 5 “Spy Shot” Pops Up

Greg Kumparak is the editor of MobileCrunch.com, a mobile industry blog within the TechCrunch Network. Greg has been writing for the TechCrunch network since May of 2008. Greg was born in the outskirts of San Jose, CA, and now lives in the East Bay. → Learn More

We’ve seen a Bigfoot-esque iPhone 5. We’ve seen a totally fake (but supposedly based on the real deal) iPhone 5. Now, meet: the oddly angled, questionably skewed iPhone 5.

This shot comes from MacRumors forum-goer guigsh, and has been blasting off around the blogs all morning. Guigsh claims that he had hands-on with the device for “only 2 minutes” with “pictures forbidden”, all taking place “in the office of a French operator.”

Now, on the upside: this shot fits well enough with some of the rumors we’ve been hearing for so long: Slimmer? Yep. Smaller bezel around the display? Sure. But what about the tapered back? Or the more pronounced rounded edges? Ehhhh — slightly so, but that could be side effect of stretching/distorting in Photoshop.

Speaking of which, I’m pretty sure that’s whats going on here. Stare at the image for a minute or two, and stuff just starts to seem.. off. Then you start to notice it: why is his index finger so long? Why is the ear piece hole gaping like that? Why the heck is he holding it like that? The longer you look at it, the more it looks like a stretched out iPhone 4 being held in such a way to minimize obvious stretching of the fingers.

Forum hero roow110 set out to recreate the shot with his iPhone 4 and a dash of Photoshop distortion. Here is his “literally 30 second Photoshop job” (Note for clarity: The photo below is a confirmed fake attempting to recreate the shot above so as to debunk it):

Looks like this is myth is busted to me. What do you think?

(Update: Myth double-busted! Giz found that this image was floating around a full day before Guigsh posted it as his own, and was originally captioned (in French) with “A picture like this could drive some sites crazy…”)

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...

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Chinese Smugglers Shoot A Zip Line Across A River To Illegally Ship iPads

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

Like Kramer and Newman driving the mail truck into Michigan to make a profit on bottle can returns, Chinese smugglers shot an arrow over the border between the mainland and Hong Kong connected to a rope. They then zipped down a collection of iPads and iPhones, hoping to make a profit on the tax differences between the two areas.

Gizchina is reporting that the smugglers shot the arrow from a high-rise using a crossbow in Shenzhen and hit a small house in Hong Kong, across the Sha Tau Kok river. They then sent boxes and boxes of gear over the border in the dead of night until authorities spotted boxes of electronics flying through the air into Hong Kong on a 300 meter line (my emphasis).

They nabbed $46,000 worth of gear although there is no telling how much had already gone unnoticed.

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Apple Adds Earthquake Warning To Japanese iOS

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

The Japanese version of iOS 5 will have a special notifications widget: a setting to turn on instant messages from Japan’s earthquake early warning system. The system is so sensitive that it could reduce your battery life as it polls the warning servers constantly.

iOS 5′s new notifications system uses the iPhone’s old notifications but places it in an easy-to-read, lock-screen based environment that holds the last few messages form various apps. Presumably this early warning system will be considerably more noticeable than a badge on the lock or notifications screen. Apple’s Steve Jobs sent a note and assistance during the major Earthquake in March offering “time or resources to visit or care for your families, please see HR and we will help you.”

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We&Co: These Are The People In Your Neighborhood (Bar, Coffee Shop, Etc.)

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

Are you friends with your local barkeep, barista, or leather salesman? We&Co is a way to let them know you care. This iPhone app, launched on July 15, allows businesses to register their employees and then visitors can rate those employees (with an emphasis on positive criticism) and add them to your “favorite people” collection. Think of it as Yelp with considerably more granularity.

I suppose the question then is “Why?” Why use an app when you can thank them yourself? Well, presumably, the aggregate score will encourage others to frequent the employee’s place of business, thereby gaining them more tips and potential creepy stalkers. It also puts a name to the faces you see every day at your local eateries, drinkeries, and provisionaries.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the small company’s technology is based on work by founder Marc Mathieu’s company, BeDo. You sign in with Twitter, Facebook, or a distinct We&Co account. The app picks up current locations (and employees) and allows you to add locations and employees to various locations. You then select the employee in question and give them a high five or whatever, virtually.

The system allows you to follow your favorite employees (bartenders, for example, or hair dressers) from location to location and employers could choose to reward you for your ratings.

As a misanthrope, I’m slightly unnerved at the idea of actively hunting down and thanking specific employees at a place of business and I would certainly rather thank them with a big tip than a button tap. That said, FSM bless these Southern kids for trying to put inject little kindness into the glum, soulless ritual of buying coffee or tires. I worry that this won’t get used often enough to warrant much of a glowing review, but as it stands the idea is solid and the app works, so high five, We&Co.

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P50-GP08: Hitachi’s Last (?) Flagship TV Can Be Controlled Via iPad/iPhone

Dr. Serkan Toto currently works as the first and only Asia-based writer for the TechCrunch network, mainly covering Japan-related technology and web companies for TechCrunch, CrunchGear and MobileCrunch. Serkan also works full-time as an independent web and mobile industry consultant with a focus on the Japanese market. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. Serkan... → Learn More

Just last week, Hitachi decided to pull the plug on their domestic TV production business by year-end, but that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t go out with a bang. A total of six Hitachi Wooo TVs were announced [JP] in Japan today, with the 50-inch 3D model P50-GP08 stealing the show.

The plasma TV might very well be Hitachi’s last self-produced flagship model, and a look at the spec list reveals this is actually regrettable:

50-inch 3D plasma screen with full HD resolutionPixel Manager EX engine for clearer 3D imagescontrast ratio: 5,000,000:15 TV tuners500GB HDD integrated (removable)DLNA support4 HDMI slotsmotion sensor that automatically turns the TV off after the user leaves the room (after 5-60 minutes)web connectivity (i.e. for video on demand, access to Yahoo Japan etc.)“Wooo Remote for iPhone/iPad” app to be released later this month (for accessing the TV’s functions, checking the TV program, playing back recorded material, etc./see below)

Hitachi plans to start selling this beauty in Japan for $4,200 on August 27. The company hasn’t said yet whether the TV will be sold abroad, too.

Via AV Watch [JP]

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Kiss Me On The Bus: This App Crowdsources Bus Locations

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

A new app by Carnegie Mellon researchers Anthony Tomasic and John Zimmerman in conjunction with the University of Buffalo, allows bus riders to track their current location while riding the bus and, in turn, share this information with people who are still waiting, thereby creating a more complete map and schedule of bus routes and times. The app, Tiramisu, is free but, sadly, it only works in Pittsburgh right now.

The app requires that the rider activate the tracker in order to see when the next bus is due to arrive as well as its current “fullness” which can be registered by riders. When he or she boards, the app sends the bus’ location to the main server so other riders can tell where that particular bus is and when it will arrive. Obviously this requires the riders to actually care about their fellow humans, so the utility is therefore limited.

Presumably this same data can be used by the city or county transit authorities to improve travel times and inform riders of slow busses. It allows cash-strapped transit systems to add GPS functionality to their lines, even if it’s crowd-sourced.

“While better funded transit systems, such as those in Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco, can afford to make GPS-based information available to riders in real-time, the Allegheny County system is under tremendous budget pressure,” Steinfeld said. “Under such circumstances, a free, crowdsourced system such as Tiramisu offers an important alternative.”

Google, IBM, and CMU’s Traffic21 initiative, among others, all sponsored the project.

So whether you’re a mother with your kids or a guy with his date, this app could, potentially prevent you from getting mad and/or late.

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Griffin Releases iPhone-Controlled Toy Helicopter

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

For a mere $50 you, too, can own a small, iPhone-controlled helicopter made by a company that has been traditionally known for selling phone cases.

Like Parrot before them, Griffin is branching out from its traditional product line and offering this small dual-rotor helicopter that is, in general, controlled via IR commands sent using a special dongle attached to the iPhone. There is full tilt-to-steer control as well as on-screen power buttons.

The kit allows you to create three pre-recorded flight plans (“Go north, enter bedroom while wife is sleeping, drop peeled grape on her head” would be one of my favorites) and it charges via USB.

I’ve had horrible luck with IR-controlled helicopters lately – the last one I tried flew off onto a roof because it apparently mistook sunlight as a command to, well, fly away – but hopefully this inexpensive little flyer will work a bit better. Available now.

Product Page

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Sincerely Launching An iOS Photo App Monetization Platform: Picture Printing For All

MG Siegler has been writing for TechCrunch since 2009. He covers the web, mobile, social, big companies, small companies, essentially everything. And Apple. A lot. Prior to TechCrunch, he covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where... → Learn More

You may recall that back in April, Postagram launched as a way to transform your Instagrams into physical picture postcards and deliver them for $0.99. A few month later, PopBooth launched as a way to use your iPhone/iPad as a photo booth complete with the picture print outs. These apps, while great themselves, were tests for Sincerely’s platform. A platform which today they’re opening to all iOS developers.

The Sincerely Ship Library is built from the tools the company was using internally to build apps like Postagram and PopBooth. Once developers sign up, they can add print and ship capabilities to their photo apps in under an hour, Sincerely notes. Those developers will be able to utilize Sincerely’s printing network as well as user network (for connections already established through Postagram and/or PopBooth). The result is 4×6 300 dpi color postcards from any iOS app that can be sent anywhere.

Okay, that’s nice, but why should developers sign up for this? Because it’s also a potential monetization platform. Sincerely asks that developers place a minimum $0.99 fee on the images. But for anything above $0.99, Sincerely pays 70 percent back to the app developer. Sincerely obviously keeps the other 30 percent — the same split Apple themselves do with developers.

So if a developer decides to charge $1.99 for their in-app photos, they would keep $0.70 of that (again, the developer keeps 70 percent after the initial $0.99 threshold).

For this fee, Sincerely handles all the billing and address collection as well as the actual logistics of printing and delivering the photos. They also handle the customer support surrounding the entire process. And the platform allows developers to have a branded space on the actual photo printouts.

Developers can sign up for the Sincerely Ship Library starting today, and the plan is for the platform to go fully live in September. The company is also sponsoring the Photo Hack Day in New York this weekend — the winner of which will get some nice iGear and a featured spot when the Ship Library launches.

Given the huge amount of photo apps flooding the market (with more to come), this seems like a smart idea. My only question is whether or not the payout to developers will be enough? Many will be hard-pressed to charge more then $1.99 for the functionality, and some will probably want to use the $0.99 price that Postagram itself uses — but then they’d make no money.

Even still, it’s not like it will cost developers anything to implement Sincerely’s solution. And they get to offer this functionality to users in a simple way.

Below, find some pictures of what the implementation looks like for app developers.

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Sincerely is focused on making it easy to send real photos in the mail from your phone. We believe printed photos are meaningful & a photo sent to a...

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Are We Ready For A True Cloud Phone?

MG Siegler has been writing for TechCrunch since 2009. He covers the web, mobile, social, big companies, small companies, essentially everything. And Apple. A lot. Prior to TechCrunch, he covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where... → Learn More

As we approach the fall, all the rumors of the Apple empire descend upon us.?And this year may be the craziest yet because for the first time since the iPhone’s inception, Apple did not release new hardware in the summer. And there are still whispers of an iPad revamp as well. iOS 5 is coming. iCloud is coming. And then there are the iPods which are traditionally updated in the fall timeframe each year. Things are already getting crazy enough that potential Apple announcement dates are topping Techmeme one minute, and then stories debunking those dates are?the top story in tech the next minute.

This will only get worse.

But there’s a reason people write up these rumors. Because people read these rumors. And the reason they do that is because sometimes those rumors are correct. And more often than that, they’re at least?somewhat?correct. That hope keeps peoples’ imaginations running wild. Now it’s time for me to indulge that.

One rumor that caught my eye this week was the talk of Apple looking into releasing an “iCloud Phone” alongside a new iPhone 5 this fall. This actually isn’t a new rumor so much as it’s a repurposed one. If you’ve heard talk about the “iPhone 4S”, this is the same potential device. It’s the “cheap iPhone” that TechCrunch and others have written about in the past. Given the smoke out there, it would seem that there’s something to this rumor. Even Apple’s executives have hinted at the possibility.

But the iCloud angle is a particularly interesting one. That doesn’t mean it’s entirely accurate necessarily, just interesting. First reported by Apple ‘N’ Apps,?Trevor Sheridan writes:

It has come to our attention that Apple is planning to combine iOS 5 and iCloud with a piece of hardware internally referred to as the iCloud iPhone. The iCloud iPhone will rely heavily on Apple’s new cloud based offering, and less on internal storage.

He continues:

Apple is aiming for a $400 final price for the iCloud iPhone as compared to the typical $600 iPhone price, which the iPhone 5 will cost. The carrier subsidization will bring the cost to consumers down to free with a 2 year contract for the iCloud iPhone with the same $199 iPhone cost for the iPhone 5.

He cites three?independent?sources on the information, and notes that a modified iPhone 4 design is likely to be used for such a device.

Reducing the internal storage in the iPhone is certainly one way Apple could reduce the overall cost of the device. Plus, Apple has spent the past year and a half perfecting the manufacturing of the iPhone 4, so you can be sure costs in that regard have come down. On the face of it, this makes some sense.

But the larger question remains if the world is ready for a cloud-based smartphone? And there’s a side question: what if this cloud phone is a data-only device?

To the first question, with Apple rolling out iCloud this fall, the timing could be right. Apple hasn’t turned on things like music streaming from the cloud yet, but they easily could. They recently did this with an Apple TV update for television shows. If you have an always-connected device, this concept could work. Storage would be needed for apps and perhaps a little for offline usage, but overall, maybe Apple could get away with a device with just a few gigabytes or so of onboard storage.

The second question is different. After we reported on Apple’s work on a cheaper iPhone, a few people reached out wondering if the iPod touch could simply morph into this product? In other words, Apple could upgrade the iPod touch with an iPhone 4 body, including the 3G radio.

If that’s Apple’s thinking for this product, it may be the perfect opportunity to create a phone that doesn’t offer traditional phone service. As in, it would be data-only.

Now, the carriers probably would have a hard time with this concept. But if Apple sold it as more of an iPod touch with 3G capabilities, they may bite. The carriers are currently making no money off of the iPod touch, which is a hugely popular product. It remains WiFi-only. If they offered a $29-a-month data plan, or pay-as-you-go, it could be a really compelling new source of revenue.

And to consumers, Apple could tout it as more of a “lite” phone. It can do everything the iPhone can, except make phone calls. And really, thanks to apps like Skype, FaceTime, etc, it can do that too — maybe they just don’t play that up as much at first.

Without full $60 or $70-a-month plans for cellular minutes and data, the carriers probably wouldn’t subsidize the cost of such a device down to $0. But they might be able to get close if Apple was able to make the device cheaply enough. The low-end iPod touch is currently $229. But then again, contracts are one more headache for consumers, so maybe Apple would be more in favor of selling the device cheaply without a contract, and allowing consumers to pay for 3G service on the go, like they do with the 3G iPads.

The concept of a data-only phone has been around for a while. In November of 2009, we reported that Google was looking into possibly offering their own Android devices which would be data-only. This didn’t happen, obviously. Instead, Google not only fully hopped into bed with the carriers for their Nexus devices, they got really close?for maximum snuggling and abandoned their broader Android dreams.

Whether or not Apple takes this path this year, it’s pretty clear that this is the future. Eventually, carriers will exist as data dealers. All information, including voice calls will happen over this pipe. Cellular phone service will just be an optional add-on if you’re in an area with a bad data connection. Apple could kick-start this movement in the coming months. Or they might not. But someone will.

[image: flickr/jesse kruger]

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...

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7notes: Precise Handwriting Recognition App For The iPad And iPhone

Dr. Serkan Toto currently works as the first and only Asia-based writer for the TechCrunch network, mainly covering Japan-related technology and web companies for TechCrunch, CrunchGear and MobileCrunch. Serkan also works full-time as an independent web and mobile industry consultant with a focus on the Japanese market. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. Serkan... → Learn More

There are quite a few iOS productivity apps with handwriting recognition functionality available, for example Notes Plus, iWriteWords for kids, or (indirectly) Evernote. But recognizing handwritten text isn’t trivial, which is why a new app called 7notes (iPad: free, $8.99 premium/iPhone: free, $4.99 premium) focuses almost entirely on this problem – and does the job really well.

The app works the same way on the iPhone and iPad (after giving both versions a spin, I’d recommend to download the iPad app if you can). Just use your finger or a stylus pen (recommended) to jot down notes, let 7notes do its magic and convert the handwritten text to digital fonts if needed (or mix handwritten and digital notes). All notes can be “decorated” and combined with images or web pages, too.

There is a whole array of extra functions, for example auto scroll, different font sizes, line colors, a “predictive engine” autosuggesting words in sentences, a self-learning dictionary, automatic saving of all notes, etc. etc. It’s also possible to pull up the iPad’s or iPhone’s virtual keyboard if needed.

The founders of 7notes maker 7knowledge/Metamoji claim they have over 30 years of experience in the language and document processing software business, and it shows. The app’s main selling point is the quality of the handwriting recognition: most of the time (and after practicing for a while), the app was amazingly accurate in identifying the words I was writing with my finger.

Here are two examples showing my handwriting. The app recognized words like “Serkan” or “Techcrunch”, too (iPad version/click to enlarge):

Users can print and email notes, save them in the iPad’s or iPhone’s photo album, post them to Facebook and Twitter or send them to other applications like Dropbox or Evernote.

I’d suggest to give the free version of 7notes a try first even though only the paid app offers handwriting to digital conversion (and again, you need a bit of practice to get good results):
7notes iPhone version (free/$4.99 premium)
7notes HD iPad version (free/$8.99 premium)

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The iPhone Actually Has No Competition Where It Matters Most

MG Siegler has been writing for TechCrunch since 2009. He covers the web, mobile, social, big companies, small companies, essentially everything. And Apple. A lot. Prior to TechCrunch, he covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where... → Learn More

Profit.

No point in burying the lede.

For the past two years, it seems as if every other story in the mobile space has been about the war between the iPhone and Android. Hell, though it wasn’t technically the theme of our Mobile First CrunchUp last week, that’s all anyone wanted to talk about there as well.

It’s a sexy story because it features two companies, Apple and Google, that could not be any more different. And now they’re the two companies dominating the mobile landscape. And the cherry on top is that they used to be close allies. They’re Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier.

Four years ago, Apple came out of quite literally nowhere (in the mobile phone space) and completely up-ended the industry. But in the past couple of years, they’ve watched their former ally take command in terms of market share. This has been the story that everyone keeps talking about — including Apple, which routinely takes thinly-veiled swipes at Google for what they often imply are misleading numbers, like?activations-per-day.

But part of me wonders if that’s not just Apple applying some very clever reverse-psychology and manipulation. The media is naturally distracted by big numbers, and Apple might be just fine ceding that story (while pretending they care, mind you, to keep us interested) while they take the real prize.

Again, the profits.

While you can find dozens of stories each week about how Android is now dominating mobile, and poised for further domination as the rest of the world continues the move to smartphones, most overlook what is perhaps the more important story. To find that, all you have to do is follow?Horace Dediu’s excellent Asymco blog.

There, you’ll find stories and data like this one from earlier today:?Apple share of phone revenues increased to 28%. As Dediu’s data shows, Apple now makes more revenue in the mobile space than all of their competitors. This list includes HTC, RIM, LG, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung Motorola, and Nokia.

Apple’s share in this regard has doubled since the end of 2009, right about when Android began to take hold. And while plenty of the aforementioned?competitors now?make Android devices, only HTC has seen any sort of significant increase in revenue share over the same span — and their share is nothing like Apple’s.

But again, that’s not even the real story either. The real story is the number briefly highlighted in Dediu’s chart above, but more fully explored a few days ago here:?Apple captured two thirds of available mobile phone profits in Q2.

Take a moment to let that sink in. Apple now controls over 66 percent of all the profits amongst the major players in the mobile space. HTC, RIM, LG, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung Motorola, and Nokia combined for the other 33 or so percent of profits in the space (with a few of them: Nokia, Motorola, LG, and Sony actually losing money).

Apple, the company “losing” the great mobile race to Android, is destroying all the Android manufacturers combined when it comes to profits. You know, the money you get to keep at the end of the day. In business terms, really the only thing that matters.

While everyone is distracted by the raw numbers battle, Apple is quietly winning the real war.

Obviously, Google is nowhere to be seen in these numbers because they don’t actually make the Android phones, just the OS that powers them. If you were to include them on the profit chart, they’d be a tiny sliver. As big as Android has gotten, Google still doesn’t make much money off of the OS — at least nothing near what Apple is seeing quarter to quarter from the iPhone. And as Benchmark Capital partner Bill Gurley pointed out a few months ago, maybe the point of Android isn’t really the profits for Google.

Sure, you could argue that if Android continues to eat up market share, eventually, they should win over developers which could lead to Android phones ultimately making more money than the iPhone. But two years after Android started “winning”, there are absolutely no signs of that actually happening. Instead, the opposite is happening. Apple’s profit dominance continues to grow with each quarter.

Further, I’m not so sure that Android’s market share is going to continue to grow once the iPhone 5 launches on both Verizon and AT&T in the U.S. and dozens of other carriers around the world. There are already plenty of signs that Android’s march is slowing and/or stopped. And if the rumors of a lower-cost iPhone are accurate, Apple’s massive growth in places like China?may be just the beginning.

But I think Apple is just fine having everyone believe that Android is dominating the mobile space. They’re wiping their tears of defeat with cold hard cash.

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...

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In July 2005, Google acquired Android, a small startup company based in Palo Alto, CA. Android’s co-founders who went to work at Google included Andy Rubin (co-founder of...

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FBI Launches Its First Mobile Application, The ‘Child ID’ iPhone App

Robin Wauters currently works as a staff writer for TechCrunch and lead editor of Virtualization.com. Aside from his professional blogging activities, he’s an entrepreneur, event organizer, occasional board adviser and angel investor but most importantly an all-round startup champion. Wauters lives and works in Belgium, a tiny country in Europe. He can often be found working from his home or... → Learn More

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has just informed us that it has debuted its very first mobile application, an iPhone app dubbed ‘Child ID’ (iTunes link).

The app gives parents a way to electronically store photos and vital information about their children, enabling them to quickly show pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers in their vicinity if for whatever reason a kid goes missing (which, according to the FBI, happens in America about every 40 seconds).

The FBI stresses that it doesn’t collect or store any photos or information that users enter in the app until they themselves decide to send anything to the authorities.

A tab also allows parents to rapidly shoot an email to the relevant authorities, and the app also comes with tips on keeping children safe and specific guidance on what to do in those first few crucial hours after a child disappears.

Obviously, the app is free, and the FBI says the application will be ported to support handsets other than the iPhone in the ‘near future’.

Also read:

FBI Adds Facebook, YouTube, Twitter Profiles. MySpace Completely Dissed

The FBI Adds New Widgets And Facebook Quizzes To Its Social Media Arsenal

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Is This The iPhone 5?

Greg Kumparak is the editor of MobileCrunch.com, a mobile industry blog within the TechCrunch Network. Greg has been writing for the TechCrunch network since May of 2008. Greg was born in the outskirts of San Jose, CA, and now lives in the East Bay. → Learn More

iPhone fans, start drooling. Skeptics, have your grains of salt at the ready. An iPhone 5 — or at least something closely fitting the rumored description of the iPhone 5 — has just been spotted… on a train, of all places.

The shot up above (and the ever-so-slightly-different one below) comes from 9to5Mac, who received them from a tipster who claims to have spotted the device on his way home from work.

Alas, these two just-too-far-away glimpses are as good as it gets for now. While most news reporter-types out there would run through a pack of angry charging bulls and scale a building covered in butter for a shot of the iPhone 5, the tipster seems to have practiced at least a bit of caution in their undercover photography session. The person holding the device was supposedly being quite cautious to keep it at least partially covered, masking the Apple logo behind their fingers throughout.

Fortunately, their eyes worked a bit better than their camera. Here’s what they had to share about the purported prototype:

This was not an iPhone 4 or 3GS, they say. The tipster previously owned both, and was positive it was nothing they’d ever seen before.It supposedly has an “almost EVO-like screen”, which fits with the long-living rumor that the next iPhone has an edge-to-edge display. Now, the EVO has a 4.3″ display — and unless Apple is planning on making the next iPhone considerably bigger, I’m doubting the iPhone 5′s display will get nearly that huge. My sources long ago told me to expect something in the 3.7″ – 3.75″ range. With next to no bezel, though, a 3.7″ display could look much bigger from a distance than it actually is.Rounded metal (as opposed to square) edges, with what appeared to be a tapered, black glass back — just as the rumor mill has been saying for months

Could this be the real deal? It’s plausible. The iPhone 5 is said to be coming in just over a month (sometime in September), which means there absolutely are iPhone 5s out there, right this second, being field tested. Apple can install as many cell towers on their campus as they want, but it’s nearly impossible to release a phone without testing its signal attenuation and performance in the real world. After Antennagate, you can bet that Apple is going to make damned sure that the iPhone 5 has rock solid signal performance.

With that said, think back to the lost iPhone 4 prototype. At first glance, it looked just like an iPhone 3GS — because Apple had disguised it as one. A special case was made just to mask the new hardware as something not worth a second glance. Would Apple really let an iPhone 5 prototype lurk about in public in the nude? Maybe in the back of a blacked out van — but on what looks to be something like CalTrain? Doubtful.

Also doubtful: where the heck is the camera flash? While my geek side would love for this to be an iPhone 5, my skeptic side is saying it’s a 3GS shot from a strange angle.

What say you? Real? Photoshop? Just a really fancy fake from China? Weigh in down in the comments.

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BuddyTV Turns Your iPhone Into A Smarter Viewing Guide And Remote

Erick Schonfeld currently works at TechCrunch as Co-Editor. He joined in 2007 and is based in New York. Schonfeld oversees the editorial content of the site, selects and edits guest posts, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces some TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three... → Learn More

A couple weeks ago, I went to a hotel suite in Manhattan to get a demo of BuddyTV’s new iPhone app, which hit the app store a few days ago. In the video above, CTO Bill Baxter takes me through the main features. He shows me on an iPad for easier viewing, but the app is for the iPhone and soon Android. It combines a viewing guide on your iPhone, with social features like chat and being able to broadcast what shows you are watching to Facebook and Twitter. But it also suggests shows for you to watch that are airing now, upcoming, trending, or on your favorites list. The app works with Google TVs, and eventually will be able to act as a remote with tablets and phones that sport an IR transmitter. (With Google TVs and Dish set-top boxes it will work over WiFi).

The problem it is trying to solve, says founder Andy Liu is that “70% of the time people are watching sub-optimal content. People turn on TV and end up at Karate Kid 2.” The BuddyTV mobile app tries to be smart about suggesting what shows to watch. It doesn’t care if the show is on your cable system, Netflix, DVR (if supported) or somewhere else. It lets you “heart” and rate shows and channels, and then it gives you recommendations base don what it thinks you want to watch. Perhaps the best little feature is teh ability to go through your program guide and heart just your favorite channels and then look at only those—a feature I begged Verizon TV honcho Eric Bruno to let me do on FIOS TV, or at least on the FIOS iPad app.

The app also pulls in previews, recaps, and other TV trivia from the main BuddyTV site. And you can set reminders for shows you want to watch with notifications on your phone. (Because you need to be reminded to watch TV). Here’s a slicker promo video:

BuddyTV is an online TV guide and discussion center. It provides original articles, news and interviews on a large range of TV content. In addition to content...

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Foursquare Adds Inline Photos And Even More Polish To Their iPhone App

MG Siegler has been writing for TechCrunch since 2009. He covers the web, mobile, social, big companies, small companies, essentially everything. And Apple. A lot. Prior to TechCrunch, he covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where... → Learn More

Back in the day, the knock on the Foursquare iPhone app used to be that it wasn’t very visually appealing. That was especially true in comparison to rival Gowalla. But much has changed over the past several months. And now that Foursquare has big funding and a larger team to deal with the pains of fast growth, they’ve been putting a lot of emphasis into how things look and feel. And it’s paying off.

Today brings an update to the iPhone app which is brings a new coat of polish. Most notably, you’ll see that pictures are now displayed inline when you’re viewing your check-in activity stream. This matches the functionality that was recently added to the Foursquare website. It not only ups the visual appeal, it makes the service feel more alive and personal.

This new, more visual experience permeates the entire app. If you land on a venue page and click through to see who is there, if any of your friends are, you’ll see their photos and shouts from that place inline as well.

With the update, Foursquare is also touting overall design tweaks including a cleaned-up header. One thing that will please many users is the addition of bigger tap targets within the app. Previously, you had to focus to click on the tiny comment bubbles to leave a comment. Now you can click on the entire check-in itself to do that.

One thing not yet included in this update: Lists. The new feature that Foursquare rolled out yesterday to their website is still a work in progress on the mobile end. But it’s coming in the next version, they promise. Also, all of these new features are due in the Android and BlackBerry apps shortly.

The iPhone app should be live shortly. When it is, find it here.

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Foursquare is a geographical location based social network that incorporates gaming elements. Users share their location with friends by “checking in” via a smartphone app or by text message....

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No Charges For Chen In iPhone 4 Leak Case – Others Not So Lucky

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

After more than a year of uncertainty, the case of the stolen iPhone 4 has been brought to something like a conclusion. San Mateo County Assistant District Attorney Morley Pitt announced that charges would not be filed against Gizmodo’s Jason Chen, whose liberty has been in question since the police raided his house shortly after the alleged theft.

Pitt said that “it is a very gray area,” but that regarding journalist protection laws, “this was not the case with which we were going to push the envelope.” Not the most precise statement of exoneration, but very sensible.

On the other hand, Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower, who found the next-generation phone incognito at a bar, will be charged: misappropriation of lost property (i.e. selling something you found), and possession of stolen property (it becomes stolen once you decide to sell it) respectively. They face a maximum of a year in jail plus fines and probation; I don’t want to speculate too much on their fates, but hopefully the association with a freshly-deemed-legal journalistic endeavor will cause the judge to look more favorably on them.

Now seems as good a time as any to link to my If I Did It post, in which you can learn a few missteps to avoid if you should come across a top-secret piece of hardware. And don’t forget that our tip line is anonymous. Exercise discretion, friends.

Update: here’s the official statement from the DA’s office.

[image source]

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Pixeet: Full Panorama Photos With Almost Any Phone

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

Pixeet is a full, floor-to-ceiling panorama lens that works with almost any phone. It currently only supports iPhone but it will soon support Android and Blackberry devices as well.

How does it work? Well, you stick the lens right on the device and scan the room or space from left to right. The aluminum and glass lens picks up a full 360-degree panorama and then lets you post it to Pixeet’s own servers.

The lens will also work with other devices like digital cameras and webcams. It uses a magnetic ring that sticks to the device and holds the lens in place. There are plenty of these on the market but I think the more widespread compatibility is key here. The lens costs $50.

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Introducing The Amazing, Magical HiPhone 5

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

If you’ve got $30 burning a hole in your pocket you can be the proud owner of a brand new HiPhone 5, a knock-off iPhone 5 modelled – we presume – on the leaked pictures of the iPhone 5. The phone, which features Wi-Fi, a micro SD slot, and a GSM cellular radio, is standard Shanzai material. It also requires a stylus to use the touchscreen and call quality, according to a buyer, is pretty bad.

A typical buyer comment, Google translated:

Phone looks good, is the reaction a little slow, but cheap for the Shanzai is so good, sometimes the touch screen with either hand, must use the stylus, there is the call quality is not very good, very big noise, playing music, they also have noise, because just received the goods, just one day, other effects do not know

Luckily this isn’t a real Apple product so importers don’t have to shoot the thing across a river using a crossbow. They just sell it on Taobao.

Also not that our buddy Stagueve from NoWhereElse’s altered photo is currently the product photo for this magical product, proving that we bloggers are so ahead of the curve that we’re predicting the future.

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CNN Claims 10 Million Mobile App Downloads Across All Devices

Erick Schonfeld currently works at TechCrunch as Co-Editor. He joined in 2007 and is based in New York. Schonfeld oversees the editorial content of the site, selects and edits guest posts, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces some TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three... → Learn More

CNN offers a lot of mobile apps on a lot of devices. There is CNN for the iPhone, the iPad, Android, and even Nokia phones. There are even different apps for international news. All in all, CNN’s mobile apps have been downloaded 10 million times, according to the company.

The most popular app is CNN for iPhone, which has been out the longest—since September, 2009. And on Apple devices alone, CNN apps are the No.1 and No. 3 news apps on the iPhone, as well as the No. 1 news app on the iPad. CNN would not provide a breakdown between iOS, Android, and Nokia downloads.

In addition, CNN’s mobile websites drew 201 million combined pageviews in June. CNN is making a big push into mobile, as well it should. It recently launched two new 24-hour live channels on the Web for cable subscribers, and those are also available through its mobile apps.

CNN.com is an online news source that delivers news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more.

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Apple’s iPhone 4 was introduced at WWDC June 7th 2010. Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims it is the “Thinnest smartphone on the planet.” Hardware features Glass front and back panel Entire rim is...

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Android is a software platform for mobile devices based on the Linux operating system and developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It allows developers to write managed...

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How Appropriate, Pampers Mobile Ad Promoted On Sex App

Erick Schonfeld currently works at TechCrunch as Co-Editor. He joined in 2007 and is based in New York. Schonfeld oversees the editorial content of the site, selects and edits guest posts, helps to program the Disrupt conferences and CrunchUps, produces some TCTV shows, and writes daily for the blog. He is also the father of three... → Learn More

There is a lot of mobile ad inventory out there and sometimes brands can’t be sure where their ads will appear. Just like on the Web, automated ad placements can sometimes turn up in the darndest places. Take a look at the Pampers ad at the bottom of this screenshot for a popular app called 300+ Sex Positions.

It is an ad cross-promoting Pamper’s own Hello Baby app. The copy reads: “Discover the wonders of babys development with Pamper’s Hello Baby app.” Hello Baby, indeed.

The Pampers app appropriately enough is a pregnancy calendar that might come in handy if you try some of the sex positions in the first app. But I really wonder whether Pampers and its parent company Proctor & Gamble want their ads appearing in this context. It just isn’t P&G enough.

This isn’t just any add either. It is one of Apple’s own iAds. If you squint your eyes, you can see a watermark in the lower righthand corner. What do you think, was this ad placement intentional or a big mistake? Anyone from Pampers out there who can enlighten us on the marketing strategy here?

Since some people are having trouble making out the ad, her it is blown up:

A mobile advertising platform released with iPhone OS 4 that allows brands to advertise without taking users out of an application. This will allow iPhone developers and corporate marketers...

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Source: The iPhone 5 Will Indeed Be A Dual-Mode CDMA / GSM ‘World Phone’

Robin Wauters currently works as a staff writer for TechCrunch and lead editor of Virtualization.com. Aside from his professional blogging activities, he’s an entrepreneur, event organizer, occasional board adviser and angel investor but most importantly an all-round startup champion. Wauters lives and works in Belgium, a tiny country in Europe. He can often be found working from his home or... → Learn More

The upcoming iPhone 5 will almost certainly be a single phone that supports multiple networks, namely CDMA (such as the one used by Verizon or Sprint in the United States) as well as GSM (which is used by AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S.).

This has been rumored before, and even at one point half confirmed by a Verizon executive, but nothing like some good old evidence from the field to turn a rumor into a near-certainty.

I was recently approached by a developer of some of the most popular apps on the iOS platform today, who asked not to be named and offered solid proof that supports the above claim.

According to this person, and app usage logs I was sent, a tiny number of people have recently registered for one of their applications from a single, brand new Apple device that is decidedly dual-mode – meaning it supports both CDMA and GSM.

The logs show that the app has been briefly tested by a handful of people using what is almost certainly an iPhone 5, evidently running iOS 5, sporting two distinct sets of mobile network codes (MNC) / mobile country codes (MCC). Those codes can be used to uniquely identify mobile carriers.

Sure enough, some registrations for the app – which the developer also asked not to be named – were logged from a new Apple device, using the MNC/MCC codes from both Verizon and AT&T.

The first iPhone was a GSM phone released on June 29, 2007 exclusively on the AT&T network in the United States. On February 10, 2011, a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 for Verizon made its debut.

Now that Apple is catering to both carriers (and their respective networks), it makes all the sense in the world for the company to combine support for both CDMA and GSM in a single device, turning it into a ‘world phone’ or a ‘global phone’ as the cool kids would say.

In addition, rumors have been circulating since last year that Qualcomm would replace Intel as the baseband supplier to the iPhone 5 smartphone. Notably, Qualcomm already supplies the baseband to the CDMA version of the iPhone 4, but not the original GSM version of the device.

An Apple-made ‘world phone’ would be great news for consumers, especially those in countries where certain carriers use CDMA (the U.S., India, Japan, Argentina, Brazil and more). Travelling abroad with a phone that only supports CDMA, in particular, is a major pain in the ass.

With a dual-mode iPhone 5, users will be able to roam between both networks effortlessly.

If all of the above checks out – and all signs point to yes, overwhelmingly so – that would mean the soon-to-be-unveiled iPhone 5 probably won’t be an LTE device, perhaps disappointingly so for some who still hadn’t ruled out the possibility of a 4G iPhone in spite of mounting evidence that such a handset wouldn’t be coming out this year.

The 5th-generation iPhone is expected to be globally released in Q3 2011, inline with the release of iOS 5, the next generation of Apple’s operating system.

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...

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Sincerely Launching An iOS Photo App Monetization Platform: Picture Printing For All

MG Siegler has been writing for TechCrunch since 2009. He covers the web, mobile, social, big companies, small companies, essentially everything. And Apple. A lot. Prior to TechCrunch, he covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where... → Learn More

You may recall that back in April, Postagram launched as a way to transform your Instagrams into physical picture postcards and deliver them for $0.99. A few month later, PopBooth launched as a way to use your iPhone/iPad as a photo booth complete with the picture print outs. These apps, while great themselves, were tests for Sincerely’s platform. A platform which today they’re opening to all iOS developers.

The Sincerely Ship Library is built from the tools the company was using internally to build apps like Postagram and PopBooth. Once developers sign up, they can add print and ship capabilities to their photo apps in under an hour, Sincerely notes. Those developers will be able to utilize Sincerely’s printing network as well as user network (for connections already established through Postagram and/or PopBooth). The result is 4×6 300 dpi color postcards from any iOS app that can be sent anywhere.

Okay, that’s nice, but why should developers sign up for this? Because it’s also a potential monetization platform. Sincerely asks that developers place a minimum $0.99 fee on the images. But for anything above $0.99, Sincerely pays 70 percent back to the app developer. Sincerely obviously keeps the other 30 percent — the same split Apple themselves do with developers.

So if a developer decides to charge $1.99 for their in-app photos, they would keep $0.70 of that (again, the developer keeps 70 percent after the initial $0.99 threshold).

For this fee, Sincerely handles all the billing and address collection as well as the actual logistics of printing and delivering the photos. They also handle the customer support surrounding the entire process. And the platform allows developers to have a branded space on the actual photo printouts.

Developers can sign up for the Sincerely Ship Library starting today, and the plan is for the platform to go fully live in September. The company is also sponsoring the Photo Hack Day in New York this weekend — the winner of which will get some nice iGear and a featured spot when the Ship Library launches.

Given the huge amount of photo apps flooding the market (with more to come), this seems like a smart idea. My only question is whether or not the payout to developers will be enough? Many will be hard-pressed to charge more then $1.99 for the functionality, and some will probably want to use the $0.99 price that Postagram itself uses — but then they’d make no money.

Even still, it’s not like it will cost developers anything to implement Sincerely’s solution. And they get to offer this functionality to users in a simple way.

Below, find some pictures of what the implementation looks like for app developers.

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Sincerely is focused on making it easy to send real photos in the mail from your phone. We believe printed photos are meaningful & a photo sent to a...

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Are We Ready For A True Cloud Phone?

MG Siegler has been writing for TechCrunch since 2009. He covers the web, mobile, social, big companies, small companies, essentially everything. And Apple. A lot. Prior to TechCrunch, he covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan. He’s previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where... → Learn More

As we approach the fall, all the rumors of the Apple empire descend upon us.?And this year may be the craziest yet because for the first time since the iPhone’s inception, Apple did not release new hardware in the summer. And there are still whispers of an iPad revamp as well. iOS 5 is coming. iCloud is coming. And then there are the iPods which are traditionally updated in the fall timeframe each year. Things are already getting crazy enough that potential Apple announcement dates are topping Techmeme one minute, and then stories debunking those dates are?the top story in tech the next minute.

This will only get worse.

But there’s a reason people write up these rumors. Because people read these rumors. And the reason they do that is because sometimes those rumors are correct. And more often than that, they’re at least?somewhat?correct. That hope keeps peoples’ imaginations running wild. Now it’s time for me to indulge that.

One rumor that caught my eye this week was the talk of Apple looking into releasing an “iCloud Phone” alongside a new iPhone 5 this fall. This actually isn’t a new rumor so much as it’s a repurposed one. If you’ve heard talk about the “iPhone 4S”, this is the same potential device. It’s the “cheap iPhone” that TechCrunch and others have written about in the past. Given the smoke out there, it would seem that there’s something to this rumor. Even Apple’s executives have hinted at the possibility.

But the iCloud angle is a particularly interesting one. That doesn’t mean it’s entirely accurate necessarily, just interesting. First reported by Apple ‘N’ Apps,?Trevor Sheridan writes:

It has come to our attention that Apple is planning to combine iOS 5 and iCloud with a piece of hardware internally referred to as the iCloud iPhone. The iCloud iPhone will rely heavily on Apple’s new cloud based offering, and less on internal storage.

He continues:

Apple is aiming for a $400 final price for the iCloud iPhone as compared to the typical $600 iPhone price, which the iPhone 5 will cost. The carrier subsidization will bring the cost to consumers down to free with a 2 year contract for the iCloud iPhone with the same $199 iPhone cost for the iPhone 5.

He cites three?independent?sources on the information, and notes that a modified iPhone 4 design is likely to be used for such a device.

Reducing the internal storage in the iPhone is certainly one way Apple could reduce the overall cost of the device. Plus, Apple has spent the past year and a half perfecting the manufacturing of the iPhone 4, so you can be sure costs in that regard have come down. On the face of it, this makes some sense.

But the larger question remains if the world is ready for a cloud-based smartphone? And there’s a side question: what if this cloud phone is a data-only device?

To the first question, with Apple rolling out iCloud this fall, the timing could be right. Apple hasn’t turned on things like music streaming from the cloud yet, but they easily could. They recently did this with an Apple TV update for television shows. If you have an always-connected device, this concept could work. Storage would be needed for apps and perhaps a little for offline usage, but overall, maybe Apple could get away with a device with just a few gigabytes or so of onboard storage.

The second question is different. After we reported on Apple’s work on a cheaper iPhone, a few people reached out wondering if the iPod touch could simply morph into this product? In other words, Apple could upgrade the iPod touch with an iPhone 4 body, including the 3G radio.

If that’s Apple’s thinking for this product, it may be the perfect opportunity to create a phone that doesn’t offer traditional phone service. As in, it would be data-only.

Now, the carriers probably would have a hard time with this concept. But if Apple sold it as more of an iPod touch with 3G capabilities, they may bite. The carriers are currently making no money off of the iPod touch, which is a hugely popular product. It remains WiFi-only. If they offered a $29-a-month data plan, or pay-as-you-go, it could be a really compelling new source of revenue.

And to consumers, Apple could tout it as more of a “lite” phone. It can do everything the iPhone can, except make phone calls. And really, thanks to apps like Skype, FaceTime, etc, it can do that too — maybe they just don’t play that up as much at first.

Without full $60 or $70-a-month plans for cellular minutes and data, the carriers probably wouldn’t subsidize the cost of such a device down to $0. But they might be able to get close if Apple was able to make the device cheaply enough. The low-end iPod touch is currently $229. But then again, contracts are one more headache for consumers, so maybe Apple would be more in favor of selling the device cheaply without a contract, and allowing consumers to pay for 3G service on the go, like they do with the 3G iPads.

The concept of a data-only phone has been around for a while. In November of 2009, we reported that Google was looking into possibly offering their own Android devices which would be data-only. This didn’t happen, obviously. Instead, Google not only fully hopped into bed with the carriers for their Nexus devices, they got really close?for maximum snuggling and abandoned their broader Android dreams.

Whether or not Apple takes this path this year, it’s pretty clear that this is the future. Eventually, carriers will exist as data dealers. All information, including voice calls will happen over this pipe. Cellular phone service will just be an optional add-on if you’re in an area with a bad data connection. Apple could kick-start this movement in the coming months. Or they might not. But someone will.

[image: flickr/jesse kruger]

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,...

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We&Co: These Are The People In Your Neighborhood (Bar, Coffee Shop, Etc.)

Biggs is the editor of TechCrunch Gadgets. Biggs has written for the New York Times, InSync, USA Weekend, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Money and a number of other outlets on technology and wristwatches. He is the former editor-in-chief of Gizmodo.com and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can Tweet him here and G+ him here. → Learn More

Are you friends with your local barkeep, barista, or leather salesman? We&Co is a way to let them know you care. This iPhone app, launched on July 15, allows businesses to register their employees and then visitors can rate those employees (with an emphasis on positive criticism) and add them to your “favorite people” collection. Think of it as Yelp with considerably more granularity.

I suppose the question then is “Why?” Why use an app when you can thank them yourself? Well, presumably, the aggregate score will encourage others to frequent the employee’s place of business, thereby gaining them more tips and potential creepy stalkers. It also puts a name to the faces you see every day at your local eateries, drinkeries, and provisionaries.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the small company’s technology is based on work by founder Marc Mathieu’s company, BeDo. You sign in with Twitter, Facebook, or a distinct We&Co account. The app picks up current locations (and employees) and allows you to add locations and employees to various locations. You then select the employee in question and give them a high five or whatever, virtually.

The system allows you to follow your favorite employees (bartenders, for example, or hair dressers) from location to location and employers could choose to reward you for your ratings.

As a misanthrope, I’m slightly unnerved at the idea of actively hunting down and thanking specific employees at a place of business and I would certainly rather thank them with a big tip than a button tap. That said, FSM bless these Southern kids for trying to put inject little kindness into the glum, soulless ritual of buying coffee or tires. I worry that this won’t get used often enough to warrant much of a glowing review, but as it stands the idea is solid and the app works, so high five, We&Co.

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