iPhone Confessions: 30 Day Update

In a day or two it will have been 30 days since the iPhone went on sale (CNN reports sales have been disappointing). I popped off an email to Tom Piper, George Kopp and Dave Morris to see if they were still as pleased with their iPhones as they (Tom, George, Dave) were when they first got them. I haven’t heard back from Dave yet, but Tom and George filed reports… after the jump.

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Playing with George’s iPhone

“The iPhone will flop because it doesn’t work with corporate email.” Yep, that’s a problem. For some folks, not for me. I don’t use Outlook outside of the office. If I want to check  my corporate email from home or on the road, I log in to our Exchange server from a web browser. At tonight’s Mac user group, George logged me in from his iPhone and –while you can’t sync– you can check your corporate email from the iPhone.

Curly Howard alive and well!

Curly Lives!The local media were on hand for the Big iPhone Event yesterday. I was stunned to learn that one of my childhood idols, Curly Howard, is not only alive… but working as a videographer for one of our local TV stations. AgWired’s Chuck Zimmerman did a touch-and-go and took this photo (which I consider very flattering).

I’m embarrassed that I didn’t introduce myself, but I did watch the voice-over package that aired on the 10 o’clock news. About 40 seconds.

There was a photographer from the local newspaper on hand. A rather stern looking woman who didn’t seem to be having any fun. Her paper ran the iPhone story on page one (above the fold) this morning. With a couple of her photos. I did not, however, find the story/pics on the newspaper website.

All of which reminds me of the wonderful freedom of blogging. I can post what I want (video, stills), when I want, with no pesky editors looking over my shoulder. I wouldn’t suggest for a second that my amateur efforts are on par with these pros. I would argue that I had more fun than they did and maybe some of that comes through in my posts.

And one more thing. The video that aired on the local TV station and the front page newspaper story –unless posted to their websites– is gone forever. With any luck, in a month or two, a Google search for “iPhone+jefferson city” will get you to smays.com.

YouTube is now live on Apple TV

"Apple today announced that YouTube is now live on Apple TV.
Users can download the free software update using Apple TV’s built-in
software update feature, and then navigate through YouTube’s familiar
video browsing categories or search for specific videos. YouTube
members can also log-in to their YouTube accounts on Apple TV to view
and save their favorite videos." [Podcasting News]

Haven’t tried this yet, but I will. Stay tuned. Related story.

Rent movies on iTunes, watch on Apple TV

Apple is in talks with the Hollywood studios to make new movies available for rental on iTunes, with titles to rent for $2.99 for a set number of days before expiring. It is unclear which studios might participate. [WSJ.com]

I hope –and expect– this to come together. Netflix is great but there’s still some lag time. And I can’t recall the last time I bought a PPV movie from DirecTV. Selection pretty much sucks. As Barb and I have less and less time (or so it seems), the convenience and choice of on-demand becomes more and more important.

Apple gets retail

Apple Store

Roger points us to this New York Times story on the success of Apple’s retail stores:

“Mr. Jobs understood, however, that his stores would sell not merely products but also gratification. He told the trade magazine Chain Store Age Executive in 2001: “When I bring something home to the kids, I want to get the smile. I don’t want the U.P.S. guy to get the smile.”

Customer response is told in the numbers. Last month, Apple released results for the quarter ended March 31. More than 21.5 million people visited its stores, which now number more than 180. Store sales were $855 million, up 34 percent from the quarter a year earlier, and they contributed more than $200 million in profits.”

If you decide it’s time to buy your first Mac, take the time… make the drive… visit an Apple store. It is a unique retail experience.

PS: Received this little reminder while posting this from the home office Dell.

iDVD

[Mac shields up!] I created my first DVD last night, using iDVD that ships with OS X. Now, I’ve burned files to DVD’s before but iDVD makes it fun and easy to create a more finished product. Pick a theme, drag over your video from iMovie, your still images form iPhoto, pull some music over from iTunes… hit the burn button and you’re done.

iDVD

This first effort looks like it. But the next one will be better. I haven’t done much with DVD’s because it seemed like a cumbersome way to share media. But this was fun and the resulting DVD looks pretty snazzy.

Another one bites the Mac

Learfield pal David Brazeal has looted his son’s college fund to buy himself a new MacBook Pro. He’ll be Mac-dazed for bit, unlearning the thousand things you need to know to make a PC go, but we’ll try to keep up with his progress here.

On the off chance my own Mac experience contributed to David’s high dive into the Mac pool, I’ve added him to the Mac Gallery.

One hundred million iPods sold

“Apple today announced that the 100 millionth iPod has been sold, making the iPod the fastest selling music player in history. The first iPod was sold five and a half years ago, in November 2001, and since then Apple has introduced more than 10 new iPod models, including five generations of iPod, two generations of iPod mini, two generations of iPod nano and two generations of iPod shuffle. Along with iTunes and the iTunes online music store, the iPod has transformed how tens of millions of music lovers acquire, manage and listen to their music.”

Clyde Lear: Mac Guy

Learfield CEO Clyde Lear proudly displays his new MacBook Pro. Clyde insists it’s for his lovely wife Sue. If that’s true –and we hope it is– Clyde will soon be trekking back to the Apple Store in St. Louis. I think it would be nearly impossible share a MacBook.

For now, we’ll add Clyde to our gallery of Mac Sliders. Someone call Cupertino, we’re gonna need more Kool Aid.