iphone press release

Contacts: Rob Small
Apple
robsmall@asia.apple.com
+1 612 9641 8180
Apple Reinvents the Phone with iPhone


January 9, 2007—Apple® today introduced iPhone, combining three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device.

Apple® today announced that movies from major film studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), Sony Pictures Television International and Lionsgate are now available on the iTunes® Store.
“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”

iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone
iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. You can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.
iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.
iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac. iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.

iPhone is a Widescreen iPod

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers “touch” their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.

Apple® today announced that movies from major film studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), Sony Pictures Television International and Lionsgate are now available on the iTunes® Store.

iPhone’s stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes® Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TV™. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos

iPhone is a Breakthrough Internet Communications Device

iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.
iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Pricing & Availability

iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.

i-pod impact on life

The iPod has taken over the digital world, and it is not about to go away any time soon.
The Apple iPod is no longer just a music playing device. It is know an icon of modern and popular culture. Instead of going out and buying a different brand of MP3 player, most people are purchasing one of the highly stylized iPods even though they have no apparent differences. This is due to the massive impact that they have had on every single person in the Western world. No other object has had just a large influence, and none other is even close to matching it.
It's the invasion of the pod people, the iPod people, and those folks passing you with the buds coming out of their ears. It's a phenomenon that's been growing since apple's iPod, the most renowned of the so-called MP3 players, first hit the technological stage in 2001.
Several cities around the world have banned their use when driving cars because of the danger of distraction, yet millions of people continue to ‘plug in.’ Although it is more common to see their use in teenagers ears, it is not rare for people of other ages to be seen listening alongside. Their mass appeal to so many different demographics is one of the reasons that people cannot live without their iPod.
http://www.ipod.suite101.com/article.cfm/ipods_impact_on_modern_culture - 29k
And many new car stereos now come iPod-ready, a smart way to drive your iPod, as the promoters boast. As the technology has improved, the choices have grown. Users can download personal music play lists, so-called podcasts of news and information, including the News Hour…
ABC and NBC struck deals this winter with Apple to sell iPod users episodes of some of their most popular programs, current hits like "Lost" and "Law & Order," as well as "Dragnet" and other vintage shows.
So far, more than 15 million videos have been purchased at $1.99 each and downloaded from the Apple iTunes online music store. But music remains the dominant force, with over 1 billion songs downloaded from iTunes to Apple devices, such as the iPod and its smaller offspring, the Nano and the Shuffle.
People love the iPod and love other MP3 players because it allows them to create their own music environment, their own song of their life.
Most people use them, of course, to listen to music. But like most aspects of human behavior, it doesn't exist in isolation. What's really important to a lot of people is how other people see them, whether they're -- how they see them consuming music or walking down the street. And, therefore, something like the iPod is considered part of a personal statement.
For many scholars, the podification of society is just the latest chapter in a continuing story of technology and culture. Think of the remote control, the VCR, the Sony Walkman, and so much more, in which companies offer and people pursue ways to tailor, enjoy and control their environment.
Schools, too, are experimenting with the devices, using them more and more as a teaching tool. At Jamestown Elementary in Arlington, Virginia, we watched students armed with their iPods gather material for a podcast, a kind of audio-video report that can be digitally downloaded by others.

Having iPods and MP3 players, how many think it's a good thing? That's pretty much everyone.
For now, millions of consumers are seeing the benefits and voting with their pocketbooks, but pod people and their critics alike will keep their eyes open and ears plugged or not, as the technology continues to evolve and society continues to respond.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june06/ipod_05-15.html
Ethical impacts of ipod on society
Some of the ethical impacts of the ipod on society may include:
The tendency of people to listen to their own music, their is a reduced sense of shared experience of music. For example it may reduce the tendency to listen to radio or a shared concert.
In some instances the ipod may have promoted people to 'steal' music via file sharing systems. This may have an impact on the way music is produce.
Having less shared musical experiences may lead to a more individualistic based society rather than a sharing environment where people feel responsible for each other.
The question could also be considered about the value of an ipod to society, how does it help or hinder society. There is some evidence to suggest that listening to music too loudly with headphones may harm or diminish your hearing. This may lead to a need to spend money on hearing health in the future. Does society want to do this? Can it afford it?
http://clearlyexplained.com/answers/ipodethics.html

I-pod

iPod is a popular brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc and launched on October 23, 2001. As of 2008, the current product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod classic, the touch screen iPod touch, the video-capable iPod nano, the screen less iPod shuffle and the iphone. Former products include the compact iPod mini and the spin-off iPod photo (since re-integrated into the main iPod classic line). iPod classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash memory to enable their smaller size (the discontinued mini used a Microdrive miniature hard drive). As with many other digital music players, iPods, excluding the iPod touch, can also serve as external data storage devices. Storage capacity varies by model.
Apple's iTunes software can be used to transfer music to the devices from computers using certain versions of Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems. For users who choose not to use Apple's software or whose computers cannot run iTunes software, several open source alternatives to iTunes are also available. iTunes and its alternatives may also transfer photos, videos, games, contact information, e-mail settings, Web bookmarks, and calendars to iPod models supporting those features. Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. As of September 2007, the iPod had sold more than 150 million units worldwide making it the best-selling digital audio player series
Reliability and durability
iPods have been criticized for their short life-span and fragile hard drives. A 2005 survey conducted on the MacInTouch website found that the iPod had an average failure rate of 13.7% (although they note that comments from respondents indicate that "the true iPod failure rate may be lower than it appears"). It concluded that some models were more durable than others. In particular, failure rates for iPods employing hard drives was usually above 20% while those with flash memory had a failure rate below 10%, indicating poor hard drive durability. In late 2005, many users complained that the surface of the first generation iPod nano can become scratched easily, rendering the screen unusable. A class action lawsuit was also filed. Apple initially considered the issue a minor defect, but later began shipping these iPods with protective sleeves
Since October 2004, the iPod has dominated digital music player sales in the United States, with over 90% of the market for hard drive-based players and over 70% of the market for all types of players. During the year from January 2004 to January 2005, the high rate of sales caused its U.S. market share to increase from 31% to 65% and in July 2005, this market share was measured at 74%. In January 2007 the iPod market share reached 72.7% according to Bloomberg Online.
Industry impact
iPods have won several awards ranging from engineering excellence, to most innovative audio product, to fourth best computer product of 2006.] iPods often receive favorable reviews; scoring on looks, clean design, and ease of use. PC World says that iPods have "altered the landscape for portable audio players”. Several industries are modifying their products to work better with both the iPod and the AAC audio format. Examples include CD copy-protection schemes, and mobile phones, such as phones from Sony Ericsson and Nokia, which play AAC files rather than WMA. Microsoft's Zune device also supports AAC and it has adopted a similar closed DRM model used by iPods and the iTunes Store, despite Microsoft previously marketing the benefits of choice with their PlaysForSure initiative. Podcasts and download charts have also had mainstream adoption.
In addition to its reputation as a respected entertainment device, the iPod has also become accepted as a business device. Government departments, major institutions and international organizations have turned to the iPod as a delivery mechanism for business communication and training, such as the Royal and Western Infirmaries in Glasgow, Scotland where iPods are used to train new staff.
iPods have also gained popularity for use in education. Apple offers more information on educational uses for iPods on their website, including a collection of lesson plans. There has also been academic research done in this area in nursing education. and more general K-16 education. Duke University provided iPods to all incoming freshmen in the fall of 2004, and the iPod program continues today with modifications.

IMPACT OF THE MULTIMEDIA ON OUR DAILY LIFE

There is a big influence of technique on our daily life. Electronic devices, multimedia and computers are things we have to deal with everyday.
The Multimedia changed our life enormously; there is no doubt about that. What I want to say is that Multimedia changed our life in a positive way.
Therefore we thought that it would be necessary to think about some good and bad aspects of how this medium influences us, what impacts it has on our social behaviour and what the future will look like.
MOBILES
Mobile devices are treasure boxes of personal information containing user’s context, personal schedule, diary, short messages, photos, and videos. Also, user’s usage information on Smart phone can be recorded on the device and they can be used as useful sources of high-level inference. Furthermore, stored multimedia contents can be also regarded as relevant evidences for inferring user’s daily life. Without user’s consciousness, the device continuously collects information and it can be used as an extended memory of human users. However, the amount of information collected is extremely huge and it is difficult to extract useful information manually from the raw data. In this paper, AniDiary (Anywhere Diary) is proposed to summarize user’s daily life in a form of cartoon-style diary. Because it is not efficient to show all events in a day, selected landmark events (memorable events) are automatically converted to the cartoon images. The identification of landmark events is done by modeling causal-effect relationships among various events with a number of Bayesian networks. Experimental results on synthetic data showed that the proposed system provides an efficient and user-friendly way to summarize user’s daily life.
This research was supported in part by MIC, Korea under ITRC IITA-2006-(C1090-0603-0046). http://www.springerlink.com/content/4438mq324763410x/

Mobile TV
Mobile TV is television service deliver to subscribers to mobile. It involves bringing TV service to the mobile phones. It combines service of a mobile phone with television content and represents a logical step both for consumers and operators and content providers.
Rer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_TV

Abstract Media Impact usually focuses on the practical impact of multimedia research on IT business. Yet given the pervasiveness of multimedia technology in our everyday life, a thorough reflection on the impact of multimedia progress on education and, in particular, multimedia education is overdue. Multimedia teachers at the 2007 ACM Multimedia conference engaged in a panel discussion on the current state and future of multimedia education. In this issue’s, Wolfgang Hurst of Utrecht University and his colleagues Gerald Friedlander of the International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, and Lars Knipping of Berlin University of Technology use this panel as an opportunity to argue the need for a dedicated multimedia curriculum in computer science education.

References [1] Z.-N Li and M.S. Drew, Fundamentals of Multimedia, Prentice-Hall, 2003.

INTERNET
Internet is becoming more and more important for nearly everybody as it is one of the newest and most forward-looking media and surely “the” medium of the future.
The Internet changed our life enormously, there is no doubt about that. There are many advantages of the Internet that show you the importance of this new medium. What I want to say is that Internet changed our life in a positive way.

As we all know, software costs a lot, if you buy it legal. Free software, free music is available on the Internet. You just have to download the program, the mp3-file or whatever and that’s it. Why do you want to pay more as you need to? Special websites are created just to give you the newest programs, or to tell you where you can get it from. Napster might actually be the most famous one.
Such communities can also help people who can not go out to find friends in the real life because they are disabled. Therefore they can chat with other people via the internet. Sometimes it is also easier for people, who are afraid to look into the other’s face while talking, to chat with a person that they do not know. There is something between them which makes it easier for them to communicate. It also does not matter if you have a terrible appearance because you can pretend to be whatever you want. You can also change your gender and your age to talk about topics which you do not normally do.
Often you have the possibility to listen to music on the internet. You may also download it for free. That is very cheap because you only have to pay the telephone-costs and the music is for free. What does that mean for the musicians? They will not get all their money they would normally receive. That is not too dangerous for the well-known musicians but it can become dangerous to the little ones who cannot afford to lose a part of their income.

Games
There are certain things that cause addiction. Computer games are electronic games that are addictive. Played on a computer or on a console system such as the Sony Play station, these games can occupy a person for countless hours. Through computer gaming, people escape their reality which includes school and work. Video games also present people with challenges they can overcome so they can feel a sense of accomplishment. In a virtual world, mistakes can be undone and time can renew itself with the push of a few buttons. Through gaming, a person can experience his or her fantasies that he or she cannot experience in real life. In a commercial world of advancing technology and electronic entertainment, people become obsessed over these games. Computer games are addictive because they allow people to escape reality, offer challenges, provide a world where mistakes can be undone and allow people to experience their dreams which they cannot experience in real life
Much of the electronic old and new media utilized by commercial artists is multimedia. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep attention in advertising. Industrial, business to business, and interoffice communications are often developed by creative services firms for advanced multimedia presentations beyond simple slide shows to sell ideas or liven-up training. Commercial multimedia developers may be hired to design for governmental services and nonprofit services applications as well.
Entertainment
Multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry, especially to develop special effects in movies and animations. Multimedia games are a popular pastime and are software programs available either as CD-ROMs or online. Some video games also use multimedia features. Multimedia applications that allow users to actively participate instead of just sitting by as passive recipients of information are called Interactive Multimedia. In the Arts there are multimedia artists, whose minds are able to blend techniques using different media that in some way incorporates interaction with the viewer. One of the most relevant could be Peter Greenaway who is melding Cinema with Opera and all sorts of digital media. Another approach entails the creation of multimedia that can be displayed in a traditional fine arts arena, such as an art gallery. Although multimedia display material may be volatile, the survivability of the content is as strong as any traditional media. Digital recording material may be just as durable and infinitely reproducible with perfect copies every time.