GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Facebook had to face up to thousands of angry users of its iPhone app for weeks, with regular crashing just one of a multitude of problems. The latest in a series of fixes, issued 23 July, has drawn only 1,200-plus comments, compared to more than 5,000 for earlier fixes, with a heavy percentage of them complaints. But five days later the big Facebook iPhone question is not, will the app work now, but rather, is there hidden iPad code in there, after Tech Crunch bloggerMG Sieglier says that’s what he’s found. The New York Times tech blogger says the release date for the new app hasn’t been provided by Facebook.
Links to other sites: New York Times, Tech Crunch
Smart phone orders now more than 8%
Source: Le Shop, 2011
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Le Shop’s steady strong growth continued in the first three months of 2011, but with a new twist, as shoppers increasingly used smart phones and tablets to place their orders.
Le Shop’s sales rose 9 percent in Q1 compared to the same period a year earlier, to CHF41.5 million for the three months. Smart phone and tablet orders now account for 5,000 orders a month, with a total value of more than CHF1 million a month, or about 8 percent of Le Shop’s total sales.
The share of customers with iPhones has increased in the past year from 25 percent to 37 percent, says Le Shop. The target clientele is working mothers with young children. Some 45,000 clients now spend at least CHF230 in one order, at least once a month.
For two bucks and a prayer, you can get a little closer to heaven. It’s a matter, if you’re Roman Catholic, of getting a touch of help from your iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) and going to confession again. A company in Indiana, in the US, has come out with Confession: A Roman Catholic App.
“Designed to be used in the confessional, this app is the perfect aid for every penitent. With a personalized examination of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance.”
Haven’t been to confession for years? The last time you admitted to punching your sister 12 times and fibbing 25 times, but you’ve moved on to other sins?
Not to worry, says Little iApps, the company that designed it, a self-described a mobile applications development startup with a Roman Catholic twist. At least one Catholic took it to the confessional with him, after some 20 years without a priestly absolution, and found it helpful, according to the company.
“Little iApps developer and co-founder, Patrick Leinen says, “Our desire is to invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology. Taking to heart Pope Benedict XVI’s message from last years’ World Communications Address, our goal with this project is to offer a digital application that is truly ‘new media at the service of the Word.”
Note to doubting Thomases: this is designed for use in the confessional: it does not replace it. If you’re worried that the Church will find it a little too, well, outside the box, the company states that “the app received an imprimatur [seal of approval] from Bishop Kevin C Rhodes of the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend. It was the first known imprimatur to be given for an iPhone™, iPad, or iPod touch® application.”
The iPhone was the product that made the difference: Apple surprised investors Tuesday 20 April by announcing sales of $13.5 billion for the three months that ended 27 March, a 49 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. Profits rose 90 percent to $3.07 billion. Computer sales were strong, but it was the iPhone’s 124 percent increase in revenue, thanks to new carriers, that was responsible for the steep climb.
Apple 27 January unveiled its new notepad tablet computer, baptized the iPad, in San Francisco, to enormous attention from the tech world and further afield. Among the surprises: it looks like a very large iPhone but can’t be used as a telephone, it includes iBook, an electronic book outlet that puts it straight into competition with Amazon’s Kindle. Among the non-shocks: it is handsome, lightweight and the price is well below that of any Mac, starting at $499 and staying under $1,000 even with more memory and options. For international wannabe clients, the announcement that for the first 30 days it will work only with AT&T recalled problems from the early days with iPhone, also limited to one US service supplier.
Links to other sites: Apple iPad page, Al Jazeera, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired
Apple posted a record quarter for sales, for the period ending 31 December 2009, thanks in part to a 100 percent increase in iPhone sales and a 34 percent increase in the sale of Macs, compared to a year earlier. The company’s sales were up 32 percent to $15.8 billion, and profits rose 50 percent to $3.4b, both figures well above analysts’ expectations. New accounting standards also helped boost figures.
The news comes on the eve of Apple’s expected announcement 27 January of its new tablet computer.
Links to other sites: Apple press release, CNN, the Globe & Mail, Canada
Swisstopo's iPhone Swiss map app
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss federal government’s mapmaking enterprise, Swisstopo, has won the country’s 2009 mapmaking award for its iPhone application that allows users to access maps for the entire country at these scales: 1:25 000, 1:100 000, 1:500 000 and 1:1 million. Swisstopo will now represent Switzerland at the International Cartographers Associaton awards in Santiago Chile 15 November.
Patrick Chappatte contributes cartoons regularly to GenevaLunch.
© Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site.
Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Map detail, photo Sean Ecker
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swisstopo, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography announced that maps of Switzerland at 1:25,000 and 1:100,000 detail are available for cell phones with the Windows mobile and Symbian S60 operating systems. Mobile telephones equipped with a GPS receiver and the Swiss Map mobile software will never get lost again. The software works much as Google maps does, but with the cartographic details of the Swiss maps. The addition of the two mobile platforms means that Swiss Map mobile now exists for the the iPhone, Sony-Ericsson and Nokia smartphones, as well as Windows mobile phones.
Apple Inc surprised most analysts’ forecasts by posting net profits of $1.3 billion for the quarter ending in June 2009, 13 percent higher than the same period a year ago. The San Francisco-based electronics firm sold 2.6 million Mac computers and 5.2 million iPhones, in part by lowering prices on some items and upgrading other products. The company introduced the improved iPhone 3GS during this period and lowered the basic price of its older version iPhone to $99. NYT, Reuters
Beach Lake Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss national tourism office is kicking off the summer by offering a new nifty online service that allows you to obtain the most important details of all 250 participating swimming pools and beaches in Switzerland, in English. The web site, myswitzerland.com, gives you details that include water and air temperature, opening hours, and admission prices. If you click on the name of the pool, you get even more information, like the exact address or number of parking places available. You can have an sms sent to your cell phone – only Swiss providers so far – with the pool details of your favourite pool.
iPhone users can download an application from the site or from the Apple store at myswitzerland.com/mobileapp or by pressing the iTunes icon on the phone.
A word of warning, though. Geneva pools and beaches are not on the list yet, but there’s a good selection of pools and beaches in Vaud and Valais. And as with all ephemeral information, it is only as good as its updates.
Related: “Don’t swim near the big boats! say CGN, Vaud police“ 11 June 2009, GenevaLunch
Apple’s second financial period quarterly report “soared” past analyst’s expectations, reports Reuters. Profits rose to $1.21 ($1.05m in Q1 2008) and net income rose to $8.16 billion, an increase of 8.7 percent over the same period a year earlier. The ongoing love affair with iPhones and iPods is credited with the strong sales, and shares rose 3 percent on the news.
Results showing a six-fold increase in the sale of iPhones during the third quarter, the first since a new generation of the phone was released, prompted Apple’s share to rise 13% Tuesday. Reuters
Title: iPhone revolution: conference
Location: ICC, Varembé, Geneva
Description: “How to get your company in people’s pockets,” organized by NetInfluence
Date: 2008-10-31
