Given all the Verizon iPhone rumors of late, and given our fears Verizon would try to mutilate iOS the way it’s mutilated Android, it’s rather shocking to hear Android founder Andy Rubin say the following to PCMag’s Sacha Segan:

If I were to release an operating system that I claimed was open and that forced everybody to make [phones] all look the same and all support very narrow features and functionality, the platform wouldn’t win. It wouldn’t win because the OEMs have a lot of value to bring and the carriers have a lot of value to bring, and they need a vehicle by which to put their interesting differentiating features on these things. Every phone shouldn’t look like every other phone. If that was the case there would just be one SKU, right? The whole idea here is just to figure out what consumers want, build phones and tailor them to what consumers want.

Which must be locked down search engines, aGPS, bloatware, and the various other sins Verizon, AT&T, et. al have visited on other platforms, including Android, right?

No thanks.

He also thinks Microsoft shouldn’t have bother innovating Windows Phone 7 and just used Android. He thinks everyone should just use Android and no one should bother innovating anymore. By that logic, he shouldn’t have bothered founding and innovating Android either and just waited around for Symbian Foundation to give him a build of their old OS. Sigh.

Unfortunately, it looks like he’s already getting his wish and those of us who were looking forward to a few more innovative takes on a smartphone OS might just be disappointed.

[PCMag via Android Central -- love the new logo!]

Android founder says carriers add value, we do a spit take is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

If the Wall Street Journal wasn’t enough to convince you Apple was making and iPhone for Verizon, then ladies and gentlemen we give you the paper of record:

After more than three years of using only AT&T cellphone networks, Apple is making a version of the iPhone 4 for Verizon's network, according to a person who is in direct contact with Apple. Apple and Verizon will begin selling the phone early next year, the person said, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the plans were supposed to be confidential and he did not want to alienate his contacts at Apple.

Some have wondered if Apple is leaking this information as a response to the incredible number of new Android handsets released at the CTIA show this week. The theory holds Apple wants people to know iPhone is coming to Verizon so they don’t go ahead and buy a Droid Pro now. However, that same logic would mean anyone on the fence about getting an AT&T iPhone may now hold off a while and get a Verizon iPhone instead, hurting Apple’s all-important holiday sales quarter.

It could just be that the deal is far enough along that people are starting to find out about it. Apple pre-announced the AT&T iPhone by 6 months in 2007. If they want a Verizon iPhone out by early 2011, they won’t have that luxury.

And for those still saying it will have to be an LTE device, CDMA or CDMA/LTE isn’t off the table according to a statement from Verizon’s executive director for ecosystem development Brian Higgins, as reported by PCMag:

“We have plenty of devices we sell today on a 3G network that are potent combinations in and of themselves. I don’t believe LTE would necessarily make or break any of the smartphone devices that we’re actively selling today.”

So TiPb nation, from Mulder to Scully, are you starting to believe?

[NYT, PCMag, thanks Anthony!]

NYT: Apple making iPhone for Verizon is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Our resident review machine, Chris Vitek, has gone above and beyond even his own awesome pace lately with literally a ton of app reviews in the iPhone Apps and Games Forum and iPad Apps and Games Forum. If you need something to help pass the Columbus Day (or Thanksgiving Day in Canada) weekend, check these out:

• Review Blitz: Tweet Defense HD, Medieval HD
• Review Blitz: Modern Conflict, Touch LCD
• Review Blitz: Tweet Defense, Gas Cubby
• Review Blitz: Sword and Poker, Touch LCD
• Review Blitz: Zen Bound 2, StarMap HD, and Brain Challenge HD
• Review Blitz: How to Train Your Dragon, Zen Bound 2, Doodle God

Not enough? Chris and Matt Sawyer have many, many, many others so check out the complete iPhone app review index and complete iPad app review index for more, and be sure to reply on the review threads to let us know what you think of the apps!

App and game review blitz! [From the forums] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Apple has sent out a reminder to MobileMe members who subscribed back in the old .Mac days and used HomePage to publish content to the web.

The short version is, after November 8 you’ll no longer be able to view those pages though the content will remain in your iDisk and can be reused in things like MobileMe Gallery, or republished via the iWeb app. (Or who knows, maybe something even more interesting when/if iLife ‘11 is announced).

For the long version, follow after the break.

And we can’t help but ask — was anyone still using HomePage anyway?

Dear MobileMe member,

Over a year ago, we retired the .Mac HomePage application for publishing new pages, but allowed previously published pages to remain viewable on the web. On November 8, 2010, we will discontinue online viewing of photos, movies, and files shared using .Mac HomePage.

Please note that your content will not be deleted. Any photos, movies, or files you have published using HomePage will continue to remain on your MobileMe iDisk in the Movies, Pictures, or Public folders. We recommend MobileMe Gallery as a great way to share photos and movies on the web. Please read these instructions on how to move your HomePage photos and movies to MobileMe Gallery.

MobileMe members who have published web pages using iWeb will not be affected by this change. If you have used other software to publish web content to MobileMe or .Mac, or have questions about this change, please read this FAQ.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for being a MobileMe member.

Sincerely,

The MobileMe Team

Reminder: .Mac HomePage goes buh-bye in November is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Is Apple finally (or once again) working on a music subscription service like Napster, Rhapsody, and Zune Pass? The New York Post thinks so:

Apple is talking with the major record labels about a subscription music service that would give customers unlimited access to songs for a monthly fee, sources told The Post.

One source said the service could have tiered pricing ranging from $10 to $15, although there are issues to be ironed out, including how much music would be included in each tier and how long consumers would be able to access that content.

The labels are rumored to be supportive of the idea, or of any idea that will jumpstart sagging music sales.

And yes, it’s ironic we’re running this story right after the rumor about Apple potentially trying to block rival service Spotify, entering the US…

[New Your Post]

Apple working on music subscriptions again/finally? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Is Apple trying to block popular European streaming music service Spotify’s US launch? In addition to labels being uncertain as to Spotify’s business model, it’s ability to monetize, and the future of ad-supported music, CNET is reporting:

In meetings in Los Angeles recently, Apple executives told their music industry counterparts that they had serious doubts about whether Spotify’s business model could ever generate significant revenues or profits, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

But Apple executives worried about the effects of a free music service might have on the rest of the market. They noted that it’s tough to sell something that someone else is giving away, the sources said. One industry insider said it is only logical that if Spotify were allowed to launch a free-music service here, at a time when Nielsen recently reported that the growth of digital sales has flattened out, it could eat into the businesses of proven revenue-producers like Apple and Amazon.

iTunes is operated at low-margins for Apple as a way to encourage iPod and iPhone hardware purchases, but low-margins at iTunes like sales levels is still a large amount of money and Apple hasn’t been this successful so far by leaving anything on the table.

Likewise, labels have been trying to hold Apple at bay by giving competitors like Amazon earlier access to DRM free music at much lower prices, and the entertainment industry in general has been denying them subscription TV, full participation in $0.99 TV show rentals, day-and-date movie availability, and other services consumers would probably enjoy having.

My base position is usually to suspect shenanigans on the part of the labels when these stories break, but should Apple be bearing the full brunt of these headlines this time?

[CNET via MacRumors]

Is Apple trying to block Spotify streaming music in the US? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer snuck into Adobe to talk with their CEO, Shantanu Narayen, about how they could team up, cartoon villain-style, to take on the growing mobile power of Apple and one Steven P. Jobs. the NYT Bits blog says:

The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, covered a number of topics, but one of the main thrusts of the discussion was Apple and its control of the mobile phone market and how the two companies could team up in the battle against Apple. A possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft were among the options.

One person familiar with the discussion said the two companies had talked about the blockade that Apple's chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, had placed on Adobe's Flash software for its hand-held devices and whether a partnership by Adobe and Microsoft could fend off Apple, which continues to grow at juggernaut speeds.

Crazier things have happened in tech, so let us know what you think. Would Microdobe (Adobesoft?) pose a larger threat to Apple than either currently does alone? Could we see an Flash Phone 7? CS5 Office Suite? And how will previous Adobe best-fremeny Google feel about being left to third wheel this little Legion of Doom?

[NYT Bits Blog]

Microsoft and Adobe holding secret anti-Apple meetings? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog