First, Apple ticked off some iPhone app developers. Now it’s giving the boot to iPhone screen protector vendors.
In a scene in the 2004 movie Troy, a young virgin priestess professes her love for the god, Apollo. Achilles, played by Brad Pitt, replies, “I think you’ll find the romance one-sided.”
For a few of the Apple faithful, like Gerrard Dennis, CEO of The Simply Group, Achilles’ words can sting without warning. The Simply Group’s iPhone retail app for women’s beach apparel was caught up in Apple’s raid on smut in the App Store.
“I do understand [Apple's] motives,” Dennis says, “although they applied them with the finesse of a club hammer!”
Only three months into the new year, a rejuvenated Apple has shown god-like indifference to its faithful followers, even dealing crushing blows to the businesses of unsuspecting iPhone software developers and Apple-related product vendors.
In February, Apple shunned Macworld Expo, then took some wind out of Macworld Expo’s sails by staging its own announcement of the much-anticipated iPad just two weeks before the start of Macworld Expo.
When Apple launched its iPhone three years ago, industry watchers said the key to its success would be wooing apps developers. And they came to the new platform in droves, helping to make the iPhone one of the greatest tech stories ever told. Today, there are more than 140,000 iPhone apps.
But late last month Apple suddenly removed apps containing what it called sexual content. No forewarning. No explanation. No apologies. Never mind that Apple had already approved these apps. The raid also didn’t include top branded apps, such as the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit app.
Apple didn’t seem to care what happened to banned developers. Dennis’ phone calls and emails, for instance, went unanswered. Dennis says that he even wondered if anyone from Apple actually took the time to evaluate apps or Apple just made a sweeping decision based on keywords.
The Simply Group was one of the lucky ones; its banned iPhone app magically reappeared on the App Store four days later. Yet other app developers wrote to me crying foul. On an Apple whim, they said, their businesses had been obliterated overnight.
Next to feel Apple’s wrath: iPhone screen-protector vendors. Several vendors speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with Apple told Macworld that Apple will stop selling screen films for the iPhone, iPad and MacBook in its App Store and retail outlets. Apple did not explain the decision, they said.
To be fair, vendors told Macworld that screen protectors are returned at a higher rate than other products due to the difficultly of applying them without causing air bubbles. Power Support, a maker of iPhone screen protectors, did not return my calls.
The ban also includes iPhone cases with screen protectors, vendors said. “The move has left some case vendors scrambling to quickly repackage their products sans screen protection, so as not to lose their privileged place in Apple’s stores,” according to the Macworld story.
Screen and anti-glare films are popular among iPhone owners and have saved screens from scratches, including mine. Yet Apple apparently has decided that they aren’t important anymore given more scratch-resistant screens of the latest iPhone models.
Like others, vendors that have built their businesses on screen protectors find themselves suddenly out of luck without any recourse. Apple’s actions really do bear resemblance to the arrogance and apathy of the Greek gods.

Flirtation Creations Inc, an app development and design consultancy offering exceptional graphic and website design launched a new website to better serve its clients.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb 24, 2010 – Boston, MA. USA – Premier online design company, Flirtation Creations, announced it has recently launched a new website to better serve its clients. The new website, http://www.flirtationcreations.com, features the full spectrum of the companies exceptional services, including app development for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, graphic and website design, and corporate and personal branding. The website was launched to give clients even greater access to and understanding of the company’s services, as well as to showcase its portfolio of past work.
As leading app and web developers in Massachusetts, Flirtation Creations has been offering clients high quality, cost-effective graphic design and website solutions since 2000. The companies commitment to providing exceptional customer service combined with Internet expertise has attracted clients throughout the United States, Europe and Africa.
Flirtation Creations offers clients an expansive selection of app development services, graphic design services including logo design, custom website development and more. By establishing long-term relationships with its clients and offering high-end quality online marketing solutions at medium-level prices, Flirtation Creations excels at meeting the needs and budget of every client.
Along with highlighting the companies breadth of services, Flirtation Creations new website also emphasizes what sets it apart from competitors. This includes the companies commitment to providing no hidden contracts or costs, issuing copyright ownership to clients for all work completed, as well as its ethical, honest business approach.
Additionally, Flirtation Creations new website allows clients to review the companies online portfolio, giving them a taste of the firm’s exceptional quality of design. Through the new website, clients can choose to review examples of the companies app development, as well as past logo and website designs.
“Establishing long-term customer relationships is extremely important to Flirtation Creations, which is why we strive to make sure our clients are comfortable and informed throughout the entire design and development process. With our new website, now even more clients can benefit from the extraordinary customer service and online marketing solutions we offer”, says the company’s CEO.

The latest app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad from Flirtation Creations “Herbs n Spices’ has been approved by apple and is on the App store for purchase and download.

Herbs n Spices has been designed as a quick reference showing what herbs or spices blend with what food category. There are no recipes or long drawn out details about herbs or spices, just a simple list of common everyday kitchen products and how they can be used.
Remember you still have ultimate control over what your taste is and there is no stopping you from experimenting.
Bon Appetit!

In an article from The New York Times, the cost for a company like Apple to develop an ARM-based mobile chip such as the A4 used in its forthcoming iPad tablet is estimated at approximately $1 billion, even without the need to invest in manufacturing facilities for the chips due to agreements with existing chip foundries for production.
At the same time, Apple, Nvidia and Qualcomm are designing their own takes on ARM-based mobile chips that will be made by the contract foundries. Even without the direct investment of a factory, it can cost these companies about $1 billion to create a smartphone chip from scratch.
Chip industry expert Fred Weber notes in the report that Apple’s iPhone was the first “really aspirational device” not based on Intel chips, demonstrating the power and versatility of ARM-based chip designs. The iPhone’s success has consequently driven a surge of interest in the platform from other mobile vendors and even more traditional notebook vendors like HP and Lenovo looking to incorporate the power-saving yet capable chips into their products.
“Apple was the first company to make a really aspirational device that wasn’t based on Intel chips and Microsoft’s Windows,” said Fred Weber, a chip industry veteran. “The iPhone broke some psychological barriers people had about trying new products and helped drive this consumer electronics push.”
Apple acquired chip design firm P.A. Semi in early 2008, reportedly enabling Apple to pursue in-house ARM-based designs for system-on-chip platforms for the iPad and iPhone.

Computerworld points to an Apple job listing posted last week which suggests that Apple is looking to expand the iPhone OS beyond the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad to additional platforms. The position, entitled “Engineering Manager (Platform Bring-Up)”, requires that the employee lead a team of software engineers working with hardware and “custom silicon” teams on new platforms and protoypes.
The Core Platform team within Apple’s Core OS organization is looking for a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms. The team is responsible for low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms. The team consists of talented engineers with experience in hardware, firmware, IOKit drivers, security and platform architecture.
The report suggests a number of products, both existing and merely envisioned, that could benefit from an ARM-based architecture and iPhone OS, including Apple TV, MacBook Air, enterprise-class Time Capsule micro-server offerings and others.
Two years down the road, other low ends of the Apple Mac line might get eaten up by the Apple processor/iPhone OS. Mac Mini and Mac Book, I am looking directly at you. Once there is an iPhone OS running the TV and the MacBook Air segments, it isn’t a great leap to expect to see it in low end Macs.
Obviously any such suggested offerings are based purely on speculation, but it seems clear that Apple is interested in leveraging iPhone OS and its hefty investment in ARM architecture for future products.