For years, Apple has been known as a computer company. A company that makes high-end computers for home and business. Consumers don’t go to Apple to save money. They expect Apple products to be of high quality and offer them an “Apple experience.” The days of Macs dominating Apple products are really over. When the iPhone was launched, many experts and Apple competitors went out of their way to write off the device. Fast forward just a few years, and Apple iPhone has become a powerhouse to deal with. So it’s no wonder that Apple’s COO has no trouble declaring Apple a mobile device company:

As we compared ourselves to every other company in the world, including Sony, Nokia, and Samsung … We found out that we were the largest in the world measured by revenue. So yes, you should look at Apple as a mobile device company.

Putting aside all the lawsuits that Apple will face over the iPad, the company has built quite an ecosystem with its products. If Apple’s strategy was a puzzle, you could almost see where each Apple products fits in the picture. The iPad is not a netbook, but it’s a tablet capable of helping consumers get things done on the go or at home. Add all the apps that Apple has added to the iTunes with the help of its developers, and it’s hard to see who’s going to stop the momentum.

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Apple has had a lot of success in the past few years. Steve Jobs hit the gold with the iPod and the company hasn’t looked back since then. In a matter of few years, the iPhone has gone from a device that was written off by many experts to a giant powerhouse of a smart-phone. If you have owned any Apple computer or smart-phone in the past, you have probably wondered (or maybe not) why Apple doesn’t allow its software on other devices. After all, wouldn’t it be nice if netbooks could get Mac OS? That strategy has not changed. But it seems Apple is planning to give its other products (such as Apple TV) the gift of iPhone OS.

In a job listing that was first discovered by ComputerWorld, Apple clearly talks about bringing iPhone OS to new platforms but it does not specify much more than that:

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.

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Many business professionals have been hoping for Apple to add video chat capability to the next generation iPhone. After all, you can do almost everything else for business on the device. It seems Apple has been listening as video chat functions seem to be available in iPhone SDK 3.2. 9To5 Mac was able to discover video chat icons and strings in iPhone SDK 3.2.

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Remember the time when people used to buy voice recorders that were good for one thing only. One trick pony devices are truly on their way out (and we are not just talking about voice recorders). Of course, there will always be a market with premium voice recorders. But there are a lot of iPhone apps that can help you record conversations and phone calls using your iPhone without having to carry an extra gadget with you. Considering that you can capture high quality audio with some of these recorders, it’s not to tough to replace your voice recorder with an iPhone app that accomplishes the very same things.

If you are looking for a voice recorder for college or your business meetings, here are 6 voice recorder apps you should look at:

iProRecorder: transforms your iPhone to a mobile audio recorder, capable of recording voice memos, lectures, interviews, and much more. It comes with adjustable playback speed, geo-tagging, and photo attachment feature as well.

iTalk Recorder: allows you to record sounds all around you and even transfer them to your computer over WiFi. It also gives you sound quality options just in case you are worried about the size of your files. Read the rest of this entry »

In the past few weeks, we have reviewed some of the best Manning books on iPhone programming. iPhone in Practice was all about learning iPhone programming the practical way. Objective C for the iPhone is for those of you who have not had any experience developing native apps with Objective C. iPhone and iPad In Action gives you the best of both worlds. So you can get started with your very own iPhone apps fast. The good news? Manning Publications has been kind enough to offer all three MEAP e-books to one lucky iPhoneness.com reader. So you can get all these amazing e-books in one shot (read the end of this article for more information on how to enter). With that in mind, lets dig in and see what iPhone and iPad In Action is all about.

I got familiar with iPhone In Action a while ago. I picked up the first edition to find out what it was all about. The 2nd edition of this book includes many new topics and latest development information you need to get the best out of iPhone SDK. Writing an iPhone app is more than just writing brilliant code or designing great UIs. A lot of things need to come together for you to build a killer, responsive iPhone application. That’s why focusing only on one area of iPhone development is not an ideal way to pursue a career in this business. iPhone and iPad In Action is written to help you master the fundamentals of iPhone programming while making you familiar with practical examples of how to get things done.

The book starts with an introduction of what iPhone programming is all about and what you need to do to start your career as an iPhone developer. You are going to learn all about Xcode and other technologies that make those killer iPhone apps possible. But before you know it, you are dealing with controllers, events, data, positioning, and other advanced topics. Throughout the book, you are provided with code examples to help you get a better understanding of the topics discussed in this book.  Read the rest of this entry »