iPhone Software Update May Fix Frustrating Bugs

When Apple released its iPhone 2.0 software earlier this month, CEO Steve Jobs said it would provide the best user experience and the most advanced software platform for a mobile device. However, glitches in the software are leaving users frustrated, with a laundry list of complaints.

Apple launched its App Store just before it released the iPhone 3G, which uses the 2.0 software. Users of both the iPhone 3G and the first-generation iPhone upgraded with the 2.0 software can buy and download apps created by third-party developers.

Users May Help to Vet Android Apps

Google may use a user-driven rating system to help keep bad or harmful Android applications off mobile phones.

The search giant is in talks with mobile operators about offering phones based on its Android open-source platform, said Rich Miner, group manager of mobile platforms at Google, in an interview at the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit on Wednesday. However, the carriers want reassurance that users won’t install troublesome applications, Miner said.

Google is making Android freely available to developers under the Apache open-source license and not restricting what they build with it. The company says its aim is to establish a common software platform for many handsets and help make mobile applications proliferate. In much of the world, software for mobile phones traditionally has been supplied through carriers after laborious reviews and modifications.

MS Plots iPhone Rival, Vista PR, as MobileMe Draws Flak

Apple has been boosting sales of Macs with its Mac OS X operating system — seemingly at Microsoft’s expense, as more PC users turn up their noses at Microsoft’s Windows Vista. Apple also has had great success with its iPhone, but now that Apple is taking flak because of problems with its MobileMe service, an admiring Microsoft appears ready to go after some of Apple’s revenue.

In a memo distributed to Microsoft employees Wednesday, CEO Steve Balmer said Apple is good at “providing an experience that is narrow but complete, while our commitment to choice often comes with some compromises to the end-to-end experience.” As a result, he wrote, Microsoft will work with hardware vendors to make sure there are “absolutely no compromises.”