iPhone Battery and Location Services

So it appears that the iPhone 4S battery issues are growing larger by the day. On Saturday, numerous news outlets picked up on the story that had been swelling on Apple-focused forums for days now. Many customers are complaining that they are only getting a few hours of battery life, even if they aren't actively using the phone. Apple has been mum on the issue, leaving customer to try and troubleshoot the problem themselves.

You can read my quick write up of the situation at this Gather Technology post.

Even if the problem doesn't end up being the location-based services, the situation does raise some good questions about just how much data and power these services are using. Every time I hear about some must-have app these days, the app requires an almost constant connection to the web or to the tower for location-based services. The problem isn't a small one, and it's only going to grow larger. What the wireless manufacturers and carriers need to work on is a low-power way for devices to determine their location. Sure, it won't be easy, but if they don't figure out something soon that situation could be dire. I'll talk more tomorrow about the end of unlimited data, but its safe to say that with data getting capped and more and more apps requiring constant access, mobile technology could be in for a contraction.

Well, it appears that even with a minor technical flaw, Apple's new digital virtual assistant has been a smashing success. While I don't personally have an iPhone to test it out, the reviews have been fairly good across the board. Now, it seems as if Apple is taking things to the next level by making Siri the central interface for their upcoming Apple TV.

The next TV won't come out until at least 2013, but if Apple can make Siri easy to use, I don't see why this can't be an amazing success. I'm certainly not an Apple fanboy, but the idea of saying "Play the next Breaking Bad Episode," and having the television start streaming the next episode available in my Netflix is just kind of amazing.

Of course, pulling off that kind of AI isn't easy, and a half-baked interface will surely doom the whole enterprise. But, if nothing else it will be interesting to see.

You can check out my news article on this subject, located at Gather Technology.

Security in a Digital Age

In an article I recently wrote on IBM Infoboom, I take a look at Siri, the iPhone's new virtual assistant. While the application is getting some rave reviews from users, it didn't take too long before someone found a serious security hole. Apparently, anyone can simply use the digital assistant to send messages and email, along with set up appointments, even if the device is locked. While this may come in handy if your device is locked and you're too lazy to unlock it, it might not be so handy if someone else picks up your iPhone.

The article, which you can read here, then goes on to explore a much larger concern, as the Siri issue will be corrected when Apple simply switches the default value, of mobile device security in the enterprise world. Consumer devices are quickly becoming business necessities, but if those devices only have consumer-level security, what does this mean for IT departments hell bent on keeping a company's secrets safe? The consumerization of IT is only going to get worse in the near future, so IT managers need to be considering their options now, not waiting until the CEO demands that metrics be available in an iPad app. It's apparent that device manufacturers, along with OS developers have placed high-level security on the back burner (except for the lagging BlackBerry), so now is the time to seek out software-level solutions. There are a growing number of applications designed to lock certain aspects of a device down, but with so little use so far there hasn't been a true test of how strong they are.

The problem goes even deeper, as no matter how tight security gets you can't stop an employee from leaving an unlocked device sitting in a restaurant or on a train.

A complete security solution will mean not just locking down a device, but planning for the inevitable breeches in data security. Unfortunately, this is a conversation that's happening in frighteningly few small and mid-sized businesses right now. New studies show that hackers are increasingly targeting mobile devices and smaller businesses, so unfortunately many IT managers at smaller firms are going to be facing this situation from the wrong end. Hopefully, a continued conversation on the subject will get people thinking about planning for the future.

But who knows...