The iPhone4 is the latest must-have gadget, but if you didn’t manage to get one in last week’s feeding frenzy, then you may face a long wait! By last Friday almost every iPhone4 in the country had been sold, with nearly every mobile phone provider running a waiting list only. Only one major provider claimed to have any left in stock, and they were only made available to existing customers.

This frenzy has peaked despite the swift emergence of an annoying, and rather basic, design flaw. When held in a certain way, the iPhone4 loses signal and drops calls. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs has openly admitted the fault and the company is working to create a band which will help prevent the problem.

The issue has arose due to the steel band casing of the iPhone4, which also acts as its antenna, making it more susceptible to drop outs when the phone is held in a certain way. It’s an unusual episode for Apple, whose signature is usually impeccable, functional design, but a speedy response from the behemoth, including the personal interest taken by CEO Steve Jobs means it has done very little to dent the ever growing popularity of the i-brand.

Of course its ongoing popularity is possibly also a result of almost unanimously positive reviews; according to those lucky enough to get one the iPhone4’s new design marks a departure for Apple that results in a practical design that captures a luxury feel. It also has image, hardware and battery life improvements galore, making the new iPhone one to get excited about while opening up a whole world of possibilities for social media and apps that will also internet designers to have some fun with their digital mobile marketing.

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So Amazon has finally launched their new MP3 music store, giving christmas bargain hunters a serious alternative to iTunes for their music.

Unlike iTunes, the majority of singles are 20p cheaper at 59p, with full Albums from £3.00, and more importantly – the big selling point from Amazon is that all downloads are DRM Free.  Until recently, the Amazon service was only available in the US, and for a while there was some serious doubt if the UK and Europe would ever see it (DRM arguments with record lables etc).  Follow this link for a more detailed explanation of DRM and the implications of removing it, but in short – it’s a good thing for consumers, and one that should see Amazon make a big dent in the profits of Apple iTunes.

Finally…  just a wee reminder to regular NSDesign Blog readers, that if you’re a fan of the latest gadgets etc, then get yourself 10% of any sale at www.iwoot.com by using the promo code nsdesign at checkout.

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We got our hands on an apple iPod touch this week…  NICE!!!  Finally a device that provides a half-decent browsing experience on a mobile device – compared to the others (we’ve used a few here over the years) the apple blows the rest away.

Using an adapted version of Safari, browsing websites is intuitive and on the whole fairly easy.  It’s instantly obvious that some websites “work” better than others, and it’s fair to say that websites built to standards (xhtml, css and semantic markup) perform better than the usual (non-accessible) tables-based layout sites. 

We’re really quite excited about this, and will be doing some more research in the new year to identify the “best practice” for optimising a website for the touch, and of course the iPhone.  With some clever browser detection and customised CSS, it should be possible to get any website (especially the ones we develop!) to format perfectly for the smaller ipod screen, with a few automatic extras to make browsing that bit easier…  watch this space!!

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