> Opera Mini for iPhone: Will Apple approve it? Short answer: No.

Because Apple is a giant, evil company that wants to limit competition? No.

Because Opera for iPhone violates a very clearly spelled-out policy within the iPhone SDK strictly forbidding the use of web rendering engines other than WebKit?

Bingo.

Why do companies bother developing entire applications they know can’t be approved? They think they’re going to win the media battle and embarrass Apple into submission?

Good luck with that.

You can disagree with Apple’s policy of not allowing non-webkit browsers, you can petition Apple to change its policy, but you can’t build a non-webkit browser and then act surprised and angry when Apple doesn’t approve it.

> The Windows Phone 7 Series begins with a top-level navigation menu consisting of three options. A quick tap on “albums” brings up a similar listing of images but with substantially more interface elements. It’s also a bit unclear if all the pictures in an album will be listed in this view or if another tap on the album title is required (adding a third step to the navigation process). This article reminded me of the old story about Palm, who supposedly had an employee whose entire job it was to “count taps” in the Palm OS. If it took too many taps to get to the thing the user wanted, the designers had to go back to the drawing board and find a more efficient way.

The iPhone sometimes has issues with this, of course. (Switching between different email account inboxes comes to mind as one of my biggest pet peeves.) But in general, the iPhone OS is pretty efficient, in terms of limiting the number of taps to get to the content. And, as this article suggests, iPhone OS has great “Information Resolution.” The content, more often than not, becomes the interface, or at least the interface is minimized as much as possible.

I think we know too little right now about Windows Phone Series 7 (other than that the name sucks) to make a good judgement call about its future. But from what I’ve seen of the user interface, I have to agree that Microsoft has made a few design choices that are clearly form over function. They try too hard to make it pretty, rather than making it efficient and intuitive.

Even the fact that it has 3 static user buttons (Start, Bing, and Back) as compared to Apple’s 1 (Home) is evidence of this. Not all apps need back buttons, and the ones that do can add them for themselves. And the Bing button is just another example of Microsoft pushing its own technologies on you for no good reason whatsoever.

Imagine the outcry if Apple had put a dedicated iTunes hardware button on every iPhone.

Microsoft has never been any good at simple, efficient, elegant, yet powerful. Either it’s super powerful but ugly as sin (Windows), or it’s oversimplified to the point of being inefficient (Zune).

I do give them credit for finally doing something different in this space. This is no direct copy of the iPhone or Android. And I’m glad they seem to get the importance of a unified user experience, which is why they won’t allow third parties to hack the UI on a whim. (Can’t wait to hear what the “open” community thinks of that.) But in many ways, Microsoft is starting over from zero with this project, and they’re more than 3 years behind everyone else. So it’s far from clear how successful they will be.

> **For the first time ever, Steve Jobs will participate with an author who is writing a biography of the tech titan, according to *The New York Times*.** > > While [many books](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/technology/companies/16apple.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y) have been written about Jobs, none have carried the “authorized” distinction. But the Apple co-founder is now set to participate with author Walter Isaacson, former managing editor of *Time* magazine. I take this as yet another sign that Jobs is getting ready to retire from his post at Apple. The Apple II, the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, and now the iPad—I think he’s safely secured his place in the tech hall of fame many times over.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all, and I certainly wouldn’t blame him, if he wants to spend the rest of his days relaxing with his family. He’s earned it. And Apple’s future is pretty well secured at this point.

Better for Apple if he does what Bill Gates did, and hand over CEO to Tim Cook while retaining some sort of ceremonial title (technology guru, or something) for a year or two, just to placate Wall Street. Stay on the board. Make some public appearances that suggest he still has influence, while demonstrating that the company is in good hands, continuing to release great products without his day-to-day presence. Then he can retire for real a year or two later, and people won’t really take notice.

> The moves are just another example of Amazon [rethinking its Kindle platform](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/08/amazon_rethinking_kindle_in_the_wake_of_apple_ipad.html) following Apple’s iPad announcement. The company recently purchased [millions of Kindles](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/03/amazon_acquires_touch_screen_maker_for_future_kindle_project.html'>touch-screen maker Touchco, which it plans to incorporate into the Kindle's hardware division for a future version of the device.

Amazon has said it has sold via [appleinsider.com](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/12/amazon_may_compete_with_apple_ipad_by_giving_away_free_kindles.html)