GregJoswiak -- Engadget Mobile

GregJoswiak posts

Apple: "the iPhone is a gaming console"

by Joshua Topolsky posted Dec 12th 2008 @ 4:43PM

According to extremely reliable and embarrassingly handsome Engadget sources, at an iPhone event held today, John Geleynse (AKA Director of Technology Evangelism at Apple) made some statements regarding the iPhone platform that should seriously raise a few eyebrows. During an ADC "iPhone Tech Talk" in San Jose, Geleynse apparently waxed excited about the potential for the handheld as a viable threat to the DS (and the PSP by proxy), calling the iPhone a "gaming console" and claiming that "it's not a phone, it's a console experience." Pretty bold talk about a device that has yet to really prove its gaming mettle, but nothing new from the Apple camp as far as we're concerned. Considering these comments alongside those from a recent interview in which Greg Joswiak compared the touch to the DS, it seems clear that the company is making a noticeable effort to push this angle. Adding some fuel to that fire is PR that just went out announcing a series of EA "sneak peek" events at Apple Stores around the US. In their words:

Throughout the month of December Apple Stores in New York, LA, San Francisco and Chicago will host special "EA Games Sneak Peek" events where Electronic Arts will discuss why the iPod touch and iPhone are amazing platforms for mobile gaming...

While there's no question the iPhone and touch have made inroads when it comes to gaming, it still isn't clear that there's going to be anything beyond a casual interest for these devices. Then again, if the Wii's success has proven anything, it's that there's plenty of cash in casual if you can make it appealing enough. And you know how Apple feels about appealing products and money.

Apple says turn-by-turn GPS coming to iPhone, copy / paste not a high priority

by Nilay Patel posted Jul 14th 2008 @ 7:33PM

There's been a lot of random misinformation about the iPhone 3G floating around out there, like David Pogue's baffling comment that the device's GPS antenna is "too small" to support turn-by-turn directions, and Apple's iPod and iPhone marketing head Greg Joswiak recently sat down with AppScout to clear up some of the confusion. Greg says that Apple has an internal priority list of features for the iPhone, and that the company went as far down the list with the 3G as it could -- and that copy / paste support simply didn't make the cut. Similarly, there are no technical issues preventing turn-by-turn directions, just other "complicated issues" (read: legal agreements) that need to be sorted out, and Josiwak expects developers to "amaze us." as things "evolve." Hopefully that means that nav app TomTom's got in the labs will evolve its way into the wild sometime soon. Finally, Joswiak said that he's not aware of any technical reasons an office suite isn't already in the App Store, but that the lack of a cross-application file structure could impede development. Yeah, and maybe the lack of copy / paste, you think?

Don't worry, iPhone hackers: Apple doesn't hate you

by Paul Miller posted Sep 11th 2007 @ 2:35PM

It's really an ethical dilemma for the ages. On one hand, you love your shiny new Apple toy so much, you just have to hack in new functionality, on the other hand you can't bear to think that the mighty Steve Jobs thinks ill of you and your hacker ways. Well now you can finally put those fears to rest, because Apple's Greg Joswiak has officially confirmed a "neutral" stance on the iPhone hacking issue. That is to say, Apple doesn't plan to maliciously attempt to break native, third-party applications in forthcoming firmware updates, but at the same time Apple won't go out of its way to ensure those updates don't break third-party applications accidentally, and certainly isn't offering support to the hackers of any kind. We'd say it's a step above "frenemy," but not quite to the point where Steve'll be demoing Jailbreak at his next keynote, and we'd certainly say SIM unlocking is quite unlikely to fall under this new amnesty.