In a time when newspapers are struggling to stay relevant—and alive—European publisher Axel Springer is making news with its use of the Apple iPhone 3G. A recent release at www.apple.com highlighted just how the German-based firm utilized iPhone technology to the benefits of employees and readers alike.

“Apple is the new IT standard for Axel Springer,” says Michael Zurheide, senior manager Axel Springer Media Systems. “iPhone is a great mobile device that increases productivity in the enterprise. Moving to iPhone has been a positive change that has helped the company shift to digital information.”

For employees, the iPhone has turned into a mobile office, providing push email and calendar as well as business information. Writers are able to track the latest news on the wire from iPhone’s Safari app and keep up with their sources and competition alike. On the management level, the iPhone is being used to track sales and revenue data.

Readers are also benefiting with digitization of popular news content such as soccer scores (or football if you’re continental). Notes Hans-Christian Pahlig, team lead for the BILD Newspaper Production Systems at Axel Springer, “Our BILD newspaper is very famous for its sports section. So we have with “Mein Klub” (My club) a mobile application that keeps readers up-to-date with the soccer schedule — it looks great on iPhone. Having an overview of soccer on iPhone is a big benefit for our readers.”

 Is this digitized work plan the wave of the future for newspapers?  I wonder if the iPhone is finally starting to break into the corporate market?

Its true, it seems Microsoft has announced that they need to make it easier for developers to add Bing search results to their iPhone applications.

Although developers can make a connection to the Bing search engine now, the process requires unnecessary steps and according to Microsoft;

"Right now, there is an unneeded step to climb to integrate Bing results in your iPhone app but we want to make that smooth," he said. "We want to make it as easy as link [a] library, create an object — bam — you’re done."

The new library is being tested now and should be available in a few weeks said Alessandro Catorcini, senior program manager.

Although Bing was only released in June, its been gaining steady ground for Internet search traffic, and with the new Yahoo deal, this new iPhone library may not be such a bad idea.

Last week, Apple revoked the developer’s license of Khalid Shaikh. About 900 apps came from Shaikh, founder of Acumen, and his Pakistan-based staff of 26. All of the apps have been removed from the App store.

According to Gagan Biyani at MobileCrunch, Khalid specialized in $4.99 apps that used hundreds of eye-catching topics for apps that provided aggregate content pulled from the web provide little actual information and a trace to a complete absence of original content. In an interview with the site, Khalid noted, “he says, he’s going for “less product value” and “more monetization.”

The pulling of the developer’s license came, in part, as a result of complaints from users, MobileCrunch notes: “Apple claims that it has asked Khalid about more than 100 of his applications and that it ‘continue[s] to receive the same or similar types of complaints regarding [his] Applications despite [Apple’s] repeated notices to [Khalid Shaikh].’"

While Khalid is not the only one creating spam apps, he was one of the leaders in the quantity- over-quality school of product offerings. As a result of the removal of his team’s apps, the apps world is a little richer in content and more valuable to consumers—for now.

One might ask, what took Apple so long? Or, how did these apps get approved in the first place?

What about those who already shelled out their $4.99 for “Top Sexy Ladies: Audrina Partridge” and discovered that the app featured just five pictures pulled off of the Internet? Will these folks get their money back or is it a matter of “buyer: beware?”

Have you ever purchased a spam app? Do you think you should get your money back or is it just the price you’ve paid for trying something unknown?

Popular rumor has the next version of iTunes with Blu-ray support and app management.  My first question regarding this is: what exactly does app management mean?

Based on the image that comes with the article, app management involves drag and drop installation of apps onto your iPhone or iPod Touch.

It’s about time.

For all the debate about the convenience of iTunes and the ease at which graphics, audio and video can be moved to and from the device, getting applications installed on an iPhone is a bit of a pain if your doing it from your computer (directly of course its much easier but it leads to other a different problem I have described below).

A drag and drop feature for installation and uninstallation would be very cool.  It would be much easier to track which apps are on the iPhone or iPod Touch (particularly when your apps start to number in the hundreds).

The potential Blu-ray capability shouldn’t be ignored either.  It’s a sign that future Macs could come with Blu-ray drives pre-installed.  While this wouldn’t affect the iPhone or iPod Touch that much (except maybe in the transfer of video) it is still a sign that Apple has more confidence in the future of that technology.

Its not that I’m too lazy to select and deselect the apps that I want to put on my device, its just that i find that I tend to do so on the iPhone itself, and most of the time, I fail to adjust the preferences in iTunes itself.  So the next time I go to resync, the apps that i removed on the device are back on the device.  Drag and Drop would hopefully make this situation a little bit easier to manage than sorting through the hundreds of apps I have and having to check box the ones that I want.

So the real question is, what does app management really mean?  Is it simply drag and drop, or is there more?  Something more in line I hope with syncing the device and iTunes better, so i don’t end up with apps on the iPhone that I already removed.

Music lovers have more apps by the day to satisfy their listening interests. Just this week, iLike was the newest offering to jump into the app universe. On the web, iLike describes itself: “iLike is a service to help you organize your music, share your music tastes, and discover new music through your friends. iLike provides a buddy-list for your iPod – it helps you discover new artists based on what you’re already listening to, and it helps you browse your friends’ music libraries and share music suggestions with each other.”

With its initial launch, the free app for the social music engine provides info about nearby concerts, no matter what your neighborhood and provides links for tickets and even directions for shows. Future versions are expected to tap more deeply into iLike’s other features, such as music organization.

iLike links artists and current or potential fans by acting as a landing space for bands’ apps. The iLike app presents 250 band apps and provides a simple demo and pricing structure for bands to create their own apps that will sync on iLife and Facebook.

Other offerings for Music Apps: On the free side, the app for Swing Out Sister (all of you 80’s light music fans might remember them) provides not only concert info, but also the band’s videos and photos, and samples of new songs.

One of the most exciting aspects of this growing home for musician’s apps is the possibility of really getting to know the bands next big tour, or their next tune.  Its the easiest way to get the latest information quickly.  With so many apps in the app store now, lots of them being music based, which ones keep you moving?

The latest 3.1 beta seems to again reference an unknown product.  The new model number is once again creating rumors about a touchscreen device based on iPhone OS.

It seems that the product distinction this time is 1.1, which Apple has historically used to reference other first gen products.  Apple usually does new iPod releases in September in time for the school season, and this could be the proof that a new product is on its way.

Historically, the original iPhone was tagged as 1,1, and the 3G was 1.2.  The iPod touch was found as 1.1 and 2.1 for the first and second gen versions.  So if history is any indicator, it might seem that Apple once again has something secret planned for us soon.

Rumor has it that Netflix is planing on having their new app allow users to stream video to their iphones.  Being a Netflix custom myself, this would be an awsome feature.  I can imagine docking my iPhone to my TV and using it to send video from the iPhone to the big screen (I’m sure the quality might be an issue), but what about one of those portable screens in the car?  I can think of a few different ways i would re-display that video on demand.

But alas, I don’t think this is going to happen, I mean, how many other apps has Apple declined due to their non definative rules on allowable apps?  Google Voice was just the most recent app that got all the attention for being rejected, but how many other apps since then?  Reports say over 1000 apps have been pulled / rejected by Apple so far.

So the question is, will Netflix get its chance to stream video to my iPhone so I can find creative ways of watching it?  Or is this just another pipe dream for us Netflix fans?

Time will tell, but I have a feeling I already know the answer to this one.

While jailbreaking may seem like an easy way to get unlimited free access to apps, the folks at Apple have issued a warning for users of the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone  3GS, and the second generation of iPod touch about the consequences of the hacking process.

 Apple support updated its article HT3743 citing a variety of issues including “instability, disruption of services, and compromised security.” The article then notes, “Customers who have installed software that makes these modifications have encountered numerous problems in the operation of their hacked iPhone or iPod touch.”

 A checklist of potential problems cited in the Apple’s service article includes:

 “Device and application instability: Frequent and unexpected crashes of the device, crashes and freezes of built-in apps and third-party apps, and loss of data.

Unreliable voice and data: Dropped calls, slow or unreliable data connections, and delayed or inaccurate location data.

Disruption of services: Services such as Visual Voicemail, YouTube, Weather, and Stocks have been disrupted or no longer work on the device. Additionally, third-party apps that use the Apple Push Notification Service have had difficulty receiving notifications or received notifications that were intended for a different hacked device. Other push-based services such as MobileMe and Exchange have experienced problems synchronizing data with their respective servers.

Compromised security: Security compromises have been introduced by these modifications that could allow hackers to steal personal information, damage the device, attack the wireless network, or introduce malware or viruses.

Shortened battery life: The hacked software has caused an accelerated battery drain that shortens the operation of an iPhone or iPod touch on a single battery charge. 

Inability to apply future software updates: Some unauthorized modifications have caused damage to the iPhone OS that is not repairable. This can result in the hacked iPhone or iPod touch becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone OS update is installed.”

Do you have any horror stories about the impact of jailbreaking on your iPhone?