Thanks to our fans, word is getting out about how we help save your money and your gadgets! SquareTrade was featured in Gizmodo Friday: SquareTrade's iPhone 3GS Warranty Covers Clumsiness, Stupidity, and Human Nature
....and our updated iPhone study has been featured in TechCrunch: iCrack: The iPhone Is An Accident Magnet
The study has generated quite a buzz! You can view the full study or check out coverage in the news.
Mark Arnold was hanging out by his local river when he pulled out his Apple iPhone to make a call. It flew right out of his hand, smashed hard against a rock and then fell into the drink.
"So I'm thinking impact and water damage," says Arnold, "nice double whammy, there." Luckily, he'd taken precautions.
When Arnold bought an extended warranty for his iPhone, he took the option to add Accidental Damage from Handling (ADH) coverage. SquareTrade, his warranty provider, now reports that 50% of all iPhone owners who buy a SquareTrade warranty also buy ADH - almost double the rate for all other cell phones - and while the ADH rider is offered on everything from laptops to GPS devices, the numbers show it's the iPhone that needs it the most.
"There's something delicate about the iPhone that makes people think something has to go wrong," says SquareTrade CEO Steve Abernethy. "It's going to slip right out of their hand and break on the kitchen floor."
A lot of them do. Nearly all iPhone claims - 85% - made on SquareTrade policies are accidental damage claims, more than all other cell phones combined.
The iPhone's smooth glass and metal surfaces often make for a slick, tough-to-grip gadget. Cracked screens from drops on hard tile floors are by far the most common problem, and the $400-500 phone is known to slip out of pockets as people get in or out of cars. One SquareTrade customer described watching a TSA screener accidentally bang their iPhone against the metal exam table while passing it through airport security.
The table won that encounter.
Silicon grips and carry-cases are now almost as standard as iPhones themselves, but none are fool-proof. SquareTrade received one claim where the iPhone was in a protective case - and in the owner's pocket - when the man slipped and fell down. He later found his phone's face completely ruined.
iPhones also have a tendency to go swimming. In addition to Mark Arnold's river mishap, SquareTrade claimants have spilled various liquids on their iPhones and one slightly embarrassed individual sent theirs right down the toilet bowl.
Despite - or because - of all this, SquareTrade is currently the only warranty provider offering accidental damage coverage on the iPhone.
Interestingly, most of SquareTrade's clients spend their cash reimbursements on another iPhone. Arnold admits he went out and bought a new one the same day. "I use it for business purposes. I felt I kinda needed one."
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You heard right. While Wall Street Journal tech god Walt Mossberg was badmouthing Verizon's broadband network at the Beet.tv executive summit over the weekend, somebody quizzed him about the Apple iPhone's lack of 3G super-speed. Walt's response: "It will be 3G in sixty days."
By a curious coincidence, Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference kicks off on June 9, or sixty-three days from now. And we all know how Apple likes to announce things at big conferences with tons of reporters in the audience, live-blogging away.
Was Uncle Walt just shooting the macrumors breeze? Tough to say, but Apple tends to FedEx their new products to the WSJ first, because they love the coverage Mossberg gives them. It's not completely out of question that he got the word from Steve Jobs to keep his review schedule open in early June, always assuming Walt doesn't have a 3G iPhone on his desk right now. Plus all those rumors floating around about low in-store iPhone stock have got people talking about a jump to a new model. That's a pattern Apple established long, long ago.
And if the warranty pattern holds true, a 3-Year SquareTrade iPhone warranty will still cost less than a 2-Year AppleCare plan, and offer you the Accidental Damage coverage that Apple won't. Up to you, really.
True or not, this has been a wish-list item for way too long. A few people around the office have been waiting for the iPhone to go 3G before committing, and with Samsung's Instinct around the corner, it's now time for Jobs to step it up to some tri-band goodness.
UPDATE: Uncle Walt recanted his "60 Days" quote, but who do be believe now? Before-Walt, or Now-Walt? Does he know too much or too little? Time - and the Worldwide Developers' Conference - will tell.
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Business technology consultant Gartner has reversed its former anti-iPhone stance and, post SDK release, now endorses the Apple iPhone for scaled business application.
"The iPhone will soon be tailored for enterprises. Gartner recommends "appliance-level" support status once firmware 2.0 and improvements are released. iPhone will become a popular tool alongside BlackBerry and Microsoft devices."
That's more than likely to have a strong effect on purchasing decisions going forward for corporate IT departments. We've already reported on all the enterprise support the iPhone's getting with Firmware 2.0, but combined with the SDK, big business can adapt any proprietary systems they have for their corporate-issued iPhones (we also know second party companies like Salesforce are already onboard) with minimum security issues. And if an employee is terminated, they can wipe his iPhone access remotely in no time.
And while commercial-use items like a company printers aren't eligible for a SquareTrade warranty, single-use business items like smart phones are... at half the cost of regular cell phone insurance, with a guaranteed 5-business day turnaround and much better customer reviews. We're also one of only two avenues for iPhone warranties - a 3-Year SquareTrade iPhone warranty runs about half the price of a 2-Year Apple Care plan - and we're the only ones who offer Accidental Damage coverage.
The iPhone already took a big chunk of the smartphone market away from RIM in its first year. Once Firmware 2.0 releases in early summer, its second year will be about taking on the corporate market. Expect to see a lot more Suits walking around with iPhones by Fall.
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Well, it was only a matter of time. We've been keeping an eye on AT&T's newish program of offering refurbished phones on new plans... they've had Blackberrys up for a while, the Pantech Duo and LG Trax went up the other day, and now cheap refurbished Apple iPhones are available. Hooray?
Specifically, it's a refurbished 8GB iPhone that's gone up for $250, which is $150 less than a brand-new model. That's a decent chop, but don't forget the mandatory 2-year contract with purchase.
Also don't forget that AT&T doesn't offer cell phone insurance on iPhones, Apple Care won't be available on a refurb, and even if they did, it would cost too much for too little. A SquareTrade iPhone warranty for an iPhone refurb will run you $30 for a full year of coverage, and if anything goes wrong, you'll get your $250 back to go buy a new phone. Up to you.
Keep in mind, these are iPhones that have broken down once before, so it's strictly Buyer Beware.
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Those wacky guys over at Unwired View have unearthed some pictures from patent-happy Apple for what look like the next version of the Apple iPhone.
Take all these with an entire shaker of salt, because Apple would patent letters and colors if they could, and they've been known for slamming the patent hammer on concepts as a pre-emptive strike so other companies don't scoop their coolness. That said, let's just ignore that bit of advice and geek out a bit at the Big Ideas.
First, we're looking at a flip-iPhone, which rocks the house because all truly worthy cell phones are modeled after Star Trek communicators, and this all men know. But this flip phone has a few twists: the clamshell is transparent, and both sides are touch control-enabled. Presumably not at the same time (why would you need that?), but we do have to wonder what the point would be of having a transparent touchscreen directly above another touchscreen... when you flip it open, you get double the surface area, but closed it seems a bit redundant. Staggeringly cool, yet redundant.
Other fun bits shared in the patent: this would make for a smaller, squatter iPh
one, and you'll be able to dial by drawing numbers on the touchscreen. Rotary phone interface, anyone?
That's a Photoshop piece (also from Unwired View) of what it might look like. And should this ever come to pass, odds are it'll go down just like the current iPhone. Which is to say, a SquareTrade iPhone warranty with optional Accidental Damage coverage will still outperform Apple Care for less money, and last a year longer to boot. And AT&T still won't even offer rip-off cell phone insurance.
So, Apple... will it be 3G? Please?
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Okay, so we've actually been saying this for a while, but it looks like the Apple iPhone is going to be the next really big mobile gaming platform. Because conquering music, film, television, and the world communication networks wasn't enough.
Just last week at the iPhone SKD release, we found out that ports of Will "The Sims" Wright's upcoming "sim everything" game Spore and goofy platformer Super Monkey Ball were coming to the iPhone. Now everybody's jumping on the bandwagon. Gameloft, those wacky guys who brought The Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed to the hiptop set, have announced they'll be developing over fifteen games for the iPhone in 2008, though it's not clear if these will be entirely new games or ports of older games. Not to be outdone, Id Software has also said they'll be adding a few apps to the App Store... so maybe the next Doom for the iPhone will be official, followed by iPhone Quake.
It's tough to say how well these will play on a touch screen, though games like Super Monkey Ball are entirely played by tilting the iPhone around. Sony Ericsson FCCed a game phone concept last week, but with a haptic feedback system on their touchscreens, so gamers won't loose track of the controls in the heat of battle. Time will tell, but the game/iPhone combo is likely to be a fairly potent one.
Oh, and if you thought the small frys were the only ones who were going to take advantage of the $99 iPhone dev kits and free hosting on the App Store, think again. Sun Microsystems is already gearing up to put Java on the iPhone.
And if you want to keep that pricy iPhone safe, maybe you should compare the Apple Care plan to the SquareTrade iPhone warranty. The short version is we cost less, and we offer Accidental Damage coverage, too. And our customers tend to be very happy with us. Just sayin'.
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Where there any big surprises at today's Apple iPhone SDK press conference? Well, it started on time... Steve Jobs was at the podium at 10:00 a.m. sharp. Oh, and they're building out the iPhone for enterprise use. And opening up 3rd party development for iPhone applications. Happy Day!
Starting today, Apple's opened the same native APIs and tools they use to build iPhone applications. We're sure you'll all miss jailbreaking your iPhone every other month to keep up with the firmware updates, but as demoed by Scott Forestall, VP of iPhone Software, it's going to be ridiculously easy to build, debug, and push native 3rd party applications.
For examples, they trotted out reps from EA (demoing a two-week build of the highly anticipated game Spore, from Sims creator Wil Wright), Salesforce, AOL (AIM is coming to the iPhone), and Sega, showing off Super Money Ball... a game played entirely by tilting the iPhone. All third-party apps can be submitted to sell of the all-new App Store. Expect that icon to appear on your iPhone with the next update. It's a straight 70/30 split between the app's developers and Apple. No hosting fees. So a lot of developers to jump on this big-time.
As for the enterprise build-out, they started by licensing Microsoft's ActiveSync, and MS is tailoring the architecture to the iPhone so it works directly with the Exchange server without adding new applications that you wouldn't want anyway... like Microsoft usually does. It's all done from the iPhone's old email, calendar, and contact apps, as God intended. That direct link makes updating and adding meetings and new employees happen very, very fast, and when you're "let go," your friendly IT department can remote-wipe your iPhone before you get your two checks.
It gets especially fun when you start putting enterprise functions together with Salesforce applications. And Steve's One More Thing: it all goes live for the iTouch, too (though there will be a mild upgrade charge for those). Otherwise, iPhone Firmware 2.0 should be live by June.
And least we forget, if you want to keep your iPhone safe from all the dangers in the world, there's only two options: Apple Care and a SquareTrade iPhone warranty... and ours costs lest, lasts longer, has optional Accidental Damage coverage, and has the best reviewed service in the world. Your call, really.
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A friend of a friend told us this was ready to go two months ago, so it was a little surprising when the 16GB Apple iPhone didn't get a mention during Steve Job's MacWorld keynote. But all's forgiven: they're here and available right now for $500. That's twice the memory for only a hundred bucks more.
However, we still have yet to see the long-rumored 3G network iPhones, which were equally rumored to be hitting the market around March or April. Isn't it just like Apple to nickel and dime and One More Thing us like this?
Well, here's one more thing for the One More Thing; they've also bumped up the memory on the iTouch to 32GB and kept its price at $500 (if you want the touchscreen fun without the AT&T hassle). They dropped the 8GB and 16GB iTouch prices down to $299 and $399 instead, which is a nice... well, touch.
But if you want to get an extended warranty on these pricey items, you've got exactly two options: Apple and SquareTrade. The thing is, SquareTrade's 3-year warranty costs less money than Apple's 2-year plan, doesn't sacrifice a thing in terms of coverage, and is the best reviewed warranty out there. And if you want Accidental Damage coverage on your iPhone or iTouch (or both), SquareTrade is the only game in town.
You all realize, of course, that they'll spring a 32GB, 3G iPhone on us next week, right? And a 64GB iPhone the week after? And a 1.6 terabyte iPhone next year? Sigh...
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When Steve Jobs took the floor, he said there were four things he wanted to talk about. We already gushed embarrassingly over the MacBook Air, but we'd be remiss to not talk about his other One More Things.
First, GPS is coming to the Apple iPhone, sorta, as well as the ability to text multiple parties at once (isn't that technically a chatroom?). The GPSish function is being called "Maps with locations" at the moment - hopefully something cooler later on - but it's really just Google Maps with a few bells and whistles, like the ability to automatically center on your location without you typing a thing. Plus, no GPS subscription fees. It's all a free software download for the iPhone.
It's also available as an $20 upgrade for the Apple iTouch, but comes built-in on new iTouches. We have no idea why they're charging for one and not the other. Let's see how long that lasts, from the company who chopped $100 off the iPhone price one month post-launch.
Hardware-wise (aside from the Air), we like the look of Time Capsule, a server-grade 802.11n wireless backup station for all your Leopard needs. Wireless is the key word here, as you can back up any Mac in the house without a single cord, and that's a good thing. It's available now and comes in a Apple White 500 GB model for $300, or if you prefer, an Apple White 1 TB model for $500. Steve's all about the variety.
The bigger news is that Apple is definitely taking a big swing at delivering entertainment over the internet by revamping their oft-neglected Apple TV set-top box. Two years later, they're moving even closer to what Vudu is doing with digital delivery, giving you instantly streaming television (still two bucks) and movies to rent (for three bucks) or own (for four) and watch on your big-screen television. The difference this time, and on the new Apple TV, is in the details.
First, you can get films in HD for a dollar more, and Apple has signed content deals with every major studio - all of them - so the Apple Store is going to become as comprehensive a library for film as it is for music. Second, you can also use the menu to surf and watch internet content on your TV, anything from YouTube to your buddy's pictures on Flickr, for free. Third, the new menu system means you don't need a computer to run Apple TV. Forth, you can still subscribe to podcasts and buy music through the Apple TV box, and listen to them through that boss sound system you've set up, and that's important thing to note.
Because fifth, everything you store on the Apple TV box, whether it's rented or owned, can be synched and copied to your iPod, your iTouch, or your iPhone. That gives the new Apple TV on huge edge over Vudu, Netflix, and everybody else in the streamed content space: mobility. And that makes all the difference these days.
They have two models up at the Apple Store: 40GB for $229 (that's $70 less than their first generation box) and $329 for a 160GB. If you've already got an Apple TV box, you can upgrade to the new software for free.
Of course, if history's any judge, there will only be two places you can get an extended warranty for this sucker when it hits shelves: Apple and us. The difference being we'll give you a lower price, a 5-Day service guarantee, and an option to add Accidental Damage coverage or extra years of coverage. A lot of people on Amazon seem real happy with us, but it's up to you, really.
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Apple warranty
