Is Apple Becoming The New AOL?

With the iPhone OS 4.0 event, Apple added some great user features like multitasking and folder organization for apps. And perhaps the most important non-user feature (maybe even an anti-user feature) is Apple's iAds system. Apple will be providing engaging (obtrusive?) ads at the OS level, and splitting the revenue with the app developers.

Here we are with a mobile ecosystem of over 185,000 apps, and now an integrated ad system to go with it. Probably half of the iPhone apps are specialized version of content otherwise available online: wikipedia, netflix, ABC, etc. Most sites present their information in a better layout in an iPhone-specific app. While Safari will probably stay on the iPhone, at some point, if Apple eliminated the browser, would you still be able to get to all the information you want on the iPhone? (Note: we are working on our own iPhone app.)

Apple, with the help of developers, is creating what amounts to an internet replacement: a secondary, walled garden of Apple-approved information. From the everything old is new again department, this all seems like AOL all over again: a corporate-approved, sanitized world of information, serving as a subset of the entire internet.

Sure many apps use the iPhone in novel ways, but do the app store offerings replace the internet for you on the go?

Retro Tech Tuesday: Prodigy Service

"And it even had an encyclopedia!"

That's really the message that's driven home in today's retro find. It's a 30-second commercial for the Prodigy service. For those who weren't around, there was a time when the internet was actually called CompuServe, America Online, and Prodigy. (Ok, that's an exxageration, but for most people going "online" referred to one of those three services.)

It's hard to believe in this age of Wikipedia, we were supposed to be blown away by the fact that Prodigy's encyclopedia was updated quarterly, "so it's never out of date!"

Ah, how young and naive we were:

Retro Tech Tuesday: Apple's e-World

Long before Safari or Firefox. Before Internet Explorer was the world's most-used browser. Heck, in a time when there were hardly any browsers at all, there was Apple's e-World. The history of e-World is a long and crazy one, but in short, you have Apple to thank (or blame) for AOL. Apple was ahead of the curve, and ahead of the price point most people felt comfortable paying for access to what was for the time, quite an interesting little online community.

Unfortunately, there's very little left to document this long-gone relic of Apple history, but thankfully through the miracle of YouTube, we're able to dig up this tiny glimpse into the welcome screen, unusual looking icons, and town map that served as a hub for the community:

If you were an e-person, or even helped develop the community, we'd love to hear from you, or share your experience in the comments. And hey, if it's a slow week at work, then take a few minutes to learn more about e-World from this Wikipedia entry.

Wednesday Website of The Week: WeChooseTheMoon.com

As you may have heard, this week will mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. (Yes, it happened. No. Stop. It Happened.)

AOL and the Kennedy Presidential Library have teamed up to re-create the entire mission online, promising a minute-by-minute recreation using audio and video archives. WeChooseTheMoon.com will bring you all of the minute-by-minute action.

It should prove to be an incredible way to experience the mission, especially for those of us who weren't around the first time it happened.

Enjoy!

Daily Finance for the iPhone and iPod Touch Review

So maybe, just maybe the financial markets are starting to turn a corner. And maybe you actually feel like checking out your stocks again. Well, if you want to check your portfolio on the iPhone, Daily Finance is the way to go.

Powered by AOL's Money & Finance page, Daily Finance provides news, market sector information, "real time" stock quotes, and some dandy looking charts. The only point of contention would be the real time quotes. The NASDAQ and NYSE quotes are delayed but for those of you trading on the BATS exchange, those are real time quotes.

Here's a look: