Why carriers shouldn't control OS distribution

Paul Haddad from Tapbots writes about the iPhone OS 3.0 adoption rate he's seen among his users.  Granted it's a relatively small sample size based on request headers from 3500 unique requests per day, but it shows the benefits of having the handset manufacturer also controlling the distribution of the OS to end-users.

Tapbots - iPhone OS 3.0 adoption rate
From Tapbots: Percentage of users running a given OS.  x-axis is days in the month of June.

Look at the abuse that BlackBerry users take at the hands of carriers, especially Verizon. It took Verizon 175 days to release an update for the Storm, and even then it came out 33 days after the OS was leaked and unofficially made available.9530 OS Releases
BlackBerry 9530 OS Releases

Just as Apple only has to worry about a relatively small number of drivers for their desktop OS, they only have 5 device models running their mobile OS.  RIM currently has 4-5 that number on GSM, CDMA and IDEN (more on that later), and they are dependent on the carriers to certify and and make an OS update available.

But why should the carriers bother to issue OS updates? Most users are under contract, so the only entity that has something to lose is RIM1 – mostly in the form of negative publicity.

  1. More on this later too [back]

Posted in BlackBerry, Technology, iPhone on June 25th, 2009 at 10:06am

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A CLEAR case of fraud?

I originally wasn't thrilled with the registered traveler program Clear, but as they worked out the kinks (and my free-month Clear referrals grew) I began to enjoy the convenience of having someone else carry all my crap to the x-ray machines for me.

And then on Monday night at 8PM PST I received an email from Clear Customer Service.

Subject: Clear to Cease Operations

At 11:00 p.m. PST today, Clear will cease operations. Clear's parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.

After today, Clear lanes will be unavailable.

3 hours notice that a company is closing? Forget the fact that I had free service through October, 2011 (which Nick suggested may be part of the problem), 4 days earlier Clear was pushing the card as a gift for Father's Day, with a $30 Brooks Brothers gift certificate in return.

On their website Clear claims they aren't currently issuing refunds.

Will I receive a refund for membership in Clear?

At the present time, because of its financial condition, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. cannot issue refunds.

I wonder if those Brooks Brothers gift certificates will ever arrive?  Based on their email marketing you would never have suspected anything was awry.

Clear - Email Marketing

Over at GigaOM, Om agrees that things are a bit shady.

At least my shaky eyes ensured I didn't contribute any iris data to be sold off.

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Posted in Personal on June 23rd, 2009 at 11:06pm

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BlackBerry – Built in RSA Soft Token Generation

It pays to read the documentation – since roughly OS 4.2.2 BlackBerry OS releases have contained an embedded SecurID module.  For me this only meant I'd install a different version of the application.

In the documentation there's a section named Distributing Tokens using the BES BlackBerry Manager, and it offers an alternative to pushing tokens to the BlackBerry SecurID application.

Assigning the Software Tokens

This is a quick and dirty rundown, I highly recommend you read admin.pdf from the soft token documentation.  You can only assign 3 tokens per-user this way.

Assigning a Software Token on BES 4.1.x

On BES 4.1.x launch the BlackBerry Manager and drill down to the user for whom you want to assign the software token.  Right click and Edit Properties, and then navigate to Properties > WLAN Configuration and open the Software Tokens section.

Click New and enter the token serial number (with leading zeros) and token password.  For the Seed browse to your .sdtid file and import it.

Assigning a Software Token on BES 5.0

Search for the user account in the BAS, click the Software Tokens tab and click Edit User.

Enter the token serial number (with leading zeros), browse for the .sdtid file and type in the token password.  Click Save All to save the token to the users profile.

Generating a Passcode or Tokencode

Software Tokens assigned this way will NOT show up in the RSA SecurID application.  Read the documentation for information on deploying tokens using the PushToken utility, dynamic seed provisioning, CT-KIP and the BlackBerry Manager (this method).  I have a writeup on using the PushToken utility available.

Verify that the token is on the device by browsing to Options > Security > Software Tokens. You should see a Token # entry followed by the serial number.  Currently there is no way to rename these tokens, which makes things a tricky if you have multiple tokens.

BlackBerry - List of Software Tokens

Once you finish typing in your Token PIN a passcode will be generated.

BlackBerry - Native SecurID Token

One very cool feature of the built-in SecurID module is that you can choose to generate a Passcode or Tokencode, and the next or next-next passcode.

BlackBerry - Generated Token Options

Unfortunately you cannot copy the generated codes to the clipboard which detracts slightly from the utility (especially when generating future codes which are likely to be emailed to someone).

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Posted in BlackBerry, Software, Technology on June 22nd, 2009 at 06:06pm

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BlackBerry App World EULA – In Pictures

No jumping to the bottom of this baby, you go one screen at a time. It takes about 3 days to scroll to the bottom of it on the Storm.

The Money Shot

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Posted in BlackBerry, Software on June 18th, 2009 at 04:06pm

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The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of any past or present employer. All information presented on this site was obtained lawfully and not through disclosure under the terms of an NDA.