There's something weird about this report. The only actual detail that they shared regarding it being different from an iPhone was that it's running OS 3.2. How do they know it's not the next-generation iPhone? Or even just the current 3G S being tested with the next version of the OS? And if they have other info, like screen resolution, memory, CPU, camera resolution, etc, why aren't they sharing it?
From Peter Farago, Flurry's VP of Marketing, in the blog comments:
This is a fair question. We feel confident that we are looking at the tablet device for two main reasons, that I can share with you. Also note that, as a company, we have experience tracking new Apple hardware devices in the past.
1) If this were an iPhone we were looking at, the hardware would tell us when we ask it (via the software). So we can rule out that this is an iPhone. Also, we already see verified iPhone devices testing OS 4.0 and these leave (Apple's Cupertino, CA) campus, whereas this device does not. This makes sense given the secrecy around the new tablet device as the launch event nears.
2) The apps being tested match up to what the devices is supposed to feature (e.g., news, books, etc.). We cannot share further detail here due to Terms of Service agreements we have with customers that use our service, but feel that if you were able to see the data we see, at the level of granularity, it would be clear to you as well.
Of course the truth will be revealed on Wednesday, but we wouldn't publish such a report without a high level of confidence.
Flurry is not interested in building a business on rumor, but rather authority, credibility and accuracy.
Point (2) seems less than rock solid, but (1) lends a bit of credence, especially since they've already seen iPhone OS 4.0 devices. It could just be that they're doing less testing of apps on 3.2 iPhones, however.
I really thought it would be unlikely that Apple would let iPhone Apps run unmodified on the tablet, its going to have a larger screen and resolution - that just sounds like a recipe for ugliness especially for games.
Flurry also noticed that the Apple device was running on OS 3.2
I believe they noticed that it was a different type of device running a newer version of the OS. It could definitely be a next-gen iPhone, but I doubt it's a 3GS with the newer OS version.
This makes me want to change my browser's user agent string to something that includes "Apple Tablet". Just to screw with companies / bloggers like this.
Flurry provides a phone-home library that gets linked into your application.
Apple seems to have been careful to avoid press over a new User-Agent showing up in logs, but I guess they didn't bother spoofing syscalls or using an app firewall.
If Apple expects the Wednesday announcement/press event at the off-site auditorium to go well they probably need to make sure the device works outside the Apple campus network, don't they?
And that's what surprises me a bit. Apple is known for being super-secretive but they don't think of filtering the network connections of their new device? Sounds like a big oversight.
I'm not saying that this story is not true, and actually, maybe Apple is doing that knowing full well that there are good chances someone will notice it, creating more discussions around their upcoming announcement…
I doubt it was an oversight. I suspect Apple starts to relax their procedures as they near an announcement. This allows a controlled flow of "leaks" to emerge and build buzz.
They can determine the capabilities of the device running software with their analytics (e.g. OS version, camera resolution, display resolution, etc.).
I think the idea is that "iPhone OS 3.2" will provide interface changes that will make it more usable on a larger screen. As the article says, no one would want a 15x15 grid of icons.
