A new report today shed some light on an interesting new feature Apple was working on for the iPhone. According to The Information, Cupertino was developing a peer-to-peer walking talkie feature for the iPhone that would allow users to text each other without having a cellular connection.
The feature, internally codenamed Project ORGS (off-grid radio service) would use the 900MHz wireless technology that’s already used in the utility industry. The new feature would rely on Intel modems, and Apple was working closely with Intel to build the new feature, which is what made things tricky. It’s unclear exactly why Apple has stopped working on the project, but there are some speculations.
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
Rubén Caballero, who was in charge of the project and almost considered the project as “his baby”, left Apple earlier this year. And with Apple switching to Qualcomm modems, it’s been suspected as one of the reasons behind the company halting the project for the time being.
Here is the thing, though: Apple recently acquired Intel’s smartphone modem business for $1 billion, so there is a chance the company could pick up work on this new project in the future.
dontbeevil
<p>"Microsoft kills XXX"</p><p><br></p><p>"Apple Reportedly Halted iPhone Walkie-Talkie Project"</p><p><br></p>
Thom77
<blockquote><em><a href="#451949">In reply to dontbeevil:</a></em></blockquote><p>As persistent and slightly obnoxious your obsessive posting about this issue is .. it pains me to admit … you DO have a point.</p>
dontbeevil
<blockquote><em><a href="#452031">In reply to karlinhigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>yeah, JUST in this case I can agree of you… but just take a look at last 10 article about apple, google and ms… and you can clearly see how the authors are not been object and professionals at all. I would have nothing to complain if they clearly state in the article that's their opinion, or if the website had a clear sympathy name for a company </p>
dontbeevil
<blockquote><em><a href="#452043">In reply to karlinhigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's not nice cherry picking, fot the benefit of community you should compare similar articles, let me do that for you when I'll be home</p>
dontbeevil
<blockquote><em><a href="#452043">In reply to karlinhigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>"Apple Issues Emergency iOS Patch to Fix Security Flaw"</p><p>Put emphasis on the apple good job refixing the same bug, but in previous article was advertised like a feature, not like a huge security flaw</p><p>"iOS Bug Enables iPhone Owners to Jailbreak After Years"</p><p>(not really as you said "Apple security flaw allowing jailbreak.")</p><p> </p><p>"Microsoft Contractors Listened to Voice Recordings of Xbox Owners (Updated)"</p><p>But when it's up to apple they put the emphasis on how good behaved apple (MS did the same)</p><p>"Apple Suspends Siri Grading Program"</p><p> </p><p>"Gmail No Longer Gives You an Excuse to Send Emails With Spelling and Grammar Mistakes"</p><p>For some reasons they forgot to say that outlook.com already provide the same feature for ages, but when it comes to MS, they really pay attention to put the emphasis on copy</p><p>"Microsoft Copied the iPhone’s Animoji and Made It More Accessible"</p><p>Oh they forgot to write copy also when it comes to</p><p>"In-Display Fingerprint Scanners Will Make a Debut on the iPhone in 2021"</p><p>And</p><p>"Apple Introduces New Migration Feature for iPhones"</p><p>And</p><p>"Apple Testing Face ID and Touch ID Sign-In for iCloud.com"</p><p>And</p><p>"Google Services Going Passwordless on Android"</p><p>But suddenly they remembered again that apple has something similar to point out here:</p><p>"Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo Announce New AirDrop-inspired File Transfer feature"</p><p>(and of course there was nothing similar before airdrop…ehm bluetooth/nfc file transfer)</p><p> </p><p>"Microsoft Made a REALLY Lame Surface Ad Comparing It With the MacBook"</p><p>Please not REALLY (with caps) Lame, but when it's up to google becomes</p><p>"Google Enlists Bill Nye to Push Chromebooks"</p><p> </p><p>"Apple Beats Estimates as iPhone Revenue Drops Below Fifty Percent"</p><p>Note the emphasis on beating the estimates, distracting from iPhone drop, when it comes to MS</p><p>"Microsoft Q4 2019 Earnings Show Growth in Surface As Azure Growth Slows Down"</p><p> </p><p>"Microsoft Shares Edge Roadmap, Plans to Block Auto-Playing Media"</p><p>They show this like something new, but this is already present in Edge for ages and they're just porting it to new Edge</p><p> </p><p>"Apple to Limit Third-Party Messaging Apps on iOS"</p><p>"Apple Delays Privacy Crackdown in Kids Apps Following Developer Concerns"</p><p>(if it was MS they have put emphasis on how bad was MS behavior against 3rd party apps and devs)</p><p> </p><p>"Apple Reportedly Halted iPhone Walkie-Talkie Project"</p><p> but when it's up to MS becomes</p><p> "Cortana Is Being Removed From Its Own Thermostat"</p><p> "Microsoft is Kicking Cortana Off Xbox One, Too"</p><p> </p><p>"Microsoft’s Original HoloLens Will No Longer Receive Major Windows 10 Updates"</p><p>(they don't write the same when a few years old iDevice stop receive major updates)</p><p> </p><p>Google Wants to Continue Selling Ads While Protecting User Privacy</p><p>(Strange that they didn't put emphasis on how google is eager to earn from ads and personal data at any cost)</p>
dontbeevil
<blockquote><em><a href="#452303">In reply to karlinhigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>yeah you're right I went over 10 articles, but I wanted to show the most evident examples… and yes you're right, it's hard to find professional and objective tech reporters, but here is becoming too obvious come on, a bit of decency :)</p>
faustxd9
Premium Member<p>This almost sounds like it could be extended into a BBS like system. Of course then people might not like their resources being used by others. </p>