SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone announced

by Jessica Dolcourt

• 16 comments

Updated at 10:00 AM Pacific.

Six months after announcing its intention to bring SlingPlayer to the iPhone 3G, Sling Media has another announcement to make--just not the one you're wishing for.
SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone isn't ready yet, Sling said on Tuesday, but it is on its way.
Like SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, UIQ, and BlackBerry (beta) platforms, this iPhone version will let you access one or more Slingboxes from your mobile device, and watch your TV stations on-the-go. It will also be compatible with the iPod Touch.
You'll also be able to manage your DVR from the iPhone, and can synchronously add and remove favorite channels directly from the phone's interface--a first for the SlingPlayer Mobile line.
In our demo, the client streamed live, high-quality video of stations like MTV and TBS on both Wi-Fi and the iPhone's 3G network. Swiping the screen horizontally advances you through favorite stations, and flicking up and down rotates through all your home channels.

Sling Media says it will submit the file to the iTunes AppStore by the end of the first fiscal quarter. While Sling Media shared no firm price tag, it could mirror the $29.99 lifetime fee of SlingPlayer Mobile on other platforms.
Before getting too excited, just remember that Apple has been known to kill promising apps, ostensibly for the crime of a large data transfers. SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone could suffer the same fate. Assuming it doesn't, the client still faces competition from Orb, whose full version, OrbLive, delivers live TV and media stored on your PC for $10.

Originally posted at Macworld 2009 

 

 

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Quickoffice brings simple Excel editing to iPhone

Quickoffice brings simple Excel editing to iPhone
by Josh Lowensohn

Spreadsheet editing is made finger friendly with Quickoffice's Excel editing tool.
(Credit: Quickoffice)

Despite the addition of Microsoft Exchange and the App Store with version 2.0 of the iPhone's firmware, the device is still a long way from competing with Windows Mobile handsets when it comes to the native editing of several popular file formats. Mobile-productivity software company Quickoffice is trying to change that with a new iPhone application that lets users edit their Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets.

Called MobileFiles Pro, this $9.99 application can pull in Excel workbooks from any of your computers (over Wi-Fi) or on the Web through MobileMe's iDisk sharing. It supports editing over multiple pages in a workbook, row and column resizing and insertion, and manages to do it all with a good deal of simplicity.

To edit a cell, you simply tap it with your thumb and type in a new value. There are also options to format what's inside it, run formulas, and add new pages.

The option to edit files joins the functionality to view other file types, including movies, music, images, Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, and iWork documents (akin to Quickoffice's QuickAccess sister product). QuickOffice says it will continue to push out editing for other file formats, such as Microsoft Word, in future releases.

MobileFiles Pro joins a handful of other iPhone applications that let you view and edit Excel spreadsheets, including Spreadsheet, Spreadsheet LX, iSpreadsheet, and the upcoming Mariner Calc app which is due in a few weeks.
Originally posted at Webware

Topics:
    Applications

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    QuickOffice,
    Microsoft Office,
    Excel,
    iPhone,
    productivity

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Getting the iPhone 3G Unlock to Work

by CNET staff

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A few days ago, the unofficial iPhone Dev Team released an unlock for the iPhone 3G dubbed "yellowsn0w." The team subsequently released a 0.9.5 beta of the unlock app, which fixes several bugs in the initial iteration. However, many users are still experiencing issues, as noted in this initial report.
Solutions for problems related to or caused by the update are beginning to materialize. A poster named "IphoneEntusiast" has published a step-by-step process for using yellowsn0w, from jailbreak through unlock. His process involves verifying that the Carrier field displays (null)(null) after QuickPwn is used, resetting network settings after installation of yellowsn0w and more. See the thread here.
Meanwhile, the Dev Team notes "there is a known issue with SIM cards that have STK (SIM Toolkit) application menus. These menus are usually items such as 'top up' 'get credit' 'lotto numbers' etc. These menu items confuse the application sometimes."
Feedback? http://www.iphoneatlas.com/contact.


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iPhones Crashing After Restore

by CNET staff

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Upon restoring iPhones and iPod touches, some users have experienced a problem where the device will not startup past the Apple logo.
Apple Discussions poster Solivern writes:

"Hi all, I was trying to restore the iPod's os because I'm selling it and wanted to clean it up, and the iPod just froze with the apple logo on the screen. If I restart, it just goes back to the apple logo and freezes there. The problem is now I can't even get iTunes to recognise it, so I can't even re-restore it."

For some users, the device will freeze at the Apple logo, but for others it will reset repeatedly after displaying the logo. One option recommended by Apple is to put the iPod into recovery mode and then have iTunes restore the iPod's software. Apply the following procedure:

1. Ensure the latest version of iTunes is installed, and launch the application.
2. Unplug the iPod Touch/iPhone from the computer and press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds until the red slider appears. Slide the slider and wait for the device to turn off.
3. Then press and hold the Home button, and reattach it to the computer with the home button still held down.
4. The device should power on, and may display a "Charging" message. If so, allow the device to charge for 10-15 minutes before trying this procedure again. If not, the device should start up and display the apple logo.
5. After a few minutes the device should display a "Connect to iTunes" message. At this point the Home button can be released and iTunes should display a message detecting the device and prompting for a software restore.

This process may need to be repeated if the "Connect to iTunes" message does not display.



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Soonr launches killer document sync for iPhone

by Harrison Hoffman

• 4 comments

Soonr's iPhone app.

Soonr, a Webware 100 winner in 2007, has a fresh new look and a killer iPhone application.
Soonr's free service and accompanying App Store download allows users to store up to 500MB of files, which they can access on the go, from the iPhone or a standard Web browser.
New users create their account on their iPhone and then download a desktop application (available for PC or Mac) which handles the synchronization of files. In the same form of other desktop-syncing applications, the user only has to choose the directories that they want to keep updated, and any changes made will be automatically uploaded. All of these files are easily accessible from the iPhone app.
Not only does Soonr allow you to have very quick access to your documents from the iPhone, but it also allows you to share the documents with other users. These users can view and comment on the file.
Unfortunately, Soonr does not currently enable users to edit these documents. But its application does include a wireless-printing feature, enabling users to send documents to networked printers when on Wi-Fi.
My only real gripe with the iPhone app is the lack of full-screen support within the document viewer. The iPhone's document viewer does a better job of actually displaying documents than Soonr's.
Soonr is a great solution for iPhone users looking to have constantly synchronized documents on the go. Soonr is very easy to use, fully featured and, best of all, free.
Via MG Siegler at VentureBeat.
iTunes Link


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Taking travel services into your own hands: Becoming an on-the-go iPhone travel agent

by Kevin Ho

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Travel woes during winter are not new - canceled flights, delays, missed connections, you name it, it's likely to happen. Being stranded at a hub airport is probably the last thing you wanted to happen. Boy, that airport floor is a might comfortable bed, right? What's worse, if you're delayed you tend to have to wait in monstrously long customer 'service' lines to find out what your fate is. What's even worse is finding out that you missed an alternative connection while you were waiting in line!
The situation has gotten worse as the airlines cut their support staff personnel. With the iPhone however, we passengers can take matters into our own hands and thumbs to navigate our ways through travel nightmares.
I found this out personally last week. I was headed home to Iowa when an aborted take-off delayed my United flight from SFO to Denver by two hours, I found myself missing my connection to Iowa by 10 minutes. Rather than being rendered ignorant and powerless as to what my fate was, as we were taxiing in Denver I looked up later flights in the day using Safari on the iPhone and found out that I'd have an oh-so-glamorous 6-hour wait in Denver, but that there was, thank goodness, another flight to the Iowan metropolis that was my destination scuttling the airport floor overnighter.
Of course, I could have waited on hold for 45 minutes to find out the same information from some unintelligible call center in India, but instead, I used my iPhone to lookup, book and confirm a place on the next flight to Iowa.
After getting off the plane, 100 of my fellow passengers and I joined the monstrous 200-person customer 'service' line. I was just there to get a boarding pass (which I later realized that I could have printed at a kiosk by myself) but most everyone else was a step back, waiting to find out what their connection options were.

The Wait in Denver

This is how the iPhone with its full-web access was more than handy, and how I made some new friends in line. Many people were either on hold with United or looking disillusioned at waiting behind hundreds of other people for God knows how long. Worse, the airport monitors didn't list flights more than 1 or 2 hours away. But, with the iPhone, I started looking up flights for people in line, eventually telling them to go to gate 42 right away because there was a delayed flight from earlier that they could take, or that there were two other connecting flights leaving in a few hours that hadn't appeared on the monitors yet. People started coming up and asking what their options were and I was happy to say that most of them didn't have to sleep on the airport floor. Being able to use the iPhone to give me the ability to at least tell people what their options were in an otherwise bleak customer 'service' line is a service I was proud to provide, but one the airlines should really have been doing all along.

Originally posted at Living with the iPhone 

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Why unlocking the iPhone is a waste of time

by Don Reisinger

• 125 comments

Is it really necessary to unlock me?

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

Gadget blogs were going crazy Thursday over a new application called Yellowsn0w that helps iPhone 3G owners unlock their device. The app is still in beta and, according to both Crunchgear and Gizmodo, neither one was able to get it to work properly.
I'm not quite sure why anyone cares. Sure, it's nice to say you unlocked a device that's not meant to be unlocked, but it just made so much more sense to me last year when the iPhone didn't have native apps. Today, browsing is faster thanks to 3G, more capable thanks to additional business features, and more useful thanks to the App Store. What possible reason would people have to unlock it now?
AT&T, right? I don't buy the logic. I'm not going to say AT&T is a great carrier--it isn't--but given the option of switching to T-Mobile, a carrier that offers even less service across the country or staying put, I don't see the logic in unlocking the iPhone and changing carriers. After all, if you were really unhappy with AT&T in the first place, why buy the iPhone?
... Read more

Originally posted at The Digital Home 

 

 

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Unlocking the iPhone 3G - or maybe not

by Jonathan Skillings

• 45 comments

Gadget blogs on New Year's Day were aflutter with word that an application called Yellowsn0w was available for those who want to unlock the iPhone 3G.

The iPhone - who wants in?

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

CrunchGear, for one, posted a graphically enhanced, QuickPwn-focused spin on jailbreaking the iPhone and making use of the Yellowsn0w instructions from the Dev-Team Blog. Way at the bottom, though, it points out that "this is all in beta and there is no guarantee of success." It follows with this note:

UPDATE - I haven't been able to get it to work on two iPhone 3Gs, both with fresh 2.2 firmware and baseband. I've heard plenty of people HAVE had luck, however, so it seems to be an either/or thing. I suspect some cells aren't accepting the iPhones as valid equipment.

Gizmodo, meanwhile, reports that while Yellowsn0w is "very easy to install," alas "it doesn't work right," and takes the Dev-Team folks to task:

Even while this is labeled as a beta, it saddens me that the iPhone Dev Team has embraced the damn beta culture just to make the release on a cute date. It looks like the old days of solid versions are long gone by.

The Gizmodo account also cites a poll of 67 people who'd tried out Yellowsn0w, with "it doesn't work" outdoing "it worked" by a ratio of about 2 to 1.
Over at The Boy Genius Report, things seem to have worked out more favorably. Says Boy Genius, "It's not without a few hiccups but it definitely works and it works well."

Originally posted at Apple

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MacOS iPhone Project: Mac OS 7 for iPhone

by David Martin

• 12 comments

Mac OS 7 which, also known as System 7 (Wikipedia), has begun a port process to the iPhone.
According to the Web site: "Welcome to the MacOS iPhone Project! We are Dedicated to putting MacOS on the iPhone. We hope to be launching the code soon, but we are wanting [sic] to complete something before fully releasing stuff, so please bare with us! But heres [sic] what we have [been] working [on] so far."

The team goes on to describe some of its work. The most difficult issue so far: getting the System 7 cursor working with the iPhone touch screen. Once that was overcome, the team was able to demonstrate the ability to access menus. The sample pictures on their Web site show the emulator running MacPaint, MacDraw, Calculator, and other system functions.
The emulator isn't without flaws; the team points out that when people go through the process of shutting down Mac OS 7, the emulator crashes, "the iPhone will hang for a few minutes and then return to the home screen."
System 7 was code-named "Big Bang" and often referred to as Mac OS 7. It was first released on May 13, 1991, by Apple. It was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997. New features in System 7 included cooperative multitasking, virtual memory, personal file sharing, an improved user interface, QuickTime, and QuickDraw 3D.
You can find more information about this new emulation project at the MacOS iPhone Project, photos on Flickr; while the site does not mention this, a jailbroken iPhone would be required to install and run this app or any other emulation app due to iTunes App Store restrictions. These restrictions prohibit any kind of emulation of other operating systems from running on the iPhone.
We'd also like to see the team post a video demonstrating the app going through its paces.


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Eye-Fi releases two SD cards, iPhone app

by Dong Ngo

• 2 comments

Eye-Fi, maker of memory cards that can automatically upload photos and video to the Web, announced Tuesday its two new video-uploading SD memory cards called Eye-Fi Share Video and Eye-Fi Explore Video.

(Credit: Eye-Fi)

These two 4GB cards are capable of uploading photos and video clips to more than 20 online photo-sharing and social-networking sites, such as YouTube or Flickr.
The differences between the two: the Eye-Fi Explore Video card can also automatically geotag photos and videos with location information about where the image was captured. It also offers hot-spot access at more than 10,000 Wi-Fi locations for photo and video uploads when you're on the go.
These new cards are available later this month and cost $79 (4GB Eye-Fi Share Video) and $99 (4GB Eye-Fi Explore Video).
The company also said that it's going to release an iPhone application that allows Eye-Fi users to share photos from their iPhone's photo library to one of 25 online photo-sharing Web sites. iPhone users who own an Eye-Fi card will be able to download the application for free from Apple's App Store.

Originally posted at Crave 

 

 

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Amazon releases Kindle for iPhone

by CNET staff

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Hoping to gain traction on a device with a much larger installed base than that of its own eBook hardware, Amazon has offered up a free application for the iPhone bearing the Kindle name. The new program instantly becomes the iPhone book reader with the broadest title selection--the entire selection of books available for reading on Amazon Kindle can also be read on Kindle for iPhone.

Amazon, in a bid to keep its own hardware relevant, allows books purchased with the iPhone Kindle app to be transferred to the proprietary Kindle and Kindle 2 devices. Current owners of either Kindle can access their entire libraries through the iPhone app. Synchronization capabilities allow bookmarks and reading locations to be preserved during the sharing process.
Unfortunately, the Kindle application offers nothing new with regard to interface or usability. The ground it treads has been well worn by a variety of extant iPhone eBook readers, including Stanza and eReader. Those apps lack the title depth of Kindle, but offer similar if not superior book navigation and text display.
The Kindle for iPhone app also has some significant limitations relative to the Amazon hardware; periodicals such as newspapers, magazines, and blogs, and personal documents cannot be viewed on Kindle for iPhone. You also can't buy books directly from the Kindle for iPhone app. You'll need to go through a Web browser--Safari for iPhone should work--purchase a book, then designate an iPhone or iPod touch for delivery.


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Comparing Kindle 2 with Kindle's iPhone app

I bought a Kindle 2 last week, after a year of waiting for the second iteration of Amazon's e-book reader. I was hesitant at first, as I still love reading hardcover and paperback books, but the free cellular Web access and the addition of magazine subscriptions from publications like The New Yorker had me convinced.
I've had it for a week now, and I love it. It feels great in my hands, and the e-ink screen creates the illusion of reading a real book. I can hold it in my hand and read from it for hours.
I also have an Apple iPhone. I've tried e-book applications like eReader and Stanza, but I just didn't find the reading experience very satisfying.
It's OK for short chunks of reading, while waiting in line or sitting on the bus, but not on a lazy Sunday afternoon around the house. Holding a small device like that for long periods of time just isn't comfortable, plus the small LCD screen can be hard on the eyes after a while. And, of course, there are books only available for the Amazon Kindle that are not at any other e-book store. It's this last criteria that really forced my hand when purchasing the Kindle 2.
So when I first heard that Amazon released the Kindle application for the iPhone (download), I immediately second-guessed my purchase of the Kindle 2. Did I make a foolish buy? Why wasn't I patient enough to wait for the iPhone application? A free iPhone app is definitely a lot cheaper than the $359 for the Kindle 2. So I downloaded the Kindle for iPhone application to find out whether I should send my Kindle 2 packing with a return slip.
... Read more


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New iPhone app to send Deadheads over the edge

by Jasmine France

• 2 comments

(Credit: Mosaic Legends)

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I have a rather intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Deadheads. This may or may not have to do with the fact that I am related (closely) to more than a couple of them. And if I know anything about this particular community, it's that they are fanatical, which is why they are the perfect audience for a $6 photo app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Of course, this is not just any photo app, it's the new Grateful Dead Photomosaic App and it is awesome--and I'm too young to be a Deadhead, so don't go getting any ideas about my bias (although...I was involuntarily exposed to a scary amount of the Dead's music at a very tender age).
San Francisco rock photographer Jay Blakesberg has teamed up with a digital media company called Mosaic Legends to create the super sweet app, which when downloaded mashes up the 450 photographs Jay took of the Grateful Dead into a photographic mosaic of Jerry Garcia.
You can then tap to zoom in on the photos, and--eventually, when you've zoomed in enough--read the photographer's notes about where and when the picture was taken. Once you want to back up to see more shots, you can use the pinching motion to zoom out.
After a few zooms, you can also drag the mosaic around to browse through the photos and see which you might want to learn more about. Some have more in-depth info than others, with commentary as well as the time and place the photo was shot. If you have an Internet connection, you can also see others' feedback on the image. In addition, the app includes a "chapters" page where you can read fun facts about the Dead, their shows, and their fans.
All in all, the app provides a great experience for the die-hard fan, and it's well worth the $5.99 for any iPhone-toting Deadhead. Now, if you'll excuse me...I just got the overwhelming desire to hear "Touch of Grey."


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Yahoo's Inquisitor search comes to iPhone

by Josh Lowensohn

• 4 comments

Despite Yahoo's latest efforts to defragment its mobile offerings, on Thursday the company released a mobile version of its Inquisitor search tool for the iPhone. Unlike its desktop version, which plugs into the search box built into Apple's Safari browser, this version exists as a standalone search application.
Before your eyes glaze over, it's worth a mention that this application is ridiculously fast. Search results stream in without chugging down the iPhone's processor, or slowing down your keystrokes. More importantly, it lets you start typing in a query less than four seconds after launching it, which in my testing was about two seconds faster than Google's voice-powered search app, and slightly faster than starting a cold search from Safari. Is this a huge difference? No, but if you're in a hurry to look something up quickly this is genuinely helpful.
Another big difference from some other search applications on the iPhone is that you can view the results in an integrated Webkit browser without it kicking you back to Safari. Google's iPhone search app doesn't do this and it drives me absolutely nuts, since if it's not a page you were looking for you have to start a brand new search from Safari's search box--which means more typing, or exit the browser and head back to the search app (Update: reader Commenter46 notes you can set the Google app to do this via a top secret settings menu).

You can see quick descriptions of search results along with site favicons. Results also open up in an integrated browser.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Each search result gets its own summary, complete with a favicon. If you come across a result from a site that has a notable favicon, it jumps out immediately. I also like how when it's loading a page in the integrated browser, it keeps the site's title and description in the lower half of the screen, which sure beats staring at a loading page.
In addition to standard Web results it also throws in related news stories that get thrown in at the top of the heap. It also provides suggested search results as you type, as well as sticking them on the bottom of the search so you can go back and revise your search without re-typing. These are both very user-friendly features which make it easier to make quick refinements or skip a few keystrokes.
Of course two big things missing from this application that iPhone search applications from Google and Vlingo have is voice-activated search and location-filtering. If you don't care about these two things, I think this is a really solid replacement, especially if you find yourself doing a lot of searching from your iPhone's home screen. Hopefully Yahoo's relaunch of its mobile service later this month will bring this same level of speed.
Previously: Yahoo plug-in gives brains to browser search


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iPhone forensics seminar to expose security holes?

by David Martin

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For years, published examples of security breaches at banks, credit card companies, and on home PCs have put us all on guard for identity theft. Would you be surprised to find out that, despite all this bad news, the iPhone and the iPod Touch are not as secure as they should be? It's true: neither of these devices does what it should to protect your personal information, and the upcoming O'Reilly Forensics Workshop--a meeting that highlights various ways to get data out of either of these popular Apple devices--proves it.

Taking place in Chicago on May 26, 2009 and May 27, 2009 (registration link), the conference will teach methods for recovering evidence, personal data, and corporate assets from the iPhone. Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the books iPhone Open Application Development, iPhone SDK, and an iPhone Forensics manual, will be the speaker.
Geared toward security experts and law enforcement officials interested in recovering information from the iPhone, the two-day workshop will give these individuals hands-on experience recovering and processing evidence via forensic examination of both an iPhone and an iPhone 3G. Attendees will receive a special binder edition of iPhone Forensics, a USB keychain containing tools used and an electronic copy of the book. (For the privileged, you'll need to pony up $3,500, or $2,500 for vetted law enforcement professionals and government employees.
Students will learn what kinds of evidence the devices store, what to do to prepare your environment for a forensics investigation, how to break into v1.x and v2.x passcode-protected iPhones, assembly of a custom recovery toolkit for the iPhone, and how to effectively interrupt the iPhone 3G's "secure wipe" process. Students will conduct data recovery of a v1.x and v2.x iPhone user disk partition and preserve and recover the entire raw user disk partition, recovery of voice mail, images, and e-mail.
It's clear that this workshop will disseminate information that will make the iPhone and iPod Touch less secure. Apple is trying to keep the device safe--some previous iPhone OS updates tackle security issues--but the company must still have a long way to go if O'Reilly has enough fodder for this workshop. Worried? Send an e-mail to Apple demanding solutions that prevent the dissemination of personal information from a lost iPhone or iPod Touch.
In the meantime, folks, keeping your iPhone or iPod Touch physically safe and secure is your best hope.


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Another stage for American Idols--the iPhone

by Jessica Dolcourt

• 3 comments

If you can't get enough of "American Idol," the producers behind the hit celebrity-making reality show are giving fans from the rabid to shyly closeted an official app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The release of the $1.99 app, called (verbosely) American Idol Season 8 Exclusive Videos, is opportune, just in time for the season's final 13 contestants to really battle it out as more Idols get axed.
Each week, the app will stream exclusive videos, many of them confessional, that take you deeper into the contestants' worlds--for instance, what inspires them and what makes them tick. The "Idol" app may center around the 78 videos airing on just the iPhone by the season's end, but it also includes the same daily newsfeed and blog post you can find online, a handy section on the singers' biographies, and links to the iTunes music store, where you can directly buy the tracks performed by your favorite up-and-comers.
As an extra perk, the "Idol" app lets you test your powers of prognostication with a setting to rank the contestants' bios in the order you predict they'll finish, time-stamped to keep you from claiming you knew the top dogs all along.
International "Idol" fans will sadly have to wait for their own networks and producers to commission a similar application--this "American Idol" sings on American iPhones only.

(Credit: AmericanIdol.com)

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HTC G1 Dominating iPhone adoption rate?

Posted October 14, 2008 9:18 AM by Chris Seibold

Categories:

How many Android powered G1’s have been pre ordered? 15? 1500? 15,000? No, no and no. Try 1.5 million. That is addition to another 2 million phones that retailers are expected to sell. 3.5 million G1’s? Wow, there is going to be a lot of ugly in people’s pockets pretty soon.
But how does this compare to the iPhone’s launch? It took Apple 74 days to sell 1 million iPhones. To move 3.5 million iPhones Apple needed until almost the end of 2007 (Ars Technica). Really, there is no comparison at all, the G1 is kicking the holy crap out the iPhone at the same stage in the game , right? Hold on there cowboy! Maybe the two situations aren’t analogous.
Recall that when the iPhone originally launched it wasn’t priced at the $179 you can get a G1 for when it becomes available. The iPhone wasn’t even priced at the $199 the current low end iPhone will set you back. Nope, the original iPhone retailed for $499 for a 4 GB version and $599 for a 8 GB version. Not a valid comparison and even Apple realized the iPhone was overpriced (on a personal note: I can’t believe I bought one...on the first day).
That doesn’t mean that a better comparison isn’t out there. What about the introduction of the iPhone 3G? Yes, yes a bunch of people already had iPhones but people still managed to line up greedy tech piglets at Steve Jobs’ teat get excited about the best phone experience possible. So excited there were still lines and sellouts. What was the adoption rate of the 3G profit grab revision? According to seeking alpha It took Apple four weeks to sell 3.5 million G3 iPhones.
Wow! So if the G1, saddled as it is by T-Mobile, is selling phones much faster than Apple then the end is in sight for the iPhone right? Maybe not. Pre sales do not always translate into sales (people sign up because they might want one and they don’t want to wait) the real world experience may be a long way from the hype. The real question is: Can the G1 maintain the momentum? The quick answer for any iPhone fan is “no way” it depends on how great the G1 is. For the G1 to keep rolling it will have to better than the iPhone right away. Otherwise all people will hear is “it’s okay but...” and that will be a pure killer in the most awesomest phone available contest.

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Trapster warns of speed traps on iPhone

Posted on Oct 14, 2008 2:54 am by Peter Cohen

• Category |
• iPhone »
• Software

Trapster is now available as a native iPhone app. It’s available for free download from the App Store.

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Trapster alerts you as you approach police speed traps, red light cameras and other traps. It uses location-finding on the iPhone 3G, using GPS and Wi-Fi location capabilities.
Trapster requires an iPhone equipped with iPhone 2.x software.

• See more like this:
• iPhone,
• iPhone 3G

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Motorola's Razr Beats The iPhone. Again

Posted by Eric Zeman, Oct 9, 2008 09:38 AM

Despite the success of the Apple iPhone, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) can still claim to have the best-selling mobile phone in the United States. How long can the Razr hold onto the top spot? Can it fend off the competition forever? What is this simple phone's appeal?
The NPD Group reported on handset sales in the U.S. recently. It showed that one-third of iPhone users switched from another carrier (and another handset) to adopt the smartphone from Apple. A little nugget was buried in that report. It shows that the Motorola Razr -- the original one, you know, from 2004 -- ranks as the No. 1 handset in the United States.
The top 5 are the Motorola Razr, the Apple iPhone, the BlackBerry Curve, the LG Chocolate, and the BlackBerry Pearl.
This befuddles me.
The Razr is ancient history in terms of design and features. It sold for $400 when brand new. Now it is often available for free. Perhaps the reason. Given the ever-worsening economic climate, I suppose it's no surprise that even in the era of the super-capable smartphone, people often choose with their wallets.
The Razr's reign can't -- and won't -- last forever. The question is, which handset will topple it?

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AT&T Adds Online Account Setup for Its iPhone 3G Customers

WEBWIRE – Thursday, October 09, 2008

Online Credit Check and Account Setup Reduce Wait Time in Stores Ahead of Holiday Shopping Season
Dallas, Texas, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced that its iPhone 3G customers can set up accounts online before heading to the nearest store to activate and complete the purchase, reducing in-store wait times as the busy holiday shopping season approaches.
New customers can perform a pre-qualifying credit check and determine eligibility to port an existing phone number to AT&T in advance by visiting www.att.com/iphone. Existing AT&T customers can also determine eligibility to add a new line for iPhone.
The new AT&T online service joins Apple’s existing offering to give customers the fastest way to get up and running with their new iPhone 3G by starting the setup process online and finishing in the store. For more information, please visit http://www.apple.com/iphone/buy.
iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone plus 3G networking that is twice as fast¹ on the nation’s fastest 3G network, built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services and iPhone 2.0 software, which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs thousands of third-party applications that are available through the Apple App Store.
For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com.
¹ Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world’s most advanced IP-based business communications services and the nation’s leading wireless, high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings. In 2008, AT&T again ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list and No. 1 on America’s Most Admired Telecommunications Company list. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.
© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.


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AT&T Launches Online Account Setup For iPhone 3G Customers

On Thursday, wireless carrier AT&T launched a new service that will allow iPhone 3G customers to set up their accounts online prior to going to an AT&T or Apple store location to have the handset activated and the purchase finalized. According to iPhone Alley, new customers can perform a credit check at att.com/iphone and existing customers can check to see if adding another line to their current iPhone plan is feasible.
The new service is intended to make the purchasing process as fast and simple as possible and joins the Buy-At-Home program that Apple announced last month, which allowed users to do the same thing at Apple's website.
If you've tried the service or have any thoughts on this, let us know in the comments or forums.


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Apple launches iPhone Tech Talk World Tour

Posted on Oct 9, 2008 11:16 pm by Dan Moren

• Category |
• iPhone »
• Software

If you’re looking to fill your brain up with the latest information about iPhone development, then Apple’s happy to help you out. Beginning at the end of October, Apple is holding a worldwide series of free tech talks about the iPhone, giving developers a chance to interact with Apple engineers and evangelists and get their questions answered about developing for the iPhone.

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The all-day talks cover a wide range of topics, from an introduction to Objective-C and Cocoa Touch to how to integrate the iPhone into an IT environment. Other subjects include submitting your app to the App Store, iPhone Game Development, and a multi-hour Technical Q&A, for which bringing your laptop, code, and iPhone is recommended.
There are twenty-four talks being held in sixteen countries between October 22nd and December 9th, though space is limited (the New York City talk is already full, but there is a waitlist). In order to attend a talk, you must be a Registered iPhone Developer, which you can do for free on the Apple Developer Connection website.


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iPhone memes

Let's talk iPhones. Everyone else is this week.
There was a lot of buzz about the projection that Apple may sell 10 million iPhones this year, based on an interesting crowdsourced data-collection effort (spreadsheet) run by MacObserver. The methodology is fascinating -- and historically vindicated -- although the accuracy of its conclusion is impossible to gauge until Apple trumpets the final sales tally in a press release.
But, lending it credence are factoids like NPD Group's report that 30 percent of iPhone 3G buyers bailed on existing phone contracts in order to get one of the new handsets.
In a related meme, the future of the iPhone was dragged into the spotlight by none other than Steve Wozniak, that glorious icon of Apple's antique past. In a widely cited interview with The Guardian, Woz predicted that the iPod is doomed.
Specifically, he said: "The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one. Things like, that if you look back to transistor radios and Walkmans, they kind of die out after a while."
A shocking pronouncement on its face, yet a completely reasonable forecast if you think about it for a moment. How many "it" gadgets remain must-haves forever? None. Think about the Palm PDA or the pager. They seized the popular imagination, skyrocketed up the sales charts, became ubiquitous ... and slowly faded into irrelevance and/or obsolescence after most people had stopped paying attention and moved onto the next shiny new toy.
Of course, that could take quite a few years. Even then, if the demand for standalone iPods ebbs, it's likely that the iPod's functionality will survive embedded in the iPhone and its descendants. CNet's Matt Rosoff makes a similar argument in the provocatively titled iPod dying? It's already dead -- that future innovation at Apple will be built around "multifunction devices with interesting new interfaces (touch is just the beginning) that act more like tiny computers than single-purpose devices."
And even phone-free iPods are likely to be around for a while. According to Piper Jaffray's latest Teen Survey, 79 percent of teens planning to buy a new MP3 player in the next 12 months -- and only 34 percent of respondents did -- would pick an iPod. As my colleague Joe Tartakoff noted, there's good news for Microsoft, too: a record 15 percent want a Zune instead. On the other hand, 22 percent overall want to buy an iPhone so you can see where that's going.
Of course, Microsoft also appears to be focusing on a more distant horizon, looking at today's babies for the next generation of Zune owners.


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Nokia readies iPhone rival

Chris Keall | Monday September 29 2008 - 01:19pm

The rumour mill has Nokia is set to announce its first touchscreen phone at a London event this Friday, New Zealand time. The company has declined official comment.
Nicknamed “the Tube,” the new handset is widely viewed as an attempt to take on Apple’s iconic iPhone – an impression further enhanced by leaks indicating the Tube will be paired with Nokia’s “Comes With Music” service.
Comes With Music, backed by Universal Music and EMI, is already available in the UK with selected Nokia models. The price of the service is “baked into” the cost of your high-end Nokia phone, providing you unlimited download access to “millions of songs” for 12 months at no extra charges, but with tight copy-controls.


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Nokia Tube is latest iPhone killer

Touchcreen smartphone to launch on Thursday

Carrie-Ann Skinner

Nokia is expected to launch a new touchscreen smartphone designed to rival Apple's iPhone this week.

According to Reuters, the device, which is thought to be called Tube, will be launched on Thursday and is likely to feature GPS, Wi-Fi connectivity and support for Java and DVB-H mobile TV broadcasts. It will run using the Symbian S60 OS.

"The phone is extremely important," Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi told Reuters. "We have been waiting for the market leader to respond to Apple's iPhone for a year and a half now. There is a lot of pressure on Nokia."


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Apple off the hook on lawsuit over iPhone batteries

Apple Inc. won't have to face a lawsuit launched by an Illinois resident in July 2007 over the limited life of batteries on its iPhone.

Jose Trujillo sued Apple, accusing it of consumer fraud, claiming it didn't immediately tell customers about the limited battery life, or about the fact it would cost $86 to have the battery replaced.

However, on Thursday, U.S. Judge Mathew F. Kennelly dismissed the suit without trial at Apple's request.

Apple disclosed on the outside of the iPhone package that the battery has "limited recharge cycles, and may eventually need to be replaced by an Apple service provider," Kennelly wrote in his judgment.

"Under the circumstances, no reasonable jury could find that deception had occurred," he wrote.

AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. telephone company and the exclusive iPhone service provider, is still a defendant in the suit.

On Sept. 22, Kennelly denied Dallas-based AT&T's motion to compel arbitration, as it said the service agreement demanded, and to dismiss the suit.

Kennelly said that at the time Trujillo bought an iPhone, he "did not have access to a paper copy of any documents explaining or referencing … the terms of service, including in particular the arbitration requirement.''

The judge has scheduled a hearing for AT&T Sept. 29.




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