Great news for Canadian Apple fans. Bell Canada will soon start selling the iPhone 3G S. This 3G S announcement is coming fresh after the Palm Pre and BlackBerry Bold announcement. So far the details have not been revealed about when it will be released on Bell Canada, but there is a details page where people can sign up for additional information.
Earlier this week, I wrote that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be shipping iPhone 3G S devices that will be jailbreak-proof because it will be using a more secure bootrom. Whoa! That took less than a few days. The bootrom that Apple is placing on the iPhone 3G S devices does not prevent the 24kpwn exploit made by Dev Team hackers, it just interferes with it. But here’s the catch.
In order to boot up the jailbroken iPhone 3G S device, you will need to tether it using a computer in order to boot it up as of right now. The same thing happened with the iPod Touch 2G. Initially when the Dev Team created a jailbroken version of the iPod Touch 2G, it also needed to be tethered in order to boot but later on a more secure boot ROM was made.
Apple: 0, Dev Team: 1 (Points will be redistributed in follow-up posts about iPhone 3G S jailbreaking news)
There are rumors starting to surface that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is not messing around anymore when shipping iPhone 3G S mobile devices. The new 3G S devices will have a bootrom that resists the 24kpwn exploit that is used by the Dev-Team for jailbreaking iPhone devices. MuscleNerd, a member of the DevTeam said that the bootrom update which is known as iBoot-359.3.2 would make jailbreaking new iPhones “impossible” for now.
Augmented reality is when content interacts with layers of information provided by the real world. In this case, PresseLite designed an iPhone application that delivers information based on what the iPhone camera is staring at in the streets of Paris, France.
For example, when running the application, the camera reports to the GPS what you are looking at and the PresseLite application will report restaurants, taxi stands, retail stores, and coffee shops are near you. PresseLite’s application is called Metro Paris Subway.
Surprisingly PresseLite is selling this application for only $0.99. Based on first-hand experience, I can tell you that designing this type of application is extremely complex. Had I created an application like this, I would definitely sell it for more than $0.99.
The augmented reality applications only work on the iPhone 3G S because it also needs the compass feature to determine your exact location in Paris.
RealNetworks’ streaming music software Rhapsody-To-Go will be submitted to the Apple App Store for approval this week. When the application gets approved, Rhapsody customers will be able to access on-demand streaming of over 8 million tracks within the company’s library through 3G and WiFi connections.
The application will work with the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod Touch. Currently a Rhapsody membership costs about $14.99 per month, but the application itself will be free. Next RealNetworks will be working on a Google Android version of their application.
Spotify, a Rhapsody competitor submitted an application back in July too. Currently Spotify is not available for download in the U.S. The announcement was made on the Rhapsody blog.
The iPhone 3GS has the ability to play 30Mbps 1080p video. Although the little device can play some high quality video, there are still some issues. For example, Engadget’s testing revealed that the sound driver crashed when playing a 720p video when playing the Avatar trailer from the Apple website.
Although Apple iPhone sales have shot up 365% in the second quarter, Research In Motion still dominates the smartphone market in the U.S. In the second quarter of the economy, smartphone shipments increased a total of about 13.4%.
Research In Motion and their BlackBerry devices control about 52% of the smartphone market. But their control in the market is weakening as the Apple iPhone marketshare is starting to increase at a rapid pace. The Apple iPhone now has about 23.3% of the smartphone market.
The statistics in the survey was compiled by market research firm Canalys.
“RIM has successfully expanded its product portfolio to include a wide selection of devices and interfaces that appeal to a range of customers at different price points,” stated Canalys VP and principal analyst Chris Jones. “This includes 2.5G models that are smaller, lighter, lower cost, and have better battery life than most of its 3G rivals.”
HTC’s smartphone marketshare in the U.S. dropped to 5.6% from 8%. Marketshare of smartphones powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile have also dropped. Nokia has about a 44% market share in total handsets. RIM’s global share went up to 21% from 16.7% from the previous year.
Up until recently there was no way to receive push notifications for e-mail through GMail on the iPhone. However an application called GPush has been added to the iTunes App Store earlier this month.
Push notifications are one of the biggest advantages that BlackBerry mobile phones had over the iPhone before the iPhone OS 3.0 was released. The application does not open or send e-mails, it literally only sends push notifications. GPush was developed by Tiverias Apps.
GPush is easy to set up. All you have to do is submit your user name and password. After entering the information, you just have to agree to let the app send you push notifications. The application still has several bugs, but it still works pretty well.
In a report that contradicts an earlier rumor that Apple will be releasing an 8GB iPhone 3G S, a Rogers spokesperson has denied that claim. Gizmodo wrote a post on Monday that said that the Rogers website shows a checkmark by the 8GB row in the iPhone 3G S column. But on the same website the image below appears.
“You’re right, there is no 8GB 3G s iPhone. There is a formatting error on our website. It is being corrected asap,” stated a Rogers spokesperson in an e-mail to Gizmodo. There you have it folks, a Canadian phone company has been able to verify what the folks in Cupertino are up to. Although I wish it wasn’t true and that Apple would make an 8GB iPhone 3G S.
Facebook developer Joe Hewitt announced on Twitter that the newest Apple iPhone application is “pretty much done – we’re just working on translating it into a bunch of languages.” Some of the features that will be included on the newest iPhone application includes a News Feed.
The new iPhone application also includes the ability to click “Like” on the News Feed. There is also an option to record video and upload it to Facebook using the video camera on the iPhone 3G S. Hewitt added this feature at the last second. The application also has the ability to manage events.
No word yet on the new application will be done yet. “Translating could take a while. I’ve been avoiding predicting an actual release date,” said Hewitt. And then the application has to clear the Apple submission process. Facebook is also working on a Google Android application that should be available in the near future.
Over the last few days, Boy Genius Report has received a couple tips that Apple will be announcing an 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS soon. The above screen shot is a memo from Rogers to employees about the shipping of an 8GB version of the iPhone. With an 8GB version of the 3GS, it is likely that the iPhone 3G will be phased out of production. Given economies of scale, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple sells an 8GB 3GS for $99 with two year contract too.
The iPhone finance section is heating up now that CNNMoney has stepped into the market. The CNNMoney application is currently one of the top free Finance applications on the iTunes App Store, competing against companies such as Bloomberg, Associated Press, and The New York Times.
The CNNMoney application is a portal with a built in stock search engine, market index tracking tool, company and economic news, video highlights, and sharing feature. There is a tool called My Stocks to add the stocks that you want to track.
News about real estate, small business, technology, autos, jobs, and personal finance can be added to the homepage of the application. Additional headlines can be added from Fortune and Money Magazine as well.
Personally I believe that the application looks a bit generic and could use something to make it stand out from every other finance news application, but that is just my opinion. Some people are comfortable looking at generic finance news applications. The operating system required for the application is iPhone OS 2.1 or greater.
Last month AT&T had the best month ever with the release of the Apple iPhone 3G S. Below is a list of some of the milestones achieved by the phone’s launch:
- Best ever sales day in retail stores
- Second largest traffic day in retail stores
- Most transactions processed through IT systems in a single day
- Largest order day in history on att.com
- Most upgrade eligibility checks in one day
- Largest features sales day on att.com
On June 25, when Michael Jackson died — AT&T processed 65,000 text messages per second — the largest ever recorded.
When the Palm Pre launched in June, Sprint also broke sales records. Given that Sprint and AT&T had the best month ever last month, I’m wondering what Verizon has up their sleeve.
Some of the biggest complaints going around regarding the iPhone 3G S is that the device overheats. However Apple noted in their support pages that this issue is caused by “operator error,” meaning that the consumers are at fault for the overheating.
This issue was reported by iPhone 3G S users from around the world. One Apple user said that every time he used the GPS, the device somehow overheated and it needs to be shut down because it becomes unbearable. The issue seems to be reflected more upon white iPhones over black iPhones. Some users have reported that the overheating causes discoloration as well.
On the iPhone support page, Apple reports some of the reasons why the phone may be overheating:
* Leaving the device in a car on a hot day.
* Leaving it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time.
* Using certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for long periods of time, such as GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight.
Skype for the iPhone was released back in April and now the application has been updated. The new version of the Skype iPhone application allows users to send SMS messages and check voicemail. One of the desired features that are lacking in the newest version of the application is push notifications.
“Skype iPhone is kinda useless with no push notifications so 1.1 still kinda useless. Why even include IM capability without it, what are people supposed to do – send me an email that we should skype chat?” wrote a commenter on the Skype Blog.
Push notifications are the ability to inform the iPhone there are incoming messages and incoming calls without the need for the application to be running at the time. AOL has successfully implemented this feature for their AOL Instant Messenger software on the iPhone.
“We’re concentrating on providing the very best experience possible on the iPhone. Your feedback is important – it’s why we’ve included SMS and voicemail in this release. But we can’t do everything at once, unfortunately,” wrote Skype blogger Peter Parkes.
