Here are some new rumors about future iPhone from AT&T staff:
New iPhone announcement around mid-June
New iPhone will be faster and have a more seamless experience unmatched by any device (could be just talking about 3.0, but we think it’s also a new iPhone)
U-Verse iPhone application; will allow control of your home DVR (play, pause, rewind, etc.)
AT&T is said to be working with Apple to create a unified product with an unparalleled experience across all their products and services.
Apple’s 3.0 software should tell us where the iPhone platform is going… uh, k?
They said customers shouldn’t need to choose from AT&T’s high-end devices because of features, they should choose based on preferences. The gap in capability should be filled with the new iPhone. Ok, bets on slide out QWERTY, autofocus camera, video sharing, blah blah?
Seems like the higher speed HSDPA (7.2Mbps) is being hinted at too which should confirm the earlier rumors of the new Infineon chipset.
The $99 3G netbook will start selling this summer, and the first one won’t be a Windows OS.
Yesterday we posted first info about iPhone 2,1. PinchMedia follows up with what few details they have about the usage of the device.
- 1st spotting of the "iPhone 2,1" device occured in early October 2008
- Usage picked up in mid-December 2008
- A few dozen distinct "iPhone 2,1" devices have been detected
- Almost exclusively located in south San Francisco Bay Area
- Both AT&T and Wi-Fi connections
PinchMedia provides iPhone developers with ad serving and analytic tracking software to embed within iPhone applications. This is how the the iPhone 2,1 devices have been detected.
AT&T today reported financial results from the fourth quarter of 2008 and announced that they had activated 1.9 million new iPhones during the quarter. Here are some numbers from Fortune:
AT&T has activated 4.3 million iPhone 3Gs since its launch, 1.9 million in Q4 alone — more than double its iPhone activations one year earlier.
The average revenue from Phone users is 60% higher than the typical AT&T customer — thanks to that $30 per month data fee. Their heavy use of Web services helped drive AT&T wireless data use up 51.2% year to year, which as reader Jon in Brentwood, Calif., points out is not necessarily a good thing.
About 40% of the iPhone activations this quarter were new AT&T customers, either buying their first cellphone or switching from another carrier.
The churn rate — the percentage of customers who drop AT&T’s service — among iPhone owners is significantly lower than the rest of the network, sharply reducing marketing costs.
The iPhone is still an expensive proposition for AT&T. The payback to Apple is between $288 and $432 per phone over the life of a 2-year contract. The company spent $450 million last quarter on network upgrades to provide high-speed 3G coverage.
On the other hand, Q4 revenues were up 2.4% (to $31.1 billion) in a tough economic climate thanks to results in the wireless division that CEO Randall Stephenson attributed largely to the iPhone.
Many iPhone 3G users would like to use internet on a desktop or notebook through their phone. There were several solutions: iPhoneModem, NetShare, 3Proxy.. they all used SSH and SOCKS proxy. One of the working ones was described here get internet on a desktop or notebook through IPhone 3G.
Couple days ago PdaNet (fullname is PdaNet WiFi Router) was ported to iPhone. Now our life is much much easier.
There are so many tools, some for Mac OS, others for Windows, different versions... Complicated. So let's summerize a little bit.
If you have iPhone 3G, you'll be able to install 3-rd party non AppStore applications (through separate applications called Cydia and Installer) and run these applications. If you have old iPhone, in addition to that you'll be able to unlock the device (use with any carrier).
There are two methods: quickpwn and custom firmware method. First one is for quikly pwning and jailbreaking the device without restore. You should use it if you have unlocked device or an AT&T contract.
If you are Windows user:
Go for WinPwn. The current version is 2.5.0.2 (also called 2.5 beta-2). Download here. It supports both iPhone and iPhone 3G, firmwares 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2. You can use either quickpwn or custom firmware method.
There is a separate QuickPwn tool for Windows. The current version is RC3. Download here. Do you need it? Yes, if you want to quick pwn and you do not like WinPwn (or you had problems with it).
If you're using Mac OS:
Go for PwnageTool. The current version is 2.0.3.1. Download here. Works with 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2 firmwares using custom-firmware method.
There is a version of QuickPwn tool for MAC OS. The current version is 1.0.0. Download here. It works only with firmware 2.0.2. Do you need it? Yes, if you want to quick pwn.
QuickPwn is not a replacement for PwnageTool, they are different tools and provide different features, QuickPwn is for quickly pwning a device, whereas PwnageTool is designed to custom build and tailor the ipsw production process, both tools will be actively developed in the future.
Some people are complaining about the iPhone 2.0.2 update killing their ability to actually make calls over 3G. Among the people who suffer from no-calling-itis is one guy who took his phone to AT&T and had them swap out the SIM, which somehow fixed the problem. If you're getting "call failed" on 3G, try switching back to 2G in Settings -> General -> Network and making the call again.
DevTeam created a quick solution for jailbreaking an iPhone. It is called QuickPwn. It is in beta, so be careful. It will allow you to pwn (jailbreak) your device very quickly without restoring!
Who should use this tool? This is for those that are not planning to restore. It’s not clear what the activation state is after the process therefore, I only recommend this for those that have a contract carrier or an unlocked phone already.
If you are on a stock device and using AT&T or a contract carrier, this is the perfect jailbreak for you. You will not lose your contacts or have to do any backups. Finally, if you are going to restore anyway, especially if you need to unlock a 2g, you may as well use winpwn or such.
Currently QuickPwn requires your device to be running version 2.0.1 of the iPhone/iPod firmware. And it runs only on Windows. This requirement will change in a subsequent release.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Best Buy Co. will start selling the iPhone on Sept. 7, becoming first U.S. chain to do so outside of Apple Inc.'s and AT&T Inc.'s own stores.
The announcement by Best Buy expands the availability of Apple's vaunted phone to 970 full-size stores and 16 smaller Best Buy Mobile stores. It's also a coup for the Minneapolis-based chain, which has been upgrading its cell-phone departments.
Last week, Best Buy announced it had completed a two-year conversion of its stores to include upgraded cell-phone departments under the Best Buy Mobile brand. It has upgraded its computer systems to handle cell-phone activation and spent 250,000 hours training its employees.
PwnageTool 2.0.2 released just a day ago. And now WinPwn - iPhone jailbreaker and unlocker for windows is avaliable. The main new feature - it supports firmware 2.0.1.
NetShare is one app we never thought would make it onto the official iPhone App Store. The $9.99 application promises to allow you to share your iPhone's network connection with your computer. All it does is set up a SOCKS5 proxy for you to get your laptop/computer online through use of the 3G/EDGE connection. Does it work? Yes. Yes it does, much to our surprise. EDGE works just fine, although Mahoney says it's slow as balls. 3G impressions in a sec. Be careful of how much bandwidth you're using, since your provider probably makes a frowny face at you using their network to power your laptop, however "unlimited" your plan may be. How this got passed Apple and AT&T who knows.
Update 2: The application is gone. Now we're getting the message that it's not available in the US store
Update 3: Just an official reply from Nullriver:
"We're not quite sure why Apple took down the application yet, we've received no communication from Apple thus far. NetShare did not violate any of the Developer or AppStore agreements. We're hoping we'll get some feedback from Apple tomorrow. Sorry to all the folks that couldn't get it in time. We'll do our best to try to get the application back onto the AppStore if at all possible. At the very least, I would hope Apple will allow it in countries where the provider does permit tethering."
Update 4: The application re-appeared in iTunes. It is avaliable through direct link: NetShare.
Apple is already providing developers with a new iPhone firmware beta with enhanced location-finding that could lead to true navigation as well as the roots for background push services.
The one of new features is update to core Location - it can now recognize the cardinal direction of an iPhone with GPS as well as its velocity, both of which are ingredients necessary to providing turn-by-turn directions. The additions confirm statements recently by Apple's Greg Joswiak, who rejected earlier claims that iPhone 3G's GPS antenna wasn't powerful enough to handle navigation and in turn explained that "complicated issues" are holding the device back from serving as a true navigation unit.
Apple is also implementing a rough version of its background push notification service in the 2.1 firmware. Announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference, the feature lets third-party native programs receive data such as alerts or new messages without actively running. The measure saves processing power without interrupting some apps that depend on constant access to the Internet.
The inclusion of this early version of the code alludes to the 2.1 update becoming public at the same time as the push notification service itself, which is tentatively due for September. In the meantime, Apple and its US partner AT&T are known to be testing iPhone 2.0.1, a maintenance release that likely fixes some of the outstanding bugs with the initial 2.0 release.
AT&T has developed a software trick that will recognize voice commands without the need for specialized voice recognition software. It is based on a new version of AT&T's WATSON speech recognition engine.
As long as the software used to access Speech Mashups obeys certain web standards, particularly an AJAX framework and JavaScript, the technology can capture voice commands, interpret them at a remote server, and send them back to the device in a language a website or program can understand -- all without installing a dedicated app or plugin.
In a prototype mobile version of the YellowPages website, AT&T in a research video shows an iPhone user entering the business name and location into text fields on the page just by speaking them at the appropriate times. While typing would work in such a case, the company claims that voicing the information is faster and more convenient.