Exclusive US iPhone 3G carrier AT&T announced their Q2 results yesterday, and during their conference call informed us of this staggering little factoid:
[S]ales of Apple’s iPhone 3G during the first twelve days were nearly double that of last year, this despite shortages that have seen backorders stretch one to three weeks at its retail stores.
We already knew Apple had sold 1,000,000 of their second-generation handsets in just 3 days (almost 25 times faster than the original iPhone 2G), but that was (I assume) a global number covering the 22 launch countries (and may have included units in partner channels). This quantity — while ironically not quantified — is US specific, and is impressive given that some pundits felt the all-important early adapters already had iPhones, and would get 2.0 for free, and so would likely have less incentive to upgrade. Maybe, maybe not. The $199 cost-of-entry could have triggered an even bigger flood of first time buyers who had balked at the previous price point.
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It took a little while for me to get used to the iPhone’s “soft” keyboard — large hands + tiny keyboard = baby elephant playing piano. Even though I’ve become rather proficient with the iPhone’s keyboard, I’m always on the prowl for anything that will help with my speed and accuracy. This week’s Tip is all about some keyboard shortcuts, brought to you by and with special thanks to George by way of Adam Pash’s article at lifehacker.com. Keep reading for some helpful keyboard Tips (and check out Adam’s article for yourself)!
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Once RAZR-sharp, now Icahnicly troubled Motorola has filed suit in Illinois court against Apple. More specifically, Michael Fenger, who stepped down from managing Moto handsets in EMEA (Europe, Middle-East, and Africa) to become VP of Global iPhone Sales at Apple. Problem? Seems Moto had a do-not-compete clause, and they see Apple as… er… competitive:
Moto claims Fenger “was privy to the pricing, margins, customer initiatives, allocation of resources, product development, multiyear product, business and talent planning and strategies being used by Motorola”
While I’m sure some people have ditched their RAZRs for the iPhone, I’m going to take a wild guess that it wasn’t because of ill-obtained competitive knowledge, but because Moto mismanaged themselves out of innovation, and Apple produced a killer handset. But that’s just me…
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Above, the winner of our iPhone 3G giveaway, iLoveiPhones. More on how she won here! Congrats again — we’re glad to see you like it. 
This week in the podcast, a rapid-fire overview and analysis of the crazy iPhone 3G launch.
Ready for iPhone 3G yet? Mike and Dieter run down the run-up to the iPhone 3G as of our recording on Monday. Plenty to mull over — plus your comments and forum posts!
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Fake Steve, the hilarious or hateful (depending on your take, I lean towards the former) blogalter-ego of former Forbes writer, current Newsweek writer retired a while back, only to re-emerge as himself: Real Dan. His debut post? Fake Steve buys an iPhone, gets no respect. (Warning: Real Dan’s language is as salty as Fake Steve’s ever was, so not for the easily offended).
Finally I traveled out to the horrible Burlington mall where I bought the iPhone and was stopped at the door of the Apple store by an incredibly [redacted]ish Apple “concierge” (that’s Spanish for “smug useless [redacted]head”) who heard me out and then told me, politely, to go [redacted] myself because Apple couldn’t fix the email address on my account. I was like, Dude you’re the retards who typed it in wrong. Shouldn’t you fix it? He told me, again, very politely, to go [redacted] myself. I was like, Dude do you know who I am? I invented Fake Steve. Have you heard of him? He was like, Fake who? What? Huh? He then suggested I go bother the morons at the AT&T store in the same mall. I did, and there I was met by an even more developmentally disabled cretin who said AT&T couldn’t help me either.
(Today’s Lightning Review comes from BaLLi5t1c, a full review of the awesome Pandora Radio app (available on iTunes for free!). BaLLi5t1c gets a 25% off coupon to the iPhone Blog Accessory store. Want one yourself? Post a review in our forums — full details here)
This is my first time writing a review for an iPhone app, partly because I just received my 16GB Black this past Friday and partly because I’ve been basking in the glory that is the App Store, and I couldn’t think of a more deserving app than Pandora Radio to review.
For those of you who have never heard of Pandora Radio, I’m sure you’re wondering what it is exactly and why I would make such a bold statement in my title. Allow me to enlighten you.
To put it lightly, Pandora Radio is a heaven-sent program/application that will allow you to stream music that you’ve never heard of but probably should have, music that you listened to many moons ago but somehow let slip into obscurity with those passing moons, music that is probably still in your current rotation in iTunes, and anything in between. Not too shabby, eh?
You might ask, “BaLLi5t1c, how does it do all of that without me hand-picking all of the artists and songs that I want to hear?”
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During Apple’s Q3 Conference Call on Monday, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook reported that, like the iTunes Store, App Store is not meant to generate revenue but to drive iPhone and iPod Touch sales. They’ve added 400 Apps to the 500 available at launch, bringing the total (at call time) to 900, though the percentage of FREE (as in beer, not speech) Apps has fallen from 25% (~125 at launch) to 20% (~180 now). Under $10 Apps remained constant at 90%. Seems like that’s the current magic ceiling for many developers. And with over 25 million downloads and counting, they may be right.
What else is going on in App Land? Read on to find out!
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UPDATE: Ask and you shall receive-ish. Apple has posted a Knowledge Base article detailing (part of?) the problem (via Macrumors):
Symptoms Updated: July 22, 2008, 4 p.m. PDT. On Friday, July 18, 2008 (2008-07-18) we experienced a serious issue with one of our MobileMe mail servers. This issue is currently affecting approximately 1% of MobileMe members. Affected members are unable to send or receive email at www.me.com or access email using any email client software such as Mail on a Mac or Microsoft Outlook on a PC. Products Affected MobileMe Mail Resolution We understand this is a serious issue and apologize for this service interruption. We are working hard to restore your service.
Original post after the break…
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Can’t keep a good iTablet rumor down, can you?
While Windows-based tablets have never successfully penetrated the mainstream market, a vocal contingent have long been clamoring for an Apple Tablet (iTablet, MacBook Touch, Safari Pad, etc.). Modbook rolls their own and Alex Lindsay of PixelCorps/MacBreak Weekly fame contemplated making one himself. Heck, even TechCrunch wants a FrankenLinFox pad!
Will we ever see it? We know Apple has it in the R&D shop. Heck, the iPhone runs software originally conceived of for “Safari Pad”. Steve Jobs has said he’s just as proud of of some things Apple hasn’t released. If it wasn’t right for Apple before, is it now? Only Jobs knows for sure, but MacDailyNews (via Gizmodo) is beating the rumor drum again:
Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X. This is why they bought P.A. Semi. Possibly with Immersion’s haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at “low” price that will reduce margins. Apple wants to move these babies. And move they will. This is some sick shit. App Store-compatible, able to run Mac apps, too. By October at the latest.In all honesty, we may have passed this story up, but we’ve heard vague reports from reliable sources that Quanta is busy building a touch product for Apple. This latest information seems seems to compliment what we’ve heard.
Sounds like much more of a MacBook Air cannibalizer than over-sized iPod Touch to me, but with Mobile OS X and App Store well on their way to becoming the next great computing platform, who knows how fast and hard Apple wants to seize that high ground?
If you own an iPhone and haven’t browsed the App Store, you don’t know what you’re missing! Then again, if you are reading this 2nd App Avalanche, you can get a taste of what’s waiting for you in the App Store and maybe, just maybe, you’ll not waste another second and start downloading some great apps for your iPhone!
With your iPhone in hand, let’s get buried in some apps right now with App Avalanche 2! Read the rest of this entry »
