Articles by Jeremy Sikora
Well it’s official, TomTom’s much anticipated iPhone car kit accessory will not make it out this summer like the company initially had planned. Rather, it has been delayed until October according to their website’s FAQ page.
The TomTom car kit availability was originally planned for this summer. But we have decided to take some extra weeks in order to deliver the highest quality on this innovative product. So, the car kit will become available this October on www.tomtom.com.
We suppose it is best to delay the accessory for a few weeks in order to insure you, the consumer, can purchase the very best TomTom has to offer. It could have been worse and the kit could have been delayed until next year, right?
[Via TUAW]
Most AT&T iPhone owners have been waiting for any word from their beloved carrier regarding the activation of MMS and as it turns out, AT&T just notified us personally to make sure we pass on the good word that MMS will be available on the iPhone on September 25th.
The date is September 25th, which does indeed fall a few days past the official end of summer. It was important to give our customers a positive experience from day one. We support more iPhone customers than any other carrier in the world so we took the time necessary to make sure our network is ready to handle what we expect will be a record volume of MMS traffic. We truly appreciate our customers’ patience and hope they’ll understand our desire to get it right from the start.
The email went on to also make a point that this indeed will be a software update that iPhone owners will need to download via iTunes. Perhaps the release date for iPhone OS 3.1?
Anyone exited yet?
*Just to be clear, MMS will only be available on iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. No MMS is offered for the original iPhone 2G.
Updated to include AT&T Network 101 & MMS Availability Update (thanks Gregg & sil3ntrid3r11!)
Lars Ulrich rejoice, Napster will NOT be heading into Apple’s coveted App Store any time soon. Strange considering they once toyed with our emotions by mentioning an iPhone app was in the works? Sadly, unlike Spotify, it is just not going to happen anytime in the near future. Did Apple reject it? No, so do not go ditching your iPhone for a Android or RIM device just yet — Napster have scrapped apps for those devices as well.
One of the most common questions Napster receives is, “When will you offer an iPhone app?” Well, Napster has created an iPhone application that allows subscribers to stream music on-demand to their iPhone—including personal playlists, albums and radio stations. You can imagine the company is also looking at streaming applications for several other mobile platforms as well (Blackberry, Android). However, due to the high licensing fees for streaming to a mobile phone, Napster has not yet submitted the iPhone app to Apple for approval or attempted to bring the application to market.
Now let’s think about this for a moment, they put their iPhone application on hold due to “high licensing fees”. If Spotify and Rhapsody can pull it off why can’t Napster? Maybe it’s due to the fact those companies charge $10.00 more a month for their service perhaps.
Whatever the case may be, would you be willing for fork over some extra cash to get Napster on your iPhone?
[Via MediaMemo]
Apple has gone and shocked the world again as, according to the company’s Twitter feed, popular VoIP service Vonage has been approved for the iTunes App Store.
Vonage has announced that Apple approved its mobile application for iPhone and iPod Touch. Vonage is currently conducting a beta test and general availability will be announced at a later date. This new service, along with the recent launch of the Vonage World unlimited calling plan, continues Vonage’s heritage of using innovative technology to create significant value for its current and future customers.
While it remains to be seen if Vonage will be granted 3G access, or made WiFi only like Skype, if you follow them on Twitter, you may have noticed Vonage was searching for a few lucky volunteers to become official beta testers of their iPhone app. Were any of our readers lucky enough to be selected as the chosen few?
If so, let us know how the testing is going in the comments!
The RexRegina Hamilton Case [$44.95 - TiPb Store link] is hands down one of the finest crafted leather pouches I have used to date. While this particular type of case may only appeal to a certain crowd, I can not recommend it highly enough for those of you who are fans of the pouch case. For the full run-down read on after the break! Read the rest of this entry »
Rockstar Games announced yesterday that it will be porting one of their most popular games over to the iPhone platform. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will make its iPhone debut sometime before the year is over (price still to be determined).
This is simply more verification that Apple’s iPhone OS can pull its weight in the handheld gaming wars. If you can’t wait until GTA’s release, Gangstar: West Coast Hustle from Gameloft [iTunes Link] should be good enough to hold you over.
According to Rockstar, screen shots will be coming soon but until then feel free to take a look some Sony PSP images after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple went ahead and gave the green flag for the music streaming service Spotify, whose biggest selling point is the fact you can create playlists in a free desktop app, and then listen to those playlists via your iPhone at any point in time, with or without a data connection. Apple told the developer:
“The current status as of right now is it’s been approved, and we hope to add the app to the more than 65,000 apps on the app store very soon, We’ve been in constant communication working with the developer and have already notified Spotify that the app will be in the app store very soon.”
The good news is Apple approving this application for iPhone owners. The bad news being it is currently only available in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Britain, France and Spain. The weird news is that we still don’t see it actually in the App Store in those countries?
Spotify’s popularity has grown to over 2 million subscribers in Britain and they hope to have their service available here in the US before the end of the year. Perhaps this approved iPhone app will help things move along quicker. Music lovers can only hope.
Would any of our readers be ready to lay down their hard earned money for a service such as Spotify?
[Via Wired]
A robbery victim has taken advantage of his MobileMe service and put it to good use. A Pittsburgh man, who’s name has been withheld, told police he was forced to turn over his wallet, his PIN number and his iPhone at gun point (Pellet Gun as it turns out) by 3 robbers early Sunday morning. Lacking any tech savvy skills or common sense for that matter, the robbers were clueless about one of MobileMe’s very helpful features, “Find My iPhone“.
After calling the police, the man used his computer and MobileMe to track down his iPhone along with the 3 not so smart criminals having a late night snack at a local restaurant.
Police said they will charge Bryant Rather, 22, of West Mifflin, Brent Ray Potter, 22, of Swissvale, and Myron Knox, Jr., 22, of Homewood, with two counts each of access device fraud, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and possessing instruments of crime. Mr. Rather and Mr. Potter will also be charged with robbery.
Moral of the story: crime doesn’t pay.
[Via Post-Gazette]
While the wait for TomTom’s iPhone software to hit the App Store has come and gone, most of you are still eagerly awaiting the arrival of TomTom’s iPhone car kit, first shown off at WWDC back in June. Engadget Mobile is now reporting that your wait may be coming to an end as TomTom’s car kit has received its FCC approval. Included in that link, for your viewing pleasure, is the kit’s manual, some images, and a few test reports.
Since it’s announcement TomTom has kept pretty quite about the kits full capabilities. Well, a quick look in the user manual gets us all of the official details.
Your TomTom car kit for iPhone is designed to provide you with the best possible navigation experience. A built-in GPS receiver enhances your iPhone’s GPS signal, ensuring the most reliable navigation, wherever you are. Using the car kit, you get loud and clear voice instructions, can make hands- free calls, as well as charge your iPhone while you drive. The car kit is a safe and secure dock with the award-winning fold-and-go EasyPort® mount.
Are those the features you’ve been waiting for?
[Via Engadget Mobile]
Exploding iPhones have been a very popular topic as of late, but now an alleged tier 2 iPhone support agent has contacted Gizmodo to further back up Apple’s claims that the exploding iPhones are not the result of faulty batteries but rather simply cases of user abuse.
I’m a Tier 2 iPhone agent for Apple. I’d like to add that roughly one to two calls out of every thousand that I take deal with the battery “overheating”. Generally, this incident can be described as “uncomfortably warm”, and I have not ever received or heard of a coworker receiving a call about someone being injured by the iPhone, including people too stupid to stop using their phones after the screen is broken.
The email later goes on to say Apple gets tens of thousands of calls and zero of them have proven to be safety issues. From the beginning of this debacle we’ve had a feeling that this was simply the media blowing this way out of proportion. We still get this feeling…
Does this alleged tech support email put some of your minds to rest regarding the “exploding” iPhones?
[Via Gizmodo]
