It seems as if Apple has taken some offense to the latest Verizon ad attacks that have targeted the iPhone as well as the AT&T network. BusinessWeek (via Engadget Mobile) points out that Apple has fired back with two commercials of their own and really rubbing in the fact that on the Verizon network you can not be on a phone call while checking your email, browsing the web, etc…

So if you were not a fan of the latest AT&T commercials what are you thoughts on these released by Apple?

Yes, we know if you are reading this on your iPhone you will not be able to view the videos, we feel your pain but as soon as there is a YouTube link we will update the post.

Commercial number 2 after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Two New Apple iPhone Commercials Take Aim at Verizon

TomTom has released a rather significant update to their $99 iPhone Turn-by-Turn GPS application [iTunes Link]. It seems as if they had second thoughts about omitting first generation iPhone 2G (and iPod touches) support in the TomTom car kit. It was only last month that TomTom officially stated the kit would not enable GPS with the original iPhone or iPod touch. My how quickly things change, perhaps the release of the free Google Navigation application had something to do with it…

If anyone still rocking the first generation iPhone or a new iPod touch and try TomTom out, let us know how it goes!

[Via AppAdvice, thanks Tyler]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TomTom Updates App to Include 1st Gen iPhone and iPod touch GPS Support

Last week we covered the analyst accounts that Apple’s iPhone was more profitable than Nokia’s handsets. Since Apple makes high margin on one premium phone, while Nokia has a range of featurephones and smartphones, including low-to-no margin ones, it didn’t seem too unlikely. Joe Wilcox, however, broke out his abacus and begged to differ, saying no they weren’t, and everyone was stupid for thinking they were. John Gruber then tapped Calculator on his iPhone, looked at GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and non-GAAP numbers, and said the estimates were within reason. Wilcox updated his original post, decrying the use of non-GAAP numbers, and re-asserting his original conclusion.

Who’s side are we on? Why, the audiences’ of course, with popcorn, hotdogs, and spicy drink in hand. It’s not like either Apple or Nokia give us a cut of the winning profits, and though we love our iPhones a lot, we’ll take a blog v.s blogfight any time.

[via TUAW]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Was iPhone More Profitable Than Nokia Handsets Last Quarter? — Blog vs. Blog!

Did Apple meet with mobile advertising company, AdMob before Google acquired them last week for $750 million? That’s what “people familiar with the matter” told Bloomberg:

Buying AdMob would have allowed Apple to expand into online advertising, a strategy that Nokia Oyj is pursuing, [IDC analyst Karsten Weide] said. “If a lot of traffic goes through my devices, why can’t I become the middleman that serves ads against that inventory? AdMob would have allowed them to do that quickly.”

Clearly advertising isn’t a core Apple business the way it is for Google, but then again with Google getting into so many of Apple’s core businesses (smartphone OS with Android and now desktop OS with ChromeOS), Apple could be looking to give them a dose of their own expansion. Given that Apple recently filed a patent for an ad-supported version of Mac OS X (something Microsoft explored years ago for Windows), they could also be looking for alternate ways to subsidize the cost of their platforms going forward. Right now carriers like AT&T foot the advance for the iPhone (and theoretically might do the same for an iTablet or 3G-connected MacBook) but the more options to reduce up-front consumer costs, the better — especially in the increasingly competitive landscape.

We’ve said before Apple should have snapped up Grand Central before it became Google Voice, is Cupertino growing slow to react, or is Google just hitting warp speed?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Approached AdMob Before Google Gobbled Them Up?

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has updated links within iTunes to redirect the user to a browser-based preview page called “iTunes Preview“. So now you can send a link for a certain album to a friend and they can view it regardless of whether or not their computer has iTunes installed. Previously a link would recognize iTunes was missing and require that iTunes be installed.

These iTunes preview links can be found in the iTunes “Copy Link” feature. From there you can browse customer reviews, albums, artists, and tracks directly from the web. The only thing missing is the App Store, perhaps that is something Apple is currently working on.

So for those of you who hate opening iTunes to view a link or simply don’t have it installed, Apple has just given you one more option.

[Via AppleInsider]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Quietly Adds Browser-based iTunes Preview

It seems as if the previous threats of the iPhone coming to The Shack are finally about to come true. Granted it is more than a year later but it is indeed coming according to Engadget Mobile.

The iPhone 3G and 3GS rollout should begin by the end of this month at some Shack locations in the Dallas and New York City areas only. We can expect a full nationwide rollout sometime early in 2010.

It’s always good to have options… right?

[Via Engadget Mobile]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3G/3GS to be Sold at The Shack

Apple is currently hiring and is in search of an iPhone OS platform security manager. What does the particular job consist of? Here is the low down:

The team is responsible for secure booting and installation of the OS, partitioning and hardening of security domains within the OS, cryptographic services, and risk analysis of security threats. The team is made up of a variety of security experts with backgrounds in system security and reverse engineering.

The more secure Apple makes the OS the harder it will become to find and use a particular exploit — for good, like our beloved jailbreak, or for evil, like we’ve seen with computer viruses, malware, etc.

Now don’t get us wrong, we are pretty sure that one person will not do away with our beloved jailbreak but this does raise some questions. Is Apple really concerned popular mobile devices will get attacked the way PCs do today? Or are they just done putting the practice of preventing jailbreaking (and the unlocking and app piracy that sometimes goes with it) on the back burner?

What do you think this may mean for the future of the jailbreak if anything? Sound off in the comments below!

[Job listing via Ars]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Seeking iPhone OS Platform Security Manager: What does this mean for Jailbreaking?

Apple has come to an agreement with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in which they will spend 4 million dollars to renovate the run-down Red Line subway station on North and Clybourn in the city. This particular site just so happens to be across the street from the future Apple retail store on Halsted Street.

In return for the renovations, Apple is receiving first dibs on naming rights, first crack at advertising rights within the station, and a free long-term lease on an unused bus lane that is between the subway station and the Apple store that will be turned into a landscaped public park. All of this should be taking place no later than September 30th of 2010.

That being said, those of us here in the Chicago area should have a beautiful new Apple store in the area a little less than a year from now.

[Via Chicago Business]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Renovating Chicago Subway Station

Lee Williams, executive director at Symbian, sits down with GigaOM’s Om Malik, and gets candid — really candid — about Apple and Google:

“Android is building a perfect storm of fragmentation. I don’t view Apple as evil, just greedy. Google … Come on.”

He claims his opinion is informed by his conversations with large carriers who complain that they have to provide Apple App Store apps to iPhone users yet derive no income from them (we’d point out they made money off the data plans — dumb pipes!), and that Google is taking away their customer interface, “cookie-ing” them (tracking their online activities) via proprietary apps obscured in lip service to “openness” and using that to feed their advertising business.

When asked why companies like HTC, if they know Google is “evil”, aren’t investing in Symbian instead, Williams advises Om to “wait and see”, and thinks those manufacturers might be interested in “very open systems.”

While offering no advice to Apple, he does invite Google to join the Symbian foundation so they can have a voice in that open system. Somehow we doubt he’ll see them take up that offer any time soon.

Harsh words for competitors, but also strangely refreshing to see on camera. As to the iPhone, is the carrier beef legitimate? Should they be getting a cut of App Store profits, or should they be happy with the huge increase in data revenue the iPhone is already bringing them?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Symbian Exec: Google is Fragmented and Evil. Apple, Just Greedy.

Big news round Twitter-way, with Apple adding a few more official Twitter accounts, and Microsoft Bing and Google paying for unrestricted access to real-time search Twitter’s firehose of user status posts.

First up, while Apple’s never been accused of “getting” social media, and it may come as a surprise they’re using Twitter at all, it’s not so surprising that — rather than customer feedback, support, or insight into the iron curtain that shrouds Cupertino — these accounts are just news/marketing updates on when the latest music and media hits the world’s most popular download service. (And some seem less than active at the moment). Baby steps?

You can follow them via: iTunesTrailers, iTunesMusic, iTunesMovies, iTunesTV, and iTunesPodcasts.

Also both Microsoft’s Bing and Google have now announced partnerships with Twitter. Bing says:

Were you as fascinated by the 6-year-old boy floating away in a balloon as we were? Was it a hoax? We know that people are going to twitter more and more for information surrounding all the latest chatter. You can now search for what people are saying all over the web about breaking news topics, your favorite celebrity, hometown sports team, and anything else you use Twitter to stay on top of today.

Google says:

We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

Does this hybrid search model appeal to you? Let us know!

[Ballmer photoshop re-used in honor of Windows 7 launch day]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iTunes Gets Twitter Accounts, Bing and Google Get Twitter Real-Time Search