Apple Kills Jailbreaking in New iPhone 3GS

Apple plays what its CEO Steve Jobs once likened to a game of "cat and mouse" with iPhone unlockers and jailbreakers. Jailbreakers, like the iPhone Dev Team, try to release the iPhone from being limited to the official iTunes app store and other firmware restrictions, while unlockers, such as George Hotz, use the jailbreaks and other techniques to unlock the phone, allowing it to run on any hardware-supported network.

Usually the unlockers/jailbreakers seize the day, but occasionally Apple will win a round. Apple has tried many approaches -- everything from "bricking" unlocked iPhones to denying jailbroken iPhones access to the iTunes store -- to halt the spread of unlocking in the U.S. and force people to use AT&T, despite the hardware being capable of working on other carriers such as T-Mobile.

Now, Apple has managed to gain an upper hand over the persistent hackers according to iClarified, thanks to the release of a new bootrom, iBoot-359.3.2. The phone firmware, which shipped on new iPhone 3GSs starting this week, closes previously used doors to exploits.

Pepsi Apologizes For iPhone App That Gets Girls

US soft drink giant PepsiCo has apologized for a free iPhone application crafted to help men seduce women and keep records of conquests but the program remained available on Tuesday.Pepsi's "AMP Up Before You Score" iPhone application categorizes women into 24 types and then uses the Apple smartphone's Internet capabilities to link users to information about them and what they like.
AMP is an energy drink made by PepsiCo.
"Let's say you meet a girl who is way into being green and you need a vegan restaurant stat; we've got you covered," a voice-over maintained on Tuesday in an online Pepsi video about the AMP at YouTube.
"If you are anticipating a successful night, the Before You Score app gives you up to the minute information, feeds, lines and much more to help you amp up and talk to 24 different types of ladies."
Types of women listed in the application include punk rocker, bookworm, aspiring actress, artist, and sorority girl.

Free iPhone GUI PSD 3.0

Apple’s official release of the new iPhone 3.0 software came a number of new graphic elements. the iPhone GUI PSD holding off updating the Photoshop file, Apple’s SDK is amazing, but when we need to mock up something quickly for a pitch we turn to this.

Some of the changes and additions in the 3.0 PSD include:
• Map and map elements including curl
• Copy and paste elements
• Timeline bar editor
• Horizontal iPhone
• Horizontal Panels bars and keyboards

China: Wi-Fi-free iPhone Officially Lands!

It could be the Year of the iPhone in China, as Apple officially started selling its iconic smartphone in the world's largest mobile market Friday night.

While China saw nothing near the frenzy of the first iPhone launch day here in the U.S., crowds there did honor the tradition of lining up for the phone many hours in advance at several locations. A few hundred people queued up in the rain and cold outside The Place shopping center in Beijing, for example. There, Zhi Xianzhong became the first person to get the iPhone from Apple partner China Unicom after waiting 7 hours and 40 minutes, according to China Daily.

As expected, China Unicom, the country's second largest telecom operator after China Mobile, is selling two versions of the iPhone in China under a three-year deal with Apple. But cost could prove to be a deterrent. Prices range from 4,999 yuan (about $732) for the 8GB 3G model to 6,999 yuan (about $1,025) for the 32GB 3GS phone (sans contract).

Free iPhone App: Turns Your iPhone Into A Halloween Scream Machine

OT: The Halloween Scream Machine (App Store link) is a free iPhone app for Halloween.
It plays back creepy sounds and soundtracks, and it also lets you record and play back custom samples.

Free iPhone Apps to Make Money More Easily Thanks to Apple

Apple said Thursday that it will let iPhone application developers offer their users the option to buy additional content or features within a free app on its App Store.

App developers said they received an email notice from Apple informing them that the in-app purchase feature was now available for free apps and that it would “simplify your development by creating a single version of your app that uses in App Purchase to unlock additional functionality, eliminating the need to create Lite versions of your app.” A spokeswoman for Apple confirmed the news.

The in-app purchase feature, which was first introduced in March, allows developers to offer fresh content for purchase within an app such as new levels in a game, additional books in an e-book app, or expanded capability in productivity apps. The caveat, however, was that the feature was only available for paid apps, which meant that developers had to charge at least 99 cents.

Developers say that the latest announcement helps in two ways. First, it makes it much easier for them to make a business out of free apps. Until now, developers sold ads within their free apps or tried to convert users to a paid version with more content.

Start Your Car from Anywhere with Viper SmartStart iPhone App

t is probably a safe bet to assume anyone with a car and an iPhone has said, “man, I wish this thing could start my car.” Maybe you’ve been walking to your car on a frigid night or a scorching day, but you’ve wondered about it, haven’t you? Maybe you remember this early post from your favorite remote control blog. Viper, a leader in car security and remote starters, must have been paying attention — because they just turned that spoof into reality with Viper SmartStart for the iPhone.

SmartStart is a free iPhone app that allows you to start your car from basically anywhere via your wireless service. Now hold your horses (or Vipers) — it’s not just going to magically start your car. There is the $300 Viper SmartStart Module that you are going to have to have professionally installed in your car, as well as an annual $30 subscription to get that gear on the cell network. The first year of the service is free, so I suppose that helps. Kind of reminds me of OnStar.

Pricing aside, the SmartStart system seems pretty cool. It’s certainly the most impressive remote start system I’ve seen. First, the app can be used to start any of your cars that have the module installed — which has to be pretty helpful for car collectors and large families. You can also unlock any of your cars — from anywhere — which would definitely come in handy if you were to, say, locking yourself out of the car when you are away from home.

eBay Made $400 Million This Year From Its Free iPhone App

According to eBay CEO John Donahoe, shoppers have already spent about $400 million on the popular commerce site using the company’s free iPhone application.

The number pales in comparison with eBay’s total sales figure ($59.7 billion last year), but it’s fairly significant considering the fact that the iPhone has a relatively small market share – about 15% of the smartphone segment – and mobile payment transactions are still new to many. Who would have predicted around half a billion dollar in sales a year would be recorded through the eBay iPhone app when it debuted on the App Store last year?

According to this report by the Financial Times, some wealthy people have used the mobile app to buy a Lamborghini, a Bentley and a $150,000 boat. And if Mobile Marketer heard Donahoe right when he talked numbers at a summit in Las Vegas, the Lamborghini went for $350,000. Talk about being at ease with making purchases from mobile devices.

Most likely, these are the high-profile exceptions to the rule and most people use the app to buy books, clothing and electronics much like regular eBay shoppers do. In total, approximately 4.6 million iPhone owners have downloaded and installed the app to date.

Win a free iPhone business app worth £5,000

The iPhone has taken the business world by storm. And as more and more business iPhone apps hit the Apple app store, Real Business brings you an exclusive offer: a free iPhone app, developed bespoke for your company.
Real Business has teamed up with smartphone app developers Mubaloo to offer one lucky reader a unique iPhone app for their business. There's no catch. All you have to do is dream up your ideal business app, describe it in 200 words or less, and the lovely people at Mubaloo will choose the winning entry and create the app - FREE.
If you want to give your business a boost, give some thought to an app that could drive users to your website, extend your brand or simply bring in some much-needed cash. You never know, your app could get made.
For every business, there is an iPhone app. What's yours?
To enter, go to the Mubaloo/Real Business competition page.

How to make $900+ a day with Free iPhone Apps

Some free iPhone apps rake in far more revenue than their paid counterparts. Take Inedible Software’s Shotgun, a free app that lets you load and fire a virtual shotgun by tilting your device accordingly, sort of like you’d wield the real thing. Thanks to in-game ads, this app rakes in $900+ in daily revenue, none of which is shared with Apple. While Shotgun fights for shelf space and your attention in the App Store alongside thousands of other free iPhone apps, it pairs the concept of free with an eyebrow-raising idea to raise above the mediocrity of junky $0.99 offerings.

Developers are taking notice of ad-supported apps.

Drawing from the nation’s obsession with guns, the app reproduces the loading and firing sounds of a shotgun. The twist: the app taps the iPhone’s accelerometer sensor to simulate the loading and firing. For example, in order to cock the on-screen shotgun, hold your device vertically and tilt it rapidly down then up. Do this right and you’ll hear a recognizable sound of a shell being chambered. From there, simply align your device horizontally and tilt it up sharply to fire the gun. That’s all there is to it, really.

Unlike most entertainment apps fitting a similar description, such as fart machines and steam generators, Shotgun is provided free of charge in exchange for putting up with small 300×50 pixel adds that rotate at the UI bottom, courtesy of the Palo Alto startup dubbed MobClix. Hailed as the largest mobile ad exchange network, MobClix connects iPhone developers to thousands of advertisers who buy ad slots in mobile apps.

Free The iPhone! Latest iPhone Version Gets Jailbreaked Again

Apple's hardware team can't seem to keep their close platform closed

Apple has a big headache. That headache is iPhone unlockers and jailbreakers. With iPhone jailbreaking, the powerful handsets are no longer constrained to only run the apps that Apple allows. And with unlocking, users can jump onto other networks, leaving Apple's partner AT&T and its patchy 3G network behind.

Apple has long and unsuccessfully waged war with the unlockers. It has tried to brick their iPhones. It has tried to release new firmware versions to try to lock them out. But ultimately, time and time again, Apple's best hardware and software engineers are finding themselves outwitted and befuddled by the persistent hackers.

Leading the crew is George Hotz, a 20-year-old New Jersey native who goes by the aliases geohot, million75, or mil online. When he was just a teen, he became the first to develop a procedure to jailbreak the iPhone allowing its use on other networks. The move netted him a hot car, extra iPhones, money, and fame. Now slightly older and a month out of his teenage years, Hotz continues to be among the most prolific iPhone unlockers, consistently outsmarting Apple.

Now Hotz has released his latest masterpiece, blacksn0w, a free unlocking utility that works with the latest iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS hardware (the latest 05.11.07 baseband, which locked out previous hacks). The unlock works with a new version of Hotz's popular purplera1n jailbreak hack, dubbed blackra1n. Together the hacks can both free the phone from the AT&T network and Apple's app restrictions.

Jailbroken iPhones Get Rickrolled by Worm

Worm is first known iPhone worm, originated in Australia, may be spreading overseas

Rick Astley, an English singer-songwriter and musician, first became famous for his 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up". The music industry in the 1990s gave up on Astley, but Astley didn't give up on it. He managed to recapture attention in 2007 thanks to one of the most infamous viral video crazes. Links popped up all around the internet to Astley's hit and the term "rickrolling", originally referring to tricking people into watching the video, became a common colloquialism.

Now an internet worm is achieving what Apple has been unable to do -- punish those with jailbroken iPhones (phones freed of Apple's app restrictions). Sophos, a leading security firm, appears to be the first to have investigated the amusing virus. The virus, which "rickrolls" users, changing their wallpaper to an image of Rick Astley. It appears to do little else other than spreading to other jailbroken iPhones in the user's contact list.

The worm can infect any jailbroken iPhone with SSH installed and an unchanged default password. The password on jailbroken iPhones defaults to "alpine". Users can change this by installing the MobileTerminal app, available from the Cydia undergound app store, and typing the command passwd.

Adobe Gets Aggressive With iPhone Flash Failure Message

Company hopes that Apple's customers will voice their frustrations and demand Flash

Adobe's Flash supports a large portion of the internet's rich content. And it will soon be coming to almost all smart phones, opening a world of internet possibilities. All the smart phones, that is, except one of the most popular smart phones on the market -- Apple's iPhone.

Apple remains cold and aloof about the topic of Flash. While the iPhone could easily support hardware-accelerated Flash, CEO Steve Jobs has stated in interviews that Flash is irrelevant and not something that iPhone customers have demanded. He insists the iPhone is the perfect internet phone -- even if it can't run Flash.

Adobe seems to be hoping to push Apple's customers to demand the feature with a new humorously passive aggressive browser failure message.

On the iPhone customers trying to use Flash now get a message stating:

Apple restricts the use of technologies required by products like Flash Player. Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Before the message merely read:

To view this content upgrade your browser and flash plug-in.

Will the new message inspire users to complain to Apple, or will it merely annoy iPhone users, making Adobe look bad? It should be interesting to see how Apple's customers react to the new, more pointed error message.

Shazam Limits Free iPhone App, Adds $5 App

Shazam, which names songs by listening to a clip that’s playing on the radio or stereo, is one of the most popular cellphone applications to date — and one of the rare few to turn a profit. It’s been downloaded more than 10 million times and has sold out its inventory of advertising space, according to maker Shazam Entertainment. After listening to and identifying the song that’s playing, Shazam also links to iTunes, taking a cut from the fee people pay to download songs from Apple.

However, Shazam says it makes most of its money by selling the app to paying customers, such as on BlackBerry smart phones or through deals with carriers such as Verizon , chief executive Andrew Fisher said.

“When we started, we charged for the product,” he said, adding that the free iPhone version was a “departure.”

Shazam had hoped that mobile advertising and iTunes downloads would sustain the free app, but with the recession, that has not happened. The company is now fixing that detour by tacking on a $5 charge (like all paid app downloads from its App Store, Apple keeps 30% of the charge). Mr. Fisher says mobile advertising was one of the first victims of the recession, and he doesn’t expect ad rates to bounce to levels to sustain free apps for at least two years.

A free version of Shazam will still remain on the iPhone, but it will only name up to five songs a month. To get more, customers will have to cough up for the premium edition. Existing Shazam users, however, can keep using their free, unlimited versions.

“Historically, people have been conditioned to pay for applications,” Mr. Fisher said. He said he doesn’t know how many people will download the premium version. It adds music recommendations, top-hits charts and a search feature to look up a song by name or artist.

iPhone App Developer Quits The Facebook App Project

“My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple’s policies.” – Joe Hewitt

In the early days of social networking, the dominant player was MySpace. As time went by, MySpace was joined by other players like Facebook and Twitter. MySpace has since lost the top position in the social networking world to Facebook.

In October, traffic numbers for September 2009 for social networking sites came in and Facebook had over 300 million users, pushing MySpace to second place in user numbers. One of the things that Facebook users on the iPhone enjoy and that contributed to the user numbers is the Facebook iPhone app, which is the most popular app on the App Store.

The developer that built the Facebook app for the iPhone has quit development for the iPhone and passed the app off to another engineer at Facebook. TechCrunch reports that Facebook App developer Joe Hewitt is still at Facebook and is simply working on new projects.

Exactly what projects the Hewitt is working on are unknown. As for the reason why the developer stopped developing for the iPhone, the reason is clear. Hewitt said, "My decision to stop iPhone development has had everything to do with Apple’s policies." Hewitt says that he is "philosophically opposed" to the existence of a review process and that he is worried Apple's policy might be implemented by other companies seeking to mimic Apple's App store success.

Apple has been under increasing scrutiny for its practices of approving and disapproving apps that are seemingly haphazardly enforced. Apple has found itself in hot water with the FCC after the FCC asked AT&T and Apple to explain why they rejected Google Voice from the App Store.

Dropbox Launches Free iPhone App

Dropbox released a free iPhone app! The app is of course free, and offers access to your Dropbox while you’re on-the-go. Access, view and download your files right from your iPhone for offline viewing. Take new photos or videos and sync them to your Dropbox… Or even share links to files in your Dropbox, all from the convenience of your iPhone.

In case you’ve never heard of Dropbox before, here’s the official skinny:

Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers.

Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.

Free iPhone App Detects Bad Breath

Though OraBrush doesn't say exactly how its app detects bad breath, this piece of software will definitely be a conversation piece when out with friends. Plus, you can "easily post the hilarious responses of any breath test on Facebook or Twitter for other friends to enjoy." Video after the break.

New iPhone Worm is Very Malicious

Jailbroken iPhone users with SSH and a default password are the target

The iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market. By most accounts, the iPhone is the most likely of all smartphones to be used on the internet to access files on the go. There are also a growing number of iPhone users who are jailbreaking the devices to use unauthorized Apple software or to use the devices on other carrier networks.

Over the last few weeks, a worm targeted specifically at iPhones which are jailbroken and have SSH installed with the default password was found. The original worm was nothing more than an irritation and would change the background image of the iPhone to a picture of washed up pop star Rick Astley. Embarrassing for sure, but hardly what most would consider malicious.

A similar worm targeting jailbroken iPhones with SSH and the default password -- alpine -- is making its rounds in the Netherlands. The new worm is different from the first in that the latest is clearly malicious and has a financial motive behind it for the worm maker. BBC News reports that security firm F-Secure discovered the worm and that it targets users of Dutch online bank ING. The worm infects the iPhone and redirects the user to a fake login page.

Mikko Hypponen from F-Secure told BBC News, "It's the second iPhone worm ever and the first that's clearly malicious - there's a clear financial motive behind it."

iPhone 3G Speeds Tested & Compared, City by City

As wireless users know all too well, not all 3G networks are created equal. PC World recently put Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T to a multi-city test to determine which best delivers speed and reliability.

The magazine took a snapshot of the performance of those three major networks in 13 markets during March and early April (specifically, 5443 individual tests from 283 testing locations). Weather, time of day, and other variable factors not withstanding, the magazine found that Verizon had an average download speed of 951 kbps, and produced uninterrupted speeds in 89.8 percent of tests.

For its part, Sprint's 3G network delivered solid connections in 90.5 percent of cities tested, with average download speeds of 808 kbps across 13 cities, while the AT&T network's average download speed clocked in at 812 kbps. But where reliability was concerned, AT&T delivered only 68 percent of the time.

Using Twitter, Find Free iPhone Apps Which Were Paid

Twitter and the iPhone. They’re both pretty love-it-or-hate-it subjects — but put them together in the right way, and they’re wonderful.

Because everyone loves getting stuff for free that they’d normally have to pay for, 148Apps has thrown together a Twitterbot that monitors for premium apps that have dropped down to the gratis zone. Sure, they’re not always the best apps the store has to offer - but they’re free apps you’d otherwise have to pay for, and they’re finding dozens a day. What have you got to lose?

How to Make a free iPhone Ringtone from a Song

If you have a song that you want to turn into a ringtone, there's no need to shell out money for something you've paid for already. Making a free iPhone ringtone from a song just takes a few simple steps to complete.
These steps have been tested with iTunes 8.2.0.23 on an iPhone 3GS. If you are having trouble getting a song to show up on your iPhone after converting it to a ringtone and syncing, it might have DRM. These steps only work on songs not protected by DRM.
How to make a free iPhone ringtone from a song in iTunes

1. Locate the song you want to convert in iTunes.
2. Right click the song and choose Get Info.
3. Click on the Options tab.
4. Right down the Stop Time or copy it to the clipboard and paste it in notepad.
5. You'll have to modify the Start Time and Stop Time to choose only a 30 second (or less) clip for your ringtone. If you just want the first 30 seconds, just type "0:30" in the Stop Time. Make sure both are checked. Click OK when done.
6. Right click the song and choose Create ACC Version. You'll see it create a new song with the same name and a Time of 30 seconds.
7. Now, before you forget about it, right click the original song and reset the Start Time and Stop Time back to what it originally set to.
8. This is where it gets tricky. You will need to browse to your music folder. In Vista, this is as simple as clicking the Computer icon and choosing Music. In Windows XP, it is the My Music folder under My Documents. From here, you'll need to go into iTunes and iTunes Music and then browse to the particular song. These folders are arranged by artist and then album, so it should be easy to find.
9. Once you locate the song file, you'll need to figure out which version is correct. Hover the mouse pointer over the song and you'll see the size of the files. The one that is much smaller is the newly created file. (Remember, 934 KB is smaller than 2.54 MB.)
10. You need to copy this file to your desktop. You can do this by dragging it to the desktop, or by right clicking the file and choosing copy then right clicking the desktop and choosing paste.
11. Once it is on your desktop, go back to iTunes and delete the newly created song.
12. Now we need to set the right extension, so right click the file, choose rename and change the extension from ".m4a" to ".m4r".
13. To get it into iTunes, you should be able to just double click on the file. If that doesn't work, just drag it to where it says "Library" on the right menu in iTunes. If you don't already have a Ringtones section, it will create one at this time.
14. Once you verify it is in iTunes, you can delete the file from your desktop.
15. The last step is to sync your iPhone. Clcik on your iPhone under Devices, choose the Ringtones tab and either sync all ringtones or make sure the new ringtone has a check mark next to it if you sync only selected ringtones. Hit sync, and you are done.

Having trouble getting a song to convert? The most common problem is that the iTunes import settings aren't set to use the ACC Encoder. Got to Edit->Preferences in iTunes and on the first (general) tab click on Import Settings. Make sure it says Import Using ACC Encoder and then click OK.
If you are still having problems, try a different song. As I mentioned above, some songs, especially those with DRM, simply won't convert to a ringtone.

30 Best Free iPhone Photo & Video Applications

Editing, enhancing or having fun with photos in your iPhone is not a dream anymore as the latest 3Gs iPhone is now furnished with an auto-focus mechanism taking 3 megapixel images. A look around the internet will show you rather decent photos taken by iPhone as people quit printing photos – who will when with a few taps, they can share theirs instantly.
Plenty of photography apps are available for that cause, be it subtle enhancements or quirky modifications – It’s time to put your new iPhone on play and show off to your friends! In this article, we put together 20 Free Photography Apps and recommendation of some good paid apps. On top of that, we’ve also included 10 best Free Video Applications. Free apps after jump.

Photography Apps

Free Photo Filters
Free photo filters app provides filters include Lomography Filter, Poloarizing Filter, Black and White Filter, Retro Effect Filter and more.
SP Photo Fix Lite
You can fix your photo (brightness, contrast, sharpness, hue, saturation) before sending it by email directly on your iPhone.

PhotoBox
PhotoBox is the all in one solution for the weekend warrior photographer, giving you a large range of photo filters and effects.

Free iPhone Music - Only if Spotify is Allowed on the AppStore

"If Spotify has its way, iPhone owners will no longer be slaves to iTunes, song-by-song payments or finite disk capacity," Adam Taylor reports for TIME Magazine.

"Last week the Swedish company behind Spotify's streaming music provider announced plans to release a free iPhone application that will let users listen to songs played directly off of its online service, with no need to download," Taylor reports. "That would give iPhone users instant access to any of Spotify's 6 million songs, without taking up precious memory space — way more than the maximum 7,000 tracks that a 32GB iPhone can hold."

Taylor reports, "Songs can also be temporarily stored, or cached, ready to play during those moments when web connection drops, like when you're going through a tunnel or underground. Spotify's new application could change the way iPhone users listen to music. But first, it has to get the okay from Apple."

"Spotify's new application won't be available to everyone, only those who opt for the premium service, which costs $15 a month for unlimited streams... access to pre-releases and better audio quality than the free service, which forces users to listen to ads after every few songs," Taylor reports. "Spotify hopes to have its new application available on the iPhone within the next few weeks. The trick is getting Apple to approve an application that some observers see as a potential challenger to Apple's own iTunes."

Guess Infinite Dreams's Next Game, Win a Free iPhone 3GS

It's a fairly shameless marketing ploy, but we're biting because the developer of the awesome N-Gage game Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep is also giving away an iPhone 3GS, and that's the kind of bait we like to chase.

The developer is gearing up to launch its second iPhone game, but instead of just announcing it Infinite Dreams is asking you to guess what it's going to be.

A series of five YouTube videos are planned that will lay down a trail of breadcrumbs leading to the answer. You're being invited to check out these teaser trailers (a new one will be posted every two days) and tell Infinite Dreams what it's planning in a few short words.

The first clip is below, and is cryptic enough to ensure this one alone is unlikely to furnish us with an accurate guess. Keep checking in on the developer's official YouTube channel and contest page for the others. Don't miss any, or you might miss out on that shiny new 3GS.

iPhone Does Not Make Phone Carriers Any Real Money

The iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the market today and the device that most new smartphones look to fight in the market. It seems that almost every new smartphone that hits the market is hailed as an iPhone killer but so far, only the Palm Pre has come close.

InformationWeek reports that the iPhone is a loss leader for every carrier who sells it worldwide. According to new figures from Danish research firm Strand Consult, it was unable to find any carrier who increased profits with the iPhone.

Strand consult wrote in a report, "According to the research we have conducted on the operators, not one of these has increased their market share, revenue, or their earnings as a result of introducing the iPhone. When looking at the numbers we can't see the iPhone effect -- a lot of competitors are actually doing better."

AT&T, the exclusive iPhone provider in America, is a perfect example of what Strand Consult is claiming. According to the research firm, AT&T has spent $720 million in the last quarter to subsidize the iPhone on its network. Over the same quarter, AT&T added 1.4 million wireless subscribers, about two-thirds of which opted for the iPhone.

Providers like AT&T aren’t making huge sums of money on the iPhone, what they are hoping is that the device lures customers away from other carriers and they can make money off lucrative data plans in the future.

Why are iPhone Apps Rejected by the App Store? Here is Why...

After rejections, one Apple executive is trying hard to win customers -- and developers -- back

Apple's app store practices have bordered on schizophrenia, with it frequently accepting applications only to later reject them and rejecting others only to later accept them. Worse yet, frequently rejections seem to follow no consistent pattern, with some apps being rejected for containing some sort of forbidden content, while others with that same content get accepted.

These inconsistencies have led to customers growing dissatisfied with the iPhone -- or in some cases even leaving it. They have also led to a growing discontent among developers, some of whom have also jumped ship. And it has even brought down a government investigation concerning Apple's role in rejecting the Google Voice app.

However, there is one man who hopes to fix the system. Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller is trying to right the iPhone App Store and is personally taking a hand in trying to win back customers, developers, and placate government investigators.

How Many 'Very Satisfied' iPhone 3GS customers? 92%

A new survey reports that the iPhone 3GS has been successful due to the fact that the iPhone continues to be innovative and its customers have stayed loyal to its manufacturing company, Apple.

According to the survey which was conducted by the BC/IQ ChangeWave polling company, over 99% of iPhone customers said that they were ‘satisfied’ with their mobiles and an additional 92% reported they were ‘very satisfied’ with their iPhone 3GS mobiles.

Among the most appreciated features on the iPhone was ease of use for third party applications and its touch screen interface.

The negative reported features of the iPhone include its short battery life, the exclusive contract with AT&T as a network provider, and the lack of support in users’ IT departments for the iPhone.

The survey also found that 41% of the people who purchased the iPhone 3GS previously owned the prior model.

Those who purchased the iPhone 3GS for the first time split down the line with 18% switching from a Motorola device, 11% from a Nokia mobile, 6% from a Palm mobile, and 8% from a Sanyo mobile.

Streaming NBA Games Available For iPhone, Android Phones

Apple iPhone and Google Android phone owners can now watch live NBA games

The National Basketball Association is now offering mobile phone owners the ability to watch entire live games for $40 per year.

Just a few games into the 2009-2010 NBA season, this is the first time entire games are available for streaming -- only game highlights were previously available through an official service.

There are now three methods to watch complete games in the NBA: via TV, PC, or now using a mobile phone. Initial estimates report 59M mobile phone owners have the ability to watch streaming NBA games using their mobile phones.

The coverage is available through AT&T and T-Mobile, with Verizon Wireless beginning service on November 6. Apple iPhone and Google Android phone owners have access to the streaming feature now, but RIM BlackBerry owners are expected to have streaming NBA coverage at some point in the near future.

Mobile subscribers can watch 40 live games each week while accessing game statistics and game replays. In addition, it's possible to record 30-second video clips that can be watched up to 48 hours after the game ends.