Tag Archives | Apple. iPhone

Personal Hotspot Coming to AT&T iPhone 4

Posted by Ed Oswald on March 3, 2011 at 10:47 am

AT&T confirmed Thursday that it would indeed bring the Personal Hotspot feature included in iOS 4.3 to its iPhone 4 customers. Verizon customers got to enjoy this feature at the launch of the device last month, for a $20 extra charge above the regular data plan.

Verizon users get 2GB of data to use for tethering: AT&T will also give its own users 2GB for the same price. In both cases, the data used in tethering applications is separate from the data used on the phone itself — meaning if you go over on either, you’ll be socked with overage charges in either case.

At least AT&T finally realized it’s not right to take your tethering data out of your regular data plan, yet still charge you an additional fee. Maybe it’s just me, but that seemed like highway robbery. In any case, AT&T’s announcement is sure to begin the debate on whether or not the user has a right to use the data they pay for in the manner they want.

[UPDATE: AT&T has contacted us to clarify: “AT&T counts data used in tethering applications and data used on the phone together,” spokesperson Steve Kerns told us. “So a 2GB tethering plan and a 2GB phone data plan would provide 4GB of data that customers can use on the phone or through hotspot use.”]

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Verizon's iPhone Honeymoon Ends: Tiered Data Plans This Summer

Posted by Ed Oswald on March 1, 2011 at 8:03 pm

As expected, Verizon will phase out the unlimited data plans currently available to iPhone customers, instead opting for a tiered data plan structure. The change will come around the time of the new iPhone on the carrier, expected this summer. The comments were made by Verizon chief financial officer Fran Shammo at a tech investor conference sponsored by Morgan Stanley.

Interestingly enough, Shammo did not mince words when she spoke about the introduction of a new iPhone model. Verizon fully expects a backlash from customers under contract with an iPhone model that was made obsolete within months of its release. In addition, the new iPhone wouldn’t be financially beneficial to the carrier: margins would be much less.

Call me crazy, but isn’t this a good reason why Verizon should have just waited a few months to prevent pissed-off customers? Then again, I guess they must have seen something in their customer base that told them the benefits of releasing the phone outweighed the negatives–and certainly what we’ve seen from actual numbers show that there was definitely a pent-up demand for Apple’s iconic device.

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The Chances are 14 Percent That You're Reading This on a Portable Device

Posted by Harry McCracken on March 1, 2011 at 10:40 am

Yesterday, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler reported on the operating systems  used by visitors to that site. It currently breaks down like this:

Windows: 53.84%

Mac: 27.64%

iPhone: 6.72%

iPad: 3.47%

Linux: 3.28%

Android: 3.06%

iPod: .62%

MG also included historical data, and his main point is that if the trend continues, the majority of TechCrunch visitors will visit the site using an Apple device–Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad–within a couple of years.

As usual when I read numbers of these sorts, I rushed off and looked at equivalent stats for Technologizer. Here’s February 2011…

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Since When is One Million Phones Sold Bad? When You're Verizon

Posted by Ed Oswald on March 1, 2011 at 12:18 am

I’m amazed with some in the tech blogosphere who consistently harp on Verizon for its “poor” sales of the iPhone 4, even as the company disclosed over the weekend that over one million units had been sold. Quite a bit of bloviating occurred in the hours and days after the launch occurred, as the anticipated iLines never occurred.

Verizon Wireless chief Dan Mead noted that six in ten iPhones were preordered, a possible explanation for the light lines. Add to this that the iPhone 4 is now an aging device–eight months old–and the carrier’s numbers seem respectable.

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iPhone Meets the BBQ; Hermetically Seal Gizmos

Posted by Steve Bass on February 26, 2011 at 5:29 pm

You’re out there, wondering if I had any more CES products in the wings. (Actually, I just LOLed, thinking that maybe you’re not.)

It doesn’t matter, I still have some particularly juicy products to tell you about. And here are two more.

iPhone Meets the BBQ

Watch the roast with your iGrill

Have $100 to burn? (Gawd, I certainly don’t.) If you do, splurge on iGrill‘s fancy probe. It’s another thing specially designed for Apple aficionados.

Stick the iGrill’s probe into a leg of lamb, toss it on the barbecue, turn on your iPhone, and snap open another Anchor Steam. A connection’s made using Bluetooth between the iGrill and your choice of iGizmo — an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. You’ll be alerted when the roast’s done, or, I imagine, overdone, if you’re not paying attention.

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Win Tapper World Tour–and an iPod Touch to Play It on

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 25, 2011 at 9:53 am

Tempest. Tapper. Rampage. Popeye. Dig Dug. Those are my five favorite classic arcade games, and I’m really not sure what order I’d rank them in. Tempest would probably come out on top–but Tapper would have a shot, too.

Tapper debuted in 1983 and existed in two versions. In one, you played the part of a bartender who served Budweiser beer, in an early example of product placement in games. The other edition was Root Beer Tapper–shown above–in which you were a soda jerk serving non-alcoholic refreshments. The gameplay was identical: You ran around tapping beverages and flinging them down counters at hordes of impatient customers in various settings. It was twitchy good fun, the graphics and sound were excellent for their day, and I know that the game has held up well–I played it, repeatedly, just a few months ago at the amazing California Extreme arcade mega-event.

And now there’s Tapper World Tour, a new version for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad from Warner Bros. and Square One. You may not be surprised to learn that the graphics are more ambitious this time around, and you serve drinks in a lot more settings. But the basic drink-flinging gameplay looks like it’s come into the modern era intact, as it should:

Lovers of 1980s gaming have another reason to be interested in this revival: Its graphics were designed by Don Bluth, whose animation studio produced the animation for Dragon’s Lair (1983) and Space Ace (1984), two games which used laserdiscs to provide astoundingly rich animation and audio for their era.

Interested in playing the new Tapper? It’s scheduled to show up on the iOS App Store in early spring. And courtesy of Warner Bros. and Square One, you have a chance at a free copy–and an 8GB iPod Touch to play it on. We’ll be giving an iPod Touch with Tapper World Tour preinstalled to one lucky winner.

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LifeProof: A Really, Really Protective iPhone Case

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 24, 2011 at 3:15 pm

The most memorable demo here at Launch was for a product category which you might not think could inspire a memorable demo: a new iPhone case. A guy in a magician-like tux strode on stage to the strains of classical music, took an iPhone that belonged to a judge, put it in a case from a startup called LifeProof, dropped it repeatedly, squirted it with ketchup and mustard, doused it in dirt, then dumped it into an aquarium. Thanks to the case, the phone appeared to take the licking and keep on ticking. The presentation also included a video clip shot by an iPhone 4–an iPhone 4 that was being used underwater.

Durable phone cases are nothing new–hello, OtterBox!–but I don’t know of another one which resists shock, water, and other hazards while looking pretty much like a nicely-designed-but-otherwise-garden-variety iPhone case. (The most noticeable signs that LifeProof atypical: There’s a little plug that protects the headphone jack, and a flip-down cover on the dock connector.) LifeProof is thin, weighs an ounce, and lets you use the iPhone without removing it from the case or otherwise going through a bit of hassle.

The company is also doing an iPad case and one for the iPhone 3G and 3GS, and says that it’s working on versions for Android and BlackBerry phones.

I like the LifeProof concept–I’m enough of a butterfingers that I’d consider using one simply to protect my phone from Diet Coke spills, tumbles onto the pavement outside my car, and other hazards of suburban life. The price, however, feels a tad steep: The iPhone 4 version goes for $69.95, or roughly $40 more than a plain-vanilla iPhone case. (Then again, I’ve spent $50 on protective computer cases that are nowhere near as protective as LifeProof.) Are you tempted?

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Now Readability is in Trouble With Apple

Posted by Harry McCracken on February 21, 2011 at 9:26 am

Readability, the cool minimalist reading interface for Web content, is built into Apple’s Safari. And its creators were planning to bring a version to the iPhone and iPad. But Apple has rejected the iOS version on the grounds that that it uses a system other than Apple’s In-App Purchases to obtain content. Even though Readability isn’t selling content–it’s a subscription service that lets you read free content provided by others. Bottom line: It looks like Apple expects anyone with an iPhone/iPad app that involves ongoing fees to (A) offer In-App Purchases; and (B) turn 30 percent of revenue from In-App Purchases over to Apple.

It’s increasingly clear that we really don’t know yet what the upshot of Apple’s new 30-percent-fee will be: There are many cases where the math just doesn’t work. Maybe Apple will reduce or rescind the fee, at least in certain cases. Maybe third-party developers will radically rework their business models, or somehow convince book publishers and music companies to take a much smaller cut. But something big is going to happen in between now and June 30th, the deadline for amending apps to follow the new rules.

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