AT&T says multimedia messaging for iPhones will go live September 25th
[Correction: This post originally and incorrectly implied that AT&T does not have MMS support for other phones already.]
AT&T has officially declared that MMS (multimedia messaging) service for the iPhone will begin on the 25th of this month. iPhone owners will finally finally finally be able… Continue Reading
Rhapsody to hit the iPhone — nice, but too expensive
Rhapsody is the latest music application hoping to get approved for the iPhone, offering a way to select any song to play from a catalog of more than 8 million tracks.
If it does get approved, it will be the first significant subscription-based music service that… Continue Reading
Using AdSense to cash in on the iPhone
It was only a matter of time, I suppose. Google, to no one’s real surprise, has tied its AdSense cash machine to the mobile applications market.
As downloadable applications proliferate for Apple’s iPhone and the Android platform, the web-behemoth is expanding its field-testing for the program… Continue Reading
iPhone breaks another barrier: Lets you deposit checks with its camera
A mid-sized bank, USAA, has become the first bank to let you snap a picture of a check with your iPhone and automatically deposit it once you hit the send button (demo in video below).
This is the sort of beautiful simplicity we’ve long waited for… Continue Reading
Augmented reality transit app adds MUNI, bus stops for SF
British iPhone application developer Acrossair is launching an augmented reality transit-finding app for San Francisco as soon as Apple releases a newer version of its iPhone OS in early September. Augmented reality is a nascent field that lets you superimpose graphics or information over a… Continue Reading
First glimpse at Spotify’s iPhone app: easy mobile streaming to rival iTunes?
Spotify, the Swedish streaming music startup which has racked up more than 6 million users in Europe, has released a first glimpse at its much-awaited iPhone application. Spotify’s mobile efforts have been talked about as a potential iTunes killer, or even a rival to piracy,… Continue Reading
Google finally adds Latitude to iPhone, but as a toothless web app
Commence geostalking on the iPhone.
Google added Latitude to Apple’s smartphone today, but it’s on the web instead of in the app store. Latitude, which came out in February, is a social layer over maps that shows your location in real-time. Google said it chose the… Continue Reading
MeetMe iPhone app solves pesky problem of finding a meeting point
Finding an appropriate and convenient place to meet a business partner, friend or stranger can get pretty time-consuming. Ann Arbor-based iPhone application publisher Basara is trying to solve that problem with Meetme. It’s a fairly simple solution: the app combines Google Maps with Yelp recommendations… Continue Reading
VCs pass $100M in iPhone funding
Among companies developing solely for the iPhone, social network startups have drawn more VC investment money than games, according to startup investment tracker Chubby Brain’s latest set of charts. Listing 22 rounds of funding for 17 companies, Chubby accounted for over $100 million in investments, with… Continue Reading
Apple PR confirms: Hottest Girls app was removed
On Thursday morning, developer Allen Leung’s Hottest Girls iPhone app, a $1.99 download that showed pictures of Asian women in lingerie, began displaying topless models. I’m from California, so whatever, but the app seemed to fly in the face of Apple’s stated no-porn policy.
Within a… Continue Reading
Taptu app searches for “iPhone-friendly content”
Search applications for mobile phones don’t need to emulate their computer-desktop counterparts. Yahoo oneSearch deliberately returns results different from the company’s website, based on Yahoo’s research that found customers searching from a phone tended to be looking for a narrow set of items — phone… Continue Reading
Sirius XM iPhone app offers free 7-day trial
Satellite radio seems to be something people either fall in love with, or can’t understand why anyone would. I’ve been a loyal XM listener for years. To my surprise, XM’s merger with Sirius didn’t wipe out my favorite channels.
Now, I’ve got the music device I… Continue Reading
iPhone tethering instructions are easy
Apple’s new iPhone 3G S is a huge hit, but it has one frustrating restriction: AT&T doesn’t support “tethering” the phone to a laptop for use as a cellular modem. But Cleve Nettles at 9 to 5 Mac has solved the dilemma. He’s posted a… Continue Reading
Apple stores to open at 7 am Friday for new iPhone
Eight o’clock isn’t soon enough. Apple retail outlets will be open at the bleary hour of 7 o’clock to begin processing the lines of iPhone buyers who just can”t wait. Hopefully, Apple has the phone activation process ironed out by now, so edgy buyers won’t… Continue Reading
First iPhone 3G S video: The auto-focus is cool
Attention iPhone fans: While you’re installing the 3.0 software, watch the clip below. The video was shot with a new iPhone 3G S, which has improved what was already an exceptional camera for a mobile phone.
In this clip, the auto-focus is surprisingly good at keeping… Continue Reading
YouMail’s free iPhone app adds to Apple’s voicemail
Apple’s built-in voicemail app gets raves for allowing users to pick and choose messages from a list, like email rather than being forced to listen to them in order like a 1980’s tape-cassette answering machine. But there are extra steps still to be taken to… Continue Reading
iPhone, iPod touch users hit the Net from their handsets more than a computer
The latest report from AdMob and comScore won’t shock you, but it might make you rethink your priorities. Forty percent of iPhone and iPod touch users access the Internet more from their little best friend than they do from a computer.
Here are the highlights of… Continue Reading
iPhone app roundup: Myst, Isotope, Email and Walk
We now get so many iPhone app announcements that doing a post on each one would turn VentureBeat into AppBeat. So I’m going to bundle a few of the more interesting ones together into roundup posts. I’m into the business opportunities of iPhone apps, rather… Continue Reading
Has the Palm Pre already beaten the iPhone?
The Palm Pre is a tad young to threaten the established and massively popular iPhone. But some Silicon Valley developers are saying the Pre’s operating system is far better to develop on.
If that’s true, it raises significant questions about the balance of power in the… Continue Reading
iPhone guts exposed, analyzed
The guts of Apple’s newest gadgets are usually the subject of great scrutiny, largely because they push the technological limit on what is possible in cramming a computer into a phone.
Today, the latest guts have spilled out of the new Apple phone for the world… Continue Reading