The iPhone has been good to AT&T, and the most recent quarter shows why. AT&T (NYSE: T) today posted their Q3 2009 financial results, announcing that they activated a record 3.2 million new iPhones in that quarter alone. The announcement follows on Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s own financial results that had the iPhone maker selling more iPhone this past quarter than ever before. What’s more, AT&T says that 40% of their  subscribers came to the carrier for the iPhone.

Apple’s iPhone has been really (really) good to AT&T.

AT&T also managed to cut churn (ratio of new subscriber additions to customers leaving AT&T) to its a record low rate of 1.4%. At the same time, AT&T’s overall ARPU (average revenue per user) increased 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year, hitting $61.23. The all-important data ARPU increased 1.7% to reach $18.37.

Now chew on this. AT&T added 4.3 million devices to their post-paid network. The iPhone accounted for 3.2 million of those new devices – the iPhone comprised more than 74% of AT&T’s new device additions. AT&T must love the iPhone.

AT&T also highlighted its ongoing 3G network improvements. AT&T is expanding its 3G network with about 4,400 new 3G sites rolling out over 370 markets by year’s end. And, the carrier’s push to migrate 3G services to the 850Mhz spectrum is more than 90% complete and should be finalized by the end of 2009.

But, regardless of how much the iPhone may have helped boost AT&T’s bottom line, there’s no denying that the carrier’s 10% wireless revenue growth is impressive. AT&T made $12.4 billion, with $10.3 billion in costs. That’s a lot of cash.

It should be interesting to see how the end AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity affects future quarterly results.

[Via: AT&T]

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) isn’t just the largest mobile phone maker in the world (although, they’re bleeding market share like a hemophiliac heavyweight boxer), they also hold a lot of technology patents that make the wireless world go ’round. And, Nokia doesn’t like it when other companies use their intellectual property without paying their dues. Today, Nokia has announced that it is suing Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) for infringing on 10 of those patents with the iPhone. The patents in question relate to GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WiFi) technologies that the iPhone uses to connect to wireless networks across the globe.

Nokia claims to have invested €40 billion and 20 years of research into securing their various wireless patents, and they want to ensure a return on those investments. The folks in Espoo have alleged that the iPhone has been infringing on various Nokia-held patents since the iconic handset was launched in 2007.

Here’s what Nokia says it at stake:

The ten patents in suit relate to technologies fundamental to making devices which are compatible with one or more of the GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA) and wireless LAN standards. The patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption and are infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.

This is what Nokia has to say on the matter:

“The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for,” said Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Legal & Intellectual Property at Nokia. “Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia’s intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.”

Nokia is something of a veteran of IP-related lawsuits. The Finnish mobile phone giant has been in several legal tussles recently to protect their rights and intellectual property. Unfortunately for Apple, Nokia has the means to drag out legal battles across international borders and keep attorneys working for months on end to get what they want. If the patents are truly being infringed, Apple would do well to nip this in the bud and settle the lawsuit with a tidy licensing deal.

[Via: Nokia]

Are you a fan of games from the 90s that star earthworms that battle evil while wearing a robotic suit?  Do you also enjoy playing games on your iPhone for countless hours until your battery is completely bone dry?  If you answered yes to both of these questions, then this post is for you!

Gameloft announced today the release of the iPhone / iPod Touch version of Earthworm Jim.  The game originally was released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo & SEGA Genesis consoles, and now you can relive the 16-bit, side-scrolling glory days through your iPhone / iPod Touch.  Earthworm Jim stars Jim, who was once an ordinary earthworm until a suit dropped from outer space onto Jim, which then mutated him into a hero.

Apple has just announced their Q4 2009 financial report, and it’s looking like another record-setting quarter for the iPhone maker. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) just posted a quarterly revenue of $9.87 billion, making for net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion. That left Apple with a per-diluted-share profit of $1.82, beating Wall Street’s most optimistic estimates of $1.60 by a considerable margin. Even in this gloomy economy, Apple’s iPhone has been selling well enough to help boost the company’s finances.

Apple reported 7.4 million iPhones sold in the fourth quarter, an increase of 7% over the previous year’s Q4. That figure is apparently a record for iPhone sales, according to Apple Chief Steve Jobs. And, with the iPhone expanding its global reach, Apple is expecting even better sales going forward.

Unfortunately, it looks like the iPhone detracted from iPod sales. Apple saw sales of its non-touchscreen iPod drop 8% compared to the same period last year, highlighting the move towards converged media players like the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Steve Jobs is looking forward to an even more exciting holiday shopping season, with “new products” lined up for 2010. We’re not sure what kind of new products to expect in 2010, but the iTablet and new iPhone are high on the list (for some).

[Update]
Apple COO Tim Cook also took a very Apple-esque jab at iPhone competitors with this little quote:

“We think people are trying to catch up with the first iPhone released two years ago.”

Apple Q4 financial results

The iPhone can receive FM radio signals, but it has yet to support FM radio functionality. The iPod Nano can play radio through its integrated FM receiver, heck, it even allows you to pause live radio with the Live Pause feature. What about the iPhone? According to one of 9to5mac’s tipsters, iPhone radio is coming soon!

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is supposedly working on an in-house iPhone radio app that will enable the iPhone 3GS to play live radio broadcasts (with Live Pause!) through its currently-crippled FM receiver. Apple’s iPhone radio application is said to run in the background and might even be integrated into the iPhone 3GS’s iPod app. As it stands, the iPhone 3GS FM radio can be used with Nike+ hardware, but stops short of actually playing radio.

The source says that Apple is waiting to integrate the iPhone radio app with iTunes to allow users to find a radio song in the iTunes store and purchase that song on the spot, but only if the song is tagged properly by the radio station.

Radio in my area is a joke, to say the least. Because of that, I really don’t think I’ll get much use out of an iPhone radio app. But, I’m sure there are plenty of radio junkies out there that can’t wait for radio on the iPhone, especially with Live Pause functionality. That is, if this rumor pans out…

[Via: 9to5mac]

Now that the dust has settled from the initial announcement that Rock Band is headed to the iPhone, it’s time for EA Mobile to keep this hype train going.  What better way than to offer a teaser trailer.

As is customary with almost all “teaser trailers”, you’ll see very little  gameplay footage here.  For the most part, you’ll be watching a video of four people who are stuck in a boardroom fantasizing about performing in front of an audience in some club.  I’m curious as to what kind of office allows a woman to dress the way she does in the video and for a black gentleman to be sitting in on a meeting while holding drumsticks.

If you really want to get a good idea of how Rock Band iPhone plays, check back after the break for our hands-on demo video.

Read the full article »

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has opened up the AppStore to a whole new world of Freemium iPhone apps. In a move that’s sure to change the way the AppStore works, Apple (which previously said in-app purchases would never be available for free apps) has announced that the AppStore will now support in-app purchases for free iPhone apps. Finally, iPhone developers can offer users a free iPhone app through which users can purchase premium content.

This is big. The adoption of in-app purchases for free iPhone apps should effectively eliminate the need for iPhone devs to offer separate “Lite” versions of a particular app as a trial version of the full-featured premium app. Rather than having to maintain two separate iPhone apps (a Lite version and a Full version), developers can put all their resources into a single app – offering the app for free with limited functionality and giving the user the option to purchase an upgrade license to unlock premium features within the app. If this all sounds familiar to you, it should. Desktop applications have been using this model successfully for years.

Welcome to a brave new world of freemium iPhone apps!

[Via: Apple]

Okay, so remember how we told you that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) modified new iPhone 3GS’s to prevent current and future jailbreak exploits? Right, well, turns out that wasn’t as true as we once thought. Our bad. New iPhone 3GS’s have been modified, that much is true, but they can still be jailbroken (which is where we were wrong). The iPhone Dev Team is now saying that Apple may have killed the “24kpwn” exploit that allowed the current jailbreak to work, but it’s more of a bump in the road than an all-out roadblock against future jailbreak attempts. “It’s not going to be impossible to jailbreak even if the exploit we used is gone,” said the iPhone Dev Team’s Eric McDonald in a phone interview with Wired.

In fact, factory-fresh iPhone 3GS hardware can still be jailbroken. The “24kpwn” exploit was only used to make the jailbreak process as simple as possible. A new iPhone 3GS can still be jailbroken, but it will need to be connected (tethered)to a computer of some sort (like a TI-86 calculator) in order to boot up. It’s a hassle, to be sure, but the iPhone Dev Team is already working to re-enable “untethered” booting of jailbroken iPhone 3GS’s in the near future.

The Dev Team has already found a new exploit that they can use to jailbreak new iPhone 3GS hardware without the need for a tethered boot. We’ll inevitably see that new exploit in use in future versions of PwnageTool. So, fear not, potential iPhone 3GS buyer. You’ll have a working jailbreak available to you in the near future.

The cat-and-mouse game between Apple and iPhone jailbreakers continues…

[Via: Wired]

Don’t let the name fool you.  Dungeon Hunter has you hunting more than just dungeons.  In fact, you’re not hunting dungeons at all, instead you’ll be hunting various enemies that just happened to be in a dungeon.  I know, I know, that idea just probably blew your mind, but trust me when I say it’s for the best.

Dungeon Hunter is Gameloft’s attempt at the hack-n-slash RPG genre that has gone nearly untouched in the iPhone gaming market.  The question is: Does the hack-n-slash RPG genre work on the iPhone platform and how well did Gameloft’s Dungeon Hunter?

Read the full article »

The iPhone OS 3.1.2 is officially jailbroken! Following hot on geohot’s (sorry, couldn’t resist) release of the Blackra1n 30-second jailbreak utility, the iPhone Dev Team has released their decidedly more reliable and unlock-friendly PwnageTool 3.1.4 update to jailbreak the latest iPhone OS 3.1.2 firmware. If you’re using an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS, and you want to preserve your SIM unlock, you’ll want to make sure you update to iPhone OS 3.1.2 by way of this latest PwnageTool release.

If you’re already jailbroken, there’s no need to put your iPhone into DFU mode before restoring with the custom IPSW file that PwnageTool creates (it’s on your desktop). Just option-click the “Restore” button in iTunes and select the custom IPSW restore file. Make sure you select the custom file, and avoid the stock file from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) at all costs. The iPhone Dev Team goes into more detail about PwnageTool and how to keep your iPhone compatible with existing software unlock utilities. Read up on that here.

For those of you that noticed, the PwnageTool 3.1.4 does not match up with the iPhone OS 3.1.2. While it would be nice if PwnageTool point-updates matched up with iPhone OS versions, it’s not always possible. Apple tends to throw curve balls that the require impromptu PwnageTool updates from time to time. We’re dealing with it, so should you.

[Via: iPhoneDevTeam]