TomTom car kit for iPhone to be extremely expensive
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TomTom says the new car kit for the iPhone will cost £99.99 for the hardware, while the app will be sold separately. That's right, the $99 app will not be part of the roughly $160 purchase, making the whole investment a nearly $260 experience, plus the investment for an iPhone.
Call us crazy, but we're thinking someone like Navigon is going to come along and actually give people what they want, at a price they wouldn't mind paying, instead of creating a product intended to avoid cannibalizing a current business.
Update: Apple has started carrying the TomTom cradle kit for $119.95.
Verizon has the network, but doesn’t have the phones
Verizon may be ranked highly in our minds when it comes to network infrastructure, but the company sure doesn't have the high-end hardware when compared to any of the other major carriers, like AT&T (iPhone), Sprint (Palm Pre, Pixi and HTC Hero) and T-Mobile (Android phones). Which is most important for you when choosing a network... is it the call quality and reliability, or is it the devices?
We ask CNET's Molly Wood and Interpret's Michael Gartenberg their takes. Though Molly absolutely loathes AT&T's poor Bay Area coverage, a lackluster phone selection shares many of the same issues with poor reception: The phone is unusable. And while we'd all love to see AT&T lose its grasp on Apple's wunderfone, Michael doesn't see Verizon laying claim to the device this generational life cycle.
What's your take? Would you rather go Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile? Lets light this flamewar in the comments, and send your video responses on YouTube.
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iPhone OS 3.1 breaks tethering, some exchange support
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iPhone owners who've been enjoying free tethering through a hack won't be able to use it if they upgrade to OS 3.1, according to 9to5Mac, and users with non-3GS iPhones might not be able to use their company's Exchange server any longer, as Apple is now enforcing the encryption requirement of Exchange, which only works with the iPhone 3GS. You've been warned, now update carefully.
Apple says iPhone Apps not for business
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Apple has claimed iPhone apps are not to be used for business purposes. The problem arose after an iPhone user requested a receipt for an app which he used for his business in the UK, the receipt would allow him to claim it for tax purposes but Apple claims its terms do not allow business use of apps. This seems counter intuitive as Apple has been touting its new security on the 3GS to business users.
Smartphones are on the rise, but dumbphones dominate
We've seen some great choices for cell phones this year... on virtually all carriers. And whether you're into the Palm Pre, the iPhone 3GS, or any flavor BlackBerry, the era of smartphones that actually do what users want is finally upon us... but in our case "us" is a relatively small minority. 72% of phones sold are still dumb featurephones, according to NPD, and while that's not a huge shocker... what's preventing everyone from getting a truly smart phone? We ask Harry McCracken from Technologizer, and Jeremy Kaplan from PC Mag.
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Has the death of the GPS unit been greatly exaggerated?
Coming into this show, I was sure I'd hear phone aficianado Chris Ziegler from EngadgetMobile and HowStuffWorks.com guru Jonathan Strickland expound to me about how the iPhone will do everything, and how stand-alone GPS devices were the next gadget to fall to the iPhone's mighty app-store induced dominance.
But, much like sports, we do the shows for a reason.
Turns out, phone aficinados aren't necessarily sold on the idea of smartphone-integrated GPS-centric wonderment. For one, the new turn-by-turn Tom Tom application, which is the impetus of this whole conversation, costs $99– extremely close to the price of many bargain basement GPS units. And secondly, car drivers value the ability to be able to talk on the phone and use a GPS device at the same time without being interrupted. Two extremely right-on-the-money ideas, among the many that we talk about on the show, which you can watch right now.
Are you in love with the all-in-one device, or would you rather have two distinct devices for calling and navigating? Sound off in the comments.
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Apple makes 32% of all phone profits
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By maintaining higher profit margins than its competitors, Apple, despite being the fifth-largest handset manufacturer, actually makes nearly a third of the wireless industry's profits, according to Bernstein Research Analysts, as reported by AllThingsD. The analysts maintain if industry losses from Sony-Ericsson and Motorola are removed, Apple still makes up 25% of the industry's overall profits.
“Walk the Line” iPhone app tells you when you’ve had enough
Grolsch, a Dutch brewer, has developed an iPhone app that helps determine how badly the user's equilibrium has been affected by their products. Described as an entertainment-only app, "players" are encouraged to walk a straight line while holding their iPhones as level as possible, trying to keep a dot in the middle of an on-screen target. No plans yet for a U.S. release of the app.
iPhone 3GS will come to China sans WiFi
John Paczkowski reports that Apple has formally requested a network access license to sell the iPhone in China - with the WiFi feature disabled. While reasons for doing so have not been reported on, this an unsurprising move for a country treading its new democratic waters carefully. If indeed true, we can "expect it to come before the Spring Festival in 2010".