iPhone, Therefore I blog

In the matter of Apple vs. Palm, the winner is ...

2009-07-17T09:00:00-05:00

07.17.09 - 9 a.m.

***UPDATE: Some of you took offense to my description of the iPhone as a "craptastic phone." I wanted to explain that I didn't mean the device. I love my iPhone. The fact that I can't hold a call for 20 minutes without 3 or 4 drops in the middle of downtown Chicago makes it a poor phone - and sadly, although that's AT&T's fault, it still comes back to Apple and the iPhone in general. When folks ask me how the phone portion of the iPhone is, I always tell them the same thing - it needs a lot to be desired. Hope that clarifies - I never meant to bash the device itself.***

Apple's updating of iTunes to block the Palm Pre from utilizing iTunes as a disguised iPod is generating a boatload of buzz since yesterday.

And I understand why, but in the long run it comes down to 4 words.

Apple just doesn't care.

I've never actually been in Steve Jobs' office, much less inside his brain, but my feeling is that he figures that with Apple's incredible success in the iTunes/iPod/iPhone arena, why would it ever consider letting another company pretty much steal a feature that really disguises another device as something it's not?

In that realm, it makes some semblance of sense. I mean, why indeed? Everyone knows that iTunes is the reason the iPod and the iPhone are so successful. Think about it. The iPhone is a sucky-ass phone. It's a great media device and the reason it's so great is because of how it interacts with iTunes. And of course, iTunes in general is just an amazing place that usually just works.

If I had just landed from another planet and had no knowledge of anything Apple or technology, I'd think that Palm decided that since it can't come up with anything even half as good as iTunes that it might as well do the next best thing and try to fool the system into thinking it's something else.

That seems shady to me. Palm counteracts and says that it's not fair to the customers and blames Apple.

According to the Associated Press:

Palm spokeswoman Leslie Letts said Apple's move is a "direct blow to their users, who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience." For a workaround, she noted, Pre owners can stick to the older version of iTunes, move music from computers to a Pre with a USB cable or consider third-party music applications.

Note how that's worded. Palm says it's a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience."

True. However, Palm blames Apple when Palm is the one that's depriving its users. If Palm really wanted to guarantee its users said seamless experience, well, they would have come up with a system that not only rivals iTunes, but is better than iTunes. So this whole thing where I'm supposed to feel sorry for them for taking away their free ride doesn't really fly with me.

I got a note on Twitter from @ricktuma who said Apple risks a backlash for this move. Possibly, yes. But Apple is just not known for playing nice. Apple is very, very overprotective of its stuff. So even if folks look at Apple as greedy monsters, I think it makes total sense that Apple is protecting its stuff.

Let's look at it another way. The Palm Pre is a decent device. It's not a great device, but as far as iPhone-esque phones go, it's decent. Create a decent device and give it a sneaky backdoor that makes it work like an iPod/iPhone, and sure - there's a risk that folks would want to buy a Pre over an iPhone. As I said, the iPhone is a craptastic phone and AT&T's service sucks even more. Enter a decent looking phone in the Pre and -- dare I even type this - possibly better service from Sprint - and, well, Apple could have a problem on its hands.

So in the end, I have to say that I agree with Apple on this one. While I don't often agree with them when it comes to matters of this kind, it needs to protect its assets and with the fact remaining that iTunes is what makes the whole Apple experience so great, it can't afford to open itself up to other devices. Let me rephrase that ... It can, but it can't afford to let a company come in through some backdoor and sneak a taste of the Apple juice.

Now if someday Apple wants to open the entire iTunes ecosystem to other mobile devices and create a world where everything syncs together and the world plays nice? I'm all for that. Competition is a great thing.

My advice for Palm? If you really think you can still compete in this space, stop blaming Apple for your shortcomings and get to work on something that's going to truly give the iPhone a run for its money - that includes the entire user experience. Hardware is just hardware. While Apple is great at it, anyone can great a beautiful device. But not everyone can create the ultimate end result.

What do you think? Am I right? Wrong? Crazy? All of the above or none of these? The comments fly fast and furious over on my Twitter stream at @iptib. I hope to see you over there.

Thanks for calling.

Can't read this? I'll translate

2009-07-13T13:30:00-05:00

07.13.09 - 1:30 p.m.

Well, OK, I can't really translate it, but I know what it basically means. Info Times is reporting that Apple will launch its much-expected netbook in October starting at $800.

【時報-各報要聞】雖然新款iPhone已在上月登場，不過蘋果執行長賈伯斯此番復出卻不愁沒有新產品可以讓市場驚豔。台灣科技供應鏈廠商透露，蘋果小筆電將於10月登場，是賈伯斯復出後最重要的新產品，準備搶攻耶誕旺季，台灣供應鏈中，代工廠鴻海 (2317) 、觸控面板廠勝華 (2384) ，零組件廠萬旭 (6134) 、順達等都傳出接單消息。

Not every single thing that comes out of these Chinese reports is accurate, but this is where the manufacturers that receive orders from Apple are based so they seem to have some sort of in. But sometimes things get lost in translation and what you see isn't always what you get. But since we're all expecting some sort of netbook-type device from Apple, it's not that farfetched and it's hard not to believe it since this is really one of the worst-kept tech secrets of all time.

What's not known is what this thing will look like. According to the Wall Street Journal, the screen will be 9.7 inches and of course be touchscreen/iPhone software based.

I'm trying to imagine my life with an Apple netbook. It's interesting. I mean, clearly, I want just about everything Apple makes. I don't have an Apple TV because I still have an old style non-widescreen HDTV and I just haven't gotten around to buying a Time Capsule yet. However, on my desk is my 15 inch MacBook Pro and my 24" LCD and I try to imagine needing a netbook. I would assume that if I really didn't feel like carrying around the laptop that the netbook would make for a nice alternative. It could almost be Kindle-like.

I think the Kindle comparison is where this is going to be a big deal. I said from the start that the Kindle's "fame" will be short-lived. I said that whatever Apple comes out with will best the Kindle in functionality and looks.

I still believe that this netbook will not be a netbook as we currently know it. I believe it's going to be thin. And flat. Not much more than a sexy piece of glass that people are going to almost be afraid to touch because it will seem so fragile. I think the buttons will be almost as minimal as an iPhone or touch (Steve Jobs HATES buttons and he'll hate them more on his version of a netbook because netbooks as they stand now have so many buttons).

I don't really know that this netbook is going to change the game. I think it's going to piss off some other companies and, if the $800 pricetag holds true and isn't so stripped down at that price, I think it's going to be a player in the marketplace. Meaning, if it starts at $800 and I have to bump it up to $1,400 to get features that make it usable, well, that's not going to fly. But I think that it's going to serve a strong market. I think commuters and students will really get some value out of this thing. And I think it's going to be one of those cool things that people will want to pull out at Starbucks just because they can. I think it's something I can see myself drooling over, especially if it works the way I know it should work, where it automatically sees the other devices in my home and transfers information to them via the cloud.

We'll see. I'm getting way ahead of myself.

If nothing else, I'm inspired to learn to read Chinese.

What are your thoughts? Talk to me over at Twitter for the fastest response - or leave a comment here and I'll happily get back to you as soon as time allows.

Thanks for calling.

Google Chrome, Windows announcement and MobileMe

2009-07-09T09:00:00-05:00

07.09.09 - 9 a.m.

This isn't the first time I've written about MobileMe and what Apple needs to do to stand out from the crowd, but based on everything that's happened in the past few days, Apple needs to get a move on.

Let's recap.

Google announced it's working on Chrome OS, which will end up being an operating system that it says will be put in netbooks sometime in 2010. They said that the Chrome OS will be better suited for netbooks than Android, even though some netbooks are expected to utilize Android at some point soon.

Then, there's rumblings from sources that I don't necessarily trust and care much for talking about some sort of announcement from Microsoft on Monday that could compete with the Chrome project. Some sites have suggested that Windows 7 might be a small step before something ridiculously big from Microsoft. Yada, yada, yada.

Enter what we care about most here, Apple and the iPhone and, in this case, MobileMe. Chrome is all about having everything at your disposal. The cloud, as we've come to know it. Google hints that Chrome users won't have to wait for a computer to boot up - that everything will be available instantly and wherever you are.

Google is good at making sure you can access what you need on the go, even if it doesn't bring push to the iPhone and give the iPhone as much love as some other devices. But it knows what it's doing. Apple has tried to make great strides with MobileMe, and after some of the big problems it had after the .mac transition was complete, the service has really become pretty decent. It's mostly reliable, it's usually speedy and it offers the ability to do cool things such as find a lost iPhone.

And Apple has been talking recently about a server farm in North Carolina - so expansion is clearly always at the forefront of everything they do and tech companies do in general. But Apple needs to be thinking ahead - and I'm not saying they aren't - but they really need to be thinking about the cloud.

Here's an example that I think is relevant.

Take iWeb ... Apple's entry-level product for creating Web sites. I would love to use it to create a blog, however, it does me no good to edit it when I'm away from my home computer that has iWeb installed. I always said that I didn't understand why there was no Web-based component of iWeb.

Well, in the future, everything is going to have to be Web based. I'm not the first one to write that. Soon, the norm will be taking everything we do everywhere we go. The days of us oooh and ahhhing when a contact syncs immediately between MobileMe and our iPhone will be a thing of the past and it will be expected.

But it goes so far beyond there. Folks want to be able to turn on their machines wherever they are and see what they want to see and need wherever they are. The entire cloud philosophy is an amazing thing and while I'm sure Apple is working toward a complete cloud world, they need to hurry. Google is closing in and if there's one company that I worry about being true competition for Apple, it's Google.

Apple and Google live together now, happily, but I don't always see it being that way. Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO and Apple boardmember is going to eventually have to leave the Apple board, I would think, because of the conflict of interest that will present itself with a separate operating system.

I'm not breaking news here ... I'm simply stating that Apple needs to turn MobileMe from something cool that a lot of people have to something amazing that everyone has and can't be without. They have to start by knocking some serious coin off the price - $99 doesn't work. It needs to be cheaper. Much cheaper. It needs to be bundled with hardware (Macs, iPhones, etc.). Everyone needs to use it. And everyone needs to start using it now.

I believe that Apple has invested way too much in MobileMe to have anything less planned. But there has to be more.

I want to see the end of wired syncs with the iPhone. I want Web-based versions of iTunes and iPhoto -- everything the same wherever we are. And while I understand that takes time and is likely down the road anyhow, Apple needs to beat Google to the punch.

Again, maybe it's stating the obvious, but reading all about Chrome really has me thinking about it.

Oh, and I'll mention this too ... I said this to a co-worker today.

You heard it here first ... I think Google's announcement is the beginning of the end of the power Microsoft holds on the computing industry. I can actually see a day when Google and Apple beat Microsoft in the OS wars. I really believe what's needed to make that happen has already started.

What do you think? The comments are open, but I respond faster these days on Twitter.

Thanks for calling.

Happy birthday, dear App Store ... Happy birthday to you

2009-07-07T10:30:21-05:00

07.07.09 - 10:30 a.m.

Wow. Has it been a year already? Or, can you believe it's only been a year?

The App Store is turning 1 year old - on July 11 - and more than a billion downloads later, it's an amazing example of Apple's stronghold on the mobile technology market.

To celebrate, Apple has put together a special page over in the iTunes Store that showcases some of its favorites.

While I respect Apple's choices, there are several highlighted that don't deserve to be o the list and several that didn't make it. Lucky for you all, I just posted my favorites in a previous post. Here's a link to that.

I always want to know what your favorite apps are. Feel free to leave me a comment here, but if you want more immediate feedback, please follow me over on Twitter and on Facebook.

Thanks for calling.

What apps do I use most

2009-07-06T13:00:00-05:00

07.06.09 - 1 p.m.

While responding to tweets over the holiday weekend, I received a seemingly simple one from @Toymachine261.

"@iPTIB: What apps do you use most? any that you would recommend?"

And I replied back with a few - as many as 140 characters minus several would allow and I got to thinking - THIS question is a classic reason iPTIB doesn't work as a Twitter only deal. My friend Sidric the Viking put it best when he said ... "Scott, I hope this all gets sorted soon. Twitter/Facebook just don't work for iPTIB!"

He's right because I have a longer answer to what @toymachine261 asked me.

One thing that I find myself telling people and sometimes getting blank stares back is that a newer app isn't always a better app. I find that the apps that are on my first screen and first few screens are apps I have been using for a long time. Sure, apps come along that make me rethink my order, but I test A LOT of apps and sadly, a lot of apps that I test are downloaded and in some cases deleted.

Obviously, with Apple's ridiculous limits and lack of any kind of filing system via folders or the like, I would quickly run out of room at 11 screens or whatever it is now. I have to pick and choose just like everyone else, but like I said, I download a lot of apps in what I do, whether I'm blogging or just tweeting.

Anyhow, here are the apps I use and like the most and a brief explanation behind my thinking. Now remember, this doesn't mean I don't have other apps and use other apps - but these represent the ones I use the most and have a permanent home on my iPhone.

And thanks @toymachine261 for being the catalyst for this post.

Air Mouse Pro
I don't find it particularly easy to control my Mac with my iPhone and I don't do as much with this app as is possible, but I do appreciate the ability to do it. And as I type this, the app is on sale for $1.99. For that price, it's absolutely worth the price, even though it's worth its full price too.

BeejiveIM
Tricky one because the reason I'm using this app so much is because I'm testing it out for an upcoming review. Currently, well, let's just say I've used better, however, I don't know of another app that allows for such interaction between IM accounts and services. It can be better and needs plenty of work to get there, but I believe it will and that's why it's on this list.

Bejeweled2
$2.99 and absolutely addictive. I've made it to level 6. I can do better. I much do better. All those shiny gems. Must. Keep. Blogging ... Must ... resist ... urge ....

Bloomberg
There are plenty of ways to keep track as your financial future goes up in smoke, however none works as smoothly and as graphically pleasing than Bloomberg.

Amazon Mobile
Ahhh, you thought this was in alphabetical order, didn't you? Just seeing if you were paying attention. Amazon Mobile would be just like any other shopping site disguised as an app if it wasn't just so darn fast and if it didn't have the service where you take a photo of something and it returns information on it. It's intuitive and it works. And, it syncs to my desktop Amazon account perfectly.

Buster
If you don't live in Chicago this app won't apply to you, but there is no better app on the market to keep track of when the next bus is coming. Hands down the simplest and best looking and functioning of these apps - and there are several.

Chase Mobile
Again, this is limited because it's only for Chase Bank customers, but when a Web site just never works right and promises of amazing text services don't work either, you need an app to fill the gap. And luckily for me, Chase's app works pretty well. Well enough where I haven't erased it yet in frustration.

Convertbot
There are a million apps out there to convert measurements and weights and the like and all have their pluses and minuses, but Convertbot is the one I come back to all the time. It just works and it looks great. From the same people that make Weightbot - it's just awesome.

Dictionary.com
Before this app, the only way I'd look up a word on the go is via a Google search (hint: you can go to a blank Google search window and type define:word and always get a definition. I did that because I refused to pay upwards of $30 for a dictionary app - and any app out there that still charges that kind of money needs to get real. Dictionary puts it all together and it's FREE.

Facebook
Strange admission - I think the app sucks. But I'm hooked on Facebook and the only thing I hate more than the Facebook app is how Facebook mobile works on the iPhone. But I have a lot of respect for the guy who is basically responsible for the entire Facebook app and if he's anything like me, he's super swamped and works on this in addition to everything else he does - therefore, I give him a lot of credit and room to wow me in the future.

MyWeather
There are a lot of weather apps out there, some cost less and some do less. I always come back to MyWeather for the great customer service and the amazing radar. It's just one of those apps that works. Here's a review I did a while back to give you a little more information.

i.TV
I've chatted back and forth with Justin over at i.TV a bunch of times. The app is amazing. The customer service is amazing. When my channel lineup was just wrong, he worked with me and got it right. That's the kind of service I vow to have the day I have my own iPhone app. Anyhow, i.TV is one of those free apps that could cost $19.99 and I'd have it. TV shows, movie tickets, keep track of your Netflix queue, program your TiVo - I'm just waiting for it to make me coffee. I'm sure it's coming soon.

WunderRadio
Where do I start with WunderRadio? It's received glowing marks from me in the past. It's the greatest radio station app out there. It's not Pandora or Slacker or Pocket Tunes and it's not trying to be. It's an app that not only handles streaming Internet radio, but every other radio station in the world, it seems. I can listen to the stations I grew up with. I can even listen to emergency radio, air traffic control - anything on the radio. It's just that great. It's the $6.99 I've never regretted spending. For a much more in-depth review, check out this link - but remember that this was written a while ago and the bugs/annoyances I mentioned no longer exist.

Imangi
Word games come and go but one app that I always come back to for a challenge is Imangi.

MLB At Bat
For $9.99 a season, there's nothing better for a baseball fan. Listen to the audio of every game both home and away and now they are starting to offer some live TV streams. There are some bugs in the audio and video portions of the app every once in a while, but overall it's a great experience and costs much less than it would to do the same stuff on the computer version.

Mobile Fotos
You'll see lots of apps that talk about working with your Flickr account, but none of them will be as good as Mobile Fotos. Trust me. I've tried every single one of them and feel confident you don't have to do anything more than download this one.

msnbc.com
A new app. I'm a news junkie and while it's no USA Today, the msnbc app is well thought out. It scrolls automatically and it's pleasingly fast.

OpenTable
Real world example from yesterday. iWife and I were out watching a baseball at ESPN Zone. It was 7 and we were getting hungry. Went to the OpenTable app to see what was available around the city. Decided on Ben Pao for Chinese. Made a reservation for 7:30 and walked over and were seated immediately. You can't beat that kind of convenience. And while I could have picked a place, googled it, called it and asked if reservations were available, I didn't have to. And you don't either.

Peggle
Only one other game in this app is more addictive than Bejeweled and that's Peggle. Interestingly, from the same company. Mmmm-hmmmm. Pop Cap. These guys rule. And cause me to waste a lot of time.

Shazam
Sometimes I really want to know what song I'm listening to and can't find out and sometimes I just love being able to do this because I can - launch the app, hold up your iPhone. Shazam listens to the song and reports back on what it is and gives you the ability to buy it. Midomi is similar but doesn't work nearly as well.

USA Today
Best looking iPhone news app there is. Fast. Simple. Nice to navigate. Exactly what AP Mobile and the New York Times app should strive to be but are so far away from being.

Yowza!!
An app that's growing, brought to you by Heroes star Greg Grunberg - stores put in coupons, you retrieve them but showing your iPhone at the register. Not your regular old coupon app - most coupon apps just aggregate. This is a true coupon app that lets you keep track of coupons and how much money you save. It's growing so there aren't as many stores as you might like, but there will be and I highly recommend you at least check it out.

Tweetie
Purposely saved the best for last. The best Twitter app in the app store period. And yes, because I know you are going to ask - I've tried every single Twitter app in the app store. Some have made dig deeper. Some have survived a space on my iPhone for a long period of time. Some have made me laugh. Some have made me laugh hard. Tweetie looks the best, works the best and has the best customer service on the planet. There is no better Twitter app and for $2.99 you can't beat the price. Trust me on this. @iPTIB knows Twitter.

I'm still here - and I'm working on it

2009-07-06T10:00:00-05:00

07.06.09 - 10 a.m.

Hi, all. Just wanted to thank you all for the support over on Twitter and Facebook and to tell you that I'm sorting things as fast as humanly possible. My work is currently doing a final check to see what they want to do with the blog. And I've inquired about using the iPTIB name if that doesn't happen.

That means that soon - maybe not as soon as you all hope - that I should know what's going to happen. And once I do, I can concentrate and see about moving forward.

What I do know is that either way, the blog isn't and has never been my full time gig - so devoting all my time to it is something that I just physically can't do. But knowing is better than not knowing and I'll do my best to update as often as I can.

We're still going to need Twitter as the go-between - because when I'm on the road with no laptop, that's what I'm using to update for lack of any other quick option.

I thank you all for being loyal callers and followers and I'm sorry it's not just something I can snap my fingers on and make happen.

The whole process of figuring out what happens to a blog is actually worthwhile of its own blog - it's actually quite fascinating to me and I've learned a lot. Even if I don't necessarily agree with the decisions.

Anyhow, more information soon. And remember, I'm still alive and well and informing over on Twitter.

That said, I'm working on a post for today - and it's because of something someone wrote me on Twitter. So there's lots of good on Twitter!

Thanks for calling.

EXCLUSIVE: WunderRadio's great iPhone Twitter adventure

2009-06-24T09:52:14-05:00

06.24.09 - 9:30 a.m.

In Chicago, $6.99 won't buy me a large quad iced venti latte and a chocolate chunk cookie. It will, however, buy you the greatest iPhone radio app there is.

As many of you know, I've always recommended WunderRadio as my iPhone radio app of choice.

Yes, there are other music apps out there like Pandora and Pocket Tunes and Slacker and all of them do what they set out to do well, but WunderRadio is different - WunderRadio is about providing a high-tech, old-fashioned radio station experience.

Meaning, when I want to listen to Atlantic City's hottest music at 95.1 WAYV just like I used to do while I was driving to work 19 years ago, I can - even when I'm in Chicago. It's simple to find radio stations and bookmark them as favorites using WunderRadio and it's that simplicity that keeps the app on my first iPhone screen.

Now, I have a whole new reason. And so do you. Starting Thursday. As in tomorrow.

As you know, I've started to transition this blog from here to Twitter. And as you probably also know, I'm a big ol' Twitter geek anyhow. Well, when I was told by the great folks at WunderRadio first about the way they are combining the radio and Twitter experience, well, they had my attention.

Here's how the company describes it in their press release - I find that for as often as I rewrite press releases, I don't think anyone can do it more clearly and concisely - and passionately - as the people working on the project.

Use your iPhone to tweet your favorite DJ
WunderRadio has launched a new Twitter capability that allows radio listeners to follow radio station Twitter feeds while listening to the live broadcast on their iPhone.

Conversely, users can login to their Twitter accounts and send Tweets directly to DJ’s live on air. All of this can be done within WunderRadio so there is no need to open a new browser or shut down the application.

“We believe that adding Twitter to WunderRadio has created a ground-breaking medium for radio listeners to interact directly with on air talent,” said Alan Steremberg, President and co-founder of the application’s developers, Weather Underground. “It will also serve as a valuable tool for radio stations looking to communicate further with their listeners.”

Radio audience figures have received a massive boost from the availability of Internet streaming and the mobile space is certain to play an ever-increasing role in boosting these numbers. Today, 42 million people in the US listen to online radio, up 27% from 2008 according to Arbitron Radio Ratings and Media Research

Commenting on this new trend in radio audience, Steremberg adds “WunderRadio and its Twitter capabilities are certain to play significant roles in the communications strategy of forward thinking radio stations.”

To date, almost a quarter of a million iPhone users have downloaded WunderRadio. The application is also available for Windows Mobile users and will soon be accessible to BlackBerry users as well.

Fans of WunderRadio can also follow the application itself on Twitter -- at @wunderradio -- and keep up to date with new features and content.

So ... as they say in the radio business ... to repeat this hour's top story ...

WunderRadio costs $6.99 in the App Store (iTunes link). I've paid more for only a few apps and none are used as often as WunderRadio. And none are on my first iPhone screen - if you know anything about me, you know that if your icon is on my first screen that you've done something right.

Check it out now.

If you want to comment on Twitter about this story or anything else on the blog - and if you want to be connected live to the most lively and complete iPhone discussion anywhere on Twitter, follow me at @iptib.

Thanks for calling.

iPhone MMS in the U.S. via AT&T imminent? **UPDATE: AT&T says no

2009-06-18T11:31:43-05:00

**UPDATED 12:20 p.m.**
Not so fast, literally. I received this comment from Meghan Roskopf, a spokesperson for AT&T:

"What you've heard is false. MMS for iPhone will be ready by late summer. AT&T and Apple have a detailed planning process and both companies supported the decision and timing."

That's unfortunate, so it remains to be seen what this internal memo was that the AT&T representative at customer service talked about. I'll keep you posted on what I find out.

06.18.09 -- 11:21 a.m.

This is what folks in the U.K. using o2 received when they downloaded 3.0. We might be next. (thanks to @jovike for sending me the awesome screenshot!)

Soon. Very soon.

I talked to a developer friend of mine who goes by @brdunton on Twitter and he had some potentially exciting news for me.

Now take it with a grain of salt for now simply because I have not heard back from my trusted PR contact at AT&T, but what my friend tells me the AT&T rep told him is that the rollout of MMS will coincide with the iPhone 3G S launch tomorrow.

Apparently, there's one outstanding issue that the AT&T rep was waiting for clarification on from Apple and that the rep said that employees received an internal notification discussing the MMS launch.

And the rep is apparently an iPhone user who is very familiar with the whole process and he said that it should be functional soon.

I'm waiting for clarification from my AT&T PR person, but with or without that, it stands to reason that AT&T would want to get MMS online as quickly as possible. The company took as much flack for that as it did over upgrade pricing when it was revealed that several countries would be ready with MMS before the U.S., including Canada and the U.K.

Oh, and by the way, I received several tweets yesterday from blog readers/tweeters in the U.K. and Canada that say that MMS not only works well, but that it's elegant and fast.

So I'll update if I hear anything back, but I wanted you to know that something's afoot and we could all be in for a really nice surprise tomorrow.

Thanks for calling and thanks @brdunton for the great tip.

iPhone 3G users extended preferred pricing on iPhone 3G S

2009-06-17T14:02:12-05:00

06.17.09 - 2 p.m.

This is huge news. AT&T has listened to what customers had to say and a lot of people - including myself - appreciate this. Now instead of waiting to qualify for upgrade pricing if you would normally be eligible next month, August or September, you can upgrade effective tomorrow.

Many kudos, AT&T - This is welcome news.

We're reacting of course on Twitter, so please chime in with your thoughts there.

Thanks for calling. The entire press release from AT&T appears below.

An Update for our Customers
Some customers have had questions about our plans and policies for iPhone 3G S, and we’d like to provide you with answers. We’d also like to announce a change to the date when some iPhone customers are eligible for our best upgrade pricing to iPhone 3G S.

PRICING
Importantly, we want our customers to better understand our wireless device upgrade program. Like most U.S. carriers, we offer a variety of phones that we sell below our actual cost when customers agree to sign service agreements. In general, the more a customer spends with us, the quicker they become eligible for a price break on a new device. For example, iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line with us generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months into their contract.

We also currently offer early upgrade pricing only for iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G.

All of that said, we’ve been listening to our customers. And since many of our iPhone 3G customers are early adopters and literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible due to iPhone 3G S launching 11 months after iPhone 3G, we’re extending the window of upgrade eligibility for a limited time.

We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.

If you’re one of the many customers who will benefit from this change, please note that our upgrade eligibility tools will reflect this change on Thursday, June 18.

We invite you to come to our stores beginning Friday during normal store hours, although please be aware that customer demand may exceed supply in some of our stores. You may also preorder online on June 18 at www.att.com/iPhone, and your iPhone 3G S will arrive in 7 — 14 days. Or you can purchase iPhone 3G S at Apple’s retail and online stores, as well as at other popular retailers.

If you’re one of the customers who benefits from this change, and you’ve already preordered from an AT&T store, we’ll adjust the price of the device when you pick it up. If you benefit from the change and you pre-ordered from AT&T online, we’ll send you an e-mail and issue you a credit.

If you pre-ordered an iPhone 3G S through Apple’s online store, your upgrade eligibility will be reassessed based on AT&T's new upgrade policy for iPhone 3G owners. If you are eligible for the lower price, Apple will issue you a credit for the difference as applicable.

So, what if you still aren’t eligible for our best upgrade pricing and you still want iPhone 3G S now? You do have options:

You may qualify for the iPhone 3G S early upgrade price of $399 (16GB) or $499 (32GB).

You can pay full retail — and not have to sign a 2-year contract — at $599 (16GB) or $699 (32GB).

You can wait until you’re eligible for our best upgrade pricing. We invite you to check your upgrade eligibility by visiting www.att.com/iphone, calling *NEW# (*639#) on your AT&T device (we’ll send you a text with upgrade information), or visiting any of our over 2,200 stores.

If you want more details on our pricing and upgrade policy, check out our FAQs. And as always, you may visit one of our stores to talk with a representative.

In Summary
We’ve listened to our customers — and hope our response helps answer some of your questions and concerns.

We are incredibly proud to be the U.S. carrier for the new iPhone 3G S and will work around the clock to be ready on June 19 to serve customers who are interested in the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.

Blog plan

2009-06-17T09:15:21-05:00

06.17.09 - 9:15 a.m.

Hi, everyone.

With the future of the blog up in the air I'd like to just remind you of 2 ways to get everything you'd normally get here.

1. Twitter. Follow me at @iptib. I'm on it all the time. I still answer questions and pass along all the good stuff. It's not a blog but it's still me.

2. Facebook. There's an iPTIB page that I try to check. And while I admit I do a poor job over there, there's places galore for you to comment so I'll be sure to check it.

Sadly, as we approach 2 years here, I never really anticipated the day where I'd be telling you that iptib may not have a home in the blogosphere.

I wish I had a definitive answer on the blog but because I know what my gut is telling me I'd prefer to take the party off site into the social media world and then reconnect down the road in another form.

Anyone out there who wants to chat with me regarding future endeavors, you know where to find me. iptib (at) mac (dot) com.

Thanks for calling.