Ding! First Round Of UK iPhone Battle

As you might know, Orange UK has recently started selling the iPhone and in response to this new competition Vodafone and O2 have gone in to defense mode. To keep more customers on its side, Vodafone sent out an email to all those who had registered with the carrier prior to the iPhone release, in which they claim that their’s is the network that is the fastest for the iPhone.

In a slightly surprising move, O2 has begun offering an unlocking service for the iPhones. No, they are not going to hack any iPhone you bring in but they will unlock their own iPhones at the end of a contract. They are going to charge a £15 fee for it and they are also warning that the process might take some time, as long as up to 14 days. Even though they are charging for it, it would seem like they are trying to ring up some customer good will by doing this. Once they have unlocked the iPhones, the customer can insert any SIM card in to their iPhone and start using it legitimately.

O2 has also asserted that they have seen tremendous growth in their data network. According to the company — data usage on their network has grown 20 times in the last 12 months, doubling every 4 months. They are also offering free home broadband to people who buy into the tethering option to use their iPhone as a wireless modem.

Analysts have also been quoted saying that the iPhone is the best way to make customers pay more, even in this recessive market. But Vodafone is surely on the right track because what iPhone users mainly want is network strength. They are paying an awful lot to get the connectivity and hence they expect a lot in return. [read]

Orange has only just started selling the phone, so it is too early to say anything about them. But as far as the response goes, it has been extremely positive. The company has tweeted saying that they have recorded more than 30,000 iPhones on the very first day. For a phone that has been launched months back, this is really good indeed. The Droid has sold 100,000 units through the first week and it is a newly launched phone that has gotten positive reviews. Orange’s free film-themed app has also received a lot of success, hitting the number on spot in the entertainment category and the number two spot on the free apps category.

Hilton iPhone Apps To Give You More Choices

Guests of the Hilton hotel might soon be able to check in remotely and have food waiting for them when they arrive through multiple apps being launched by Hilton. I say might because once they reveal the app, it will still have to go through the App Store’s approval process. These apps are going to give you many more options and will “help you manage your stay.” [read]

Taptu Goes Real Time

Taptu is already well loved for their friendly mobile-searching app and now they are about to kick things up a notch. They have partnered with the real time search engine OneRiot to bring you search results as they are unfolding across the web. [read]

New iPhone Safari Bug Could Drive Your Bills Through The Roof

It has been a while since we have seen a major bug in Safari on the iPhone that users could themselves trip. So imagine our intrigue when we came across this bug. Apparently, if the user visits a site that uses Motion-JPEG (a format used mainly by security cameras) and then closes Safari – Safari continues to run in the background and continues to feed that stream into your iPhone.

The user is not notified of this in anyway and at the end of the day, you could end up with huge data bills or over usage charges. [read]

More Macs Online After The Windows 7 Launch

This might seem a bit hard to digest but it seems like the truth. We now have more Macs online  after Windows 7 has been released. In fact, Windows’ share of the Internet is on the decline. This could get interesting. [read]

Snow Leopard Update To Block Atom

Looks the latest build kernels of Mac OS 10.6.2 lacks support for Intel’s Atom. While the intention on Apple’s part is not entirely clear but we may be looking at yet another cat and mouse game here after the current Palm Pre sync thing.

If this build goes live, then netbook hackintosh makers will face a pretty challenging situation where there is no built in support for Atom. Since removing the support does not really contribute to the further streamlining of the Mac OS, blocking hackintosh makers seems like the logical intention here.

It would make sense too, with Apple trying to convert as many people has possible from the PC side of things. However, they won’t be able to keep at it for that long because you can bet that hackers on the case already and it won’t take them long.

Endless Racing Game For iPhone

I have not tried out the endless racing game but the video sure looks fun. If you are up for a simple racing that reminds of the old days, this one might be just the thing you are looking for. [read]

SquareSpace App Goes Live On The App Store

The popular hosted web-service called SquareSpace finally has its own iPhone. If you have an account over at SquareSpace, you will be able to access it securely over the app. The app does not take you through the website. It is a self-contained thing that is directly hooked up with the SquareSpace service and it lets you see everything about your website. You can see the stats, post on your blog, edit your blog, etc. [read]

Wadia’s High-End Dock For The iPod

Wadia has a high-end in audio and video solution for the the iPod, sort of. They have an iPod dock called the 170iTransport. Once you plug in your iPod, the device will act as a media server. It can stream your iPod digital output over an S/PDIF co-axial cable and it also has component video for all your movies. Going for $380, this might be a nice addition to your home theatre rig. Of  course, the quality will be as good as the original files, which will likely be compressed. [read]

Orange To Offer The iPhone In the UK From Nov 10, Bans Media Streaming Apps

Orange has declared that they will start selling the iPhone from November 10. But there is a problem here. [read]

It seems that Orange’s terms and conditions dictate that you cannot use your iPhone for other activities. These activities include making using the phone as a modem, using non-Orange Internet-based streaming services, VoIP and more. That means you will not be able to use apps like Spotify, YouTube, AudioBoo, etc. – all of which use Internet-based media streaming to deliver content on demand.

But Orange has clarified on BBC that iPhone users will be allowed to use these apps as long as they are within their monthly usage limits. I really hope they stick to that, because you will be signing the contract. [read]

iPhone OS 3.1.2 Unlock Coming On Nov 4^th, Unlock iPhone 3GS and More

It has been cracked folks!

Come November 4^th, i.e. tomorrow, you will be able to unlock your iPhone 3GS and other devices that are running iPhone OS 3.1.2. The hacker who made cracks of the previous iPhone OS versions has done it again. The crack is coming as blacksn0w  from Geohot. [read]