AT&T has at last updated their policy about refusing to unlock iPhones, and thrown their customers a bone. A very small bone. The new policy only partly echoes the unlocking methods used by their main competitors in the U.S.: Sprint and Verizon Wireless. The iPhone is also available, or becoming available, with several smaller regional carriers, and they will have varying policies about such matters.

But AT&T's new plan still reeks of paranoia. If your two-year contract for the iPhone has expired, no problem. If the contract hasn't expired, you have to pay the early termination fee to get the thing unlocked. While encouraging, it's still stupid with a capital "S."

Continue Reading...

You just know that when Apple calls on the press to travel to New York or California to attend one of their special events, you can expect a long session with loads of flashy, but often tedious demonstrations. Usually the presentations are 60 to 90 minutes long, and start reasonably on schedule. That was true even when Steve Jobs was master of ceremonies, and he was famous for lengthy introductions with loads of suspense before rolling out the main course.

Well CEO Tim Cook is nothing if not efficient. He hit the stage a few minutes early, briefly recounting Apple's great sales profile, and how the iPad, all by itself, exceeded the sales of any single PC maker in the last quarter. He then got down to business. First came the third-generation Apple TV, still $99, but with a slicker interface, and 1080p capability. This means you can download newly encoded movies and get picture quality equivalent to Blu-ray, or from such on-demand services as DirecTV. You'll even be able to download the movies and TV shows you've already purchased all over again, assuming the studio has given Apple permission to do so.

Continue Reading...

Industry analysts are without doubt engulfed in dizziness after looking at Apple's stellar financials this past week. How can that company possibly maintain such a level of growth year after year after year? When will everyone who is interested own an Apple product, and only look to replace the ones they have?

Consider the iPhone. According to AT&T, some 80% of their smartphone activations this past quarter consisted of one of the three iPhone models they offer. Verizon Wireless managed more than 50%, but AT&T's big advantage in this game is the fact that they still offer the iPhone 3GS free with a two-year contract? How do you beat free?

Sure, that aging iPhone will probably not survive in the lineup when the next iOS release is out, and the free phone will probably be 2010's iPhone 4, but that's nothing to apologize for. It's still a terrific product, even if you are concerned over the long-forgotten remnants of Antennagate. Or does anyone even remember what that was?

Continue Reading…

I'm sure you realize that the release of Apple's financials is a staged event. The numbers were already present long before they were unleashed to an expectant audience. The don't just emerge full blown in an email from the company accountant, ready to immediately present to the financial analysts, investors, and the public at large.

Even though every single detail about Apple's last quarter was known to them for hours or days before you learned what they were, Apple's executives remained stone-faced. There was not a clue as to what they'd contain. Sure, the media has been busy evaluating the pros and the cons, and trying to read the tea leaves. Industry surveys were probed to see a sales trend, and certainly the fact that Verizon Wireless moved more iPhones than any other smartphone in the last quarter only confirmed expectations of stellar numbers when Apple released their quarterly earnings Tuesday afternoon.

Continue Reading...