iPhone

Apple has apparently included a blacklisting mechanism in iPhone OS 2.x through which the device can phone home, check for unauthorized applications, and disable them. The OS includes a URL that points to a page containing a list of unauthorized applications, specifically those listed here.

According to Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the book iPhone Open Application Development and an iPhone forensics manual:

This suggests that the iPhone calls home once in a while to find out what applications it should turn off. At the moment, no apps have been blacklisted, but by all appearances, this has been added to … Read more

Apple has released the first update to the iPhone 2.0 software, with promises of "bug fixes."

iPhone owners were prompted Monday afternoon that the update was available, the first update for iPhone owners since the iPhone 2.0 software went live three weeks ago. AppleInsider appeared to be the first to spot the update, or at least the first with a well-known publishing brand to spot it, and reported that the release notes call out "bug fixes," but nothing specific.

Please let me know, either here in the comments or through e-mail, if you have … Read more

Demand for Apple's iPhone 3G remains strong, which could be forcing Apple to ramp production beyond its original estimates.

TechCrunch is reporting that Apple has asked Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai, to increase production of the iPhone 3G to 800,000 units a week. That pace translates to about 40 million units a year, far greater than what most analysts had been expecting the company to sell in the iPhone 3G era.

A short-term bump in production capacity may not imply that Foxconn will keep up that pace; TechCrunch's report alludes to "some concerns about quality … Read more

The whole Freeiphoneswap.com process (see part 1) got me worrying and thinking about fraud. And, with frustrations about the iPhone's battery common among bloggers and friends alike, you know there is a lawsuit looming out there as some plaintiff-side law firm will want to take Apple to task for allegedly misrepresenting the iPhone's battery life (both the first generation and 3G). Whether these would-be rentseekers have a claim a jury would buy will be seen.

But thinking about it, Apple says this about the iPhone's battery life:

Talk time: Up to 5 hours on 3G Up … Read more

Money talks especially when news of the economy tanking is constant. So, with this thinking in mind, I scuttled the idea of giving my 1st generation iPhone to my grandpa. It's dreadful to think of (1) the hassle and how long it would have taken to go into an AT&T store to swap his Nokia, invariably, AT&T will something screw up, it's just a question of how badly they do; and, (2) how much more adding a 2nd iPhone data plan would be. It just didn't make economic sense to get him an … Read more

A new architectural licensee revealed by mobile-chip designer ARM might just be an old friend.

ARM Chief Executive Warren East revealed on an earnings conference call on Wednesday that "a leading handset OEM," or original equipment manufacturer, has signed an architectural license with the company, forming ARM's most far-reaching license for its processor cores.

East declined to elaborate on ARM's new partner, but EETimes' Peter Clarke could think of only one smartphone maker who would be that interested in shaping and controlling the direction of the silicon inside its phones: Apple.

And at first blush, the … Read more

The FCC's approval Friday of the merger between satellite radio providers Sirius and XM won't solve the fundamental problems with satellite radio.

As I've written before, I was a Sirius subscriber for one year, before canceling my subscription in early 2007. It sounded bad--much worse than my current kludge of plugging my iPod Shuffle into an aux-input that connects to an unused frequency on my FM radio (don't ask...it's an '06 Subaru thing). It was a physical pain to set up. Most of all, it just wasn't worth paying $12.95 a month … Read more

This morning Facebook told me that 27 of my friends had downloaded the iPhone Facebook application. 27 out of 300+ is a good chunk of people and speaks to the fact that more and more people are getting iPhones. Of course, this is only if they can be patient to wait at least 2+ hours in line and if a given Apple/AT&T store actually has them in stock. It's hard to imagine that this has been going on for at least two weeks.

Anyway, I clicked the link to see who actually downloaded the Facebook iPhone … Read more

A new firmware update for Apple's iPhone 3G is said to include improvements for its GPS functions, but it's not clear whether that software will do anything to correct the iPhone's reception issues.

GearLive reported Thursday that Apple has provided a beta version of the firmware, which is being called iPhone OS 2.1 beta 1, to developers in its program. The new software is said to provide additional features for developers who want to use the iPhone's built-in GPS chip.

If that's the case, it would alleviate some of the concerns raised by David Pogue … Read more