Errant iPhones? No Big Deal, Analyst Says

Wireless subscriptions reached 65.7 million

(NEWSER) - AT&T quarterly profits went up 42%, boosted by strong wireless sales and by the ever-nifty Apple iPhone. Total wireless sales hit 65.7 million, much of the increase coming from the company's purchase of BellSouth—which made AT&T the sole owner of Cingular. “We had an excellent quarter in wireless growth,” says the company's CFO. More»

With a view toward resale, hackers put footprint on market

(NEWSER) - One of every 10 iPhones sold in September was bought to be unlocked and resold, an investment bank has estimated. The anecdotal research comes from several hours spent monitoring Apple stores; the analysts assumed that all iPhone purchases of the maximum five per customer were made by hackers, appleinsider.com reports. Unlockers were in particular effect in New York City locations. More»

Software makes unlocking the gadget easier, but is it legal?

(NEWSER) - New software that allows iPhone users to unlock the devices for use on any network without having to disassemble them is available online. Hackers have been on the case for 2 months, MacNewsWorld reports, and this week's breakthrough means customers can buy phones directly from Apple and don't have to be tied to a 2-year contract with AT&T. More»

For your own good, though!

(NEWSER) - The US government is a-OK with you jailbreaking your iPhone but, not surprisingly, Apple is not. To that end, the company applied for a patent to disable jailbroken devices, the Register reports. Ostensibly, Apple just wants to protect you from an unauthorized user breaking into your phone: The patent application describes systems that would automatically detect “hacking programs” that would indicate “an unauthorized user may be using the electronic device” (emphasis ours). More»

(NEWSER) - Apple has rejected Google’s application to distribute its Voice application through the App Store, and that shows that Apple is dead-set against innovation, Adam Pash writes on Lifehacker. The official line is that Google Voice “duplicates features already on the iPhone—namely the Phone and Messages app,” but that’s malarkey. “The real problem,” Pash writes, “is that Google Voice, and all it offers, is actually much better than what AT&T offers.” More»