The latest update to iPhone OS adds app recommendations using the Genius feature, the capability to purchase ringtones directly, and an option to lock your device remotely using MobileMe. Serious security problems were fixed as well.
Apple threw the kitchen sink at the iPod nano, making it a video and audio recorder, pedometer, and FM radio tuner with an added built-in speaker, all while keeping the price on the 8 GB model the same.
The iPod touch is now either cheap or fast, the iPod shuffle drops its price, and the iPod classic enlarges its hard drive.
AT&T has issued a media alert saying that the company will turn on MMS - Multimedia Messaging Service - for the iPhone 3G and 3GS on 25-Sep-09. A software update on that date will make it possible for iPhone users to transmit images, audio, video, and rich text to other MMS-enabled mobile phones.
Want to dial your iPhone from your Mac, and have incoming calls announced on your Mac before you answer? Check out Phone Amego from Sustainable Softworks.
In a New York Times article about AT&T's struggles to keep up with the demand that iPhone users are placing on its cellular data network, author Jenna Wortham writes that the MMS and tethering features of the iPhone OS 3.0 are delayed because AT&T can't handle the existing capacity.
Vonage says that Apple has approved its calling application for the iPhone and iPod touch. This may have greater implications than Skype's iPhone client.
The Chinese carrier will sell a version of the iPhone without Wi-Fi, as previously rumored, the Wall Street Journal reports. The China Unicom will apparently pay Apple full price, with no revenue sharing. Estimates put 1.5 million iPhones in use in China currently.
Apple has responded to the FCC's questions surrounding Google Voice and the App Store. Most of the answers are as we'd expect, but a few offer an interesting glimpse behind the App Store curtain.
BusinessWeek tackles the media feast surrounding reports of exploding iPhones in Europe. Apple is currently investigating several instances of reportedly overheating or exploding iPhones in France and Britain; though given the amount of attention the matter has received, one would think the number of cases was much higher than that. With only 15 heat-related complaints about iPods to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (out of over 200 million iPods sold since 2001) there's no need to start shopping for a Kevlar-lined case.
At MacObserver, our friend and colleague Ted Landau explains the intricacies of iPhone OS 3.0's automatic hotspot login feature and how to control how it rejoins such networks.
TomTom's turn-by-turn navigation app costs $100 and comes with maps of the United States and Canada. It requires an iPhone 3G or 3GS. There's no monthly subscription fee, and add-on map packs for other countries are available. A promised car-attachment kit with a better GPS chip is still not yet out or priced.
Although the iPhone 3GS automatically encrypts all data on the device using special hardware, the implementation is deeply flawed, allowing access to your information if someone has access to your iPhone.
Ars Technica reports on Apple's recent decision to revoke developer Khalid Shaikh's iPhone developer license and remove his 900+ apps from the App Store. According to Apple, Shaikh's apps, which aggregated and repackaged news content, frequently drew objections from third parties for violating intellectual property rights. When considering Apple's claim of over 65,000 apps in the App Store, hearing news of such junk (another developer reportedly has 2,000 apps similar to Shaikh's) highlights the difficulty of finding good applications.
The saga of Apple's strange pronouncements on apps submitted to the App Store continues with a dictionary required to get a 17+ rating due to mature words. Phil Schiller then explains to Daring Fireball's John Gruber what happened.