iPhone

Apple has been hit with a patent-infringement suit from an inventor who claims to have patented iPhone-like mobile Web surfing.

EMG Technology, which appears to be a holding company for the interests of inventor Elliot Gottfurcht, filed suit against Apple on Monday in the 21st century rocket docket, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in the Tyler Division. EMG was awarded U.S. Patent number 7,441,196 in October after filing its patent application in March 2006, and thinks Apple's iPhone has run afoul of the claims in the patent.

In a basic … Read more

An unlocked iPhone 3G appears to be closer to reality.

Just two days after Apple released its iPhone 2.2 update, the iPhone Dev Team has released a so-called jailbreak of the firmware.

The team of hackers on Saturday posted to its blog QuickPwn for 2.2 and PwnageTool for 2.2 for Windows and Macintosh machines, along with instructions on how enable iPhone 3Gs with the 2.2 firmware to accept third-party applications.

The blog also includes a word of caution about baseband, the chip that controls the connection between the phone and the mobile-phone network:

Think of it … Read more

In addition to adding features like Street View on Google Maps and performance improvements that could reduce the number of dropped calls, the latest software update for the iPhone released on Friday also plugs holes that could expose data on locked phones.

The update plugs a hole that lets someone with physical access to a passcode-locked device to launch applications without knowing the passcode. The hole was discovered in August.

Also fixed is a weakness that displays incoming SMS messages if the device is set to emergency call mode. This problem was discovered last month by a privacy conscious 12-year-old … Read more

Apple released a hefty update for the iPhone on Thursday night.

The 2.2 software update is available through iTunes, and it's packed with lots of goodies. Apple released its 2.1 software update in September.

Some of the highlights of the update center on GPS and Google Maps. For example, version 2.2 includes Google Street View in Google Maps, which allows users to see a 360-degree view of locations taken with cameras mounted on Google's cars. It also added walking directions in Google maps with information on public transportation stops.

In addition, the iPhone can now … Read more

Perhaps no one has benefited as much from the downfall of the Treo than Apple.

On Thursday, ChangeWave released the results of an otherwise dismal survey predicting a tough time ahead for anyone who relies on corporate IT spending for their livelihood. But the news was good for those in the smartphone business not named Palm; smartphone shipments to U.S. corporations are expected to grow even as overall IT spending falls.

And Apple's iPhone is seeing the bulk of the growth, according to ChangeWave. Companies still love Research in Motion's BlackBerry, as we covered earlier this month, … Read more

Wednesday's report that a Swedish wireless company was planning to add an MMS application to the iPhone now makes a little more sense.

That's because MobiSpine, another Swedish company, announced the availability of a "white label" MMS service for carriers to use on the iPhone. Telia, the iPhone's wireless carrier in Sweden, has said it plans to bring MMS capability to the iPhone in short order, but it wasn't clear how it was going to make that happen. Now they'll be able to use MobiSpine's application under their own brand, sort of … Read more

If Google wasn't Google, there's a fair chance that its new mobile application for the iPhone wouldn't be allowed in the App Store.

That's because Google Mobile is tapping into iPhone technology that is supposed to be off-limits to third-party developers, according to research done by Daring Fireball's John Gruber and Ars Technica's Erica Sadun.

The latest version of the search giant's mobile iPhone application has been well received, but it might be impossible to duplicate or improve upon the application, unless developers are willing to break Apple's rules for iPhone applications.… Read more

Swedish iPhone users may soon have a way to send each other pictures and video via text messaging.

Telia, Apple's carrier partner in Sweden, is going to develop its own MMS (multimedia messaging service) application for the iPhone, according to a report from MacWorld Sweden. The lack of MMS is perhaps one of the most common gripes about the missing features of the iPhone, second only to cut and paste.

But instead of adding that function itself, or allowing a third-party developer to build it for the App Store, Apple is apparently going to let Telia enable MMS on … Read more

The largest retailer in the world could be getting the iPhone.

Wal-Mart won't have the iPhone at every location come the end of December, if a report from the Boy Genius Report is accurate. But Apple will have iPhones in 2,500 stores in the U.S. and an additional 69 Sam's Club warehouse stores on December 28, according to the report.

It's not clear what price will be charged for the iPhone inside Wal-Mart, but it would be hard to imagine Apple embracing the idea of significant discounts even though CEO Steve Jobs has talked of … Read more