Month: April 2012

Tanking margins reportedly forcing US carriers to drop iPhone subsidies

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Apple may be poised to become the world's first trillion dollar company thanks to the iPhone, but sustainability of the pricey handset is now being put into question. One prominent analysts warns that United States carriers such as AT&T - faced with plummeting margins at a six-year low - are now considering reducing iPhone subsidies and adopting stricter upgrade policies.

If instituted, these changes could result in a more expensive iPhone and an estimated worldwide drop in sales of 27.5 million units in the June quarter, with a revenue estimate $1 billion below consensus...

AT&T reportedly unlocking iPhones for deployed servicemen as well

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 10, 2012

The nation's second-largest carrier, AT&T, is beginning to unlock in-contract iPhones for the United States military personnel deployed abroad, a new report claimed Monday. As you know, AT&T is now unlocking out-of-contract iPhones for its regular subscribers.

The unexpected policy change has been instituted following unconfirmed reports last week that some disgruntled customers who had complained about the situation to Apple CEO Tim Cook via email saw their handsets unlocked.

As a result, AT&T subscribers can now slip in a SIM card from another wireless operator and use their 3G GSM iPhones with compatible cellular networks overseas and in the United States, such as T-Mobile USA (which welcomed the change)...

T-Mobile says it welcomes unlocked AT&T iPhone users with open arms

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Last week we heard a rumor that AT&T was going to start unlocking out-of-contract iPhones over the weekend. And sure enough, on Sunday we were able to confirm that this was indeed the carrier's new policy. We even showed you how to do it.

So now that you've unlocked your handset, you're probably wondering what the benefits are. Well aside from the improved resale value and the ability to use your iPhone abroad, you can take the device with you to another, less expensive, carrier.

In fact, it sounds like T-Mobile would welcome you with open arms...

How to download your Instagram photos to your computer

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As most of you know by now, Facebook acquired Instagram, the popular photo sharing service, for a cool $1 billion, about four years ago. The company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the cheerful announcement from his Facebook page.

But not everyone was excited about the buyout. In fact, when that happened, a lot of folks told us that they'd plan on ditching their Instagram accounts now that the social network is in charge. So we've put together this easy guide on how to do download your Instagram photos, and close your account if you decide to...

Wondering when the next iPhone will launch? Ask a Foxconn employee

Cody Lee ∙ April 9, 2012

We know, we know. The iPhone 4S has barely been out for 6 months now, and rumors of the next handset are already getting out of control. Just this morning we've heard gossip regarding the unannounced device's appearance and internals.

And now we're looking at another report from South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper that claims to know when the next iPhone is going to land. According to its "source," we can expect Apple to unveil its new handset in October of this year...

Facebook acquires Instagram for a staggering $1 billion

Cody Lee ∙ April 9, 2012

This is pretty crazy: Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg just announced that the social network has acquired Instagram for a staggering $1 billion in cash and stock.

Instagram, once an iPhone-exclusive photo sharing service, has around 30 million users, that upload around 5 million photos per day. Keep reading for the full press release...

Rumor: next iPhone to feature redesigned unibody case and 4-inch display

Cody Lee ∙ April 9, 2012

It seems like we've seen a flurry of iPhone-related rumors today. Earlier, we learned that Apple has begun internally seeding sixth-generation iPhone prototypes with 1GB of RAM and a modified A5X chip. And now we're finding out about its appearance.

As noted by AppleInsider, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White issued a note to investors this morning regarding information he picked up during a recent trip to Asia. And judging from what he learned, Apple is completely rebuilding the iPhone...

‘ShowFlash’ initiates a fake screenshot when certain actions take place

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 9, 2012

If the YouTube comments from our ShowFlash video is any indication, by and large ShowFlash is a worthless tweak.

Fortunately I don't look at comments to judge what I absolutely should or shouldn't try.

Granted, as far as usability goes, ShowFlash is fairly devoid of any worthwhile usefulness, but that doesn't mean you should absolutely avoid it, does it?

Rumor: next iPhone to include 1GB of RAM, tweaked CPU

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 9, 2012

According to a new report by 9to5Mac, a new iPhone and a new iPod touch is in the works.

Should this even be labeled as a rumor considering the absolute inevitability of these hardware updates? I don't know, but the wait, speculation, and anticipation is always amusing.

According to their sources, a variant of the A5X chip will power the next generation iPhone, and it will include 1GB of RAM. To me, a varient suggests it's probably not an "A5X" per-se, but an entirely new processor dedicated to the device's smaller form factor, and less visually intensive needs.

Their source also indicates that the next generation iPhone has been seeded internally, yet it is being housed in ho-hum iPhone 4/4S casing to throw off any potential leaks.

Sounds about par for course. I guess the only thing left to make this 100% legit is for the new iPhone tester to head to his or her favorite bar, am I right?

Despite criticism, Apple is beating competitors in supply chain efforts

Cody Lee ∙ April 9, 2012

The New York Times published an interesting article yesterday regarding Apple's efforts to improve working conditions in its supply chain. But unlike the report it ran earlier this year, which largely criticized the company, this piece praised Cook's team.

After doing a little research, The Times found that Apple is far more transparent with its overseas factory audits and is doing more to correct violations than any of its competitors. In fact, a majority of the companies won't even comment on the matter...

Fusion: integrate Facebook sharing into iOS 5 and more

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 8, 2012

Wouldn't it be great if you could have Facebook integration that acted similar to iOS' built in Twitter integration? Well, now you can.

Introducing Fusion — a jailbreak tweak that integrates Facebook, Foursquare, and even MySpace (obligatory lol) into your default Twitter composition pane. But the tweak doesn't stop there, it also allows you to composes messages for all of the aforementioned networks using Siri.

Check out our full video walkthrough on this awesome jailbreak tweak inside...

Here’s how to use AT&T’s online chat to unlock your iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 8, 2012

So yeah, I was lazy. Unlike Cody, I don't have the patience to wait on hold, or be placed in a revolving door of automated prompts. It was either head directly to the store, or give AT&T's technical support chat a try.

Thankfully, AT&T's technical support chat has a pretty good track record with me; I figured I'd give that a try before deciding to burn a gallon of gas to head to the closest AT&T store. Would they even be open on a holiday anyway?

At the end of the day, I'm glad I decided on this method. In less than 10 minutes the unlocking process for my iPhone was initiated, saving me time, gas money, and a potential headache.

Whereas it took Cody about 20 minutes to initiate his iPhone 4 unlock, it took me less than 10 minutes. Folks, it really doesn't get any simpler than this...