Via CrackBerry.com:

RIM has officially announced that BlackBerry Desktop Manager software for MAC will be available this September. THANK YOU RIM. You can visit blackberry.com/mac to sign up for updates and learn more or visit the Inside BlackBerry blog to see a few screen captures of it in action.

Yeah. Good luck with that. Any guesses how long that lasts before Apple releases a patch to disable BlackBerry sync?

(Kidding! Joking! Don’t panic, Kev! We’re happy for you — now you’re at least half-way towards restoring your childlike sense of wonder…)

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The Competition: RIM to Release BlackBerry Desktop Manager… for Mac?!

Last Thursday TiPb helped offer up 5 free copies of iPhone 3G Made Simple by Martin Trautschold and Gary Mazo. We’ll announce the winners after the break, but for everyone else, Gary and Martin were kind enough to offer up a 15% off coupon valid through August 15, 2009.

Coupon Code: FB6DD9D4B8

To redeem the 15% off Coupon:
Go to the iPhone 3G Made Simple E-Book site
Click the “ELECTRONIC EDITION BUY BUTTON”
On the account setup page, copy/paste the coupon code into the “COUPON” field on the bottom.
Click “Continue” to see the discount on the next page.

Winners after the break!

• schartzr
• Matt74
• jlc1978
• reesrk8
• emily0605

Check your Private Messages!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone Made Simple Give Away Winners and Discount Coupon Code!

Apple Insider says:

A new lawsuit from a Beverly Hills, Calif., man alleges that Apple conspired with the Italian mafia to secretly track him, transmit threatening messages to his iPod, and insert the word “herpes” into the song “Still Tippin’” by Mike Jones.

We say: forgetaboutit.

Seriously, though, get the man some help, not a lawyer.

Sigh.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Crazy Lawsuit Watch: Man Accuses Apple and iPod of Streaming Mafia Threats?

It is time for From the Forums, this is where TiPb selects some of the hottest topics on the forums and spotlights them right here. In order for you to reply to any of the following threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a painless process that will only take a few minutes of your time, so if you haven’t already, head on over and register now.

First up today, TiPb would like to introduce you to a new sub-forum, iPhone Wallpaper and Ringtones. Have some ringtones or wallpapers you would like to share with the community? This is the place to go. Just be sure to properly label your thread so other members have a better understanding of what you’ve posted. We’ve even hooked up a couple Official TiPb Wallpapers to get your started.

Next up we have a thread that was started by member Erika78, why did you switch to the iPhone? We all have our reasons for making the switch from another phone so drop by this thread and list a few of yours. If you have yet to make the switch from your BlackBerry to an iPhone, chances are you will any day now.

If you spend any time on our forums chances are that you like discussing all things related to technology. Apple, Palm, HTC, BlackBerry, etc… head to the Cross Platform and Other Gadget forum. Want to compare two devices? Perhaps just chat about a soon to be released phone? This is the forum to be to in.

See you on the forums!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

From the Forums: Wallpapers & Ringtones, iPhone Switch, Cross Platform Chat

The Wall Street Journal (via MacRumors) published a report stating that while Apple’s iPhone, and RIM’s BlackBerry make up only 3% of mobile phone sales last year, the gobbled up a huge 35% take of the profits. iPhone specifically was pegged at 1% of sales and 20% of profit. Boom! indeed.

Says Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff:

The disparity will become even starker this year when the two will take 5% of the market in unit terms but 58% of total operating profits.

While feature phone maker Nokia can compete due to vast economies of scale, their profits have been declining, as have Sony Ericsson. Palm’s Pre is seen as something of a wildcard, depending on developer support and distribution reach.

For their part, Apple is set to announce Q3 results tomorrow, July 21, at 5pm ET. TiPb will provide our usual coverage of the conference call, especially as results pertain to the iPhone.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone — 20% Profit Share of Mobile Industry?

It was just this past Thursday that the Dev Team updated their software unlock, ultrasn0w, to version .09. While this update seems to have eliminated most of the issues some users were experiencing, the Dev Team have been nice enough to post some pro tips for unlocking your iPhone 3G/3GS with ultrasn0w .09. The following are just a few:

• Unusual battery depletion is almost always caused by people choosing to "Restore from backup" instead of "Setup as new iPhone" when iTunes asks you. This isn't caused by either the jailbreak or the unlock, but it's a common 3.0 snafu. The fix is to just re-run the official 3.0 restore and choose "Setup as new" this time. Your music and apps and all that will still be synced, but you'll get rid of any conflicting wifi, bluetooth, or carrier settings. Then just re-run redsn0w and install ultrasn0w.
• T-Mobile in the USA doesn't use the 3G frequencies that the iPhones support, so turn off 3G in Settings->General->Network. (Some T-Mobile territories gracefully hand down to Edge mode, but most do not).

So there you have it folks, two very important tips for the unlockers of the world. We here at TiPb can not stress exactly how important that first tip really is to “Setup as new iPhone” within iTunes while restoring your device. Not doing so can and will create issues for you somewhere along the way.

For the full list of tips, swing by the Dev Teams blog.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Dev Team Pro Tips for iPhone Unlockers

Eurogamer spoke to Johnny Two Shoes (The Heist, Banana Dash), Normalware (Bebot) and Firemint (Flight Control) about how Sony’s new PSPgo platform may compete with the iPhone, and the answers were interesting:

• After an 80% price cut to PSP dev tool charges, bring the price down to $1500) it’s still much more expensive than Apple’s $99.
• Developers can’t target the existing PSP install base of 50 million, PSPgo has only just been released, and Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch have an install base of over 40 million devices.

However, Apple growing the download gaming market and PSP games traditionally being bigger and longer (as opposed to casual iPhone gaming) were seen as positives for Sony.

“In the end,” Maxwell Scott-Slade concludes, “the consumer wins for choice and developers win for a more direct access to their audience.”

[via PS3blog.net]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The Competition: Sony PSPgo or No-Go for iPhone Developers?

Apple released the iPhone 3GS on June 19th. Since then we’ve heard lots of raves for its speed and camera prowess, and some complaints about its battery life and iPhone 3.0 bugginess.

Now, one month later, if you’re one of the million plus who’s been using the iPhone 3GS, we want to know how it’s working for you? What feature are you liking the most, and what does Apple really need to fix or improve in iPhone 3.1 or the next firmware update?

Likewise, if you still haven’t picked up an iPhone 3GS yet, tell us (and Apple) what’s holding you back.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3GS - One Month Later

We know, it’s summer: here’s what you missed in the smartphone world while you were relaxing at the beach.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Best of Smartphone Experts

A daily double of ringtone makers today, this one focusing on Ringtone Expressions, from the developers behind iPhoneRingToneMake. (And for those of you with a longer memory, the developers behind GX5, which kept PalmOS looking modern longer than it had a right to).

Ringtone Expressions includes support for creating ringtones faster than ever with Drag and Drop from iTunes or right click to create ringtone, creating ringtones from songs purchased on the iTune store( iTunes plus only), sharing your ringtones to friends on Facebook and Twitter, creating ringtones from YouTube videos, creating ringtones from your computer's mic.

Support is also included for BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile should you duel wield or otherwise favor portability.

If you try out Ringtone Expressions for iPhone, let us know how it works for you.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: Ringtone Expressions for iPhone