Mac developer and Panic luminary Steven Frank’s public break-up with the iPhone over Apple’s capricious App Store policy was one of the few so grounded in rationale and reason we couldn’t discount it, and neither could Apple’s Senior VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller.

While Schiller previously responded to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber over concerns about the Ninjawords app, Schiller’s response to Steve Frank was different in kind, if similar in sentiment:

I haven't sought Phil's explicit permission to republish the letter, so I won't do so here. But to summarize, he said: "we're listening to your feedback". Not all of my suggested solutions were viable, he said, but they were taking it all in as they continue to evolve the app store.

He went on to say that the rumors of widespread e-book app rejection I'd heard were false — that specifically one e-book app had been rejected because it facilitated iPhone-to-iPhone sharing of (potentially copyrighted) books. But that otherwise, there was no sweeping ban on e-book readers.

First, it’s interesting to see such high level and yet fairly intimate intervention by an Apple executive when it comes to the App Store. It’s not an open letter by Steve Jobs — it’s something subtler, and yet seemingly targeted to engender the type of good will that could give Apple the time and good faith they need to fix the App Store approval process if — and it’s a huge if — they truly take the time to fix it. And that’s the fulcrum of actions and results upon which Schiller’s intervention will ultimately succeed or fail.

Second, Steven Frank is now left to wonder whether to continue his boycott of the iPhone given the lack of those observable actions visible results, or to extend his hand back to Apple and give them that same second chance.

It will be interesting to see what happens next…

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

Apple VP Phil Schiller Emails Steven Frank, No E-Book Rejection Policy, Working to Improve App Store

According to Times Online, It now seems as if Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI are putting the finishing touches on their new album format, CMX, and are ready to do battle against Apple’s rumored “Cocktail” enhanced album format.

It was just last month we reported about Cocktail, which would feature new interactive booklets, sleeve notes and other features alongside music downloads in an attempt to lure consumers into making more full album purchases. Now, while it looks like “Cocktail” does exist, it seems that none of the record labels had any hand in creating it. According to this story, record labels first approached Apple 18 months ago to see if they wanted in on this new CMX format and Apple politely refused. Apple then created “Cocktail” in order to compete with Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI.

One senior record label insider said: "Apple at first told us that they were not interested, but now they have decided to do their own, in case ours catches on.

While most of us here at TiPb have no major quarrels purchasing our music digitally, there are a lot of people out there who feel when purchasing digital albums over the internet you are not getting the full album experience. Would this new format make purchasing digital albums any less painful for you? And would you rather go with Apple’s “Cocktail” or the music industry’s CMX?

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

Sony, Warner, Universal and EMI to Launch iTunes “Cocktail” Album Competitor?

Daynah from PHP-Princess.net just couldn’t abide the meager 11 pages and paltry 180 apps provided by iPhone 3.0, so she went about forcing Apple’s SpringBoard home screen manager to give her more. How did she do it?

Check the link above for the details, but the but gist is filling up more than the default 11 pages (additional apps will still be hidden), then moving built-in apps to the last spot, then moving in an additional icon to force a built-in app off the 11th screen, the downloading an app to fill in the empty spot, and… presto — 12th page.

Ninja level work-around to be sure, but if you can’t live with 180 visible apps, and decide to experiment, let us know your results!

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

iPhone Ninjary: How Get More Than 11 Home Screens in iPhone 3.0

UPDATE: Boy Genius has linked to screenshots from China via Germany that show Last.fm and “social”. Real or Fake? You decide!

Boy Genius is back with more from the same iTunes 9 leaking source, this time with details on iTunes 9 social network integration and plans for an Apple “social app”.

The Apple “social app” is rumored to be some kind of consolidator that would bring all your other social network services together (BGR says similar to Yahoo’s OneConnect — yeah, we don’t use it either). Whether it’s a desktop app, iPhone app, or both wasn’t made clear.

It’ll let you share what music you’re listening to, connect with “friend’s friends” (expand your network and meet new people?) and push status updates to your other networks.

Apple began integrating with Facebook and Flickr in iPhoto ‘09 demonstrated at Macworld 2009, but rather than simple data sharing or publishing, this sounds like Apple might actually be “getting” social media?

Lastly, the ability to organize iPhone apps in iTunes is said to include the ability to:

sort your applications alphabetically, by genre, date added, and of course, custom arrangement.

Speculation remains high that, if indeed Apple is set to release iTunes 9, it will be at the annual iTunes and iPod Music event in September alongside the new iPod touch, rumored to get a camera this time around.

(Not going to mention Kevin Rose’s iTunes 9 wish list from last year, b’okay?)

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

Updated: Apple Going Social? More iTunes 9, “Social App”, and App Organization

PushMail [$4.99 - iTunes link] takes a different approach to working around the lack of push notifications for Gmail, Hotmail, and other email services on the iPhone. When you set up PushMail, you’re prompted to create an account on their servers ([username]@dopushmail.com). You then forward email from Gmail, Hotmail, etc. to that PushMail account (using whatever filters or rules you like), and when PushMail gets the forward, it sends a push notification to your iPhone, alerting you that your Gmail, Hotmail, etc. account has email.

You can also forward more than one account to the Pushmail account.

If you give it a try, 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: PushMail for iPhone, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. Push Notification Relay

The much-discussed SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone application is once again back in the news again. The Boy Genius is reporting Sling Media has submitted a fairly significant SlingPlayer update to Apple. Version 1.1 will Include the following:

• True 16×9 wide-screen support
• Improved remote control interface
• Faster speeds all around including channel changing, initial connection, and remote control response

Sling Media also let BGR know that a completely separate application has been submitted for outside of the USA that contains all of the above along with 3G support. Your guess is as good as ours as to whether or not Apple will let this update into the App Store. Without AT&T pulling Apple’s strings it is a possibility everyone outside of the good old USA will enjoy 3G Sling streaming.

So what do you think, will the 3G version make it through to any non-AT&T customers?

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

SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone App Update Submitted to Apple

Either one of the most awesome iPhone developed concepts yet, or MIT professor and Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighter pilot Missy Cummings has just given the iPhone’s Skynet/Matrix/Cylon decedents the origins of the flying hunter/seekers they’ll be using to wipe us out.

[Via TUAW via Wired]

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

Tuesday Fun Video: iPhone Controlled Flying Drone

Our sibling site, TreoCentral.com, reminds us about the NY Times report that even hands-free cell phone (including iPhone) use while driving radically increases the risk of accidents:

Studies say that drivers using phones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers, and the likelihood that they will crash is equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level, the point at which drivers are generally considered intoxicated. Research also shows that hands-free devices do not eliminate the risks, and may worsen them by suggesting that the behavior is safe.

Some states have passed laws requiring hands-free phone use (it’s required where I live), some are no passing no-texting-and-driving laws, and some are trying to see if they can ban mobile use entirely.

Driving while talking on the phone is singled out, of course, though we’d suspect driving while following a map, eating, tuning the radio, checking out the scenery, even talking to another passenger (though arguably they have additional eyes on the road to mitigate) are all distracting to one degree or another.

TiPb’s curious what you think about talking on the phone while driving, and what, if anything, you think should be done about it?

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

Poll: Would You Give Up Using Your iPhone in the Car for Increased Safety?