AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega stated that his carrier’s exclusive agreement to sell Apple’s iPhone in the US… will end one day. Of course, we knew this. You knew this. AT&T and Apple knew this. Everybody knew this, because they’ve said it before. Still, on the eve of a highly successful quarterly results report, where the iPhone once again carried the day for AT&T earnings, they obviously felt the need to say it again:

"We have a legacy of having a great portfolio…that will continue after the iPhone is no longer exclusive to us. We think we will continue after the iPhone…to drive [results]…." [...] "we feel really good about our non-iPhone [subscriber] adds and net adds…. We feel really strong about our portfolio in quick messaging devices, including BlackBerry and all the smartphones." [...] "Even if we lose exclusivity [of the iPhone], we will be the only carrier with HSPA 7.2 [a network specification being deployed at AT&T] and [new devices] will work on our network faster. I feel as strongly as ever [about] the capability of devices in our lineup and [am] super-excited about the deals with e-readers and personal navigation devices.”

Apparently, like Verizon, AT&T will seek post-iPhone solace in much more carrier-control friendly Android…

[Via Macworld]

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

CEOh-SNAP: AT&T Says (Again!) iPhone Exclusivity Will End

Microsoft has opened their first Microsoft Store, and kudos to them for that. However, we can’t help but feel that by literally copying an Apple Store to the degree that only the signage and products are swapped out, Microsoft cost consumers a chance to experience something different, something innovative, and something that would have continued to push the retail part of the computer and smartphone industry.

Same decor, Gurus in lieu of Geniuses, colored shirts, hiring Apple executives and store staff, even the same opening festivities. Gruber’s right:

It's creepy, as in like stalker-ish creepy, just how blatantly they've copied Apple.

Stepford.

[Thanks @justin_horn horn for the tip!]

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

Attack of the iClones: Microsoft Literally Copies the Apple Store

Hot on the heels of Apple’s Q4 results come AT&T’s Q3 report, and the iPhone-related news keeps getting better and better, including a record 3.2 million activations, 40% of which went to new customers.

And the records didn’t stop there. Highest Q3 net subscriber gain, best ever Q3 churn rate, largest quarterly increase of integrated devices (like iPhone) in history, and 33.6% increase in data revenue.

What’s astonishing is this growth persists despite widespread, ongoing — almost farcical at this point — reports of poor network experience for iPhone users. Imagine if AT&T could build out infrastructure to meet demand in areas like San Francisco and New York?

And how happy are they Verizon appears to be out of the iPhone picture, at least for now?

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

AT&T Q3 2009 Financial Results — 3.2 Million iPhones Activated, 40% to New Customers

For today's TiPb Top 5, we are catering to all of our iPhone and iPod touch wielding readers who enjoy sports games and sports apps. Just like our other TiPb's top 5 must-have posts, all of these applications are available in the App Store. For the full run down, follow us after the break!

Madden 2010

Today’s first game worth a mention is EA Mobile’s Madden 2010 and for good reason. The Madden football series is the #1 selling football game in the history of video games. It does not get any better than this, with crisp graphics, great controls, and amazing sound. If you are looking for the most detailed and intuitive football game on your iPhone, look no further.

• Dominate the field with rosters packed with your favorite NFL players from all 32 licensed teams.
• Play in authentic stadiums against life-like players on real NFL teams.
• Use touch controls to draw hot routes for passing plays, exclusive to Madden NFL 10.
• Play a quick one-off game, or try the robust season mode, which features in-depth trades, stats and individual player rewards.
• Detailed roster management gives you full control over depth charts, cross-team trading, and access to huge free agent pools.

Madden 2010 is available for $9.99. [iTunes Link]

FIFA 10

Can EA Mobile do any wrong when it comes to sports games? Just like with Madden, FIFA 10 provides you with top notch graphics, control, and sound. This is a must buy for any soccer fan.

• The only fully-licensed football game on the App Store – Real players, real teams & real leagues. No other football game can compete in terms of authentic rosters of players that mirror those of 2009/2010 teams across the globe.
• Includes the incredibly innovative Be-A-Pro mode from the console series – Create your own player and track his career through the lows of domestic football to the potential highs of European and international competition.
• Tournaments – 20 different licensed tournaments and cup competitions from around the world
• Unmatched range of passing – Shorts passes, lobs, long passes and through balls all available through an incredibly simple system of two-button controls
• Responsive shooting system – enabling the user to shoot from distance with accuracy as well taking the ball past defenders and finishing with that touch of class
• Full sound effects including Audio Commentary – Using the reknowned commentary from UK premier league announcer Clive Tilsley

FIFA 10 is available for $9.99. [iTunes Link]

Super K.O. Boxing 2

Next up we have one for all of you out there who are fans of Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Super K.O. Boxing 2. Those of you looking for a simulation boxing game may want to skip this all out arcade action game but it is hard not to like this games great graphics and animation. Add the slick controls and you have an addicting arcade boxing game that is worth every penny.

• Each opponent has their own personality and moves
• Unleash devestating hook punches, dizzy knock downs and charged super punch combos to knock your opponent out.
• Circuit, versus, challenge, and endurance mode.

Super K.O. Boxing 2 is available for $4.99. [iTunes Link] [Free Demo]

ESPN Radio

Need a way to listen to your ESPN radio on the go? ESPN Radio is just the app for you. Listen to live, crystal-clear radio streams from more than 15 of your favorite ESPN radio stations from across the country directly on your iPhone/iPod via Wi-Fi or 3G. Even better, you can listen live while surfing the net, checking your email, etc… Since the audio stream runs off of Quicktime there is a background mode.

• LISTEN LIVE to live play-by-play broadcasts of your favorite college football games!
• LISTEN to more than 35 ESPN Radio podcasts right from your iPhone or iPod Touch, including the B.S. Report with Bill Simmons, Pardon The Interruption, Around The Horn and Fantasy Focus.
• LISTEN on demand to “SportsCenter” — updated every 20 minutes!
• LIVE scores and news feeds of your favorite NFL, MLB, NHL, college and professional sports teams.
• LIVE scores and news feeds of your favorite NFL, MLB, NHL, college and professional sports teams.
• TEXT CONNECT — send a message directly to the studio of your favorite ESPN Radio show.

ESPN Radio is available for $2.99. [iTunes Link]

Sportstap

Sportstap is the ideal app that enables you to get all of your scores and game details along directly on your phone. You can check out standings, team stats, player stats, and get updated scores and data every minute for all of your favorite teams. Sure there are a ton of other apps available that can do the same but not many of them send game update push notifications directly to your device. MLB, NFL, and NCAA Football. NHL, NBA, and NCAA Basketball are current sports that you can have alerts for. There are a few others sports apps that support push notifications but none of them pushed more timely than Sportstap. So if you like updates in real time, this is the way to go.

Sportstap is available for free. [iTunes Link]

Conclusion

There you have it, TiPb's Top 5 Must-Have iPhone sports apps. Did we miss any of your favorites? Overlook any killer sports app? Drop us a comment and let us know your list!

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

TiPb’s Top 5 iPhone Sports Games and Apps

Gizmodo is reporting that AT&T sent out a letter to employees encouraging them, along with their families, to protest the FCC’s net neutrality rules. It was said the letter even encouraged the use of the employees private email instead of their company email. For them to stoop this low makes it pretty obvious they are not hip to the idea of net neutrality. Gizmodo later updated their post with the following:

AT&T says that the letter was sent to “U.S. managers only” and that they “were providing important information to our employees, and it was up to them to respond personally. If they use their company email that is fine, too.”

Their reply is pretty laughable as if sending this letter to “U.S. managers only” makes it any better. While I don’t have issues here in Chicago with AT&T’s service, some of their antics really are mind boggling.

Have thoughts regarding this news? Please share in the comments below!

[Via Gizmodo]

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

AT&T Encourages Employees to Cry About Net Neutrality to FCC

Out sibling site NokiaExperts.com brings word that Nokia is suing Apple in Delaware court. Why-for?

ten patents related to GSM, UMTS, and WLAN standards that Nokia states they established after investing more than EUR 40 billion in R&D over the last 20 years. Nokia stated that they have successfully entered into license agreements including these patents with approximately 40 companies, including virtually all the leading mobile device vendors, allowing the industry to benefit from Nokia's innovation.

Seems other companies have coughed up the cash to use them, but Apple’s waiting for a court to force their hand. With $35 billion in the bank, they can obviously afford to give a fortune away to the lawyers, but why go to the effort? Do they really think a court will somehow dismiss the patents as invalid?

Pass the popcorn, get ready for some patent pugilism, and let us know what you think!

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

Nokia Sues Apple Over iPhone GSM Patent Infringement

Could Apple’s still unannounced, non-existant (for consumers anyway) iTablet be the ultimate comic book reader? Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Apple aficionado, and Sheldon-esque comic book lover Andy Ihnatko suggests just that. When writing about LongBox, which seeks to do for comics what iTunes did for music (i.e. bring a fractured, self-destructive, myopic industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century), he says:

I'm pretty sure that Apple is entering into a formal alliance with LongBox. When I asked Hoseley about what kind of partnerships the company is forming, he spoke vaguely of what was taking up most of his time at the moment: a lengthy and complicated agreement with a seriously large company operating in the media space.

I pressed him for more details while on the record. Rantz would only hint that this specific company had received high-profile coverage in both the Engadget and Gizmodo blogs in the previous week.

Would I love to have read Planetary #27 on a gorgeous capacitive multi-touch display? Absolutely. Would the next logical step be dynamic content a la Watchman motion comic? Absolute-lier! Do we expect to see Steve Jobs hold up an iTablet in January, clearly showing the latest issue of Ultimate Avengers, Captain America in tight-focused frenzy? Who knows at this point, but the comic industry will go the way of the dinosaur if they don’t adopt an iTunes-like online distribution method and soon, so as much as some of us want it, they need it.

The iPhone already has Comics, with a lot of independent content. Marvel and DC, where are you?

(Tangential – Steve Jobs is Disney’s largest shareholder and Disney just bought Marvel.)

[via MacBreak Weekly. Photoshop above yet again a homage in honor of Windows 7 launch day!]

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

Mythical Apple iTablet to be Ultimate Comic Book Reader?

iFixit has gotten their hands on a brand new Apple Magic Mouse and… torn it apart!

Not much else to say really, but if you want your gadget porn fix of the day, check it — and it’s orange capacitive inner wear — out. (CNet also has a video review posted).

[via 9to5mac]

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

Apple Magic Mouse Torn Apart, Capacitive Parts Abound!

Big news round Twitter-way, with Apple adding a few more official Twitter accounts, and Microsoft Bing and Google paying for unrestricted access to real-time search Twitter’s firehose of user status posts.

First up, while Apple’s never been accused of “getting” social media, and it may come as a surprise they’re using Twitter at all, it’s not so surprising that — rather than customer feedback, support, or insight into the iron curtain that shrouds Cupertino — these accounts are just news/marketing updates on when the latest music and media hits the world’s most popular download service. (And some seem less than active at the moment). Baby steps?

You can follow them via: iTunesTrailers, iTunesMusic, iTunesMovies, iTunesTV, and iTunesPodcasts.

Also both Microsoft’s Bing and Google have now announced partnerships with Twitter. Bing says:

Were you as fascinated by the 6-year-old boy floating away in a balloon as we were? Was it a hoax? We know that people are going to twitter more and more for information surrounding all the latest chatter. You can now search for what people are saying all over the web about breaking news topics, your favorite celebrity, hometown sports team, and anything else you use Twitter to stay on top of today.

Google says:

We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

Does this hybrid search model appeal to you? Let us know!

[Ballmer photoshop re-used in honor of Windows 7 launch day]

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

iTunes Gets Twitter Accounts, Bing and Google Get Twitter Real-Time Search

Today’s the day — Microsoft is officially launching Windows 7! If you’ve been using the beta and release candidate for a almost a year already, then maybe today will be just another day. If, however, you’ve just received your party pack, or upgrade box, or just bought a shiny new machine and your next step is to figure out how to move all your iPhone content over — well, we have a fresh new iPhone Help Forum thread for you!

Whether you’re a newcomer to Windows 7 and/or the iPhone looking to fix a problem, or a seasoned Microsoft Guru with iPhone already sorted and willing to help, head on over and let us know your issues and your advice.

Have fun and happy launch day!

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

Windows 7 and the iPhone — Help and How-To!