It looks like the just-released iOS 5 beta 4 is an OTA update, with Apple pushing the bit-differential/delta file over the air, over 3G… if you can connect. Lots of people can’t, according to Twitter, and are getting “Try Again” errors. When it does work, however, it seems to work well.

Also, many of you are telling us you’re having no luck updating via iTunes or Xcode, with “this device isn’t eligible” errors cause all manner of frustration.

If you get your update on using either method, let us know!

[Thanks @MattAttack07]

Apple has once again pulled a Friday trigger on an iOS beta, this time iOS 5 beta 4 for iPod touch, iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV, as well as iTunes 10.5 beta 5 for Mac and Xcode 4.2 DP 4.

If you’re a registered, paid developer head on over and grab it all now. If you spot anything new and noteworthy, let us know in comments, and discuss away in our iOS 5 forum.

UPDATE: We’re getting a bunch of reports that iOS 4 beta 4 is showing up as an OTA update. We tried it and it errors out for us but let us know if you have any luck.

[developer.apple.com]

Verizon has now joined Apple and AT&T in reporting their quarterly earnings, and the big news for us is that they activated 2.3 million iPhone 4 devices. That’s up from last quarter, but perhaps not as many as expected.

In the follow up, new Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam acted shocked — shocked we tell you — that there was no iPhone 5 this summer. He, like the rest of us, expect it this fall. Given Verizon only launched iPhone 4 in February, over a half-a-year later than AT&T, it’s hard to believe they were completely out of the loop on Apple’s roadmap this time around.

Either way, Apple previously reported selling 20 million iPhones this quarter, and AT&T activated 3.6 million. That means 5.6 million of those 20 million iPhones were activated on an official US carrier, and further proves just how much of Apple’s business is increasingly international (gray market included.)

[Verizon]

Sure, AT&T might be trying to buy T-Mobile US, and sure, T-Mobile got into the microSIM game before AT&T and Apple made them famous, but it looks like now T-Mo is actually going after iPhone and iPad owners before the former, using the latter.

Already have a GSM phone or iPhone that you need to activate—or have an unlocked GSM phone you want to use on the T-Mobile network? Just get a Micro SIM card and choose a plan. Slip the ready-to-use Micro SIM Card into your phone and you're ready to go.

And why not, there’s reported over 1,000,000 unlocked iPhones already on the magenta network.

When I roam in the US, often at trade shows like CES, I often have to switch between AT&T and T-Mo, as often as I change buildings. That’s not an option for US iPhone users, but if you’re willing to live with EDGE speeds and pay for a second plan you could have the next best thing.

(Though yeah, the two year contract is nuts)

[T-Moble via App Advice]

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Phil, Kevin, Derek, Dan, and Rene talk Netflix on Android, media on Mobile, the RIM-pire striking back, news execs at webOS, Nokia Windows Phones, 20 million iPhones, and hitting the budget buyer sweet spot. Bringing together the heads of state of Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, and Windows Mobile for full on round-table action. This is Mobile Nations!

Agenda

• Netflix’s Android rollout an example of a good thing done badly
• CrackBerry Kevin goes to Waterloo
• HP’s move puts Rubinstein in Rahul Sood’s old shoes, an operations guy in charge of webOS
• New video of Nokia Sea Ray prototype running WP7
• Apple Q3 2011 results: 20.34 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads, 7.54 million iPods, $7.31 billion in profit
• Mobile Technology and Automobiles… it’s an exciting future, and QNX is at the heart of it
• Apple's layered user experience approach

Feedback

Got something to say? Agree or disagree with something we said? Have something you want us to discuss on a future show? Don’t just sit there yelling at the screen, dammit, let us know!

• Email: podcast@mobilenations.com
• Twitter: @mobilenations
• Web: www.mobilenations.com

Hosts

Phil Nickinson (@philnickinson)

Kevin Michaluk (@crackberrykevin)

Derek Kessler (@dkdsgn)

Daniel Rubino (@Malatesta77)

Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)

Credits

Our music is pROgraM vs. Us3R by by morgantj. Introduction by Joseph Holder.

Thanks to the Smartphone Experts network of store for sponsoring this podcast, and to our fantastic live chat members for keeping us honest and making us smart!

MKO Games has update their iPhone and iPad archer game, SplitApple.

SplitApple is a fun and beautiful archery game on iPhone / iPad. With beautiful and running smooth graphics, the game reproduces the feelings of archery.

There are 4 different game modes:

• Challenge: do your best score in this mode mixing all kind of targets and distances.
• Time Trial: perform the best possible score in a minute only: be quick and accurate!
• Survival: start with 10 arrows. Get extra arrows with good shots. How far will you go?
• Practice: improve your skills on this training target: adjust the distance and the wind.

Update includes:

• Popping Targets: do you have what it takes to shoot at these new targets?
• A new Challenge Mode even more complete.
• New achievements to unlock.

The graphics in SplitApple are amazing and are enough to get me hooked to this game. The games runs smoothly and has fun gameplay. This is also a great game to show off gaming on your iPhone or iPad because anyone can pick it up and intuitively try it out.

SplitApple is available for iPhone, or as a universal app for both iPhone and iPad and priced at $0.99 and $2.99, respectively. Screenshots and video after the break.

[iPhone iTunes link] [Universal iTunes link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Discovr Apps: An interactive map of App Store and makes its easy to discover new apps for your iPhone & iPad. Updated with many new features. [Free for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]

• Ringtone Architect: Make ringtones from your iPod library up to 40 seconds and apply custom time fade in and fade outs. [Free for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Talking Rusty the Dog: Rusty is a kind and funny young dog with a lot of energy who enjoys his happy life playing and spending time with you. [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Necrorun: Death has been challenged by knights to a duel, and if they win, Death will reward them immortality. [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

• Animal Coins Golf: A Side Bet Game For Golfers: Do you love to play side games with your friends while playing golf? This app automatically keeps track of a fun side bet game called “Animal Coins Golf” that you play while on the golf course. [$1.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Georgia really wants Flash support on the iPad, with the option to toggle it on and off as she so chooses, and I’ve said in the past I’d like a Flash Player app (Flash is technically more than just video, but 90% of the time people talk about wanting Flash they just want their videos.) But [stuff] like this really makes me question if I even want that. When OS X Lion debuted earlier this week, Adobe quickly blasted off a blog post saying Apple had killed hardware acceleration and Apple was to blame for poor Flash performance in Lion.

And fair enough. It’s not like Apple provided a beta process, with a preview release in early June and a GM candidate several weeks ago. It’s not like major developers like Adobe didn’t have time or opportunity to get the beta, get it running on as many Macs as possible, and figure out any issues before the public release. So what did Adobe do?

The final release of Mac OS X Lion (10.7) provides the same support for Flash hardware video acceleration as Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6). The previous "Known Issue" described in a tech note suggesting that video hardware acceleration was disabled in Lion was incorrect and based on tests with a pre-release version of Mac OS X Lion that related to only one particular Mac GPU configuration. We continue to work closely with Apple to provide Flash Player users with a high quality experience on Mac computers.

“A” pre-release version, “only one particular Mac GPU configuration”?! And based on that they blast Apple in a blog post that gets wide pick up? Nice.

The retraction is classy but Adobe’s failed to innovate or improve Flash for much of the last decade. It’s the IE6 of plugins. In 2007 people complained about the lack of Flash on the iPhone and blamed Apple — when there was no version of Flash that could run on the iPhone. Now, 4 years later, there’s still no decent Flash for mobile, only various levels of beta that work only for Flash video, and even then are hit and miss at best (PlayBook and TouchPad both have serious firepower behind them and even they don’t approach a consistently great user experience for Flash.)

So either the Flash technology is great and deserves to continue, and is just taking longer than anyone would like to get there, or it was a proprietary filler, like ActiveX, that was clumsy but useful, and has reached its limits. Either way, my advice to Adobe remains the same — shut up. Stop bitching, stop blogging, and ship a great version of Flash for mobile. And for Mac. You’ve had a decade for the latter and almost half that for the former.

[Adobe blog]

Sid Meier's Pirates! has just been released for the iPad and it is one of the games from that past that should bring a smile to the face of anyone over 30. Originally released in 1987, this was the first game to feature Sid Meier's name in its title to attract fans of Sid's other games; which were mostly flight simulators at that time. The iPad version released today has updated graphics but still has the great game play of the original.

All hands on Deck! Sid Meier’s Pirates! is an exciting high-seas adventure that allows buccaneers to helm one of 27 fully customizable ships as they descend upon unsuspecting ports of call to amass a motley crew of seafaring bandits. As a fearless Pirate Captain you will collect hidden treasure maps, undertake daring missions and courageous rescues, and swiftly hand out pirate-style justice to local braggarts at every port. The wild call of the ocean will lure you back to sea where they’ll encounter enemy pirates and engage in mind-blowing open sea battles unlike any other game before on the iPad.

Features:

• Take the helm of 27 ships and customize them with assorted ammo, cannons and other upgrades
• The classic adventure by renowned creator Sid Meier, re-imagined for the iPad to take full advantage of touch controls
• Use the iPad’s touch controls to parry, counter and effectively out duel your opponents into submission with lightning quick moves onboard ships, in taverns, and even in the exclusive Governor’s mansion
• Challenge and pursue the most famous pirates in history, including Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and Henry Morgan

The game is available for the iPad only. The iPad 2 also has some additional features; such as the ability to "Piratize" your own photograph, improved game graphics and additional video effects. This one is definitely the one to accompany me on my upcoming summer vacation!

[$3.99 – iTunes link]

 

 

 

Today at Comic-Con, ZeptoLab has announced a partnership with Ape Entertainment to develop a digital comic series featuring Om Nom. If you’re a fan of the popular game Cut the Rope, you’ll be familiar with, Om Nom. He’s the one everyone fell in love with when Cut the Rope was originally released.

“It's an amazing opportunity to work with ZeptoLab on one of the app world's most addictive and successful games," said David Hedgecock, CEO of Ape Entertainment. "The comic book series is shaping up beautifully and we are making something that we know fans of Cut The Rope and fans of good entertainment everywhere are going to absolutely love!”

Angry Birds has spawned a brand beyond the original video game. Looks like Cut the Rope just might as well. What’s next, a toy line? 3D movie?