Asymco has put up some interesting metrics showing how the most recent 20 million iPhone sales quarter can be broken up between AT&T, Verizon, and “other” — aka international carriers. Not surprisingly, especially in light of Apple’s Q3 earnings, international is huge.

Verizon did contribute (4.5 million Verizon iPhone users is nothing to sneeze at) but the contribution was to a degree that was nowhere near a big bang.

That was because the real big bang was from the rest of the world.

These numbers are particularly impressive considering fewer international markets have access to music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps/games, though the latter of those is changing rapidly. Imagine when they catch up?

[Asymco]

iPhone Live, the live recording of the best dang iPhone and iPod touch podcast on the net, hits the air again tonight. Join us!

Follow along with our show notes!

Time: 6pm PT, 9pm ET, 2am BST!

Place: http://live.tipb.com/live/

Be there!

(You can watch from iPhone via Ustream Viewer app (here’s how) and iPad (we recommend Duet Browser.)

If you have any questions or stuff you want us to make sure we cover tweet them to @TiPb, email them to podcast@tipb.com, or leave them in the comments below!

More reports are springing up that the next generation iPhone 5 will feature a thinner, tapered hardware design based off images of 3rd party silicone cases. Now this is not the first time we’ve come across rumors of what the new hardware will look like. It all started as early as April when we heard about a completely new design and then again earlier this month we heard similar reports of a thinner and lighter device.

However, iPhone 5 — assuming that’s what Apple calls it — from what TiPb has been hearing for a few months now, from very reliable sources, the next generation of iPhone hardware will look very, very close to the current iPhone 4 design. It will not take on the design of the iPhone 3GS or iPod touch. It will not be moving backwards.

Now Apple often does work on more than one concept, a more audacious design that changes a lot (like iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4) and a more conservative model if the audacious one doesn’t work out (like iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS), so it’s possible the different rumors are based on leaks from different concepts.

It’s also possible the 3rd party cases appearing with this shape are harbingers of iPhone nano concepts instead, or simply next generation iPod touch cases (with added iPad-style mute switch).

Bottom line is do not get your hopes up for a newly redesigned iPhone 5. Expect a better camera along with the dual core A5 chip with the same externals. That way, at worst, you won’t be disappointed, and at best, you’ll be surprised.

[9to5Mac]

NASA has released an app for the iPad called NASA Visualization Explorer or NASA Viz for short. The app is designed to deliver stories from NASA's space based Earth science research.

This is the NASA Visualization Explorer, the coolest way to get stories about advanced space-based research delivered right to your iPad. A direct connection to NASA's extraordinary fleet of research spacecraft, this app presents cutting edge research stories in an engaging and exciting format. See the Earth as you've never seen it before; travel to places otherwise unavailable to even the most intrepid explorers! Download it now, tap into the power of NASA's cutting-edge research today and check for new stories every week.

The app covers topics such as climate change, aerosols, glaciers, hurricanes, volcanoes and wildfires all from the perspective of space. The app is free and only available for the iPad; running iOS 4.3 or higher.

[Free – iTunes link]

 

Missed a compelling piece of iPhone news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPhone here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPhone for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review.

And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPhone Live! podcast tonight at 9pm Eastern. So join us at TiPb.com/live and follow along!

Meta

• Iterate 3: Prototypes
• ZENandTECH 9: Avoidance
• Superfunctional 3: Keyboard claw

News

• Have Apple's closed apps killed Google's open web?
• Apple passes Nokia to become biggest smartphone producer by volume

iOS

• Apple releases iOS 4.3.5 and iOS 4.2.10 security fix for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch
• Developers: Apple releases iOS 5 beta 4 for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Apple TV, iTunes 10.5 beta 4 for Mac
• Apple added face detection API to iOS 5?

iPhone 5

• Future iPhones, like Superman, to be powered by the sun?
• Rumoured iPhone 5 cases show no home button, flipped controls

Jailbreak

• CallBar and Apptivator [Jailbreak]
• iNitsua Z Twilight 3volution theme [Jailbreak]

Apps

• Amazon updates Kindle app, adds new features, removes link to web store [Updated: Nook and Google Books too]
• Netflix for iPhone, iPad updated to support iOS 4.3.4 (and iOS 5!)

Tips

• Daily Tip: How to fix iTunes restore errors by manually editing host files on your Mac
• Daily Tip: How to download and keep YouTube videos to your iPhone or iPad

Frequent iPad Live podcast co-host and general gadget bon vivant Seth Clifford recently purchased a Galaxy Tab 10.1 for development purposes, and has written up a blog post detailing his experience buying and using it.

I asked the sales guy for the 10.1 and the first thing he said was “What are you buying it for?” When I replied, “development”, he said “Ok, because this thing isn’t going to replace a laptop for you”. No problem, I assured him, we’re app devs, and we know what we’re doing. Then, the manager came over to verify the coupon I had and asked the same question again. Again I replied “development” and he asked “Of what?” rather indignantly.

“Uh, Android apps?” I replied incredulously.

“Oh, ok, because we’re selling a lot of these things, and we get a LOT of them back. People buy them thinking they’re getting rid of a laptop, and they all come back returning them.”

That doesn’t seem to be happening with iPads, because I think people’s expectations are set accordingly when they buy them. These are not full computing devices; they’re not built to be – and yet when you watch the commercials, what do you hear? The “full” internet. Flash. Do it all. Why wouldn’t people be disappointed when they can’t actually replace a computer with a device that promised they could?

I won’t ruin the exciting conclusion of this particular hero’s journey so make sure you tap (or click) the link below to see just how Seth fared with his new Galaxy Tab 10.1. (I’ll save my questions for the show next Sunday.)

[Seth Clifford]

Papa Penguin, a game by Ideal Bureaucracy, is free in anticipation of an update due to be released next week.

Papa Penguin is a cute casual arcade game for children and their parents about a caring penguin who puts all his efforts in trying to get some fish for his two little children. The kids are quite gluttonous, so hardly Papa fetches them some food, they instantly absorb it and demand more and more!

• Collect the fish and take it to your little kids!
• Be smart! It’s not an easy task to get to the most delicious fish.
• Don’t forget about the oxygen! You have to plan your route to get all the fish to the surface!
• Beware of poisonous jelly-fish and sharp-toothed sea raptors!
• Enjoy your antarctic diving with the beautiful ambient underwater music.

The update will include the following:

• Screen rotation – play in both portrait and landscape mode
• Sound button – you can now turn off the sound and listen to the music on your iPod while playing Papa Penguin
• Better controls – pause button and interface elements on the screen no longer prevent you from controlling your character. You can use any part of the screen to move Papa
• Funny scuba gear on the Papa’s back and other small graphical and gameplay improvements

Papa Penguin is free until next week’s update release (and debut on the Mac App Store). Screenshots after the break.

[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.

The on again, off again Digitimes rumour-mill claims both Apple and manufacturing-partner/device competitor Samsung are looking into solar cells as a future power source.

Samsung and Apple have been evaluating the possible niche market for solar-powered consumer products and considering the inclusion of Taiwan-based solar firms in their respective supply chains. However, according to Taiwan-based solar firms, these niche markets will need a longer time to develop.

The technology doesn’t seem to be ready, let alone affordable or scalable, so anyone waiting for iPhone 5 and it’s “unique charging method” to start drawing Kryptonian-style power from our strong yellow sun shouldn’t get their hopes up too soon. But one day? Who knows, maybe it’ll be “up, up, and away” with cables for good.

[Digitimes]

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!

• Yumm: Be careful with this creature, it bites off anything and everything you put in it's mouth! Stick your finger in and wait for the mouth to shut before removing it but remove you finger a moment earlier or later and you will lose it. [Free for iPhone - iTunes link]

• The Police Story: Your goal is to arrive to the finish line in each level, you will have to pass by lot’s of obstacles and enemies. Touch the screen and jump, tilt your iPhone and increase or decrease your speed. [$0.99 for iPhone - iTunes link]

• CloudAlbums: Create your photo albums, keep them in sync on all your devices and share them with your friends in just a few taps, using the Dropbox cloud services. [Free for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]

• Magic Puzzles: Full and constantly updated collection of famous Magic Puzzles is available in one application! [Free for iPad - iTunes link]

• Hold It Up: Keep the ball in the air, it doesn’t matter where, it doesn’t matter the ball type, help Michael and his family to keep the ball up. [$0.99 for iPhone and iPad - iTunes link]

Any other big apps or game releases or updates today? If you pick any of these up, let us know what you think!

Well known Mac accessory manufacturer Twelve South has taken a step into the iPhone case making business and released a wallet case which it is calling the BookBook. The BookBook case has been modelled on a vintage leather book cover and really does look the part; if you are into vintage type book covers!

Protect your iPhone 4 between two hard-back covers. Fold the covers back-to-back to talk. It feels great in your hand. BookBook allows edge-to-edge iPhone access. No frames in the way of your thumbs here. You can access all iPhone controls and ports with BookBook. Charge, sync and use the headphone jack while your iPhone is safe and sound in its phone book.

The BookBook case is also a wallet so you only need to carry one thing with you when you go out. It doess appear to be a very nice looking case but I am just not sure if I want my iPhone to look like an old book. The BookBook case is only available for the iPhone 4 at a price of $59.99. Take a look at the video after the break to see it in all its glory!

[Twelve South]