We all knew that the iPhone was going to start hitting more third-party retailers at some point, but we just didn’t think it would be this soon. RadioShack, or The Shack, has announced that it will be carrying the iPhone 3G and 3GS in select stores in Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City at the end of this month. The company expects to have the iPhone available nationwide in 2010. So, for now, you’ll have to settle with Apple Stores, AT&T retail locations, Wal-Mart or Best Buy if you want to nab one. Come to think of it, there really is no shortage of suppliers so if you’re finally going to be eligible to upgrade or you want to pick one up on a whim, you can add another to the list of iPhone retailers to choose from. But just remember where all this Shack nonsense started, ok?

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We don’t think we need to go over what an insanely huge day today is for Canada, but in case anyone is feeling particularly thick, we’re going to spell it out plan and simple — Rogers is no longer the only HSPA game in Canada. Bell’s 21Mbps HSPA network has at long last gone live. As with any network launch, a few awesome handsets, data cards and a few Canadian-style rip-off plans have come along for the ride. So hit the jump and check out what’s new.

Smartphones

• Apple iPhone 3G – $99.95 / 599.95 (3-year contract / no strings attached)
• Apple iPhone 3GS (16GB) – $199.95 / $699.95
• Apple iPhone 3GS (32GB) – $299.95 / $799.95
• BlackBerry Bold 9700 – $229.95 / $599.95
• BlackBerry Bold 9000 – $249.95 / $599.95
• Samsung Omnia II – $199.95 / $549.95

Non-Smartphones

• LG Xenon – $89.95 / $289.95
• Nokia 2730 – $27.95 / $119.95
• Nokia 6350 – $49.95 / $249.95
• Samsung Impact – $79.95 / $279.95

Data Sticks

• Novatel Wireless U950 – $24.95 / $174.95
• Novatel Wireless U998 – $74.95 / $174.95
• Novatel Wireless X950 – $24.95 / $174.95

SIM Cards

• $0 / $5

As for price plans, not all that much has changed (the $6.95 SAF is staying for now), but Bell did introduce some iPhone specific plans which are as follows:

Combo 45 for iPhone

• 100 anytime local minutes plus 50 bonus local minutes
• Local Fab Five: Unlimited calling & text to and from five local numbers of your choice
• 500 MB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Combo 55 for iPhone

• 300 anytime local minutes
• Local Fab Five
• 1 GB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Combo 75 for iPhone

• 400 anytime local minutes
• Nationwide Fab Five: Unlimited calling & text to and from five local numbers of your choice nationwide
• 2 GB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Combo 95 for iPhone

• 500 anytime local minutes
• Nationwide Fab Five
• 2 GB of data for personal email, Internet browsing
• Unlimited local nights & weekends (9 p.m. – 7 a.m.)

Now to sit and wait for TELUS’ day in the sun to see what, if any, surprises it has in store beyond what we already know.

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About a week ago, geohot released an update to his iPhone jailbreaking software dubbed Blackra1n RC2, and while that was all well and good for all you AT&T guys, it did leave those of us who need a baseband unlock on our iPieces wanting more. Enter blacksn0w. Demoed on YouTube, the blacksn0w exploit will provide a baseband unlock of the 3.1.x firmware allowing your iPhone to run on your preferred GSM carrier. Blacksn0w will be released to the jailbreaking baseband unlocking masses on November 4th and can be loaded onto your device directly from Blackra1n. Boo ya. We’re curious, how many of you iPhone fanatics rely on a baseband unlock to have a functional iPhone? We’ve got the video all queued up for you after the bounce.

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Who’s ready for some statistics? This September ChangeWave Research conducted a poll of smartphone users in an attempt to gauge the market share impact (if any) of new and announced devices from Apple, Palm, and RIM. We’ve combed over the article and picked out some juicy tidbits for your reading pleasure. According to ChangeWave, 39% of people polled currently own a smartphone. Of that sample, 77% own either an Apple, Palm, or RIM branded device (I know, we’re curious about the other 23% as well). RIM polled the largest portion of U.S. market share with 40% followed by Apple at 30% and Palm with a measly 7%. Apple did top the customer satisfaction poll as 74% of iPhone users described themselves as “very satisfied” with their purchase; compare that with RIM at 48% and Palm at 33%. The iPhone also ranked first in future purchases plans of those polled who did not currently own a smartphone, but plan to purchase one in the next 90 days. Also 36% indicated a preference towards the iPhone, 27% towards the BlackBerry, and 8% towards Palm. Any BGR peeps out there with plans to upgrade to a smartphone in the near future? What are you leaning towards? D-D-D-DROID?

[Via The iPhone Blog]

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Our favorite iPhone outlaw, geohot, has released an update to the iPhone jailbreak software blackra1n. Dubbed RC2 the update addresses several issues including:

• Fixes 3G signal issues
• Tethered jailbreak for 3.1 OOTB iPod touch 8GB and new 3GS’
• Fixes issues with package software”Icy“
• Versions for both Windows and Mac now available

No need to rerun blackra1n if you already applied RC1 successfully, but for those of you who have not been able to crack into your iPiece take RC2 for a spin. Let us know how it goes!

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We just got an an email from one of our connects and we’ve got some great new for all you iPhone-lovers. We’ve been told in just a couple hours, Canada’s TELUS will officially announce that its nation-wide HSPA network will go live on November 5th. Not only that, but on that very date, TELUS will start selling the Apple iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The iPhone pricing structure for TELUS will be the same as it is for Rogers (and Bell, for that matter) with the 3G going for $99.99/$599.99 and the 16 and 32GB 3GS going for $199.99/$699.99 and $299.99/$799.99. Beyond that, TELUS doesn’t appear to be in any rush to come forward with specifics on its plan pricing and other handsets. All the presses hints at is “TELUS will offer a number of exciting new devices from HTC, Huawei, LG, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, and Sierra Wireless in time for the holidays, including some on an exclusive basis.” That’s more or less in line with the line-up we’ve already told you.

Things always get a little chippy between Apple and Microsoft when Microsoft one company is preparing for a large OS release, and with Windows 7 it has been no different. Justin Long and John Hodgman have been all over our televisions throwing subtle digs at the newest OS to come out of Redmond. However, Apple is — from a support standpoint — singing a different tune as the Mac maker has announced plans to fully support Windows 7 in its Boot Camp software before the end of this calendar year. The announcement (if you can call it that) came via a knowledge base article on Apple’s support website and states a software update to the Boot Camp software and an Intel Mac will be required. All this bickering reminds us of a scene in The Dark Knight where the Joker explains to Batman, “I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? No, no, NO! No. You…you…complete me.”

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Nokia makes the world’s most widely-used handsets — by a wide margin — and they went on the offensive to defend their technology announcing a lawsuit against Apple, Inc. The claim, filed in Delaware district court, alleges 10-counts of patent infringement for technologies used in all iPhones produced since 2007. Nokia’s press release states, “Apple’s iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) standards.” No other specifics about the suit have been released. After Apple’s recent earnings blowout announcement we can guarantee you one thing: if these claims have any merit Apple will be settling.

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Its been a while since Apple updated their consumer line of Macbooks and iMacs — don’t even get us started on the Mac Mini — so it comes as no surprise that when the store when down this morning there was some new hardware hiding behind the curtain. The updated Macbook now has a thinner form factor, familiar plastic body construction with cleaner beveled edges, multitouch trackpad, and will feature a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The biggest performance increase would have to be in the graphics department, a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR2 SDRAM (shared) is now powering the 13.3″ screen. The revamped iMac will still have its svelte, familiar form but will now pack a 21.5-inch LED back lit display and sport a 3.01 or 3.33 GHz Intel C2D processor. Not fast enough for you? Upgrade to the 27-inch LED display and you can rock out with the quad-core Intel i5 running at 2.66 GHz or the i7 running at 2.8 GHz. The iMac will have 4 DIMM slots and support up to 16GB of memory. The Mini got a pathetic quick refresh in March but hasn’t seen any major form-factor or feature upgrades in recent year (yes, years). The new Mac Mini, gets the same neglect.  Although it does get the same 256MB 9400M NVIDIA chip as the new Macbook the thrills pretty much end there.  Upgraded hard drive storage and L2 cache just aren’t that exciting. Last, the best always comes last, the Mighty Magic Mouse. How about some gesture-based GUI navigation for your carpal tunnel? The Magic Mouse supports two fingered scrolling, swiping, and other advanced gestures all without the use of buttons.  Check  out the hotness!

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Today’s earnings call with Apple has blown the minds of analysts as the Cupertino based company showed another strong quarter. Predictions for revenue was around $9.4 billion, but Apple topped it with $9.87 billion in revenue and a quarterly profit of $1.67 billion. Earnings per share is $1.82 where the consensus was at about $1.42 and whispers of $1.65. Strong sales pushed these substantial increases in profit: 3.05 million Macs (17% increase from last year), 10.2 million iPods (eight percent decrease) and 7.4 million iPhones (seven percent increase). Elated by the September quarter results, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer says, “For the full year, we grew revenue by 12 percent and net income by 18 percent in extraordinarily challenging times. Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue in the range of about $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $1.70 to $1.78.”

Is anyone really surprised? Amidst a recovering economy, Apple has been pulling impressive numbers and showing some solid growth.

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Looks like EyeTV pulled a fast one on the quality assurance peeps in Cupertino. Our friends from Electricpig in the UK are reporting a quick and easy workaround that allows the EyeTV app to stream media over 3G on the iPhone.

“Tap the OK button, and the app will act as if it can’t receive broadcasts. However, tap the text of the warning message instead, and the Eye TV app will stream live TV over a 3G connection.”

Doesn’t seem like Elgato was trying very hard to hide their little secret, and we’re fairly certain Apple isn’t going to find it very funny. Will Apple go all Google Voice and pull every media streaming app in their catalog? Probably not — however we’re thinking that this particular version of EyeTV isn’t long for the AppStore.

Thanks, James!

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To be perfectly honest we’re surprised it took this long. Reports are surfacing that Apple is now shipping a new bootrom with the iPhone 3GS that is resistant to the 24kpwn exploit used by the Dev-Team and others to jailbreak the iPhone. DevTeam member MuscleNerd confirms that the bootrom update, dubbed iBoot-359.3.2, would make jailbreaking new iPhone’s “impossible” for the time being. Man, does Apple hate when people muck with the iPhone or what! Your move Dev Team — and godspeed. Or maybe our ninja GeoHot can find a way around it? We’ll see!

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In case you thought you were imagining things before, Bell Canada will definitely be adding the iPhone to its lineup following on the heels of the Palm Pre and BlackBerry Bold. Canada’s largest network has a splash page in place but no release dates have been leaked just yet. Where are our Canadian connects at? We’ll keep you updated as usual when there’s more to report.

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This bug report has some serious teeth. Apple’s discussion boards have a growing number of reports claiming that user home folders are being automatically deleted when utilizing Snow Leopard 10.6’s “Guest” account login feature. Apparently one wrong click and a log in to the guest account can end in your actual user account folders being wiped out. Yikes. So far the only recourse has been for those who have recent backups on external media. There has been no acknowledgment of the issue from the Cupertino fruit company yet. We also apologize to any Sidekick, Mac OS X users, who log into Guest accounts — you’re having a tough week.

[Via iTWire]

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Following up on the success of purplera1n, iPhone hacker extraordinaire geohot has released a jailbreak solution for OS 3.1.2 dubbed blackra1n. Currently only being offered to Windows users, blackra1n works on all generations of the iPhone and iPod touch, although the 3rd gen iPod touch needs to be tethered. The installation method for blackra1n is unchanged from that of its predecessor meaning that all you really have to do is download and install the app to your PC, plug in your device and make it ra1n. Good luck!

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Schiau Studios, for this weekend, has raised the price of their game Alchemize to a whopping $39.99 from $2.99. You might be thinking that’s probably not the best business move, but there’s a really good reason behind the huge price increase — to tell everyone to bugger off and stop complaining about application and game prices. We’re not sure how many people have bought the game at the higher price, but again, it’s meant as more of a protest than anything else. If you can’t afford to buy an iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android application for a couple bones, or incessantly bitch about the pricing, you really should stop complaining about it. Or get a job. Or a higher paying one.

[Via TouchArcade]

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iPhone users should boot up their desktops / notebooks and fish out their USB cables because iPhone OS 3.1.2 has just gone live in iTunes. Other than restricting fixing random issues, Apple highlights the following as the three major changes:

• Resolves sporadic issue that may cause iPhone to not wake from sleep
• Resolves intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular network services until restart
• Fixes bug that could cause occasional crash during video streaming

We’re installing the new software on our entire iPhone armada and will report back if we find anything huge, but in the meantime, how about you guys let us know how the upgrade works out for you. Sound good?

UPDATE: Looks like there’s a carrier update as well which brings AT&T to 5.6.

As of this week, it’s no longer business as usual for NVIDIA as the company has halted the production and development of its nForce line of chipsets until its legal issues with Intel are sorted out. Although the two companies have played well so far in Mac hardware, Intel brought a lawsuit against NVIDIA earlier this year to prevent it from making Intel-compatible chips. Not a very nice move from Intel, but NVIDIA has been making a pretty penny at Intel’s expense. We’re hoping this gets sorted soon because Apple’s use of Intel processors isn’t going to end any time soon, and it’s clear that the Mac line has done well with NVIDIA GPUs. Robert Sherbin of NVIDIA has this to say:

We firmly believe that this market has a long healthy life ahead. But because of Intel’s improper claims to customers and the market that we aren’t licensed to the new DMI bus and its unfair business tactics, it is effectively impossible for us to market chipsets for future CPUs. So, until we resolve this matter in court next year, we’ll postpone further chipset investments.

In the meantime, what’s a chipmaker who won’t be making chips supposed to do?

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After being ousted from the Great North by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in 2007, Google has been given a reprieve in some Canadian cities. Greater Toronto, Montréal, Metro Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and other large communities now have Google Street view data available both in the browser and on the iPhone in the Maps application. According to CBC News, Google continued to film some of Canada’s major cities while trying to address the privacy concerns of the Commissioner. Sneaky, sneaky. If you want to get your Street View on, it’s available for use as of today.

[Via The iPhone blog]

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After receiving approximately 100 emails on the subject, we obviously obliged. Like we said yesterday, the iPhone is coming to both Bell and TELUS next month. The price of the handsets, the plans that they require and specific release dates have not been mentioned. Those partial to TELUS can click here to sign up for an emailing list that we’re sure will be neither prompt nor informative, while those who are all about Bell will have to wait until Bell updates its website. For one stupid reason or another they’re still hyping up the Palm Pre. Smooth.

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

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Could today have been a more exciting day? AT&T certainly thinks so, which is why it just announced it’s informing both Apple and the FCC of its network’s readiness and willingness to allow VoIP apps to operate over its 3G network. IPhone included. Wow. That’s a pretty awesome move, and totally out of left field. Hit the jump to check out AT&T’s press release.

AT&T EXTENDS VOIP TO 3G NETWORK FOR IPHONE

DALLAS, October 6, 2009 – AT&T today announced it has taken the steps necessary so that Apple can enable VoIP applications on iPhone to run on AT&T’s wireless network. Previously, VoIP applications on iPhone were enabled for Wi-Fi connectivity. For some time, AT&T has offered a variety of other wireless devices that enable VoIP applications on 3G, 2G and Wi-Fi networks. AT&T this afternoon informed Apple Inc. and the FCC of its decision.

In late summer, AT&T said it was taking a fresh look at VoIP capabilities on iPhone for use on AT&T’s 3G network, consistent with its regular review of device features and capabilities to ensure attractive options for consumers.

“iPhone is an innovative device that dramatically changed the game in wireless when it was introduced just two years ago,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “Today’s decision was made after evaluating our customers’ expectations and use of the device compared to dozens of others we offer.”

AT&T allows customers to download or launch on their wireless devices a multitude of compatible applications directly from any lawful Internet website. Additionally, because AT&T uses GSM technology, the most pervasive and open wireless technology platform in the world, we support customers using any GSM phone that works on AT&T’s frequencies.

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Not super excited about the November launch of Bell’s HSPA network? Fair enough, but we think you’ll change your mind once we tell you what The Globe and Mail is reporting: both Bell and TELUS are going to be selling the Apple iPhone next month. Apple, Bell and TELUS declined to speak to the matter when asked, but the fact remains that not only does this make sense considering the fact exclusivity deals are already starting to fizzle out in the UK, but for the simple fact that if The Globe and Mail says its going to happen you can confidently bet your bottom dollar that it will happen 99 times out of 100. If not, we’re going cancel our subscription for our Canadian office. Rogers, we are awaiting emails from your PR people.

Thanks, Scott, and everyone else who sent this one in!

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The walls of exclusivity are crumbling in the UK. Less than 24 hours after Orange UK announced that it will be getting the iPhone, Vodafone UK and Vodafone Ireland have jumped on the Apple bandwagon as well. Voda’s “coming soon” pages are now live for the iPhone 3GS and interested parties can sign up for updates. No pricing or tariff details are available but rumors place the launch in early 2010. The best part of course, is with three major carriers soon to be promoting the iPhone in the UK, prices on the handset and its accompanying tariffs are expected to fall. Competition? iPhone? Hell must be getting pretty chilly. Oh and one last thing, before you start asking: the answer is “no” — Vodafone getting the iPhone does not necessarily mean that Verizon Wireless is next.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Our Apple tipster (who accurately predicted organizable iPhone homescreens in iTunes as well as integrated social networking components) is back at it again! This time we’ve been sent an image that we’re told is a “product mockup that may coincide with the launch of a revised Apple TV.” It seems a little far-fetched that this unit’s only purpose would be to control an Apple TV, and you can even see a Safari option on the mockup. To be honest, it looks like a touch screen iPod nano, just longer. We’re going to dig a little bit and see what we can find, but we figured we’d run this with a high dose of caution for informational purposes.

Thanks, Lindsey!

It looks like some of the oft talked about and much maligned iPhone exclusivity deals are finally starting to fizzle out — Orange UK has announced that it will be offering both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to its customers “later this year.” As it currently stands, O2 has the sole rights to sell the iPhone in the UK. As many of you might recall however, T-Mobile was recently caught selling unlocked iPhones to its highest paying and most disgruntled customers, so perhaps it too will get in on the action in the near future. But back to Orange. The carrier has not yet released much in the way of specifics, having simply stated that “pricing, tariffs and availability dates will be released in due course.” Ordinarily we’d start to think what sort of implications this has for the American marketplace, but alas only one carrier has the appropriate bands and network technology to run the iPhone. *sigh*

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It’s official: the App Store is growing like a weed. This past July, Apple issued an App Store status report of sorts — stating that its on-device software distribution platform had amassed over 65,000 apps that had been collectively downloaded over 1.5 billion times. Astonishing, especially considering the App Store was only a year old at that point in time. Now, roughly two and a half months later, Apple just announced it has passed the two billion mark where downloads are concerned and its catalog contains over 85,000 apps. To recap, that’s 500 million downloads and 20,000 new apps in less than three months. We wonder how many of them are to do lists.

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Oh yeah. You read that correctly. We’ve received a couple tips about MMS possibly being down completely for some AT&T subscribers and a quick call to AT&T’s customer care line revealed that there is a known latency issue with MMS in all states with no estimated time of repair.

So we ask you, dear readers: is your MMS feature working on your iPhones?

If you haven’t updated already, you’ll be happy to know that AT&T has released their much-awaited carrier update file through iTunes. That means all you have to do to get MMS active on your AT&T iPhone is plug that bad boy in, update it through iTunes and reboot your phone.

Thanks, to Rob, Dima, and everyone else that sent this is!

Just a quick little reminder to all of you who are going about your lives rocking an iPhone from AT&T — MMS will go live today. AT&T hasn’t yet put out a press release bragging about MMS finally touching down but according to a blurb on its Facebook page from a few days ago, it should go live by this afternoon on the East Coast:

MMS Update: We know you’ve been eager for this service so we wanted to offer a quick update on the launch plans for MMS on Friday, Sept. 25. Late morning, Pacific Time, on Friday, the new carrier settings update enabling MMS should be live and ready to download through iTunes. We’ll provide the steps and all of the details you need right here at that time.

Who is going to help us try to crash AT&T’s servers by sending hundreds of photos and videos once MMS goes live?

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After Apple rejected the Google Voice app for the iPhone (or withheld the app’s release for further review, according to Apple), the Internet erupted with anger. Some folks even went as far as ditching their iPhones and moving to Android or other devices, platforms and carriers. While a move like that may have been a little drastic, we’ve all been waiting impatiently as the FCC continues to review the case in order to determine if anything was awry. In this latest addition to the soap opera, the FCC has released a previously confidential letter from Google explaining the company’s position. In a nutshell: Google claims Apple was concerned that the dialer in Google Voice would somehow replace iPhone’s native dialer. Apple also allegedly made it clear that it did not want to confuse its customers, which could be nice or extremely insulting depending on how you look at it. We’re going with the latter. Shortly after the Internet exploded in response to this new Google letter, Apple issued a rare, albeit brief, public statement: “We do not agree with all of the statements made by Google in their FCC letter. Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application and we continue to discuss it with Google.”

[Via Ars Technica]

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