Iron Ink Media: Inked Up

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Apple is working on an iPhone for Verizon Wireless. Made exclusively for AT&T sine 2007, this would be music to many a consumer’s ear who have long wanted an iPhone, but can’t stand AT&T.

Verizon Wireless declined to comment, while Mark Siegel, spokesperson for AT&T, said that “great relationship with Apple.”

Whatever that means. The bottom line is that this could put a dent into AT&T. We’ve talked to people who absolutely hate their service and pricing, and who would probably sell their existing iPhone to get a new Verizon version if that meant never having to deal with AT&T again.

But is this true? What does Apple have to say? “Apple doesn’t comment on rumor and speculation,’’ said Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple said.

According to a brief analysis performed by BusinessInsider.com, apps for the upcoming Apple iPad will cost twice as much as the current apps for the iPhone and iTouch. The website notes that it’s possible that developers for the apps they researched could still change their prices before the apps launch, but for research purposes, they just assumed these would be final.

One could possibly assume that the prices are higher right now because there won’t be a ton of iPads out there until the market grabs hold of it. Maybe once the iPads start to fly off the shelves, there will be more money to be made through higher volumes of sales and then the prices can come down.

You can click here to check out the new app store for the iPad.

For those of you who are anxiously awaiting Android 2.1 and are getting annoyed with the constant excuses and missed timetables, you’ll be surprised to learn that there have been delays in the process. That’s what Motorola keeps telling us all.

This time, they posted on their Facebook page that Android 2.1 is “taking longer than expected.” Well no frickin’ duh.

But in Motorola’s defense, it does seem that they are erring on the side of caution as opposed to just putting something out to say they did. And they mentioned as much on Facebook.

“Ultimately, we want to ensure that you have the best possible experience on your device; as a result, the rollout is taking longer than expected,” they said on Facebook. We are actually impressed with their use of the semi colon.

So yeah, Droid users. Hurry up and wait basically. And in the meantime, try to ignore any of the reports about the delays because it could make you crazy.

For just a $1 application, you could possibly sidestep AT&T on your iPhone. Line2 is a new application that would certainly make us wonder why we pay so much for cell phone minutes.

The new application allows you to make calls where AT&T’s signal is weak and can even turn an iPod Touch into a cell phone. Sounds amazing, huh? It is.

Line2 is essentially a second phone number for your iPhone, complete with its own contacts and voicemail. The company behind it, Toktumi, envisions users setting up Line2 as their business phone and giving out their regular number to friends and family.

You can set up Line2 with an 800 number and even put in a phone menu. “Press 1 for sales, press 2 for billing….” etc. This is awesome!

But it gets better. Line2 works with WiFi so that you can make calls over the internet…for free. The app even retains all of the iPhone’s call functionality like the look and feel and even the sent and received calls.

The service is still $15 a month, but that is nothing. If you could virtually eliminate (or at the very least get the minimum minutes) your cell phone minutes, why wouldn’t you? We have to check this out. This must have cell phone executives losing sleep.

Finally, you can Digg stories on your iPhone. The popular website Digg.com, which tells you whether your story is great or crap based on how many people vote good or bad on it, has released its free iPhone app in the app store.

Once you launch the app, you’ll immediately be able to browse the popular stories on Digg.com. They also make it really easy to like or dislike a story. Just tapping a link launches the story inside an in-app browser. And then, a bar below contains thumbs up and thumbs down buttons so you can let everyone know what you think of that person’s journalism.

One of the downsides, however, is that you can’t comment on any of the stories. For that, you’ll need your regular computer. Or, you can probably just go to Digg.com on your iPhone’s Safari browser and comment there is someone has sufficiently pissed you off to the point where you just need to tell them how you feel.

Opera said on Tuesday that they have submitted their new mini browser to Apple’s app store for approval. This version was originally shown at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

Tor Odland, head of communications at Opera, said he thinks that the app will approved because they already have 50 million users and the browser offers increased speed when compared to Apple’s Safari. Still, will Apple let another browser compete with their very own Safari on their very own iPhone?

We tend to doubt it, but stranger things have happened.

But it seems that it is indeed faster. Apparently, they use a proxy server to compress web information before it is downloaded onto the iPhone. Makes sense. Maybe Apple should be taking notes.

Verizon Wireless and Danal, Inc., have announced that Verizon plans to launch Danal’s BilltoMobile™ payment service later this spring. This will allow Verizon Wireless customers to charge online purchases of digital goods directly to their monthly Verizon Wireless bills.

Sounds like a pretty nifty idea. Who needs a credit card?

“Verizon Wireless strives to bring its customers services and features they want and that make their lives simpler,” said Ryan Hughes, vice president of business development at Verizon Wireless. “Working with Danal will give our customers the opportunity to make direct online mobile payments with the most secure, feature-rich, convenient method available.”

“Verizon Wireless is combining the convenience of the mobile phone and its strong billing platform to provide their customers with a convenient mobile payment option,” remarked Jim Greenwell, chief executive officer of Danal, Inc. in the United States. “Verizon Wireless is the bellwether service provider in this space, and we see this agreement will likely be the beginning of a change in the industry’s approach to online mobile payments — one that involves ease of use and strong security for subscribers’ mobile payments, as well as robust user controls that will help individual subscribers and families manage their digital purchases and digital lives.”

We still like our iPhones better.

This is the second time that Motorola Droid users have been teased with an upcoming 2.1 update for their software and this is the second time that they’ve been disappointed. A while ago, a post on the Motorola Facebook page said to check for the update on February 12th. That didn’t happen and it was attributed to a Facebook staffer with an itchy trigger finger.

Recently, Verizon Wireless spokesperson Brenda Raney emailed InformationWeek the following statement: “The Android 2.1 upgrade for the Droid by Motorola is being deployed to a small number of Verizon Wireless test users [March 18]. It is expected the broader phased rollout to all Droid by Motorola users will begin shortly thereafter—we will keep you posted.”

What does shortly thereafter mean? Well, it’s not out yet so it didn’t mean by March 22nd. And several blogs have reported recently that it was put on hold due to a last-minute bug.

So, InformationWeek reached out to Verizon again to see what the deal was.

“As per the earlier email, the Android 2.1 upgrade for the Droid by Motorola was deployed to a small number of Verizon Wireless test users as scheduled,” said Verizon spokesperson Thomas Pica. “It is expected the broader phased rollout to all Droid by Motorola users will take place, but not just yet. No date scheduled yet, we will keep you posted.”

This must be company talking points then. So relax Droid users. It seems that Android 2.1 will come at some point, we just wouldn’t keep relying on any set dates to look forward to.

Since its inception, Apple’s iPhone has only been available for use with the AT&T network. Unless you jailbreak it of course, which Apple seriously frowns upon. And right now, T-Mobile is the fourth largest cellular service provider in the United States, and seems to be losing ground on its competitors?

What would help change that? Oh…..how about an arrangement to bust up AT&T’s exclusivity deal and have T-Mobile available to iPhone users. That would probably do it.

The company is owned by Deutsche Telekom, whose CEO René Obermann said recently that they were hoping to get involved with Apple at some point. It wouldn’t be soon, however. We are thinking like late 2010, early 2011.

There are many rumors of other cell companies having talks with Apple and we believe that they really are. After all, the one big reason people give for not getting an iPhone is not wanting to give up their service provider and use AT&T.

Three months after releasing their Bing app for iPhones, Microsoft has announced that they are pulling it off of all non-U.S. iTunes stores.

“When we released the iPhone application, we inadvertently made it available to all countries in which the Apple Marketplace has a presence,” Microsoft said in a statement posted on enthusiast site Neowin.Net.

“We are planning to release international versions of the Bing iPhone application, but we have no dates to share at this time,” the company said. “Similar to our larger international strategy with Bing, we don’t want to take a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, we want to be thoughtful and ensure we’re customizing the product for specific markets.”

So yeah. That will stick it to non-U.S. residents. No Bing app for you.