Smartphones

image via BGR

As AT&T tries to swallow up the American wing of the German telekom, many have wondered whether Apple would allow T-Mobile to carry the iPhone.  Apple’s answer so far is a no*, but that hasn’t stopped T-Mobile customers from adopting iPhones.  In huge numbers.

In a meeting with T-Mobile spokespeople today ahead of the NYC Pepcom event, I received word that there are actively over a million Apple iPhones currently on T-Mobile’s network.  When asked for a breakdown, the spokesman said the majority were pre-iPhone 4 but that a significant amount of people had “taken the scissors” to their T-Mobile SIM cards.  T-Mobile doesn’t currently offer a Micro-SIM solution for Apple’s iPhone 4 so people who want to use the iPhone 4 must modify their SIMs into MicroSIMs.  Those using iPhone 4s also won’t receive T-Mobile’s 3G or 4G data speeds because of the radio differences between the networks.

*Apple started selling unlocked iPhone 4s in the US for the first time earlier this month.

When asked to elaborate further on Micro-SIMs, the spokesman told me they are in the works but there was no time frame for release.  Why not wait until the deal with AT&T is over to make MicroSIMs?  Perhaps we’ll have a little surprise come September.

When asked specifically about the possibility of a T-Mobile USA iPhone, T-Mobile said they have nothing to announce at this time.
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It wasn’t talked about much but it is an often requested feature (and might have made it into a few jailbreak apps if I am not mistaken): The iPhone’s LED flash will now light up on incoming calls and alerts.  Obviously, only if you choose.

It is good to see Apple working their way through these often requested and jailbroken type features.

Thanks Mime454!
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

The lawyers contend that AT&T is overbilling for data and they’ve run tests to confirm the data overcharges. Tests include buying a new iPhone, turning everything that would use data off and letting it sit for two weeks. They contend that 35 different data charges occurred during that time.

AT&T contends that the iPhone uses data without the customer knowing. Recently, Apple’s collection of anonymous location data, and subsequent exchange of tower signal strength knowledge was brought into the spotlight. Perhaps that system is a data usage issue – even when data services are turned off.

It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

(Flash issues? Hit up MSNBC via The Loop)

Update: This looks like an update to an earlier lawsuit reported in February (thanks Seb!)

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