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4,147 'Tech Industry' stories June 2007 - September 2012
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YouTube iPhone app from Google lands in the App Store just month after Apple’s version disappears

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Sep 11 2012 - 4:11 am PT
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On Aug. 6, Beta 4 of iOS 6 came out with one huge gaping hole: Apple’s YouTube app. There was speculation on both sides of the fence that Apple might have pulled it because of the ongoing war with Android or perhaps Google pulled it because it wanted more control of the app and/or it wanted to show more ads. In reality, it was probably a little of both.

Whatever the case, just a month after being pulled and just a day ahead of Apple’s iOS 6/iPhone 5 event, Google has released its own homegrown YouTube app into the App Store. It is formatted for the iPhone only (an iPad version is in the works), but it already has many features that its Apple-built counterpart lacked.

Description

Watch the world’s videos and keep up with your favorite YouTube channels with the official YouTube app for iOS. Sign in to access your subscriptions, playlists, uploads and more.

Features:
✓ Enjoy YouTube’s vast video catalog, including official music videos
✓ Find videos and channels more easily with voice search and query autocomplete
✓ Subscribe to channels and instantly access your subscriptions with the channel guide UI
✓ Read comments, browse related videos, enable subtitles and more – all while watching
✓ Easy video sharing to Google+, E-mail, Facebook and Twitter

Did Google throw this together in just one month or did it have some advance warning? We are thinking the latter; it is already receiving some good reviews and appears to be a well-polished product.

As TheNextWeb points out, it is not certain how you will upload videos to YouTube in the new app. Matt Panzerino postulates that Apple will allow YouTube to be granted rights in iOS to have a file handling menu option. We are not so sure that Apple cares if you can upload to YouTube natively (see Mountain Lion) from the OS. We are thinking that you will eventually need to open the YouTube app manually, browse to the video, and do it the old-fashioned way.

The more important question now becomes: where is the Google Maps app for iOS?

More… including a walkthrough YouTube video below:


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‘That’s what the blogs are saying’

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Sep 10 2012 - 7:58 pm PT
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Funny exchange we missed over the weekend from the Apple vs. HTC courtroom:

When Pender asked whether Apple would be announcing its newest iPhone next week, Apple lawyer Michael McKeon of Fish & Richardson in Washington said he wasn’t told of the company’s plans. “It will be thinner and the screen bigger?” the judge asked. McKeon would only say, “That’s what the blogs are saying.”

Indeed.
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T-Mobile unveils its big Sept. 12 plans for iPhone: ‘Bring your unlocked iPhone and save $1200 vs. AT&T’

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Sep 10 2012 - 9:00 am PT
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T-Mobile announced a huge new “unlimited and unlocked iPhone” initiative today that will launch Sept. 12—a date that should ring a bell. The nation’s fourth-largest carrier does not and will not officially carry the iPhone, but its parent company carries the iPhone all over Europe and was even the original carrier in its home Germany. The biggest issue with T-Mobile USA and the iPhone is that T-Mobile’s 3G/4G bands are incompatible with Apple’s iPhone hardware. Therefore, a million plus iPhone users are kept to EDGE 2.5G speeds, which seemed to work O.K. for the original iPhone, but five years have passed since it first launched and expectations have largely risen.

Today’s announcement is a big one for T-Mobile and will be accompanied by a large marketing push. T-Mobile claims —and the math seems to work— that it will save users $50 a month over similar AT&T plans. The total savings amount equals $1,200 over the life of a two-year contract.

T-Mobile will have a store-within-a-store for iPhone users who want to make the hop. Trained T-Mobile salespeople will be able to instruct users on unlocking, but they will not physically open the devices. This is an unprecedented move…especially for a device that T-Mobile does not officially carry.

Getting your hands on an unlocked device is pretty easy and will probably get a lot easier over the next weeks as the new iPhone is announced. Apple has offered the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S unlocked almost since it released last year and you can currently snap up a new one at eBay for about $580.

T-Mobile has some more good news for prospective iPhone customers today: Remember the iPhone-compatible 1900MHz network it demo’ed at WWDC? That same 1900MHz 4G network is rolling out in Seattle, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, and the New York metro area currently (readers? sightings?).

Even better: T-Mobile’s tests of unlocked iPhone 4S devices running over 4G (HSPA+) on its 1900 band have recorded 70 percent faster average download speeds than iPhone 4S on AT&T’s network. We will wait for neutral parties to review before judging and, obviously, LTE is coming for the iPhone 5, which T-Mobile expects will run on its network.

However, the best part might be the company behind the network. T-Mobile allows its customers to make and receive calls over Wi-Fi when there is no network on their smartphones. The iPhone is no exception. T-Mobile has the Bobsled app for iPhone for making calls. This is fantastic not only when in low -service areas but also when travelling abroad. T-Mobile will release other apps soon for things like live TV, account management and visual voicemail.

We’re also developing iOS versions of helpful T-Mobile applications like T-Mobile myAccount, T-MobileVisual Voicemail and T-Mobile TV (we already offer an iOS version of our popular Bobsled application).

For those thinking about making the jump, remember that T-Mobile is not an official carrier and things like the following may apply:

Also, AT&T offers customers a chance to request a device unlock for their iPhone. The main requirements are that the device is an AT&T iPhone and all contract and term commitments are satisfied before submitting a request. The carrier can take up to a week to process a request, and it “reserves the right to deny any unlock request that it concludes would result in an abuse of this policy or is part of an effort to defraud AT&T or its customers.” AT&T further said it could “alter this unlocking policy at its discretion without advance notice.”

Check out AT&T’s Customer Device Unlock page for more information.

The full press release follows:
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HP releases KIRF iMac complete with Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Sep 10 2012 - 5:12 am PT
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It feels like consumer PC hardware can now be defined thusly: “Make something as close as possible to an Apple product without getting sued.”

HP’s Spectre One comes with accessories that look and act almost identical to Apple counterparts including the wireless keyboard, trackpad and mouse. The screen looks like a Cinema Display with HP pasted over the Apple. The only difference is the back (which few will see).

Perhaps manufacturers are learning the wrong lesson from Samsung. Although Engadget did not notice (or mention) any resemblance beyond the “Magic Trackpad style,” just about every commenter did. Update: Engadget Editor Tim Stevens says it was too obvious to mention:

[tweet https://twitter.com/tim_stevens/status/245136336883965952]

[tweet https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/245118820098920448]

What say you? Homage or Rip-off? (Also: What is Kirf?)

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Avid announces new Pro Tools|HD Native, its first Thunderbolt interface and PCIe card

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Sep 8 2012 - 8:24 am PT
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Avid, maker of the music industry’s leading digital audio workstation software called Pro Tools, has officially announced its first Thunderbolt interface for Pro Tools with the new Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt interface and PCIe card. Thanks to Thunderbolt, Avid says the new Pro Tools|HD Native provides the “highest performance and lowest latency of any native DAW” yet. As usual, Avid bundles your choice of either the Thunderbolt interface or PCIe card with its Pro Tools HD software, and you will also get a choice of a Pro Tools HD Series audio interface including either the HD OMNI or HD I/O.

In addition to an “audiophile-grade headphone output” powerful enough to drive high impedance headphones, a few of the benefits of the new Thunderbolt interface according to Avid:

Unlike USB- or FireWire-based DAWs, which are inherently prone to latency, Pro Tools|HD Native employs either a high-speed Thunderbolt interface or PCIe core card to connect Pro Tools HD Series interfaces with your laptop or desktop computer. By eliminating distracting monitor latency while recording, increasing your I/O capabilities, and providing 64-bit floating-point processing for more headroom and a higher mix resolution, you get a professional native solution that meets the highest audio standards.

Pricing for the two packages ranges from $4,999 to $5,999, but Avid is also offering Digi 002, Digi 003, and Mbox Pro owners a hardware trade-in worth $1000:

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New images of Apple’s Campus 2 building show amazing detail [Gallery]

Avatar for Élyse Betters Sep 7 2012 - 12:43 pm PT
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Reliable sources recently provided 9to5Mac with official blueprints of Apple Campus 2 that detail and illustrate the mammoth project currently in development. (These are just a few of the confidential images.)

The spaceship-like building, called “Campus 2,” is nearly a mile in circumference. Apple bought the land from HP and other neighbors in Cupertino, Calif., for around $300 million. The company’s late cofounder, Steve Jobs, oversaw the building’s design, while the project’s proposal was his last public appearance (video below).

Solar panels cover the main building’s entire roof, and the images above depict additional outdoor and indoor aspects of the new structure. The exclusive slides named Foster + Partners as one of the architecture firms working on the project, and they cited Arup for consulting engineering, OLIN for landscape architecture, and Davis Langdon for construction. Previous reports indicated that construction is supposed to start later this year.

In related news: Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer sent neighbors brochures recently to solicit feedback on the project.

A previous 9to5Mac gallery featured 100 other high-quality images, and one of the highlights was an auditorium that Apple plans to give presentations at when the facilities open in 2015.


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Federal judge approves settlement with three publishers in Apple/Amazon ebook price fixing case

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Sep 6 2012 - 1:48 pm PT
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We noted last month that Apple filed a document with the Southern District of New York attempting to have settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and three publishers delayed until after the high profile eBook price-fixing case goes to trial in June 2013. The Wall Street Journal reported today that a federal judge approved the settlements, which would allow Amazon and other retailers to return to its previous model and freely set eBook prices. Not surprisingly, Apple is expected to appeal the decision:

In a move that could reshape the publishing industry, a federal judge has approved a settlement with three of the nation’s largest book publishers over alleged collusion in the pricing of e-books… Apple has previously indicated in court papers that it would seek to appeal any decision approving the settlement. As a result, it could take some time before consumers see lower prices on e-books… “It’s devastating to bookstores,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “For two years the settling publishers must allow vendors to discount e-books at any price they want. The court acknowledges that this restores the status quo conditions before 2010, when Amazon was able capture 90% of the e-book market. The Justice Department is reshaping the literary marketplace without submitting a single economic study to the court to justify its actions.”

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Amazon drops price of Kindle Fire to $159 adds $199 and $299 HD models in 7 and 8.9-inch varieties (and $499 LTE)

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Sep 6 2012 - 11:46 am PT
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrgO8Zseh6E&feature=youtu.be]

Live from Amazon’s Kindle event; the company just unveiled a refreshed Kindle Fire lineup dubbed the “Kindle Fire HD”. A few of the highlights: the device now comes in an 8.9-inch 1,920-by-1,200-pixel variant (in addition to a new 7-inch 1,280-by-800-pixel HD model) with 254 ppi, double the RAM of previous models, longer battery life, and a laminated touch sensor that reduces screen glare by up to 25 percent. The 8.9-inch Fire HD is set to ship Nov. 20 for $299, while a 7-inch Fire HD will cost you $199 when it ships Sept. 14.

Amazon also announced a 32GB 4G LTE model will ship Nov. 20 for $499 with LTE packages starting at $50 per year:

A few other notable specs for the new Fire HD line:

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New audio interfaces for Mac from Apogee and Focusrite

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Sep 5 2012 - 3:08 pm PT
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PTY–FKgUFQ]

Two of the big names in slick, Mac-compatible audio interfaces have announced new products that OS X gearheads will want to take note of. While these two interfaces from Apogee and Focusrite include different feature sets and price points, both feature a polished, Apple design aesthetic and introduce features not currently available in the companies’ current audio interface lineups.

Starting with the Quartet desktop interface by Apogee (which is widely considered to be the industry leader in digital audio interface technology), this new interface and control center for Mac is the company’s first to feature a USB MIDI connection. Coming in at $1,295 when it ships later this month, the Quartet lands somewhere between the company’s popular $595 Duet 2 and $1,995 Ensemble interfaces. Included is six touchpads for your inputs and outputs, three assignable touchpads, monitor control for up to three sets of monitors, four analog inputs with Apogee’s reference standard mic preamps and eight analog outputs. We look forward to bringing you a full review of the Apogee Quartet ASAP.

A full list of specs is below:

Features and specifications:

  • 4 Analog Inputs: Combination line (balanced +20dBu max), Mic/Instrument (+20dBu/+14dBu max)
  • 4 Microphone preamps with up to 75dB of gain
  • 8 Digital Inputs: ADAT/SMUX Input, 2 Toslink connectors, 44.1kHz to 96kHz
  • 8 Analog Outputs: 6 Balanced line outputs, +20 dBu maximum output level, 1 Independent 1/4” stereo headphone output
  • MIDI I/O (USB-A type connector)
  • Word clock output
  • USB 2.0 High-speed Mac audio interface
  • A/D and D/A conversion: 24 bit/192kHz
  • 2 top panel high resolution OLED displays
  • Controller knob
  • 6 touchpads for direct selection of inputs and outputs
  • 3 assignable touchpads to control:
  • Mute Outputs
  • Dim Outputs
  • Sum to Mono
  • Clear Meters
  • Engage Speaker Set (allows monitoring of up to 3 pairs of speakers)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_4n3I-kpcww#!]

Also just announced is a new audio interface from Focusrite that comes closer to the price point of Apogee’s $600 Duet 2. Focusrite’s new “Forte” interface is a 2 in, 4 out, USB 2.0, which features two remote-controlled mic preamps, touch sensitive buttons, a large control knob, and an included breakout cable for XLR connections. The Forte can handle A-D and D-A conversion at up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution, and it will hit stores in October for roughly $600.

Assertive Display tech demoed on iPad at IFA- intelligently adjusts pixels in realtime to make content viewable in sunlight

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Sep 1 2012 - 4:59 pm PT
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As part the International keynote presentations at IFA this year, AMD exec and president of the HSA foundation, Phil Rogers, took the stage to give an update on the current state of the not-for-profit alliance. For those of you unfamiliar with the foundation, HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture), is described as “a heterogeneous compute ecosystem, rooted in industry standards, for combining scalar processing on the CPU with parallel processing on the GPU while enabling high bandwidth access to memory and high application performance at low power consumption.”

While the addition of Samsung, among other partners Texas Instruments, ARM, AMD, and Imagination Technologies, was the big news of the day for most, a short demo by partner Apical was what really caught our attention.

Apical’s “Assertive Display” technology is already present in a few devices, such as Sharp’s AQUOS PHONE SH-01D, but during its demo for the HSA keynote, Apical showed off the tech working on an iPad…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQUTHGE3qs0]
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Sharp’s IGZO on display at IFA Berlin: better touch sensitivity, smaller bezels [Gallery/Video]

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Sep 1 2012 - 10:47 am PT
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fctZx8_Naa8]

We had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Sharp today at its IGZO display booth. While they would not say which Apple products would incorporate their new displays, they did seem to insinuate these were the best displays on the market, and Apple is the type of company that uses the best displays.

So why are these the best?


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Western Digital announces superfast Thunderbolt My Book VelociRaptor Duo and portable USB 3.0 drives for Mac

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Aug 30 2012 - 8:03 am PT
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The fast keep getting faster. Western Digital announced two new speedy new platter drives aimed at Mac users today. The Thunderbolt “My Book VelociRaptor Duo” is a speed improvement on WD’s previous Thunderbolt Drives coming from the addition of two 10,000RPM internal HDDs (the speed of the drives is actually still the bottleneck here —Thunderbolt is very fast).

Extreme speed of WD VelociRaptor drives inside.

With the extreme speed of two 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor drives inside united with the revolutionary speed of Thunderbolt technology your creative inspirations have never moved so fast.

Enhanced workflow efficiency.

The dual Thunderbolt ports make it easy to daisy chain more drives for even greater speeds and higher capacity. Add peripherals to further enhance your productivity.

User-configurable for speed or double-safe data protection.

Customize this dual-drive storage system to your needs – RAID 0 for speed, RAID 1 for data protection, JBOD to use the drives individually.

Did you know…

My Book VelociRaptor Duo is a bootable external device supported by Mac OS X. For additional information, please click here.

Western Digitial also upped the speed of its Mac Portable Drives (which we’ve reviewed favorably) with USB 3.0 and sizes up to 2TB:

Ultra-fast USB 3.0 connectivity.

With the blazing-fast connectivity of USB 3.0, this drive lets you access and save files in record time. Reduce transfer time by up to 3 times when compared to USB 2.0 transfer rates.**Performance may vary based on user’s hardware and system configuration.

Massive capacity in a small design.

This compact enclosure offers up to a massive 2 TB of storage. It’s the ideal companion for anyone with lots of photos, movies, videos and files that they want to take with them.
Password protection secures
your drive.

Use WD Security utility to set password protection and hardware encryption and protect your files from unauthorized use or access.

Both Press releases follow:


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AT&T announces 10,000 square foot Chicago flagship store with advanced displays, biometric security (plus photos of new iPad POS system)

Avatar for Mark Gurman Aug 29 2012 - 9:01 pm PT
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AT&T has announced the upcoming opening of its new flagship retail store in Chicago. The store, located in the Magnificent Mile district, features 10,000 square feet of store place and lots of advanced new technologies. The store has an 18 foot high “Connect Wall” that showcases AT&T’s latest news and product details to both people inside and outside of the store.

As you can see in the image above, the store has displays throughout: over 100, according to AT&T. This new flagship store is spread into a few sections, including an apps lounge and lifestyle boutiques. Here’s AT&T’s video guided tour of the store:


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President Obama hosts Reddit AMA from his MacBook Pro

Avatar for Jake Smith Aug 29 2012 - 1:37 pm PT
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President Barack Obama just began a Reddit “AMA” (ask me anything) that invites Internet folk to ask questions and hopefully get answers. He is notably using a MacBook Pro and Magic Mouse to work his magic. We previously noted his fondness of Apple, as he has been caught several times with a MacBook at his side. Someone go ask about the next-generation iPhone. [Reddit]

By the way, is he rocking the same tie from when he tweeted?

[tweet https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/240909486234161152]

[tweet http://twitter.com/AntDeRosa/status/240909818511126528]

[tweet https://twitter.com/johnnie/status/240913600603115521]
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T-Mobile to advertise to unlocked iPhone customers, sway them away from AT&T promising $1500 savings over 2 years

Avatar for Jake Smith Aug 28 2012 - 12:59 pm PT
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A report surfaced this morning about T-Mobile sending a memo to its sales staff that encourages them to sell against Apple’s iPhone beginning Sept. 21. Unsurprisingly, the memo confirmed T-Mobile would not be a carrier for the next-generation iPhone due out next month. Adding a bit to this morning’s story, TmoNews followed up with a new flyer that T-Mobile aims to show customers. The flyer boasts just how much iPhone users will save if they ditch AT&T and bring their unlocked iPhone to T-Mobile. Magenta is promising customers can save up to $1,500 over two years if they switch. T-Mobile’s single line offering actually sounds fabulous, as it offers customers truly unlimited data, text and minutes for only $75. That seems like a plan you can’t beat…unless you want 3G speeds. T-Mobile made a recent push to iPhone-compatible 1900MHz 3G network (and 4G at WWDC), but we are not sure how well it is doing on that front. Until then, EDGE 2.5G is as fast as you will get.

T-Mobile has not been able to sign up as an official iPhone carrier, so it has always made strides to welcome unlocked iPhone users. We previously reported there are roughly 1 million iPhone users on T-Mobile’s network. T-Mobile offers a MicroSIM kit to make the switch on your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S a little easier. An updated version of the kit will hit stores beginning Aug. 29.


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Verizon again tops J.D. Power and Associates Network Quality Performance report

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 23 2012 - 11:04 am PT
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J.D. Power and Associates is out with the second half of its 2012 “U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study”, and Verizon once again come out on top for network performance in five of the six regions included in the report. Only second to U.S. Cellular in the North Central region, Verizon posted the best overall network performance among the other carriers in the remaining regions based on 10 key problem areas that could impact the customer experience.

For a 16th consecutive reporting period, Verizon Wireless ranks highest in the Northeast region. Verizon Wireless achieves fewer customer-reported problems with dropped calls, initial connections, transmission failures and late text messages, compared with the regional average. Verizon Wireless also ranks highest in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and West regions… U.S. Cellular ranks highest in the North Central region for a 14th consecutive reporting period. Compared with the regional average, U.S. Cellular has fewer customer-reported problems with dropped calls, failed initial connections, audio problems, failed voice mails and lost calls.

The study also covered the customer experience specifically for data-related problems. Not surprisingly, LTE device users experienced significantly less issues than older 3G devices like the iPhone:

The study finds that the number of data-related problems, especially those related to slow connection speeds, is significantly lower among customers using 4G LTE-enabled devices than among those using devices with older 3G/4G technology standards, such as WiMAX and HSPA+… For example, among customers with 4G LTE-enabled devices, the problem incidence for excessively slow mobile Web loading is 15 PP100, compared with the industry average of 20 PP100. Furthermore, the overall problem incidence for excessively slow mobile Web loading is even higher among customers with WiMAX and HSPA+ technology

Based on responses from over 26,000 U.S. wireless customers, the report explained how network performance was calculated:

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Chrome for iOS updated with social and email sharing features, bugfixes and optimizations

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Aug 22 2012 - 12:54 pm PT
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For those of you who enjoy a little Chrome in your iOS experience, Google updated Chrome today with some nice social-sharing features. Posting to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are all included with the ability to push pages to the email application. The additions start to bring Chrome up to par with Apple’s Mobile Safari, which still benefits from speed due to an optimized Nitro engine that sandboxed apps do not have access to.

It would not be a Chrome update without a few “stability and security improvements” and “bug fixes addressing user feedback” either.


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Spotify expanding into Canada soon, with further plans for Asia and South America. Hulu gets a facelift

Avatar for Jake Smith Aug 22 2012 - 5:39 am PT
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Spotify made a huge stride when it launched in the United States in July 2011, which opened a partnership with Facebook that has paid off. The music streaming company looks to be expanding even further, as the Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Spotify is expected to launch in Canada soon. Furthermore, Spotify may also expand into Asia and South America. Spotify’s latest annual accounts tipped WSJ off on the news:

Last year, Spotify established subsidiaries in Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong, all places where its service isn’t yet available. Spotify is currently available in 15 countries, including the U.S., the U.K. and Germany, and recently launched in Australia and New Zealand. Company spokeswoman Sofie Grant declined to elaborate on the details of the company’s expansion plans, but said Spotify “of course plans to launch in new countries.”

Many ditched Apple’s iTunes and services like Pandora for Spotify, including me, because the ease of building playlists and finding new music on Spotify is certainly impressive. The only downfall is that the premium plan costs $10 a month, which offers unlimited music without ads, but I find the money to be worth it. Spotify recently introduced a free unlimited radio — launched on its Android — in July.

In other media news, Hulu, which just recently came to Apple TV, got a bit of a facelift on the web.


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AT&T’s FaceTime blockade: Does the FCC need to get involved again? Public Knowledge thinks so

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Aug 19 2012 - 8:02 am PT
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.

AT&T recently revealed to us that they were going to block Apple’s built-in FaceTime over cellular unless users sign up for an expensive Mobile Share plan. Does this reek of loyal customer exploitation?

John Bergmayer, Senior Staff Attorney at advocacy group Public Knowledge has this to say:

“By blocking FaceTime for many of its customers, AT&T is violating the FCC’s Open Internet rules. These rules state that mobile providers shall not ‘block applications that compete with the provider’s voice or video telephony services.’ Although carriers are permitted to engage in ‘reasonable network management,’ there is no technical reason why one data plan should be able to access FaceTime, and another not.

“‘Over-the-top’ communications services like FaceTime are a threat to carriers’ revenue, but they should respond by competing with these services and not by engaging in discriminatory behavior.”

Sure, FaceTime over cellular is a “new feature” of iOS 6, but so is Apple’s new Maps Turn-by-turn navigation.  So is the PassBook Application and Photo Streams.  They all will use more data. What is stopping AT&T from blocking those too?

What justification can AT&T give for such a move when it allows competing video chat apps to be available over its network? The most popular video chatting app, Microsoft’s Skype, has been available on the iPhone over 3G since AT&T allowed it –with some significant coaxing – from the FCC in 2009.

But with the FCC not only investigating AT&T and Apple’s Google Voice ban — but wireless industry competition overall — AT&T has miraculously had a change of heart and will now allow iPhone Skype traffic over 3G:

Previously, VoIP applications on iPhone were enabled for Wi-Fi connectivity…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.

Skype added the ability to video chat over 3G in 2010. We estimated the data usage to be at 3.4Mb/minute at the time. Many other video chatting apps on the iPhone and iPad exist including:  Fring, Google Plus (which also works native on Android phones FWIW), ooVoo and many others.

AT&T can’t claim network usage penalties for a couple of reasons:

1. As mentioned above, Skype and other Video chatting applications aren’t blocked by AT&T and they use just as much data.

2. AT&T has moved just about all of its customers over to tiered data plans and even those who are left on “Unlimited Plans” are still subject to throttling that would eliminate the ability to use video chatting applications. Users are paying for data that they use.

3. FaceTime over Wifi uses about 3 Megabytes per minute of talk.  For someone to use up a 3GB monthly allotment of data, they would need to FaceTime video chat for almost 17 hours (and the data usage over 3G would likely be less taxing). Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Amazon Video all use roughly this amount of data without regulation from AT&T.

As for the competition, Sprint already announced that it will not hinder FaceTime over cellular, and Verizon is being forced not to mess with it because of a Net Neutrality agreement.

Below is Mark and I completing a 3G FaceTime over 2 years ago on AT&T’s network with a simple jailbreak on an iPhone 4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kq7Ckcgp0o


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