(Updates posted in reverse chronological order from latest or oldest)

• Asking about iPhone activations. US represents 40% of activations. Shouldn’t international side pick up, grow faster? Tim Cook: don’t release sales by geography.
• Follow up on netbook. Think an emerging market for a truly mobile device, larger screen, do more than with iPhone? Tim Cook: Never discount anything, won’t answer about new products. Customers want full featured notebooks. Apple delivers those, delivers value. Customers very happy. Current netbooks are very slow, software is old, don’t have robust computing experience, lack horsepower, small screens, cramped keyboards. People not happy. Apple will only play where they can deliver products that are innovative, proud of.
• Will Apple invest in NOC to take pressure off carrier? Cook: No plans to do so. When they entered business, they came to conclusion they could deliver world class handset, deliver something revolutionary. Other people have better skills at networks. Apple working with them as partners.
• AP asks if growth of Apps constrained by network capacity of carrier partners? Tim Cook: better question for them. Without singling out [AT&T] Cook sees them investing in making better networks, happy with rising ARPU, lower churn. Changes customer acquisition. Thinks they will continue to make investments to deliver faster networks.
• Has outgrown market 18/19 quarters. Cook thinks that means they have right approach.
• Asking about netbooks. Tim Cook: Apple’s goal is not to build most computers but to build the best. Will play at whatever price point they can build the best. Don’t see a way to build a great product at $399/$499. Thinks customers, many customers, become disenchanted after they buy them. Continue to focus on building best and giving tremendous value.
• Additional distribution and pricing model needed to sustain growth? Tim Cook: Just took major change with intro of $99 product. Reason to do that was view of elasticity. Working hard to continue expanding distribution in countries they’re in, (where it makes sense) and adding new countries. Still large markets left uncovered. [China?]
• RBC Capital asking about competitive App Stores and software. How to out innovate in user experience and leadership? Tim Cook: Won’t talk about future plans. Summarize last 30 days: shipped iPhone 3.0, App Store now available in 77 countries. Install base more than 45 million (iPhone + iPod touch). Quotes App Store stats. 65,000 apps compares RIM/Nokia, Android. Substantial lead in Apps and innovation. Years ahead of other people.
• Asking why iPod channel was reduced. Tim Cook: to support new Shuffle and easter holiday, they increased. When that was done, they decreased, and also demand was lower and iPhone cannibalized. Shuffle, nano, and classic demand also lowering (”classic MP3 player market”). Still in target range, however.
• Apple benefitting from higher iPhone revenue. [No doubt!]
• Asking if $99 iPhone 3G actually served as traffic driver for iPhone 3GS. Was that it’s role, or is it really part of iPhone story. Tim Cook: Focused on total iPhone story. Too early to tell ultimate mix due to only shipping in 18/80 countries and supply constraints. Also upgrades happen early, upgraders likely to pick newer version.
• Talking about $999 MacBook vs. cheaper MacBook Pro pricing mix. Tim Cook: competitive info.
• Asking why Snow Leopard was priced so low. Tim Cook: Even better Leopard, redefines 90% of projects. Something about not even Windows building in (Exchange support?). Priced aggressively so all users can upgrade. Hoping they do. Expect to ship later this quarter.
• Talking about MacBook pricing elasticity. When they can do it at lower prices, they will but won’t put Apple brand on products that don’t innovate.
• Asking about 5.2 million iPhone sales in Q3 and supplies still constrained. How’s inventory. Tim Cook: Flat sequentially. What that means is selling more units at the end, don’t have a channel loaded. Haven’t seen anything like it. About 1.83 million inventory, including in transit, invoice, demo — counted conservatively.

• Talking about reduced margins due to back to school promotions, lower MacBook prices, etc.
• Questions on guidance and margins…
• Follow up question on progress in enterprise accounts? Tim Cook: Growing interest with release of iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3.0 due in part to new hardware encryption and security policies. Doing best in corporate and government who allow individual purchases. 20% of Fortune 100 customers bought 10,000 iPhone, some have bought 25,000. In over 300 higher education institutions.
• David Baily asks how $99 iPhone is doing. Change in mix since launch? Tim Cook: Acceleration of total unit sales, can’t tell exact mix since it’s competitive data. iPhone 3GS supply is still constrained, so demand very robust.
• Nothing to announce about U-Verse, 3G in laptops. Happy with AT&T relationship.
• Tim Cook answering Gene Munster on how carrier relationships will evolve: most of the carriers they’re doing business with are thrilled with lower churn and higher ARPU. Customers demanding iPhone. Looking to expand.
• Closing canned remarks. Can has Q&A soon?
• $500M prepayment to Toshiba for NAND flash memory
• 31.1 BILLION in cash on hand(!)
• More financial stuff…
• 1.5 billion in revenue for Apple Stores.
• iTunes experience getting better. 8 billion songs purchased.
• Didn’t recognize iPhone revenue until iPhone 3.0 became available on June 17.
• 1.69 billion from iPhone, accessories, carriers, etc.
• App Store stats: 65,000 apps. 3.0 will create even more innovative apps.
• Continuing to roll out 3GS to 80 countries this summer.
• iPhone 5.2 million sold in June quarter! 1 Million iPhone 3GS in 3 day launch. Cannot make enough to meet demand. Working to address this.
• 70% of US market. iPod top selling MP3 player. Gaining share in almost every country tracked.
• iPod touch grew 30% year over year.
• 50% of iPod buyers are still new buyers, even in established markets
• Traditional MP3 players declined, as internally forecast. Reason why they developed iPod touch and iPhone. They’re cannibalizing themselves. Business will still last for years.
• 10.2 million iPods. Down from last quarter. Reduced channel inventory and sell-through declines.
• 13% increase in laptop sales. Customers favorable on new portables.
• 2.6 million Macs. Sales increased 100K units over prior year.
• Lots of financial info we shan’t bore you with. Read press link below…
• Record June revenue. Highest non-Holiday revenue in history.
• “We’re making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App Store in its first year.”
• Press release is live: The Company posted revenue of $8.34 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.35 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.46 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
• Call’s about to start. Will update as news is announced.

Original post:

Apple is set to announce their Q3, 2009 financial results today, and host an accompanying conference call, starting at 5pm ET/2pm PT.

(We’re suspecting the iPhone will remain profitable…)

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb just got word from Azuki Systems, the folks behind Sports Illustrated’s SI Swimsuit 2009 [$2.99 - iTunes link] that it’s hit the App Store a tad before schedule.

it’s the first mobile application in the lifestyle category to deliver video of SI’s Swimsuit models, hundreds of SI Swimsuit photos as well as scores, schedules and team information.

The app is rated 17+ since swimsuits and body paint may not be appropriate for every age in every geography, so proceed with all due advanced notice. Additional screenshots, after the break…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

SplashID [$4.99 - iTunes link] is an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that provides a great place to store your data securely with a password. Just how secure is it? Super secure. 256bit Blowfish secure.

I have used SplashID for years on the Palm OS. I was so excited to see that SplashData brought SplashID to the iPhone last year as I was easily able to port my old files over to the iPhone using their desktop companion app.

So what does SplashID do for you? A lot, let’s take a look after the break!

First, you can choose what type of password you would like to use; a simple 4 digit pin or a longer password; it’s your choice. Of course, there is nothing more irritating as you go back and forth between SplashID and another app for you to keep entering your password into SplashID. There is a feature that allows you to suspend the locking feature for a period from 1 minute to 30 minutes.

You can organize your data in SplashID into several categories from software serial numbers to airline frequent flyer miles to your families social security numbers for quick reference. When you are dealing with sensitive data, you can also choose to mask certain fields to hide the data from the roaming eyes of casual observers.

Not only do you have the ability to customize your categories, but you can choose a theme and view for your data as well. You can pick row colors and choose between a list or panel view. I am personally partial to the panel view as it groups your items by category type instead of a list. Depending on the volume of entries you have, the list get get a little unyieldy. In an effort to help manage those that store a lot of information in SplashID, there is a very convenient “Most Viewed” button to access the info you view most frequently. If you have a hard time viewing the information in portrait mode, you can rotate to landscape too!

If you need to share any information, you can quick do so my using the email feature. With the tap of a button on screen, you can send information via email. One way I use this feature is to email my SSID information and password to friends that are visiting my house so they can get on the network (no I don’t have the new Airport Extreme with guest access ). You can also send the information as a secure file to another SplashID account!

I could really go on and on about SplashID since I have been using it for years. The added value of the companion desktop app ($19.99) is of additional benefit as your data is always safe, backed-up and accessible from your Mac/PC and your iPhone.

If you need something more than a simple password manager and need a tool to manage all of your sensitive information, look no further than SplashID for iPhone!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Crunchgear is reporting that Till Schadde of Equinux has been noticing some weirdness with his AIM app and push notifications. Namely, Schadde has been seeing his AIM messages go to random recipients. He discovered this by being notified that a message he had sent to his iPhone version of AIM was redirected to a random stranger. That stranger then contacted Schaddle to let him know and to supply him with a screen shot of his message.

In the past, TiPb has speculated that there are indeed some issues with hacktivated iPhones. And for those of you who are unfamiliar with “hackivation”, it’s simply a process that tricks an iPhone into believing it has authorized itself with Apple via iTunes and is ready to be used, but is actually activated by other, non-Apple software.

These hacktivated iPhones are not being assigned a unique push ID by Apple the way iTunes activiated iPhones with legit SIMs are. One of our readers, Greg, summed it up best in the comments from our last push notification issue post:

The difference is hacktivation, not jailbreaking. There’s a fair bit of crypto involved in the activation process and the “fixes” so far involve taking certs from other phones. This will only work for so long; eventually people are going to have to be on official carriers and paying official plan rates for Push and YouTube and who knows what they’ll cert off in 3.1 or 4.0?

The Dev Team seem to be working on a fix but it does not appear it will come anytime soon as they’ve avoided even posting a fix on their blog. Instead, they quietly posted a link on their Twitter page to a very beta fix.

All of this is yet another part of the cat and mouse game, but it’s important to try and understand what’s going on: normal iPhone users should have nothing to worry about at this time.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Via CrackBerry.com:

RIM has officially announced that BlackBerry Desktop Manager software for MAC will be available this September. THANK YOU RIM. You can visit blackberry.com/mac to sign up for updates and learn more or visit the Inside BlackBerry blog to see a few screen captures of it in action.

Yeah. Good luck with that. Any guesses how long that lasts before Apple releases a patch to disable BlackBerry sync?

(Kidding! Joking! Don’t panic, Kev! We’re happy for you — now you’re at least half-way towards restoring your childlike sense of wonder…)

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Last Thursday TiPb helped offer up 5 free copies of iPhone 3G Made Simple by Martin Trautschold and Gary Mazo. We’ll announce the winners after the break, but for everyone else, Gary and Martin were kind enough to offer up a 15% off coupon valid through August 15, 2009.

Coupon Code: FB6DD9D4B8

To redeem the 15% off Coupon:
Go to the iPhone 3G Made Simple E-Book site
Click the “ELECTRONIC EDITION BUY BUTTON”
On the account setup page, copy/paste the coupon code into the “COUPON” field on the bottom.
Click “Continue” to see the discount on the next page.

Winners after the break!

• schartzr
• Matt74
• jlc1978
• reesrk8
• emily0605

Check your Private Messages!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Insider says:

A new lawsuit from a Beverly Hills, Calif., man alleges that Apple conspired with the Italian mafia to secretly track him, transmit threatening messages to his iPod, and insert the word “herpes” into the song “Still Tippin’” by Mike Jones.

We say: forgetaboutit.

Seriously, though, get the man some help, not a lawyer.

Sigh.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

According to Engadget, Amazon has remotely wiped copies of George Orwell’s classics, 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindles, refunding the purchase price of affected users.

We’re not yet certain, but users of the iPhone Kindle app are probably similarly effected.

It remains unlikely that Amazon broke into any houses, repossessed any copies of same, and left change on the bureau.

By contrast, when Apple removed NetShare from the App Store, already purchased copies remained — and remain to this day — on the devices of whomever purchased them.

Takes a lot of wrong to make App Store policy seem right these days, so way to go, Amazon. You’ve either redefined ownership in the DRM age, or broken faith with any customers thinking of owning any more Kindle content…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Cali Lewis tweets:

This iPhone 3GS Rig is on my wish list as soon as an iPhone or Touch does 720p

We bet Matt wants one. Us too.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Macro.org, from the developer behind Tumblr and Instapaper, has a post up highlighting the latest App Store controversy — that all web-embedded apps must be rated 17+ and now don’t get Promo Codes — and comes to this conclusion:

Apple thinks reviews can take 8-30 days and web-capable apps need nudity warnings and the management interface can be buggy as s**t and they don’t need us to be able to reach them and nobody really needs to take any of this very seriously. Because it’s working for them. They’re making a killing taking their 30% commission on the 1.5 billion copies of $0.99 top-25 games that they’ve sold. Who cares if the App Store discourages good developers from putting serious effort into it? Apple doesn’t need to care. And, clearly, they don’t.

The whole post is definitely worth reading, and brings to mind the classic riff — “any incompetence sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from malice”.

Here’s the the thing, though: Apple is not only serving developers. They’re being served with lawsuits. And their hyper-vigilant legal departments are no doubt saying — perhaps rightly — that if someone uses a Twitter client that embeds a WebView and happens to see the f-word or a nipple, they’ll sue Apple.

Ridiculous, sure. A poor solution, of course. But it’s the kind of rolling triage Apple seems to be doing as the App Store grows beyond even their expectations.

Don’t get us wrong, all the problems marco.org mentions are real, frustrating, and need to be fixed yesterday. For Apple to force 17+ Ratings on these apps, and remove Promo Code functionality, is intolerable — and we wonder why Mobile Safari, Mobile Mail, iPod, etc. aren’t forced to pop up the same warning under that logic.

It’s entirely Apple’s fault, setting themselves up as editors to the App Store, and then not implementing the policies or staff necessary to keep up with the content requiring editorial approval.

But we don’t think Apple doesn’t care. They surely do, and will no doubt continue to make slow, steady improvements and address developer and user concerns, while at the same time making other clumsy and what look like bone-headed decisions and mistakes. Lots of them.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.