We already know there are third party “hacks” out there like Swirly MMS that kind of provide a fix for some. All of these methods require the users to jailbreak their handset in order for it to even work. Mobispine believes that the ability to send and receive MMS from any iPhone will give mobile operators the ability to drive sales and improve subscriber retention.

“Mobispine continues its strong track record of innovation and is proud to unveil the first true MMS service for iPhones. We are confident that global operators will find Mobispine’s MMS service for iPhone easy-to-use and profitable,” said Dusyant Patel, CEO, Mobispine. “This new offering will help operators generate revenue and differentiate their offerings in a highly competitive market.”

The big hang-up that Mobispine faces is the need to brand the application to fit each carrier and then convince Apple to allow it in the App Store. There have been plenty of MMS applications that have been turned away in the past. Only time will tell if Mobispine will succeed in bringing much needed MMS to iPhone.

[Via SlashGear]

The Incase Power Slider has a built-in 1,220mAh rechargeable battery that will recharge your iPhone 3G without the need for cables. Incase claims that this battery will deliver up to 330hrs extra standby time, up to 26hrs audio playback, up to 5hrs 3G talktime (or double that in 2G talktime), 7hrs video or up to 5hrs 3G web browsing (or 6hrs connecting via WiFi).

This battery also has an LED charge display similar to that of the MacBook Pro batteries. If your going to pick one of these up your wont have to wait much longer. They are going to be on sale starting November 28th for around $100.  This may be a bit more than a typical backup battery, but it holds more of a charge.

[Via SlashGear]

Your going to need to know how to setup it up through a Wi-Fi network though, which is not as hard as it seems. If you are not particularly fond of the new MacBook keys you can choose from one of the other more traditions key skins. Windows users are out of luck this time as the application will only work on a Mac.

There will be 2,500 locations offering the iPhone 3G including 69 Sam’s Club locations. With all the details coming out at once, we are surprised to see that there is now word as to suggested pricing. We suspect that they are withholding prices because most people would wait to get a cheaper price till after Christmas.

AT&T is supporting Wal-Mart with the in-store activation of the iPhone handsets. Apparently the Sam’s Club Kiosks within Sam’s Club managed by Radio Shack will not be getting the iPhone 3G. Here is the execution timeline for the launch of the iPhone 3G.

* 12/2 – 12/5:  AT&T / Wal-Mart MEM Classroom Training for Store Leads
* 12/3 – 12/19:  AT&T In-Store Training
* 12/26 – 12/27:  AT&T In-Store Refresher Training
* 12/28: Nationwide Launch
* 12/28 – 12/30:  Wal-Mart and AT&T War Room Support

[Via BoyGeniusReport]

The lawsuit has been filed because Apple has been ignoring the reported problem for months now.  Avi Koschitzki filed the 23-page suit in a New York district court. Koschitzki's attorneys wrote, "Based upon information and belief the 3G iPhones demand too much power from the 3G bandwidths and the AT&T infrastructure is insufficient to handle this overwhelming 3G signal based on the high volume of 3G iPhones it and Apple have sold."

Koschitzki also claims that he is among the ones who experienced the “overloaded 3G network.” It was quite common for iPhone owners to be frequently bumped from 3G network, to the slower Edge network. "Although Apple was and is aware that the iPhones were and are defective, and that consumers have experienced repeated instances of cracked housing, Apple has nevertheless allowed the defectively designed iPhones to be sold to the public," the complaint says.

[Via AppleInsider]

With no physical remote control, sitting at the computer controlling the Rovio can sometimes be a pain. WowWee has done us a huge favor and made one of our favorite devices an optional controller for the Rovio! Now you can control your Rovio from your iPhone with an application called the Rovio Driver.

All it takes is a quick download and the input of a few settings and your ready to go. You get a much larger view to watch the camera than the standard application. Drive your Rovio using the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer. Rovio Driver even allows you to control the head position and rotation of Rovio. Pick up Rovio Driver in the App Store for free today.

[Via RoboCommunity]

For any of you out there that have trouble avoiding speed traps, NMobile is the application for you. This application shows you the location of speed traps, red light cameras and radar locations. All of these locations are then displayed on a map for you.

Using your internal GPS in conjunction with the tracking service form Njection, you can enter browse mode and check if your area has any of the above speed traps. The database is user submitted giving you the most up to date locations. Users can submit locations with the application or on Njection’s website. Stationary red light cameras and radar locations are submitted by users and then verified by developers for accuracy. Speed traps however, are only verified by users.

Alert mode will quickly become your best friend by giving you an audio alert of upcoming traps and show you just how many miles ahead a trap is, just hope you don’t get a phone call. This application really must be used with caution on the road. You can download this application directly through the App Store right now for $9.99, far from the price of a ticket.

[Via TUAW]

As always the iPhone Dev Team is warning about blindly installing the new firmware without instruction from them first. They have gone out explaining the pros and cons of immediately installing one of these updates without knowing all that it is doing to your phone.

With all the security measures that Apple are taking to prevent the jailbreaking of iPhones we would not be surprised to see a hidden feature in the 2.2 firmware. It is true that the iPhone Dev Team has come up with a jailbreak for the new firmware but installing it may reduce if not kill your chances of unlocking the device.

They are now stating that installing 2.2 straight from the iTunes auto-updater can really hurt any chances of getting an unlock if they ever find one.  The iPhone Dev Team also states that they are not currently working on the iPod Touch 2G right now. They are very interested in the platform but as you can tell they have their plate full for right now. We suspect they will get to it eventually when they have more time.

[Via iPhone Dev Team]

Warren Stringer has created a new multiplayer horse racing game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. If you just cant seem to get away from the racetracks this application will hold you over till your next visit.

Shake your iPhone to make the horse run faster. By the end of a few races you will have a pretty decent workout. You can race against other players as long as they are connected to the same Wi-Fi hotspot.  There is no word as to whether or not there is a way to throw your opponent off in any way. It appears to just be straight forward clean racing fun.

• Jump up and down while holding the iPhone in front of your face, then "whip" your horse by flicking the screen.

• Bouncing your legs like you're on the back of a horse after putting the iPhone in your back pocket. You can, ahem, whip the horse by spanking yourself.

• Tap the screen, and whip the horse by flicking the screen.

As much as we love to play solo, we don’t see this game being a lot of fun without a second player. This game seems worth the $.99 that you will spend on it in the App Store. We would love to know what you think!

[Via Tuaw]

AT&T has decided to expand their range of Wi-Fi hotspots by purchasing Wayport for $275 million dollars. Wayport has many Wi-Fi hotspots in locations such as, Starbucks, Barnes  and Noble bookstores and many major airports. Oakly and Surfline have teamed up to create an all-in-one surfing application for the iPhone. Surf Report gives you real time information on surf conditions, weather, safety notices and reports. You may view weather conditions up to three days in advance.

Good news is being reported, rumors state that the new iPhone firmware 2.2 is going to be released on November 21st. We have all been backing up our iPhones as we eagerly await this update. Business iPhone users who use Calliflower for PC  will find the Calliflower interactive conference calling very useful. Now you can use the same services on your iPhone without the need to download a client to your PC. This application will be available for free on January 1st, after which you will be able to purchase it for $9.99.

HangTimer by DropZone is a great application for skiers of all kinds. HangTimer utilizes both the built in accelerometer and technology used by NASA to provide you with run statistics. This application will also give you snow conditions and directions to your local resort. More details have surfaced in regards to the new iPhone tethering plans by AT&T. These plans will cost $30 a month with a 5GB data cap.

iSoft has finally created a landscape virtual keyboard for SMS on the iPhone. The big drawback is that you have to use it as an application, there is no integration in the SMS application at all. Another drawback is that you must have a jailbroken iPhone in order to buy this application. Overall this application shows that it can kind of be done. But who in their right mind would give into the circumstances for such a bad feature.

We found out this week that Microsoft’s web-based Office Suite will work with the iPhone's mobile Safari web browser. This web-based version will include full versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. There may be a sneak peak by the end of 2008 but we wouldn’t count on it. Google has set out to deliver the first voice search feature to the iPhone. This application will be free (no surprises there). With this application users will virtually be able to ask their iPhone any question like, “Where is the nearest Starbucks?” or “How old is the oldest man in the world?” Google will not comment on just how often this application works correctly, but they do say that they believe users will be able to get a lot of use out of it.

With this application users will virtually be able to ask their iPhone any question like, “Where is the nearest Starbucks?” or “How old is the oldest man in the world?” The application converts the audio to a digital file that is sent to Google’s servers, which try to determine which words were spoken and send them to Google search engine. With the use of the iPhone’s built-in GPS, Google can give local results.

Both Yahoo and Microsoft have offered similar voice services that just do not match up to what Google has to offer. Yahoo’s oneSearch service does not appear to be nearly as accurate as the service offered by Google. Microsoft’s Tellme service will only give results in specific categories such as directions, maps and movies. Google voice search however is far from perfect. “It’s important to understand that machine recognition will never be perfect,” Mr. Reddy added. “The question is, How close can they come to human performance?”

Google has declined to say how often the service is inaccurate, but they do believe that it is easily accurate enough to be useful to customers. If you want restaurant recommendations and driving directions this application can help you out. You can also look up contacts in your in you iPhone’s address book.

[Via NYT]

All the popular web browsers will be compatible with this web service including Mozilla’s Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Apple’s Safari web browser. Of course the question arises, will this service work with the iPhone? Sarah in Tampa has put together a quick Q&A to clear these questions up.

Fortunately for all of us who have decided to stick it out with the iPhone, our long wait is finally going to pay off.  The upcoming Web Office Suite will work just fine with the iPhone’s Mobile Safari Browser. There are a few rumors going around right now saying that a private preview of this service will be available by the end of 2008 but we wont be holding our breath.

[Via On10]

Although Apple would never allow such a useful application, it did not stop the development of such a feature.  There are three catches to this feature that will be deal-breakers for most. The first roadblock that users will face is the fact that your iPhone must be jailbroken to get the service to begin with.

The second issue is the cost, not everyone is willing to first jailbreak their iPhone, then fork over the $4.95 to get the full version. The third problem that users must face is the fact that this keyboard is not integrated into the iPhone itself. It is more of an application than anything. The phone numbers and contact information is not displayed correctly or in any visually stunning fashion.

Overall we found that this is a nice step in the right direction. Without it being an integrated service we really don’t see anyone paying $4.95 for this application. It just won't get any use. Even the free trial is not worth switching from the native SMS application.

AT&T has always done their best to bring customers what they want in a cellular service, iPhone owners have been asking for a tethering plan for over a year not but AT&T could not deliver because of the network. Ralph De La Vega said, “Regardless of how many billions of dollars AT&T pours into their 3G network, it hasn’t been stable enough to handle all you iPhone users,”

AT&T is simply worried as to how well the network will hold up to millions of users all jumping on at one time.  They have never has such an issue because there has never been such a huge rush in data use in their history. There is still no word on an official launch date. Here are the details on the iPhone tethering plans:

• 5GB Data Cap (just like Blackberry users) - AT&T will automatically turn off your tethering connection if you use too much bandwidth. Of note, the 5GB cap might get sliced for all users, not just iPhone users, in order to accommodate all new tethering plan customers (bandwidth demand).

• Initial connection through iTunes? (not sure if this is every time you connect, or just for initial setup)

• Expected speeds: GPRS: 30k - dialup speeds / EDGE: 110k - ISDN speeds / 3G: 1000k - slow broadband.

• You’ll want to disable auto-updates for everything, so as to not go over usage limitations.

• Will be +$30/month, new iPhone plans may be rolled out with tethering rolled in.

• Do not pro-rate tethering/bandwidth, it can become a nightmare, instead wait until new billing cycle.

• For unlimited bandwidth, AT&T will tell you to get a wireless PC card.

• No idea on a launch date.

[Via MacBlogz]

HangTimer utilizes both the built in accelerometer and technology used by NASA to determine the split second that you become airborne. This application records your airtime and top ten jumps. HangTimer will even automatically detect your ski resort from anywhere in the world and automatically download the area’s snow reports, lift stats and trail maps. HangTimer also accesses webcams in select resorts.

For iPhone 3G users, HangTimer has a bonus feature that utilizes the built in GPS to find and plot your exact location using Google Maps. Using the GPS you can also display your speed as you cruise along as well as how fast you are going. You can download HangTimer in the App Store today for only $9.99.