iPhone

Update at 8:19 a.m. PDT, with comment from Sirius XM.

Sirius XM is planning to launch an iPhone application by June in a move to expand its market, the satellite service provider said Thursday during an analyst conference call.

The iPhone application will be available to Apple's U.S. iPhone users and Sirius XM customers, as well as to iPod Touch Wi-Fi users.

Sirius XM charges $12.95 per month for its Internet radio service. It is not immediately clear whether iPhone and iPod users will incur the same service fees.

A Sirius XM representative declined comment, … Read more

This week Apple made a very small, but important tweak to the user rating system on its iTunes app store. It now shows which version of an application the user was running when they wrote the review. This has been applied retroactively, so that reviews written before the change will show which version the users had installed at the time they wrote it.

This is important on two levels, with the first being how transparent user reviews are. No longer do you have to wonder what version a user had installed when they said there was a problem, or broken … Read more

Bandloop is a relatively new service that helps you find live shows in your area.

I had mixed feelings about the Web version of the service--I'm not so fond of the way it forces you to pick favorite bands to follow--but today, I had a chance to try out their new free iPhone application, and I'm very impressed. It's a cut above the iPhone version of JamBase, a long-established gig-listing service.

The Bandloop app is simple, as all good iPhone apps should be. If you've got a 3G iPhone, you allow Bandloop to find your location. … Read more

What might Apple have in store for the third release of its iPhone software?

The company plans to hold one of its trademark special events Tuesday at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., to show off "an advance preview of what we're building" for the iPhone 3.0 software release, according to an invitation distributed Thursday. The event will come just a little more than a year after the iPhone 2.0 software event laid out Apple's policies for getting third-party applications onto the iPhone, as well as business-friendly features.

Here's what we know: Apple plans to discuss a new software development kit at the event in addition to demonstrating the new software.

This could explain why the company has been slow to offer renewals for current SDK licenses, as it might be requiring developers to sign a whole new agreement. While the software will be the main attraction, developers will be closely watching for details about how the new SDK will affect their businesses.

So, about that software: judging by the comments on our initial post about the event, iPhone users are looking for Apple to finally bring cut-and-paste capability to the device. Of all the advancements Apple has planned for the iPhone 3.0 software, that's probably the one users are hoping for the most.… Read more

Apple distributed invitations Thursday for a March 17 special event in Cupertino, Calif., to discuss the iPhone 3.0 software and a new software development kit.

Next Tuesday's event will come a little more than a year after Apple unveiled the original SDK at the iPhone 2.0 software event, setting the stage for over 25,000 iPhone applications to make their way onto the App Store. Speculation about a new iPhone had mostly centered on new hardware features, rather than software upgrades, but it seems Apple has something up its sleeve.

The invitation did not say who would … Read more

More Apple tablet/Netbook rumors surfaced Wednesday as one Apple watcher wonders what the company is doing with all those books.

Reuters is reporting that Apple has ordered 10-inch touch screens from Wintek, a contract manufacturer in Taiwan that makes the touch screens used in the iPhone and iPod Touch. The screens are expected to be ready by the third quarter of this year, setting the stage for a possible late 2009 introduction of the long-rumored Apple tablet and/or Netbook.

But one interesting possibility for that rumored device comes from longtime Apple writer Andy Ihnatko, who is wondering if … Read more

Apple has apparently had a change of heart about a Twitter iPhone app that sometimes presents users with language some might find objectionable.

The popular Twitter app for iPhone and iPod touch--called Tweetie 1.3--was apparently rejected because it gives users access to the Twitter Trends section, which displays the most frequent topics or words on Twitter at any given moment. This section sometimes lists swear words--including a particular four-letter word that begins with the letter F--that apparently raised Apple's disdain.

In an e-mail earlier Tuesday, app developer Loren Brichter said Apple quoted this part of the company's … Read more

Since this report was published, Apple has decided to approve the app for the App Store. Read the updated story here.

Updated at 3:10 p.m. PDT with comment from Tweetie developer.

Remember the time your mom withheld your dessert because you said a bad word? Apple is doing something along those lines, with one major difference: it's because a bad word has been heard in the neighborhood.

According to iLounge, Apple has rejected version 1.3 of Tweetie, the popular Twitter client application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The reason? An offensive word appeared in Twitter's Trends data.

Somewhat similar to Google Trends, Twitter's Trends is a list of the most frequently used topics or words on Twitter at any given moment. This means this live list of words/topics changes constantly (I checked it just now and the offensive word--which starts with an "F," by the way--has gone). Yet, somehow it still bothers Apple enough to take action.

It seems that Apple, as a matter of policy, does not comment on the approval process for Apple applications. We have, however, contacted the company, and will update this post if we hear back.

In an e-mail to CNET News, however, Tweetie developer Loren Brichter said Apple quoted this part of the company's guidelines as a reason for the decision:

"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive, or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod Touch users."

"The question then becomes whether is it an individual app's responsibility to censor everything it gets from the Internet," Brichter said. "Twitter themselves create the "top trends" list; Tweetie just displays it. The consensus is pretty much that it would be ridiculous to expect that.

"At the same time," the developer added, "this could have been just a goof on Apple's part. The App Store is still very young, they're working out the kinks."

Here's the long list of improvements in Tweetie 1.3 that all you naughty Twitterers with iPhones and iPod Touches are gonna miss out on--at least for now:… Read more

Apple developers are having a tough time renewing their iPhone development licenses, according to reports.

AppleInsider reported last week that as the one-year contracts signed by iPhone developers begin to expire, developers are starting to wonder if they'll be able to continue their development after the end of March without an option to renew the contracts. The contracts are needed as part of the iPhone Developer Program in order to have iPhone applications listed in the App Store.

Ars Technica's Erica Sadun, a prolific iPhone developer, is having similar problems. She attempted to renew her contract on Friday … Read more