iPhone Daily News Digest

Rhapsody just released a little teaser video for the next version of its iPhone app (to be followed closely by its new Android app) that marks a major change for the service: You can now download songs instead of streaming.

It’s great news for users of Rhapsody’s $15-per-month all-you-can-eat service, who can now simply download songs from the catalog for later use instead of depending on unreliable wireless signals. As the voice of Rhapsody’s disembodied hand notes, that’ll also save battery life, since just playing a music file is a pretty low-intensity function and streaming music is fairly draining on a battery. Even better, it'll reduce frustration with AT&T or a lack of nearby hotspots. The app is in the final approval process now, so it should be out within a few days.

Oh, and for Android users: The Rhapsody Android app, now in beta, is just about done with its testing time and should be appearing in the Android Market any day now. Rhapsody needs this kind of market coverage—if Microsoft's Windows Phone Series 7 phones are as good as they look, Rhapsody’s going to be in a tough fight with MS’s Zune Pass this fall. [Rhapsody]

The AT&T Navigator app and TomTom are my two favorite GPS solutions; TomTom just took the lead with this most recent update.

One of the benefits of the AT&T Navigator app was the ability to search real-time and navigate to a location via the web. Now, TomTom is bringing us that functionality via Google Local Search, and more! Here is a list of changes in the most rescent update, 1.3:

• Real-Time traffic- The best traffic information available today (an additional $19.99)
• Google Local Search- Access the latest listings from within TomTom
• The Latest Maps- The most accurate map
• Music Fading- Instead of music pausing, it fades when navigation is spoken
• Automatic Day/Night Mode- TomTom now calculates the sunrise and sunset and changes the map accordingly
• Add Locations- From other apps and websites

There are some other nuances too such as button placement and how the iPod controls work, but they are definitely for the better. It is disappointing that the traffic component costs an additional $19.99, but to me the Google Search alone is worth this update. Check out some pics after the break!

TomTom updated to 1.3 now with Google Local Search! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

According to emails sent from AT&T employees to MacDailyNews readers, the network is working hard to enable iPhone tethering as soon as possible. Many of our readers are still waiting patiently to see when AT&T will flip the switch on iPhone tethering and if you contact AT&T the following are the contents of the cookie cutter reply you will receive in your inbox.

“Thank you for your recent email to AT&T. Tethering the iPhone is a priority for us and we are working hard to make it available as soon as possible. As you might imagine, we want to make sure that we deliver a quality customer experience from the start. We don’t have details yet but will be sure to make a news announcement when tethering becomes available. Thanks again for your feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to write.”

We know what you may be thinking but lets give AT&T the benefit of the doubt here and lets pretend we see tethering enabled in the near future, would you prefer to have it implemented right the first time or are you simply sick of waiting and want it enabled now? Or could you care less?

Sound off in the comments below!

[Via MacDailyNews]

AT&T Working Hard to Deliver iPhone Tethering Soon? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

In what looks like a very smart business move, Verizon is apparently pushing its staffers to promote MiFi to future iPad owners.

As you know by now, the WiFi-only iPad will be launched April 3rd by Apple, followed by a 3G version which will come only by the end of April. The 3G iPad will come with an opt-in $30/month unlimited data plan from AT&T, but if you just can’t wait, or hate AT&T, Verizon wants your business.

Their MiFi, which you might know already, is a mobile WiFi hotspot, a little device which connects to Verizon’s data network, and lets you connect up to five devices to it via WiFi. Verizon believes it would go great with your WiFi iPad, and has sent an internal information to its employee to promote just that.

Alright, the data connection will cost your more than if you go through AT&T at $60/month for 5GB of data. On the good side however, you’ll be able to share it with all your other devices, and a lot sooner.

Interested?

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Verizon is looking to turn no-iPad 3G lemons in iPad Wi-Fi + MiFi lemonade by craftily counter-programming the official AT&T data plans with their own potent portable internet and router combo, says Engadget.

You’ll save $130 off the price of the iPad 3G, but a 5GB Verizon MiFi plan will run you $60 vs. “unlimited” AT&T data for $30. Then again, you can use the MiFi for more than one device (and more than one at a time).

So, is Verizon’s plan a good one? Would you consider iPad Wi-Fi + Verizon MiFi on April 3rd rather than iPad 3G on AT&T in late April?

Verizon Wants to Sell You Data for Your iPad… via MiFi is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

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Apple's iPad and Tethering PC World What had been unknown up until now was whether Apple's Wi-Fi-based iPad would have the capability to tether to an iPhone, thereby letting you harness the … According to Jobs: No iPhone-to-iPad Tethering, 10 Hour Battery Life ReaffirmedMac Rumors 3 Reasons Apple's iPad Won't See a Price DropjkOnTheRun (blog) Class action lawsuit time? AT&T fails to deliver iPhone tethering; began …MacDailyNews (blog) all 11 news articles »

Is the recently announced Skype/Verizon deal delaying the release of Skype over 3G for the iPhone? Previously AT&T announced they would change their policy and allow VoIP over 3G, Apple announced they would change their SDK agreement to allow it, and Skype announced they would provide it to their iPhone users. AT&T has come through, Apple has come through, other VoIP clients have begun offering 3G. And Skype…? They said they were waiting to make sure Apple was okay with it. They made sure. They said they were waiting to improve 3G call quality. And…? Still nothing.

They did, however, announce a deal for Skype over 3G with Verizon at Mobile World Congress a couple weeks ago. Since then, WMExperts tell us the Windows Mobile Skype app is no longer available for download. According to Venture Beat (via BGR) their Symbian Skype App has now been pulled from the Ovi Store. When asked why Skype was removed from the Ovi Store, Venture Beat was told:

Skype has made a decision in the United States to not promote the Skype for Symbian app through the Ovi Store. We did this so that we could drive more attention to the recently announced Skype and Verizon Wireless agreement. This was a marketing decision — plain and simple

The iPhone Skype app [Free - iTunes link] is still in the App Store (after a short hiccup) but it’s still Wi-Fi only. When asked for comment after the Verizon agreement, a Skype rep would only tell TiPb that there was no further updates since last time.

So, is it just taking longer than we expected to get that really great 3G voice quality out for Skype? Or has the Verizon deal sucked all the attention out of the room?

Are you still waiting for Skype over 3G for iPhone, or have you started using alternatives? Let us know!

Is Skype/Verizon Deal Delaying Skype Over 3G for iPhone? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

9to5Mac is yet again delving deep into the iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad and this time they’ve turned up settings for internet tethering, voice mail, and MMS settings, as well as a search option for Wikipedia.

Again, whether or not this is legacy code from the iPad’s iPhone heritage, or potential future features we have no way of knowing. Being able to tether to the iPad would be good (at least for international users, since AT&T doesn’t even support iPhone tethering yet…) Being able to tether from the iPhone to the iPad would be even better, but we’re not holding our breath… Likewise voice mail and MMS are interesting to see on a data-only device.

Wikipedia, however, is a natural extension of the built-in, currently Google-centric search and on the popover-enabled iPad Safari would be especially handy. Can we have that for iPhone as well?

Still no sign of Bing, however, though the current Yahoo! option will soon be powered by Microsoft’s search engine anyway…

Video after the break!

YouTube link

iPad SDK Settings: Tethering, Voice Mail, MMS, Wikipedia Search is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

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