Apple’s hot iPhone 3G is now the most popular mobile phone in the U.S., according to market researcher NPD.

iPhone 3G pipped Motorola’s RAZR (the top-seller for the past 12 quarters) to take the No-1 spot in the third quarter.

Since the iPhone debuted about 17 months ago, sales of the smartphone have been on a tear. In the last quarter alone (ended September 27, 2008), Apple sold 6.892 million iPhones compared to 1.119 million units in the same quarter a year ago.

Most Popular

Here are the top-selling handsets (by rank) in the U.S. based on unit sales:

1. iPhone 3G
2. RAZR V3 (all models)
3. RIM Blackberry Curve (all models)
4. LG Rumor
5. LG enV2

We think the upcoming touchscreen-based Blackberry Storm could have

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Forget Google’s G1.

The hot new smartphone to watch out for - and one that could threaten iPhone’s glorious run - is the soon-to-be-launched Blackberry Storm.

Although much ink and web space has been devoted to Google’s Android operating system based cell phones like the G1 from T-Mobile, the more likely challenge to the iPhone will be Blackberry Storm, scheduled to debut this fall.

A touchscreen phone (unlike the new Blackberry Bold), the Storm includes the following: wireless e-mail, organizer, browser, phone with 5.5 hrs talk-time and 15-days of standby time, a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.25-inch display with 480×360 resolution, video recording, BlackBerry Maps, media player, GPS, corporate data access, SMS and MMS.

Like the iPhone, the Storm also comes with a built-in accelerometer, enabling its touch-screen to automatically switch between landscape mode and portrait mode as the user rotates the handset.

The Blackberry Storm weighs 155 grams compared to the iPhone’s 133 gms.

Blackberry Storm

No Wi-Fi Support
However, one glaring omission in the Blackberry Storm is lack of support for Wi-Fi (iPhone and G1 have it).

Given the patchy 3G coverage even in the U.S., absence of Wi-Fi support

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Ever seen our Gujjus made the coffee at Dunkin Donuts virtually non-potable, we’ve dropped anchor at Starbucks for our Caffeine fix.

Now, there’s one more reason Starbucks is better than Dunkin Donuts: AT&T is offering free Wi-Fi to iPhone customers at Starbucks.

Since we occasionally use the iPhone to process comment or make brief posts on this blog, the free Wi-Fi at Starbucks should come in handy for us.

Here are the verbatim instructions from AT&T to get your Wi-Fi going on the iPhone at Starbucks:

* Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
* Select “attwifi” from the list of available networks
* Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap ‘continue’
* You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
* The SMS link will only be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
* Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot.
Source: AT&T

Besides Starbucks, iPhone users can also get free Wi-Fi at the Barnes & Noble book stores.

Meanwhile, comScore has put out a report today stating that the strongest growth in iPhone users is coming from lower-income households.

Here’s what comScore’s saying Continue Reading…

We’ve always been more fascinated with Apple than any other tech company.

More than Microsoft and even more than Google, Apple has so inveigled itself into our mindspace that we went and got ourselves an iPhone in July a few months after we purchased a $49 iPod.

Maybe because Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs has been on the mountaintop as well as down on the valley floor (after he was ousted by John Sculley), Apple is a different breed of company today than it was in its earlier avatar.

Experience (and the scars they leave behind) matures a man. Well, at least most men (with the exceptions of dodos like Dubya)

Coming back to the present, no matter the economic downturn Apple’s business is going gangbusters.

In a little over three months, Apple customers have downloaded 200 million applications from Apple’s App Store. The apps can be played on both the iPhones and the iPod touch multimedia devices.

As Jobs crowed on Apple’s earnings call Tuesday:

Competitors are scrambling to copy our App Store but it’s not as easy as it looks and we are far along in creating the virtuous cycle of cool applications begetting more iPhone sales, thereby creating an even larger market which will attract even more iPhone software development. It is clear that customers are now attracted to iPhone not only for its amazing functionality and revolutionary multi-touch user interface but also for its unique ability to let users easily purchase, download, and use thousands of different applications, ranging from free games to financial planning and health management — all of this in only 102 days.

Although Google’s first Android-powered G1 Continue Reading…

Traffic in India stressing you out?

We don’t blame ya.

After driving in the traffic hells of Los Angeles, New York City and elsewhere in the U.S. for so many years, we understand your situation too well.

Help could be at hand with a new application called Traffic India for the iPhone that claims to provide real-time traffic reports.

Priced at $1.99 and available at Apple’s App Store, Traffic India is Continue Reading…

UK software company Softalk Ltd has put out what it claims is the first spreadsheet application for Apple’s iPhone mobile phone.

Priced at $7.99, the spreadsheet application is being sold via the Apple App Store.

The spreadsheet is said to feature over 50 functions and allows users to e-mail spreadsheets created on the iPhone to a mailbox for subsequent opening in Microsoft Excel 2003 or later versions.

With T-Mobile launching G1 - the first cell phone powered by Google’s Android operating system - today in New York City, the big question is whether the Linux-based Android phones can slow down the momentum of Apple’s iPhone.

Manufactured by Taiwanese firm HTC, the T-Mobile G1 phone will start selling on October 22 in the U.S. for $179 with a two-year voice and data agreement. Unlimited Internet access+400 messages is $25 per month. Add $10 for unlimited messages. Voice charges are additional. They will be available in the U.K. in November and elsewhere in Europe in 2009.

While the T-Mobile G1 is $20 cheaper than the entry-level 8GB iPhone 3G, it comes with only 1GB memory on a memory card (maximum of 8GB).

T-Mobile G1

The touch screen-based T-Mobile G1 includes a pull-out QWERTY keyboard, a trackball and the usual Google services like Google Maps with StreetView, Gmail and YouTube. It supports 3G, Wi-Fi and the slower Edge network.

The phone features a 3-megapixel camera, an HTML e-mail client and support for AOL, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk instant messaging services.

G1 comes pre-loaded with the Amazon MP3 application to let users buy

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Lost amid the hype of the successful iPod and the iPhone is Apple’s steady emergence as a giant in the entertainment arena.

So what if Apple lost the PC battle of the 20th century to Microsoft.

You see, Apple has already ground Microsoft, RealNetworks, Napster and other sundry players into the dust in the bigger entertainment war of the 21st century.

No longer just the computer company that makes Macs for the rest of us, Apple is Continue Reading…

In the evening of our lives, few things strike us as revolutionary.

But if anything deserves the characterization of revolutionary, it’s Apple’s App Store.

Launched just three months back, Apple’s App Store has become wildly popular.

So popular, according to Apple that users have downloaded over 100 million applications in three months.

Yes, folks that’s 100 million.

And your truly has contributed in a tiny way to that 100 million count. Continue Reading…

All ye superstitious idiots, rejoice - there’s a new Panchang application on the iPhone.

For centuries, the Panchang or calendar, has been the combined equivalent of the Bible, Koran and Torah to guide the Hindu devout to the various festivals and auspicious/inauspicious days.

To tap into the Hindu obsession with the Panchang, a new application has debuted on the Apple iPhone to guide the lives of Hindus by providing details based on the Indian lunar calendar (the application should presumably work on the upgraded iPod touch too).

Panchang
on iPhone

According to the folks at Wikipedia, the word Panchang is derived from

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Nearly two months after Apple launched the App Store for the new iPhone 3G mobile phone and the older iPod touch, games continue to dominate the store.

The App Store, which has been a mega hit with over 60 million downloads (as of August 11), lets iPhone 3G and iPod touch users download applications Continue Reading…

Apple’s iPhone 3G officially debuts in India on Friday, 43 days after the hot mobile phone was launched in the U.S.

After 41 days of owning and using a 16GB iPhone 3G in the U.S., we would caution potential buyers that the hype is way ahead of the reality for this device. Caught up like a lot of people in the iPhone 3G hype, we were initially enthusiastic about this mobile device.

 
iPhone 3G

While the iPhone 3G is a user-friendly touchscreen-based phone, it has a few serious shortcomings that should make potential buyers in India pause

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