MacRumors iPhone and iPad Blog: Apps, News, and Rumors

Reuters reports that China Unicom may officially announce a deal to bring the iPhone to China as soon as tomorrow. While the information comes from an anonymous analyst citing other unnamed sources, a China Unicom spokeswoman did confirm that the iPhone will be a topic of discussion at a media briefing scheduled for tomorrow to discuss company earnings. A China Unicom spokeswoman said the iPhone...

Tech Trader Daily reports that popular Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) firm Vonage has submitted an iPhone application to Apple for inclusion in the company's App Store, but the application's approval has been delayed by minor technical issues with the application. "They submitted an application for review," said Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris told Tech Trader Daily. "There are some...

Apple has released a new iPhone 3GS commercial targeting sports enthusiasts. Like many recent iPhone ads, 'Avid' highlights three applications linked by a common theme and is available in Apple's iPhone ad gallery. - Golfshot: Golf GPS [App Store, $29.99] - Provides GPS range-finding and aerial views for over 15,000 golf courses worldwide. - MLB.com At Bat 2009 [App Store, $9.99] - Offers ...

The Chipotle Ordering app is back in the App Store after only a short period of availability earlier this year. First appearing in January, the app was live for only a few hours and then pulled due to unanticipated demand that overloaded the servers handling orders. At that time, the plan was to have the app return to the App Store after a couple of weeks. The app offers the...

TomTom's highly-anticipated GPS app for the iPhone finally made it to the App Store last week. First announced WWDC on June 8, TomTom's demo video during the event promised a slick app that mimicked the look of its standalone-GPS products and applications for other smartphone platforms while promising an appropriately iPhone-esque interface. We've had a chance to put the app through some initial...

The Qik app that first arrived in the App Store earlier this month has already been updated to a new version that removes the Wi-Fi only restriction. At its initial release, the popular video sharing application was able to upload previously-recorded videos to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Qik's own site via Wi-Fi only. Now, video uploads can also be done over a 3G or EDGE cellular data...

Gdgt reports that RealNetworks has submitted its Rhapsody app for the iPhone and iPod touch to the App Store for approval. The app will provide on-demand streaming music to Rhapsody subscribers and it will offer a limited free trial for non-subscribers to test the service. The RealNetworks blog describes that the app will be easy and intuitive to use and will include the ability to search the ...

Satwaves reports that satellite radio company Sirius XM will be releasing a dock connector accessory receiver for the iPhone and iPod touch at a media event next Wednesday, allowing access full Sirius XM service via their devices. Sources familiar with the situation are now confirming that Sirius XM will be unveiling the iPhone/iPod Touch accessory docks that I speculated about three months ago...

Several readers have informed us that SlingPlayer Mobile 1.1 [App Store, $29.99] has appeared in the App Store. As we profiled last week, the update adds several new features, including support for 16x9 widescreen video and remote control integration with DISH Network. What's New in this Version - Full 16x9 widescreen support (Slingbox SOLO, PRO, and PRO-HD only) - DISH Remote Access...

The Globe and Mail reports that Rogers Wireless, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in Canada has run out of stock of all iPhone models, notifying potential customers that they may have to wait several weeks before availability resumes. Rogers is advising shoppers that it is out of stock of Apple's latest device, the iPhone 3GS, which was launched in June, as well as earlier models introduced...

Discovery Communications announced the availability of its Discovery Channel app today in a press release. The app offers video excerpts from several Discovery Channel shows as well as the channel's TV schedule, news, quizzes, and links to purchase show episodes within the iTunes app. Doug Craig, the senior vice president of Discovery Communications' Digital and Home Entertainment...

Wikimedia Foundation has released an official iPhone app to access Wikipedia, the online collaborative encyclopedia. The app offers an alternative to browsing Wikipedia's mobile version via the Safari app. Its App Store description states that the app's code is "100% open source and community built" and programmers are welcome to help with the app. Focused on "being very simple and very...

Electronista points out that Flickr's Camera Finder is now showing that the iPhone is the most popular camera used for photos uploaded to the image sharing site. After approximately six weeks of trailing just behind the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, the iPhone has surged into the lead with a spike in activity over the past several weeks. Flickr notes that the data is taken on a daily basis...

National Public Radio, a producer of news, talk, and entertainment programming, has launched an iPhone app to allow easy on-the-go access to its news articles, programs, and stations. NPR's press release states that the app will offer users "the option to read, browse or listen to a robust selection of news stories and programs, or read and listen simultaneously if they choose." The...

Image from Electronista Electronista reports on data from marketing research firm GfK Japan placing the 32 GB iPhone 3GS ranking as the top selling mobile phone in Japan for the month of July. The 16 GB iPhone 3GS model claimed the ninth spot in the rankings. As the report notes, the achievement is particularly notable given the difficulties foreign phones typically have in penetrating the...

Another developer has just entered the North American turn-by-turn GPS fray, joining Navigon, Sygic, iGO and others in providing an alternative to help iPhone 3GS and 3G users get where they need to go. CoPilot Live North America by ALK Technologies, Ltd. made it to the App Store earlier today and joins previously-published versions of the app for the United Kingdom and Europe. CoPilot...

The Associated Press reports that China Unicom is denying that it has reached an agreement with Apple to purchase five million iPhones for release in China. "Talks between us and Apple have been going on for some time, but no agreement has been reached yet," said Unicom spokesman Yi Difei. "There are all kinds of possibilities.There is no particular timetable for the talks."Reports of the...

Qik, a popular video sharing application available for a number of smartphone platforms, has officially come to the iPhone. However, its most notable feature - the ability to stream live video - is missing in the version for the iPhone. Instead, users can only upload saved videos to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Qik's own site. Qik first came to the iPhone unofficially last year as an...