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

Several weeks ago, we reported on AMBER Alert, an iPhone application notifying users of law enforcement bulletins issued in response to certain child abductions. After approximately a month of waiting for Apple to approve the application, the application's developer, Jonathan Zdziarski, published an open letter to Apple and Steve Jobs two days ago in which he expressed his frustration with the ...

American Idol Season 8 Exclusive [App Store, $1.99], the first official iPhone application for the popular American Idol television show, has arrived in the App Store. Those who have not yet grown weary of the show can use the application to learn more about the show and contestants, as well as view weekly exclusive video clips. Each week, you'll learn more about your favorite Idols with a new...

Inquisitor, the popular Safari search plug-in, is now available as a standalone application for the iPhone [App Store, Free]. According to developer David Watanabe, Inquisitor's background as a sleek and simple application providing easy access to uncluttered search results translates well to the iPhone. Inquisitor has always been about speed and simple design. Instant search suggestions attempt...

Last week, we reported on an update to AOL's AIM for iPhone, which brings several new features to the instant messaging application. At press time, only an ad-supported, free version [App Store] was available, although an ad-free, paid version was promised to be working its way through Apple's App Store approval process. AOL has informed us that the paid version [App Store] is now available...

Several weeks ago, we reported on forthcoming applications from Appliya based on the Evangelion anime franchise, and within the past few days the first three applications in the series have been released in the App Store. As we previously noted, these apps have basic functionalities that draw upon the styling of Evangelion. - Evangelion vol.1 Cut Out [App Store, $1.99] provides "cut out"...

Wired reports on AirPhones [App Store], a new utility that allows the iPhone/iPod touch to serve as wireless headphones, accepting streaming audio content from a computer on the same local Wi-Fi network. The utility requires that a free partner server application, currently available only for Intel Macs but coming soon for PPC Macs and Windows, be installed on the computer broadcasting the audio. ...

CBS has released TV.com [App Store], a new free iPhone application providing access to streaming content from the CBS family of networks. While full episode content is currently limited to older series such as "Beverly Hills 90210", "MacGuyver", and "Star Trek: The Original Series", more limited clips are available from a variety of CBS-owned 'channels', including CBS Entertainment, The CW,...

AOL's AIM [App Store] has been updated to version 2.0.1, bringing several new features, as well as a change to an ad-supported model for the free edition. AOL also promises that an ad-free paid version is currently working its way through Apple's approval process and should be available soon. Among the new features available in AIM are tools to access contacts directly from within the...

As part of an earnings release covering the fourth quarter of 2008, Telefnica Europe announced that their O2 subsidiary in the UK has now sold over one million iPhones since the launch of the original iPhone in November 2007. O2 pointed to the iPhone as one of the key components driving its performance, which was significantly better than the overall UK wireless market in all main financial...

ChinaTechNews.com reports that Apple and China Unicom have reportedly struck a deal to bring the iPhone to China. According to their sources, the iPhone will make its appearance in May of this year at the earliest. Foreign media are quoting representatives from Ovum, a British consultancy, as saying that China Unicom and Apple will achieve cooperation soon and if everything goes smoothly, the 3G...

TUAW provides a sneak peak at Cha-Ching, an upcoming iPhone version of the popular money management software for Mac. Just like the Mac version, Cha-Ching mobile allows you to create multiple account and manage your budget, schedule payments, and add payees. Probably the most amazing feature is the ability to sync all of the data from the Mac version of Cha-Ching wirelessly to your iPhone/iPod...

AT&T is again offering refurbished iPhone 3Gs at $99 for the 8 GB model and $199 for the 16 GB models, a $100 discount from the non-refurbished price and a $50 discount from their standard refurbished price. All sales require a two-year contract. According to AT&T's site, refurbished iPhones may come with minor cosmetic issues. Refurbished phones are previously owned devices that have been...

At this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, The iPhone Blog was able to get a hands-on demonstration of the upcoming iPhone version of Documents To Go from DataViz. Documents To Go, which currently provides editing capabilities for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to a variety of mobile platforms, is planned for release on the iPhone sometime in the second quarter of this year. ...

Appliya announced that they have obtained a license to develop and distribute iPhone and iPod Touch apps based on the popular anime francise, Evangelion. Neon Genesis Evangelion first aired on Japanese television in 1995, and then went on to become a multi-billion dollar international anime franchise. The story is getting a modern upgrade with the new Rebuild of Evangelion project, a series of...

In the wake of recent announcements regarding upcoming mobile application stores on platforms other than the iPhone, additional details about these new stores are beginning to come to light. Notably, Androinica reports that Google's Android Market is offering a 24-hour return policy on application purchases. App browsing is a breeze when all of the products are free to try, so how will that...

Boing Boing reports that an official South Park application, demoed and submitted to Apple in October, has been rejected for inclusion in the App Store. According to an e-mail received by Boing Boing from a member of the South Park team, the application was deemed by Apple to be "potentially offensive". "We first announced our iPhone App back in October, after we submitted the Application to...

CNET reports on the upcoming release of AMBER Alert, a free iPhone application providing notifications of AMBER Alerts, which are issued throughout the United States by law enforcement agencies in response to confirmed reports of child abductions. According to the application's author, Jonathan Zdziarski, AMBER Alert will provide real-time notification of alerts, complete with photos and...

MacDailyNews reports that Smule, creators of the popular iPhone applications Ocarina [App Store] and Zephyr [App Store], have raised $3.9 million in a round of venture capital financing led by Granite Ventures. Bessemer Venture Partners, the lead investor in Smule's first round, participated in this new round alongside existing investors Jeffrey C. Smith, co-founder and CEO of Smule, and Maples...