2009 iPhone Recap

2009 was a great year for the iPhone. I’ve put together some news, apps and hacks from 2009.

Verizon vs. AT&T

verizonStarting with a commercial that attacked AT&T’s 3G coverage, Verizon released a series of commercials that compared the two networks and eventually the DROID vs. the iPhone. AT&T sued Verizon claiming the maps of AT&T’s network only showed 3G coverage which confused customers into thinking there was no coverage in blank areas of the map. AT&T eventually lost the lawsuit and then started in with their own commercials.
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blacksn0w & blackra1n – jailbreak & unlock from Geohot

blackra1nGeohot did it again, creating an jailbreak and unlock for the iPhone 3GS. Of course the cat and mouse game will continue in 2010 but with the addition of hardware encryption on the iPhone 3GS and Apple’s authorization process of each firmware before you can restore your iPhone, jailbreaking has become more difficult to develop.
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Facebook iPhone App Developer Quits

FacebookThe developer for the Facebook iPhone app announced he would no longer work on the iPhone app after getting fed up with Apple’s App Store process. Others at Facebook are still working on the app but this was a big PR blow to Apple’s app approval process.
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Google Android

GoogleGoogle has had the Android software out for a while but this year many more phones were released with the software including the DROID from Verizon. Even more phones are scheduled to be released in 2010, some with 1GHz prosessors, OLED screens and other features missing from the iPhone. The official “Google Phone” is also expected to be released in the first quarter of 2010.
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Other Major Headlines from 2009:

RipDev Says Goodbye to the iPhone Community
Steve Jobs Illness
FCC Investigates Apple’s Rejection of Google Voice Application
New iPhone 3GS

Anticipated Applications

There were many apps that have been a long time coming. Here are some of the app released in 2009:

Ustream Live Broadcaster
IMDb
Flickr
Skype
TomTom
Starbucks
Rock Band
The Sims 3
SlingPlayer Mobile
Kindle

New Hacks & Mods

LiveClock – Moving Clock Icon
WeatherIcon – Update Weather Icon
BossPaper – Wallpaper App by BigBoss
Maps Enhancer – Keep Maps Cache and Adjust Zoom Level
Universal Search
Inspell – Spell Check
SnapTap – Use Volume Button as Camera Button
LockInfo – Feature Packed Lockscreen Mod
Multiflow – Multitasking Application
Snappy – Launch Camera without Leaving your Current App
MultiIconMover – Move Multiple Icons at a Time (without a computer)
SMS Helper – SMS Character Counter
Ultrasn0w Unlock
Tricker ThreeG – Allow Apps Like Skype and Slingplayer to Run on 3G
Rotation Inhibitor Update – Turn off Auto-Rotating Feature
Cydia Store – Paid Jailbroken Apps

New iPhone Features:

MMS (Picture Messaging)
Firmware 3.1 Adds Video Editing Ability to iPhone 3G and iPod touch
Genius Recommendations for Apps – Overview
Apple’s iPhone OS 3.1 Feature List
AT&T Wi-Fi Supports Auto-Authentication on New iPhone OS 3.0
Firmware 3.0 Preview: Copy & Paste
Video Editing
Firmware 3.0 – New Features

Apple Stats:

App Store Hits 2 Billion Downloads
1 Million 3GS iPhones Sold
One Billion App Downloads
15,000 Apps & 500,000,000 Downloads

Apple iPhone School

Here are some statistics for appleiphoneschool.com from 2009:

Visits: 5,911,339
Unique Visitors: 3,059,376
Pageviews: 12,328,153
Countries: 224
Top Ten Countries: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, France, Australia, Japan, Netherlands, Italy & Brazil

We also introduced a new feature of the website, Quick Tips.

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Comments

  1. I believe you meant “Other Major Headlines from 2009:” and not 2010 as it is in the text.

  2. Nice recap Doug (Y)

  3. Whoa, you forgot about ProSwitcher! By far my favorite jailbreak app this year.

    • That has been a good app but there’s been lots this year. My favourites are Stack V3, Orbit, Iconoclasm, PkgBackup and lots more :P

  4. Merry Christmas to everyone involved in making AppIphoneSchool and awesome site….wish you all the best and continue your excellent job for the coming years.

    Cheers,

    Shake

  5. Down in the corner, you have the Google Android School. I assume this is your board. I’ve tried Android more than once and returned to the iPhone. For me the biggest drawback with Android is the lack of built in tethering. I’m a correspondent for a national news service, When I record a story using digital audio, I have to immediately feed it back to head office in Ottawa. WiFi is usually not present. iPhone’s built in tethering makes life very easy for me. I couldn’t do it with the HTC Hero, or the Magic (which I realize T-Mobile has renamed in the States). I realize there are third party tethering solutions, but I don’t have the time to mess around. iPhone wins.

  6. i think the redesign of the apple iphone school website should be up there too!!

  7. ProSwitcher got to be one of the best app so far for 2009 lol

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