AT&T Q4 Earnings: 4.1 Million iPhone Activations and 442,000 iPads & Tablets

US-based carrier AT&T has announced its quarterly results for Q4 2010, and there are some interesting numbers in there worth to be considered. The company reported 4.1 million iPhone activations in Q4, the last quarter as the exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States. On February 10, Verizon Wireless will begin selling a CDMA version of the iPhone 4, with pre-order sales starting February 3rd.

Mentioning “continued expansion in new wireless growth areas”, AT&T also announced they added 1.5 million “connected devices” including 442,000 iPads and Android tablets. AT&T started selling the iPad WiFi + 3G model in its retail stores on October 28th, 2010.

AT&T also reported 9.9% growth in wireless revenues and consolidated revenues of $31.4 billion in the fourth quarter. Full press releases embedded below. Read more

Epic Games: “Anything In The Apple World Is Perfect”→

Epic Games: “Anything In The Apple World Is Perfect”

The Slow Down interviews Jay Wilbur, Vice President of Epic Games, makers of Infinity Blade for iOS:

Q: What are the challenges in developing for Android? The demo there seems to be running great.

A: It runs really well and really fast. One of the problems with the Android marketplace is hardware fragmentation, that’s a really big issue. The other thing is marketplace fragmentation, there are so many different appstores out there. The Android marketplace is a little more difficult [to develop for] because there is less control. I think the Android marketplace is robust … I find it very easy to buy things on it, it’s just that Apple has very tight control. So anything in the Apple world is perfect. It’s just perfect. We like that, we like that a lot. We know that it’s just gonna work. Sometimes that’s not always the case in the Android marketplace.

Infinity Blade did great in the first weeks of App Store and slowly dropped off since then. A major update with new maps, weapons and features is expected soon, and that should bring the app back into the charts. We can’t wait to see more Unreal Engine games find their way to iOS. Read the whole interview here.

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Why Should I Jailbreak My Apple TV 2nd Gen?→

Why Should I Jailbreak My Apple TV 2nd Gen?

Good rundown on Reddit. Right now the options are: XBMC, Plex, aTV Flash, BTStack – and lots of other SSH tweaks you can play with. The current Apple TV jailbreak is tethered, but it’s a better scenario than the iPhone or iPad: when the device goes to “sleep” (TV is turned off, Apple TV doesn’t do anything) there’s no need to run the jailbreak software on next relaunch. As long as the power cord is plugged, the jailbreak is on.

Personally, I’m thinking about it just for Plex.

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AppShopper.com Now Mac App Store Friendly

All of us at MacStories love AppShopper.com, I use it every day, along with MacAppDeals.com, to help grab the best deals for our #MacStoriesDeals posts. Although it’s not been officially announced, I noticed this evening that there have been a few exciting changes for us app hunters. First, there is a new set of buttons on the far left, “iOS / Mac”. You guessed it, AppShopper is now listing Mac App Store apps into their stream! Also, they have slightly changed their OS category descriptions. They now separate into “Mac OS, and iOS iPhone, iOS iPad or iOS Universal.” Subtle but greatly improved. Read more

Verizon iPhone Pre-Orders To Start on Feb. 3, AT&T Trade-Ins

According to MacRumors, Verizon Wireless has started sending out emails to corporate customers informing them that “pre-order sales” of the new device will start on February 3rd at 3AM ET, one week before the general public release of the Verizon iPhone:

According to the email we’ve received, Verizon will begin pre-order sales at 3am Eastern on February 3rd.

- Make sure you have your My Verizon self-serve account set-up online. Orders can only be placed through your my Verizon account. You can register/setup your account at… myaccount.verizonwireless.com

- On February 3rd at 3am EST, Verizon Wireless will allow our current customers to order upgrades or new lines to their accounts through your My Verizon online account (make sure you have registered before the 3rd).

MacRumors also reports inventory will be limited and customers who won’t be able to get the iPhone on Feb. 3 will have to wait until the week later. Trade-ins in credit should also be available for existing AT&T customers who want to replace an old iPhone model:

  • iPhone 2G - 16GB: $60
  • iPhone 3G - 16GB: $105
  • iPhone 3Gs 32GB: $160
  • iPhone 4- 16GB: $280
  • iPhone 4 - 32GB: $360

It’s unclear whether corporate accounts will have access to this trade-in program or not.

Netflix: More Viewing Hours on Apple TVs Than iPads

In today’s earnings release, movie streaming service Netflix has announced that viewing hours on Apple TV have surpassed those through the iPad. What’s interesting is that the Apple TV was released in September 2010 and has sold less than two million units since then; the iPad, on the other hand, was released in April and has sold almost 15 million units.

It has to be considered, though, that Netflix makes more sense on a TV’s big screen than a tablet’s, and Apple implemented a native Netflix front-end on the second-gen Apple TV. The iPad has access to Netflix through an app that has to be downloaded manually from the App Store.

In spite of the iPad’s bigger numbers, people still like to watch movies on their TVs, apparently. Perhaps the iPad is more meant for “web video”, rather than just movies. [TiPB via Yahoo]

Gmail Notifications Come To The Desktop with Chrome

A few minutes ago Google rolled out a new feature for Gmail and Chrome users: native Gmail notifications. These notifications are only available to Google Chrome users for now, and they’re very similar to Growl in the way they appear on your computer on top of any window you’re currently on. Unlike Growl, though, it all runs natively within Chrome and Gmail.

These notifications, however, seem to be in need of some serious tweaking. Testing them briefly, I’ve noticed that they stick on the desktop, there’s no timeout option (Growl offers this functionality in its preferences) and they’re definitely slower then Growl associated to, say, Mailplane. Also, they don’t work in Safari and Firefox – just Chrome. They work both with new email messages, new “important” messages (in Priority Inbox) and IMs.

To activate Gmail notifications, head over your inbox, then Settings and enable as you can see in the screenshot below.

The AppSumo MEGA Mac Sumo Bundle Giveaway

We’ve given away some AppSumo bundles as of late that include everything from productive power plants to apps that allow you to just sit down and relax. What if we combined all of those previous bundles, and added must-have utilities like Skitch, Yummy FTP, and IconBox2? The MEGA Mac Sumo Bundle might initially sound like a character out of Mega Man, but it’s really just the latest bundle we’re giving away to another five lucky readers.

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MacBook Pro Stock Running Low, Update Coming Soon?

According to a report posted by MacRumors, stock for the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros is beginning to run low suggesting that Apple may be planning to not ship orders to suppliers in order to prepare an update to the product line, expected for the first half of 2011.

The 17” MacBook Pro generally appears to be in the shortest supply at the moment, with Amazon quoting a shipment window of 1-2 months for the base Core i5 model and several popular resellers connected through Amazon’s systems also showing low stocks of the 17” models. For its part, Apple continues to show “within 24-hour” availability of all MacBook Pro models in its online stores, suggesting that the company may be prioritizing remaining stock to serve its customers directly.

An update to the MacBook Pro family could integrate Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors and internal Solid State Drives, not to mention a new thinner design to reduce weight and increase portability like Apple did with the MacBook Airs last year. It is unclear whether or not Apple will also implement USB 3.0 or Intel’s Light Peak, but what’s for sure is that we should be hearing news about the Pro line any day now.

Personally, a lighter and slightly thinner 15” MacBook Pro with built-in SSD and higher resolution screen would be my perfect machine.