On Wednesday I received a text message from AT&T. This isn't unusual if you're an iPhone owner and still on the AT&T network. However the following text message probably made just about every iPhone owner run to the nearest coffee shop with an AT&T hotspot:

"AT&T Free Msg: Your Apple iPhone now has free AT&T Wi-Fi access at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. "

AT&T hotspots can be found at thousands of locations. A huge emphasis is being placed on hotspots at Starbucks due to their new partnership that converted thousands of T-Mobile hotspots into AT&T hotspots. We all know that a Starbucks can be found on just about every corner and if not, there's always Barnes and Nobles.

Can I Use it on my Laptop Too?

In my personal tests at my local Barnes and Nobles I was able to connect my iPhone without a hitch. All it took was selecting the correct Wi-Fi network and my phone number to get things going. From there, a text message was sent to my iPhone with a secure link to access the hotspot. According to AT&T the link is only valid for 24 hours. Also, if you relocate to another hotspot you'll have to request a new link. Unfortunately, copying the link into the address bar of my laptop did not allow me to access the Wi-Fi from my laptop instead of my iPhone. Will we see a work around for this in the future?

Up till this point, no one had announced a development tool for the iPhone - although there have been suggestions by bloggers that Adobe AIR and Google GWT might become iPhone development platforms. However, it seems Morfik is the first to do it.

Morfik says that Scriptor, a utility built into their WebOS AppsBuilder platform, enables development of applications for products such as the iPhone. To prove that point, Morfik used Scriptor to develop iChess, a working example of an iPhone application. That link is the iPhone version, but see also http://chess.morfik.com for a browser version. It is a chess app, a favorite prototyping app of Morfik. It is running on EC2 now and can be used by purchasers of the iPhone on Friday. Also developers can download the AppsBuilder with Scriptor now from Morfik's homepage.

There is of course a lot of anticipation around third party iPhone apps - indeed there are dedicated sites for this already. As last100 recently noted, Apple will allow third party apps for iPhone - by giving them access through the web (not the OS).

What Morfik has created is a web development environment for the iPhone. But they also told us that as soon as Apple announces an API for the iPhone, then Morfik will include that into their platform.

Interestingly, with regards to ads in SMS messages, the numbers were pretty close (22.5% vs. 17.6%). This seems to be an area where the iPhone doesn't outshine other phones.

Of course, with the impending release of the Palm Pre and the large number of Android phones in the handset makers' pipeline, it will be interesting to see if these numbers will look similar on phones that are able to offer comparably compelling experiences (though, at least in the beginning, without the tens of thousands of apps that iPhone users have access to). It would be nice to see numbers that compare recall rates just for users of smartphones, like the iPhone or Blackberries. But for mobile advertisers, these are encouraging numbers, especially given that more and more users are drifting away from feature phones and towards smartphones like the iPhone.

During the period where the activation servers were down, the Apple store employees let everybody still buy their phones and had them finalize the activation at home. As it turns out, that might not have been very useful at all, especially if the iPhone servers are still only working intermittently.

According to various reports online, these problems weren't just limited to the US, but pretty much occurred around the globe. Given how widespread these reports about problems are, it would seem that the majority of issues was more due to Apple's fault than the local carriers'.

Isn't iBooks Just Another App?

At its core, the iBooks application is nothing else but just another iPhone app. As far as we can see, iBooks doesn't rely on any special abilities that are only available in the iPhone OS 3.2 on the iPad or the newly announced iPhone OS 4. Given that Apple is tying iBooks so closely to the next OS release, chances are that iBooks for the iPhone won't work on the original iPhone and older iPod touch models and won't be available as a stand-alone download.

Maybe the team behind iBooks was just to preoccupied with developing the iPad app in time to also focus on the iPhone app. Maybe Apple doesn't want to blur the lines between the iPad as an e-book reader and the iPhone. None of this, however, really explains why Apple plans to wait until the release of the iPhone OS 4 to launch iBooks for the iPhone and forgo all the possible e-book sales it could get from iPhone users.

One of Amazon's big advantages over iBooks and the iBookstore (besides the fact that some people simply prefer the Kindle app and that Amazon has a larger book selection), is that users can easily read and sync their Kindle books between the iPhone, iPad, Kindle and desktop. There is also a good chance that Barnes & Noble will soon release an iPad version of its iPhone e-reader. With this, the company's e-books will then be available on the B&N Nook, a number of third-party e-readers, the iPhone and the iPad.

By not releasing iBooks for the iPhone for another few months, Apple will probably lose quite a few customers to Amazon. After all, Apple has already sold close to 80 million iPhone OS devices and less than 1 million iPads.

Image credit: gdgt

Instagram, eat your heart out! PhotoJojo's 8X external telephoto lens for the iPhone sells for a mere $35! Of course the iPhone 4 version is sold out right now but it looks like more will ship out early next month.

Found via the always fabulous blog PSFK, where we read about the Gramophone-Shaped Analog Speaker For The iPhone last week (see below). What's next, external sin detection devices?

A new jailbreak called Spirit just been released and works on the latest iPhone and iPad operating systems.

The Spirit jailbreak is now out! Congratulations to @comex for the first userland jailbreak since the 1.x days.

Spirit provides an untethered jaibreak on those newer devices which used to require a computer nearby to finish the boot process. Spirit is able to do this because it doesn't actually kick in until after the kernel is running.

Spirit is an "untethered" jailbreak for any iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch running firmware 3.1.2, 3.1.3 or 3.2. Untethered means that the user does not need to plug the device into their computer every time they reboot it, as opposed to "tethered", which requires this.

This latest jailbreak works on both Mac and PC and is available free for download. The Reddit discussion of the new jailbreak indicates that Spirit works on the 3GS with the latest software updates, but as with anything of this sort, a full backup would be strongly advisable.

Spirit is not a "carrier unlock", which allows the iPhone to be used with carriers other than AT&T, but a "jailbreak", which allows users to run unauthorized software. If you're wondering why you would want to jailbreak your iPhone, give Sarah Perez's article, "Why You Have To Jailbreak the iPhone" a quick read.

Most importantly, the unlocked iPhone 4 is available contract-free.

In order to use the iPhone on a different network, you'll have to purchase a micro-SIM card from a local carrier. This is the small memory card used in the iPhone 4 to store your account information. The micro-SIM slot is accessible on the right side of the device, but you'll need a paperclip to open it, if you're performing the swap yourself.

iPhone 4 on T-Mobile

This news also makes it easy (and legal) to use the iPhone 4 on T-Mobile's network here in the U.S., a feat that had typically required "jailbreaking" (hacking) the phone and then running a secondary software program to perform the unlock procedure. However, it should be noted that on T-Mobile, the iPhone 4 will only be able to reach EDGE speeds, not 3G and definitely not HSPA+, T-Mobile's faster "4G" network. In other words, the iPhone will work on T-Mobile, but it will be slow.

Because the unlocked iPhone is a GSM phone, it does not work on Verizon or Sprint in the U.S., both of which are CDMA networks.

But Apple says that the unlocked iPhone 4 can do everything its locked counterpart can, including FaceTime video calling, HD video recording and more.

So how much will you pay for this new option? It's $649.00 for the 16 GB iPhone 4 or $749.00 for the 32 GB version. Oh, and it comes in both black and white, but the white one ships a little slower: 3-5 business days for white vs. 1-3 for black.

The new WordPress App for iPhone supports both WordPress.com installations as well as self-hosted Wordpress.org blogs that are version 2.5.1 and above.

The app includes the following features:

- Embedded Safari previews of posts
- Full support for tags & categories
- Photo support for both camera phone pics and library photos
- Support for multiple blogs
- Ability to password protect a post, save as draft, or mark for later review
- Auto-recovery feature recovers posts interrupted by phone calls

You can see WordPress on the iPhone in action in the video below or check out screenshots here:

More information can be found on iphone.wordpress.org where you can review the Frequently Asked Questions and/or report issues with the application.

To download this app from iTunes, click here.

Thanks to Digital Inspiration for breaking the news.

Due to the absence of support for Flash on the iPhone, only a relatively limited selection of the videos in Clicker's regular video guide are available on the iPhone. Earlier today, Clicker's CEO Jim Lanzone told us that about 26% of all the shows and 35% of all the episodes in Clicker's index are currently iPhone compatible (counting both shows on iTunes and free content). In total, Clicker currently indexes about 14,000 iPhone-compatible shows and 270,000 episodes. Lanzone also noted that given that Clicker also indexes iTunes' database of paid TV show downloads, it might just be a better way to find downloadable iPhone content than Apple's own iTunes app.

Clicker for iPhone is not just an easy way to find iPhone-compatible video content, however. The app also focuses on providing background information about shows and gives users easy access to the social features of the service (check-ins, activity streams from your friends, etc.). The app can also function as a kind of 'meta-DVR,' as it allows you to add shows to your playlist on Clicker (including videos that are not compatible with the iPhone).

Clicker plans to launch an iPad app in October.

Clicker for iPhone: Available Now from Clicker on Vimeo.

Now that the iPhone is in the hands of early US adopters (the Apple ones at least), we expect to see a flurry of web entrepreneurs and ordinary users testing their apps in the iPhone.

Mobile social networking startup MyStrands pinged us this evening to tell us about their tests. Their excited blog post says:

"What do we like most? The easy sync with the mac. It’s amazing! I’ve got all my email, contacts, playlists in my iPhone… with zero effort. And of course…

MyStrands mobile website looks great!"

MyStrands in the iPhone

Open Thread

So let's make this an open thread over the weekend. If you have your hands on an iPhone, let us know how your favorite web sites and services perform in it. And if you're a web developer or entrepreneur, tell us how your app works - is the UI as good as it's being promoted? Is the navigation easy? Blurt it out...

Top photo: naan

"Mobile advertising is rapidly maturing, and we believe the iPhone is leading the industry forward. Advertisers are excited to connect with consumers in new ways on the iPhone through social and rich media ad units that deliver increased impact and engagement," said AdMob VP/GM, Jason Spero. The new ads build on the high-performing iPhone ad units the
company launched last year and will begin running July 1st.

AdMob is also working with app developers to help them prepare for the new iPhone 3.0 OS. The company feels their new version of the iPhone SDK "delivers a better experience for consumers through the ability to dynamically update a given advertisement's look and feel, which in turn helps developers better monetize their applications," according to the company's press release.

As we reported last week, the iPhone/iTouch group of smart mobile devices accounted for 43 percent of ads served via mobile websites and 65 percent of ads served through HTML requests.

The link directs recipients to the page at www.att.com/iphone4upgradesupport which provides all the information needed regarding how to activate the new iPhone - yet another indication that iPhones may be shipping, as reported elsewhere, a day earlier than previously expected.

Last summer, with the launch of the iPhone 3GS, some users reported that it was taking up to 48 hours to complete the activation process.

The issues caused by this overload of activation requests have gotten better over the years, at least - the 3GS delays were a vast improvement over the 3G problems that plagued the 3G launch.

But when a company sells 600,000 phones on its launch day alone, as Apple has with the iPhone 4, activation issues are bound to happen.

...or are they?

According to numerous sources, Apple has begun sending out emails to some iPhone 4 customers informing them that their device will arrive on June 23rd - a day earlier than expected. The most obvious reasoning behind these missives is to spread out the activation process over the course of two days instead of one.

Of course, new iPhone 4 users are just glad they'll be getting the revamped device a day early, no matter the reason. And being the recipient of the text message doesn't necessarily mean you're among the chosen few to get your iPhone 4 early.

The dip in price could represent a hope to clear inventory and preserve sales in the lead-up to the debut of the newest iPhone next month. Good for buyers, perhaps, but a source of some aggravation for developers.

Apple sold around 50 million iPhones last year. Figures for the last quarter indicated a doubling in sales from the previous year.

Last month, a version of Apple's new 4G iPhone was passed off to tech blog Gizmodo, which wrote about it. An Apple attorney, George Riley, later called this "immensely damaging" to the company.

Marco Arment, lead developer of Tumblr and Instapaper, said on Twitter tonight: "As a developer, I can't wait until Apple stops selling the iPhone 3G and the current low-end iPod touch. Those CPUs are tough to support. And I realistically need to keep supporting them for about 2 years after Apple stops selling them."