Marianne Schultz

We took a first look at the TomTom U.S. & Canada turn-by-turn navigation app a short while ago, and have taken it through its paces over the past few weeks to complete our full review of this highly-anticipated app. Navigation Guidance The TomTom app offers several options when choosing a destination. Contacts integration is built-in, so it's easy to select a contact as a destination, and...

Yahoo's Flickr service now has a native app available in the App Store. We recently reported that the iPhone had become the most popular cell phone camera used to upload photos to the image sharing site and it's likely this new native app will only increase its popularity among Flickr users. When you first sign in to the Flickr app, you are required to authorize the app to use your...

The music streaming app by Spotify, a popular Swedish music subscription service, is now available in the App Store. It was reported just last month that the app had been approved by Apple and the app was expected to be available in the App Store shortly. The app is capable of streaming music over Wi-Fi or an EDGE or 3G data connection. It also offers the ability to store offline playlists...

iFun.de, a German iPhone news site, reports [

AT&T has issued a press release today announcing that MMS will become active for iPhone users on September 25. We've been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches - and that launch date is: September 25 for iPhone 3G and 3GS customers. MMS will be enabled through a software update on that day.AT&T...

Forum member Jape has discovered a wall entry in Navigon's Facebook page that reveals the navigation company has a car kit for the iPhone in the works. In response to a question from another Facebook user, Navigon states, "...we are working on a kir [sic] kit for the iPhone...more information will follow." Navigon was one of the first turn-by-turn navigation apps available for the iPhone...

TomTom's FAQ for its iPhone navigation app now notes that the anxiously-awaited Car Kit will not be released until October: The TomTom car kit availability was originally planned for this summer. But we have decided to take some extra weeks in order to deliver the highest quality on this innovative product. So, the car kit will become available this October on www.tomtom.com. This update to the...

Vonage, a digital phone services provider, has put out a brief press release stating that Apple has approved its iPhone app. The app is not yet available in the App Store and Vonage notes that it "is currently conducting a beta test and general availability will be announced at a later date." It was revealed just last week that Vonage had submitted an iPhone app to the App Store for approval. ...

Image courtesy of Joe Stump's Flickr page Blunder Move's Chess Wars app, which allows users to place chess with Facebook friends via Facebook Connect, has been rejected due to chat bubbles that reportedly imitate those of the iPhone's Messages app too closely, according to the blog of one of the developers, Joe Stump. [Warning: this blog post contains profanity and may be NSFW.] Chess...

The MLB.com At Bat 2009 app has received an update today that offers in-app purchases of live out-of-market games for $.99, as well as customizable notifications to alert users before a game starts. MLB.com's press release highlights the value of the new in-app purchase feature for those who do not subscribe to the MLB.TV service: Now fans can have it both ways, just as the pennant races are ...

Engadget has pointed out that information on the highly-anticipated TomTom Car Kit is now up on the FCC's site following its testing for approval. The entry includes internal and external photos of the kit as well as the user guide. The FCC also tested the Bluetooth capability of the kit. The kit's user guide states that a Bluetooth connection is required to use the iPhone with it. ...

An update to Convertbot, a popular conversion app by Tapbots, was rejected by Apple because of an icon that was thought to be too similar to another one already used in the standard iPhone interface, according to the Tapbots blog. Image courtesy of Tapbots.com Convertbot offers a time conversion feature and the icon that represents it, which has been the same in all versions of Convertbot...

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 ...

As noted earlier today, Apple was expected to file comments with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission regarding their purported rejection of the Google Voice iPhone application. Apple has complied and published their response to the FCC in the Hot News section of Apple.com. Starting off with background information on the iPhone and the App Store, Apple notes that the App Store now...

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...

Reuters reports that recent accounts of exploding iPhones in Europe have prompted Apple to investigate the incidents. According to a spokesperson of the European Commission, these occurrences have been deemed to be "isolated" incidents by Apple at this time. Apple is working on gathering additional information to find out what may have caused them. One of the more notable incidents in...

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...