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Two new iPhone 4S ads highlight everyday Siri usage
Apple has released two new iPhone 4S ads on its YouTube channel, "Rock God" and "Road Trip." If they haven't already started airing, they should be popping up as TV commercials soon. "Rock God" follows the adventures of a teenager who uses Siri to find a guitar, learn how to play chords (very cool -- I didn't know Siri could do that), and invite girls over to watch him play. At the end, he sheepishly asks Siri to call him "Rock God" -- ever obliging, Siri agrees to do so. The second ad shows a couple taking a cross country trip from the US East Coast to the West Coast. Along the way, they use Siri to get directions, find restaurants, and look up info on points of interest. I found this ad a lot more effective because it reminded me of all the interstate trips my wife and I would take in the States, and thinking back to those trips I have to admit that Siri would have come in very handy. Apple's ad campaign for Siri and the iPhone 4S is exactly the kind of advertising I always wished the company would switch to during the years its "Get a Mac" campaign dominated the company's message. Instead of spending time poking fun at the competition the way Apple's mid-2000s Mac ads did (and Samsung's current ads do), these Siri ads simply show normal people using Apple's products in normal situations and how the products can enhance people's lives. Both videos are embedded below.
G-Form pulls a hat-trick with iPhone case hockey video
It wouldn't be a proper G-Form product release without the accompanying outlandish promotional video. So, when the company offered up its new iPhone 4/4S case, it made its way to an empty ice skating rink, grabbed a hockey stick and went to town, showing how the thing holds up to the punishment of an 82 mph slapshot. The case incorporates the company's favorite shock absorbing substance, Poron XRD and comes in two styles: X Protect and Extreme Grid. They'll run you $40 each, when they ship at the end of the month -- the video below, on the other hand, is free.
Siri may speak and understand Chinese, Japanese, and Russian by March
According to Chinese tech site DoNews (sketchy English translation here), Apple plans on bringing support for Mandarin Chinese to Siri as early as March of this year. Other dialects of Chinese, such as Cantonese, will remain unsupported for the time being. Support for Japanese and Russian is supposedly coming at the same time. Although the source may sound somewhat suspicious -- a Chinese tech site that claims to have inside information from an Apple engineer working on Siri -- this information does align with Apple's own promise to increase Siri's linguistic acumen in 2012. Apple has also promised to bring support for Spanish, Italian, and Korean to Siri sometime this year. Siri will supposedly also offer local business information and navigation options to Chinese users, which is something that's been US-only so far. With China being Apple's biggest emerging market, it's obvious why Apple might want to prioritize increased Siri functionality in that country. (As for me and the rest of the New Zealand iOS users, we can probably look forward to full business/navigation support in Siri sometime in 2022.) These updates to Siri's linguistic capabilities are likely to launch alongside an iOS update, probably iOS 5.1. Like many others, Stephen Millward of Penn-Olson speculates the iOS 5.1 update will launch alongside new iPad hardware; there's obviously no way to know that for certain, but my gut tells me he's probably right.
Siri may be iPhone 4S-only because of noise reduction tech
Siri has been in widespread use for four months, but so far Apple's "personal assistant" is still only available on one device, the iPhone 4S. We speculated that there weren't any technical reasons Siri couldn't work on some of Apple's other devices, and the jailbreak community later proved us right by porting Siri to the iPhone 4. AppleInsider did some digging and discovered there may be a technological reason Apple's kept Siri an iPhone 4S-only feature: noise reduction. The iPhone 4 incorporates noise reduction circuitry from a third-party vendor called Audience, and that circuitry lies separate from the A4 chip on the iPhone's logic board. The newer processor in the iPhone 4S (and possibly the iPad 2) incorporates a newer version of this noise-reduction circuitry within the A5 chip itself, reducing overall cost. Audience's noise reduction chip works similarly to how the human brain processes audio. By sampling audio from multiple sources (the iPhone's main microphone and the noise-cancelling mic), the Audience chip is able to filter out background noise and deliver only the user's voice, just like how your brain filters out noise in a crowded room to focus on a person talking to you. The newer noise reduction circuitry in the A5 chip is better at "far-field" noise reduction than the circuits in the iPhone 4. Essentially, the iPhone 4S can achieve the same or better noise reduction when held at arm's length that the iPhone 4 gets when held directly in front of a user's mouth. The implications for Siri use are obvious -- because of its less advanced noise reduction circuitry, Siri wouldn't function nearly as well on an iPhone 4 in an even moderately noisy environment unless you held it up to your ear and talked directly into the microphone. Despite having an A5 processor (and possibly including the newer noise reduction circuitry), Siri might not function well on an iPad 2 either, since the iPad 2 doesn't have a noise-cancelling microphone. Apple's product perfectionism often leads to scenarios where features that might technically work on a product wind up excluded because they don't work perfectly. I've run into this a few times with older gear; my old PowerBook G3 had no technical barriers to running OS X Panther or Tiger, for instance, but because it didn't run anything newer than OS X Jaguar well, Apple artificially restricted the device to Jaguar. Similarly, jailbreakers discovered ways to get video capture working on the iPhone 3G, but the results were rather lackluster compared to the officially-supported video recording on the iPhone 3GS and above. Even if Siri technically works on Apple's older iOS devices, if its performance doesn't work to Apple's satisfaction, we may never see Siri ported to the iPhone 4 or current iPads after all.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Why does Siri read smilies as colons?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I love Siri. I'm surprised at how much I actually use it beyond the gimmicky stuff. Texting while driving (through my car's Uconnect system) is so handy. One thing I've noticed is that when I dictate a message, add a smiley face and have her read it back to me, she says, "Have a nice day colon comma." The odd part is that she has written :-), which is colon hyphen right bracket. Is this a glitch or does a hyphen and right bracket together equal a comma? I was never good at grammatical math. Your doting nephew, Damien Dear Damien, Ah, bless Siri. She's such a changeable creature. Auntie used to love when Siri would read out "Brr, it's cold" as "Bee. Arr. Arr. It's Cold". Thanks to Apple's live data center updates, Siri now responds "Burr" instead of "Bee. Arr. Arr." The smiley-face being read back as a colon is similar. It's simply a text-to-speech glitch that Apple may eventually improve. You can report any bugs to Apple directly using their Bug Reporter online website. Hugs, Auntie T.
T-Mobile confirms Full Monty subscribers are capped at 1Mb/s, risqué plan becomes tame (updated: no speed caps)
Uh-oh. Looks like T-Mobile's Full Monty subscribers in the UK will be getting much less than they'd originally bargained for. T-Mo's British support unit recently confirmed that the carrier has capped speeds on its "all-in" unlimited plan at a rather dismal 1Mb/s -- in other words, this Full Monty act doesn't really go all the way. Perhaps T-Mobile representatives were too caught up in the moment at the launch event and merely forgot to reveal this little tidbit? Our Magic 8-Ball says, "Don't count on it." You'll find the confirmation tweet immortalized after the break.Update: While it's immortalized below, the tweet's now been nixed and T-Mobile has added a fresh one, stating that it won't be capping mobile traffic speeds on the Full Monty Plan. Data addicts, breathe a sigh of relief.
Screen Grabs: Big Bang Theory's Raj falls head over heels... for Siri (video)
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. Finally! A TV show that we've actually seen (sorry, Gossip Girl). The Big Bang Theory's most recent episode featured Raj finding love with Siri. The uptight astrophysicist is incapable of speaking to women unless he's been on the sauce, but finds no such social inhibition with his iPhone's virtual assistant. Of course, like any geek receiving attention from the opposite gender, Dr Koothrappali soon becomes unhealthily infatuated with the handset, leading him on a trip to Cupertino to meet the person behind the microphone symbol. We won't spoil what happens, but you can probably work it out -- there's video past the break.
Apple Hong Kong revives reserve and pick up page, wants to stop iPhones going abroad
In a bid to keep iPhones sold in Hong Kong on the island nation, Apple has reintroduced reserve and pick up pages for the smartphones. The difference this time around is the inclusion of the customer's Hong Kong identity card number within the registration form, which goes live between 9am and 12pm each day. The aim is put breaks on the speculative smartphone buyers picking up several devices to mule across to mainland China. You'll still need a bit of luck; Apple performs a random draw each day for those that registered, and 'winners' are informed via email. Each card can apparently buy a limited quantity of the in-demand phone -- one that's getting some smartphone obsessives a little too hot under the collar.
China Telecom to start selling the iPhone 4S before March
According to a report in China Daily, China Telecom may become the second Chinese wireless carrier to carry the iPhone 4S. The carrier reportedly released a press release on Tuesday with the big news. "China Telecom has already started preparatory work for the launch of the iPhone 4S," says the press release. The CDMA carrier has the three operating licenses it needs from the government and could start selling the iPhone 4S as early as February. The Chinese government granted the final permit, which recognizes the device as qualified, on Monday says the website of the China Compulsory Certification Online Service Center. The other two permits were granted earlier in January. This report shouldn't come as a surprise to those watching Apple closely. Several times last year analysts and Asian newspapers claimed the carrier is negotiating with Apple to get the iPhone on its network. The Cupertino company also views China as its next big market and hinted during its last earnings conference call that it would expand to another carrier soon. [Via 9to5Mac]
New Flaming Lips song features Siri on vocals
Siri has been getting around lately. When she's not guest starring on popular sitcoms, she's apparently lending her vocal talents to the music scene. The Flaming Lips have produced an experimental song (embedded below) called "Now I Understand," which features both Siri and Erykah Badu as vocalists. This isn't the first time Siri has been part of a musical collaboration. Just a few days after the iPhone 4S launched, musician Jonathan Mann (perhaps most famous to Apple watchers for the Antennagate song that Steve Jobs actually played at a press conference) posted his own duet with Siri. To my ears, all these musical experiments show is how far we have to go yet before computerized voices sound truly human. Siri does a much better job than the Mac voices of the mid-1990s did on songs like Radiohead's "Fitter, Happier," but the voicing still sounds very artificial in a musical context. We're still a long way from the vibrant, natural tones of 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL 9000 and his rendition of "Daisy, Daisy." Then again, with so many human singers over-utilizing autotune and starting to sound more and more robotic themselves, perhaps all we're seeing with Siri is the next step in a weird human/machine convergence in the music world. [via Electronista]
Apple Hong Kong combats scalpers with iPhone lottery
Scalping of iPhones is a huge problem in both mainland China and Hong Kong. Scalpers, who will buy the iPhones at stores and then resell them at inflated prices, have exploited both the online and brick-and-mortar availability of the iPhone 4 and 4S and prevented non-scalping customers from having easy access to the devices. The overwhelming prevalence of scalpers in line at the iPhone 4S launch in China caused Apple to scrub the launch at its Beijing store, and the scalpers nearly rioted. According to Electronista, Apple has apparently had enough of the situation and has instituted measures to combat these scalpers. Earlier this month, Apple suspended in-store sales of the iPhone 4S throughout mainland China, and that policy has been expanded to Hong Kong. Apple's online Hong Kong store has instituted a lottery system designed to prevent scalpers from using automated services to make online reservations. Prospective buyers have only a three-hour window to enter the lottery; winners are notified later in the day and required to pick up the reserved iPhone the next day. Stricter identification standards are in force, including a requirement for a government-issued photo ID. Time will tell if this will thwart scalpers and give everyone else fair and easy access to iPhones in China and Hong Kong. It's a fair bet that the scalpers are already looking for ways to defeat or exploit the lottery system.
Siri guest stars on CBS's Big Bang Theory
The most recent episode of CBS's sitcom The Big Bang Theory rather prominently features Siri in its "B" storyline. Astrophysicist Raj, one of the show's main characters, buys an iPhone 4S and spends most of the episode interacting with the voice-activated "personal assistant." As is typical for the show, Raj's interaction with Siri rapidly goes off the deep end; the character is notorious for striking out with women due to a psychologically-induced speech block when any females are nearby, but he has no problem talking to Siri. His interactions with his iPhone begin with the initial novelty that all iPhone 4S users likely experience when they first use Siri, but over the course of the episode Raj's attitude toward Siri starts to become increasingly creepier. Both my wife and I noticed that Siri's real voice isn't used in the episode; we initially put it down to licensing issues, but it turned out there was an in-episode reason for using a human substitute for Siri's voice that pays off at the end. When I watched this episode last week I thought this storyline was pretty funny (the half-bottle of Merlot I had with dinner probably helped), but watching it again now makes me feel more uncomfortable than amused. I get that The Big Bang Theory derives most of its laughs from over-the-top exaggerations of geeky behavior, but toward the end of this latest episode it got to be a little bit too exaggerated. What's most interesting about this episode is that it must have gone into production not too long after the iPhone 4S was first announced, and probably no more than a week or two after the handset became available in the States. Within a relatively short space of time the show's writers managed to assemble most of the more humorous Siri interactions into a coherent storyline that's perfectly in line with the show's conventions. A video of Raj's interactions with Siri is embedded below, or at least until CBS releases the hounds on YouTube.
Daily Update for January 30, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Siri VC Morgenthaler weighs in on iPhone 4S bandwidth badmouthing (Updated)
Back in early January, wireless optimization firm Arieso released a report on the bandwidth usage profiles of various smartphones and other devices. It noted a surge in download and upload usage for the iPhone 4S, moving the new phone ahead of the iPhone 4 and various Android devices to take over the top spot for smartphone bandwidth consumption. At the time, coverage by Reuters and Bloomberg (reiterated by several sites, sorry to say, including TUAW) put the onus for this bump in the pipe on one of the marquee features of the 4S: the voice-controlled digital assistant, Siri. [Arieso's CTO Michael Flanagan spoke about Siri's role in bandwidth usage in a video interview with Bloomberg back when the report was released, and while he doesn't exactly pin all the blame on Siri -- he says the usage is due to increased utilization of 'cloud services' -- Siri does come in for some of the blame. It's not nearly as emphatic as subsequent reports would have it. Video embedded below. –Ed.] Fast forward a few weeks: an op-ed from Paul Farhi in the Washington Post dives back into the Arieso report, recycling the charge that Siri is singlehandedly responsible for pumping up the load on America's cellular networks and degrading data service for everyone. (Farhi stopped short of blaming her for fluoride in the water and the rise of reality television.) This time, however, some consideration of the facts in evidence led us to question his (and our) original conclusions; we know that the math around Siri's data usage just doesn't add up to a consequential amount. We also reached out to Arieso for a copy of the full report, which the company happily and promptly provided. Now there's another voice weighing in, and it belongs to someone who's in a position to know what's what: former Siri board member Gary Morgenthaler. He wrote a guest post for Forbes's web site that thoroughly debunks the notion of Siri as a bandwidth bandit. Siri actually uses only small bites of wireless data, as tested by Ars Technica and backed up by Morgenthaler's inside info. What does Morgenthaler suspect might be at play in the 4S bandwidth numbers? He's careful to couch it as speculation rather than assert it as fact, but the addition of iCloud to the iOS service mix is a likely culprit (especially since buyers of new phones are more likely to set up Apple's cloud service than users of older models, who may be slower to update to iOS 5). Other possibilities include iTunes Match, Photo Stream, or simply the wider chunk of image data captured by the iPhone 4S's improved camera. As Mel noted earlier, the 4S also supports faster 3G downloads than the earlier models. [Photo Stream is WiFi-only, as pointed out by David Barnard.] There's only one issue I saw in Morgenthaler's response, but it's an important one. Morgenthaler suggests that Arieso committed a logical error in citing Siri as the cause of the 4S results: Arieso presents no data to support their claim that Siri causes the increase in iPhone 4S data usage. Most likely, Arieso committed a logical fallacy which, in grammar school, was called "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" - that is, "after the fact, therefore, because of the fact." In other words, Siri is new and associated with the iPhone 4S; therefore, it must be the cause of this increased traffic. It's an appealing argument, but it doesn't hold water. That's also an appealing argument, but he may be pinning the propter hoc on the wrong donkey. Even a cursory review of the Arieso report is sufficient to discover that it does not mention Siri at all, and it makes no such claim that the voice assistant is responsible for the bandwidth hunger -- at least, not in the body of the report. When it comes to the cause of the iPhone 4S's download desire, in fact, the report makes it very clear that it's too soon to draw any specific conclusions (emphasis mine): The iPhone 4S showed an increase of 176% in downlink data volumes over the iPhone 3G. Since the downlink-to-uplink data volume ratio was almost 7-to-1 on average for the devices under study, this downlink increase of 176% corresponds to a larger total volume of data than a 220% uplink increase (discussed in the last section). As noted earlier regarding the increases in total numbers of data calls, it remains a topic for further study to characterise the root cause of this downlink data volume increase. Arieso's research never said Siri was completely to blame, at least not in so many words; it's not clear whether a company representative said something to Reuters to encourage this conclusion in CTO Michael Flanagan's interviews he does say that Siri is a potential part of the issue, but that conclusion is clearly not backed up by the report itself. Did the firm make an effort to correct the record, or was there a calculation that the Siri-related media attention would be more valuable than getting the accurate information out? We don't know, but we've reached out to Arieso's PR folk for comment. It begins to look less like an error of logic and more like a calculus of publicity. Update: Shortly after this post was published, I did speak with Flanagan about the report and the surrounding controversy. While he acknowledges that some of the media coverage of the bandwidth report may have weighed overmuch on Siri, he disavowed any conclusions not present in the original report (despite the fact that the report was only available on request, and as such most interested parties would not have read it). As noted above, the report specifically does not point any fingers regarding the cause of the bandwidth bump. Flanagan did allow that perhaps Arieso will be a bit more assertive about correcting unfounded assumptions the next time the company issues a bandwidth usage report. The Next Web also picked up a key tidbit from the research: the iPhone 4 utilization numbers were from 2010 (rather than comparing the 4 and the 4S during the same time period), meaning that the overall landscape may have shifted during the intervening months. Meanwhile, we're left with the unavoidable conclusion: The Washington Post and Paul Farhi picked a fight with Siri for something she does not do, picking up the "Siri is a data guzzler" concept from the original coverage -- but not from the actual data. Hanging the 4S bandwidth bulge on an innocent intelligent assistant may be great for headlines, but it looks to be wrong on the facts.
Apple lists iPhone 4S as "in stock" in most online stores
Those TUAW readers who haven't yet caught Siri fever and purchased an iPhone 4S won't have to wait if they finally decide to buy one. Electronista reports that the device is finally listed as "in stock" at the Apple Store for most countries. As recent as two weeks ago, availability times were still in the three to five day range, but now the 4S is available immediately in every color and capacity. It appears that Apple has managed to get a good handle on iPhone 4S production, with 37 million devices reported as being shipped in just over three months during the first quarter results call. Part of the improvement is most likely due to the addition of Pegatron as a second manufacturer of the popular smartphones. With supply finally meeting or slightly exceeding demand, Apple now has to keep a close eye to make sure that inventories of the phone don't start piling up. The company has a reputation for keeping minimal product inventories, so production is probably being tweaked to more precisely match demand for the iPhone 4S.
T-Mobile UK launches 'truly unlimited' Full Monty contract, wants to give you everything
While beans were vaguely spilled ahead of its official launch, T-Mobile UK today unveiled its latest attempt to differentiate itself from the competitive world of British carriers with a new no-holds-barred tariff. From the network that previously nixed its fair use policy around this time last year, the Full Monty offers up truly -- yes, truly; we checked -- unlimited data alongside unlimited cross network calls and text messages. While the entry-level £36 contract limits calls to 2,000 per month, unlimited calling starts at £41 per month, reaching the dizzying heights of £61 if you're shopping for the latest iPhone. New phones will similarly be absorbed into what is now T-Mob's premier contract. It'll join mobile carrier Three, which was previously the only other major operator to offer unlimited data. Alongside the above package, which includes tethering, T-Mobile phones will also nab access to BT Openzone, the UK's largest WiFi hotspot network.When the Fully Monty launches on February 1st, it'll be accompanied by a new Android and iOS app that adds one-click connectivity to those WiFi networks. The deal isn't available SIM-only, although T-Mobile UK's Head of Propositions, Ben Fritsch, told us that the new deal is pitched at users looking to take the smartphone plunge. Its existing collection of tariffs will also see a similar refresh -- but there's no details on those just yet. American readers can gaze with envy at the full release below.
Insert Coin: Dash car stereo gives your iPhone a new home, away from the cupholder (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. We're pretty fond of new ways to integrate smartphones with car stereos here at Engadget, which is why we're particularly intrigued by a new Kickstarter project called Dash. Unlike MirrorLink, which reflects a phone's interface onto a larger touchscreen, this nifty creation puts the smartphone front and center in the stereo itself. While the Dash will initially support only the iPhone 4 / 4S and iPod Touch -- which connects via the dock connector -- the company seems ambitious to target other platforms in the future.The Dash comes in two parts, the double-DIN stereo itself, along with a detachable aluminum faceplate that's held to the main unit with neodymium magnets. The only interface element is a volume knob, as every other interaction is performed on the iPhone's 3.5-inch display -- just promise to keep your eyes on the road when you sort through your tunes. The stereo contains four 50W channels and two 2V preamps. The Dash is currently projected to ship in July for $300, but a $250 donation serves as a discounted preorder right now. It'll be available in a variety of colors, which you can peep in the gallery below, and be sure to check out the project's video after the break.
The Love Box is an analog video mixer, house of mirrors for your iPhone (video)
There's something romantic about hacking the iPhone, especially when it means finding ways to personalize the massively popular handset. Apps like Instagram may help you realize artistic talent, but software just doesn't get those creative juices flowing like an old-fashioned piece of hardware can. Despite its taboo-sounding name, The Love Box isn't an adult toy in the traditional sense, instead serving as an analog video (and stills) mixer for your iPhone 4 or 4S. Consisting of a wooden box and an angled sliding mirror, the homegrown contraption lets you simultaneously capture the action in front of and behind you in a single image. It was originally designed in Barcelona to capture two people conversing for a documentary called "The Love Box Conversations," hence the name. The "lowest-tech accessory for the highest-tech phone" is available now as part of a very limited initial run of 100 units, and can be yours for €57.63 (about $77.50) if you hit up the source link below.
iPhone 4S accounts for 89 percent of iPhone sales
Despite multiple media outlets painting it as a "disappointing" update immediately after its debut, the iPhone 4S is Apple's most popular iPhone by far. A consumer survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (via AllThingsD) suggests that the new iPhone 4S accounted for 89 percent of all iPhones sold in Apple's most recent quarter. The US$99 iPhone 4 and free iPhone 3GS were both barely blips on the radar, with 7 percent and 4 percent of overall sales, respectively. iPhone 4S unit sales follow a predictable pattern, with the lowest-priced model being most popular: 16 GB: 45 percent of sales 32 GB: 34 percent of sales 64 GB: 21 percent of sales Some other metrics found in CIRP's research give some further insight into demand for the iPhone 4S: 19 percent of iPhone 4 owners upgraded 42 percent of iPhone 4S buyers broke their existing contract for an early upgrade 19 percent of iPhone 4S buyers sold their old device I've inputted CIRP's results into a spreadsheet and compared them against the iPhone unit sales and revenues in Apple's own earnings. The numbers I got for total revenues when going by CIRP's survey results are only about 6 percent higher than Apple's actual reported revenues, so CIRP's numbers look to be quite close to what actually took place. Keeping that margin of error in mind, unit sales of the iPhone break down approximately as follows: iPhone 3GS: 1.48 million iPhone 4: 2.59 million iPhone 4S 16 GB: 14.8 million iPhone 4S 32 GB: 11.2 million iPhone 4S 64 GB: 6.9 million This distribution of unit sales hews very closely to my own analysis of Apple's iPhone sales. Of note, the iPhone 3GS is still the third-most popular smartphone overall, and with just under 1.5 million units sold it outsold all competing Android handsets (considered individually, obviously not in total). The iPhone 4S is also eating the iPod touch's breakfast and stealing its lunch money; with approximately 10 million iPod touch units sold last quarter, the 16 and 32 GB iPhone 4S models each outsold the iPod touch all by themselves. Siri, define "blockbuster."
AT&T: Eighty percent of smartphones sold in Q4 2011 were iPhones
Apple sold a blockbuster number of iPhones in Q1 2012, and these extraordinary sales trickled down to its carrier partners. In the US, the biggest beneficiary of this explosion is AT&T which announced it activated 7.6 million iPhones in the just-ending quarter. This number is about 20 percent of Apple's total iPhone sales for the quarter. AT&T had its best quarter ever for iPhone and smartphone sales. The carrier sold 9.4 million smartphones, 50 percent more than its previous quarterly record and almost double its Q3 2011 sales. iPhones were the dominant smartphone for the carrier and accounted for 80 percent of its smartphone sales. The carrier said it had its best-ever quarter for Android sales and doubled what it sold in the same quarter last year. Though strong, Android doesn't compare to the iPhone on AT&T. We can calculate that the carrier sold 1.8 million or less Android devices, which is a drop in the bucket compared to iPhone sales. AT&T also thoroughly trounced Verizon which sold 4.3 million iPhones. This lower number may be due, in part, to AT&T's portfolio, which includes three iPhones- the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4 and the highly discounted iPhone 3GS. Verizon only carries the iPhone 4 and 4S. Those who bought the iPhone 4 when it launched in early 2011 were under contract and would have to break a contract to buy the 4S when it debuted.
