The problem lies within a phone setting called Access Point Name (APN – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Point_Name). It is just an address to connect to your network’s internet provider. And if you are not on a monthly mobile broadband plan, this setting is not properly set.

To fix this:

1. Connect your iPhone to the internet through Wi-Fi.
2. Lunch safari and navigate to http://www.unlockit.co.nz/. The site contains a configuration profile that changes your APN settings to the proper value, in this case, it is www.vodafone.net.nz.
3. Follow the instructions and select the ?"Allow Data on any SIM?" option. If you are not with Vodafone NZ, there is an option to generate a custom APN profile.
4. You will then be presented with a screen to install the profile. Tap ?"Install?". 
5. Turn off your iPhone and then turn it back on. Under Settings -> General -> Network, make sure ?"Enable 3G?" and ?"Data Roaming?" is set to on, and then switch off Wi-Fi.
6. Enjoy.

If necessary, this profile can be removed under Settings -> General -> Profile.

Thanks unlockit.co.nz!

Lifehacker.com has the low-down on what this all means:

If official third-party app support piques your interest most, Apple delivered with some exciting announcements. First, if you’ve already jailbroken you iPhone or iTouch and experienced what installing apps is like through the excellent Installer.app, Apple’s official application management software, called the App Store, works just like Installer.app; it allows you to install, manage, update, or uninstall any application directly from your device, either over EDGE or Wi-Fi. Unlike Installer.app, the official App Store integrates with iTunes so you can also sideload apps through iTunes if you don’t feel like installing on-the-go.

Although we could all see this coming, one of the big concerns was whether Apple would start charging for the 3rd party iPhone apps. It turns out that they are leaving that up to the developers, they can choose whether or not to charge for the apps they make.

The App Store won’t be available till about June, which is when the iPhone 2.0 update is expected as well.

See Lifehacker.com for the full story.

BlogPulse shows a rocketing level of activity over the last 2 months.

Meanwhile Technorati has so far tracked 182,971 posts tagged with “iphone”.

This must be the most widely anticipated mobile device product launch ever. Everyone is excited including this guy with his post “I can’t wait to steal the new iPhone!“. Kids on the streets of London had to stop wearing the distinctive white iPod ear phones as they were an open invitation to get mugged and have your shiny new iPod stolen. I wonder if iPhone is going to ignite another wave of street crime.

Here’s Apple’s official video demo of the iPhone:

Interestingly not many of the big tech bloggers seems to have been given preview handsets to review. The articles online so far seem mostly to be from mainstream media. Are Apple trying to avoid any Microsoft-stlye blogger outreach backlash? This is the most comprehensive review I have read on the Wall Street Journal.

Alas, the rest of the world must wait patiently for Apple to bestow iPhone status on them. No doubt UK will be next I think. I don’t know if you’ll be able to buy one overseas and then get it unlocked for a local GSM carrier, however, I’m sure some hacker/blogger will figure that out in a matter of weeks.

Ferrit will fly like a pig

Following substantial ?reallocation of human resources?’ brought on by continued market and regulatory pressures, Telecom New Zealand will concede that running an eCommerce website (and poorly at that) is not a core competency and will close Ferrit.co.nz down.

Corporates and their acquisitions struggle to co-exist

Auction house TradeMe.co.nz, New Zealand?’s second most visited site, will face a backlash from its user-base as Fairfax meddles with its service offering and revenue model. Either Zillion.co.nz or a new entrant will experience significant gains as a result ? in terms of user numbers, traffic and revenue ? but will not seriously threaten TradeMe?’s position? yet.

Yahoo! is rising

On the back of Telecom New Zealand?’s adoption of Yahoo! over incumbent MSN for its ?"xtra?" portal, we will see a meteoritic rise in that company?’s NZ web presence. Yahoo! currently ranks as the New Zealand?’s fifth most popular site (Alexa.com) and we expect this to move to number three. Question is how will marketers respond?

Kiwis moving to Venice

The Venice Project, launching in March, will change broadcast television ? content and advertising ? forever. Proportionally speaking, New Zealand will show one of the highest rates of pick-up for this service.

Consolidation in the SEA / SEO sector

As suggested by others (Kevin Ryan ? Kineticresults.com), acquisitions in the search engine agency world will impact New Zealand marketers. Fewer companies will deal with specialist SEA / SEO agencies (because there will be fewer of them), choosing instead to partner with full-service interactive agencies that have SEA / SEO as one of many competencies.

iTunes penetration & Podcasts

With the release of a New Zealand iTunes store, we will see a steady increase in the variety and number of locally produced podcasts. At least one unsigned New Zealand music artist will gain international renown purely as a result of publishing their work on iTunes. At least one New Zealand company (not a music label or media company) will run a marketing campaign based around iTunes, such as a corporate podcast, with great success.

30 sec TVC?

More big brands will abandon big-budget TV production altogether, in favour of targeted interactive marketing. Our pick: Air New Zealand.

Revenue share for creators of CGM

The biggest new development of the year will be a new revenue model for content creators. Creators of new CGM content ? however lame or amateurish it might appear – will receive a revenue share from advertisers ? this will also include bonuses for product placement (e.g. create popular CGM containing Pepsi and you get some cash from Pepsi). In essence, the content creator will be getting a cut of the ad rev share that currently all goes to the publisher (e.g. the blogger).

A corporate CEO will dance with MP Rodney Hide

While New Zealand ACT MP, Rodney may not be able to dance, he does blog ? this year we will see a non-IT corporate CEO join him in this space. Our pick: Mark Weldon

No geographic boundaries

New Zealand media buyers will finally understand that the Internet has no boundaries (unless you are in China) and they will start to include international websites that NZ?’ers visit as part of their buy.

Online Reputation Management

We will see still more examples of corporate PR disasters that could have been averted if they had paid attention to what people were saying about them online. Interactive agencies will become increasingly active in helping clients to understand and in many instances influence what people are saying about them online. At least one New Zealand political party will engage an interactive agency for precisely this purpose.

This campaign, on the other hand, is really cool. Take a bunch of well-known men – Burt Reynolds, Eddie Griffin, Aron Ralston (American hiker who amputated his hand with a pocket knife), etc – and have them sit around a table debating ‘Man Laws’. Topics include:

If your buddy’s girlfriend breaks up with him, how long should you wait before asking her out?
Is it time to retire the high-five?
Can a wife or girlfriend store non-beer items in the garage fridge?

The TV campaign was closely integrated with a website, where people could view all the ads (there are a ton of them), and also propose and debate their own Man Laws. The ads were also scattered through the various CGM and social networking sites. Search Google, YouTube, MySpace etc for ‘Man Law’ and you’ll find thousands of references to the Miller campaign site, and countless home-made homages and imitations.

Let’s just say that the buzz surrounding this campaign has been … ‘significant’. This has been a huge success for Miller, and should stand as an example to agencies around the world of what can be achieved with a well-conceived, integrated (across media) campaign that embraces its audience as participants, rather than spectators.

See Jon? I finally submitted a post that didn’t mention porn… D’oh!

I think this may be a case of bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted to be honest, however, I can understand their position as it is clearly diluting the strength of the brand. I always think of Apple as the friendly cool brand of the tech sector, but as they become more powerful will they start to become more ruthless and litigious? Source: Wired.

Technorati Tags: apple

Both the Dell and Apple recalls are for Sony manufactured batteries. And with Sony’s stock recently downgraded in relation to the forthcoming Playstation 3, things aren’t looking to good for Sony, as a battery recall of this size will only hurt.

For more information (about the Apple battery recall) visit Apples website

- Justin

“Sources in Taiwan are dropping hints that Apple is poised to launch MacBooks with 64-bit Merom processors as soon as this September.”

Whilst new to the Mac (dark?) side myself, I think that this could be quite a good move, though one question does quickly come to mind. OS X?

Does OS X have a 64-bit version? Does it natively support 64-bit version? Or will we start to see a diversification of MacOS much like we currently have with Windows and it’s myriad versions.

Either way, 64-bit OS X or no 64-bit OS X, technological steps forward can’t help but be good things.

- Justin

This is an interesting position for the normally much loved Apple brand. I don’t think their DRM is any different from those used in Windows Media Player formats, although I guess they have a wider range of supported devices, whereas really with iTunes you need an iPod. The other question of course, is why would you ever want to move away from the iPod?

Technorati Tags: apple, defective by design, drm, reputation

Technorati Tags: allofmp3, RIAA