SiliconBeat

(updated below)

VentureBeat’s Paul Boutin reports today on a new smartphone sales report, but methinks he missed the real news.

The new data comes from IDC. Boutin makes much of the fact that according to IDC’s report — at least as quoted by him; I’ve only seen the press release, not the full report — the BlackBerry Curve was the top-selling smartphone in the United States last quarter, outselling the iPhone 3G S.

“Despite all the buzz, attention and money thrown at iPhones and anything to do with iPhones, the new iPhone 3G S came in second,” Boutin writes.

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SlingPlayer for the iPhone

The problem with Sling Media’s new new iPhone application has nothing to do with the fact that it’s running on the iPhone, an AT&T spokesman, responding to the controversy over the new program, told me today.

Sling today released its long awaited iPhone application, which allows users to stream live television signals to the iconic smartphone. But unlike beta versions of the program, the final release is critically hobbled by the fact that it can’t use AT&T’s 3G network. Instead, it can only access the signals over WiFi networks.

Company spokesman Mark Siegel explained to me this afternoon that AT&T considers the streaming of television signals to any device over its wireless data network to be a violation of its terms of service.

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There’s a new app store on the Internet block.

Research In Motion today announced the BlackBerry App World, its answer to Apple’s successful App Store for the iPhone. And it joins Google’s Android Market in the race among software makers to create new reasons to own smart-phones beyond e-mail. Microsoft is planning to open its own online app store for its Windows Mobile operating system later this year.

Initially, RIM expects 1,000 apps to be posted on its site. It has a ways to go to catch up to Apple, whose App Store now is believed to have some 31,000 programs.

BlackBerry app developers will get 80 percent of royalties, while those who write programs for the iPhone keep 70 percent.

RIM said the applications will be a mix of business programs and fun things.

Last year, when Apple released the first iPhone, it was an easy decision to pass. First, the price was way too high. Second, it was on a sluggish mobile network known as “Edge.” Third, the memory was just too small. And finally, it didn’t work with Microsoft Outlook.

That’s four strikes against it. But more than that, I don’t tend to be earliest of adopters. And figured many of these things would be fixed when Apple released iPhone 2.0.

And based on Steve Jobs’ keynote on Monday, they have. The new phone is on the much faster third generation mobile network, or “3G.” It works with Microsoft Outlook. At $199 or $299, it’s much cheaper. It has more memory. Bravo.

Apple is touting this new version as a device for the mainstream. All of these improvements will help move it closer to that goal. It needs to move beyond the geek crowd for Apple to reach its goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

For all these reasons, I’m getting closer to being a believer. But I figure I’ll wait another year before getting an iPhone. Here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »