The Bavarian State Authority for Data Protection, a German data regulator, sent a letter to Apple on Friday requesting that the iPhone maker provide more details about the software and its use, according to a Bloomberg interview with the regulator organization’s chief, Thomas Kranig.

Apple said in its statement on the matter that its use of Carrier IQ was limited to diagnostic information and was opt-in only. If you’ve recently set up an iOS 5 device, you may remember the request made during the setup process to allow your device to send diagnostic and usage information to Apple. You can check if you’re sending data by navigating to General > About > Diagnostics & Usage in your iOS device’s Settings app and either opt in or opt out. On this screen, Apple says it uses the information to “improve its products and services.” Apple further stated that Carrier IQ has been removed for most devices in iOS 5 and will be taken out completely in future updates.

Kranig says that “if Apple decided to cease the use [of Carrier IQ], all the better,” but the organization is still seeking more information. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) also called (PDF) for Carrier IQ to release details to the public about why exactly its software tracks and records the information that it does. Franken previously pursued Apple and Google for more information about how customers’ personal location information was being gathered and used on iOS and Android devices.

This Carrier IQ situation could result in another round of scrutiny by regulators in the U.S. and abroad, and I doubt that Apple has seen the worst of it yet.

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The mute bug

Now that the talk around the battery problems has died down at the Apple Support discussion forums, the new star of the show is a flaw with outgoing calls that sees them often automatically muted. It doesn’t seem to be limited to any one carrier, so the problem seems to be something specifically with the 4S’s hardware or software. I’ve also experienced this myself, though only a couple of times near the beginning of my time with the device. Still, I don’t often make outgoing calls without a headset, so I may just not have noticed since then.

While users wait for an official fix, you can get voice working again by turning speakerphone on and off, or by using a headset to call as I mentioned I usually do anyways. This hasn’t been acknowledged by Apple in any official documentation yet, but it does seem like the kind of thing that could be addressed in a future update, so you may want to pause before scheduling an appointment to make a return.

The 3G or network data drop

Another common complaint at Apple’s support discussions is that the iPhone 4S drops network data connections seemingly at random. Besides being well represented on Apple’s forum, it’s also something I’ve heard of a lot personally from other 4S owners I know. The problem isn’t something that totally disables your device; often data just drops from 3G to EDGE and eventually goes back to normal after a few hours. But sometimes, data can be dropped altogether, which means you won’t know about new voicemail, or get push emails, and measures like turning Airplane Mode on and off are often required to get a connection back.

I’ve seen this on my own iPhone 4S, too, and as mentioned, it’s hard to identify a cause. It seems to happen most frequently when I get or make a call, but not exclusively during those activities. Also, just opening Safari and browsing can sometimes re-establish a connection if you’ve only dropped 3G but still have EDGE.

Again, this one hasn’t been officially acknowledged by Apple, but if it’s happening to you, it’s probably not worth exchanging your device just yet. The problem seems widespread enough, based on the discussion threads related to it, that a replacement will just display the same issue, so waiting to see if a forthcoming software update is the least inconvenient option.

The Siri volume bug

Siri has a nasty habit of maxing out the volume just after use. You’ll notice if you activate Siri, and then press the home screen button to cancel your request, then lock the device. After a short time, the volume goes back to wherever you set it, but for a little while, the volume is ear-splitting, and this applies system-wide. There are many threads in the Apple Support Communities about this issue.

Mostly minor, but majorly irritating

All the bugs listed here are actually quite small, which is why a lot of users report not having returned their devices as a result of encountering them. I, too, have run across each but have yet to ascribe it to hardware fault, since each seems pretty likely to be a software problem. It’s troubling, however, to see no mention of these apparently common problems in any of the information circulating about Apple’s upcoming bug-busting iOS 5.0.1 release. Hopefully they’re filed under the category of “general bug fixes” and do arrive with that update. Otherwise, Apple will have to tackle them head-on sooner or later.

Anyone else seeing these or other persistent problems?

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You can order either the black or white iPhone 4 right now, and the best news of all is that you’ll be able to tack on Sprint’s unlimited data pricing plans, too. Sprint announced via official press release on Wednesday that it would be making unlimited plans available for both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, which start at $69.99 plus $10 Premium Data add-on for plans with restricted minutes, and go up to $99.99 plus $10 Premium Data add-on for the Simply Everything plan.

Sprint will start taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S on Friday, Oct. 7. Pricing for the iPhone 4S on Sprint is the same as it is on other U.S. carriers; $199 for the 16 GB version, $299 for 32 GB and $399 for 64 GB. To get those prices, you have to sign up for a new two-year agreement, either as a brand new customer to Sprint, or and existing customer who’s eligible to upgrade.

The iPhone is a notorious network data hog, and some were worried that unlimited data might not fly when Sprint got the device. In a recent article, wireless consultant Chetan Sharma noted that Sprint is in much better shape than AT&T was to deal with iPhone data demands. However, another wireless industry expert, Michael W. Thelander, cautioned that because of the nature of Sprint’s bandwidth spectrum, it may run into coverage problems similar to those encountered by AT&T customers.

It might also just generally be slower. Stacey went into detail about why; Sprint uses a CDMA-based 3G network with considerably slower theoretical speeds than AT&T’s HSPA+ network can offer. However, Sprint’s network divides voice and data traffic on different networks, which should enhance call quality even as it sacrifices some speed in terms of tasks like loading mobile video.

Are you planning to pre-order an iPhone from Sprint, and if so, is unlimited data a motivating factor? Does it matter that network speeds may be perceptibly lower?

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Earlier this week, the GSMA reported that 65 percent of devices that offer Internet-connected apps use iOS as their operating system, compared with only 30 percent for Android. This is only a measurement of connected apps that need to hook into a cellular network or active Wi-Fi Internet connection to transfer data, so offline apps and general phone use don’t factor in. But that’s a huge margin, and one that network operators eager to sign users up for lucrative, high-limit bandwidth plans are no doubt paying attention to. Developers, too, will likely see this as an indication that if you want to land connected customers, iOS is the way to go.

Mobile web developers might glean the same takeaway when considering the latest data from comScore. The iPad is running away with mobile web browsing among iPads in the U.K., with 21.3 percent of total mobile traffic. Android tablets hold only 0.3 percent of web access in the market, by contrast. The iPhone is still king, however, with 29.9 percent of the overall picture. Android smartphones only represent 15 percent of U.K. web traffic, which is even less than the iPad taken alone.

Admittedly, Android still dominates mobile web access in the U.S., accounting for 35.6 percent of traffic on smartphones, according to comScore, beating out the iPhone’s 23.5 percent by a decent margin. But the U.S. is the exception, not the rule. The iPad and iPhone are the top contenders for mobile web access in most other countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Brazil and Japan. Nor is iOS just barely edging out the Google competition: In some cases, Android lags behind the iPhone by 10 to 20 percentage points. Add to that a new report by Yankee Group (via BGR) that says 40 percent of European smartphone shoppers intend to buy an iPhone next, versus only 19 percent intending to go with Android, and the global picture for iOS is very rosy.

Despite Android’s gains in the mobile device market in recent years, Apple still seems to have a hold on mobile data use and web access in many key international markets. It’s a reality that developers have to take into account, especially when preparing apps and websites that appeal to a broad international user base. If your Flash intro automatically cuts out the 50 percent of Australians who browse the mobile web using an iPhone, for instance, that’s a lot of potential customers you aren’t reaching.

Apple may not be the only game in town, but it does have a growing stake in the burgeoning smartphone user community, which is turning more and more to mobile devices to access the web.

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Crazy as it sounds, Google, Apple’s chief rival in the smartphone market, will be the one saving iOS users stuck in this donut hole. Moving to Google syncing requires only minor modifications to your iOS gadgets and your Mac, and you’ll be able to keep your contacts, calendars and email in step across devices. You’ll need to sync your iOS device to Google as well as sync your Mac to Google, and you should always backup the data on both before doing so. Note that doings so requires at least Leopard for Mac users.

Google has excellent instructions on how to set up your iOS device with a Google account. You’ll need to set up the Google account first of course, but most people already have that. Note that other email addresses you happen to be using on your devices that aren’t tied to your Google account won’t have their data backed up.

Setting up your Mac to sync with Google is also quite easy again due to excellent instructions, in particular on how to sync your calendars and how to sync your contacts.

While you’re at it, you might consider moving from iCal to BusyCal, as BusyCal syncs simply with Google using only your login credentials, while syncing with iCal is a multi-step process.

Google has a great opportunity to get users signed up in this window between Apple’s announcement and when its service goes live. Both Google and Apple will soon be battling for the right to store users’ data, a much different fight than that going on between operating systems. Any advantage in that coming fight could be a significant one.

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Set a Passcode

If a thief can’t unlock your device, they can’t access your data, so setting a passcode lock is a good idea. Once set, the passcode will need to be entered each time in order to unlock the device. To set one, tap Settings, General, then Passcode Lock. At the top is a button labeled Turn Passcode On.

Tap that, and you’ll be prompted to enter a four-digit passcode. Type the passcode in twice, and some additional settings will become available.

You can change how long the device has to be inactive before the passcode is required again. By default, this is set to require the code immediately, but you can set it to a range of durations such as after 1 minute, 5 minutes or 15 minutes. Shorter times are more secure, since it gives someone else less time to pick up your device before they’ll need to enter the passcode.

If you don’t think a four-digit code is secure enough, you can also use a more complex password with numbers, letters and symbols. To do so, turn off the setting called Simple Passcode. After turning that off, you’ll be asked to enter your current passcode, if you have one set, then your new password twice. Once you have done that, in order to unlock your device, the password you set will be required, which is more secure than a four-digit number.

One final security measure you can add is the option to erase all the data on the device if the passcode is entered incorrectly 10 times. This ensures someone can’t methodically try every number until they hit upon the correct code, since chances are the data will be wiped before they get there.

Be Sensible With Your Data

Obviously you can’t just rely on passcodes to keep information secure. You have to make sure you aren’t careless; leaving addresses or phone numbers in the Notes app means they’re available for anyone using your iPhone to see. Similarly, don’t store important information such as credit card numbers or pin numbers on the device at all, unless you are 100 percent sure the data is encrypted and secured using a password. The best way of storing extremely sensitive data like that is in your memory, rather than keeping it stored somewhere accessible.

Also be wary of using password managers designed for iOS. Some of them don’t encrypt your data at all, and only hide it behind an insecure passcode. Other services store your information on their own server rather than on your device, which means it’s susceptible to data theft if the service gets hacked, which is what just happened to LastPass, for example.

Wipe the Data Remotely

If your iOS device does happen to fall into the wrong hands, you can use Apple’s free Find My iPhone service to locate the device and wipe any data on it. Find My iPhone is available to all MobileMe subscribers, and is also available to non-subscribers with an iPhone 4 or an iPad. To set up Find My iPhone on your device, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and choose Add Account. Then enter either your MobileMe credentials or your Apple ID (the same one you use for the iTunes store) and choose to turn on Find My iPhone.

Now if your device gets lost or stolen, you can find where it is, and if necessary, wipe everything on it. To do so, open the MobileMe website, me.com, in your browser, log in and go to the Find My iPhone tab. You’ll see a list of the devices that you have set up with Find My iPhone, and you can click on a device’s name to show its location on a map.

You can then click the blue triangle icon next to the name on the map to see more options. To completely wipe the selected device, choose Wipe. Everything on the device will be erased, and it’ll be as if it were new — nothing is left behind. Don’t worry, if you then get your device back, you can restore from a backup using iTunes.

Got any other tips for securing data on your iOS devices? Share them in the comments.

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Preparing Your Old Mac

Moving from an old Mac to a new one can be a nightmare, similar to restoring from a backup. There are some very basic steps that you should take before even considering a data migration from an old Mac to a new one:

Maintenance: You should perform routine maintenance on your old Mac before you attempt to migrate. This includes performing tasks like resetting Safari to clear its cache, emptying the trash, ensuring that your software is up to date, repairing disk permissions, and even repairing your disk itself with Apple’s own Disk Utility or something like Micromat’s Tech Tool Pro.

Backup: While there are certainly several online options available for backing up your data, when transferring data to a new Mac, a local backup is the best way to go. Beyond using Time Machine to help keep a historical account of your Mac’s files and settings, I would strongly suggest cloning your old Mac to an external hard drive to ensure you backup everything.  This is also your last chance to check that your backup solution is actually working.

Cloning Your Old Mac: While using a utility like Bombich Software’s Carbon Copy Cloner or Shirt Pocket’s SuperDuper is a great strategy to mitigate the risk of a hard drive failure, it doesn’t just let you duplicate your OS X installation.  I would however recommend using this option with the Migration Assistant’s “From another volume on this Mac” option, which will let you import the settings and data from that drive.  Simply connect an external drive to your old Mac and backup everything.

Software Licenses: It is very likely that the registration and license keys of some software titles will need to be re-applied on the new Mac. Gather all of you installation media and updates for the software you intend to keep using.  I like to use an online service like MacUpdate to manage my updates, and a program like Kedisoft’s AppShelf for my license keys.  If most of the apps you care about are now being managed by the Mac App Store, then you may not need to use any additional programs.

Transitioning From Mac to Mac

When you first power on your new Mac, you will be presented with the option to copy your applications, user preferences and data from your old Mac to your new Mac.

Install From Another Mac. You have three options when it comes to copying an installation of OS X from one Mac to another:

• From another volume on this Mac — My favorite option of the three is to use an up to date a clone of your old Mac.  Simply attach the external drive with the cloned volume (made using one of the tools mentioned above) on it and select which information you what to migrate over.  The data transfer rate of this option is also the fastest.
• From a Time Machine Backup — This option is best used in emergencies to recover from a disaster or if you do not have the means or the time to clone your old Mac.
• From another Mac — Your choices to connect to another Mac will be over a network connection via FireWire, Ethernet or AirPort.  If you do not have the means or the time to clone your old Mac to a local drive, and you are not using Time Machine to backup your existing Mac, then this is the only viable option.

Using Apple’s Migration Assistant: If you did not opt to use the Migration Assistant during the initial install, you can still run it later on.  Personally, I prefer to install fresh and use the Migration Assistant straight from the install process itself. Using the Assistant after the fact is basically just a good way of copying a user profile from one Mac to another.

Transitioning From PC to Mac

If you’re switching teams, there are also a number of options for keeping your data largely intact.  Both VMware and Parallels offer solutions to create a virtual copy of your existing PC, and run Windows on your Mac, so you won’t miss a beat.

VMware Fusion’s Migration Assistant:  After purchasing VMWare’s Fusion for Mac, you can execute the Migration Assistant on your PC to create a virtual copy of your PC.  You’ll need to download and install the Migration Agent on your old PC before you get started.  There’s an advanced tutorial on YouTube that shows how it works.

Parallels Switch To Mac Edition: With Parallel’s you need to be aware of which version you purchase.  Be sure to buy the Switch to Mac edition. Like VMware, you will need to download and install the Parallels Transporter Agent on your old PC.

Whether you’re coming from a PC or an older Mac, the best path to bringing your old world into your new is through some sort of “cloning” process.  Whether you use Carbon Copy Cloner to make a ‘real’ clone of your old Mac, or the Migration Assistant in Fusion to create a virtual clone of your old PC, you shouldn’t have too much trouble making sure your new world has all the comforts of home.

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Compuware Gomez performed data performance measurements for data performance on the Verizon network during the first four days of iPhone availability (Feb. 10-13). The iPhone went on sale at Verizon beginning Feb. 10, but pre-sales began on Feb. 3, and many customers had working iPhones in their hands by the time Feb. 10 arrived. Some estimates put Verizon iPhone pre-sales at as many as 500,000 units, and the number of users switching to Verizon from AT&T specifically for the iPhone are thought to be somewhere between 70 and 100,000. Verizon may not have seen the long lines on launch day many expected, but Compuware Gomez estimates that between 500,000 and 700,000 new iPhone users were accessing the Verizon network during its initial few days of availability. In theory, that could translate to increased demand, although that those numbers are spread out across the nation and include existing customers might mitigate the effect.

The wireless data performance analysis unit of Compuware Gomez gathers its data from a network of actual device end-users that numbers in the thousands, located across the U.S. These users provide everyday usage data that accurately reflects what the average Verizon iPhone owner would be experiencing in terms of browsing and page-load times, which is how the firm measures performance. Compuware CTO of APM Solutions Imad Mouline sums up the results:

We’re just four days in, but our measurements show that real-world data users on Verizon Wireless are experiencing no noticeable performance degradation due to the influx of new iPhone users on the network.

iPhone users have been shown to be data-hogs when it comes to mobile bandwidth (though Android users have recently been shown to be even more so), so it comes as a small surprise that Compuware found virtually no change (four-tenths of 1 percent) in performance following the Verizon iPhone’s introduction, as compared to a sample taken during a four-day period the week before. Verizon might just have a network that’s better equipped to handle rapid growth, or maybe the bandwidth throttling it’s using to limit network congestion is having the desired effect. Kevin predicted that the introduction of the iPhone wouldn’t significantly affect Verizon network performance, but it’s still quite early to make any definitive conclusions.

Obviously, it’s early days yet, but the results so far from Compuware Gomez seem to indicate that Verizon is having a much better time handling iPhone customers than AT&T. We’ll see if that continues to be the case as Verizon’s share of the iPhone market continues to grow. Gene Munster, for example, sees sales of 1.5 million iPhones for this quarter, with many more to follow as the year proceeds. The strain on Verizon’s network could be just getting started.

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iPhone buyers won’t have much of a choice when it comes to data options, however, as Verizon is also discontinuing its lower tiered 150 MB data plan, which costs subscribers only $15 a month. That option, just introduced last October, will be discontinued at the end of January, and won’t be available at all to new iPhone subscribers.

McAdams told the Journal that the decision to keep the unlimited plan for iPhone subscribers is specifically intended to attract subscribers away from rival AT&T. “I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” he said. “Not offering an unlimited plan would put up a barrier for customers who might otherwise switch from AT&T.”

AT&T currently offers two data plan to iPhone subscribers: 200 MB per month costs $15, while $25 will get you 2 GB of usage. AT&T discontinued its $30 unlimited data plan in June 2010 in an attempt to ease its network congestion problems.

Are higher data limits reason enough to convince you to switch to Verizon for iPhone service, if you weren’t convinced already?

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First, you’ll need to have tethering enabled on your iPhone. Tethering allows you to share your connection with one device over Bluetooth or USB. If you don’t know how to enable tethering, or get it working on your Mac, iPhoneinCanada.ca has a great step-by-step guide.

Once you’ve got tethering enabled, you can share your connection with other devices using your Mac’s built-in AirPort Wi-Fi. You can do this in System Preferences under “Sharing.” The screencast below shows exactly how to do this.

You can also enable WEP password encryption by clicking on the “AirPort Options” button on the Internet Sharing screen.

Now that you’ve set up Internet Sharing, you should be able to find a Wi-Fi network on your other devices with the network name of your Mac, which in this case is “Darrell’s iMac.” Just select that network, and enter the WEP password you chose if you enabled password protection.

I’ve used this little trick frequently on family vacations, and will probably have cause to use it more than once before iOS 4.3 becomes available to everyone. Watch your usage, though, as you could hit your monthly bandwidth limit pretty quickly depending on who you share with.

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Softbank will give you the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model iPad for free, so long as you sign up for a two-year 3G data plan, which will cost you around $55 per month. It also looks like that data plan provides unlimited usage, too. Not a bad deal, considering I had to pay full price for my iPad and still have to pay more than $35 a month for 5GB of usage.

In fact, if I do the math, my plan plus the price of the original iPad purchase (here in Canada) comes to $1607.27, while the Softbank deal works out to only $1344. That’s a savings of $263.27, provided I renew my data plan every month for two years, which I almost definitely will.

The deal starts Dec. 3, and is only a limited time offer extending until Feb. 28, 2011. If I still lived in Japan, I’d definitely go this route instead of buying directly from Apple. Especially considering that last time I checked, cancellation charges for exiting a contract early weren’t at all severe when dealing with Japanese network operators.

Orange and T-Mobile also recently revealed their specific subsidized device pricing plans, with the Wi-Fi + 3G model available for £199 (~$309 U.S.) on a £27 (~$42 U.S.) per month plan over two years. That plan gets you 1GB of anytime usage, plus an extra 1GB between 4 PM and midnight. Grand total: $1317 U.S. Again, better than what I paid, though you do get less data.

Compare that to what you can get in the U.S. with Verizon, data plans start at $20 for 1GB of data and run up to $80 for 10GB. With those deals, you’re also buying the Wi-Fi only version, remember, and a Verizon MiFi. The entry-level bundle will cost you $629 for a 16GB iPad. With the entry-level data package, your two-year total comes to just $1109. But if you’re a heavy user, that goes up quickly to $1920 for the closest to unlimited offered by Verizon. Softbank’s deal, by contrast, will save you $576.

Of course, Verizon also has the advantage of providing a MiFi in the bargain, which you can use with your smartphone and notebook, too. The iPad with 3G built-in can’t share it’s connection at all. Still, if you’re looking for a single-device connected everywhere solution, a MiFi might not be among your top priorities. In fact, it could hinder your overall portable, since you have to account for two devices instead of one.

Personally, I’d opt for a subsidized deal if something similar were offered here in North America, even given the possible advantage of a Verizon MiFi and the freedom of not being locked in. These packages look appealing to anyone else?

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DataMan tracks all data usage (Wi-Fi and 3G) and calculates how much you can use per day and per week to stay within your data plan. It also informs you, via push notifications, whether your current usage is within or beyond your daily and weekly budget. DataMan can even run in the background and geotag data usage. You can then see exactly when and where you use the most data on a map.

I learned the value of a tool like DataMan last month when my wife somehow switched off Wi-Fi on her iPhone (which only has a 200mb plan). Suddenly, she’d used 90 percent of her data plan with most of the billing period to go. With DataMan, we wouldn’t have been caught by surprise.

I now set the app to alert me on heavy usage days. I don’t worry that I’ll hit my 2GB limit, but I still appreciate the ability to know where the data is going and where I was when I used it. Being able to see the pinpoints on a map, connected by time of usage, allows me to literally track where I was going throughout the day. Between battery drain concerns, though, and the big-brother feel of the geo-location, some users may wish to disable this feature — something that’s now possible in version 3.

DataMan could come in handy for developers looking to study usage trends on test devices. For those who’ve mysteriously exceeded their data allowances and been dinged by AT&T, the $1.99 price of DataMan is well worth knowing exactly how and why. 

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The downside of this new plan is that if you go over your 2GB cap, you’ll be charged $10 for every GB you go over. Those of us already on AT&T data contracts were grandfathered in to unlimited plans for the foreseeable future as long as we didn’t cancel our plans.

I wasn’t in a current plan. When I left my job last month, they had taken over my iPhone bill into their contract so, when I left for a new job, I had to setup a new plan even though I could get my old number back. It didn’t hit me that I was screwed until the Apple employee showed me the screen saying, “Choose a data plan” and the two options were 250MB 200 MB or 2GB. I sighed and chose the larger plan but I didn’t get tethering because I already own an unlimited 3G data card from AT&T. Update: I also want to add that the previous “unlimited” plan was actually somewhere around 5GB The iPhone didn’t have a 5 GB limit, however most data cards do have a 5GB limit on “unlimited” plans. Most carriers that say their data is unlimited are lying to you. Don’t be surprised if you download 10 movies from iTunes on your “unlimited” 3G data card and Verizon calls you up with some harsh words.

Eight days later I received a text message from AT&T:

Oh dear. Well, there was nothing I could do except simply turn off 3G data via iPhone’s system settings, which basically makes my iPhone an iPod touch where Wi-Fi is the only option. I wasn’t going to do that. For the sake of our readers, I chose to wait it out. First, let’s talk about what I do on my iPhone.

The No. 1 thing I do is use Twitter for iPhone. In my three years on the service, I’ve tweeted over 60,000 times and sent nearly twice as many direct messages. The second thing I do is email sending, receiving and moving messages around all day on an average of once every 10 minutes from 7AM to midnight. After that, I use eight different location based services to check in and “share” my location anytime I go somewhere and finally, I use apps for weather, video, news and Safari to get information on the go. This month, I also bought and downloaded the new Pearl Jam album via iTunes on my iPhone over 3G.

This line of service was created on August 21 and as I’m writing this it’s September 5. In 16 days with my iPhone 4, here is my current data usage.

At this rate, I will have to pay the 2GB monthly plan price of $25 plus an addition $10 for each GB I go over. It looks like I’ll be paying $20 extra this month for being a data hog. AT&T’s choice to limit us to 2GB of data is simply ridiculous and I have to remind everyone reading that I did not opt for tethering, so my iPhone data would have been above and beyond what I’ve shown above if that was the case. I did a test and in the three hours I’ve been sitting in this café syncing Twitter, email, RSS and uploading images to this blog, I’ve used 75MB of data in and 22MB out. If I was doing that tethered to my iPhone and not on the café’s Wi-Fi connection, it would count against that 2GB cap. The completely lame part of AT&T’s iPhone tethering is that it charges you $20 more just to tether your iPhone but doesn’t allow you more data. You’re still capped at 2GB. I’d happily pay $50 for 5GB of data with tethering on an iPhone but this isn’t an option.

This is mostly a rant but it shows that the choice to limit data bandwidth at a time when mobile phones are demanding more was a poor choice on one of the nation’s largest carriers and I’m paying for it by being a “data hog.”

What are your data usage rates like?

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Metered Mobile Data Is Coming and Here’s How

AT&T offers a contract-free, pay-as-you-go plan called the GoPhone, which works much like a calling card where you pay in advance for phone minutes as well as data. Currently you can buy a $100 calling card and the credit is good for a year. Other small denominations are available with shorter expiration dates.

Although AT&T doesn’t officially support pay-as-you-go plans like GoPhone for the iPhone, you can buy a GoPhone, and simply take the SIM from the GoPhone (which is usually a cheap ‘dumb’ phone) and put it in your old iPhone. This will enable you to use the iPhone as a phone, but even if you add the GoPhone data plan, you can’t use data on the old iPhone because the phone’s internal settings are not set to allow this. I learned this the hard way.

Over-the-Air Provisioning

However, there is a workaround for this problem that can be done easily and without any jailbreaking or other “phone hacking.” You can do this by taking advantage of a legitimate, built-in part of the iPhone OS called “over-the-air provisioning.” Over-the-air provisioning allows you to change certain otherwise inaccessible phone settings (such as the data network).

You can use this process with an original iPhone, iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS. According to the site, the process works with iPhone OS 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x. I tested it with an iPhone 3G running iPhone OS 3.1.3.

Here’s how I enabled a GoPhone data plan with my iPhone 3G.

The Steps

Step 1: Open Safari on the iPhone that you wish to use with the GoPhone data plan and navigate to unlockit.co.nz and then tap “Continue”

Step 2: Tap the “Custom APN” button

Step 3: Select your carrier. You will see a pop-up menu with settings for carriers all over the world. Since you are using a GoPhone in the U.S., you will need to navigate down to “US – AT&T.” Once you select AT&T, the other fields will automatically get filled in with the proper data.

Step 4: Tap the “Create Profile” button. This will generate your custom APN profile and download it to your phone.

Step 5: A screen will pop up on your phone informing you about the new profile and asking if you want to install it. Go ahead and tap “Install” and then “Replace” in the subsequent dialog

Step 6: You should see a “Profile Installed” screen. This means your new profile has been installed successfully

To test your data plan (note this will use some of your prepaid account), you’ll need to turn off Wi-Fi and confirm you are on the AT&T network (look for the the Edge or 3G text on the upper left corner of the screen). Launch Safari and navigate to a favorite web site. The initial connection time might take a few extra moments, but you should see the website load. If this doesn’t work, you might need to reboot the phone for the new profile to fully take effect.

Returning your phone to previous settings is easy. Simply open the Settings app on the phone, tap “General” and scroll to the bottom. You will see a “Profile” setting which you can tap to view the details of the installed profile, and there is also a red “Remove” button which will allow you to delete the profile and return your phone’s APN settings to the default.

As a side note, this same process works for other carriers around the world. While this tutorial is written for U.S. GoPhone users, if you are in another country with a SIM from another carrier, you should be able to use these same steps to change the APN for your non-AT&T carrier. However, your phone will have to be either already compatible with the carrier of your choice or unlocked.

We all knew this was coming when analysts first asked that same question upon the introduction of iPhone then iPad but now we’re at a point where it’s clear that the iPod isn’t key to Apple’s success in earnings and shareholders don’t have to worry about consumers growing tired of the iPod or music in general (as if that’s ever going to happen). The iPhone, iPad and Mac are the largest legs of Apple’s business and iPod is just iPod.

Of course, Apple has sold hundreds of millions of iPods and a solid 50 percent of its stock value as it skyrocketed from 2004-2008 is due to the iPod, but its impact on Apple’s bottom line is dropping with every new iPhone release. I was enthralled in a piece featured on AppleInsider written by Andy Zaky. The piece took a logical and very up front look at Apple’s iPod segment in how it relates to the market, Apple’s bottom line and raw sales and opened my eyes to just how well the nine year old music player is holding up.

Before I review a bit of the findings in Andy’s research, I’d like to point out that Apple is approaching a 10 year dominance in a huge market with one product line. Yes, I know the iPod has seen many revisions and form factors but it’s digital music and Apple still maintains 70 percent market share for MP3 players. That’s incredible when you think of the thousands of competitors and dozens of music stores aimed directly at Apple and let’s hope the same fate is in store for iPhone. If you ever had an argument whether a closed system is good for the consumer, look no further than iPod’s success.

Health of the iPod and Apple’s bottom line

Analysts who measure Apple’s stock value based on trends, market health, future products and current sales will look at this figure when calling the death of iPod:

This chart shows the iPod’s decline in percentage of Apple’s revenue has dropped from 55 percent during 2005′s Winter sales to 24 percent upon the introduction of the first iPhone. Naturally, analysts were freaking out a bit and today’s 8.6 percent for a product that once made up for half of their revenue is a reason to be quite worried. Prior to the iPhone 3G’s release in 2008, I did see a few reports that spurred a sharp decline in AAPL that year, mostly because the iPod was selling to a saturated market where everyone that wanted one already had one and features like an FM receiver weren’t enough for most users to upgrade.

Of course, anyone reading this blog knows that the iPhone has iPod built right in and, of the iPods sold, the App Store enabled iPod touch completely dominates sales compared to the nano, shuffle or classic models. Apple sells an iPod every time you buy an iPhone, but it’s clear that the iPod isn’t the golden egg for Apple any more, but have people stopped buying iPods? Is the iPod dead? This data proves otherwise.

Compared to 2006 numbers, when the iPod was nearly half of Apple’s quarterly profit, iPod sales have actually risen from 8.5 million units per quarter (non-holiday) to an average of 10 million per quarter. This is huge and over half of iPod sales in the past year (based on rumors and Apple Store public iPod sales chart review), the iPod touch makes up for a majority of iPod sales. The iPod is stronger than it was in 2006, which was a year before the iPhone came out. The iPod isn’t dead or dying; it’s stronger than ever.

Why does it feel like the iPod is dead?

I may have a bit of bias here, but in big cities, the iPod is a device you simply don’t see anymore. Instead, you see one or two iPods for every 10 iPhones or iPads. The reason is that the iPod is a part of our touch devices and we don’t need the extra device in our bag or pocket.

Another fact is that, other than Apple’s yearly iPod event (that happens every September like clockwork), Apple doesn’t push the iPod at every keynote like it did before the iPhone. Now, the App Store, iPhone and iPad get all of the attention, and rightly so. You may pay $199 for an iPhone 4, but that’s after carrier subsidy. In fact, AT&T (s att0 pays the rest of the bill, which to Apple is between $499 and $699 for every iPhone sold for a product that costs less than $200 in parts to build, so profits of the iPhone are significantly higher than the sale of an iPod nano, and paired with Apple’s 30 percent cut of the sales of every app you buy for the iPhone and it’s obvious which device is more profitable.

It’s too early to call the death of iPod. Its impact on Apple’s earnings may get smaller, especially if the iPad sales continue to rise and Apple’s next TV appliance is the killer iOS based device that we’re all hoping for, but 10 million units a quarter is not small potatoes and iPod continues to do well for the foreseeable future. That shrinking percentage of iPod’s impact on Apple’s sales is only because the amount of money Apple is making from its other segments is growing at an astronomical rate as seen here:

This was mostly a summary of the data Andy reviewed over at AppleInsider. Both parts one and two are worth a read for anyone that follows Apple closely and enjoys data that backs up the usual speculation.

Do you still own an iPod? Do you also have an iPhone and do you use both on a daily basis?

Checking What You Have Left

First off, make sure you know how to check how much data you have left for the month. On an iPad 3G, you can go to Settings → Cellular Data, then tap View Account. After logging in, you’ll be able to see how much data you have remaining.

On an iPhone, for AT&T customers, dial *DATA# (*3282#) and you’ll be shown on screen your data usage for the current month. You can also go to your account on the AT&T website. For customers on O2 in the UK, you can either download the MyO2 app or visit the MyO2 website. Other customers should visit the website for their provider to find out how to check your data usage.

Reducing the Amount You Use

The first thing you’re going to want to do is try to use Wi-Fi as much as you can to save using 3G data at all. Many places such as Starbucks and McDonalds offer free Wi-Fi, and there are many apps that can help you find others. Some network providers also offer free Wi-Fi with their iPhone and iPad data plans.

If for some reason you don’t have access to any Wi-Fi, the next step is cutting down on everything that automatically checks the Internet, such as Mail. Having your emails checked every 15 minutes is going to rack up a lot of megabytes, especially if you’re the type of person who gets hundreds of emails a week. If you want to go all out with saving data, change the settings of Mail to fetch emails manually. This means that your device will only check for new emails if you open the Mail app. You can set this up by going to Settings → Mail, Contacts, Calendars → Fetch New Data and choosing ‘manually’. If you are unable to cope with emails not coming through automatically, then set a low frequency – 30 minutes or an hour.

If even that doesn’t suit your needs, you can use Push, which, instead of your device checking the server regularly, whenever you get an email, the server will send it to you. This means that you save on some data usage because your device isn’t checking when there are no emails. However, this requires an email service which supports Push, which most don’t. For example, Gmail doesn’t support it, and neither does Windows Live Mail.

Another thing you can do to help is stop using sites which have a lot of images. For example, Flickr will use a lot more data than, say, this site. Visiting Flickr involves loading a lot of images whereas this site is mostly text. By visiting mainly text-based sites you can reduce your data usage a fair amount. Saying that, however, a lot of websites have mobile-friendly versions, such as Facebook and Twitter. They usually have fewer images, and any images they do have are lower resolution, meaning they take less data to load.

Finally, the last resort, when you’re extremely close to going over the limit, is to turn off cellular data altogether. This means it’s impossible to use any more data because you’re not connecting to the network. To do this, load up Settings and go to Cellular Data on the iPad or General → Network on the iPhone. There, you should see a toggle switch labeled ‘Cellular Data’. Switch that to the off position and your device won’t connect to the data network again until you turn it back on. The benefit of using this over Airplane Mode is you can still receive texts and calls this way, you just can’t use any data unless you use Wi-Fi.