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Google Earnings Beat Estimates—Again

The search megalith reported stellar third-quarter earnings, though it warned that margins may thin as it makes needed investments.
The Google stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Oct. 10, 2007 Getty

As a company that regularly beats Wall Street’s earnings estimates, Google needed to blow away expectations on Oct. 18 to impress investors who have propelled the stock to record highs in recent days in anticipation of yet another blockbuster quarterly announcement. Anything less and investors would sell off the stock as they had in past quarters when Google just met or narrowly exceeded analysts’ projections.

Google (GOOG) did not disappoint. The search-advertising Goliath said third-quarter net revenue rose 61%, to $3.01 billion, a number that takes into account the amount Google pays Web site owners to put ads on their pages. That soundly beat analysts’ average estimate for sales of $2.9 billion. Not counting the amount of stock awarded to employees, earnings per share rose to $3.91, beating forecasts of $3.78 a share. “We had a very strong quarter across the board,” said Chief Financial Officer George Reyes.
Online Ad Dominance Assured

Wall Street assumed that Google’s revenues, minus traffic-acquisition costs, would grow about 57% from the prior year. They also assumed that Google could hit that number despite an anticipated credit-crunch-related slowdown in financial-services advertising, one of the largest Web marketing categories. “When you have a company that has performed as consistently as they have to the upside, there is an inherent expectation that gets built into performance,” says Derek Brown, an Internet analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald. “They are larger, growing faster, and are more profitable than any company in the Internet sector by a wide margin.”

Google owes its growth mainly to its dominant share of the online advertising market. Google captures roughly 32% of the $21.4 billion in U.S. advertising spending, according to an Oct. 16 report by research firm eMarketer. Google is especially adept at search advertising, which comprises more than 40% of the U.S. online advertising market.

Now Google is racing to gain a larger slice of other forms of online advertising, including display advertising, the term given to ads that run in a fixed spot on a Web page. That’s why Google agreed to acquire ad network DoubleClick for $3.1 billion (BusinessWeek.com, 9/28/07) earlier this year.
New Ad Forays Won’t Come Cheap

Google is also taking steps to get into video advertising, a segment that eMarketer estimates could comprise more than 13% of the online advertising market in four years, up from 8.2% this year. In August, Google announced plans to embed ads in YouTube videos. “We have a really nice ad that shows up in the bottom half of the video,” Google co-founder Sergey Brin said during the analyst call.

Google’s forays into other advertising arenas are still early, and its success is by no means guaranteed. A deal that lets Google place ads on News Corp.’s (NWS) social network, MySpace, is going well, according to Google, but it’s still not a resounding success. “It is obviously a challenge because there is so much inventory and people can be distracted by many different things,” Google co-founder Larry Page said on the conference call. “So there are a lot of things that make it hard.”

One thing that makes it difficult to carve a slice of new areas of advertising is the cost. Google executives have pledged that they will continue to spend money on the infrastructure improvements and the personnel necessary to innovate around new ad formats. During the earnings call, CFO Reyes cautioned analysts that such investment could take a toll. “Margins may decline as we continue to invest in our business,” said Reyes.
Analysts Worry About Spending

Despite the blockbuster quarter, analysts expressed some concern that Google may be investing too much, too quickly. During the call, several analysts posed pointed questions about Google’s decision to hire an additional 2,100 employees during the quarter. Google blamed a less-than-amazing performance last July in part on hiring more aggressively than it had initially planned (BusinessWeek.com, 7/20/07). Chief Executive Eric Schmidt tried to allay concerns, saying, “this is an area where we need to spend more time and focus on what is the appropriate rate…We are paying a lot of attention to head count.”

But for now, it’s hard for even cautious analysts to be negative about Google’s numbers.

Features

Cell Phone Type Camera, Digital Player, FM Radio, GPS, Push to Talk,

Bluetooth, MP3, Video
Cell Network Technology WCDMA, GSM
Wireless Technology Infrared, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Synchronization SyncML
Supported Memory MicroSD
Megapixels 3.2 Megapixels
Talk Time 5 hrs.
Standby Time 14 days
Operating System Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 3.1 Edition
Supported Media Format RealVideo and RealAudio (RealMedia), MPEG-4, 3gp,

H.263 video and AMR audio, H.264, AAC, Real Audio, AMR, MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player, Radio
Connector Types Audio / video out, DC power input, USB, Mini-USB Type B
Messaging POP3, IMAP4, SMTP, MMS
Additional Features Built-in Stereo Speakers, Push-to-talk Mode
Antenna Style Integrated
Digital Camera Yes
Included Accessories Hands-free Headset
Included Functions two digital cameras / digital player / FM radio / GPS

receiver
Memory Type Flash
Network Technology WCDMA (UMTS), GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Voice Dialing Yes
Vibrating Alert Yes

Digital Camera Features Digital Zoom  20 X

Display Display Features Wallpaper, Screensaver, Backlit
Display Type LCD
Display Resolution 800 x 352 Pixels
Display Color Support Color

Power Managment Battery Technology Lithium Ion

General Product Info Height 5.2 in
Width 2.2 in
Depth 0.8 in
Weight 7.4 oz
Also known as Nokia E90, Nokia
Manufacturer Part No. E90
Dimension 5.2 in x 2.2 in x 0.8 in (HxWxD)

Features Product Line BlackBerry Pearl
Cell Phone Type Smartphone
Cell Network Technology GSM
Wireless Technology Bluetooth
Supported Memory MicroSD
Megapixels 1.3 Megapixels
Operating System BlackBerry Handheld Software
Screen Size 2.8 in.
Supported Media Format MIDI, AMR, AAC +, MP3, AAC
Key Functions Digital Camera
Messaging MMS, E-Mail, SMS, WWW
Digital Camera Yes
Network Technology GSM 850/900/1800/1900

Digital Camera Features Digital Zoom  5 X

Display Display Type TFT active matrix
Display Resolution 320 x 240

Power Managment Battery Technology Lithium

General Product Info Height 4.2 in
Width 2 in
Depth 0.6 in
Weight 3.2 oz
Warranty Information 1 year warranty 
Base Warranty 1 year warranty 
Also known as Blackberry, Research In Motion CNETRIMPEARL
Manufacturer Part No. 8100
Model Pearl 8100
UPC 610214613370
Company Info RIM
Dimension 4.2 in x 2 in x 0.6 in (HxWxD)

Cell Phone Type	Camera, Digital Player, Bluetooth, MP3, Video
Cell Network Technology	GSM
Supported Memory	MicroSD
Talk Time	2.7 hrs.
Supported Media Format	MPEG-4, 3gp, WAV, AAC, MP3
Messaging	MMS, EMS
Antenna Style	Integrated
Digital Camera	Yes
Included Functions	digital camera / digital player
Phone Book Capacity	1000 Names & Numbers

Digital Zoom

2 X

Display Type	LCD
Display Resolution	240 x 320 Pixels

Battery Technology

Lithium Ion

Height	3.9 in
Width	2 in
Weight	4.2 oz
Manufacturer Part No.	KE970
Dimension	3.9 in x 2 in x 0.6 in (HxWxD)

Features Product Line iPhone
Cell Phone Type Camera, Digital Player, Bluetooth, MP3
Carrier AT&T Wireless
Cell Network Technology GSM
Wireless Technology Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Megapixels 2.0 Megapixels
Talk Time 8 hrs.
Standby Time 10.4 days
Operating System OS X
Screen Size 3.5 in.
Storage Capacity 8 GB
Supported Media Format H.264, Apple Lossless, WAV, AAC, AIFF, MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player
Connector Types Headset jack, Mini-phone 3.5 mm
Messaging POP3, IMAP4
Antenna Style Integrated
Digital Camera Yes
Hard Drive Capacity 8 GB
Included Accessories Cleaning Cloth, Hands-free Headset
Included Functions digital camera / digital player
Network Technology GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband)
Special Features Available June 2007

Display Display Type LCD
Display Resolution 320 x 480 Pixels
Display Color(s) White
Display Color Support Color

General Product Info Height 4.6 in
Width 2.4 in
Depth 0.7 in
Weight 4.8 oz
Also known as Apple, Apple iPhone
Manufacturer Part No. MA712LL/A
Company Info Apple
Dimension 4.6 in x 2.4 in x 0.7 in (HxWxD)

Features Product Line RAZR:
Cell Phone Type Bluetooth, Camera, Digital Player
Carrier Cingular
Cell Network Technology GSM
Wireless Technology Bluetooth
Talk Time 7.2 hrs.
Standby Time 12.1 days
Screen Size 2.2 in.
Supported Media Format MPEG-4
Key Functions Digital Camera
Connector Types USB, Mini-USB Type B
Messaging POP3, IMAP4, SMTP
Additional Features Intelligent Typing (Itap), Mpeg4 Video Playback, Video Clip Recording
Antenna Style Integrated
Body Material Aluminum alloy
Colors Black
Digital Camera Yes
Included Functions digital camera
Network Technology GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband)
Phone Book Capacity 1000 Names & Numbers
Voice Dialing Yes
Vibrating Alert Yes

Digital Camera Features Digital Zoom  4 X

Display Display Type LCD
Display Resolution 176 x 220 Pixels
Display Color Support Color
Display Capacity (Lines) 9

Power Managment Battery Technology Lithium Ion

General Product Info Height 3.9 in
Width 2.1 in
Depth 0.6 in
Weight 3.4 oz
Also known as Motorola RAZR, Motorola v3black
Manufacturer Part No. v3black
Model Razr V3
UPC 723755930216
Dimension 3.9 in x 2.1 in x 0.6 in (HxWxD)

Steve thanks everybody, and we’re out! Thanks for joining us. We’ll be live at 7pm ET / 4 pm PT with today’s talkcast covering all the announcements.

Playing “You’ve Got A Friend In Me.”

“I’ll always root against corporations, but not this one.” “I actually wrote a big love theme [for Toy Story] but they cut Buzz and Woody’s big love scene.”

MacBook Air product page is up, as Randy is talking about CNBC and Steve’s inherent humanity.

“That was about the toughest act to follow,” says Randy. “I once did the David Frost show after the Flying Wallendas, and that was hard.”

Wow, Randy is really going edgy with the ethnic comments about the Supreme Court. Scott says “Interesting choice.”

Wow, let’s have a more downbeat song for this gig, OK Randy? This is not dragging the crowd into a funk or anything, so try to darken it a bit if you could. Sing more about dictators and malaria, thanks big guy.

We’re singing about America. Talking, mostly, kinda singing.

Randy is honored to be here. Might have brushed his hair, it’s a pretty big room.

Randy Newman! Bingo. “You’ve got a friend in Apple…”

Hollywood and music… hmm.

We’re reviewing now. Time Capsule, iPhone/touch updates, Movie rentals, AppleTV 2, and the skinny laptop. All in 2 weeks, and there are 50 more weeks to go. No one more thing — but a special treat!

Laptop line includes three machines — MacBook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air. Very impressive indeed.

Greenpeace lady is squealing, as Steve is now giving an environmental update. Alumnum case, bromide free motherboard.

TV ad takes laptop out of an envelope. That’s some interoffice mail for you right there.

$1799. 2 weeks out. Poor Nik! He was ready to buy one.

Three pounds is magnificent. 2 GB RAM standard, 80 GB HD standard.

Battery life 5 hours! Whoof.

Want to install software? New feature: all Macs or PCs in the network that have a CD mounted. Very sneaky, “Scott’s MacBook” in screen shot, Scott is excited.

USB powered optical drive. But Steve thinks most people won’t need it.

10:20 Smaller 75 watt power adaptor. Has a USB 2 port a micro-DV port, a headphone jack, and it comes with WiFi (n) and Bluetooth.

10:19 Paul Otellini takes the stage, thanks Steve and gives him one of the new tiny chips as a memento.

10 17 Entire motherboard is as long as a pencil, and uses the Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 Ghz standard with 1.8 as an option, if you want. Apple has a great relationship with Intel and they turned to Intel for some help with getting the chip in the MacBook Air. They wanted the Core 2 Duo in the MacBook Air, but they needed the chip to be smaller, and Intel made it 60% smaller, which is crazy.

10:16: How did we fit a Mac in here? Steve is puzzled. They put a 1.8 inch harddrive. 80 gig is standard with an option of 64 gig solid state disk (pricey but fast).

Multitouch trackpad!! Rotate and scale pics, panning. Pinch for zoom.

10:13 Magnetic inch, 13.3″ wide screen. Built-in iSight. Black keyboard, full size. Backlit!

The reveal — it’s incredibly thin.

Chris Ullrich said yesterday it fit inside an interoffice envelope — and that’s what’s on the screen.

.76″ to 0.16 inches thin? Ouch — that could cut your hands!!!

Apple aiming for 3 pound machine, with better performance, full size keyboard, larger display, higher performance than Sony.

Thinner than Sony TZ, which is 0.8 to 1.2 inches.

A third notebook — MacBook Air. World’s Thinnest notebook.

10:08: Something in the air — it’s a notebook.

10:05 I’ll say this for Jim; he’s more compelling than Stan Sigman.

10:03 “People want easy access to movies.” Homer Simpson slide. iDonut. “This is the coolest idea we’ve ever heard [movie rentals].”

10:02 First studio for movie rentals was 20th Century Fox. Introducing Jim Gianopulos, Chairman of Fox.

9:59 Clearly this is what AppleTV was meant to be all along. Awesome. And a free upgrade!!! Plus the new price of AppleTV is $229. Shipping in 2 weeks. By the way, credit to Nik for the pictures. Well done!

9:58 The HD skiing podcast was off the hook. Boom! Teton Gravity Research, a guy parachuting off a mountain. Yeesh.

9:58 Oops, no Flickr photo for the user slideshow! Heh.

HD podcasts, HD .Mac videos, all no computer involved.

Renting music videos now.

9:50 We’re watching Blades of Glory. That’s nice. Now Live Free or Die Hard in HD. So much for that helicopter.

9:46 New interface for AppleTV. “Top Movies.” Star Trek has its own header.

9:43 That sound you heard was the HD-DVD coalition lead falling over and hitting his head. Christina says “Where’s the DTS sound?” 5.1 Dolby will have to be enough for the rest of us. Buy TV shows, Flickr + .Mac photos all on your AppleTV.

9:42 What if I want to watch on TV? “All of us have tried.” AppleTV Take 2! Now with movies. No computer is required, you can rent movies directly. Rent in DVD quality or HD!!!! Big cheers.

9:41 $2.99 to rent library titles, $3.99 for new. Demo time! Can sync movies one at a time to the iPod. Handy. Launches today! International later this year.

9:40 “So what’s the deal?” 1000 films at launch in February, 30 day countdown after DVD release. Movies will be watchable immediately on streaming. 30 days to start watching, 24 hours to finish. Transfer to iPod while watching.

9:39 There’s crying in the keynote — not from us, from a nearby baby. Poor kid doesn’t like movie rentals, apparently.

9:37 Studios!!! Adding Fox, WB, Paramount, Universal and Sony. Dang. “We have every major studio.” All first run films.

9:36 iTunes Movie Rentals! “A better way to provide movies to our customers.”

9:36 20 million songs sold on 12/25 on iTunes, 4 B songs total, 125 M TV shows, 7 M movies — but movies, despite being ahead of everyone else, did not meet expectations.

9:35 Daring Fireball was right about iPod Touch upgrades and the accounting practices.

9:34 What about the iPod touch? Adding Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather. Maps will include WiFi location. Webclips too. $20 upgrade! Whoof.

9:32 Chapter navigation for iPhone videos, and subtitle/audio language options. Available today as a free update for all iPhones. [cheering]

9:31 Skyhook Wireless is providing the location data, via WiFi triangulation, and Google handling the cell tower triangulation. Veddy nice.

9:31 Up to nine home screens. Very cool. Jiggly icons are a little disconcerting though.

9:30 Now Steve has a NYT button on the home screen. Sweet! Now it’s time to do the wiggle. All the icons are wobbling! Creepy.

9:28 Webclips demo. Go to Safari on iPhone, going to Google to demo new iGoogle UI. Little “+” button on the browser, lets you add to home screen. Now demoing NYT.

9:27 Demo of multi-recipient SMS. Steve says “Hi.”

9:26 Directions to Apple Store on iPhone. No indication of where there are ATMs along the route. Pins for maps available.

9:25 Steve is demoing location in Google Maps. “Zhuuup. There we are.” Getting directions back to Apple. No, don’t leave yet Steve!!

9:25 Scott admits GearLive was right about 1.1.3, offers to buy Andru Edwards a smoothie.

9:23 SDK coming in ‘late February.’ New features rolling out! Maps with location for iPhone. Webclips. Customize home screens. SMS multiple recipients. Chapters for video. Karaoke mode! (Lyrics displayable)

9:22: in iPhone’s first quarter, RIM had 39% share, iPhone had 19.5% share. Sheesh. If you add the share of the next 3 vendors, just about 20%. That’s astonishing. “When Dec. quarter numbers come out, we think we’ll have done even better.”

9:21 2nd product time… iPhone. Wooo. 200 days since iPhone shipped. 4 million iPhones sold. 20,000 a day. That’s a lot of bling. Maybe too much. No, not too much.

9:20 Time Machine ad running. That’s a lot of Justin Long, maybe too much.

9:19 Steve mistakenly says 500 MB drive, much giggling. $299/$499 for 500GB/1TB Time Capsules, shipping in Feb.

9:18 If you had “Apple ships a NAS” on bingo, you win. Backup wirelessly to one Time Capsule for all the Macs in your house.

9:18 Companion product to Time Machine! Time Capsule — a backup appliance, an Airport Extreme with an HD.

9:17 Giggles at PC magazine rave for Leopard. Applause for MS Office 2008. “Last big app to go native on Intel.”

9:16 We’re quoting Walt Mossberg and David Pogue on Leopard. Woo!

9:15 Four things to talk about today. Leopard: 5M copies shipped. Most successful Mac OS X release ever. Almost 20% of installed base has upgraded — unprecedented.

9:15 “Thank You.”

9:14 Steve is here! Something in the air. We’re looking back at 2007. “An awesome year for Apple.”

9:14 PC & Mac video! 2007 in review. Terrible year for PC. “PC will copy everything Mac did in 2007.”

9:13 lights dimming! Or Scott is having some sort of stroke.

9:10 — VIP and press seating continues. Music is “1234.” Boom!

9:08 — Music is cover of The Smiths “Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before.” A theme is emerging.

9:04 — Nik reports that the general admission crowd is still working its way into the room. Music: Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Hopefully not an omen.

8:56 — Seen in line: Dan Lyons, Steven Levy. Follow us on Twitter or join the IRC chat to send questions back to the show!

8:54 PT — We’re inside. Media scrum heading for seats. Coldplay on the PA, crowd shots on the monitors. Here with Scott McNulty, John Gruber, John Moltz and a whole lot of press.

—-
The action starts here shortly before 9 am PT on Tuesday (12 noon ET) — don’t miss it! You’ll want the chance to see how on- or off-base our keynote predictions were.

For instant updates on all our Macworld Expo 2008 coverage, you can follow TUAW on Twitter (fastest way: text “FOLLOW TUAW” to 40404 on your mobile phone), or add our Macworld feed to a Pingie subscription. We’ll be talkcasting, vlogging and liveblogging all week long.

Steve Jobs took the stage to kick off the annual Macworld Expo today. As usual, he brought with him a crushing amount of buzz and a pile of new product announcements. Here’s what we’ll be seeing from Apple, starting today!

MacBook Air

As widely expected, Apple is launching an ultra-thin notebook called the MacBook Air. At 0.76″ thick at its widest point, the three-pound Air has a wedgelike shape that tapers down to 0.16″ thick at the front base. LED backlighting on its 13.3-inch screen, multi-touch trackpad (which offers some nifty features like rotating photos, all in the touchpad), and a backlit keyboard. Specs are decent: 1.6 or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (on a cleverly shrunken socket), 2GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive (or 64GB SSD option). No optical drive (of course), and just one USB port. It’ll set you back $1,799, which is on the inexpensive side for ultralight notebooks with specs like this. Ships in two weeks.

(By the way, as great as the MacBook Air sounds, calling this the “world’s thinnest notebook” is hyperbole: The Sony X505 was 0.75″ thick… and it was released in 2003.)

iPhone Software Upgrades

Apple isn’t resting on its cell phone laurels; after selling 4 million iPhones, it’s adding new features to the existing software package (including webclips, which will bookmark not just a web page but a specific zoom and pan and then let you place them on your home screen; multiple recipient SMS; and lyrics support for iTunes). Nothing major, but some nice, incremental upgrades to the existing software. iPod Touch gets the same upgrades as the iPhone, but it will cost you $20.

NOT announced: iPhone 2!

iTunes Movie Rentals

As widely rumored, Apple is launching a movie rental service to complement its TV and movie sales service as part of iTunes. All major studios are on board. Titles will be available 30 days after their DVD release and can be viewed on a PC or your iPod/iPhone. You have 30 days to start watching and 24 hours after that to finish. The price: $3.99 for new releases, $2.99 for old titles. Launches today. (Hey, that Netflix deal is looking pretty good!)

Also: The flagging Apple TV will get the same rental features, without the need for a computer. You’ll also be able to get photos from Flickr and .Mac, podcasts, and YouTube videos via Apple TV. It will still sync with your computer via iTunes, but that isn’t required if you just want to use it to watch web content. It also does high-definition… but rentals will run you a whopping $4.99 each. The Apple TV features will be a free software update to existing boxes (available in two weeks). New boxes drop in price to $229 from $299.

Time Capsule Wireless Hard Drive

Also announced: A wireless external hard drive designed to be used as a backup solution (with Apple’s Time Machine backup software). $299 (500GB) and $499 (1TB).

It’s time to kiss my beautiful jailbreaked iPhone goodbye and to surrender to the inevitability of the 1.1.3 update. Goodbye delightful shell access. Goodbye beautiful 3rd party applications. I’m upgrading for the sake of my readers–and hopefully downgrading soon after! Read on for the liveblog…

2:15 - Before getting started, I’m doing backing up parts of my iPhone disk. I’ve also put a few symbolic links in place–more out of hope than conviction that possibly I can use them to access my disk. I’m aware that the 1.1.3 upgrade will change my baseband software and that downgrading after 1.1.3 will probably lock my baseband and make it impossible to use my iPhone as an actual phone, so be aware of this if you chose to upgrade.

2:30 - I’m downloading the upgrade after having agreed to whatever terms and conditions Apple threw up there in iTunes. It looks like the download is going to take about 20 minutes total. Time to go get some Diet Coke, the liquid fuel of Champions. Direct download is here for the iPhone 1.1.3 restore file.

2:40 - iTunes says 10 minutes remaining…

2:50 - 37 seconds remaining. Schramm already has his icons wiggling. I am jealous.

2:55 - Fully downloaded, ready to install. I begin the update, with a heavy heart and a leaden stomach. “Preparing iPhone for Software Update”…”Updating iPhone Software”…..It’s at the part where I see the white Apple logo and the progress indicator spinning in a circle…Verifying updated iPhone software…Updating iPhone firmware…

3:00 - My iPhone has been updated and is restarting. I’m now being prompted for my AT&T/Cingular Account info. Hmmmm…. I have to enter my current mobile number, my zip code, and the last 4 digits of my social security number. Sheesh. Can you say BIG BROTHER?

3:01 - “Please wait while AT&T validates your account. This may take up to 1 minute.” As far as iTunes is concerned, I’m now in but Bologna is waiting for activation from AT&T.

3:03 - New Welcome message: “Edit Home Screen”. It tells me that I can touch & hold any icon until it wiggles (hi Mike!) and drag it to wherever I want. Press “Home” when done. Okay. RIP a major part of XLaunch’s functionality.

3:05 - Hmm. Isn’t this interesting. I connect via iPhuc and I can see my entire disk. No, maybe not. Darn!

3:10 - I go to Safari. I has an interesting new layout, with the bookmark add feature at the bottom of the page. It complains because having upgraded it no longer is patched to open local files, which was the last page I displayed.

3:15 - I’m heading back to iTunes, doing an option-Update and selecting the 1.1.2 firmware. Let’s see how a downgrade goes….”The iPhone could not be updated. An unknown error occurred.” The iPhone now goes into recovery mode. I have connected it to iPhuc and issued a cmd fsboot. And it reboots just fine out of recovery mode. Still running 1.1.3. I’m guessing I’ll need to do a restore rather than a recovery–and jailbreakable 1.1.1 is probably my best bet.

3:20 - Custom ringtones were not affected–neither the ones from iTunes or the ones from SendSong. The modem firmware is 04.03.13_G.

3:25 - Restore. I’m attempting to do a restore (not update) back to 1.1.1. Lets see how that goes. Nope, another error. Not happening. Tried again, another failure. Back to iPhuc and cmdfsboot.

3:30 Thanks to iPhuc, I’m back in business. But still running 1.1.3.

3:35 On Nate True’s advice, I’m trying the WTF method. I’ve manually used iPhuc to enter recovery mode, then did a filecopytophone of the 1.1.1 WTF dfu file from my 1.1.1 restore file. I then issued cmd go, connected to iTunes and tried the restore from the 1.1.1 file.

As you probably know, the ipsw files you download from Apple are actually zip archives. Inside the archive in the DFU folder is a file whose name starts with WTF. It’s this file that I used with the filecopytophone command.

3:38 Verifying Software…And I get the (expected) 1015 error. Now, I’m connecting to iPhuc and just issued a cmd fsboot. Maybe it will work? Nope, not this time. Still stuck in recovery mode. Trying again… Back to Verifying…If I get 1015 again, I’m going to try Independence. Connecting to Independence now…And it works!

3:50 Connecting to iTunes…iTunes says I don’t have a proper SIM (which I do, perfectly legal AT&T SIM). Back to INdependence.

3:55 I’m busy trying to jailbreak and get into 1.1.1. Unfortunately, jailbreakme.com isn’t quite working…Another try and I’m IN. Settings > General > About and I’m clearly running 1.1.1 and Installer.app is on Springboard!

Reader Jose writes: “Looks like you can get the lyrics to come up (assuming your song already has them) by tapping on the “Cover” while holding the iPhone vertically. There is no lyric display I can find in the horizontal “Cover Flow” mode or in the “Song List” mode.”

4:05 I’m reinstalling both the BSD Subsystem and SSH under 1.1.1 for the moment.

4:10 I’ve OktoPrepped and added another symlink and am reupgrading back to 1.1.3. Be aware that after you upgrade/downgrade that you will get INTERMINABLE “Wrong SIM messages”. Damn you Apple.

4:15 And I’m back to 1.1.3. That’s a wrap for now guys. More as I explore… (No, the Oktoprep and symbolic link were both complete dead ends. There is no working jailbreak for 1.1.3 at this time.)

Verizon Wireless has announced their upcoming mobile phone range as they aim to take on AT&T this holiday season.AT&T is expected to have a major advantage with their exclusive deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in the US market.

Verizon confirmed that they would be offering LG Voyager mobile device along with several other exciting mobile products.

The LG Voyager mobile phone supports faster wireless Web access and features a large touch screen.

Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman spoke about Voyager: “We think it’ll be the best phone … this year. It will kill the iPhone.”

The other phones in the pipeline are Samsung Juke and LG Venus.