Smartphones Now Ringing for Women – Laura M. Holson, NY Times

If recent history is any guide, roughly a third of the people snapping up Apple’s new iPhone are likely to tote it in a purse.

In the last year the number of American women using smartphones more than doubled to 10.4 million, growing at a faster pace than among men, according to Nielsen Mobile, which tracks wireless trends.

Apple’s $199 iPhone: How Can It Be So Cheap? – Yardena Arar, PC World

“There are probably subsidization issues going on here,” he said. In fact, AT&T in a news release issued today hinted that it would be taking a hit on revenues from device sales in hopes of increased profits down the line from data services to what’s anticipated to be a huge customer base.

“In the near term, AT&T anticipates that the new agreement will likely result in some pressure on margins and earnings, reflecting the costs of subsidized device pricing, which, in turn, is expected to drive increased subscriber volumes,” the news release states. It also points out that AT&T will no longer share revenue on iPhone services with Apple, and that the cost of an unlimited data plan for consumers will rise from the current $20 a month to $30 a month (on top of a voice plan available for $40 or more).”

This appears to be a razors and razor blades strategy with Apple picking up the extra commission. In rural areas with no 3g coverage this seems like a bad deal.

TomTom says navigation app already runs on iPhone – Reuters

Dutch navigation device maker TomTom already has a version of its navigation software running on Apple’s iPhone and has plans to sell it to consumers, a spokesman said on Monday.

The spokesman did not say when TomTom, Europe’s biggest maker of car navigation devices, would be ready to start selling the software.

Active navigation will be an important application for accelerating iPhone adoption and will facilitate active search.

Google Mobile Advertising: Start Now! – David Szetela, Search Engine Watch

The first concept to grasp: mobile search ads can evoke three different actions:

– Retail businesses that finish many/most of their transactions by phone, such as take-out restaurants, florists, or taxi companies.
– B2B businesses that crave phone leads. Sure, they need to have the processes and infrastructure to qualify and (hopefully) close clients within a call or tow — but many businesses do.
– B2C companies whose aspects straddle the previous two, like professional services: legal, financial, investment, etc.

Cell Services Keep It Easy, and Free – David Pogue, NY Times

A good overview of GOOG-411, Cha-Cha and Jott