This pioneering web application from Travelocity allows Apple iPhone and iPod touch users to effortlessly administer their Travelocity schedule by getting up-to-the-minute information on local weather, maps, traffic, flight status, airport driving directions and TSA security point wait times via Safari browser. This web application is also available via Apple’s web application site.

The good internet connectivity in iPhones makes web search in search engine applications like Google a stimulating experience. The recent revelation by Google about iPhones users generating 50 times more searches than any other mobile handset is surely to encourage many others like Travelocity to offer services through iPhone internet services.

Travelocity has strategically chosen iPhone as the medium to expand business opportunities. Since the

travel industry all over the world is poised to be a great revenue generator, the easy availability of online travel information on the tips of your finger will definitely be an asset for iPhones users. At the same time, it will also be the quickest way to reach out to the millions of users for Travelocity.As Apple Inc. faces tough competition from rivals in the likes of Nokia, Google and Microsoft every other day, it is in constant need of adding new applications to the iPhone. And, initiatives like Travelocity can definitely add value to the iPhone. Apple is so appreciative of the new application feature ‘My Trip’ from Travelocity for iPhone and iPod touch; that it has marked it featured as ‘Staff Pick’ at the Apple website.

Now, users can easily plan their trips, from hotel bookings to airline travel by just moving their fingers over the places they want to visit, in the interactive screen. You can also have detailed information about the place they would like to visit along with the images.

O2 is also introducing a £75 deal, with 3,000 minutes and 500 text messages.

Apple slashed the US price two months after the iPhone’s launch, sparking rumours of slowing sales.

But the manufacturer later announced that it had sold one million iPhones ahead of its target date of the end of September. The phone had gone on sale in July.

UK customers will be switched automatically to the new deals by mid-March.

Fast-selling

Those on the £35 deal will see their allowances increase from 200 minutes and 200 text messages, to 600 minutes and 500 texts.

Users paying £55 a month will enjoy a £10 cut on a tariff offering 1,200 minutes and 500 texts.

Sally Cowdry, O2 UK marketing director, said: “The iPhone is already our fastest ever selling device and this added value will allow us to appeal to an even greater segment of the market - it is an unbeatable proposition.”

Contracts for existing customers are to continue for their 18-month term, but there will be no compensation for the previous period offering fewer minutes and texts.

Apple compensated US owners with $100 (£50) vouchers after cutting $200 (£100) off the price of the eight-gigabyte version of the iPhone.

Users may not be able to add Apple features to an unlocked phone

An Apple software update is disabling iPhones that have been unlocked by owners who wanted to choose which mobile network to use. Earlier this week Apple said a planned update would leave the device “permanently inoperable”.

Thousands of iPhone owners hacked their expensive gadget in order to unlock it for use with other mobile carriers and to run a host of unsupported programs.

There are also reports of the update causing issues with unaltered iPhones.

On Monday Apple issued a statement in which it said many of the unauthorised iPhone unlocking programs caused “irreparable damage” to the device’s software.

The company said this would “likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed”.

That warning has now proved correct as many owners are reporting their phones no longer work following installation of the update.

Apple requires iPhone owners to take out a lengthy contract with AT&T in the United States but there are a number of programs on the net that unlock the device for use with other networks.

Some owners are reporting on technology blogs and Apple’s own forums that the update is deleting contacts information, as well as photos and music, on iPhones that have not been modified in any way.

Anthony Rose, head of digital media technology, described the development as a major change for portable television.

Rose and Ashley Highfield, director of future media and technology, made the announcement as they released the latest usage figures for iPlayer, which officially launched at Christmas, and bbc.co.uk.

There were more than 11m streams and downloads from more than 2.2m different users during January. It pushed the average UK visitors to bbc.co.uk every week to 20m, which was up 29% on last year and, Highfield said, could make it one of the top two websites in the country.

“We’ve seen a good and sustained growth in the number of programmes being watched which last week reached over 500,000 in one day,” he added.

bbc.co.uk has traditionally trailed Google and MSN in website visits. “This we believe will maybe take us up to the next slot,” said Highfield.

Other iPlayer developments will include:

• New branded highlights channels on Yahoo, Blinx and MSN, linking back to the iPlayer.
• Redesigned service front page from today to feature most popular and recent show lists.
• On Virgin Media next month.
• High definition programmes “in the plan for this year”.
• Looking at “bookmarking” system where shows could be set to download automatically immediately after they air.
• The BBC Trust is considering if and how to link the public service iPlayer with Project Kangaroo, the under-development commercial video on demand service.

The iPlayer will be available on the iPhone and Touch in “the next few weeks”. Rose said of the development: “It will be the first of a transformation in people streaming long-form content onto a portable device.”

It will only work through wifi and is possible because of the devices’ good web support. Rose said the BBC would decide whether to extend to other mobiles depending on their platforms and reach.

Highfield said there was potential to extend the iPlayer to pay-TV platforms other than Virgin. However, the BBC will insist all iPlayer shows are taken, not just a selection, and that they are within a BBC-branded environment.

He also said that, despite the huge demand for video caused by the iPlayer, it had caused no problems for bandwidth and infrastructure: “This is something that’s really important to us. We had numerous conversations with the ISPs about how to make sure the audience got a good experience.

“They have gone on record saying there is plenty of capacity and our impact is negligible.”