AT&T glitch limits iPhone 4 upload speeds

In the latest snag for the iPhone 4, AT&T Inc. said Wednesday a software defect in its network is limiting data uploads from the phone in some areas.

That means it takes longer for users to send pictures, video and other content from the phone.

Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 4 went on sale in the United States and a few other countries two weeks ago. Last week Apple acknowledged that holding the phone in a certain way might reduce its wireless performance, and that all iPhones show the wrong signal strength in some situations.

Dallas-based AT&T said yesterday a software glitch in network equipment made by Alcatel-Lucent is to blame for limiting the upload speeds of the iPhone 4. AT&T said a fix is in the works.

Because Alcatel-Lucent isn't the only supplier of base station equipment to AT&T, the problem only affects some areas. An AT&T spokesman said the flaw affects 2 percent of the phone company's customer base.

The iPhone 4 is the first phone designed to take full advantage of an upload-speeding technology that AT&T put in place in 2008. In theory, it's capable of uploads that are 10 times faster than those of the previous iPhone model.

Separately, Apple has booted a developer and his apps from its applications store after hundreds of hijacked user accounts were used to push his titles to bestsellers.

Thuat Nguyen has been banned for violating an Apple license agreement, "including fraudulent purchases," Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said Tuesday. About 400 iTunes users were affected.

Technology blogs said some iTunes users unwittingly had their accounts used to buy Nguyen's book apps, which at one point occupied 42 of the top 50 book apps sold in the store. Muller said iTunes' servers, which hold credit card data for iTunes' 150 million users, were not compromised. Nguyen could not be reached for comment.