The response to our iPhone 3G givaway has been tremendous. We love all the new action in our forums and we fully expect it to continue after this week — which is to say that The iPhone Blog adores you and will continue to treat you right, stay tuned for future contests in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the time has come to announce the winner of our contest as chosen randomly via random.org. It’s iLoveiPhones! Check your inbox for an email from me and we’ll set you up with the $400 Gift Card we promised so you can be all set for Friday. Happy? Happy! Joy? Joy!

The air of contest finality is thick and we’re going to make it thicker still: this is our final Wait-a-Thon post: comment here for your last chance to win a $100 iTunes gift card. We’ll be sending out the final gift cards tonight (yes, it’s still tough what with Apple’s limit to the # we can buy in a month, but we figured out a workaround).

So congratulate iLoveiPhones (a username so good it’s gotta be kismet) and let us know: once the iPhone 3G is really and truly out, what sort of stuff do you want TiPb to cover in the coming weeks and months? Are apps king? Shall we pit the iPhone 3G against every other darn smartphone out there, one by one? Should we continue to bring you tips and tricks? What’ll it be?

Update: Looks like we made somebody’s day.

I’m never gonna forget this day. Thanks so much to everyone here at the iPhone forum and the staff at the iPhone Blog. Couldn’t have done it without you guys. Being someone who’s never won anything, this is quite a day!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The Winner of our iPhone 3G contest is….

[Note: This a a Wait-A-Thon post! Comment on this post -- or any post tagged "Wait-a-Thon" -- for your chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card! Note that you must post with a valid and real email address so we can send you your prize -- no switching!]

More and more people are switching to the iPhone. They’re switching from Palm and Windows Mobile and Blackberry smartphones to the iPhone. They’re switching carriers to get the iPhone. And now that the next-gen iPhone 3G is all but upon us, and more and more regions are announcing their plans and pricing, the switching is only going to get faster and more furious.

To celebrate the switchers, those who dare to phone different, the iPhone Blog wants to help you get your content off your old, perhaps restrictive and outdates systems, and onto your shiny, new iPhone.

We’ve already gone over how to move your music, movies, and other media to iTunes, so now it’s time to get with the data: contacts, calendars, and email.

Read on to find out how!

This article assumes you’re switching from another smartphone, like Blackberry, Windows Mobile, or Palm, and are new to the iTunes + iPod (and iPhone!) ecosystem. It also assumes you’re a dedicated Windows user or someone who just recently switched from Windows to the Mac and needs to transfer content to an iPhone.

Since longtime iPod (and Mac) aficionados will almost certainly already be using iTunes and the typical Mac applications, your iPhone will sync your content via iTunes the same as it would any other iPod. And, hey, if you’re a Linux (or any other *nix) user, I figure you’ve kept your content open from the get-go, and already know 18 different ways to get it onto your unlocked, jailbroken iPhone hax0red with Open Moko anyway…

“Push” First: Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and Apple MobileMe

With iPhone firmware 2.0, everything changes. Why lead with this? Because if you intend to use either Exchange and/or MobileMe with your iPhone, you can read this section and you’re pretty much done. (Or at least you can skip ahead to photos at the end — though be sure to download iTunes anyway for your media). With Exchange and MobileMe (billed as Exchange for the rest of us), iTunes data sync is eliminated, cables are eliminated, and intermittent syncing becomes a thing of the past. With these “push” solutions, everything is automagically updated wirelessly (via WiFi or EDGE/HSPA cell network). Change something in Outlook and a few seconds later, your iPhone will show the same changes. Tweak some data on your iPhone, and a few seconds later, MobileMe’s website will show the same tweak.

(Not using ActiveSync or MobileMe? No worries. Skip to the next section and we’ll start setting up iTunes for local sync!)

So, to simply and easily set up most of your syncing using iPhone 2.0: tap Settings, tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars (Just Mail if you’re doing Exchange on iPhone 1.x), tap Add Account, and then select the type of account you would like to add.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

ActiveSync makes its debut with iPhone 2.0, and doesn’t function on the older, 1.x firmware, so if you intend to use it, make sure you have an iPhone 3G or have updated your original iPhone (2G) to the latest firmware as of July 11, 2008. To setup Exchange ActiveSync, tape the logo for it. If you’re using Exchange 2007 on the back end, you may be able to automatically set up your account. If you can’t, or are using an old version of Exchange — or just in general due to the complex and fussy nature of setting up an Exchange account in general — you’re best practice is to check with your Exchange administrator (or hosted service provider).

Apple MobileMe (formerly .Mac)

MobileMe, Apple’s replacement for .Mac and it’s “Exchange for the Rest of Us”. It will sync, wirelessly, over the air (OTA), contacts, calendars, mail, and photos between the iPhone and your Mac (with the aforementioned Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, and iPhoto) and/or PC (with Outlook). MobileMe will debut on July 11, 2008 alongside iPhone 3G and the 2.0 firmware, and should “just work” once you enter in your MobileMe username and password (previous users of .Mac will keep the same credentials, and will be able to use either user@mac.com or user@me.com interchangeably).

Local Sync: Getting iTunes

What Data Does iTunes Sync?

If you already have your data in Outlook, you’re good to go for the iPhone. If you have it in another application, or scattered among a few applications… well, we’ll get to that in a moment.

On the Mac side, iTunes “just works” with Apple’s default applications, Address Book, iCal, Mail.app, Safari, and iPhoto, or with Microsoft’s Entourage. Since sync services, contacts, calendaring, etc. are all “CoreServices” handled at the OS level, once you check the appropriate boxes in iTunes, the automagic process is almost transparent. You can even sync to Microsoft Office Entourage (Outlook’s ugly step-sibling on the Mac side) by syncing Entourage with the default apps via CoreServices.

Similarly, if you don’t have your data in these Mac apps yet, or have it scattered elsewhere, we’ll also get to that in a moment.

Now let’s break it down…

Syncing Your Contacts

These three protocols are all supported from directly within iTunes. If you have your contacts in one of them, simply choose the appropriate program from the drop-down in iTunes and your information will be moved right over to your iPhone.

From Apple OS X: Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book, and Google Contacts

On the Mac version of iTunes, you can check both Apple’s Address Book and Yahoo! Address Book if you so choose. (I keep things simple — and fear duplicates — so I recommend picking one and sticking with it.)

If you’re running OS X Leopard 10.5.3 or later, you can also sync your Gmail Contacts with your iPhone, using a more round-about method: launch Address Book, select Preferences from the Address Book menu, and check the box next to Synchronize with Google. Once set up, this will sync your Google Contacts to your Address Book, and then iTunes will sync them from Address Book to your iPhone.

From Everywhere Else: Thunderbird, Windows Live, Google Contacts

If you have your contacts in anything other than the above-mentioned programs or services, you’ll have to move them over before you can sync them with the iPhone. Many programs/services allow you to export CSV files or vCards, including: Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Windows Live, and Google Contacts.

Once you’ve got your export file, simply import the contacts back into Outlook, Address Book, Yahoo! Address Book and you’re golden.

Syncing Your Calendar

For reasons known only to Apple and Microsoft, Outlook is your only calendar/event choice for syncing with the iPhone. (The drop down is so far only a merciless tease at options yet (maybe never?) to come).

From Apple OS X: iCal

Like Windows, OS X provides only one option for calendar sync: iCal (and not even a drop down to tease more.) Check it and go.

From Everywhere Else: Google Calendar, Windows Calendar, etc.

Many popular Calendar programs are compatible with the iCalendar format, which allows you to publish and/or subscribe from one program (and even platform) to another. Using this feature, you can try to move your data over your iPhone. Here’s an example using Google Calendar:

You can subscribe to Google Calendars through Outlook on Windows, or use the Google Calendar Sync utility. Unfortunately the iPhone thus far doesn’t reliably sync from anything besides the Outlook default Calendar, which means the subscribed Google Calendar doesn’t get moved over unless you use a commercial product like the Paul Thurrott referenced SyncMyCal.

For Mac users a one way (Google to iPhone) work-around involves subscribing to your Google Calendar. From Google Calendar: Click on the Calendar Settings drop down, click on Private Address, and click on iCal to generate a private address for your Google Calendar especially designed for iCal. Copy the URL and open iCal. Inside iCal: Select the Calendar menu and click on Subscribe, then paste in the Private Address you copied from Google Calendar. Next time you sync, iCal will feed your Google Calendar to your iPhone. For bi-directional sync (Google to iPhone and iPhone to Google), there’s the commercial Spanning Sync, and you can try the demo before you buy.

Theoretically, you could also try exporting and importing XML, CSV, or another cross-program file, although in my experience this often requires a vast amount of work (and Googling, and message board begging…)

Syncing Your Email

Two options for Windows users, the ubiquitous Outlook and Windows Mail (which I believe is an “upgrade” to the horrible Outlook Express rather a desktop version of the far superior WIndows Live Mail — tsk tsk to both Apple and Microsoft).

From Apple OS X: Mail.app

Still only one choice from Apple OS X users, however: Apple’s default mail client, the eponymous Mail.app. Again, just one checkbox, to keep with the ultra simple groove. (Usability over options is a mantra).

From Everywhere Else: Google Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Microsoft Live/Hotmail, etc.

Yahoo! Mail can be setup as an IMAP email account on your iPhone, which means your Yahoo! Mail folders on your iPhone will exactly match your folders on Yahoo!’s website and vice versa. Also, Yahoo! provides “push” email for the iPhone, meaning changes to one will be reflected automatically and near-instantly in the other, just like Exchange ActiveSync and MobileMe (but without the calendar and contacts sync).

You can also set up your Gmail account, including the new Gmail IMAP service which works like Yahoo! Mail — but without the “push” — keeping your web, local client (i.e. Outlook, Mail, etc.), and web-based views synchronized at user-definable intervals (manually, every 10 minutes, etc.).

Unfortunately, since they don’t (to the best of my knowledge) surface any open, standard protocols like IMAP or POP, Microsoft Live/Hotmail accounts can’t easily be synced with the iPhone. Your options include signing up for a Yahoo! or Gmail account and manually moving the messages over to your new, IMAP-happy account, or you can try this free solution and see if it works for you.

For any ISP mail, you can simply set up the iPhone as a POP (or IMAP if they offer it — much better!) client.

Syncing Your Bookmarks

iTunes supports syncing over all your bookmarks from Internet Explorer (hopefully the much more secure and standards friendly IE 7, right?) and Windows Safari (Apple’s own browser). Hierarchies will be preserved, so think about how you’ll use your booksmarks both on the desktop and the iPhone, and organize a good middle ground.

From Apple Mac OS X: Safari

No choices here. Check Safari and move along.

From Everywhere Else: Firefox, Opera, etc.

If you’re using Firefox, Opera, or another Firefox-like (Mozilla Gecko powered), or Safari-like (Apple WebKit powered) browser, is to try and import your bookmarks into Internet Explorer or Safari (export first via HTML if you have to).

If you want to keep using Firefox (or another browser) for desktop use, there’s no way to keep your bookmarks synced, unfortunately, but you can delete the IE or Safari bookmarks (since you’re not using them) and re-import a fresh, updated set whenever you like.

Syncing Your Photos

For Windows users, the procedure to sync photos to the iPhone is as simple as it is non-powerful. Put all the photos you want to sync in a folder (or hierarchy of folders if you want to separate them out, e.g., Family, Friends, Birthday, etc.) and then select that folder in iTunes.

From Apple Mac OS X: iPhoto and Folder Sync

For Mac users, in addition to the folder sync described above, you can also chose to sync from Apple’s iPhoto application, either your complete library, or from selected sub-libraries.

From Everywhere Else: Yahoo! Flickr, Facebook, Google Picasa, etc.

If you keep your photo collection online (i.e. Flickr, Facebook, Photoshop Express, Windows Live, etc.), you’re going to have to target a desktop backup, or download the photos you want on your iPhone to a local directory. Put all the photos you want to sync in one folder, and make sure you note down the location of that folder (e.g. iPhone Photos). This will be the folder you target inside iTunes as described above.

For Picasa, make sure you organize all the pictures you want on your iPhone into one folder, or a hierachy of folders, and then that will be the folder your target from inside iTunes, also as described above.

Wait! Help! My Data is Stuck On My Phone!

From the Original iPhone (iPhone 2G) to iPhone 3G

Apple provides excellent directions for upgrading to the iPhone 3G.

From RIM Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Palm Treo (Windows Mobile OS)

Blackberry’s are data monsters. Data — all of it, all now, all the time — is the only reason for a Blackberry. It’s why RIM invented the Blackberry. Windows Mobile, whether running on a Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Palm, or whatever device, is made to integrate with other Microsoft products like Exchange, ActiveSync, and Outlook/Entourage. (Note: Always make sure you have the latest/greatest firmware, patches, updates, etc. from your phone carrier and platform provider).

From a Blackberry or ActiveSync perspective, pretty much all business users will have an Exchange server of one kind or another available to them. Just use ActiveSync on your new iPhone 2.0 and you’re good to go. (Check with IT if you have to, especially for the settings information).

If you don’t have a business Exchange server but you do have access to a Windows computer with Microsoft Outlook on it, sync your Blackberry to Outlook, then Outlook to your iPhone.

For Mac users, check out Markspace, which provides a variety of phone-specific syncing solutions especially for the Mac. They’re not free, but the time and effort they’ll save you are well worth it. (I used to it get my data off a Palm OS Treo 680 into the default Apple apps and it worked seamlessly).

If you don’ have any of the above available to you, try a hosted Exchange service, even temporarily. Sync your Blackberry data to that, then ActiveSync it to your new iPhone, and cancel the hosted Exchange service.

From Palm OS Treo

Palm OS (Garnet) Treo’s can work similarly to the above if you have ActiveSync installed (or download it from Palm’s website – warning, direct file link!) and access to an Exchange server (business or hosted). 

Similarly if you have access to Outlook. If you’re stuck in Palm Desktop, you’ll first have to find your Palm install CD and go through the setup again, choosing Outlook instead.

(Mac users, see Markspace, above).

From a Feature Phone

If you don’t have a smartphone, but are coming instead from a standard consumer feature phone (candybar or flip phone from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, etc.) and have data on there you really don’t want to retype, you can try looking for a data transfer kit that matches your phone. These vary widely in form, availability, and functionality, and will cost you money and time, but if you have both check out Howard Forums or even Google. Search and ask around. Be key word specific (i.e. “transfer data nokia model# outlook”. Best of luck, and please share what you find in case others are trying out the same.

Conclusion

Well, there they are, my tips and tricks for getting your data off the old and outdated just in time for your brand new iPhone 3G/2.0. But try as I might, I know our readers — the real data ninjas — have a whole host of sneaky black magic all their own.

What are your best tips and tricks? Drop a comment and let us know!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Switching to iPhone: How To Move Your Contacts, Calendar, Email, Bookmarks, and Photos to the iPhone – Wait-a-Thon!

In our forums, dhp1080 asked an important question: since the iPhone 3G comes out on the 11th and whoever wins is surely going to be the sort to go out and buy one that day, doesn’t it make more sense to hold the drawing for the winner of our iPhone 3G giveaway a bit earlier?

Yes, yes it does.

So we’ll be holding our drawing for the iPhone 3G givewaway the morning of Wednesday, July 9th. Since Apple capitulated to the standard operating procedure for activating phones, we can’t just pick one up and send it to ya. So instead we’re going to do the following: overnight a gift card to an Apple Store (or AT&T store, if necessary) for 400 smackers. That will cover most of the necessary bases: people eligible for upgrade that want the 16gig device, people ineligible for upgrades, etc.

All of which means you have six days left to get yourself up to 20 (non-garbage) posts in our forums in order to qualify for the drawing. Get your full contest details here. Meanwhile, this also means that this week and the next are the last weeks for the iPhone 2.0 Wait-a-Thon giveaways as well.

We will wait-a-thon this post too. We already asked you what your plans were for July 11th. Now we want to know: Are you Exchanged-up at work? If so, will your IT Overlords put your iPhone on the network? If you’re not, will you be going push with Mobile Me? Will you forego push altogether?

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Our iPhone 3G Giveaway Happens July 9th. Hie Thee to the Forums!

AT&T has apparently been watching Roger’s desperate, retreat-action PR spin and thinking, “Yeah, let’s not do that.” So instead they’ve done something typical and something a little surprising. The typical thing: they’ve issued a press release with some crunchy details, including:

• Price for those ineligible to upgrade: $399 for the 8GB and $499 for the 16GB — these still require a 2 year agreement
• (Edit: whoops, misread the press release) — no-contract iPhone 3Gs will eventually be available at $599 and $699
• Minute Plans and FamilyTalk Details
• $18 upgrade fee (?!!?! Is this new?)
• Text options on top of your $30 data plan: $20 for unlimited, $15 for 1500, $5 for 200
• iPhone 2.0 software will be pre-loaded on iPhone 3G
• One more: Confirmed that they’ll start selling at 8am local time.

It’s a far cry from the simplicity of the original iPhone plan, but hey, at least we know now. AT&T apparently anticipated possible outcry, confusion, and panic, too. So here’s the nonstandard part: they’re released a series of videos on YouTube (first one is above) detailing what you need to do to be “iReady.” In addition to the above, there’s details on how to “make your original iPhone a hand-me-down” and how to “switch to AT&T for the iPhone 3G“

Alright, we have to Wait-a-Thon this. What do you think of the un-contracted prices? What do you think of the “upgrade fee?” Plans? Anybody else need a Xanax? Comment for your chance to win one of the last $100 iTunes Gift Cards we’re giving away.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

AT&T Reveals iReady, Full iPhone Prices, More

As Rene mentioned over the weekend, the iPhone 2G has just turned one year old, we here at TiPb look to the future, though, and the future looks great. Great enough that we’re still planning on giving away an iPhone 3G to one lucky winner who’s made at least 20 posts in our iPhone Forums. Grab the full contest details here. Even better – when you visit the forums from your iPhone you should see a big ol’ “iPhone Version” that lets you interact with the forums via an iPhone interface. Don’t like it? The option to switch back is on the bottom of the iPhone version. What are you waiting for? Go on and register, post, and possibly win!

Also notable, you can now get your iPhone Blog six ways from Sunday. Ok, just two ways. You can now just punch in http://tipb.com into your browser to be brought to our main page. Easy, no? We’re not bringing out an iPhone version of the blog proper just yet — when we find / develop a verison that’s both fast and usable enough you’ll be the first to know.

Meanwhile, there’s only a couple weeks left now in the iPhone Wait-a-Thon, wherein we give away an iTunes Gift card worth $100 to somebody who’s commented on a Wait-a-Thon-tagged post (like, you know, this one). Details and rules here. Congrats to our latest winners, Tom, Mark, and Rafael. Your Gift Cards forthcoming just as soon as we convince Apple we’re not trying to defraud them by buying too many gift cards.

So with just a couple weeks left, we gotta ask: What’s your game plan for July 11th?. Rumor has it the launch will happen at 8 in the morning, so will you be camping out the night before? Sitting at home and pretending your iPhone 2G hasn’t been replaced with newer, faster, better, more? Answer in the comments for a chance to win!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The iPhone 3G Giveaway Continues, As Does the Wait-a-Thon

So you might have heard that the iPhone 3G was going to retail for $199 from AT&T. I’ve already covered how it isn’t technically $199 for current iPhone users. And you heard Rene tell you that $199 is less than the notorious price DROP of the iPhone. Well TiPb has been wondering how Apple settled on dropping the price so dramatically.

And we settled on a story, kind of—more like a collection of reasons. We’ve analyzed the outcome back and forth, from reverse and from the beginning. And we think we have come to a conclusion (or at the very least, a conspiracy theory). In a purely speculative story, I’ll give you my opinion on how we reached $199.

Read on for Apple’s Path to $199

Apple Wanted to Revolutionize the Phone Industry

They were hoping that the iPhone was going to be ridiculously popular (it was) and that foreign carriers would see such popularity and ask for it on their network as well. Therefore in that case, Apple could then leverage the iPhone’s popularity into folding the carriers into having the same relationship with Apple as AT&T ‘enjoys’. Essentially making the carrier powerless to Apple’s demands and eventually change the way carriers work.

Do you guys remember the uniqueness of the original iPhone? This was a phone that toyed with AT&T, basically ignoring everything that the Death Star Company wanted. When AT&T asked for prototypes pre-iPhone launch, Apple reportedly created fake models to placate them. Apple created a new iPhone-specific data plan that AT&T had to abide by—$20 for unlimited data and 200 SMS. Apple created a new activation process that essentially cut AT&T out of the loop. You activate via iTunes, not with AT&T. Apple created a new business model for the iPhone that included revenue sharing—AT&T is paying Apple for users using AT&T’s service, just simply brilliant business. Phone Carriers don’t typically get thrown around like this.

It almost worked

With the gray market in full affect, Apple lost their leverage. Foreign Carriers had no desire to bend to Apple’s unprecedented demands because anyone who really wanted an iPhone could easily get an iPhone through the gray market. And those using unlocked iPhone on a foreign carrier’s network would HAVE to work with the current data plans in play. Therefore we have iPhone users across the world using the iPhone on network’s aimed to rip every dollar from the consumer.

What could Apple offer the carriers now? From the carrier’s standpoint, the money gained by having unlocked iPhones on their pricey data network was worth more than agreeing to revenue sharing models and affordable data plans. Not to mention the fact that when a foreign carrier introduced the iPhone to their country’s market per ‘exclusivity contract’ it would only give unlockers a chance to use OTHER networks in the same country. So much for exclusivity, right. The money spent paying Apple for ‘exclusive’ rights was better not spent at all.

Apple still needed to increase marketshare

Back then, the idea was that foreign carriers would see the benefits of having an exclusive relationship with Apple and that would offset the costs that they would have to pay in a revenue sharing model. But with the gray market, all the foreign carriers had to do was stand pat and wait for Apple to come around because everyone knew they NEEDED to sell 10 million units in 2008. And that meant expanding to more countries.

So when the clock started ticking and Apple realized they had little to no leverage, they folded to the carriers demands. The carriers were too entrenched in their markets, they had too much power and Apple’s only leverage was lost. Nothing about the carriers was going to change.

AT&T demanded change

So the revenue sharing disappeared. So did the activation process. So did the iPhone-specific plan. AT&T isn’t going to do it Apple’s way anymore because Apple folded to the demands of foreign carriers, thus giving AT&T a loophole to subsidize, raise data prices, and basically conform the iPhone to any phone in AT&T’s lineup.

So Apple needed to re-strategize

So how else could Apple revolutionize the cell phone industry? By aiming their attack at the other party. Cell phone makers. A $199 price point for the iPhone 3G will force people to notice and overhaul the system from the device end. In fact, the Samsung Instinct dropped to $199 after the Apple announcement. I’m sure RIM and other companies will have to follow suit. How could a company justify charging so much for such feature-strapped phones?

So Why $199?

But to be bold enough to declare it at $199. That’s a direct challenge to RIM, to Palm, to HTC, to Sony. $199 is the price point you have to hit and if you don’t, consumers are going to wonder why is a phone that’s not as full featured as the iPhone cost more than the iPhone? They are forcing cell phone makers to change their strategies and not simply rely on the carriers doing all the work for them.

A $199 price point can realistically put the iPhone in the hands of a lot of potential customers. They’re attacking the situation in reverse of what they originally intended. Putting it in the hands of the most customers possible and gaining market share to create change. With a larger install base, the App Store and iTunes Wi-Fi store become instant money makers. With users falling in love with the iPhone’s usability, Apple gets their leverage back. Apple believes that when people finally get to own the iPhone, they’ll always own an iPhone. Cell phone makers, you’re going to have to catch up fast. Cell phone carriers, Apple is still going to come after you.

This plan actually makes more sense than Apple’s original business model, when people fall in love with the iPhone, Apple would have a dedicated user base ready to follow Apple and the iPhone wherever they go, to whomever carrier it happens to be.

What does the future hold then?

And what about expanding the iPhone platform, which is a natural progression in creating cell phones. What will an iPhone nano retail at? $99? Can Apple deal with the PR-nightmare it would have if they were to raise prices in the next editions?

Or could Apple simply put the iPhone in the most hands possible and then prep themselves to go completely unlocked? Could they manage to offer a $199 price point without carrier subsidies?

Final Thoughts

Or maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist. Remember this is all speculation and opinion. Apple simply just could have realized they couldn’t keep pace with the hype of the iPhone 3G and determined the best way to have conversation was to significantly drop the price. Shock and awe. Or maybe not.

What do you think? Why do you think Apple priced it at $199 and do you think the iPhone will ever go completely unlocked? Comment on this Wait-a-Thon post for a chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple’s Path to $199 (Wait-a-Thon)

[Note: This a a Wait-A-Thon post! Comment on this post -- or any post tagged "Wait-a-Thon" -- for your chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card! Note that you must post with a valid and real email address so we can send you your prize -- no switching!]

Back in April, sister site Crackberry.com posted a hypejacking article detailing their “Top 10 Reasons the iPhone was NO Blackberry“. Rather than a purely facetious “And thank Jobs for that!”, TiPb kept tongue firmly in cheek but responded with the “Top 10 Reasons the iPhone is Incomparable” and a more considered (meaning they didn’t let me write it!) 10 Reasons to Ditch Your Blackberry for the iPhone. (Though in my defense, I did think there was something the iPhone could learn from its Blackberry competitor…)

Now, however, as the iPhone 3G and its 2.0 software are poised to take on the enterprise market, where RIM is still clearly the sales (if no longer the mind) share leader, perhaps it is time. So, as Crackberry.com pushes their “Top 10 Reasons the iPhone is STILL NO BlackBerry“, let’s just strap our business plans on and see if there really is any way the Blackberry can compare to the iPhone 3G.

Read on to find out!

10. Keyboard Complete

By contrast, iPhone virtualizes whatever keys you need when you need them, and for everyone who complains about typing on it, there’s someone who claims they can type ever-so-much better than they ever could on a cramped little querty (myself included!)

iPhone 2.0 will even let you finger-draw Chinese if you want to, and switch languages on the fly. What if you need to switch from Spanish to Russian on your Blackberry? Get out a tiny screw-driver, pop off the tic-tacs, and try to pop on a different set?

9. Screen Size Matters

3.5 inches of swipe-able, rotate-able, pinch-able, spread-able, goodness would have made his job — or any job — easier by a (next) generation.

It’s not just the media that benefits from the space afforded by the lack of a constant, bolted-on keyboard, its many different kinds of productivity apps.

The iPhone’s screen, combined with multi-touch, GPS, and 3G speed is a game changer. (It’s even forcing RIM to change its game with the Thunder…)

8. Ecosystem

Maybe the iPhone doesn’t (yet, see below) have first-party video recording abilities. But if you want to, you can shoot professional video, capture it to your MacBook Pro, check it into Final Cut Pro Server on you XServe, render it out with Motion, Color, and Compress on your iMac, serve it up to iTunes, download it on a PC, and sync it over to the iPhone (or Apple TV) your friend just bought at the Apple Store.

With iPhone 3G and 2.0, integrating the SDK with GPS-enabled location services and 3G bandwidth, that ecosystem grows exponentially. And the iPhone has it whether you choose to use it — or any part of it — or not. RIM simply doesn’t have it, no matter what you may choose.

7. Open Standards, Open Choices

RIM is still hanging desperately to this model, be it with their proprietary messaging system where a device like Crackberry.com’s pre-release Bold can be rendered useless by a single NOC command, and corporations have to buy into costly additional servers or services ad nauseum infinitum simply to remain functional.

By contrast, Apple has thus far stuck to industry standards like IMAP, HTML, CSS, AJAX, and worked with open companies like Google, Yahoo! and others to ensure that any compliant site, message, or data can move through the iPhone without so much as touching Apple’s servers. They’ve even contributed back to the Open Source community with CalDav and CardDav, not to mention WebKit itself.

Sure, ActiveSync is there in iPhone 2.0 if your business has already fallen into it, but the iPhone clients are agnostic, and if one day your company switches from Microsoft to Google, Yahoo!, a homegrown FOSS solution, or anything else, your experience on the iPhone stays the same.

And maybe there’s no device-dependent MMS, but you can email pictures to any device — handset, laptop, or desktop. That’s platform independence, and where technology is moving. Just like they did by going USB only, Apple is leading the charge for the future. Will people complain? Of course. The same people who complained about the lack of serial and parallel cables. What are those? Exactly.

6. No NOC, No Worries

What good is 3G email and web if some manufacturer’s server going down has you browsing at the speed of a lump of coal?

With the iPhone and its ActiveSync and open, standards-based protocols, if Apple’s servers go down — as long as you don’t work for Apple — you won’t even notice.

(Sure, Apple may have announced a mini-NOC for push 2.0 App Store app notifications, but if that goes down, only third-party apps may be affected (and even that, only when they’re not active), not mission-critical email, web browsing, etc.)

5. Modern Interface

Of course, good interface isn’t about candy, it’s about functionality, and the iPhone feeds off a culture of excellence in interface, from Tog to the Delicious Generation. People may not always notice it, but they notice when it’s missing, and after using even a 1.0 iPhone for a few months, the aged and near-obsolete interface in the Blackberry is slap-in-the-face missing. With 2.0, we get the SDK and…

4. App Store

Momentum is everything, and it’s iPhone Apps that have momentum now, iPhone Apps we see popping up in every developer PR and blog post, iPhone Apps that soon, if they’re under 10mb, every iPhone owner on the planet will be able to download directly to their device no matter where they are. Impulse made easy. What you want, when and where you want it, be it niche business applications, specialized educational tools, hardcore games, everyday utilities.

3. iPod Class Media

That’s the same reason they haven’t tried to hack into someone else’s media experience the way RIM claims it has with iTunes compatibility. When they wanted media, Apple built it themselves, and so with the iPhone, you get a complete, cohesive, massively integrated experience from music to movies, video to TV, audiobooks to podcasts, with the best back-end, desktop, sync, and mobile browser and WiFi store on the market. It just works. (And as noted, it will soon just work with App Store as well…)

iPhone 2.0 will bring video playlists, and perhaps more. Because Apple has a history of…

2. Continuous Feature Improvements

Now we’re on the verge of 2.0 — also free for current iPhone users — with more and more features jam-packed into each beta (now at beta 7 and counting).

Is the iPhone still missing some hotly demanded features like cut-and-paste? Sure, but it’s only ever a firmware update away.

Sadly, the aging Blackberry OS has hardly seen more than a coat of paint by comparison in its much, much, much longer lifetime. Want to add a MobileSafari class internet browser to your old Blackberry? Even if RIM could build one (rather than relying on Opera to fill the gap), more than likely you’d have to buy the iPhone-like Thunder just to get it.

The new mobile world is all about innovation and staying up-to-date, and sadly, post-iPhone, the poor old Blackberry hasn’t shown it can keep up.

1. iPhone is the New Crack

There’ll be an after-school special about it before long. Believe it.

(I don’t even have a data plan and I turn the dang thing on hundreds of times a day — come July 11th I doubt I’ll get anything done, but at least I’ll be super-productive not doing it!)

Conclusion

What do you think? Did I miss anything? Can Blackberry respond (with something besides another iClone?) Will they? Or do you think this list is totally for hosers and the Canadian Crackberry is still number #1? Why? Let us know!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Top 10 Reasons Why the Blackberry Compares Worse Than Ever to the iPhone 3G – Wait-a-Thon!

Here at TiPb we’ve covered 10 things we thought Apple needed to fix in the next iPhone. With the anticipation of the iPhone 3G, the rumor mill went crazy with things like video conferencing, different models, etc. all but confirmed at one point in time. We even ran a bunch of our own predictions.

And well the Jobsnote was yesterday, and though we got the biggies: 3G, GPS, flush headphone jack, and a $199 price point, but we also missed out on a lot of stuff we thought we would be getting already.

Read on to see what we didn’t get in the iPhone 3G!

Here’s the quick hit list:

• A Better Camera – we’re still stuck with the 2 megapixel camera with no flash, no zoom, and a tad bit slow. I personally think Apple missed a great opportunity to place themselves ahead of the curve in camera capabilities.
• Video – I’m personally not a big fan of video recording, it’s just too shaky and amateur-ish for me. But this would be sweet if they had integrated Youtube uploads.
• Bigger Storage Size – Just 8 & 16 GB? What about the current iPod Touch’s 32 GB? Couldn’t manage to fit it in?
• MMS – A lot of people use this popular yet limited technology. Missing out on it when pretty much any phone can do it is disappointing.
• Note Syncing – I guess this could be remedied by MobileMe? But in theory this is an easy feature to do, no?
• Cut & Paste – Sigh. This is probably the single, biggest issue that has been missing in the iPhone since its release. Can’t we get acknowledgement that this is in the works, at the very least? Come on Apple, throw us a bone.
• A2DP Bluetooth – Yikes. The world is going wireless and Apple is left behind. The iPhone is the best music player on the market, you would think they would have included support.
• Release Date – July 11th? I can wait a month but what were those rumors floating about IMMEDIATE launch doing? Not even Mid-June? It’s not like you guys updated much…I kid, I kid.

What do you guys think? Did Apple miss a great opportunity to leap the entire smartphone field? Any features missing that Apple should have included? Wireless-n? iPhone nano? Why do you think Apple kept upgrades to a minimum? How do you feel about the iPhone 3G ‘the morning after’?

Since 2.0 STILL hasn’t been released, we’re still having our Wait-a-Thons! Comment on this post for a chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card. We need those apps, Apple!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3G: What We Didn’t Get (Wait-a-Thon)

If you haven’t heard, we’re planning on giving away an iPhone 3G as soon as it’s available. You can find the full details of the contest here, but the short version is this: if you made more than 20 posts¹ in our iPhone Forums before July 22nd, we’ll enter you in the random drawing. Of course, Apple decided to throw us a curveball by requiring in-store activation — so we’ll either try to buy it the old fashioned way for ya or if push comes to shove we’ll get a way for you to get it on your own on our dime. Shame on your Apple.

The other thing that didn’t get released yesterday? The iPhone 2.0 software update. That means that the iPhone App Wait-a-Thon continues! Anytime you see a post tagged “Wait-a-Thon,” comment on it for that week’s drawing for a $100 iTunes gift card. Full deets on that contest are here. Plus we have new winners²:

• Darrin
• Bill

You may have noticed this is a Wait-a-Thon post. So it is and here’s what we need to know: The new activation requirement isn’t all that great? What else isn’t all that great? Curved back got ya down? Does the lack of Cut and Paste cut you to the bone? Let us know to enter for the $100 gift card and go register and start chatting in the forums for a chance at the iPhone 3G!

¹ Posts most not be spammy and worthless — at our discretion. This isn’t a democracy!
² For those of you still waiting on your cards, we’ll get them out today (we hope). Turns out iTunes limits the number of Gift Cards you can buy in a day month!. Who Knew? Time to open up another account, we suppose.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Win an iPhone 3G, $100 iTunes Card – Wait-a-Thon Continues!

Looks like we’re having load issues from all the traffic. We’re working it, bear with us! A reminder – no need to refresh this page, the widget updates automatically.

As promised, we’ll be starting up our MetaLiveBlog in just over an hour. We’ll be tracking all them other live blogs and posting updates and our thoughts and commentary real time. A few seconds behind, but way ahead in pithy commentary, eh? We should have one or two quick posts up before the excitement begins, but we’ll move this post back up to the top when it all gets going. Keep an eye out (like you needed us to tell you that).

We’re using the fancy widget above, so no need to refresh the page to get the updates. You can also submit your own comments and thoughts with the widget above and we can publish them as things get going.

Sites we’re following just in case we forget to give credit in the above widget:

• Engadget
• Gizmodo
• iPhoneBuzz
• MacRumors
• iPhone Alley / U-Stream
• the digital lifestyle
• TUAW

…It’s over folks! Here’s the text of it all:

WWDC Meta-Live-Blog (06/09/2008)

11:41

The iPhone Blog – Aw, what the heck, it’s too fun not to start early, hey?

11:42 [Poll popup] What do you want the most? View Results

11:42

[Comment From kenn]: when does the wwdc start?

11:42

[Comment From Matt W]: I didn’t sleep allll night. Couldn’t

11:42

[Comment From kenn]: hey

11:42

[Comment From Patrick Shepherd]: I know the feeling… this crap is all comsuming to a gadget guy

11:43

[Comment From Nasty N8]: WooHoo!

11:43

[Comment From Nasty N8]: Sounds fine with me!

11:43

[Comment From Frank]: Are you there or watching remotely?

11:43

The iPhone Blog – I’m meta-live-blogging. A whole lotta sites I’m keeping an eye on!

11:43

rene – Greetings former mobile accomplishers!



11:43

[Comment From Pewt]: is it going to be broadcast live online anywhere?

11:43

[Comment From GasDoc]: Cheers

11:43

[Comment From Guest]: Hey, greetings from Spain!

11:43

[Comment From Richie]: I was having nightmares they wouldnt release it today lol.

11:44

The iPhone Blog – @pewt, try here: http://www.iphonealley.com/news/wwdc-2008-keynote-live-audio-stream

11:44

[Comment From Matt W]: I’m actually “unjailbreaking” my iPhone right now

11:44

[Comment From Frank]: I have my Dell x51v ready to throw out the window. Tell me when.

11:44

[Comment From GasDoc]: Well, apples stores are down. I wonder if apples stores have them in stock as we type????

11:44

The iPhone Blog – @frank: you’re still on an x51v?! Crazy man!

11:44

[Comment From Borja]: Has the Apple Store been closed ever before?

11:44

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: Should I make some popcorn and sit back for the show?

11:45

[Comment From GasDoc]: I meant online

11:45

[Comment From Jorge]: Man I just woke up, 1 o’clock couldn’t come any sooner

11:45

[Comment From Laz]: What time does the shindig start?

11:45

rene – My friend in the next cubicle, whose Treo 680 just crashed taking a call for the 3rd time today, has it on the floor, ready to stomp into oblivion — Scott Bourne style — the moment El Jobso clears Rogers in Canada for launch…



11:45

The iPhone Blog – Excitement starts at 1pm EST.



11:45

[Comment From GasDoc]: 1pm eastern

11:45

[Comment From Borja]: I’ll do!

11:45

[Comment From stephen]: i just bought stock in apple so im hoping this new 3G comes out and is a hit

11:45

[Comment From GasDoc]: oh, it’ll be a hit

11:45

[Comment From Jorge]: Great time to buy…

11:46

[Comment From Matt W]: I thought about buying stock

11:46

rene – Apple store goes down a any time a new launch or product hits…



11:46

Dieter Bohn – http://www.thedigitallifestyle.tv/index.html also should have live video or audio

11:46

[Comment From stephen]: yea well a few months ago wen it was at $119 was a great time to buy

11:46

[Comment From Louie]: I have my credit card ready to go

11:47

rene – Apple appreciates all the money we throw at them, I’m sure. Should be a… brisk quarter to say the least

11:47

[Comment From GasDoc]: If it isnt released or at minimum announced today, stocks will take a hit. So you’re good!

11:47

[Comment From Borja]: Rene , thanks for the answer

11:48

Dieter Bohn – all those ‘mystery boxes’ give me hope. The lady at the apple store in Tampa gave our guy a “wink and a nod” and said “come back after 1″



11:48

[Comment From stephen]: i just bought, i dont want the stocks to take a hit, haha that would suck for the time being at least

11:48

[Comment From Jorge]: Remember, it starts at one, but we have a 15 minute leeway due to the fact that Steve takes the first part of the keynote to remind us how awesome he is and how much he has sold this quarter

11:48

[Comment From Guest]: i thought the stores close ?

11:48

rene – @Borja: No worries. Apple Store went down every Tuesday this year for while, and often came back with goodness like price drops or storage bumps…

11:48

[Comment From GasDoc]: You’re good. Its hitting today!!!!! Steve wont fail. He’s too much of a genius.

11:49

rene – @Dieter: Hope she doesn’t get Steved for that wink.

11:49

Dieter Bohn – The apple store in Tampa is open…

11:49

[Comment From stephen]: i work at an apple store in MA and everyone has to work everyday this week…there expecting huge crowds but wont tell us why haha

11:49

[Comment From Borja]: But it looks this time is because of new product coming out, isnt it?

11:50

rene – Physical Apple Stores will probably only close the day they go on sale, and only for a few hours, like last year, to set up the lines and get Scoble-press…

11:51

rene – @Crackberry Kevin: Only if you brought along enough popcorn for the sister sites!

11:51 [Poll popup] Should we publish most / all of the comments or would you folks rather hear from Rene and I? View Results

11:51

[Comment From Guest]: Haha i wonder how long its going to take to jailbreak the new iphone ? Hmm give or take i think a couple of days:)

11:51

[Comment From harley]: How long do thesew key notes usually last?

11:51

[Comment From Kevin]: Stephen, they don’t let you in on the release? how do they keep that from you?

11:52

[Comment From stephen]: haha they give us hints but they dont say much

11:52

[Comment From pancho]: do you know if anyone on the web, is video streaming this ?

11:52

[Comment From Luis]: do you guys think we will be able to get our hands on a new iphone today?

11:52

[Comment From Guest]: probably… do u honestly feel that they will sell new iphone today after Jobs’ presentation?

11:52

rene – Apparently Steve Jobs hid the iPod Hi-Fi under tarp even from his wife and children. The man is old school NSA type secret.

11:52

Dieter Bohn – I think today is feeling more and more likely

11:53

rene – Live stream again: http://www.iphonealley.com/news/macworld-2008-keynote-live-video-stream

11:53

Dieter Bohn – Looks like the “keep the noise level down” is edging out “turn on the firehose” by a small margin. Don’t get mad at me if I don’t publish your comment.

11:54

rene – My best guess is still announce today, release by end of month (19th in the US, staggered internationally up to July for some).

11:54

[Comment From Borja]: I think Jobs does his job better than anyone else. He creates magic and expectation before going on stage.

11:55

[Comment From Andrew]: I called the local apple store, he refused to answer my question of “questionable boxes” but he did say, trust me you will be very happy by the end of today.

11:55

Dieter Bohn – @Andrew – that’s pretty much EXACTLY what the Tampa Apple Store told us. “I can’t say anything. But I would stop by later if I were you”



11:56

[Comment From Kasper]: Sounds nice, kind of an confirmation

11:56

[Comment From Guest]: Maybe they will show off the advertisement, but don’t have devices ready to sell

11:56

Dieter Bohn – Sadly, the boxes having demo units and other displays still seems most likely to me. But Dare to Dream!

11:57

[Comment From Guest]: i have a feeling i will be very frustrated with the internet by the end of the day….:(

11:57

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: Question. Since the iPhone never made Rogers in the past year…. but we know it’s coming… will it be the 3G iPhone that eventually lands in Canada first?

11:57

Dieter Bohn – @Kevin – You’re going to give Rene heartburn. His Canadian Heart is aflame with a desire for a native iPhone.

11:57

[Comment From Lauren]: I went into the store wanting to buy an iphone on friday and the guy told me I should really wait until monday to see if the “rumors are true”

11:57

[Comment From tim]: Are people lining up today to buy at the stores, any news on that???

11:58

Dieter Bohn – @Tim – So far I haven’t heard of any lines. Another piece of evidence that it won’t be available for sale today.

11:58

[Comment From Kevin]: I plan on staying on this site to participate in the chat, but does anyone know of any blogs that will be updated live from WWDC?

11:58

Dieter Bohn – We have a list of the on-site blogs we’re following in the full post below.

11:58

[Comment From Dave]: OK – you’ve got me hooked. I’m on the road now – will update you for east coast info. 15 mins there, I’ll post from my Curve as I get info there

12:00

Dieter Bohn – From Gizmodo: “Here’s our prediction, and we’ve got 2 to 1 odds on Coldplay showing up at the end of the show, pimping their new album live. LIVE. No John Mayer today…we don’t think.”



Heh. John Mayer has turned to the DARK SIDe (BlackBerry), while Coldplay is all up in the latest iPod commercials. Coldplay is a lock imo.



12:00

[Comment From Andy]: If it goes on sale today, do you think only the Apple Store will sell it and then days later AT&T stores too?

12:01

Dieter Bohn – @Andy – No idea. We’re hedging our bets and sending folks to both places.

12:01

[Comment From Dave]: @andy – ATT store is on the way – I can check both

12:01

rene – @Kevin: If Rogers can break my heart, frustrate me, and remind me it owns me all at the same time, it will definately do so!

12:02

Rene Ritchie – Any idea the geek-jam it would cause if everyone rushed from the keynote to the Apple Store? San Francisco would shut down!

12:02

[Comment From stevey j]: apple store cleaned an area of store shelves

12:02

Dieter Bohn – @ stevey j: BOOM!

12:03

[Comment From Andrew]: I just talked to my buddy who works at the Apple store in Tysons Corner. He said he can’t confirm anything specific, but he is the second person stating i will be very happy tonight.

12:03

[Comment From Andy]: Honestly, I hope AT&T stores will sell it too, cause the Apple Stores will most likley be packed with dozens of people

12:03

Rene Ritchie – @Stevey j: So he can zig when we all want him to zag and introduce something like Time Capsule Take 2?

12:03

Rene Ritchie – @Crackberry Kevin: Odds of Lazaridis showing up to announce Blackberry Connect for iPhone?



12:03 [Poll popup] Richie asks – any guesses on price points? View Results

12:04

[Comment From Kevin]: I just drove by the local AT&T store and there are people sitting outside. I was going to poke my head in and see if I could get a look at what might be hiding but i have to work

12:05

[Comment From Jebus Christ]: i left an att store and its hella people waiting outside i guess craigslist ill wait lol

12:05

Dieter Bohn – t-minus 55 minutes.

12:05

[Comment From Kevin]: i just checked the ATT website and they’re sold out of the iphones (which probably isn’t new news but thought I’d share)

12:06

[Comment From Scott L.]: Check out this link on the AT&T site: http://www.wireless.att.com/find-a-store/iphone/

12:06

[Comment From Lauren]: apple store was saying they were out of stock earlier as well

12:07

Rene Ritchie – Banners:



App Store: Now accepting applications



iPhone SDK: Let’s see what develops



Masters of the marketing entendres, as always

12:07

[Comment From Richie]: “Vote your hopes, not your fears!”

12:08

Rene Ritchie – Fake Steve with the hillarity:



Confession: I’m wearing Depends today

12:08

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: @ Rene: 0 % Chance of Lazaridis showing up. Would laugh my butt off though.

12:08

[Comment From Guest]: Ok, that iPhone SDK line is hardly deserving of “masters of the marketing entendres”…unless this is 1984

12:08

[Comment From KRAZYK]: Apple store website says its updating stock

12:09

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: What color is it expected to be? Same sort of Black/Chrome or will it be more divergent to stand out from iPhone 1. Maybe white or something? I don’t really follow non-BlackBerry news… haha

12:10 [Poll popup] When do you think it will be released? View Results

12:10

Rene Ritchie – @Crackberry Kevin: Rumors of a blond, brunette, and product (readhead) versions…

12:10

[Comment From Matt W]: some say sleek white sme say sleek black, or product red

12:10

[Comment From Kasper]: I do not hope it will be some kind of cheap plastic at the back, like the earliest pics have shown..

12:11

Rene Ritchie – How about odds of Ballmer coming on stage for the Exchange demo. What I wouldn’t give to see an iPhone DEVELOPERS! Monkey boy dance…

12:11

[Comment From Kevin]: i’m hoping they keep it simple w/ the models. having different colors is one thing, but lets stick w/ one or two models of the phone.

12:11

[Comment From KRAZYK]: Just called my apple store they said they will realease new shipments after 8

12:11

[Comment From Charles]: Kevin….. Nice to see you keeping up to date on everything including non-Blackberry items

12:11

Dieter Bohn – New Shipments after 8? Won’t they all be closed by then?

12:12

Rene Ritchie – NYC Apple Store is 24hrs, no?

12:12

[Comment From Kasper]: Not the one on 5th. 24/7

12:13

Rene Ritchie – (They’re building a Montreal Flagship just down the street from where I work. No chance in time for the launch, though )

12:13

Dieter Bohn – Naturally, Twitter is not performing for me. Good thing I wasn’t going to be depending on that! Ah, mac and iPhone geeks, so dependable in your habits!

12:15

Dieter Bohn – Looks like the line is moving slightly, they’re not in the hall yet but they’ve moved to a different part of the building. I miss the rush to get front row sets at these things — always so crazy. At the MacWorld conference, we started waiting in line at 3AM I believe — we were far enough back that Steve Jobs looked like a Circus Peanut.

12:15

[Comment From Kevin]: We’re now just 45minutes away from the keynote

12:16

[Comment From FJR]: So is it a given that the 2.0 software is coming out later today at the least?

12:16

Dieter Bohn – @FJR: If not today, then within the month.

12:19

Dieter Bohn – Alright, folks, everybody go get your bathroom breaks and smoke breaks and eat a little sammich or something. T-Minus 41 minutes.

12:19

[Comment From Mike]: I am looking foward to see which way the apple share price will go once the announcement is made.

12:20

[Comment From Nuge]: Why aren’t my comments getting through?

12:21

Dieter Bohn – @Nuge – We’re only sending through a subsection of the comments — trying to keep things a little less harried and a little more on-topic. Nothing personal to anybody!

12:21

[Comment From KRAZYK]: big update!! Apple store says their receiving a big shipment between 11 and 2 oclock tommorow

12:21

[Comment From Brian]: @KRAZYK, what store?

12:22

[Comment From KRAZYK]: Northpark Mall Dallas, TX

12:22

[Comment From Blackberry Jeff]: I just called T-Mobile to ask them about cancelling my contract a month early. They asked why and I told them about the iPhone. They offered me a brand new Blackberry Curve for free if I stayed. I love Blackberry’s, but i’m ready for something new.

12:22

Rene Ritchie – Remember folks, you can subscribe to the Keynotes now via iTunes. 3 are already in the feed, with this one to follow soon-ish…

12:23

[Comment From Andrew]: I called Pentagon City and the girl claims there is no product launch today, just a keynote. I told her my buddy at Tysons Corner claims they were clearing shelves, and she just kinda froze. I replied with “I’ll see you in an hour” she said, “you probably will”

12:23

[Comment From fwt]: Will the “everyone” chat be turned off during the WWDC? Or will this be full of random thoughts and booms while it is going on?

12:24

Dieter Bohn – When it starts it will mostly be Me, Rene, and Casey with a few comments sent through from the readers when they’re on-topic, interesting, I’m able to click the button to approve them.

12:24

[Comment From Brian]: @Dieter, I do not envy your job right now but appreciate you having this forum up

12:24

[Comment From Lee]: This is the best live interface I see available for the keynote Thanks for taking the time to keep us in the know!

12:26

Dieter Bohn – Aw, thanks to all the comments everybody. Ok, we’re just over a half hour away now. Seriously – everbody go take a quick breather, it’ll get crazy soon. Rene is in charge for a bit.

12:26

[Comment From Kevin]: Rene- can you offer some details on subscribing to the keynote?

12:26

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: is there a reason Apple.com is down for me right now?

12:27

[Comment From Dave]: @kevin – it’s up, just no store

12:27

[Comment From Bob]: Kevin, simply go to iTunes and sign up for the keynotes podcasts

12:27

Rene Ritchie – Also, please remember that this year’s Macworld Keynote brought down Twitter, 3 AOL data centers (Engadget), and tons of live blogs, so if things, er… slow down around the net, that’s just Steve Jobs talking for ya…

12:28

Rene Ritchie – @Crackberry Kevin: Apple.com fine for me right now…

12:28 [Poll popup] Ryan asks: What if they don’t release the iPhone 3g? View Results

12:29

Dieter Bohn –

12:29

Dieter Bohn – Well, the image code works. Big UPS to Vincent Nguyen for allowing us to use his liveblog images from iphonebuzz

12:31

[Comment From Ray]: is that a Starbucks placement ad?

12:32

[Comment From Andrew]: Are they playing the keynote at the apple stores? If the phone isn’t available for purchase right away I can at least enjoy a nice break from work and watch.

12:33

Rene Ritchie – @Ryan: If they weren’t going to announce iPhone 3G, they would released some statement saying they weren’t going to talk about it today, to get the bad press out of the way before the event. They don’t need that kind of massive anticipointment today…

12:34

[Comment From iPhone Cult]: Predictions, will the new iPhone support MMS?

12:35 [Poll popup] MMS? View Results

12:35

Rene Ritchie – I also wants: new “air-ish” Mac Books + Mac Book Pros, but I think the Intel delays make it unlikely before July

12:35

Dieter Bohn – The Tampa Apple Store is NOT showing the keynote.

12:40

Rene Ritchie – MMS will get subsumed by the greater, cross-platform/device protocols (hopefully non-proprietary). Phones will soon be indistinguisable from computers and we want want to be boxed into anything that doesn’t transparently communicate with everything else…

12:40

[Comment From jack]: MMS is a dieing service

12:40

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: BlackBerrys have supported MMS for years. I dont expect to see this one get published :p

12:41

Rene Ritchie – Keynote live link again:



http://www.iphonealley.com/news/macworld-2008-keynote-live-video-stream

12:41

[Comment From Solberg]: Only 30 min to go!

12:41

[Comment From Guest 2]: New lighter, more powerful, lower priced MacBooks would be nice. Any chance Apple enters the UMPC market?

12:43

Rene Ritchie – @Guest 2: iTablet will come at some point (heck, iPhone was based on the previously developed iTablet), but I think today they will want to keep focus on iPhone. Maybe a special iTable event in October for the holiday season?

12:43

Rene Ritchie – DOORS ARE OPENING!



We’re crossing the Rubicon here people!

12:44

Rene Ritchie – @Borja: Nope, I’m in Montreal. Reportedly even press had a hard time getting in. Leo Laporte was lamenting his lack of invitation on TWiT yesterday…

12:45

Dieter Bohn – Hooray the widgets works for me again!



12:46

[Comment From Matt]: Any ideas if the VLC media player will be an offical app? Would be nice to be able to play videos in other formats. Or will it just be for jailbroken phones?

12:46

Dieter Bohn – They’re literarally RUSHING in right now. running like MADMEN

12:47

Rene Ritchie – @Matt: I don’t see an official VLC. Apple won’t let anything go near their iPod app.

12:47

[Comment From Mosscow]: Women & children first!

12:47

[Comment From Borja]: And what about Dieter, is he there? Someone from tib?

12:48

[Comment From Mosscow]: Women & children first!

12:48

Dieter Bohn – Nope, we’re metaliveblogging, watching all the sites.

12:48

Rene Ritchie – They’re playing Oldies music…

12:50

Rene Ritchie – Keynote – 20 minutes and counting!

12:51

[Comment From Blackberry Jeff]: What will AT&T/Apple do for current iPhone users?

12:51

Dieter Bohn – @Jeff – Sadly, there have been literally 0 rumors suggesting that there will be rebates or other offers for current iPhone owners.

12:51

Rene Ritchie – iTunes Keynote Feed:



http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=275834665



12:52

[Comment From Dan]: @Blackberry Jeff Nothing…like most companies would do

12:52

Rene Ritchie – @Jeff: Orange in France has rumored *free* upgrades. I do not believe it pour un petite second…

12:53

Dieter Bohn – Here are the official TiPb predictions for those who are asking: http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2008/06/07/iphone-3g-predictions-countdown-to-wwdc-crystal-ball/



12:54

Rene Ritchie – A few weeks ago I found the receipt for my first ever DVD player. $700. Things change fast…

12:54

Rene Ritchie – A few weeks ago I found the receipt for my first ever DVD player. $700. Things change fast…

12:56

Rene Ritchie – Gizmodo has the pick! Uncle Walt is in the hizzie! (Mosconizzie?)

12:56

Dieter Bohn – Giz:



…That’s Walt Mossberg and Al Gore?

12:56

[Comment From Ryan]: Al Gore is there apparently according to engadget. Maybe the solar powered iphone? Yeah i know i doubt it too.

12:57

Dieter Bohn – Giz:



…That’s Walt Mossberg and Al Gore?

12:57

Dieter Bohn – Giz:



…That’s Walt Mossberg and Al Gore?

12:58

Dieter Bohn – Giz:



…That’s Walt Mossberg and Al Gore?

12:58

Dieter Bohn – Sorry for the multiple posts, guys. This widget not as good as I’d like!

12:59

[Comment From Laz]: Nice triple-post there, slick!

1:01

[Comment From Ryan]: Al Gore is there apparently according to engadget. Maybe the solar powered iphone? Yeah i know i doubt it too.

1:02

Rene Ritchie – Two iMacs on stage…

1:02

Dieter Bohn – …and we’re officially late starting.

1:03

Dieter Bohn – and it looks like coveritlive is failing us off and on still. It also looks like we’re starting a little late too!

1:04

Rene Ritchie – Two iMacs on stage…

1:05

Casey Chan – Did I come late to the party?

1:06

Dieter Bohn – Several sites reporting some sort of hijinks at the back of the room, but no bloggers can tell what’s going on because they’re up front and can’t see behind everybody standing up.

1:07

Dieter Bohn – macrumors: Apple Employees trying to get the crowd seated and settled.

1:07

Dieter Bohn – Several sites reporting some sort of hijinks at the back of the room, but no bloggers can tell what’s going on because they’re up front and can’t see behind everybody standing up.

1:07

[Comment From Seagram]: Are they going to announce that Al Gore is really the one who invented the first iphone?

1:08

Dieter Bohn – Steve is on stage! “We’ve been working real hard on some great stuff that we can’t wait to share with you.”

1:08

Rene Ritchie – Wow. Nothing pwns the interwebs like a Jobsnote. The man is a living, breathing, DDoS attack…

1:08

Rene Ritchie – STEVE JOBS ON STAGE!

1:09

Dieter Bohn – He’s talking up iFund,

1:09

Dieter Bohn – There are 3 parts to apple now: Mac, Music, and iPhone. (AppleTV still just a hobby, I guess)

1:09

Dieter Bohn – Ok, Snow Leopard Announced!

1:10

[Comment From Lee]: Can you see anything in his pocket? He’s going to pull something out of his pocket!

1:10

Rene Ritchie – iPod part of Music now?

1:10

Dieter Bohn – Talking about iPhone 2.0 now — Enterprise features like push email, push contacts, push calendar. All of this stuff built-in.

1:11

Casey Chan – He’s looking a bit skinny. Maybe all those plane rides to foreign countries are catching up?

1:11

Rene Ritchie – OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, rumored to be a stability and feature fix version of OS X, no new features, but will integrate Mac, iPhone, Applt TV, and other branches. Building for the future…

1:11

Dieter Bohn – Lots of companies on board with iPhone 2.0 — wow, he seems to be keeping this overview kind of short. Good tidings for new products?

1:12

Dieter Bohn – Video of how much enterprise customers love the iPhone 2.0

1:12

Rene Ritchie – Bittersweet on Exchange (I use it at work). Hey for the support, tears for increasing Microsoft’s lock on proprietary non-standards…

1:12

MikeOverbo – @ Casey: his skinniness could be from the pancreatic cancer too…

1:13

Rene Ritchie – Three parts: iPhone 2.0 software, SDK, new features…

1:13

Dieter Bohn – 35% of the Fortune 500 has taken part in the beta program — WOW. MUCH bigger than I expected. This is a much bigger threat to RIM than I would have guessed.

1:13

Dieter Bohn – 35% of the Fortune 500 has taken part in the beta program (double post sorry) — this is a bigger rim killer than I thought.

1:14

Rene Ritchie – @Joe: Small updated (i.e. 10.5.1) are free, full point updates (i.e. 10.6) are usually ~$120. You don’t HAVE to buy anything. Depends if the features are worth it to you. (Leopard sure was to me…)

1:15

Dieter Bohn – OOhh. Talking about Secret Service and Homeland Security. That’s some security there, bub.

1:15

Rene Ritchie – @Velenti 9am PDT at the Keynote site.

1:15

Rene Ritchie – DEMO TIME!

1:15

Dieter Bohn – Video’s over. what’s next? Demo Baby.

1:15

Rene Ritchie – Searching contacts, filters as you type…

1:16

MikeOverbo – @ Mike: Apple store always closed during wwdc.

1:17

Dieter Bohn – Scott Forstall – he’s really moving on up in the company, ain’t he? Talking up APIs — Wish I was smarter about this stuff. But it looks like a rehash of what we’ve heard before. Same kernel as Mac OSX

1:17

Rene Ritchie – Scott Forstall came with Jobs from NEXT, on the OS X team, and is the new VP of iPhone software. He demo’d the SDK in March.

1:18

Dieter Bohn – Core Location — If they do this right, people will laugh at Android phones when they come out. system-level GPS and location is really the biggest “secret sauce” that I’ve heard Android has. Now if we get Mobile Me Cloud based stuff, Andoid is dead in the water.

1:18

MikeOverbo – basically means that anyone has experience in programming natively in OSX using the Cocoa APIs will have very few problems writing code for the iPhone.

1:18

Rene Ritchie – OS X uses the Mach kernal, and the BSD (UNIX) core.

1:19

Rene Ritchie – Reposting: Foretall came with Jobs from NEXT, where he worked on the OS. He’s the new VP of iPhone software…

1:19

Dieter Bohn – Don’t have enough time to demo all the tools (yay! good stuff coming), so he’s showing interface builder.

1:20

Dieter Bohn – not having enough time to go through everything == good news for big announcements later.

1:20

Rene Ritchie – Apple says they’re eating their own dog food wrt development. If true, that’s a very good sign (reminder: it’s a developers conference, not a consumer show like Macworld, so they’ll be heavier with the geek!)

1:22

Dieter Bohn – Boy oh boy our site is having problems, innit? Whatever you do, don’t refresh the page, you might not make it back! Still going through interface builder.

1:23

Rene Ritchie – I’ll be posting in the comments as well, just in case… (Again, Jobs is a one man DDoS attack — he pwns the interwebs).

1:23

Dieter Bohn – The “nearby friends” app is sweet, though. Being able to see any of your friends withiin 10 miles. I always love apps that make it easier for me to bar hop with friends.

1:23

[Comment From Rene Ritchie (Comments)]: Forstall is demoing the SDK… He came with Jobs from NEXT where he worked on the OS. Now he’s VP of iPhone software….

1:24

Dieter Bohn – I hear there’s a live stream at Yahoo: http://live.yahoo.com/Viru …not loading for me properly though.

1:24

Rene Ritchie – The cloud is the future. Google is predicted to earn more than Windows/Office next year. Everyone will want their piece. Apple is smart to get in on it this way, and now…

1:25

Rene Ritchie – The SDK looks incredibly polished and does tons of heavy lifting for coders right out the box. Amazing piece of work. Anyone who still thinks this was just rushed out the door in March is crazy…

1:25

Dieter Bohn – The demo has wrapped up, “this has been out for 3 months [...] what do they think of it so far? The responses are unbelievable positive”

1:25

Rene Ritchie – BTW- Looks like Forstall is building the Friends App right there on stage! Dayum!

1:26

Dieter Bohn – “It blows away everyting we’ve worked with RIM”



1:27

Dieter Bohn – “It blows away anything we’ve worked with with RIM” ZINGO ZANGO! No wonder it’s on 30% of Fortune 500 companies

1:27

MikeOverbo – ( j2me is rim’s development platform, and it can be a bit of a mess

1:28

Dieter Bohn – Bringing in a bunch of developers to show what they’ve created. The first is Sega, probably going to show us another demo of Super Monkey Ball. WANT THIS GAME. Looks like tons of fun. They’ve polished it and gotten it ready for market.

1:29

Dieter Bohn – LOL. They have all 4 original monkeys, 5 different worlds full of levels. This is the best gaming platform. Showing off how well the tilt control works — “pinpoint precision” — huge applause.

1:29

Dieter Bohn – Huge applause for the pinpoint precision of the accelerometer

1:30

Dieter Bohn – (possible trip post here) Huge applause for the pinpoint precision of the accelerometer

1:30

Dieter Bohn – $9.99 for super monkey ball!!!

1:30

[Comment From shael]: ebay BOOOOOOOO

1:31

Dieter Bohn – eBay app going to be demo’d now. Yawner? I’m not an eBay fanatic so I can’t really comment.

1:31

Rene Ritchie – Casey is probably trying to order SMB as he types…

1:31

MikeOverbo – $10 is a good price. should sell like hotcakes. wonder if the price was set by apple or Sega…

1:32

[Comment From shael]: sega….

1:32

[Comment From shael]: sega… for sure

1:32

Casey Chan – over 100 levels! easy buy!

1:32

Dieter Bohn – likely the price was set by both. Apple recently exhorted developers to not offer free apps if they can help it.

1:32

[Comment From Zach]: Hopefully some of the other big game makers will follow suit and keep the prices low

1:32

Rene Ritchie – Apple takes %30 for hosting/transaction, Sega takes %70 for the game. App Store puts in in front of every iPhone user. HUGE!!

1:32

Dieter Bohn – Likely set by both, IMO. Apple recently exhorted developers to not offer free apps.

1:33

Dieter Bohn – eBay app is FREE

1:33

Dieter Bohn – eBay app is free!

1:33

Rene Ritchie – @Dieter: I don’t buy that story. My guess is free for simple/demo, paid for consumer/full level. Apple gives away too much HD video (bandwidth intensive) for them to be cheap on app downloads.

1:34

Rene Ritchie – Yup, Apple will want tons of free apps just to grow the platform.

1:34

Dieter Bohn – Chris @ the Tampe apple Store “Pretty sure they have them here. The one worker hinted toward it.”

1:34

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: Might have to start carrying both a BlackBerry Bold and an iPhone

1:34

Rene Ritchie – Jobs quote: Previous Apple management went for money over marketshare. He won’t make that mistake…

1:35

Dieter Bohn – (Comments may be broken, will add them when I can)

1:35

Dieter Bohn – Showing Loopt now — another social networking app that gives your friends’ location.

1:35

[Comment From HouseofG]: @Dieter – Did Tampa and Tempe merger? No wonder it’s so damn hot here!

1:36

Dieter Bohn – @HouseofG: Quite youse!

1:36

Dieter Bohn – TypePad (SixApart) showing off their app. I wonder if it’s basically the same thing as the web app?

1:36

Dieter Bohn – TypePad (SixApart) showing off their app. I wonder if it’s basically the same thing as the web app?

1:36

Rene Ritchie – Given the cult-of-Mac, that will nail a significant elitist networking niche…

1:37

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: Might have to start carrying both a BlackBerry Bold and an iPhone

1:37

[Comment From Guest]: live audio: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wwdc-2008-live-keynote-audio-stream

1:38

MikeOverbo – blog posts with photos uploaded from the camera will be nice.

1:38

Dieter Bohn – we’re over a half hour in and the new stuff is just that they promised to show Snow Leopard “after lunch.” I’m getting nervous.

1:38

MikeOverbo – (loopt is free!)

1:38

Dieter Bohn – TypePad will be free too.

1:38

Dieter Bohn – TypePad will be free too.

1:40

Dieter Bohn – Now we hear from the Associated Press. A Native News app sounds nice. “Mobile News Network.”

1:40

Dieter Bohn – Now we hear from the Associated Press. A Native News app sounds nice. “Mobile News Network.”

1:40

Rene Ritchie – Gruber is saying Serlet’s Snow Leopard demo this afternoon will be under NDA…

1:40

[Comment From Andrew]: I’m really happy to see all of these free apps that are coming out. I know it is only a few, but it will definitely give a boost to platform, allowing people to experience a few, and then be pulled into spending $ on programs.

1:41

Dieter Bohn – Andrew writes “I’m really happy to see all of these free apps”. 100% Agreed. (comments still borked, stil trying to publish them directly)

1:41

[Comment From StarrWulfe]: remember, whatever is shown today will help shape the coming year not just for iphone-heads, but for the entire mobile device and application space…

1:41

Rene Ritchie – Repost: Gruber is saying Snow Leopard won’t be shown until Serlet’s demo later today, which will be under NDA…

1:42

Dieter Bohn – Oof. Another demo of another SDK. Pangea Software, a Mac Games developer. iPhone 2.0 and App Store better launch TODAY or I’ll be unhappy. Then again, we have to remember, this is the WW DEVELOPERS conference. Still. Le Sigh.

1:42

Rene Ritchie – Jobs is discussing SDK first, new features next (according to what they say he said), so stuff on GPS, etc. is hopefully still to come…

1:43

[Comment From Seagram]: So GPS is all but confirmed, right? It is needed for Loopt, right?

1:43

[Comment From StarrWulfe]: remember, whatever is shown today will help shape the coming year not just for iphone-heads, but for the entire mobile device and application space…

1:43

[Comment From Andrew]: I’m really happy to see all of these free apps that are coming out. I know it is only a few, but it will definitely give a boost to platform, allowing people to experience a few, and then be pulled into spending $ on programs.

1:43

Rene Ritchie – App Store live today, or live when 3G goes on sale? I’m guessing the latter…

1:44

Rene Ritchie – @StarWulfe: Apple defined the CLI with the Apple II, the GUI with the Mac, now they are re-defining the mobile platform with iPhone…

1:44

[Comment From wallyfr00]: @Dieter – Gizmodo’s blog said “WordPress told them their native iPhone app is coming soon, somewhere around the end of the week or early next week.” maybe that means we’ll get the app store today

1:45

[Comment From Andrew]: I’m currently sitting in an Apple store…a few employees won’t tell me anything, but they’ve said they haven’t seen anything in the back…they must be lying.

1:45

Dieter Bohn – [Andrew writes: "I'm currently sitting in an Apple store...a few employees won't tell me anything, but they've said they haven't seen anything in the back...they must be lying." ]: 1:45

MikeOverbo – my guess: live when 2.0 software is released, today

1:45

Dieter Bohn – [Andrew writes: "I'm currently sitting in an Apple store...a few employees won't tell me anything, but they've said they haven't seen anything in the back...they must be lying." ]: 1:45

Dieter Bohn – [Andrew writes: "I'm currently sitting in an Apple store...a few employees won't tell me anything, but they've said they haven't seen anything in the back...they must be lying." ]: 1:46

Dieter Bohn – Another developer. “even a solo developer can create an amazing application for the iPhone.” Developer for the Insurance Industry from England. Not what we’re going to expect, eh?

1:46

Rene Ritchie – Repost: Apple defined the CLI with the APPLE II, the GUI with the Mac, and now are re-defining the mobile platform…

1:46

Dieter Bohn – Another developer. “even a solo developer can create an amazing application for the iPhone.” Developer for the Insurance Industry from England. Not what we’re going to expect, eh?

1:46

Dieter Bohn – Another developer. “even a solo developer can create an amazing application for the iPhone.” Developer for the Insurance Industry from England. Not what we’re going to expect, eh?

1:46

Casey Chan – Pangea’s games are also $9.99. Think that’s going to be the price point for games?

1:47

Rene Ritchie – Graphical level of Nintendo N64, 3 days to get ports up and running…

1:47

Rene Ritchie – Repost: Apple defined the CLI with the APPLE II, the GUI with the Mac, and now are re-defining the mobile platform…

1:47

Dieter Bohn – Looks likea music making app. Lots of fun and lots of applause for him.

1:48

MikeOverbo – portable garage band!

1:48

Dieter Bohn – Dang! Everybody thinks it’s awesome. Good move ending with the one guy who makes an app in his spare time. Everybody is super smiley-time with this!

1:48

Rene Ritchie – Enigmo and Cro-Mag rally are the game titles…

1:48

Dieter Bohn – Oh, wishful thinking he was last. :-/ . MLB.com is up next — demo’ing a baseball app next.

1:49

Rene Ritchie – Enigmo and cro-mag ralley were the 2 games…

1:49

[Comment From Brent Shelton]: Dev Center for iphone is down too so 2.0 should be available today http://developer.apple.com/iphone

1:49

Rene Ritchie – Repost: Enigmo and cro-mag ralley were the 2 games…

1:50

Dieter Bohn – MLB App has REAL TIME VIDEO.

1:50

Casey Chan – $9.99 looks like the price point for games…

1:50

Rene Ritchie – All demo’s are being shown on what looks like current gen iPhones…

1:50

Dieter Bohn – “Best possible Video experience on EDGE.” Wouldn’t that be “not”? Wokka wokka!

1:50

[Comment From Bruce Kamby]: “All demo’s are being shown on what looks like current gen iPhones… ” Maybe to show their backwards compatibility

1:51

Dieter Bohn – Two more medical apps — this thing is going to replace Palm and PPC for a LOT of medical industry types.

1:52

Rene Ritchie – Steve Jobs giving glasses of water to the medical industry…

1:52

[Comment From MC1171611]: by 2.0 all iPhones will be running the same firmware…just a little different hardware for the 3G

1:53

Casey Chan – So I guess I can see my Dodger’s futility everywhere I go now?

1:53

Rene Ritchie – @MC1171611: Like Leopard on a G4 vs. Intel Core 2 Duo…

1:53

[Comment From StarrWulfe]: if only it had an IR transceiver–it would also replace the palm as the PDA of choice for those in the real estate industry that must use lockboxes.

1:54

MikeOverbo – 1/2 hour of app demos so far…

1:54

Rene Ritchie – It’s WWDC

1:54

Dieter Bohn – Another Medical app. Sorry guys, I can’t get myself to care too deeply about this beyond knowing that there is a TON of smarpthone and PDA use out there and this is a Big. Deal. for a lot of people.

1:54

[Comment From Paul]: It’s almost an hour later; where are the Apple product announcements? Hmm.

1:55

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: Apparently Apple’s stock is down $5 since this live blog started… they should just get to the good stuff!

1:55

Dieter Bohn – [From CrackBerry Kevin: Apparently Apple's stock is down $5 since this live blog started... they should just get to the good stuff!]: 1:56

Rene Ritchie – Like Indy 4, the App demo segment could’ve used some good editing…

1:57

Rene Ritchie – @Crackberry Kevin: Profit takers panicking over too many free apps??

1:57

Dieter Bohn – “removed it from the realm of black art.” ..iPhone 2.0: the best thing to hit the medical industry since leeches!

1:58

Dieter Bohn – Ok, phew, we’re on the last app demo now. Hooray! Another game

1:58

[Comment From Dave]: @Dieter, at apple store now, columbia, md, no new units, no clean shelf, zip. business as usual, employees not saying squat (

1:58

[Comment From ckwells]: No one cares about half of this crap. Show us something good.

1:58

[Comment From GaryUSC]: If there are no announcement for the 3G iPhone today, the stock will retreat by more than just $5. A lot of the recent run up in the share price has the 3G iPhone news built in to it.

1:58

[Comment From Rene Ritchie (Comments)]: Any more of these medial apps and I am going to need a doctor!

1:59

MikeOverbo – to garyUSC: the stocks will just go up again when it’s released anyway.

1:59

Dieter Bohn – Ok, we’re done with demos now. I can has iPhone 3G now??

2:00

Rene Ritchie – 3D (not 3G!) fantasy adventure game, done in just 2 weeks. Somewhere between DS and PSP quality…

2:00

Rene Ritchie – Ready by September…

2:01

MikeOverbo – ‘dungeon siege’ has been mentioned as a comparison to the fantasy game.

2:01

Dieter Bohn – “There has been 1 feature request that doesn’t currently exist in the SDK that doesn’t exist yet.” They want to get a notification even when the user isn’t currently running the application.

2:01

Dieter Bohn – the wrong solution is to enable background processes. To allow an app to continue to run [...] bad for battery life… bad for performance…

2:02

Dieter Bohn – making fun of WM’s task manager

2:02

Rene Ritchie – Also gets into issues of notification overload/collision…

2:02

Dieter Bohn – mocking WM task manager. but offering a push notification service to all devs!!

2:02

Dieter Bohn – mocking WM task manager. but offering a push notification service to all devs!!

2:03

Dieter Bohn – mocking WM task manager. but offering a push notification service to all devs!!

2:03

MikeOverbo – Gary — there’s generally no price difference between edge plans and 3g plans.

2:03

Dieter Bohn – mocking WM task manager. but offering a push notification service to all devs!! (expect multiple posts on this one)

2:03

Rene Ritchie – Repost: Also bad for notification overload/collision

2:03

Dieter Bohn – push service gives you your own custom sounds, text alerts, etc. This is a good solution. Sort of a half NOC I guess.

2:04

Rene Ritchie – Repost: Also bad for notification overload/collision

2:04

Rene Ritchie – Repost: Also bad for notification overload/collision

2:04

Dieter Bohn – the Push service will be available in september… the update for the SDK. sounds like we’ll get the apps before that. We’re done with the SDK update!

2:04

Dieter Bohn – the Push service will be available in september… the update for the SDK. sounds like we’ll get the apps before that. We’re done with the SDK update!

2:05

Dieter Bohn – the Push service will be available in september… the update for the SDK. sounds like we’ll get the apps before that. We’re done with the SDK update! (repost)

. Steve back on

2:05

Dieter Bohn – the Push service will be available in september… the update for the SDK. sounds like we’ll get the apps before that. We’re done with the SDK update! (repost)

. Steve back on

2:05

Dieter Bohn – the Push service will be available in september… the update for the SDK. sounds like we’ll get the apps before that. We’re done with the SDK update! (repost)

. Steve back on

2:05

MikeOverbo – w00t for push services. noc style scares me, given all those blackberry outages. @thomrobinson: at&t has a 3g coverage map on their website so you can check if your area is covered.

2:05

Dieter Bohn – the Push service will be available in september… the update for the SDK. sounds like we’ll get the apps before that. We’re done with the SDK update! (repost)

. Steve back on. Contact search is here. Full iWork documents! Edit documents!

2:06

Rene Ritchie – I was wrong, Mobile iWork now!

2:06

Dieter Bohn – Office docs too of course. Oh wait, maybe not editing? Nope, sorry for the wrong news…

2:06

Dieter Bohn –



This is nuts. yeah.. ok, it is.

2:06

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.

2:06

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.

2:06

[Comment From JFH]: Copy paste?

2:06

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.

2:07

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.

2:07

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.(repost). a lot of new langauges! 2 forms of entry for Japanese and 2 for Chinese.

2:07

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.(repost). a lot of new langauges! 2 forms of entry for Japanese and 2 for Chinese.

2:07

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.(repost). a lot of new langauges! 2 forms of entry for Japanese and 2 for Chinese.

2:07

[Comment From sietedos72]: Apples shares are down from $185 to $178 and still falling!

2:07

Dieter Bohn – scientific calculator, parental controls.(repost). a lot of new langauges! 2 forms of entry for Japanese and 2 for Chinese.

2:07

Rene Ritchie – Demi-Noc still single point of failure, but the criticality of the apps depending on it might mitigate (or should for sane users…) Still, CrackBerry Kevin will mock the demi-NOC at first signs of outage…

2:08

Casey Chan – Hey, we get to save our images in e-mail directly to library now..

2:08

Dieter Bohn – released in early July. BOOO

2:08

MikeOverbo – parental controls and international language support…

2:08

Dieter Bohn – released in early July. BOOO. Price down to $9.95 for iPod Touch users.

2:08

[Comment From Jonathan Campbell]: early july…

2:08

Rene Ritchie – #Apple Shares: They will fall until the moment Jobs pulls the iPhone 3G from his pocket…

2:08

Dieter Bohn – released in early July. BOOO. Price down to $9.95 for iPod Touch users.

2:09

[Comment From Darren Lu]: RE: saving email images: ABOUT TIME

2:09

Dieter Bohn – [Darren writes: RE: saving email images: ABOUT TIME]: 2:09

Dieter Bohn – [Darren writes: RE: saving email images: ABOUT TIME]: 2:09

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: @ Rene. The only reason I would knock the demi-NOC failure is so you have material to write about for your weekly Smartphone Schadenfreude

2:09

[Comment From sietedos72]: Stop press, Apples stock now down nearly $10, and $5 of that is the last 5 mins… they need that 3G!

2:10

Dieter Bohn – 62 Countries for the App Store..

2:10

MikeOverbo – second on that boo! for july. we were promised june, if memory serves.

2:10

Casey Chan – If 3G is out today, all will be forgiven though..

2:10

Dieter Bohn – If the app is over 10 megabytes, has to be downloaded over WiFi or iTunes, otherwise they’ll let you download over “cellular network”.

2:10

Rene Ritchie – Yup, June. Which previously meant June 30 at 11:59pm. Still, better late and polished than rushed and Vista’d…

2:11

MikeOverbo – devs set price for apps, not everything will be $10 or free.

2:11

Dieter Bohn – They’re doing a customer “enterprise” option for distributiing apps just to their iPhones. In other words, if you want to sell via something other than the app store, this could POTENTIALLY be a window you could FORCE open. For now, though, expect it just to work for enterprise.

2:11

Rene Ritchie – FairPlay DRM will wrap all apps

2:12

Dieter Bohn – Whoa, wrong! Ad Hoc Apps….

2:12

Rene Ritchie – (This means if you sell your iPhone, the person who buys it may not be able to take ownership of the apps since they’ll be bound to the original iTunes account…)

2:12

Dieter Bohn – “Ad Hoc Distribution” — expanding Developer Certification Program.. you can register up to 100 iPhones … so not really a good distribution method widely, but more for academic purposes….

2:13

Dieter Bohn – SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW. MOBILE ME.

2:13

Dieter Bohn – Phil Shiller coming on.

2:13

Dieter Bohn – Phil Schiller doing the demo

2:13

[Comment From zebu]: what about copy/paste?

2:13

[Comment From Jonathan Campbell]: great name..

2:13

Rene Ritchie – Repost: DRM likely means that if you sell your iPhone, the buyer won’t get the apps since they can’t authorize the original iTunes account)

2:14

Dieter Bohn – “Exchange for the Rest of Us” Schiller called it “ActiveStink” Whoops.

2:14

Dieter Bohn – “Exchange for the Rest of Us” Schiller called it “ActiveStink” Whoops.

2:14

Dieter Bohn – “Exchange for the Rest of Us” Schiller called it “ActiveStink” Whoops. (repost)

2:14

Rene Ritchie – Repost: DRM likely means that if you sell your iPhone, the buyer won’t get the apps since they can’t authorize the original iTunes account)

2:14

Dieter Bohn – “Exchange for the Rest of Us” Schiller called it “ActiveStink” Whoops. (repost) With Mobile me we can all get push email, contacts, and calendar

2:14

Dieter Bohn – Compatible with Mac and PC.

2:15

Rene Ritchie – If MobileMe popularizes IMAP IDLE, CalDAV and related open protocols, it will be good for non-Exchange internet development…

2:15

Dieter Bohn – Showing how everything pushes — from computer to mobileme, from iPhone to mobileme , etc etc.

2:16

Dieter Bohn – Works with native apps on Mac or PC. iCal, Mail, Address book, Outlook.

2:16

Rene Ritchie – Here comes the cloud…

2:16

Rene Ritchie – Here comes the cloud!

2:16

MikeOverbo – syncing .mac stuff to more than two computers with .mac is at times fraught with peril… hopefully the push aspect (with central info @ .mac) fixes this.

2:16

Dieter Bohn – They built Web 2.0 apps to go with all this too. Doesn’t sound like we’re getting Google-backed services. it’s Me.com

2:17

Rene Ritchie – Here comes the cloud!

2:17

Dieter Bohn – me.com isn’t live yet.

2:17

Dieter Bohn – me.com isn’t live yet.

2:17

[Comment From Tom]: No task sync???????

2:17

Dieter Bohn – me.com isn’t live yet. (repost)

2:17

[Comment From StarrWulfe]: but will mobileME play nicely with those of us using exchange? can we sync different types? (Exchange, SyncML, etc?)

2:17

[Comment From Thom Robinson]: What if you only use GMail? Will you be able to get your contact information from that?

2:17

Rene Ritchie – MobileMe won’t work with Exchange — it’s designed to BE Exchange for non-Exchange users…

2:17

Dieter Bohn – Photos can be synced over the air as well.

2:18

[Comment From CrackBerry Kevin]: Will MobileMe push back to a BlackBerry??

2:18

Dieter Bohn – [CrackBerry Kevin] -

Will MobileMe push back to a BlackBerry??

2:18

Rene Ritchie – Repost: MobileMe won’t work with Exchange, it’s designed to BE Exchange for non-Exchange users, and likely do more of what a non-Business user will like…

2:18

Dieter Bohn – won’t work with BlackBerries either I’m sure.

2:18

Dieter Bohn – demo Time!

2:18

MikeOverbo – (web apps with ajax) — probably a very portable client.

2:18

Rene Ritchie – (But will it be competitive with Windows Live Mesh when that goes Live-er?)

2:19

Rene Ritchie – But will it be competitive with Windows Live Mesh when that goes Live-er??

2:19

Dieter Bohn – “just like a desktop app” — round of applause.

2:20

Dieter Bohn – iDisk built into MobileMe.

2:20

Rene Ritchie – GUI is gorgeous. They really nail the software/services hybrid client. This is a good entry into the Cloud Space. I wonder if the Google CEO recused himself from Apple board meetings on this??

2:20

MikeOverbo – @George Smart: the publish comment widget is broken.

2:20

[Comment From George Smart]: Apple stock is at $6.55

2:20

[Comment From StarrWulfe]: *sigh* no “holy Grail” for us that like to keep both work (Exchange) and personal (GCalendar or iCal) in sync on one device… Any developers out there wanna take a shot at that one?

2:21

Rene Ritchie – @George Smart: The stock isn’t AT $6.55, it’s stll in the high hundreds…

2:22

[Comment From Cat]: It’s down $6.15

2:22

Dieter Bohn – TUAW points out the lack of adds. smells like a subscription.

2:22

Rene Ritchie – @StarWulfe: Exchange runs on proprietary protocols designed for monopolistic reasons not to play nice with others.

2:22

MikeOverbo – let’s hope its built into .mac so my money spent there starts being useful ;P

2:22

Rene Ritchie – .Mac is already $100 a year, so I’m guessing this will be paid. (And @Mike: AGREED!)

2:23

Dieter Bohn – contact app has built-in support for Google Maps.

2:23

Rene Ritchie – (They also need to significantly up the iDisk storage limit)

2:23

[Comment From sietedos72]: They will have to lower the price for mobileme, I don’t think .mac took off so well due to it being $100 a year or something.

2:23

[Comment From merv]: the screenshot on engadget of login page *does* say signup for a “free trial”… so definitely some money exchanged at some point.

2:23

[Comment From David]: How long does this whole conference go for? If the 3G iPhone is the last thing to be announced, what is the latest this would happen?

2:24

Dieter Bohn – @David – probably in the next 20 minutes.. due to last another 40…

2:24

MikeOverbo – @david: they don’t usually announce when the end is

2:24

Dieter Bohn – I stand corrected. Still demoing MobileMe by the way. Or is is Me.com? Worst Branding to come out of Apple in years.

2:24

Rene Ritchie – @Enagdget: Odds of this being Flash based? I would guess less that nill… (Though it would certainly re-ignite the rumors…)

2:25

[Comment From Ryan]: No 3G announcement. I’m calling it. Apple with a big fumble at the goal line.

2:25

[Comment From MC1171611]: No doubt the .Mac service will be rolled into MobileMe either right now or soon…

2:25

[Comment From Laz]: Dieter, I’d be willing to bet that the move from .mac to .me was designed to lure non-Mac iPhone / iPod users

2:25

[Comment From mo]: heard al gore is gonna demo it?

2:25

MikeOverbo – @laz: that’s a great call.

2:25

Dieter Bohn – @mo: LOL! Will he do it with PowerPoint?

2:26

Rene Ritchie – @Dieter, isn’t Al a *huge* Keynote user? Or was that a power industry joke?

2:26

Dieter Bohn – This mobile me stuff all looks pretty slick, but it’s ambiguous — will it only work with a me.com email address??

2:27

Rene Ritchie – Bets on who gets first registration of mini@me.com??? (TM Brian)

2:27

Dieter Bohn – wrapping up… Service, available for 99 per year.

2:27

Dieter Bohn – 20gb of online storage.

2:27

MikeOverbo – longshot: it will work with any mail provider that gives imap access.

2:27

Dieter Bohn – 60 day free trial.

2:27

MikeOverbo – (that’s a guess)

2:28

Dieter Bohn – .mac automatically upgraded.

2:28

[Comment From Ryan]: no one will buy this. just like no one bought .mac

2:28

[Comment From Brian]: that’s too much, they need to lower to about 50

2:28

Rene Ritchie – Basically .Mac on steroids for the same price… Wonder if new Mac owners will still get the usual ~30% discount…

2:28

Dieter Bohn – Steve back on. “near and dear to my heart” — the iPhone. Talking about the anniversary coming up.

2:28

Rene Ritchie – .Mac was worth $99 for me just for the sync and the Back-to-my-Mac which I use near-constantly.

2:29

Dieter Bohn – “This is the phone that changes phones forever.” huge applause.

2:29

MikeOverbo – @iphonebrent: you can usually watch the stream on apple’s web page after the event.

2:29

[Comment From Paul]: @ Dieter: I’d like to call and ask about the 60 day trial and $99 service, but there’s no phone.

2:30

Dieter Bohn – Talking about how iPhone users use MORE of the iPhone features than they do on other phones.

2:30

Dieter Bohn – going after other platforms.

2:30

Dieter Bohn – sold 6 million iPhones until they ‘ran out’

2:30

Rene Ritchie – Google search and map usage on iPhone is reportedly off the charts…

2:30

MikeOverbo – 90% customer satisfaction (!)

2:31

Dieter Bohn – Challenges they need to beat. 3G network. Huge applause. Enterprise. 3rd party apps. 4th: sell in more countries.

2:31

Dieter Bohn – iphone risk map coming up?

2:31

Rene Ritchie – 98% browse. 94% email.

2:31

Dieter Bohn – congrats Vincent on having your picture up!!

2:31

Rene Ritchie – If so, am I allowed to send a DMCA demand?

2:31

Dieter Bohn – need to make the iPhone more affordable….

2:32

Dieter Bohn – Today we’re introducting the iPhone ROAR CHEER WOOO!!!! (yeah didn’t catch that)

2:32

Dieter Bohn – iPhone 3G

I win!

2:32

Dieter Bohn – thinner at edges, plastic back, rumors were true. Rene got it right exactly. Flush headphone jack.

2:33

Rene Ritchie – OMGZ1! New iPhonz! FTW11!!!

2:33

MikeOverbo – #1 reason people don’t buy an iphone: price (56%)

2:33

[Comment From sietedos72]: WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!

2:33

[Comment From Zach]: WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:33

[Comment From Dan]: WOOOT!

2:33

[Comment From StarrWulfe]: YES!

2:33

[Comment From Ryan]: i was wrong.

2:33

[Comment From andyt3ch]: yyeeiiaaq

2:33

[Comment From jk]: yesss!!!!

2:33

[Comment From MC1171611]: Bout friggin’ TIME!

2:34

Dieter Bohn – Same browser over Edge and over 3G…. 21 seconds on 3g. ………

2:34

MikeOverbo – looks like the very flat back is gone, meaning it will be easier to ipck up. looks a bit thicker to me too.



also, flush headphone jack.

2:34

Dieter Bohn – (images up here: live.gizmodo.com )

2:35

Dieter Bohn – …….

2:35

Rene Ritchie – 8GB?!

2:35

Dieter Bohn – 59 seconds on edge.

2:35

Dieter Bohn – 3G 2.8 times faster.

2:35

Dieter Bohn – 3G speeds approach wifi speeds…

2:36

Dieter Bohn – 36% faster than the Nokia n95 and Treo 750.

2:36

[Comment From carsly]: 8GB to keep prices down

2:36

[Comment From j]: it better be cheap, i don’t see the vast majority of consumers shelling out big bucks for another phone, when “6 million” have shelled out in just the past year.

2:36

[Comment From R'Copeh]: No front facing camera either. Interesting.

2:36

Rene Ritchie – (Please let Rogers get reasonable data rates. Please let Rogers get reasonable data rates Please let Rogers get reasonable data rates)

2:37

MikeOverbo – i’m going to guess that they’ll have a high-end version available with more storage.

2:37

Dieter Bohn – What about battery life? 300 hours on the original iPhone. 2G talk time from 8 hours to 10 hours on iPhone 3G… Other phones have 3G talk time in 3 to 3.5 hour range. iPhone 3G has 5 hours.

2:38

Dieter Bohn – 5-6 hours of 3G browsing. Definitely a step down from the previous iPhone but still damn decent. 24 hours of Audio…

2:38

Dieter Bohn – GPS!

2:38

Rene Ritchie – Is 5hrs enough? And can you default to 2.5G to save battery?

2:38

Dieter Bohn – Get location from WiFi and from GPS.

2:39

MikeOverbo – 5 hrs is typical of most high-end smartphones… lots of them only get 3-4, which is why extendo batteries are so popular.

2:39

Dieter Bohn – 5 hours is actually better than most, yes. But without a replaceable battery, it’s a *little* nerve wracking.

2:39

Rene Ritchie – Anyone wanna bet Jony Ive didn’ty include no changeable battery on this baby?

2:39

Dieter Bohn – Built-in GPS, Faster Data. Enterprise.. What about the other challenges?

2:40

MikeOverbo – price is the one i’m waiting for

2:40

[Comment From Dan]: It is going to be cheap, look that was oneof his main points

2:40

[Comment From Bruce Kamby]: Stock just went up to 182

2:40

[Comment From David]: come on better quality camera….

2:40

[Comment From chris]: What about copy/paste? is there in there yet?

2:40

[Comment From john]: CANADA????

2:40

Rene Ritchie – Canadian release date is what I’m waiting for…

2:40

Dieter Bohn – Check off 3rd party apps. More countries.. Now it’s in 6 countires…

2:41

Dieter Bohn – Goal of 12 countries, stretch goal of 25 countries. here comes the boom..

2:41

Dieter Bohn – Playing “its a small world after all” to occasional cheers as people’s countries come up…

2:42

Rene Ritchie – Steve loves him his Disney!

2:43

MikeOverbo – mexico and canada are on the extendo map, as well as much of south america

2:43

Dieter Bohn – 70 countries

2:43

MikeOverbo – kadooj!

2:44

Rene Ritchie – China?!

2:44

Dieter Bohn – China.

2:44

Dieter Bohn – Last goal: price!

2:44

Rene Ritchie – Zhi Shi Fei Chang Hao!

2:44

Dieter Bohn – $599, now $399 for an 8gig.

2:44

MikeOverbo – cache.gizmodo.com/assets/wwdc08/2008wwdclive193.jpg

2:45

Dieter Bohn – iPhone 3Gboom wow yell can’t hear!

2:45

Dieter Bohn – $199! for 8gig. 299 for 16 gig

2:45

Casey Chan – 199!!!

2:45

Rene Ritchie – Boom!

2:45

Dieter Bohn – wil come in white too

2:45

MikeOverbo – wow

2:45

Dieter Bohn – WOWZERS

2:46

[Comment From Borja]: wooooooooooooow!

2:46

[Comment From James]: impressive

2:46

[Comment From cheese]: AWESOME!!!!!!!!

2:46

[Comment From Ambrose, with an 'R']: holy crap

2:46

Casey Chan – who needs carrier subsidies!

2:46

Dieter Bohn – July 1st?

2:46

Rene Ritchie – Wonder how many competing execs just went into cadiac arrest…

2:46

MikeOverbo – they’re driving the price down of smartphones, that’s for sure.

2:46

Dieter Bohn – Showing an ad now.

2:47

MikeOverbo – seems that white might be available only in 16gb version?

2:47

Dieter Bohn – July 11th Launch Date

2:47

Rene Ritchie – @Crackberry Kevin throwing some cut and paste rain on the 3G parade…

2:47

[Comment From MC1171611]: $184 now!

2:47

[Comment From malcontent]: So much for Sprint/Samsung

2:47

Rene Ritchie – July 11 gives them a nearly guaranteed 2 months of free hype…

2:47

Dieter Bohn – (want one more thing)

2:48

MikeOverbo – @damien: there is no subsidy for the iphone.

2:48

Rene Ritchie – Jobs said a “maximum of $199″, doesn’t that leave the door open for less?

2:48

Rene Ritchie – (engadget says Jobs said that, for clarity)

2:50

Rene Ritchie – LOL@Steve: first iPhone to beat the iPhone

2:50

MikeOverbo – iphone teams getting applause…

2:50

Rene Ritchie – Deservedly so. Probably haven’t seen their families since March…

2:51

Rene Ritchie – iPhone 3G was the “one more thing” ?!

2:51

[Comment From Tom]: We have to wait another 4 weeks?

2:51

[Comment From MC1171611]: Aww…no unlocked iPhone

2:51

[Comment From Borja]: no improved camera mp?

2:51

MikeOverbo – it does leave the door open for less, but you won’t see a subsidy anywhere there’s an apple store.

2:52

MikeOverbo – looks like that’s it.

2:52

Dieter Bohn – That’s a wrap, everybody!



2:52

Rene Ritchie – @Mike I’m guessing those scrappy Euro-carriers will subsidize…

2:52

[Comment From MC1171611]: Did he even SAY “One More Thing”?

2:52

Dieter Bohn – Nope!

2:52

Rene Ritchie – Okay, what will iPhone 4G be like?

2:52

Dieter Bohn – lol!

2:53

[Comment From Vyktoryuh]: 4 more weeks!?!?!?!?!

2:53

MikeOverbo – heh, when will iphone 2.0 be released?

2:53

[Comment From R'Copeh]: Shame there’s no mention of GPS working with an external Bluetooth. Shags us V1 users

2:53

[Comment From FamousJerry]: im holding out till iphone 6g

2:53

[Comment From Kurt]: Thx Dieter & gang for the coverage!

2:53

[Comment From Dan]: THE STORE IS UP!

2:53

[Comment From chris]: the 4g better have cut and paste

2:53

Rene Ritchie – I’m guessing more stuff will filter out between now and launch day.

2:53 [Poll popup] Was it good for you? View Results

2:54

[Comment From CoachFreak]: so on our “did not get” list Flash, iChat, MMS, copy/paste, better camera, better battery life/ but we DID get a cheaper pricetag, 3G, GPS, mobleme sync

2:54

[Comment From R'Copeh]: Second that from Kurt. Thanks for the coverage.

2:54

[Comment From Mike]: Go Blackberry

2:54

Rene Ritchie – BT stack news, hopefully…

2:54

[Comment From Darren Lu]: store back up with iphone 3G!!!1

2:54

MikeOverbo – @eric: I’m giving my iphone 1.0 to my wife so she can ditch her treo 680

2:54

[Comment From Matt]: Store says it is available in white

2:54

Rene Ritchie – @Mike, where do you want Blackberry to go? That sounds awfully mean?

2:54

[Comment From FamousJerry]: the store is up and has listings of all the phone deatils and .me

2:54

[Comment From frank]: whats the point of having shut down the stores, and built everything up only to release it until july

2:55

[Comment From Matt]: Store says it is available in white

2:55

Rene Ritchie – iPhone 3G up on Apple Store Canada!

2:55

MikeOverbo – lots of comments indicating that white is available for every version

2:55

[Comment From sietedos72]: mobileme is on the store page too

2:55

Rene Ritchie – No “black” Apple tax like for MacBook!

2:55

[Comment From Matt W]: well, i’m out. thanks for the coverage

2:55

[Comment From R'Copeh]: LOL! There’s all of a sudden a Brother Printer Driver update in Software Update. What the hell? Where did that come from!

2:55

[Comment From Matt M]: No camera improvement, no front facing camera, plus a cheaper feel (most likely) I think I will hold off and keep my ver 1.0.

2:55

MikeOverbo – mobileme indicates that it’s live in july.

2:56

MikeOverbo – gotta go, thx everyone.

2:56

Dieter Bohn – We’re outie 5000!



2:56

[Comment From Raphael]: Thanks for the coverage!

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