All Articles Tagged Apple

Among the interesting factoids to come out of today’s press release is the revelation that iPhone’s touch display is fabricated from Glass rather than typical plastic found on competing smartphones. This is at once interesting and troubling. The durability of glass in a destructable device is questionable. Will the iPhone survive sudden drops to the floor? Will it crack inside your pants pocket if too much flexing or tensile stress is exerted on it? looks around worried

Ok kiddies, Apple just sent out a press release announcing iPhone’s talk time. Which is…wait for it…wait for it… 8 hours.

Read the PR here… Read the rest of this entry »

I’m sure this is fantastic news for Apple customers with busy schedules who made appointments for that day. Pushed aside for a phone? Yeah, that’s going to go over well.

Much to my chagrin, I received a telephone call from the manager of my local Apple Store yesterday to “reschedule” my appointment for 29 June. No reason was given… If you’ve made a Personal Shopping appointment for the 29th in hopes of securing an iPhone you should call your Apple Store to confirm it. Word is that the decision to cancel the appointments for the 29th was made on a corporate level.

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CrunchGear’s Seth Porges muses on Apple’s strategy of planned obsolescence in product development. iPhone falls into this category, much like its musical cousin – iPod. This is the primary reason why you won’t see user replaceable batteries in either product. Apple doesn’t want you upgrading your device, they want you to upgrade to a NEW device. This strategy was widely used by auto makers in the 1950’s and 60’s. Each year the big three would roll out new models designed to make last years model look obsolete, fueling consumer buying. It may have worked with iPod, but I doubt this will work for iPhone due to the inherent entanglements of wireless carrier red tape.

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European Operators are hot happy with the fruity company from Cupertino. Apparently Apple is not playing friendly with its iPhone distribution plans for the EU market.

“Operators consistently told us, not for attribution, of course, that they had spoken to Apple and found the company ‘unbelievably arrogant’, making demands that ’simply cannot be justified no matter how hot the product is’,” Avi Greengart, a principal analyst at Current Analysis, wrote in an advisory on Monday. “Several [operators] were adamant that they will never offer the iPhone.”

[Via Vnunet]

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Stop the presses! The Wall Street Journal is claiming that it heard from a source, who heard from a friend, who knows a guy that has a brother who was told by a street corner hooker, that Apple will require iPhone users to register an iTunes account in order to use the phone. Oh the humanity.

Ok, this isn’t as extreme as it might sound. Registration is free, and since I already have an iTunes account I won’t be screaming bloody murder.

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Repent, sinner! The end is near. Apocalypse is upon us! Well not quite, but all the half-joking speculation about customers camping out to buy an iPhone on June 29 may prove to be reality after all.

According to various sources Apple is sitting on a stockpile of just 3 million units ready for shipment.

Still, Apple will need to execute flawlessly. In units built and shipped, the iPhone launch will dwarf anything Apple has attempted. It plans to have 3 million iPhones ready for sale on June 29, two sources say. (Apple won’t comment.) And with its touch-screen keyboard, powerful battery-sapping processors, and a panoply of new applications, the iPhone is far more complex than the iPod. Glitches could lead to costly recalls and returns if buyers find the phone buggy or confusing.

Source: BusinessWeek

C|Net UK chats up the coming apocalypse sparked by iPhone shortages.

Sales representatives also said they are expecting big crowds for the launch, many of whom are likely to camp out overnight in front of stores to make sure they are one of the first to get the new phone. “If I were you, I’d probably try going to some little store in New Jersey that nobody knows about,” the Times Square representative said. Even Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, suggested to technology pundit Arianna Huffington that she go to an AT&T store where lines might be shorter than at Apple’s stores.

I’m scared. Someone hold my hand.

Some analysts are speculating that iPhone may have an unexpected benefit to other carrier as well. The logic being that everyone wants one, but not everyone can afford one or switch carriers. Ergo they will seek cheaper or available alternatives like the recently announced HTC Touch.

“Americans typically have never paid the full price that the cell phone even costs to manufacture,” Entner said. Despite this factor, Entner said, the iPhone is likely to enjoy success. He also expects to see a “ruboff effect” benefiting multiple companies offering music services.”The Apple phone is being positioned as the Rolls-Royces or Ferraris of all phones,” Entner said. Not everyone, of course, can afford such a pricey model. “You go to the Ferrari dealership and ogle the Ferrari,” Entner said, “but then you go buy a Pontiac.”

Via The Herald

Apple and AT&T have worked closely together on iPhone throughout its development and looming rollout. That much is certain. But the two companies may be working on some rather interesting service integration with iTunes and a special dashboard widget for OSX users. According to a source I spoke with from AT&T, the two companies are working to enable iPhone users to view and administer their AT&T account from within iTunes itself.

In this arragement iTunes would allow you to view your bill, minutes used, add-on features like ringtone downloads, etc., all right within iTunes. The company may also offer a simple dashboard widget which displays minutes used as monthly bill status. Interesting.