All Articles Tagged rumor

UPDATE: More confusion! Stylemonkey in the comments below says Rogers claims not to be doing this when he called in over the phone. However, I spoke to a couple more Rogers reps and they’re still insisting they’re being told Rogers will bill for WiFi use, perplexingly by using the EMEI number of you phone. While they say Rogers can’t tell data usage this way, they can tell WiFi is being used, and will bill based on time. Ridiculous? Sounds like it. But what’s even more ridiculous is Rogers telling this to (some of?) their stores and people in the field. Crazy!

ORIGINAL POST:

So I was waiting in line at a Rogers store yesterday when the staff came out and said that if we didn’t take the Rogers’ iPhone specific plans, anytime we used WiFi it would be counted towards our custom plans (like the newly announced $30/6GB promo). They said that even though the iPhone would show WiFi, it would still count down (crazy fast) 3G data, and we’d only find out come bill time when charges came in. One of them said they were waiting on clarification from Rogers. Another said this was what Apple wanted and implemented. (Yeah, I know… I’m just repeating the comments).

We didn’t run the story then because we couldn’t get any confirmation of the rumor, but now other reports of people being told the same thing at different Rogers stores has turned up.

Read on for more!

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The iPhone 3G on Rogers saga continues! Crazy Canuck Rogers Rumor du jour? Apple, upset about Rogers disgustingly high price plans for the iPhone 3G and the negative press towards what should have been a triumphant launch for both parties, is cutting its losses and giving Rogers the same shaft Rogers has given Canadian consumers.

How so? By redirecting much of the iPhone stock once destined for Canada to Europe, leaving Rogers embarrassingly short on launch day, causing them to lay off the temp staff they’d lined up.

Caveat: So far this is only coming from a single blogger with no named sources and no history of iPhone or Rogers rumors, true of false. We’re also only a few days from launch, the peak time for hoaxes and attention seeking.

And lets not forget media manipulation. Couldn’t Rogers just as easily be panicking over the negative press and, desperate to make sure they don’t lose fence-sitters or people who might have held out on the first day just to make a protest. Nothing like false scarcity to scare up some business, eh?

Either way, we’ll probably only know for sure on Friday. Though nothing (but lack of common sense) stops Rogers from stepping up and introducing some reasonable rates before then. Monday will do. $30 on top of voice for unlimited data.

Make it so.

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The webs are a blogger over (some awesomely sarcastic) reports originating from iPhone Atlas that — wait for it — an internal AT&T memo has revealed that MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services) will be among the new features revealed with the immanent iPhone 2.0 firmware release.

MMS — a crusty old mobile-to-mobile technology that, once competing networks and technologies learned to play nice, let handset owners send photos, videos, and music to each other in the days when underpowered units were incapable — or diliberately walled-off from — established cross-platform file transfer standards — has been one of the top most griped about features “missing” from the original iPhone 1.x firmware.

Is it for realzy realz this time? No idea. AT&T has been silent on iPhone 3G SMS plans to data (which some take to mean there won’t be any other than the plans already available to every other smartphone), and yet Apple wouldn’t really be Apple unless they were deliberately leaving off some obvious feature or another for no apparent reason, now would they?

With more rumors saying 2.0 has gone Gold Master, we should find out one way or another soon enough!

Are you tired of hearing about whether or not we’ll get actual, real, turn-by-turn GPS on the iPhone yet? You shouldn’t be, because it’s a killer feature that a lot of other smartphone platforms are justifiably proud of and the iPhone needs to get it, Apple’s crazy rules be damned. At least, that’s what we tell ourselves when we cover all this TomTom news, from “It’s coming to iPhone” to “It’s not coming.”

The latest? Despite what you may have heard (ahem), TomTom is working on a client and has one in-house that works “pretty well” according to MacGeneration (via AppleInsider). So says TomTom press chief Yann Lafargue, who adds that as for whether or not the darn thing will ever ship, TomTom can’t really say.

We know that Apple’s SDK agreement prohibits it (probably so Apple can’t get sued when you follow your GPS directions into a lake), but we’re willing to sign away our firstborn rights to sue for this, okay Apple? Can’t you guys make nice?

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Yesterday we asked you “What’s the iPhone 3G Chip and When Will it Ship?” Today we want to know what YOU think the iPhone 3G is going to look like?

Darth Vader black and Paris Hilton thin? Candy red fatty with Kevin Rose cam up front? High-def white with chrome button trim? What do YOU think?

To give you some help, here’s a HUGE roundup of all the iPhone 3G form factor rumors. Epic-style. Because let’s face it, roughly 0.01 seconds after Steve Jobs pulled the first iPhone from his pocket back at Macworld 2007, and someone, somewhere, put aside their childlike sense of wonder long enough think: “Nice! What’s the next gen going to be like?”

Complementary, contradictory, obvious, confusing, all but confirmed or from left field via outer space, the rumors have flooded the internet ever since. It’s become almost impossible to keep track of them all.

Six days from today Steve Jobs takes Moscone Center stage for the sold-out WWDC keynote, and according to everyone and their newsfeed, announces the iPhone 3G. In eager anticipation, every day this week, TiPb wil be asking you to tell us what you think the next generation iPhone will be, from 3G to GPS, release dates to price points, colors to casings, 2.0 software to .Mac .Me services, and this weekend we’ll wrap it all up with a look into the WWDC/iPhone 3G Crystal Ball, and a roundup of the very best of YOUR predictions.

So come on, let’s get in on!

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Let’s recap the iPhone’s prices so far: $599 to $399 to a rumored $199 to…undefined? One of the more interesting tidbits to come out of the 3G rumor mill has to be AT&T’s CFO telling the media that no pricing decision has been made concerning the 3G iPhone. 

“There’s not been a product announcement. There hasn’t been any pricing decisions made. That’s yet to come,” CFO Rick Lindner told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York.

We have mentioned before that AT&T has not been as tight-lipped about upcoming products as Apple notoriously is. Perhaps a warning shot by the folks over at Apple (read: Steve Jobs) has effectively rendered the AT&T execs silent. Or could this possibly mean that the price points would differ between the two ‘partners’?

What do you think? 

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Looks like we’ll have to add analyzing shipping manifests and tracking import/export data to help wanted ads and patent watching. It’s tough being an Apple enthusiast, no?

The folks over at Import Genius have reason to believe that the 3G iPhone is already stateside. After analyzing data from thousands of U.S. customs declarations for Apple, Inc. they have found 188 unidentified containers of a product never before imported by the company. Hint, hint: 3G iPhone.

“They have never before reported this product on their customs declarations,” says Ryan Petersen of ImportGenius.com. “The fact that they are importing millions of units, combined with dwindling stocks of the first generation of iPhones, clearly supports the Citi analysts predictions.”

So where are we going to get the next 3G rumor from? Someone who dug through Steve Job’s trash? Should the paparazzi start following him around? Can’t we just fast-forward to June already?

Thanks Ryan

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Adding further fuel to the fire that Apple Inc. will drop the 3G bomb on June 9th, during CEO Steve Jobs’ Keynote address, InfoSyncWorld is claiming that, once announced, the 2nd generation iPhone will be made available via AT&T roughly 10 days later, on approximately the 18th or 19th.

InfoSyncWorld further speculates on HSDPA, GPS, Mobile TV, and other oft-cited iPhone 3G rumors.

And with the time left before WWDC growing shorter and shorter, when it comes to speculation and rumors, no doubt we ain’t seen nothing yet!

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Yow.  Accessory-maker EXO [via Engadget] has posted the above image of a sample iPhone 3G case. Engadget seems to think that it’s possible the here-to-for little-known company is just trolling for link and we’re not disinclined to agree. Still, let’s assume that these are relatively legit. That gives us two pieces of news:

The good news: it seems to be in line with the earlier “iPhone 3G case guidelines,” which means that we’re getting closer to confirming the look of the iPhone 3G.

The bad news: it seems to be in line with the earlier “iPhone 3G case guidelines,” which means that this thing looks a little fatty fatty 2 by 4, don’t it?

One of the features I most want for the iPhone is the ability to use it as a Wi-Fi remote for iTunes (and related services like Front Row or the Apple TV). Sitting back, multi-touch flicking through lists of content, finding something interesting, tapping, and — boom — having it “just work” on my TV or Mac would be Jobsian perfection.

Well, if TUAW’s latest rumor pans out, Apple may be about to deliver, well… not exactly that, but something just as cool:

Apple is working on a new iPhone application called iControl. Like Apple TV and other remote controllers, it would allow the iPhone to connect wirelessly to local iTunes libraries and browse through and play media from those sources. TUAW is told that a media navigator will allow you to view videos, play podcasts, listen to music and even support shuffle playback.

As is increasingly the case, the rumor comes via deep delving into the latest firmware and discovering all sorts of interesting localization strings. Whether this means we’ll just be able to play iTunes content on the iPhone as though it were a mobile Apple TV, or if I’ll be getting my dream iTunes/Front Row/Apple TV remote control via the iPhone as well, we’ll have to wait and see.

And I really am finding it harder and harder to wait. How about you?

Take this with a grain of salt roughly the size of a tanker truck, but Palluxo is claiming that Apple is in talks to license Immersion’s haptic feedback technology for the iPhone:

A source (Apple Inc employee), who chose to remain anonymous, told us that senior executives of the two companies have already met once on Tuesday and the next meeting has been scheduled for Friday morning. The source confirmed that the executives will continue discussions over licencing and implementation issues of iPhone haptics.

Haptic technology involves using vibrations and similar feedback to give the impression of tactile feedback (i.e., it makes pushing a button drawn with pixels feel more like pushing a real, hardware button).

While competitors have been vocal about adopting haptics, Apple has been characteristically mute on the issue, though Steve Jobs famed dislike for buttons (witness the turtleneck) may no doubt be a factor

There are, however, already some Apple patents on file which address the issue.

Personally, I’ll believe it when it’s shown off on stage at a Jobsnote. What do you think?

According to GWcheck it is:

Novell is committed to providing a solution that allows users access to their email, calendar and contacts on the iPhone. As the SDK was just released, we are still working out the details and will announce more specific plans when appropriate.

There has been speculation from other sources about Lotus Notes working on the iPhone as well.

There are still plenty of organizations out there that do not use Microsoft Exchange. Those that don’t, typically use RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server solution. It will be nice to see either RIM jump on board the iPhone bandwagon (I don’t see that happening) or companies like Novell working with other visionaries to bring their services to Apple’s iPhone.

The iPod observer has a great shot of what could be the “back” of Apple’s 3G iPhone. With the inventory running low across the country, could this be the next iteration? Will we know soon?

The iPhone is going on a year old and it would make sense for there to be a product refresh soon. But we are not even to the 12-month anniversary yet. What does Steve Jobs have up his sleeve?

I think the black back looks great. It appears to be “soft touch” and not a painted aluminum. It also does not appear to be a Colorware painted iPhone either. Could their be other product enhancements such as a front facing camera too? I think we need a shot of the iPhone from the front to be sure…

Yup. Just when ya thought it was safe to read the interwebs again, Gizmodo (via BGR) brings word that — you guessed it! — Flash is coming to the iPhone!

“You heard it here first, people! The latest version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware that was just seeded to developers has a YouTube plugin for MobileSafari.app”

Well, forgive me if I go looking for my iHulk Smash Puny Rumor graphic like immediately, b’okay?

No sooner did our own Chad Garette lay out the case for .Mac syncing via the iPhone, then iPhone Alley, (via TUAW), brings word that El Jobso might be doing just that:

In the just released SDK beta 2, iPhone Alley found a string within a preference bundle that reads: “Syncing with this Dot Mac account will turn off syncing for other Dot Mac accounts and delete any existing synced data.” This suggests the possibility of wireless syncing for non-Exchange users.

This would be awesome additional functionality for both the iPhone and for .Mac. 2.0 really can’t come fast enough.

And note to Chad: How about an article on why the iPhone really needs immediate release in Canada? Please?