All Articles Tagged subsidized

Monday Fun Fantasy: Apple MacBook Mini

Is it real, or is it photoshop-fiction? Almost certainly the latter, but since our editor-in-chief, Dieter, went and bought himself a Dell Mini 9, it stands to reason Apple leaked this just to give him a little pay back for the stray Mac.

Gizmodo runs down the speculative specs:

  • 10.4″ WXGA display.
  • 1280 x 768 pixel with LED backlighting.
  • NVIDIA MCP79
  • Intel Atom Z740 1.83GHz with 1MB L2 cache.
  • 2GB DDR3-800.
  • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
  • 64GB Solid State Drive.
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n
  • 1 x USB 2.0
  • 1 x Mini Display Port
  • Battery Li-Ion 5100mA

Do we want a low-yield baby Mac? Would it be even more interesting if, as Apple Insider reported some other rumors suggest, carriers like AT&T, Orange, etc. start offering subsidized MacBook’s when you sign a contract for a data card?



Carrier Update: AT&T Sold Out, O2 Giving Them Out, & Telecom Italia Ready to Shout?

iPhone Out of Stock

Another round of pre-WWDC mayhem:

First up, Ars Technica reported that AT&T followed the Apple Store’s lead in being sold out of the current generation iPhone (2007) model. Did Apple really underestimate demand so uncharacteristically and dramatically, or are they learning to wean consumers earlier this time? And any wonder the old iPhone’s market share has dropped, given that its been getting harder and harder to buy one over the last few months? Moday should fix that

Next up, Apple Insider spread the unabashedly crazy-sounding rumor that UK’s O2 might subsidize the iPhone 3G to the extent of making them “free upgrades”. This links into other rumors of an ultra-low (~$200) price point for the iPhone 3G, with O2 willing to eat even that cost in an effort to attract tasty service-consuming users.

Lastly, Engadget works the bugs out of Google Translate enough to let us know that Reuters Italy has said that while co(?)-exclusive iPhone carrier Telcom Italia might not be selling the iPhone 3G early next week, they will most definitely probably be potentially announcing it. Wouldn’t be waiting for someone else to do that first, now would they?

iPhone 3G to be Waif-Thin, Supercharged, & Ultra-Cheap?!

“Inside Steve’s Brain” author Leander Kahney of Wired magazine is reporting a programmer source inside a major software house has revealed that the next generation iPhone 3G will thinner — we’re talking Paris Hilton thinner — by a whopping 22%.

Not only that, it will sport better battery life than the already impressive 8 hours talk time of the first gen model, and twice the NAND flash capacity, topping out at 32GB. (Paving the way for 64GB iPod Touch’s?)

Still not enough, echoing Kevin Rose (historically not the most reliable of iPhone prognosticators), Kahney thinks the phone may be heavily carrier subsidized — down to the $200 level in some cases — in an effort to put the hurt on Blackberry.

Okay, fess up, who left the rumor mill jacked up to max?!

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