Picture - iPhone Accessories

Picture of iPhone Accessories included with the iPhone

Edit: The bluetooth headset will have to bought separately ($129)

11 things all reviews say about the iPhone

Too tired to read all the iPhone reviews ? Well, here's 10 things all them say.

1. The Hype surrounding the iPhone is Justified, but so are it's limitations.
2. The glass does get smudgy, but it's easy to clean and doesn't scratch easily.
   
3. The software and the web browser is amazing and simple and fun to operate.
4. Call Quality is average.
5. The camera sucks.
6. Real life battery - 5 hours of video, 23 hours of audio.
7. Unlimited internet plans are only $20 a month.
8. Typing is hard, but you get used to it eventually with smart software figuring out what you intended to type.
9. AT&T's EDGE network sucks, but WiFi makes everything better.
   
10. No 'cut and paste' option.
11. Signing up for the iPhone is through iTunes, after you've reached home.
    

Some Detailed Reviews:
David Pogue at the New York Times
Steven Levy at MSNBC

Why wait in line for an iPhone when you can buy one at Froogle for $999,999.00

Froogle (or 'Google Products' as it is known nowadays) has listed the iPhone for sale at a massive $999,999. Detek.biz , the company that listed the iPhone on Froogle, doesn't officially mention the price at their website, but they do provide an inquiry form where any questions on the iPhone can be forwarded to them.

An iPhone at $999,999 maybe a little out of reach of the average buyer, but there is one more seller on Froogle offering the iPhone for a more sane price. Alestech.com is offering the iPhone for a mere $748.75 and claims that the product is ready to ship.

No one actually knows if the above two sellers actually possess the product ready to ship, but if I can get one for $748.75 without having to wait in a long line like these two guys, I definitely would buy the iPhone from Froogle.

Apple iPhone Pros and Cons

Matt Casamassina at IGN talks about some of the pros and cons of the iPhone. Some of the cons could eventually be solved by Apple, like no IM for the iPhone (Although, there is a Web version of it at: publictivity. (Requires Safari))

Pros:

• It's Smaller Than You Realize and it's Got Style to Spare
• Multi-touch Tech and Sleek, Simple Interface
• Music-player, Movie-player, Internet Browser and Phone in One
• It Plays YouTube Movies

Cons:

• It Doesn't Ship with an Instant Messenger Program
• The Keyboard is Unproven
• Its Storage Capacity Rivals iPod Nano, not iPod

Kevin Rose of Digg talking about the iPhone in Dec '06

Kevin was at first reluctant to talk about the iPhone in December '06, because he was worried about putting his source at risk, but eventually he talked about some of the features of the iPhone, most of which turned out to be not true. Remember though, this happened in December '06, one month before the iPhone was released.

Here are some of the stuff he claimed back then.

1. First he says the iPhone will work on most mobile networks - Wrong
2. Two Batteries for the iPhone - one for the Phone, the other for the music player - Wrong
3. Two memory capacities - 4 and 8 Gigs - Right
4. Price - $249 and $449 - Kinda close for the $449 so Right
5. Slide out keyboard - Wrong
   
6. Touch Screen - Right

So he was right about the memory capacity and the Touch Screen. A score of 2 and a half out of 6 isn't bad.

Do you fit the iPhone buyer profile ?

'Solutions Research Group' has released a survey showing the likely profile of an iPhone buyer.

According to SRG, 72% of those interested in the $499 version will be male.

The average age will be 31 years


58% would have completed college


Around 43% of the buyers would be from New York or California. This could increase your chance of getting an iPhone outside of those states.



Around 15 % from T-mobile, 7% from Sprint and 4 % from Verizon want the iPhone for their own carrier.


The iPhone would be more popular among the younger crowd


And their average household would be 26% higher than the national average.


48% of likely buyers do not currently posses an iPod

If you're all of the above, you have a God given right to posses an iPhone.

Guy working at Restaurant gets to check out the iPhone

A server working at Balthazar in NYC got to check out a customer's iPhone for around 5 minutes.

I work at Balthazar in NYC, a place that fancy people tend to hang out in quite a bit. One of my customers was testing out the iPhone. Apparently only 20 people in the world have a working iPhone at the moment! It's that secret. That phone is amazing!

The design of the unit has little to do with its ingenuity. It's the execution of its different functions that floored me. Movement throughout the UI was an intuitive experience. Navigating through menus flowed seamlessly from one element to another, with all the little Apple trimmings, genie effects, swishes. Steve did not lie. My customer turned the phone, instantly it switched to portrait mode. When he clicked on Safari, it opened the browser right away without slowdowns. The thing seemed more responsive than my powerbook! The version I saw did not appear to have any bugs or kinks in its use. Keep in my mind, I did not get a chance to test it out for longer than a few minutes, although what I did see assured me that this is a phone of a totally different caliber than anything I've seen out there.

How can i put it? That phone is running OSX. It feels like an Apple product. Consider it another mac. That made me pretty eager to get it.

If you have questions, I'll try to answer them.

On smudgy screens and covers.....

Throughout use the phone screen never got messy or smudged. The outside seemed to absorb fingerprints. My customer definitely touched it every which way too. We both had clean fingers.

It had a very clear, non glossy screen. The light in Balthazar is always indirect though so that might not apply in sunlight.

On the iPhone typing speed....

ahh, that was something I did not get to do personally. The guest did type a few things on the screen which he seemed to do without a problem. He said only good things about typing on the phone. That might be because he has had a production unit for months.

On the iPhone covercase....

Forgot to mention something. He had the packaging out also.

It's a softer black than the Ipod cases, with almost a more organic look. Once the top is pulled off, you only see the iPhone in the center, cocooned by a protective foamlike material. I didn't touch it. It looked so good that I wanted to ask if I could take it right there! The dimensions are of a cube, I think. Everything was really elegant.

Source

iPhone Ads

All 3 recently released Ads for the iPhone. Watch how Google maps loads amazingly quick, even though you might have to do that on an EDGE network which isn't known for it's high speeds. Also note the minimum 2 year activation plan requirement.
Apple better clear up what they mean by the "new 2 year activation plan" soon or there's going to be a lot of confusion on D-Day.



A previous Ad was also released during the Oscars

Another iPhone lookalike - HTC Touch

June 05, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- High Tech Computer Corp. announced the HTC Touch, a device based on the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Professional operating system that's designed with one-touch screen features giving users instant access to e-mails, contacts and appointments. Taiwan's HTC is the largest maker of mobile devices based on Microsoft Windows operating systems, and its use of a 2.8-in. touch screen in the HTC Touch is similar to the emphasis Apple Inc. has put on touch-screen features in its iPhone, which is due on June 29.

Users just sweep their fingers across the HTC Touch's screen to bring up an animated interface with three views: Contacts, Media and Applications. The views also allow finger control for scrolling on documents and browsing Web pages.

Apple has also touted the touch-screen features in its iPhone. Among other things, the iPhone will allow users to scroll through songs and movies on the 3.5-in. display. The main difference appears to be that the iPhone focuses on entertainment, while the Touch focuses on e-mail and other business-oriented uses.

The Touch does not come with large internal flash memory capacity for music and movie storage, which the iPhone will have. HTC instead offers a microSD drive, and a 1GB microSD card is included with the handset.

The HTC Touch includes multiple wireless technologies, including triband GSM for voice and EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) and Wi-Fi for uploading and downloading data to and from the Internet. Device-to-device data transmission is offered via Bluetooth.

The Touch weighs 112 grams with its battery. The handset also includes a 2-megapixel camera and other features.

It is now available in the U.K., and users throughout Europe and Asia will be able to buy one by the end of this month. North and South America will have to wait until later in the second half of the year. The company did not offer pricing information.

SMS: HTC launched the HTC Touch, a Microsoft Windows Mobile 6-based device designed with one-touch screen features reminiscent of the iPhone.

Source

Google is the iPhone's secret ingredient - Time

Apple and Google just can't stand to be apart. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced this week that Apple TV will soon play YouTube videos. Google recently unveiled a desktop search program especially for Mac users. And Google tools increasingly appear to be a key part of the secret sauce behind Apple's signature new gadget, the iPhone, set for release in June.

Both brands are beloved by legions of fans, and with Google CEO Eric Schmidt embedded on Apple's board of directors, the companies have gotten wise to the benefits of synergistic coupling. Call it the power of Gapple.

The partnership is more a friendship of convenience than a permanent pact. Apple benefits by bolstering its phone with popular Web tools, while Google gives its users a slick new way to access its services. One concern for Apple might be that the growing popularity of Google's mobile e-mail and calendar programs could reduce interest in Apple's own such offerings. But Apple already gives that software away for free, so the competition isn't likely to pose a lasting problem.

The iPhone's Web widgets and browsing software will enable access to a wide range of Google applications, with built-in tools for Google Maps and searches. A number of the portal's other mobile applications, such as Google News, will also work on the iPhone, benefiting from its touch-friendly browser. And Google's newest mobile tool, an on-the-go version of its calendar program, will take advantage of the iPhone's bright colors, though Apple will offer an alternative in the form of a built-in version of its own iCal software.

Sumit Agarwal, product manager for Google Mobile, says Google has been working with Apple and is moving in the direction of universal access to its suite of search and software applications on mobile devices. "Generally speaking, everything that you see on Macs, pending the technical ability of the device itself, will migrate into mobile applications," Agarwal says. That's likely to include a universal sign-on, so that you don't have to sign into each of Google's services separately.

Programs that require significant data input or are compromised by screen size aren't likely to be ported over in the near term, though. Agarwal says he doesn't expect consumers will demand a mobile Notebook product anytime soon, for instance, referring to Google's popular Web-clipping tool. And he doesn't see consumers clamoring to do heavy word processing on their mobile phones. They may want to comment on and communicate about such documents, though, to facilitate collaboration.

Rather than dumping huge applications onto small devices, Google's mobile applications are streamlined and stripped down to focus on the primary ways consumers use them on the go. "With Blogger, for example, it isn't as important that I be able to leave lots of comments, as that I can capture the essence of what I'm doing at that moment and share it in real time," Agarwal says. "I may want to snap a photo of a monument and store a voice annotation."

Google may have surprises yet to come for the iPhone. The portal partnered with LG in March to offer a blogging tool, and a related widget for the iPhone would be a logical next step. Google already offers a GMail widget for Macs, and a similar program on the iPhone would complement the pre-installed Apple mail software.

What else might Google offer? Possibly a Google Reader widget. The portal recently announced that its blog-reading tool can now be accessed offline. And though the iPhone could access Reader through its browser, a widget would be particularly useful when speedy mobile Web access isn't available. And why not a YouTube iPhone widget, now that YouTube is on Apple TV?

Though Google is key, it is far from the only iPhone partner. Yahoo will offer a mail widget and others, such as Sling Media, may offer software add-ons later to enable access to Web content and TV. Jobs has said that he is open to third-party applications that work within Apple's software framework.

AT&T, the iPhone's wireless carrier, has followed Apple's secrecy lead in keeping mum about the iPhone's features. But AT&T's Glenn Lurie recently alluded to Google applications on the iPhone as particularly appealing features that would make the device worth its $500 sticker.

Lurie and Jobs are both betting that supplementing Apple's sleek mobile browser with Google goodies will encourage consumers to capitalize on the mobile Web in a way that so far they haven't. Although about 90% of phones have some sort of built-in browser, Forrester Research has found that only about 45% of consumers say they are aware of their phone's Web capabilities. And given that 55% of those surveyed by the Equs Group, a market research firm, said they would buy a Google or Yahoo-branded phone, Apple looks smart partnering up.

Source

New Apple Patent to keep iPhone signals clean and interference proof

Apple has developed a way to keep the iPhone and any other future wireless handhelds free of interference, according to a newly granted US patent. The filing, originally made just weeks before the iPhone's announcement at Macworld San Francisco, is meant to address the potentially dangerous problem of interference from peripherals brought near or attached to the device. A detector chip placed inside the hardware could be trained to recognize certain classes of add-ons or individual models and warn the user if a device (familiar or otherwise) could disrupt the main signal; this could occur through either an audio or a visual cue, Apple writes. Synchronizing the main device could provide an updated list of accessories to prevent false alarms.

Although potentially usable to block unsafe equipment, the technology could also be used simply to keep the main unit's wireless signal as clean as possible with some add-ons, the description notes. Software onboard the primary handheld could automatically readjust the antenna or its frequency to preserve a clear signal when paired with an accessory that makes only slight incursions into the device's frequency range.

While the patent makes no direct reference to the iPhone and may not have been incorporated into the product shipping in late June, the patent is specifically meant to address concerns regarding cellphones with media abilities as well as more generic wireless mobile devices, ensuring that Apple can use the patent both for the iPhone as well as other hardware types in the near future.

Source

Quanta shares rise on iPhone speculation....

Shares of Quanta Computer Inc. rose yesterday in the wake of news reports that it is manufacturing iPhones for Apple, with shipments starting in September.

The world's biggest contract maker of notebook computers, Quanta counts Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co among its major clients.

Its share price inched up 0.4 percent to close at NT$50.8 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.

Two local business dailies, the Commercial Times and the Economic Daily News, yesterday reported that Quanta will make its first delivery in September, sharing the order with the first appointed iPhone assembler, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) -- the nation's largest maker of electronics parts.

The reports added that Quanta's shipments of iPhones would soar to 5 million next year.

However, Vincent Chen (陳豊丰), a research analyst with the investment banking house CLSA Ltd., dismissed the reports.

"We have checked with our industry contact and confirmed that Hon Hai is still doing the iPhone order," Chen wrote in a research note yesterday.

What Quanta is working on is the next iPod model with wireless local area network (WLAN), not the iPhone, he said.

"An order of 5 million units is too big to be true [considering] the challenge Hon Hai is currently facing in raising production yields [for the iPhone]," he wrote.

In a filing to the stock exchange, Quanta refused to comment, citing client confidentiality, but said it was aggressively pursuing new orders to boost the company's sales growth.

Some industry watchers are skeptical about the hype surrounding the iPhone, which is scheduled to debut in the US late next month.

"Apple is targeting to sell 10 million iPhones next year. The figure is only 1 percent of the world's total handset sales," Shiv Bakhshi, an International Data Corp analyst, said at a forum yesterday.

The iPhone may revolutionize the user interface, look and feel of the tele phone, but it might not live up to expectations of being a "market killer," he added.

Quanta has been expanding its production capacity to boost mobile phone and video-music player manufacturing on a contract basis.

Source

Panels for Apple iPhone could come from Japan

Local report from Taiwan says iPhone panels may come from Japan

Although market speculations recently indicated that AU Optronics (AUO) and Innolux Display may receive orders from Apple for its iPhone panels, sources at panel makers recently said the major suppliers for the panels may be two Japan-based players while an unspecified Taiwan-based company may be a secondary source for the iPhone panels.

The speculation that AUO and Innolux may be iPhone panel suppliers has not been verified, though Taiwan-based panel makers said Japan-based players still have advantages in the handset panel segment. Therefore, it is still difficult for Taiwan-based players to land iPhone panel orders, the makers noted.

Sources said iPhone panels will likely adopt low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) panels since the technology features a more flexible circuit design.

AUO and TPO Displays are the only two Taiwan-based panel makers producing LTPS panels now.

Earlier this month, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) quoted Hsing C Tuan, president of Innolux, as saying it landed orders for iPhone panels and the company will ship a great volume of panels for use in smart phone panels. However, Innolux has not yet officially backed up that claim.

In January, Apple revealed it will launch iPhones in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for US$499 and an 8GB model for US$599. The device's 3.5-inch widescreen display allows users to watch TV shows and movies on a pocket-sized device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume.

The current mainstream size for handset panels is between 2.2 and 2.8 inches.

Source

iPhone touch screen will be phenomenal

Only 20 days or so and we'll find out for ourselves, but meanwhile, an AT&T employee, says the iPhone touch screen will be the next best thing to sliced cheese....

Glen Laurie, AT&T’s iPhone connoisseur has fed us with a few morsels of information on the soon-to-be released touch-screen phone. While he didn’t let out much in the way of the iPhone’s finer details, he did have something rather interesting to say.

Firstly, when asked about the iPhone’s hyped up price, he replied, “There are some things- you have widgets, some of the Google applications that are coming- there are just so many things here that the price will not be an issue.”

Laurie also spoke to the Seattle Times and said that the iPhone’s touch screen would also surprise people. “I think when people get their hands on it and really experience it- the touch is phenomenal. This touch screen is like nothing you’ve ever used- to experience that, the skepticism, I think… will go away” he said,

Source

iPhone Australia

The iPhone isn't expected in Australia until the end of 2007 and should probably arrive at the same time it arrives with the rest of Asia. However the list of Australian Networks supporting EDGE technology for mobiles is limited to just Telstra. But Telstra has publicly attacked the iPhone calling it 'old hat'. Greg Winn, the Chief of Telstra has also suggested that Apple should forget doing mobiles by saying "There's an old saying -- stick to your knitting -- and Apple is not a mobile phone manufacturer, that's not their knitting." He also claimed the iPhone battery life as being poor and that other phone manufacturers would soon catch up with Apple.

With such a scathing attack from Telstra, it looks unlikely that they would introduce the iPhone.
So the only hope for Australia is that Apple introduces the 3G iPhone that everyone is speculating about and hopefully allows more than one carrier to operate it.

Tired of waiting for the iPhone ? Buy a Nokia N95 instead.

The iPhone in the UK

The iPhone isn't available in the United Kingdom and probably will not arrive there till the latter half of 2007, but Amazon.co.uk has already started displaying the 8GB iPhone. But it's not for sale though.
I wonder how legal this is, considering how the iPhone will be available for sale in the US only at Apple and select AT&T stores. Would Amazon even be allowed to sell the iPhone in the UK ?
Amazon also displays a paperback - 'The iPhone book" by Scott Kelby (also not for sale). I wonder what the book is about.... ?

Cingular's smartphone sales dip ahead of iPhone

Source

By Katie Marsal

Published: 11:00 AM EST

Cingular retail stores are already experiencing a slow down in sales of their high-end handsets ahead of iPhone, according to investment research firm PiperJaffray, which on Thursday raised its price target on shares of Apple to a new high of $140.

"We believe that the iPhone will benefit from this pent-up demand," analyst Gene Munster told Apple investors after conferring with fellow analyst Mike Walkley, who covers the mobile space for PiperJaffray.

Munster's checks reveal a robust market for high-end handsets in the above-$300 range. For instance, he said Nokia's N95 model is selling extremely well in Europe for €450 (over $600 US), where Apple remains on track to launch iPhone later this year.

"Therefore, our checks suggest that demand for the iPhone will be high at launch and will continue to grow as Apple expands the product into international markets," the analyst wrote in a report summarizing Apple's stellar March quarter results, announced Wednesday.

According to his analysis, upside potential to Apple's per-share earnings have not yet peaked given that he believes the company is entering "what will be the 3 strongest quarters" in its history. In his note to clients, Munster said iPhone, mid-year product launches, and continued Mac market share gains will combine as catalysts for the expected growth.

"The more important point is that Apple has the pole position as it capitalizes in a shift in computer buying behavior," he wrote. "It is obvious consumers want computing devices that are focused on entertainment and creativity."

Thus far, Munster says his team of analysts have not run across any credible competitive threats to Apple's core markets. For instance, Microsoft's Zune, which was conceived to steal share from the iPod, "is a flop." Similar, Dell and HP have failed to deliver PCs that rival the Mac," he said.

PiperJaffray remains confident that over the next several quarters Apple will hold its massive lead in portable audio and grow share in the personal computer market.

"We believe Apple's performance is sustainable for 3 reasons," Munster wrote. "1) we expect gross margin to stabilize above 30 percent in [the second half of the year] due to favorable component pricing and level product pricing; 2) Apple is entering three of its strongest product cycles ever with the iPhone, Apple TV and Leopard; 3) Apple continues to innovate and we do not expect the pace of innovation to slow."

For these reasons and others, the analyst raised his price target on shares of the Cupertino-based company to $140, up from $123.