Earlier this afternoon Apple posted their 4th iPhone ad, titled “Watered Down“. There was no mysterious 12th icon to report on, but there was one new morsel to speculate upon, and that is the omission of the infamous “Use requires 2 year activation plan” disclaimer at the end of the video. In fact, in going back to the previous videos, many Macenstein readers noticed that tag line has now been removed from the previous 3 videos as well!

Does this mean a long term iPhone contract is no longer required, or simply that Apple marketing figured, “Why scare off potential customers before they get to hold one in their hand”?

Who knows? But internet speculation is what the iPhone has always been about (even since before it was announced), so let’s keep the party going.

Above: The latest set of ads from Apple remove the disclaimer at the end mentioning customers need to agree to a 2-year service contract in order to prchase an iPhone. (Oh yeah, and the tag line and AT&T logo are smaller too, for those REALLY looking to nitpick)

Posted on June 7th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Plan | No Comments »

Here is another iPhone Ad, and this is much more enjoyable than the the Official iPhone Ads.

Posted on June 6th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News | No Comments »

    Steve Jobs pulled an iPhone out of his pocket yesterday during a staged Q&A at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, but quickly tucked it away. His comments about Apple Inc.’s dive into the cell phone market were almost as fleeting, but the company’s CEO did offer up some new tidbits to eager buyers.Early in the conversation with Walt Mossberg, the Journal’s personal technology columnist, Jobs confirmed that the iPhone will be available in late June.

“Like the last day of June?” Mossberg asked.

“Uh, yeah …” Jobs replied.

But will there be enough in the pipeline to satisfy demand?

“I don’t know, I hope not,” Jobs said.

On another issue that’s been the focus of a heated argument (whether the iPhone will be open to third-party developers) Jobs hedged, citing security as the reason why it will be closed — for now — but holding out hope to software makers that they will be able to sell ad-on wares.

“This is an important trade-off between security and openness,” said Jobs according to an Engadget transcript of the Q&A. “We want both. We’re working through a way, we’ll find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security on the iPhone. But until we find that way, we can’t compromise the security of the phone.

“I’ve used iPhone third-party apps. The more you add, the more your phone crashes. No one’s perfect, and we’d sure like our phone not to crash once a day. If you can just be a little more patient with us, I think everyone can get what they want.”

Jobs also confirmed that the iPhone is powered by Mac OS X, not a miniaturized version or a completely different operating system, as some had theorized earlier this year.

“Take out the data [from Mac OS X], every desktop pattern, sound sample. If you look at Safari, it’s not that big. It’s real Safari, real OS X,” Jobs said. That may explain the controversial decision last month when Apple announced it would delay Mac OS X 10.5, known as Leopard, at least four months to free up enough developers to wrap up the iPhone by June.

Posted on June 5th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News | No Comments »

NEW YORK (AP) - Apple Inc.’s highly anticipated iPhone will be available June 29, according to TV commercials broadcast Sunday night and posted on the company’s Web site.The combination cell phone, media player and wireless Web-surfing device will retail for $499 and $599, depending on configuration. It will be offered exclusively by AT&T  Inc.’s wireless division, formerly known as Cingular.The iPhone, which sports no keypad but instead a touch-sensitive screen, was unveiled with great fanfare in early January by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. He said it would appear in stores in June but gave no specific date.Sunday night’s ads showed off several of the gadget’s features and ended with the pronouncement that the phone will be available “Only on the new AT&T” and “Coming June 29.” One aired on the CW network before a 7 p.m. broadcast of “7th Heaven.”Apple and AT&T spokespeople did not immediately return phone calls.

In recent months, the company’s stock has been served by speculation and excitement over the iPhone. Shares of Apple’s stock rose May 25 after a media report said that the iPhone would go on sale June 20. Neither AT&T nor Apple would confirm or deny that date at the time.

___

On the Net:

Apple ads: http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads

Posted on June 4th, 2007 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Release Date | No Comments »

Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) starts in little over a week, and almost everybody thinks that the iPhone will be launched by Steve Jobs in his keynote speech.The speculation has been flying around the internet since the original iPhone announcement in January, so it’s time for a look at the best and worst rumors on what AT&T have called the “largest commercial product launch in the history of electronics”

AT&T will allow prepaid plans with the iPhone

The Apple Phone Show posted a bunch of non-rumors, but this one seems fairly credible. With a decent pre-pay data package, why wouldn’t they offer it? Conclusion: Probably.

User Replaceable Battery

The Vim3 blog claims to have an inside source which confirms a replaceable battery. Unlikely but possible. A non-replaceable battery hasn’t hurt iPod sales, despite all the whining from the pundits, and the Nano, another flash-based iPod, lasts forever on a single charge.

802.11n WiFi

Again from Vim3. Quite likely; popping an n chipset in there shouldn’t be too hard.

Google applications

The iPhone already has Google Maps. Google reader is a possibility (although if you have Safari, you could just read through that). Maybe a customized version of Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Scott Gilbertson over at our own Compiler blog has a good run down on this.

iTunes store

I include this, again from Vim3, as it throws some cold water on their other claims. Vim3 says “The iPhone features a variation of the iTunes Store, which allows you to buy pretty much anything already available. The service will allow you to download using Wi-Fi internet”

Unfortunately, Steve Jobs said yesterday in his Walt Mossberg interview yesterday

The phone isn’t the best place for discovering music or browsing catalogues […] we’ve got 100m iPods we’ve sold that people know how to sync, they know how to buy music on iTunes.

Conclusion? Very unlikely.

Third party applications This has been one of the biggest points of contention amongst the geekier set. Until yesterday, confusion was rife. The iPhone runs the full OS X, so why wouldn’t it be open to independent developers? Cries of “Lock in!” echoed over the internet. Well, now we know:

Steve Jobs said yesterday that yes, there will be third party apps, but not yet. My guess is that they are pushing so hard to get the iPhone out the door that developer support has not been a priority. Conclusion? Yes, definitely (one day).

Steve Ballmer has pre-ordered an iPhone

OK, I admit it. I threw this one in for kicks, and also so I could repeat his excellent quote: “my 85-year-old uncle probably will never own an iPod, and I hope we’ll get him to own a Zune.”
Conclusion? If he does buy one, nobody will ever find out.

Any juicy rumors or speculation? Leave them in the comments.

Posted on June 1st, 2007 by admin
Filed under: AT&T iPhone | No Comments »