The iPhone DevTeam have released the PwnageTool for iPhone 2.0 and iPhone 3G ! So, now you can unlock your iPhone with just a few clicks with the new "Grandma-friendly" interface by DevTeam !
Well, the iPhone 3G is finally out after a few teething problems with activation. Notice we haven't been posting news on every single aspect because every other site out there is doing it already.
It appears that everyone, their grandmother and pet iguana has one or will be getting one. I'm sure you're thinking of getting one to if you haven't already. Now the main thing about shiny Apple products is that they don't stay shiny for long. But not to worry, we've got something for you.
Head on to Zagg.com and check out their Invisible Shield products. Perfect companion for your new iPhone and just because I'm such a nice guy I'm going to give away two 20% discount coupons to 2 members who can succesfully answer the questions below:
1. Which movie stars Tom Hanks as a character having bought shares in a 'fruit company'? 2. What is Steve Jobs middle name? 3. How many countries are getting the new iPhone 3G in total?
Just login/create an account and post your answers in the comments. Deadline is this Friday (18th July 2008) and the coupons are valid till next Friday. And best yet you can use them for any of the numerous products on the Zagg.com site.
Disclaimer: This giveaway is no way affiliated with zagg.com and in no way is aimed at promoting zagg products though their Invisible Shield is darn good and everyone should get one.
We got one from the fine folks at Vodafone NZ. Yeah, we'll admit, between the early peek at the not too drastically changed firmware, guided tours, and announcement hands-on, there's not a lot of mystery to the iPhone 3G at this point. But if you've got any burning questions we can answer with our shiny new Vodafone NZ iPhone 3G, hit us up in comments and we'll update here with our findings. Stick around, more coming.
The recent news surrounding Steve Job's current health has drawn a buzz around the blogging world. Gizmodo was the first to notice how much thinner Steve looked as he entered the stage at WWDC 2008. Recently, Fortune from CNNMoney.com has an interesting take on who could potentially be the next CEO for Apple. The article breaks down the position and responsibilities for each Senior Executive. From Tim Cook, to Jonathon Ive. According to the article, Tim Cook appears to be the most appropriate for the job although it is evident around the Internet that many believe the next CEO will be Jonathan Ive.
According to iSuppli Corporation the total cost (materials and labour) that goes into manufacturing a new iPhone 3G is $173. How true this is, is obviously up for debate but it seems more likely than the previous $100 estimate. Of course these are all estimates and only his Steve-ness know how much it reall costs.
Check out the breakdown and hit the link for the full article.
What better way to prepare for the goodness that is iPhone 3G than with a pretty nifty Survival Guide! You know it's going to be a jungle out there come July 11, so hit the link in order to prepare.
The Apple Daily Times does not, in any way, support the above guide. Using this guide may/may not make you a social outcast.
Apple has released the new version of its Safari browser (Version 4) to its Developers. Its going to be shipped with the new SnowLeopard OS that was shown at WWDC 08. Safari 4 has great new exciting features like Web Clips ! Yes, now Safari 4 gives the same Web Clips feature to the Mac. It creates executable links to the websites.
So, grab your Copy of Safari 4 from http://connect.apple.com
Yeah, yeah, you get it: The new iPhone uses AT&T's best-in class (in NYC at least), 3G high-speed network, one that's getting faster and more spread out all the time. But there's a lot you probably didn't know about the technology involved: How fast can you really go on the thing? Why did AT&T feel the need to cap the iPhone's speed? If you want answers to these and other questions, you came to the right place.
Hokay, the iPhone 3Gness makes browsing a whole 2.4x faster than EDGE in Apple's test. (One thing that we can't explain: Why did Apple chose lonelyplanet.com for its performance benchmarks?) The 3G goodness is real: We've been conducting our own testing of AT&T's HSDPA in the New York area (including suburbs) and it really is faster and more readily available than Verizon's EV-DO 3G network. (For a quick primer on different kinds of 3G like HSDPA vs. EV-DO and other mobile terms, click here.)
The market potential for proprietary mobile processor designs from chip makers like Samsung Electronics and Intel Corp. were dealt a considerable blow earlier this week when Apple chief executive Steve Jobs revealed that his company will start designing its own breed of chips to power the next-generation of Multi-Touch devices that won't be available to rivals.
South Korea-based Samsung has long been central to Apple's handheld efforts (1, 2, 3), supplying the primary SoCs -- or system-on-chips -- for everything from the iPod nano to the iPhone. Meanwhile, Intel has been in the running to assert its Atom processors at heart of a larger iPhone-like Multi-Touch internet tablet that's also under development at the Cupertino-based electronics maker, and was at one time believed to have sealed the deal.
Unfortunately for the two industry heavyweights, Apple appears to have other plans to further innovation around its Multi-Touch platform that will reduce its reliance on chip designs conceived largely by third parties. In an interview following his keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Jobs told the New York Times' John Markoff that his firm's recent $278 million acquisition of a small fabless semiconductor company called P.A. Semi was an investment in the future of its handheld products.
Apple had to release a new iPhone this WWDC. Steve Jobs knew it, and so did the shareholders. If they had not, this year's WWDC would have been considered a failure, a waste of money by some. Luckily Steve did introduce the 3G iPhone, but did it meet expectations? Here are some of the rumors that were curculating:
Better camera
Better Bluetooth
3G
GPS
Better speakers
Thinner
Video calling
32GB
White version
Better battery
There were probably a few more that I have forgotten, but you get the idea.
So, how many did Apple actually include in their "iPhone 3G?"
3G
GPS
Better Speakers
Thinner
White Version
Better Batery
To some, this could be considered a "failure," that the 3G iPhone did not meet expectations. But to others this is all they needed. Personally, I would have liked to have a better camera, even if it doesn't contain Video Calling (something I would rarely use anyway). If iPhone is to compete with the Nokia N Series phones, it needs to have at least a 5MP camera.
But Apple have saved themself with another major point. Price reduction. It's incredible to think you can pick up the 3G iPhone, the iPhone we have now plus more, for only $199USD. This is the price which will be employed in most countries selling iPhone. To think it's nearly a third of the price of iPhone 8GB this time last year is an incredible plus for this phone.
This is why other manufacturers, such as Nokia, should be, and are getting scared. I think that Apple will sell Millions of iPhone's within the first week of launch, easly achieving and surpassing it's 10m goal. Just like Steve said, price was the biggest obstacle for iPhone 1.
Why is it this cheap? Does this mean it's crappy? Not at all. Apple "sell" it to the carriers, the carrier subsidizes it, and then makes up for it's losses with a contract to the buyer. This is why unlocking now poses more of a threat than ever to individual carriers, especially AT&T in the US. If people just went in to an Apple Store, bought an iPhone and took it home to unlock, AT&T is actually losing money. Think of it like this:
Imagine Vodafone is having a sale on iPhone and you can get it for $150USD. The Australians will be so excited. But the problem is, Vodafone charges you $500USD/month (note that these figures are inaccurate ) for mobile broadband. But over the road is the old Telstra store. They offer iPhone for $199USD, and they have mobile broadband for only $10USD/month. Obviously everyone will want to buy iPhone on Vodafone and use it on Telstra. This would mean Vodafone is being "ripped off" and "scammed," as they are actually losing money. So it is now more important than ever that Apple make sure unlocking is tight.
AT&T needed a plan. Remember that "...and you can set up iPhone in the comfort of you home" stuff? Well, turns out it's not so great. It's amazing how a company can change sides like that; if you went on the Apple site one week ago it would be speaking of the merits of home activation. Yet now you are required to activate at the store at the time of purchase. If that can not be done (eg. if iPhone is a birthday present), you have a 30 day period in which to activate. And what's the point in unlocking your iPhone if you have to return it to AT&T in 30 days time.
Think of it like this: your iPhone is a company. You are a shareholder, and so is AT&T. They are legally able to take your company off you if you do not meet the requirements.
This makes me feel a bit strange. Do I own my iPhone? Hmm...
Another thing Apple has changed their mind on overnight is carrier exclusivity. Australia has iPhone on 3 of it's major networks: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. This is to enable Apple to reach its small goal of 10m iPhones by the end of 2008. This number will be more like 18 million.
Apple have fixed the hardware unlock and PwnageTool exploits in this 3G iPhone. I think that everything is jailbreakable, but unlocking is a different story. It should eventually be unlocked, but first you must get past the activation obstacle. There will be numerous suppliers on eBay and other sites offering iPhones without this activation restriction. The new 3G iPhone has a new modem bootloader (for it contains a 3G chip) meaning it will be starting from scratch to get this beast unlocked. But first we must be able to write to the root filesystem in order to "hacktivate" the iPhone and then flash over some kind of hacking tool or hacked file.
It's one year ago all over again.
Tell us what you think by voting in the poll on the right.
Apple has priced the new iPhone 3G at the sweet spot of demand and will likely ship 18 million of the handsets this year, said an analyst that covers the contract manufacturer responsible for producing the device.
“The higher expectation on the 3G iPhone reflects attractive prices and a broader distribution channel (availability at ~70 countries),” wrote Jenny Lai, analyst at CLSA Emerging Markets, in a report. “The newly added white color for the 3G iPhone also bodes well to consumers,” she added.
Apple’s pricing strategy follows the example of Motorola’s original Razr, said Lai. Once the price of the Razr dropped to $200 near the end of 2005, sales of the device took off.
Apple’s new iPhone is $199 for a version with 8GB of storage, and $299 for twice as much storage. The price squarely hits the sweet spot for consumers, said Lai.
She expects the new handset to be in short supply when it launches on July 11 due to a shortage of some key mechanical components, but those issues should be fixed by the end of that month.
Lai covers Apple’s contract manufacturing partner for the iPhone, Hon Hai Precision Industry, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer. iPhone sales could count for as much as 10 percent of Hon Hai’s revenue if volumes meet Lai’s targets, she wrote.
Much as developers might have hoped that the WWDC Keynote would unveil the final version of the iPhone SDK, but it appears that there's still more beta coming down the pipes before we're ready to get fully unleashed here in July. In the meantime, Apple has released another beta version of the iPhone SDK: lucky number seven.
If you're wondering what what's so special about beta seven, all I can tell you is that it brings bug fixes and support for the latest iPhone OS—by which we mean the latest version of OS 2.0 that developers have available.
With a month to go before the release of the iPhone 3G, we'll probably see the release of the 2.0 software and final SDK somewhere around the same time.
Whenever Apple releases a new iPod, one of the first questions people ask is, “Will it work with all the gear I bought for my last iPod?” Now that Apple’s announced the iPhone 3G, the first successor to the original iPhone, users find themselves asking a similar question with respect to their iPhone gear.
Given that the iPhone 3G won’t be in our hands for another month, we can’t give you any definitive answers. But based on what we do know, here’s a bit of speculation as to what will and won’t work.
Headphones: In a change that, when announced during the keynote, drew some of the loudest applause from the audience, the iPhone 3G no longer uses a recessed headphone jack; its jack is instead flush with the body of the phone. This means you’ll be able to use any standard headphones (meaning those with a 1/8-inch stereo miniplug) with the latest iPhone without needing an adapter. (Although if you want a microphone and control button, you'll need a headset adapter or a dedicated iPhone headset.)
Developers welcomed the news of Snow Leopard for a variety of reasons. Some want some time to focus on writing iPhone software and not have to worry about any new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that Apple may release with a major operating system update.
Steve will kick off his keynote at around 10am, which is actually 5am for me over here in New Zealand . I better get some sleep so I can get up early and head over to macrumourslive.com to get the live updates on what Steve's talking about.
I know this could be just a coincidence but the Rogers website is down right now. Maybe it is just for scheduled maintenance. But it also could be because the 3G iPhone is coming. Is it coming tomorrow? Should I head down to the Apple store right now and line up? Let’s see how long it’s down. I hope the iPhone is listed when it comes back up.
Fido’s website is still up. The Apple site is still up too. When you type this address into your browser:
More sealed boxes are reportedly arriving at Apple Stores worldwide with Arstechnica reporting that the London Regent Street Apple Store has received "a single box that is padlocked, and under orders to be put in a safe until Monday."
The image of the above box was sent in anonymously and correlates to the box that supposedly was sent to some Australian resellers. Web-mobile.net claims to have photos of the open box, but the authenticity remains up for debate. These images are provided for interest only and are not necessarily felt to represent authentic images.
We've also heard that Germany's T-Mobile has already received subsidized rate plans for the iPhone coming in at a subsidized 99, 199 and 299 euros. These are prices for hardware with a 2 year contract, but may only represent two distinct models, as the amount of subsidy depends on what rate plan is chosen. For comparison, T-Mobile Germany currently offers 4 prices (99, 149, 199, 249 euros) for the 8GB iPhone alone depending on the rate plan chosen. Meanwhile, the current 16GB iPhone (499 euro) has not been eligible for any discounts regardless of rate plan.
Apple will be announcing their new products at the WWDC 2008 keynote speech on Monday, June 9th at 10am Pacific. You can get live web/photo coverage at MacRumorsLive as well as Twitter, SMS and Spoiler free coverage.
) for mobile broadband. But over the road is the old Telstra store. They offer iPhone for $199USD, and they have mobile broadband for only $10USD/month. Obviously everyone will want to buy iPhone on Vodafone and use it on Telstra. This would mean Vodafone is being "ripped off" and "scammed," as they are actually losing money. So it is now more important than ever that Apple make sure unlocking is tight.
. I better get some sleep so I can get up early and head over to macrumourslive.com to get the live updates on what Steve's talking about.
