iPhoneNewsBlog.com

At yesterdays D Conference, Walt Mossberg and Steve Jobs sat down and talked a little about the iPhone. One of the questions was about 3rd party applications for the iPhone. Jobs hinted at the possibility of third-party applications as soon as Apple deals with security and making sure that nothing will crash the iPhone or allow it to be hacked.

Steve Jobs: "I think sometime later this year we will find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security. But until we can find that way, we can’t compromise the security of the phone. Nobody’s perfect, but we sure don’t want our phone to crash. We would like to solve this problem, if you could be just a little more patient with us, I think everyone can get what they want."

Ah just what we like... more iPhone rumors!

A WordPress blogger posted this over the weekend. It talks about how the iPhone will be shipping with more features than we thought. Who is this vim3 guy and how does he know?

- iPhone will ship with more than 4 or 8 gigs of flash memory.
- There will indeed be a user replaceable battery in the iPhone.
- iPhone will support Wireless N.
- iPhone will ship with a mobile version of... iWorks. Word processing, spreadsheet and slide shows.
- iTunes will stream from a computer on your wi-fi network.
- You'll be able to purchase tunes directly from the iTunes store from the iPhone.
- AT&T will offer rebates on the iPhone.

We take it all with a large cube of salt and expect to be disappointed when none of it happens but... one can dream right? Believe at your own expense! We want to Believe!!!

Is it true? Will AT&T soon have an "Unlimited" package for iPhone users. It will be if Glenn Laurie, president of national distribution for AT&T has his way. Laurie has stated that an unlimited package is in the works, and that it makes sense to have this packages since the iPhone has so many rich features that use the internet.

This is what Lurie had to say about browsing the web:
“I think it will be great for us, and here’s why. One of the things with this device — people are going to be asked to have an unlimited package — people are going to have to have a package with us to browse.”

We're wondering how many iPhone users are gonna bite for this plan, seeing that the iPhone also has Wi-Fi built in... not to mention the high price of the iPhone!

The latest gossip across the web is that someone has an iPhone and has been "testing" it's web browser out. MacRumors said they found the iPhone browser identification tags in their apache server logs.

Here's what the iPhone supposedly reports itself as:
Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A538a Safari/419.3

They also claim that the requests originated from Apple's internal IP addresses. Now most things like browser identification strings can be spoofed but we're not sure if internal IP addresses can.

Real? Fake? We'll only know come late June so we'll take it all with a grain of salt but wouldn't put it behind Apple to start testing the darn thing to see if it works. I mean they should right?

According to a CNBC report late Thursday, an AT&T phone store said that the iPhone is expected to be available on June 20. There are still no pre-orders for the the much awaited phone but there may be a waiting list as of the week before the launch.

An Apple spokeswoman would not confirm or deny the date, however she did say "We have said consistently that we're looking forward to shipping the iPhone in late June and that has not changed."

She also noted that when the phone launches, it will be available at the Apple Store as well as AT&T Stores. No word on if the phone will be available in the Apple Store online though.

Shares of Apple (AAPL) rose on the news of the "confirmed launch date". Many investors are feeling more confident that Apple will ship the product on time.

Many are skeptical since Apple tends to launch most new products on Monday or Tuesday. We'll take June 20th even if it's a Sunday!

Hopefully we'll get one the day it comes out! While we wait release of Apple's iPhone, we've been planning our attack to get first dibs on one. While we haven't found a fool proof strategy, meaning one that would get it in our paws guaranteed... we think there are a few things you can do to ensure that you get one the day it's released.

- Plan to miss work the day the iPhone is set to be released. Depending on the day the iPhone comes out, just plan to miss work because you'll be waiting in line or sleeping in the parking lot of one of the Apple Store locations or AT&T / Cingular locations.

- Call in advance to be sure the location you plan to purchase one will have stock. While there are no guarantees that the location will even KNOW how many they'll have, it's worth a shot. If the store has a low number, your chances are slimmer than a store with a large stock.

- Make friends at one of the locations. Go into a AT&T store today and start chatting it up with a sales rep. Be chummy and make friends. Tell him that you're waiting for an iPhone and make sure he knows you want one and that you'll switch from your existing provider to AT&T if he keeps you in the loop. Making friends with a rep is almost a sure fire way to get your foot in the door when the first batch of iPhones come in.

These are just our suggestions, strategies to getting an iPhone. We're sure you have more suggestions than that, so please send them our way!

USA Today is reporting that AT&T will have exclusive rights to the iPhone for 5 years. This most likely means that there will be no CDMA handset during that time. So unless you're with AT&T, you probably won't get an iPhone with your provider until 2012.

Over 1800 Cingular outlets and kiosks will be transformed overnight to AT&T as the telecom giant revamps its image and rebrands itself for the iPhone.

Cingular it seems, is being banished, never to be seen again once AT&T's new logos appear all across the nation."Our branding campaign is performing at and above projected levels and customers response has been very positive," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chief operating officer. "We are excited to move into the next phase of transforming AT&T into the only communications provider our customers will ever want."

The iPhone is set to change a lot of things in the wireless playing field. AT&T's new branding strategy in store and out is just the beginning of it all. It will be interesting to see how AT&T does financially once the iPhone is out and people adopt this new standard.

The FCC has approved the iPhone for sale in the US. An AppleInsider article tells of the heavily redacted FCC info.

"The Apple Inc. A1203 GSM Cellular Telephone with Bluetooth and Wifi, FCC ID: BCGA1203, is in compliance with the limits for general population uncontrolled exposure specified in FCC 2.1093. The device was tested according to the measurement standards and procedures specified in FCC OET Bulletin 65, Supplement C (Edition 01-01) and IEEE p1528/D1.2, April 21, 2003."

Apple requested that many things be omitted for a "short term" due to confidentiality reasons, so there are no External photos, no internal photos and no user manual to be seen.

Apple is still set to release the iPhone in late June.

We're now 30 days or so away from the release of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone. In preparation for this glorious day, a few of us have been trying to get the inside scoops on how Apple will sell the iPhone.

A few calls to some friends working at the local Apple Store knew just as much as we did: nada.

Since yesterdays news of the AT&T memo declaring no pre-sales of the iPhone would be possible, we're guessing it's going to be first come first served. Aside from this, we're not sure of the following:
1. Will the Apple Store carry the iPhone or will it only be in AT&T Cingular stores? We're thinking that they WILL carry the iPhone and that activation will be done on your own.

2. Will AT&T Cingular stores have better deals or will the Apple Store have better deals? No one knows as no one knows the exact retail price or the phone plans that AT&T will be offereing.

3. Will the stores have large quantities available or will each store get rationed "x" amount of phones each?

If anyone has the inside scoop on these questions, or if you'd like to pose some of your own, feel free to comment!

We're not sure what to make of this but this is a transcription of the footage from Tuaw.com:

"This next ?announcement? may interest you more than anything...(unintelligible)...The first ?regulation? iPhone in the state of Texas is in the hands of Dr. O'Brien of West Texas A&M University. (applause) So, if you don't remember a word I've said and someone asks you about your graduation, you can say...(unintelligible)"

Steve Jobs may have let the cat out of the bag during the recent shareholders meeting. No, we're not talking about the stock-options scandal, we're talking about 3rd party applications on the iPhone.

The iPhone has had it's share of naysayers from the start and one of the harshest criticisms is when folks heard that the iPhone would be a closed platform just like the iPod.

According to MacRumors, during the sharholders meeting:

Jobs did acknowledge that the company is still struggling to decide if third-party developers will be able to create software that will run on the iPhone. It’s a decision Apple “is wrestling with,” according to Jobs.

We'll see if Mr. Jobs allows 3rd party apps or not. We all feel that allowing 3rd party apps is the last nail in the coffin for Windows Mobile and Palm if it becomes a reality. Mac developers usually come up with super slick products.

Of course it may be a while before those applications come to life as Apple would have to reveal a whole lot to developers in order to get them on track to creating applications for the iPhone. Like all things iPhone... we'll wait and see.

Motorola Chairman and CEO Ed Zander is preparing for the debut of Apple Inc's (AAPL) iPhone. Motorola is planning to set its focus on mobile internet and multimedia.

In an attempt to fend off the coming of the iPhone which should arrive on June 15th, Motorola will launch a high-end mobile phone next week in Europe. It's "wickedly cool" Zander said.

"This has unbelievable video capability. It's a media monster."

The new phone will play movies directly from SD (Secure Digital) cards, but thats all he would say. Whats the big deal about that? Can't most newer phones do this already?

We'll wait to see what this "media monster" turns out to be. As long as it doesn't have the same antiquated Motorola menuing system/OS from 2002 it'll be a step in the right direction.

A Wall Street Journal article reports that Apple will be including Flash, Adobe/Macromedia's de facto standard media plug-in with the iPhone. It's not sure at this time whether or not Apple will be writing the plug-in themselves or if Adobe will be doing this since the iPhone is a closed platform.

Read more about this in the updated article by Ryan Stewart at blogs.zdnet.com

There have been a few blog postings around the net that talk about the iPhone having the ability to edit video via Apple's Final Cut Pro 6. See the supposed photo of the "lite" version of FCP 6 on an iPhone above.

Now we're pretty positive this is a fake. The iPhone in the photo is obviously photoshopped, not to mention the fact that not many people will WANT to edit video on their iPhone with only 4 gigs of memory! Well... take a look at that photo and you be the judge. We won't link to the article but we're sure you'll be able to find it on your own.

Just another day in the iPhone world and we're all waiting for the release... soon my friends... soon.

Paul Carton from ChangeWave Alliance submitted a report to SeekingAlpha where they surveyed 3,489 Alliance members regarding the Apple (AAPL), iPhone.

The results? In Carton's words "it rocks"! Nearly one-in-10 respondents (9%) say they are likely to buy the new iPhone once it becomes available in June. Another 7% say they are likely to buy the iPhone as a gift for someone else. Those are exceptionally high numbers considering Apple's goal of just 1% of the market within one years time.

There are some fascinating findings in this survey including the price point a non-buyer would purchase the iPhone, which hovered around $200-$300.

For more survey results and info click here.

Research In Motion (RIM) released their latest Blackberry smartphone called "Blackberry Curve". While the Blackberry Pearl brought RIM to the consumer forefront with its sleek design and small form factor, the Curve looks like it was meant for business class folk or people who really want to write a long email on their phone.

Sporting a full size QWERTY keyboard we're sure Blackberry heads will be snatching up this smartphone as it arrives at authorized dealers. We still don't think the Curve will be able to match the iPhone in style and probably functionality but that remains to be seen.

However, if we weren't awaiting the Apple Inc's (AAPL) iPhone to drop, we'd be seriously looking at RIM's latest offering. We can hear a lot of folks saying so long to Palm and M$ shortly.

We'd love to see what makes the iPhone tick, so we're anxious to see what's on the inside of that shiny little device!

While most will cradle and gently handle their iPhone, we'll probably take that sucker apart unless someone does it before us. If we do take apart the iphone, we'll be sure to take a ton of photos and post them here so you won't have to. The tech heads will want to know what processor is being used, if it's socketed, if the memory is upgradable etc. Someones gonna hack this thing in no time.

A few iPhoneNewsBlog staffers have been taking bets on whats inside Apple Inc's iPhone, but we'll all know soon enough!