9to5 Staff

Orange France has revealed its iPhone sales figures for the first time, confirming over ten per cent of iPhones sold were sold unlocked, loosely in line with estimates that one-in-ten of the devices sold are then unlocked for use on other networks.

Speaking to UK technology news website, Pocket-lint, Orange France confirmed that as of January 31 2008 the mobile network had sold 90,000 iPhones in total since late November last year.

The report reveals that 14 per cent of iPhones sold were sold unlocked (which is a legal requirement in France, where Apple and Orange have been forced to sell an unlocked model). The remaining smartphones were sold for use on the Orange network.

These reports are the first firm sales figures to emerge from a European iPhone partner, though in the UK O2 has called iPhone the "fastest-selling" device it has ever sold.

In a move that puts Apple’s original iTunes Plus partner at the forefront of the convergence between digital and conventional entertainment technologies, EMI Music has hired Google’s chief information officer Douglas Merrill, to lead its growing digital music business. 

As President, Digital Business, EMI Music, Merrill will head an all new international project with responsibility for all of the company’s digital strategy, innovation, business development, supply chain and global technology activities.

Guy Hands, CEO of Terra Firma and chairman of EMI Group, said: "Douglas is a proven agent of change who combines broad business intellect with a deep engineering background. He has been a key member of the management team at Google which has created more value than any other consumer internet company by focusing relentlessly on tools that enable consumers to do things more effectively.  His experience, talents and his ability to drive innovation will be enormously valuable to EMI and to its artists.“

Merrill said: "I have two passions. One is creating platforms and tools that make it easier for consumers to achieve their goals.  The other is music.  This exciting new role at EMI is a unique opportunity for me to be able to put those two passions to work together and help deliver EMI’s objective of providing the best services in the world to consumers and musicians.”

Merrill starts work at EMI on 28 April and will be based at EMI Music’s LA HQ in the Capitol Tower.  He will report to Guy Hands. 

 Days since Apple’s release of Aperture 2.1 with its new-found support for plug-ins from third-party developers, Adobe has hit back with the release of a free public beta of its in-development professional photography application, Photoshop Lightroom 2.0.

Photographers are being invited to download and use a 30-day limited time version of the software. Customers who already own a registered copy of Lightroom will be able to use the beta software until August 31.

Key features within the upgrade include dual-monitor support, localised dodge and burn tools and – and it’s a big and – support for 64-bit computing on Mac OS X and Vista.

Additional improvements include a redesigned and easier to navigate layout in the Library module and a new Smart Collections feature which helps users find images matching criteria such as stat-rating, keyword or various other forms of metadata.

Get it here.

 Footballer David Beckham is affectionately known as golden balls – now he has a gold iPod touch to add to his collection.

Beckham played his centenary match on the England team against France last week. To celebrate his 100th match representing the country squad, his team clubbed together to buy him an iPod touch – with a difference – it’s gold plated.

The Daily Telegraph has the story, and this clearly shows the magic 32GB capacity printed on the back, meaning it’s a top-of-the range iPod touch the former England captain is sporting. Of course, it’s not clear if he’s going to use the device to keep track of football scores using wifi, but it is likely he’ll use the device to replay key moments from his matches recorded and passed along to him by England’s coaches and the popular Mac-only SportsCode application.

iPhone is plat du jour in the Mac world lately, and the second beta of the iPhone 2.0 SDK continues to generate news nuggets for industry watchers.
Latest news in shows that the second build of the SDK includes built-in support for managed Exchange Server settings, while that could be predicted on the basis of Apple’s deal with Microsoft to license Exchange support, that the company has also chosen to build administrator support into the software is bound to generate excitement among infrastructure boffins.  There are lots of other clues in the ManagedConfiguration.bundle and ManagedConfigurationUI.bundle files.
The support consists of a couple of lines of code in the software that support Exchange Policies natively on the device, and also support Exchange Active Sync account handling.
These nuggets confirm the strength of Apple’s push at the enterprise market in its iPhone, as loud speculation continues to predict a new 3G-capable model of the device seems set to ship in May/June.(Image courtesy GadgetVenue).

(Screencaptures of the SDK files below)

 The smartphone sector is gripped by a struggle for dominance that’s emerging as between Apple’s iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, according to the latest consumer survey from ChangeWave.

The survey asked 3,597 consumers to share their views on smartphones, and while the research confirms RIM continues to dominate the existing consumer smartphone market, Apple’s iPhone has "huge momentum" for future growth.

In terms of current market share, BlackBerry deployment has slipped one percentage point to 42 per cent. Apple has quickly shot to third place in the market occupying 9 per cent share, just a few percentage points behind second place manufacturer, Palm, with 16 per cent.

Palm’s 16 per cent is significant because it reflects a continuous two-year decline in Palm’s marketshare, ChangeWave claims.

Despite its continued struggle to turn itself around with a raft of recent high profile hirings of former senior Apple managers, Palm appears a victim in what is becoming a two horse race, researchers said.

Customer satisfaction is key to Apple’s iPhone success. The product received what ChangeWave called an "astonishing" 79 per cent Very Satisfied rating from consumers in the survey. 

That’s far ahead of RIM’s 54 per cent and Palm’s 22 per cent, meaning both competing companies will need to make a major move to deliver more compelling customer experience.

iPhone’s future growth opportunity also appears secure, with one-in-three (35 per cent) of respondents who already plan to buy a smartphone within the next 90 days saying they intend purchasing an iPhone. And that figure is up from the 23 per cent preference revealed in the last ChangeWave smartphone industry survey held in January 2008.

“The biggest reasons for the surge are the recent Apple announcements on the iPhone Software Development Kit and the new 2.0 OS,” said Tobin Smith, founder of ChangeWave Research and editor of ChangeWave Investing.  “One-in-ten respondents now say they’re more likely to purchase an iPhone in the future because of the new smart phone software.”

The ChangeWave survey also asked respondents which mobile operating system they’d like to have on the smart phone they plan on buying.  Once again, the consumer market is dominated by the RIM and Apple operating systems.

The number of respondents saying they’re Very Likely to use Google’s Android OS was just 2 per cent, though another 15 per cent did say they’re Somewhat Likely to use the new OS. 

“These numbers do show some consumer interest in the Android Operating System,” said Smith, “but based on the ultra-competitive battle between RIM and Apple, there’s little likelihood of the Android gaining traction on either one’s OS. They’re sucking up all the oxygen in this market.”

OK, now it is just getting old...

Google Adsense for Conversations

Google Wake Up KitNew!

See into the future

Or send emails in the past

Did we miss any?

Update: lots more found in the commments!

Imitation = the most sincere form of flattery?   New specs are coming out on the Blackberry 9000 below..

BGR Says specs are:

• Everything we reported was true. 624MHz processor, 480×320 screen, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G, etc.
• The web browser flies. "Loads web pages in 3-4 seconds."
• The BlackBerry 9000 in its current state runs OS 4.5
• Early launch date was slated for a consumer AT&T launch on June 18th (3G iPhone?!). Remember that we predicted the device was delayed. See below.
• The battery lasts around 4 hours with straight phone calling. "Battery sucks, to be honest. With Wi-Fi on, I only got a little less than two hours browsing the web," and all testers are reporting huge battery issues which could be why we’re all hearing it is delayed.
• We’re not sure of the next part, but he said that the device either has 256MB of internal memory or 128MB. Don’t ask why we couldn’t tell the difference.

We know Rogers in Canada is a bit of a slacker on the iPhone front from our reader comments.  However, they are the only GSM/EDGE provider in Canada and if you have a hacked iPhone they are your only choice.  If Apple, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to deal with Rogers, they may have one of two already-established partners in Canada soon.  AT&T and Tmobile are both rumored to be partners with Niagara Networks Inc. who are currently bidding on Canadian spectrum.

Either firm may be backing an auction application lodged earlier this month by unknown entity Niagara Networks Inc., which has no current operations in Canada. The company surprised industry observers two weeks ago when it appeared on an Industry Canada list of applicants for the spectrum auction beginning on May 27. Niagara Networks has applied to bid on all the spectrum being auctioned, requiring a letter of credit for $881 million.

Douglas Evashkow, president of Niagara Networks, told CBCNews.ca at the time that he was unable to disclose who was funding his company because of confidentiality agreements.

Obviously with a name like "Niagra" (as in "Falls" – which have both US and Canadian varieties), AT&T would be the easy guess of wireless partner.

No strangers to Canada

San Antonio, Texas-based AT&T, the largest multinational telecommunications service provider in the world, is no stranger to the Canadian cellphone market. AT&T owned 34 per cent of Rogers Wireless before selling it back to the company in 2004 for $1.35 billion US in order to "monetize its stake" and concentrate on its U.S. operations.

In recent years AT&T has reversed course and expanded its international operations. In one of its latest big moves, AT&T in October applied to enter India’s upcoming spectrum auction in partnership with a local company, Mahindra Telecommunications Pvt. Ltd.

AT&T also announced earlier this month that it will invest $1 billion US in 2008 in its international businesses, 33 per cent more than it spent last year and double its expenditure in 2006.

In a recent interview with CBCNews.ca, AT&T Canada executives declined to say how much of the investment would go to Canada but said the country was a key priority. The company provides telecommunications services — minus cellphones — to multinational corporations operating here.

Maura Lendon, chief counsel for AT&T Canada, praised recent moves by the government to boost telecommunications competition, including the favouring of new entrants in the spectrum auction.

The government in November ruled that 40 per cent of the airwaves up for auction would be reserved for new entrants, meaning that existing players Rogers, Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp. are restricted to bid on the other 60 per cent.

"We do see more positive trends in the Canada market, which I think are opening opportunities. It trends towards more open competition," Lendon said.

How long will it take before the partner sets up shop and can start slanging iPhones?  We have no clue…all we know is Canadians want iPhones and are pretty upset that they don’t have an Apple-blessed way of getting them.

Thanks Noob

According to El UNIVERSAL (translated), our amigos south of the border will be enjoying the iPhone with mobile operator Telcel in a few short months.  They expect the price to be about on par with the US, although the iPhone is widely expected to go 3G by June.  Perhaps Apple will be selling EDGE iPhones and 3G iPhones or maybe dividing by market.

Canada??….  How does it feel to be the last large North American country sans iPhone?  Ouch – Rogers!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siuKQw6L6Rk&hl=en]

So this is the story….  Instead of the normal iJailbreak or Ziphone hacks, the iPhone Dev Team is releasing (update: may be a week late) a full firmware hack that allows you to use itunes to upload and download any software you want to your iPhone (even a full OS?).  You could also change the processor speed up to 667 from 400Mhz if you wanted to.  In the future, you could also back up your iPhone with all of the hacked apps, settings, videos, songs, etc.  Then do a full restore at a later point.  You can also do interesting things with the bootloader as you can see from the video.

The creators think this will be unbreakable by Apple and they show it running on iPhone OS 1.2 (2.0Beta)

Here is a quick rundown… interview with the developers:

theiphoneproject: What does PWN accomplish for the users?

The Devs: Full independence from Apple’s vision on what the iPhone (and iPod Touch) can and cannot do. Currently it will allow you to restore to a jailbroken and unlocked state, and if you can figure it out – some extra cool stuff like Installer, Cydia, and other applications. You will eventually be able to backup your entire phone and restore to a state exactly the way you like it, restore straight to jailbroken state with installer, or even potentially install other OSes like linux (see iphonelinux.org) to your phone.

theiphoneproject: Why should I use this instead of ZiPhone? (or any other method in that case)

The Devs: Because it is the first time you can fully take control over your device. Previous solutions such as ZiPhone rely on exploits to break into an existing installation of iPhone OS, and install stuff into your device that way. Those approaches are fundamentally different from ours, in that they attempt to correct what Apple’s restricted in the OS after the fact, and only have limited power in what they can do to it. Our approach takes full control of the lowest layers of Apple’s device, and allows a much safer kind of jailbreak, that uses Apple’s tried and tested restore mechanism. It will also allow much more when hackers realize all the new possibilities this method opens up and start taking advantage of them.

theiphoneproject: Can you give us an overview of the process?

The Devs: In all honesty, it’s quite simple. This is the first release of Pwnage, and the process of building an IPSW is thus far only supported on Mac OS X. The first thing to do is make sure you have the Official IPSW of the firmware you are running (eg. If you are running 1.1.4, download 1.1.4). Now open the Pwnage tool, and click “Browse .ipsw” and browse to the firmware file that you just downloaded. Next you click the “iPwner” button, and watch as PWNAGE patches the iPhone bootlader, making it possible to circumvent any code signing checks. After this, your iPhone will reboot. As the iPhone reboots, exit the Pwnage app, and reopen it.

Here is where the magic happens, once the phone has rebooted, click on “IPSW Builder,” and you are presented with a list of the building options (jailbreak, unlock, etc..) including the all new “BootNeuter,” the ultimate iPhone unlocking solution. Once you have customized your IPSW, hit OK and let Pwnage build the restore file. Next we head to iTunes, option+click on the restore button, and navigate to the custom ipsw that you just created,. Hit OK and we’re done! iTunes will restore the iPhone to the state of your choosing (Be it jailbroken, unlocked etc…).

Credits: asap18, bgm, Bugout, bushing, chris, dinopio, drudge, Fred_, ghost_000, gray, kroo, MuscleNerd, netkas, np101137, planetbeing, pr3d4t0r, pumpkin, pytey, roxfan, sam, Turbo, w___, wizdaz, Zf.

Special thanks: Geohot, cmw

We’ve known for awhile that TIM Italy was in the iPhone carrier settings…but for some reason they haven’t gotten the the green light to announce the iPhone.  Perhaps it all went bad.  Or they are waiting for 3G?  Or maybe it is only a matter of days.  Strangely, the created on dates for TIM are the same (Dec 12th 2007) as Orange in France, O2 in the UK and Tmobile in Germany, with Tmobile Austria and O2 in Ireland created later (February 2008).

Something tells us that TIM and Apple had a falling out.

Onto a possible Russian iPhone possibility…

We’re not sure how long it has been there, but Russian text input is joining German, English, French and Italian as the default input languages in the System/Library/TextInput Folder of the iPhone.  Perhaps we’ll see an iPhone in Russia next?

var digg_url = ‘http://9to5mac.com/tim-italy-russia-iphone’;

UPDATE: All of the sites where these were found are now taking them offline at the request of Apple. 

Apple’s advertising agency in South Africa: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, Johannesburg, South Africa
Executive Creative Director: Damon Stapleton
Creative Director: Adam Weber
Illustrators: Colwyn Thomas, Sasan Saidi
Art Director: David Joubert Copywriter: Lauren Shewitz
We like!!!

No word yet on whether these will go international or if these are one offs. Our eyes, as always, are peeled.

Danke

Oh dear, it had to happen: security experts and hackers at the CanSecWest security conference are talking about just one event – that a MacBook Air was the first of three platforms successfully hacked in the PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.

The contest saw former National Security Agency employee and researcher Charlie Miller saunter across to the Mac to run his exploit, which possibly took advantage of a security flaw in Safari.  Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook as prizes, each running a different operating system (Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Linux). Was it fair?

The deal is that the first researcher to successfully hack each computer walks home with the laptop and some prize money. While the Mac was the first system to fall to the hacker attacks, it’s expected the other two systems will be PWNed later today. The company behind the competition, Tipping Point, quickly moved to notify Apple of the vulnerability, with Apple’s Mac OS X team now scrambling to close the gap, reports claim. 

Also, note that CanSecWest’s sponsors include Microsoft but no Linux Companies or Apple.

Apple has released a second beta of its iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), and is searching for a handwriting expert to join its iPhone development team.

SDK beta 2 is now available as a 1.36GB download from Apple’s developer website. The kit contains all the tools developers may need to build applications for the device, and now also includes an Interface Builder, a visually-based tool that lets us build application interfaces using drag-&-drop.

Developers also gain access to new sample code and technical documentation, as Cupertino’s iPhone dev team respond to the first batch of developer feedback. The first version of the essential toolkit was introduced just weeks ago, indicating Apple to be prioritizing iPhone in its R&D cycle. 

Apple has also responded to complaints from some developers that they were summarily rejected from signing up to the $99 per year iPhone Developer Program. A note on the iPhone Dev Centre website explains: "We have many more requests than we can serve during this initial beta period, so we must limit the Program at this time. We plan to expand it during the beta period, and we will contact you regarding your enrollment status at the appropriate time. We appreciate your patience."

Finally, Apple has posted a new recruitment ad to fill the post of Handwriting Recognition Engineer, working with its Mac OS X handwriting recognition technology, Inkwell. "The recognition technology you create may extend beyond Mac OS X to other applications and the iPhone," the ad explains.

Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has secured the manufacturing deal for the second generation of Apple’s iPhone, as the analysts at Gartner backtrack on their claims of earlier this week.

Recall the heady days of Wednesday, when the analysts at Gartner are alleged to have claimed Apple to have begun production of the 3G iPhone? Well, it seems the analysts aren’t so sure after all.

As iPod Observer saw it, Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney cited his shadowy Asian sources to make the claim that the new version of the device had entered manufacturing.

True or false, Dow Jones this morning reports that Hon Hai will produce the second generation iPhone, described as a "more advanced version". Many analysts consider the new breed of the device could appear in June.

To preserve secrecy, Apple could even circumvent the need to file FCC documentation for the US version of the device by launching it outside the US first. 3G isn’t well-supported in the US, but support for the 3G standard is emerging as essential to massage demand for iPhone in the European and Asian markets.

Returning to those folks at Gartner, the analysts now say they just don’t know if manufacturing has begun, but remain convinced the new iPhone will offer 3G support (uh-huh?) and may be equipped with an OLED screen, making for a thinner device with longer battery life and better green credentials.

Apple is in great shape and wants its consumers to be too.  AppleInsider today is reporting on patent applications filed by Apple employees in regard to adding a regiment application to the iPod.  That news is excellent.  However a few other things may make this more interesting…

• What if Apple used its iPod touch and iPhone as heart monitors?  Pehaps a device that plugs into the iPod that sells with the software system?  You could map your heart rate as part of the fitness regimine.
• The GPS system could be used to gage your running and speed.  IF Apple adds GPS in June like Kevin Rose thinks, this would be cool both for running and biking
• Bike users could also use the iPod/iPhone as a bike computer.  An adapter could come with the system that connects and calibrates to bike wheels
• For gyms, Apple could sell a connector to gym equipment and marry exercise with gaming.  The Wii has started this off but imagine biking against your friends or against people you don’t know – like playing scrabble online.  Apple could then find the healthiest people in the world and have gaming contests.

All of this seems really plausible for us, how about you?

MacNN is reporting that the iPhone may hit the Dutch shores on Saturday at 11am local time. (Do people in Europe work on Saturday?).  While The iPhone has been spreading across Europe over the past few months and we’ve been hearing rumors as such, we aren’t sure if any new releases will happen before the 3G iPhone hits the streets (this summer?).  If so, great for them – but maybe wait 2 months for 3G?

Dear Dutch people, sorry for the lame image..

OK, perhaps that is a bit of an overstatement.  But it is really cool.  I briefly reviewed Photoshop Express for Computerworld and came away reeling at the possibilities.  While we all knew this application was coming down the pipe, Adobe made great use of Flash and delivered a very polished product. 

Facebook(!!), Picasa and Photobucket direct access shows the amazing possibilities this web application has.  No doubt, more services will be coming soon.   If you can give Photoshop Express access to your blog images directory, you could do all of your image editing inline – without having to upload or download between edits.  How about Google documents or presentations?  Editing photos inside the web browser would make those services all the more valuable.  Oh, and move to another computer and your 2 GB library goes with you.

The downside?  Adobe and Apple aren’t getting along too well these days.  Normally, Apple and Adobe products play very well together.  However, since this is a Flash-based Web application it won’t work on the iPod Touch or iPhone.  Also, your iPhoto library isn’t browsable since Apple, for whatever reason, decided to put all of the original photos in a Package which isn’t accessible by the browser (needed for Photoshop Express).  If you want to access your iPhotos, you need to export them from iPhoto.  :( Lame

Hopefully someone is working on an iPhoto plugin at this very moment that allows uploading of photos to the Photoshop Express storage.  The other work round would be to upload your photos to Facebook, Picasa, or Photobucket using the current plugins and editing in Photoshop Express from there.

Have fun!