iOS Devices

With the announcement of Chrome 5, which seems to be a really solid browser for Mac, we’re wondering if Safari is going to see any love at WWDC next month.

Daring Fireball throws out this:

The other big thing that

http://cdn.livestream.com/grid/LSPlayer.swf?channel=disrupt&clip=pla_b33c8216-714f-4b37-8b04-767303f4438f&autoPlay=false

from TechCrunch.

Now we know why AT&T quietly raised its early termination fees even while its smiling CEO, self-confessed iPad addict Ralph de la Vega,  said he isn

Apple’s lack of support for Adobe Flash has generated thousands of column inches online and in print.
There’s been harsh words between Adobe’s founders and Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. We’ve seen huge ads appear in key publications as Adobe spends cold hard cash to counter Apple’s criticism of its fading multimedia star, Flash.
Now new tests suggests Steve Jobs is right about Flash on the iPhone...Read it here.

Interesting that jailbreaking the iPad has sort of gone mainstream.

http://g4tv.com/lv3/46033

surely a non-flash version exists somewhere? That’s what comments are for!

Here

Engadget has the scoop and some Tweets to back it up.  American Beauty, Jarhead and Road to Perdition director Sam Mendes is supposed to be directing an Apple commercial where a mother and daughter are video chatting via iPhones.

Here’s the mom?

Mendes is also slated to be the director of the next James Bond movie.

Thanks Denis!

I never understand why the upfront cost is such a big factor in smartphone purchases.  That $100 you save on the iPhone 3G vs. the 3GS is probably the same as your monthly bill (that you pay 24 times over) and you have to live with a previous generation iPhone for two years!  Dumb.

With that in mind, on the eve (OK, not really) of a new iPhone release Walmart announced that it was cutting the price of its iPhone 3GS to $97 with a two year plan this week.  Formerly, the 8GB iPhone 3G occupied this price point, but those look to be running out of stock.   We heard earlier today that the iPhone 3GS might stick around at this price point.

Plus those iPhone 4/HD’s are coming around the bend and it is inventory-reducing time in Cupertino.

Walmart currently lists the old prices for iPhone 3GS models and doesn’t have the iPhone 3G on its website any longer.

..and Blackberry Bold 9000…whatever those are.

According to a Consumerist Report, AT&T just settled a class action lawsuit by allowing any pre or post paid customer to unlock their AT&T phones unless that phone is bound by a 10+ month exclusivity agreement. 

Yeah, that means just about every phone they sell except Apple’s iPhone.  Verbiage below.

1) Customers with postpaid accounts who have completed a minimum of 90 days of active service and are in good standing and current in their payments.

(2) Customers with prepaid accounts who have provided a detailed receipt or other proof of purchase of the handset.

(3) Customers who own handsets for which AT&T has an exclusive sales arrangement with a manufacturer of less than 10 months will have to wait until the 10-month period expires before they can receive an unlocking code.

If you want to opt out of the settlement or object to it, you have until June 4, 2010 to post mark your filing. The final approval hearing will be held July 2, 2010. For more information, visitwww.attlockinglawsuits.com.

Update: Option to purchase iPhone 3G gone from U.S. Store. 

BGR has it on good authority that Apple has stopped its shipments of iPhone 3G devices.  

We

In what might be becoming a weekly, if not daily occurrence, some new iPhone 4/HD pictures are now floating around. These new pics show cloesups of the “unibody” piece which houses the main parts of the upcoming device. Also to notice is the inclusion of the screw holes on the bottom of the piece. You can see that and a few others after the break. 

via iSpazio

Alright listen up, ads on the iPad look likely to become something worth thinking about, with major Australian newspaper, The Australian, revealing that it has managed to sell three months of ads inventory so far.

That

Will AT&T see the iPhone made available not just by Verizon but also via Sprint? That

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh9mheIu89o&w=640&h=385]

We’ve shot a first look at the new Mobile Me Mail Beta client. For the most part, Apple didn’t add anything except a slick new UI. To get into the beta program go to your me.com mail account and click join beta in the bottom right corner. It will take a few days to get the ‘acceptance’ e-mail from Apple, but when you do you will scream like you got into Harvard. Let us know if you get rejected :), OK?

These things keep getting stranger and stranger.  According to Macrumors, a bloke named Bryan Webster emailed Steve Jobs a profanity laden email from his free Gmail account (MobileMe was too expensive?) saying:

  Bryan has posted headers.

Gizmodo adds this reader email.: 

Dear Steve,

Have you read this Gizmodo article? What are your thoughts on it? Do you believe Google is surpassing you guys or do you believe something different? What do you plan on doing if Google is surpassing Apple?

Any thoughts?

Sincerely,
Brian

On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 10:25 PM, Steve Jobs wrote:

Not a chance.

Yet another leak of iPhone 4/HD coming this time out of our old friends at Apple.Pro and this time showing the already popular (in mockups) white case.  

Also, note that this version of the iPhone 4 seems to have screw holes at the bottom, like the Gizmodo version.

 via Engadget.  Another one, below.

This appears to just be a enclosure put together from parts.  Another theory: Someone took one of those black ones (which apparently are a dime a dozen right now in some parts of the world) and slapped a white button and frame (also not hard to find! – below) on it.   

Apple might have a hard time proving that Gizmodo’s leak cost them materially when a new leaked images of the iPhone 4/HD seem to be published on an almost daily basis.  Just saying.

Boy Genius Report has published some new leaked images from an Apple iPhone field testing unit. This unit is said to be for testing the next iPhone (HD,4, 4G…) in the wild to make sure AT&T’s ‘wonderful‘ network can keep up with our video calls. Not much else is shown, and another screenshot from BGR is after the break.

For those international folks out there who haven’t yet placed your iPad orders, you won’t be getting yours until some time in June. Initial pre-orders arrive in less than a week in parts of Europe, Australia, and Canada (May 28).  Until today, orders placed would have iPads arriving by June 7th.  Now all Apple can tell you is that they’ll have new orders sometime in June. We’ve also been hearing several reports that pre-orders have began shipping to UK customers.

I think I am a pretty good bellwether of what’s happening in the technology world.  I obviously love Apple products (but please don’t use the F word), so much so that I write about Apple products every day here on 9to5Mac.  I’d never consider giving up my MacBook Pro.  I love my iPad (almost as much as my kid does), I use an AppleTV (sometimes) and I’ve been an iPhone user since day one, hour one, minute one.  

I’m also a general technology/gadget head and I’ve been trying other platforms all of this time.  I have a few netbooks running Linux and Windows.  I have a BluRay player and Verizon Mifi and displays made by Dell and HP.   I have logitech keyboards and speakers and even a Microsoft Mouse.  My house is full of tech toys.

Would you really trust someone who only uses Apple products’ opinion on technology?

On phones, I’ve used Blackberries and Windows Mobile devices for work, I’ve owned Nokias (N95, N810) and been given test units of Palm Pres and even have a demo Microsoft Kin One on my desk.  I’ve never considered giving up my iPhone (which I’ve gladly paid for) for any of these.  Not for a second.

But recently, beginning with the Nexus One and culminating in the HTC EVO, I find myself using Android devices more than my iPhone.  In fact, my AT&T SIM is usually found in my Nexus One these days. (OK, a bad iPhone 4 beta 2 probably didn’t help that).

I’m sure a few of you on the fringe are deleting 9to5mac’s bookmark/feed at that statement but for the rest of you, let me share my thoughts on why I’m leaning this way.  

First of all, it isn’t entirely Apple’s fault.  AT&T happens to be particularly bad where I live and work. My EVO is on Sprint and works noticeably better for both data and voice calling.  No number of press releases and $ pledges from AT&T will change that.  To be fair, AT&T has given me a FemtoCell that works well