Tech Industry

 You are staring at iPhone Jonny – he’s the first person in the world to buy an iPhone (we think), and was photographed queuing outside his local Vodafone store yesterday – thanks EnGadget (maybe you’ll link back to us one day, hey?) – waiting at the head of the queue to pick up his iPhone.

Now he has. Yes, you heard us right – the iPhone 3G went on sale today, but in fact it is tomorrow it goes on sale – except in New Zealand, where it’s tomorrow already! Sometimes time zones are kind of exciting.

Parts of Australia will now be getting the iPhone 3G as they have a few hours difference to New Zealand. And then it invades the rest of the world as the dawn of the new day breaks….

So, Jonny has his iPhone 3G – congratulations, Jonny, drop us a line if you come across us, we think the whole world wants to know what you – someone who isn’t a highly-paid journalist working for some major media outlet – think of your new purchase!

What’s going to be frustrating for New Zealand’s iPod touch owners is that there’s no sign yet of iPhone Software Update 2.0, which you need to actually install and use applications on the iPhone or iPod touch.

Never mind, though – the software has escaped, you can download it now, but will have to install it manually, check here for the link and the details.

Apple may have a huge big massive hit on its hands in the form of the iPhone – but Research In Motion’s fight back plan may be falling apart, an analyst said this morning.

Nomura analyst Richard Windsor has warned clients that Research In Motion is struggling to develop the touch interface for use within its forthcoming ‘iPhone killer’, the BlackBerry Thunder. The analyst says the implementation even lags behind Nokia (who we think themselves are trailing Apple on touch controls).

"Those who have handled prototypes complain of poor typing, unresponsive keys, bugs in the user interface cause by touch as well as accelerometer issues," Windsor said, as reported by MarketWatch.

The analyst also warned Nokia’s future touch-controlled Tube just won’t have the edge and usability of an iPhone. (see, we told you…)

So, right now it looks like Apple’s about to clean up in the smartphone space. Did we mention UK iPhone 3G carrier O2 this week saw pre-orders for the device flying in at a rate of 13,000 per second?

"Demand was at 13,000 orders per second," said O2 yesterday. "Frankly, we have to admit we just weren’t prepared for this unprecedented level of demand. No website is."

9 to 5 Mac’s spies are all over the iPhone launch. Here’s our latest image, it shows the first stocks of the iPhone 3G being delivered to The Carphone Warehouse.

The hugely anticipated mobile phone officially launches tomorrow, with Apple’s carriers and some selected high street retailers, such as Carphone Warhouse in the UK, opening early as the iPhone 3G is introduced globally.

All involved in the launch now warn customers to expect limited supplies, as early ordering systems in the UK and Australia this week buckled under the strain, indicating significant demand for the device.

A ChangeWave survey yesterday suggested iPhone will have a "tsunami-like" effect on the smartphone market. The researchers spoke with 3,567 consumers, finding Apple’s market share now to be catching up to that of Palm, which is looking less and less popular.

“These numbers are good news for Apple,”  said Tobin Smith, founder of ChangeWave Research and editor of ChangeWave Investing, “but it’s when we asked respondents about their planned smart phone purchases over the next 90 days that the tsunami-like effect of this marketplace transformation becomes crystal clear.”

The survey found that a full 56% of respondents who plan to purchase a smart phone in the next 90 days say they’re getting an Apple iPhone – a huge 21-point leap from the previous survey. And this means Apple seems set to dominate the smartphone market within weeks, grabbing 56 per cent market share and eclipsing current number one smartphone maker, Research In Motion.

ChangeWave also revealed that 55 per cent of current iPhone owners are Very Likely to buy the iPhone 3G for themselves or someone else in the future – half of these will do so within the first 90 days of release.

 Apple this morning introduced iTunes 7.7.

Installing the application offers users a route to the App Store – you can browse and download applications now, but you’ll need to wait until iPhone Software 2.0 ships to run them on your iPhone.

The App Store isn’t automatically showing as an option when you log into the iTunes Store, though it has been showing up occassionally this morning in the main view as a menu navigation option. If it doesn’t, it is very easy to get there – open up the new ‘Applications’ folder you’ll see in your personal iTunes navigation area to the left, once in Applications select "Get more applications" using the button at the lower right. And you’ll be in the App Store.

There’s 500 applications to choose from now, including the much-vaunted Apple Remote app which lets you remotely control your iTunes collection or Apple TV using your iPhone or iPod touch, the absolutely outstanding Band music application, voice recorders, social networking, free and paid for applications. We had a hard time resisting purchase of a guitar tuner application, for example, so we didn’t.

The bad news? None of these applications will work on your iPhone – yet – but with the iPhone 3G beginning to go on sale in some parts of the world (where the Friday dawn is approaching in their time zone) we can’t believe we have too long to wait until iPhone Software 2.0 ships.

Apple’s iPhone 3G will grab 35 per cent of the US market for touchscreen-equipped mobile phones by the end of the year, new research claims.

Bonny Joy, analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, “We estimate the Apple iPhone will account for 6.3 million of the 18.1 million touchscreen phones sold in the United States during January to December 2008, for an impressive 35 per cent marketshare. We expect the release of the heavily-subsidized 3G iPhone 2.0 on July 11 to catalyze a healthy spurt in touchscreen volumes during the second half of the year.”

Neil Mawston, Director of Strategy Analytics, added, “Apple is in a strong position today but its rivals are not standing still. Samsung and LG already offer numerous, popular touchscreen models such as the Instinct and Voyager, while Blackberry and Nokia are scheduled to launch their own portfolios in the coming months with the Thunder and Tube. Clearly, the competition is rising fast and hanging on to that 35 per cent marketshare will be a major challenge for Apple in 2009.”

Do you think it will be a challenge? 

Microsoft will offer the next version of Office for the Mac by January 2011 at the latest – possibly as early as January 2010, the company said this week.

The company’s Mac Business Unit’s senior marketing manager, Amanda Lefebvre, also said it intends restoring support for Visual Basic for Applications in the next version, Information Week informs.

"We’re on a two to three year lifecycle," she said, admitting, "We were a little beyond that for our last round."

Mac users who purchased Mac Office 2004 had to wait four years for Office 2008. To try to prevent such delays in future, the Mac Business Unit has also initiated a huge recruitment drive, partially to find developers to work on Visual Basic for Application.

The company is also developing tools to integrate Mac Office into corporate Windows environments that run Microsoft’s Exchange Server and Unified Communications Server, said Lefebvre.

These moves reflect Apple’s growing market share in the consumer and the enterprise markets.

 Wake-up, California – your iTunes prices are under attack (again).

That’s right – assemblyman Charles Calderon is back with another attempt to levy a tax on digital downloads, just two months after Californian voter anger saw his last attempt to do the same thing chucked out with a vengeance. In April, the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on a bipartisan vote rejected a legislative proposal to extend California’s sales and use tax to digital property.

So what’s this guy pushing for this time (other than more money for the government)? Turns out to be the same again, only this time split into two parts, presumably on the basis that if one set of rules is approved, it will set some kind of precedent to more easily force through this tax. (Not that we’re lawyers, not that we’re Californians, even, but we do know that’s how bureaucrats like to force through that awful system creep).

"Sales of Digital Property. AB 22XXX (Calderon), introduced June 25, requires the State Board of Equalization to report to the Legislature on the sales of digital property. The report must include a proposed regulation to tax such property, and a revenue estimate. This bill is keyed a majority-vote bill.

"Tax on Sales of Digital Property. AB 23XXX (Calderon) introduced June 25, imposes the sales tax on digital property. The bill is keyed a two-thirds vote bill.

The legislation is intended to extend the sales and use tax to downloads of online music, movies, ring tones, games, books and other digital property."

So far as we can tell, it’s time to dust off your letter-writing skills once again to see Calderon’s dual-pronged second attempt rejected. The last attempt was rejected after a campaign by Cal-Tax, over 130 Californian companies and others.

Thanks to the CalTax letter for the detail.

The all-new iPhone 3G is compelling enough to tempt many pay-as-you-go mobile phone users to take out a contract, new research shows.

GfK NOP carried out its research last weekend among UK consumers, and found that 16 per cent of pre-pay users would consider taking the new handset on a contract.

Furthermore, of that 16 per cent, two-thirds prefer one of the 18-month contracts over the pre-pay offer, indicating that the device has the potential to move customers toward long-term contracts.

On a week in which O2 reveals iPhone 3G orders at times reached 13,000 per second (!!!!!), Apple seems set for insanely great sales of the device, set to ship 11 July. The researchers found one in five mobile owners are interested in purchasing the new handset – effectively translating into 20 per cent of mobile phone users, a fairly significant slice of the market. A further 7 per cent are interested, but not on the current tariffs.

Awareness is insanely great, too:  97 per cent of 16-24’s and 72 per cent of those aged 60 and over are aware of the iPhone. Awareness is centred on the new handset features, with over half being aware of the improved 3G data speed (56 per cent) and the improved memory of 8 or 16 GB (54 per cent), but there is also good awareness of the different range of tariffs and handset prices on offer.

Anders Nielsen, Director at GfK Technology said, “The message from the research is very clear; the blend of handset subsidies, sensible tariffs and the improved technical specifications will combine to really drive demand. O2 and Apple have addressed most of the barriers which held back mass-market take-up of the original iPhone, so we expect the iPhone 3G to sell well. In addition to selling new connections, the research shows that the new iPhone offers will also help convert some pre-pay users to 18 month contracts which, in turn, could contribute positively towards O2 customer retention and ARPU levels.”

With O2 experiencing such strong demand, there are some concerns the company may be unable to deliver iPhone’s pre-ordered by UK customers this week on time. Electric Pig reports customers may not receive the device until next week, though O2 denies this, saying, “Customers that were successful in the pre-order will receive their iPhone 3G on Friday. The only exception is customers who live in certain postcodes, north from Aberdeen who will receive on Monday.”

World of Warcraft is coming to the iPhone, well, sort of – here’s video proof of this interesting development, though sure, it’s a re-run – but read on…

The video shows World of Warcraft running on an iPhone using a Google-developed technology called Telekinesis to stream it from a nearby laptop. Oh, and if you want to take a look at 19 more videos showing a variety of games running on the iPhone, take a click across to Pocket Gamer…

 Yet more news as O2’s UK iPhone 3G launch unravels – the 16GB iPhone isn’t available yet, there’s no white model, and we won’t see a pay-as-you-go option until Christmas.

The UK carrier alerted iPhone customers this morning with a text message promising them the chance to upgrade their iPhone to the new iPhone 3G now, in exchange for which they will receive the new model on 11 July, when it ships.

"To thank you for being an iPhone fan, we’re offering you an early upgrade to iPhone 3G. You don’t have to wait until the end of your existing contract, all you’ll need to do is agree to a new 18-month minimum term contract," the company said. With this deal only available until 11 October, its no surprise consumers flocked to get hold of the must-have next-gen ‘Phone.

Sadly, O2’s servers couldn’t take the strain. 

Customers attempting to fill-in the online form were instead seeing a message which said, "There has been a problem with taking your order. We apologise for the inconvenience. Please try again."

While the 8GB model is available at no additional cost to customers on the £45 and £75 per month tariffs (subject to a new 18-month contract), the iPhone 3G costs customers on the £30 and £35 tariffs £99 for upgrade to the 8GB model, and £159 to the 16GB model. However, O2’s online ordering page reveals that there is no stock of the 16GB model, and the only model available in the UK is black.

We reported last week that Apple is unhappy at the extent of iPhone unlocking taking place in the UK, fewer than 15 per cent of all the iPhones sold by O2 when it slashed prices on the 8GB model actually ended up in use on the carrier’s network. Apple since then has moved to limit UK supplies of the device – that’s assuming manufacturing problems haven’t limited the number of 16GB models the company could bring to market.

O2 today also warned that pay-as-you-go versions of the iPhone 3G won’t be made available until later in the year. While O2 declined to say when the product to ship, an official statement from Carphone Warehouse suggests we’re looking to a Christmas launch for the product.

In the US, AT&T also today confirmed it will offer iPhone’s free of a monthly contract, though these will cost approximately $400 more than the standard price.

Finally, to make the matter even more infuriating, O2 now says it is out of stock of the iPhone, at least, online.

 Apple’s iTunes service may face a double-pronged competitor in the UK market by the end of summer, as more major labels reportedly prepare to offer their music DRM-free here.

The UK’s second-largest online music service 7 Digital today announced that sales through its online store had climbed 300 per cent since the introduction of DRM-free downloads from Warner Music through its UK service.

"It is now clear that MP3 downloads represent the future for digital music.  With two of the four major labels now supporting MP3 in the UK, we expect to see the whole market supporting MP3 in the not-too-distant future," said 7digital CEO Ben Drury.

Industry insiders expect Sony BMG and Universal to release their DRM-free MP3 catalogues "imminently" in the UK, according to disruptive media website, Distorted Loop, perhaps as soon as September 2008. That release will mean 7digital offering an all-DRM free range of music, and will likely see Amazon introduce its MP3 store in the UK, perhaps also in September

Appe’s DRM-free iTunes Plus service remains a contender within the online music space, yet offers no tracks from Universal, Sony BMG or Warner Music as yet. The three labels have refused to permit Apple a license to sell their catalogue free of rights restricting technologies. They have allowed iTunes competitors to do so in an attempt to undermine the Apple music service in order to foster a more competitive digital music ecosystem (and also, conceivably, to continue their long-term game plan of raising online music prices).

Whether this is to the detriment of customers, Apple or otherwise, unprotected music sales online are becoming more popular as consumers grow to understand the significance of DRM-free music. "This format makes the digital music proposition simple for consumers with one universal format for all devices. Music lovers are beginning to realise that owning an iPod doesn’t mean just buying tracks from iTunes and, in fact, MP3’s are far superior in terms of compatibility," Drury said.

Apple may not be so short of cards in this game – September is the traditional launch point for new model iPods, and has been a focal point for iTunes service upgrades.

 Apple’s iPhone 3G will take a huge chunk out of the enterprise, UK carrier O2 said today. 

The network has revealed its business tariffs for the iPhone, but more interesting to most Apple-watchers is the company’s positive observations on the impact of the device on corporate users during beta testing of the product.

O2 UK’s head of business sales, Ben Dowd, told Silicon.com that O2 beta-tested the iPhone 3G with 15 corporate customers, including Citigroup, Logica and McDonald’s. Describing the feedback as "very positive," he explained the testers found it usable, liked it, and wanted to find out more about the device

Dowd added: "That sort of feedback in addition to the feedback that Apple got – from about 30 per cent of the Fortune top 500 customers – is all very positive. Absolutely this can be used in the business world."

Asked about device security, Dowd said that contrary to come analysts, business customers had not asked O2 about security during the test, and that even the US army has been testing the iPhone 3G. He also pointed out that O2 uses the Cisco IP VPN security supported by the iPhone in the networks own corporate systems.

Perhaps the only soft spot in the solution Apple is offering enterprise users is the need for users of corporate iPhones to have iTunes installed on their computers in order to sync data. Some firms may be unhappy at this, though O2 promises it will work with their IT crews to "make it happen".

 Take a look at these – pictures take both inside and outside of the still under construction Apple Store in Beijing, China.

The store is situated in a mall just near other western brands including Nike, Adidas and Zara.

These images were taken on behalf of French language Mac news website, MacPlus, by one Thibault Metzinger, who notes (according to Google Translate) that Apple is ‘Pingo’ in Chinese….

 Ubisoft and TransGaming have confirmed plans to release multiple Ubisoft titles for the Mac, using the Cider engine.

Games Industry reports Catz, Dogz, and CSI: Hard Evidence will be the first titles released under the partnership. TransGaming has signed a multi-title agreement with Ubisoft that will bring titles immediately to the Mac community via gametreeonline.com, TransGaming’s digital distribution portal. 

"Ubisoft is extremely excited about the partnership with TransGaming to bring our titles to the Mac," said Jay Cohen, senior vice president of publishing at Ubisoft. 

"To expand our business position and serve the growing Mac gaming community, additional key titles will follow later this year, including several day-and-date releases this Fall," he added.

Ubisoft’s Petz series will be available immediately for consumers to purchase and download at www.gametreeonline.com. Other Ubisoft titles that have never been available on Mac before will be deployed throughout the Summer, and simultaneously in the Fall with the Windows-PC platform releases.

The partnership extends TransGaming’s publisher network and offers both parties a revenue-sharing model in addition to TransGaming’s Cider licensing fee.

 Apple has placed huge orders for flash memory, forcing Samsung to inform less important customers it plans to reduce the quantity of flash it will ship to them from July.

We already know Apple and its manufacturing partners are already building new model iPhones, and its conceivable the flash memory order is for future manufacturing of the product.

"Samsung recently informed them it has secured orders for 50 million 8GB-equivalent flash chips mainly for use in Apple’s iPhone," DigitTimes reports. "Amid the new orders, Samsung said it would sharply cut supply to other customers in July."

However, the new iPhone is set to sell at a low and subsidised price, which we think may pressurise iPod sales. We suspect Apple will now be looking to upgrade the iPod range to compete with its own product, with a focus (we expect) on the iPod touch.

DigiTimes informs: "Apple already landed a batch of 25 million 8Gb-equivalent NAND flash chips from Samsung in June and commented that ongoing procurement will depend largely on iPhone sales." With Apple only expected to sell between 11-15 million iPhone 3Gs this year, it’s clear Apple’s pulling in some flash to revitalise its iPod range.

Diary watchers will point out that Apple customarily updates its iPod in September/October, which is true – but faced with pressure from its own product, will Apple accelerate its iPod upgrade road map?

Well, maybe not, but there could be thousands of applications immediately for sale on the App Store, which launches 11 July – though this does depend on just how quickly Apple can process and vet apps recently submitted for the first tranche.

Business Week suggests (hints, intimates) as many as 4,000 apps could be in the cut, making the claim in a report which takes a birds-eye view of what’s to come, including applications for productivity, health, remote working, customer relationship management and more.

Salesforce VP, Chuck Dietrich says: “The iPhone and its applications will have huge ramifications for how people conduct business. The ability to run sophisticated applications on a handheld will change how people conduct life and business.”

This news emerges as the first images of the App Store have surfaced within the ‘What’s New’ video published by Apple yesterday.

As displayed, the App Store will let users group applications by the following criteria: 

• Featured
• Categories
• Top 25
• Search
• Downloading
• New/What’s Hot

It has been a busy day here in iPhone land.  The latest bit of rumor news comes fron the Boy Genius report.  According to their "reliable source" the iPhone will be available later this year from Best Buy and Radio Shack.   The deals are already secured and the iPhones are en route. 

This isn’t as big a stretch as we originally thought because both Best Buy and Radio Shack already sell AT&T phones and activation plans in the store.  Best Buy even sells Apple Computers and iPods while Radio Shack is an authorized iPod dealer. 

They sell iPods, they sell AT&T plans.  Why not?  This makes perfect sense. 

10 million iPhones?  Probably by September!

Apple’s senior vice president of Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive, has won yet another award, this time in recognition of the disruptive effect of the iPhone. 

Announced today, the 2008 Mobile Data Association Awards aim to recognise companies and individuals who have contributed to the UK mobile data industry.

The MDA Personal Achievement Award went to Jonathan Ive of Apple (News – Alert), in recognition of his contribution to the design of the Apple iPhone and its groundbreaking user interface. 

The judges remarked: "This year the MDA personal achievement award winner is Jonathan Ive for his design of the Apple IPhone and its user interface. The physical design of the IPhone and its intuitive user interface has completely redefined the mobile phone as we know it. "The iPhone is arguably the most talked about consumer-electronics device that has hit the market in the last 5 years. Ive has designed the best implementation of a touch UI, this with the Safari eb browser has definitely pushed mobile content into the forefront of the consumer consciousness. It sets the bar very high for all present and future competitors and as such, is shaking the mobile phone industry. We look forward to seeing Ive’s design innovation continuing to challenge the mobile world."

The 2008 judging Panel consisted of:

• Steve Reynolds, Vice Chairman, Mobile Data Association
• Anuj Khanna, Mobile Media Director, Mobile Data Association
• Martin Ballard, Director, Mobile Data Association
• Nick Hunn, m-Health Director, Mobile Data Association
• Mike Grenville, 160 Characters

The Mobile Data Association is a Trade Association that is now in its 14th year of operation. It includes all UK Mobile Network Operators as well as many content providers, aggregators and mobile data solution providers amongst its members.

 Apple faces "unprecedented" demand for the iPhone 3G, reports RBC Technology analyst, Mike Abramsky.

Citing recent research conducted on behalf of RBC Technology, the analyst told Silicon Alley Insider that 56 per cent of those planning to purchase a smartphone in the next ninety days plan to buy an iPhone – that’s up form 35 per cent in March.

The research also revealed that consumer interest in the iPhone has grown faster than in advance of any other phone launch recorded by the company. And 10.5% of those surveyed intend to buy a smartphone — any smartphone — up from 7%-8% average over the last few years. 

Additional findings:

– 25 per cent of those surveyed may buy an iPhone 3G in the future – twice the level of interest seen before launch of the first product last year.

– Top reasons for buying the iPhone include lower price (67%), 3G Internet connection (63%), GPS (47%), Microsoft (MSFT) Exchange email support (35%), and third-party apps (20%).

 Retail Week has compiled a list of the 100 “must visit” shops from around the world – with Apple retail outlets in London and New York taking two spots on the list.

Apple Retail Stores on Regent Street, London and Fifth Avenue, New York won places. The criteria for selection demands each store excels in product, service and creativity. “For someone who has not grown up in the technical generation”, said one retailer about Regent Street, “this shop is very simple, has a great range, excellent service and everything is laid out easily

On the New York store, Liberty chief executive Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye  told Retail Week: "Apple has implemented the three key factors in retail: excitement, education and ease. It makes your life easy, the store is exciting and people are available to educate you. The outside is unique. It is transparent, features a glass cube and has no ground floor, only basement. This represents the transparency of the retailer itself and the design is in line with the DNA of the brand." 

Read the report here.

 A consortium of five companies have founded the Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA) to promote the deployment of Macs in the enterprise. 

The five founding companies include Centrify, LANrev, Atempo, GroupLogic, and Parallels, all of which already produce solutions to help integrate Macs into Windows-dominated enterprises.

The alliance will validate and promote the availability of solutions that make it easy to deploy, integrate and manage Macs using Microsoft Windows-based solutions.

“Interest in the Mac at large organizations is growing along with Apple’s market share,” said Bob O’Donnell, Vice President, IDC. “The challenge has been overcoming objections surrounding managing Macs within these corporate environments. Efforts that can make life easier for the IT professional and help the Mac become a more appealing and realistic alternative within the enterprise could help turn that interest into a stronger Mac presence.” 

EDA will be host a series of events, including webcasts and seminars, and will provide white papers, product information and other resources to help enterprise users make the move to Mac integration.

“The popularity of the Mac among corporate end-users does not mean that there have to be headaches for IT administrators,” said Peter Frankl, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of LANrev. “We are determined to help companies integrate Macs  into their enterprise environments by reducing total cost of ownership and increasing IT acceptance of Macs in the enterprise.”