Tech Industry

We hope this is fake.http://static.koreus.com/flvplayer.swf?file=http://media3.koreus.com/00064/200806/telephone-portable-mais-popcorn.flv

Walt gives his early take on the 3G iPhone. Of course he now has one in hand unlike us or you… http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854

We’ve just received some exciting news for our UK readers from an O2 insider.  It seems that O2 is really taking advantage of the 3G iPhone and giving their customers some real value.  Unfortunately AT&T in the US doesn’t seem to be as aggressive with their plans.

• O2 in conjunction with BTOpenzone and The Cloud are creating a Wifi "wireless mesh network" across London and other UK metropolitan areas.  The coverage is supposed to rival the coverage of cell phone towers.  iPhone users should be able to use this network seamlessly.  Also, O2 customers will be able to log into this mesh with their laptops or desktops.
• The 3G iPhone WILL allow Bluetooth Tethering for laptops.  We asked about Wifi tethering and got a blank stare.  We’ll take what we can get.  They said that this was 99.9 percent certain and "Apple can always change their minds".  Since O2 controls the network and costs involved the decision would largely be theirs.
• O2 will control everything network related on the iPhone (APN, etc.).  Their settings will be on the iPhone you buy from the Apple Stores as well.
• O2 is EXTREMELY happy with the Apple partnership.  They were in a fierce bidding war with Vodafone for the contract to carry the UK iPhone and the underdog.  At the end they settled on giving Apple 15% of their iPhone revenues across the board (for Generation 1) which Vodafone declined.  Had all things been equal, Apple would have gone with Vodafone because of their size and scale.  Their take is that Vodafone is very sorry that they let the deal slip away.  O2 is also happy to be associated with the Apple brand which is helping theirs climb up the ranks in the UK and the world.
•  They will offer free iPhones (even 16Gb on their largest plan) with a plan and pay as you go iPhones but obviously they won’t be usable with other carriers as we stated yesterday.

Will AT&T and the other carriers follow O2’s lead?  We can only hope!

Update: It does appear that there is a SIM card tray on the 3G iPhone though it isn’t as pronounced as before.  Perhaps there was some miscommunication about "the hammer"…

Apple has responded to widely-reported concerns at the health of CEO Steve Jobs, saying the company co-founder has been suffering from a "common bug" in recent weeks.

Concerns as to the health of Jobs, who suffered a rare form of pancreatic cancer four years ago, were raised following his appearance at WWDC this week, when the Mac web noted that he seemed to have suffered some weight loss.

Responding to these concerns, an Apple spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal Jobs was hit with a “common bug” in recent weeks but that he still felt it was important to participate in the Apple conference. Jobs is now recovering with help from a course of antibiotics.

Jobs is seen as nearly irreplaceable at Apple, where he has conducted the most dramatic turnaround of a company in corporate history.

Jobs had what is called the "Whipple Operation" to deal with his cancer…

In the Whipple operation the head of the pancreas, a portion of the bile duct, the gallbladder and the duodenum is removed. Occasionally a portion of the stomach may also be removed. After removal of these structures the remaining pancreas, bile duct and the intestine is sutured back into the intestine to direct the gastrointestinal secretions back into the gut….

…..What are the long-term complications of the Whipple operation?

Loss of weight: It is common for patients to lose up to 5 to 10% of their body weight compared to their weight prior to their illness. The weight loss usually stabilizes very rapidly and most patients after a small amount of initial weight loss are able to maintain their weight and do well.

So all par for the course…

 Despite being 3G, Apple’s new iPhone won’t allow users to download music from iTunes using 3G networks – at least, not yet.

According to Apple’s product page, the mobile version of the iTunes Music Store will remain solely accessible using WiFi. Is this a missed opportunity? We think it might be – but, equally, Apple has a practise of dribbling new features out during the life of a product, in order to stimulate and to maintain sales.

Look to Napster Mobile, Rhapsody and the numerous (but not particularly widely-used) mobile music services. These already allow users to purchase and download tracks using 3G connections. With the movement to mobile music and music anywhere continuing (as noted in this Guardian report yesterday), the only reason Apple may not yet have introduced a 3G music store has to be the reluctance of the carriers to allow the company to undercut their own music services, simply by offering a better service.

We think that reluctance will fade as iPhone market share improves, we also think we may see more movement to support mobile music within the next major version of ITunes, which we’d anticipate for September/October this year, around the traditional iPod refresh season.

We’re very surprised at the lack of A2DP support in the Bluetooth stack used in the iPhone – that’s an incredible shame, we’d like to be able to use the device to stream music to speakers and our choice of Bluetooth headphones (though, let’s face it, those Bluetooth headphones with their little flashing lights are always a fashion crime).

We’ve been talking about it for years.  Finally, Apple has some rock solid plans to introduce ZFS into the MacOSX operating system.  As of now, plans are for Snow Leopard server to allow read/write capabilities for ZFS.  No word yet if it will operate as a boot partition or not.  Snow Leopard Server is supposed to debut with it’s client counterpart in about 1 year according to Apple.  Developers are being shown a preview this week at Apple’s WWDC.

No word on whether this technology will be available to current Leopard Server users.

 Apple has published the QuickTime feed of today’s keynote session at WWDC, making it available online and (eventually) through the new Apple keynotes session on iTunes.

 Apple’s playing it quiet on Snow Leopard, revealing only that the upgrade is focused on ensuring a future for OS X, with the implication that rumours of a move away from PowerPC is now in the company’s sights.

Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering describes the new OS stating, "We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more.  In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimised for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

Expectation is already building on the software, which is expected to ship next year. It’s thought it will offer support for 64-bit computing, speed and stability improvements, and a unified development engine for all Apple devices. A new technology called Grand Central is expected to help developers design more efficient multi-core programs for Macs, and to offer more support for exploiting the processor power of graphics processors for non-graphics apps. Well, that and support for 64-bit computing and 16TB of memory – and an improved version of QuickTime.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimises support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 per cent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.

For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organisations of any size.

Although Steve Jobs didn’t reveal any surprises, our expectations were pretty high…and Apple met them.  The devil is in the details and the location-based stuff is going to be really cool when developers (and Advertisers) start utilizing them.

Bravo Apple. 

Now we want to know more about Snow Leopard…

 Apple has confirmed what we first said it would – the debut of the new Mobile Me service, which pushes essential information to iPhone users.

It’s Exchange – for the rest of us, pushing email, contacts, and calendars over-the-air, ensuring everything remains in sync between the iPhone, Mac, or PC, syncing data both ways. It works with Mail, iCal, and Address Book on a Mac and Outlook on Windows.

iDisk is integrated as well, while Mail allows panes to be resized, multiple messages to be selected an more. iDisk lets users send files to people through the application, over-the-air. There’s also features for iPhoto users, it’s incredibly effective.

Oh, yes, a 60-day free trial of the service will be made available along with the iPhone 2.0 Software in early July. And, indeed, MobileMe replaces .Mac, subscribers to which will automatically upgraded to the new service. 

We’re doing the 9to5mac Livepanel again.  If you’ve got a big monitor and lots of bandwidth, you can pull in 4 feeds in one window.  Click here for head exploding coverage today from Macrumors, Engadget, Gizmodo and Computerworld.

 Apple Stores are down worldwide, while the iPhone Dev Center is also unavailable in the prelude to the WWDC 2008 keynote today.

Queues are already beginning to form at the Moscone Centre as hundreds jostle for the best seat at the keynote, which is expected to see the introduction of the 3G iPhone.

Likelihood of new product introductions has increased now, with the non-availability of the Apple Store.

Here’s a late breaking hypothesis: the landmark event is not just about the iPhone SDK’s GPS hooks, Core Location, and the incredible possibilities they represent.  The Snow Leopard OS mystery is about Apple branching off into 2 diverging Major ‘desktop’ OSes.  Leopard for large traditional computers, Snow Leopard for MacBook Air and smaller – like Tablets?  Stuff that would run on the Intel Atom.

This makes sense across a lot of lines.  Intel Atoms are extremely energy efficient, but they are also underpowered for a desktop OS.  Apple could be releasing an Intel Atom optimized version of OSX today….

Or this could all be hooey and they might be talking about 2 versions of the iPhone (right mykbibby?)….What do you think?

 Microsoft last night attempted to reassure its partners over the fate of Windows Mobile, trumpeting sales of 20 million supporting devices, while an analyst predicts 14 million iPhone sales this year.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky has conducted a global survey that finds 20 per cent of those surveyed plan to buy the 3G iPhone – 70 per cent of which are new to the device. The analyst expects the new iPhone will begin shipping in July and to sell 14 million units this year, 4-5 million in the first 90 days.

In a clear attempt to rally its troops for the coming onslaught, Microsoft sent a statement to partners last night, and in so doing underscored just how scared the company is of Apple and the iPhone, touting "freedom", "flexibility" and "choice", the company’s senior vice president of the mobile communications business, Andy Lees, said sales of licensed devices so far make it the biggest smartphone platform.

It’s a message packed with figures designed to tart up Microsoft’s image in the sector, revealing 50 device manufacturers now build 150 different Windows Mobile phones, "with features like GPS, 3+ megapixel cameras, and voice activation — features that other operating systems have been slow to deliver," the message says, in a thinly-disguised barb at Apple’s now one year old offering.

Applications are also touted in this pre-war announcement – 18,000 applications are already available to Windows Mobile users, Lees claims. Though, with over 200,000 developers busily cooking up applications for the iPhone, it remains to be seen just how long that will seem like a big number.

In a dose of Redmond reality, Lees points to the big threat to the company’s grasp on the space – commitment: "Overall, we all benefit from the increased attention on everything that a smartphone can do and the difference it can make in people’s lives. But ultimately, it is your commitment to Windows Mobile that’s helped shape our success," he writes.

As MacDailyNews, which has published the letter in full, points out: "Translation: We’re scared shitless of Apple and, if you aren’t already, you should be, too."

As we reported way back in January, Slingplayer IS coming to the iPod Touch, iPhone platform.  It has been an extremely busy topic on their forums for the past 6 months. Sling has also been hiring iPhone Engineers since earlier in the year.  But all of that doesn’t an iPhone Slingplayer make….

Engadget finally got its hands on the real deal…at least in Beta, below.  AT&T, say goodbye to all of your 3G bandwidth!

http://www.viddler.com//simple_on_site/984c53dc

Hopefully we’ll see this in much better form later today…

 Do you really believe Apple has time to waste on a “hobby”?

Steve Rubel at Micro Persuasion so very doesn’t. He’s written an insightful examination of the deeper plan for the product. He argues that with maybe four or five million to be sold by the end of the year, and with the OS X developer community expanding at a phenomenal rate on strength of the iPhone (and, let’s face it, the Mac) it’s only a question of time before Cupertino ups its game for Apple TV. 

“To date, more than 100,000 developers have downloaded the iPhone software development kit (SDK). This will create all kinds of value on a platform that has arguably sold double the units as Apple TV. Expect Apple to do the same with Apple TV in the near future. It may not be at this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), but I guarantee it’s coming. They’re not going to let the hackers have all the fun. Further, watch for TiVo and Slingbox to do the same,” he writes. Read it.

Is this iChat for Windows?  Or a slightly clever Photoshop?  We’ll know in T-minus 2 days and counting…

Found originally here

Telecom Italia has confirmed it will announce the launch date for the iPhone in Italy following the Apple keynote at WWDC, by Tuesday morning "at the latest," Reuters Italia reports.

This news clinches expectation Apple will announce its latest 3G iPhone next week, and suggests an international ring of networks will clarify the actual shipping dates for the device in their countries next week.

A Telecom Italia spokesperson reportedly said the network must wait until after the keynote to announce the news, saying "We must wait for them." The network previously promised the product will ship by the end of June. Pricing and most other details regarding the new model remain unknown, though it is thought iPhone buyers in Italy will only be locked to their choice of carrier (Vodafone or Telecom Italia, both of which have announced plans to ship iPhone in Italy) for nine months, under local law.

This news comes out as reports intensify claiming Quanta Computer has begun shipping unmarked boxes in small quantities using multiple vehicles, suggesting Apple and its manufacturing partner to be distributing new product to Apple retail stores, generating further speculation the company may already be supplying iPhones to retailers. Similar claims from Australia would suggest some possibility of a simultaneous global launch, though the logistics of simply keeping confidentiality over such a move makes that unlikely.

Illusions that tech isn’t colourful were blasted last night when it emerged the boss of a company whose chips are used in almost every Apple product was involved in drugs, prostitution and financial double-dealing that would make Harvey Keital’s character in Bad Lieutenant look like an innocent schoolboy.

Yes, it’s true, Broadcom co-founder and former CEO Henry Nicholas has been charged with maintaining and distributing drugs from his various homes, spiking customer and employee drinks with ecstasy, and more. He’s also facing charges of stock options backdating to the tune of $2.2 billion – the largest such case in US history.

You can read the drugs indictment here, thanks to The Register, which explains: "The indictment also claims Nicholas constructed an underground room and tunnel beneath his Rodeo residence for drug use."

In one incident, which sounds like an event from a Hunter S. Thompson novel or Cheech and Chong movie, it has been alleged Nicholas and others smoked so much marijuana during a flight on his private plane between Orange County and Las Vegas that the pilot had to put on an oxygen mask.

Drug distribution involved his home, a hired warehouse and a Las Vegas condominium, from which drugs including ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine were supplied.

Nicholas is also accused of spiking the drinks of industry executives and employees of Broadcom customers (though it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have noticed this). He faces 20 years in jail on the drugs charges, and more for the stock options backdating.

What makes this case so tragic is that Nicholas has been widely involved in a host of philanthropic causes, with a particular focus on supporting victim’s rights. His Henry T. Nicholas, III, Foundation, focuses on improving the quality of life through various investments in education, youth sports, medicine and more, including supporting education and scholarships for children.

Interestingly, Broadcom recently secured a deal to provide GPS chips for the 3G iPhone, a feature the device reportedly must carry because of pressure from the FCC. 

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is keeping a close eye on iPhone development as the importance of its strategy for mobile computing continues to unfurl. Jobs is taking Apple’s future so seriously he’s effectively handed over more control to fellow exec, Tim Cook, who now oversees the work of the Mac engineering teams.

Well, not exactly – Apple has added two new faces to its executive team, Scott Forstall (pictured, now senior vice president, iPhone software) and Bob Mansfield (now senior vice president, Mac hardware engineering). 

Forstall reports directly to Jobs, and is responsible for the development of iPhone software, "including the user interface, applications, frameworks and the operating system," according to Apple, at least.

Mac engineering leader Bon Mansfield will be reporting instead to Tim Cook, (who himself answers to Jobs). Mansfield’s the man who led the teams building the MacBook Air and the all-in-one iMac.

While all these men now sit on the executive board (so communications between all parties should be better than ever before) we do think the move represents just how important Jobs & Co. consider the company’s iPhone developments.

Mansfield and Forstall were each awarded a grant for 25,000 restricted Apple shares as part of their promotion, worth over $4.17 million as of May 30, but not scheduled to vest until March 2010.

New Photos emerging from Moscone reveal a new branding strategy for Apple’s OSX.  Take a gander:

Some things to note: Is that MacBook Air is using a 16:9 14 inch display we mentioned earlier? To the right you see the little accelerometer icon.  And what is that iPod Touch orange icon?  Is that the new iPhone?