SIM PIG can unlock difficult or expensive to unlock modern 3G handsets such as iPhone, Windows Mobile devices, HTC, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry and many more.
The SIM PIG (www.simpig.co.uk) is inserted with the SIM card into the handsets SIM card slot. The PIG then dynamically bypasses the network lock on the mobile phone. SIM PIG does not affect any of the handsets functionality and all features are maintained, importantly it does not invalidate any warranty on the handset. Once SIM PIG is removed, the handset reverts back to its locked condition.
Using the SIM PIG does not require any technical knowledge and is quick and simple to insert. As the name suggests, SIM PIG SIMply PIGgy backs on to the SIM card when it is inserted to the handset.
Ed Neal, Managing Director of Geodesa limited who distributes SIM PIG explains. "Many handsets are locked to a particular network so only that networks SIM cards can be used in the locked phone. Networks lock their handsets for various reasons and unlocking can allow the user to benefit from better tariffs than their current provider may offer, particularly if travelling to different countries. SIM PIG is the perfect partner to our GeoSIM global SIM Card which avoids roaming charges when making or receiving calls overseas".
Ed goes on to say "Traditional methods of unlocking a mobile phone is specific to that handset. If the user has more than one handset to unlock, then they need to pay to unlock each phone individually, this can be expensive and time consuming particularly with the latest 3G handsets. With one SIM PIG you can unlock any number of handsets."
After a long hiatus, some say due to the lack of ‘borrowed’ source code, or others say due to the frustrations of the so called ‘ungrateful‘ iPhone unlocking community, Zibri is back - er, sort of. Developing… Next generation of ZiPhone is in the works. It will be as simple as Apple would have done it. A simple one click program. A 5 seconds run. Stay tuned.
Posted by Zibri at 9:16 PM
Suspiciously this news comes right around when the Dev Team have released/announce QuickPWN for the iPhone. The Dev’s have said that this release is Open Source and can be easily ported into a nice GUI by developers. Obviously someone testing QuickPWN, leaked the source to Zibri who may be quickly trying to put something together, but unfortunately or fortunately (:)) the Dev Team beat him to it.
New leaked 3G firmware ahead of the expected iPhone launch at WWDC on Monday has revealed some detailed information about the chips used next-generation device. The last minute report, courtesy of Engagdet and based on leaked "3G" iPhone firmware, says that Apple will use the Infineon PMB6952 ("S-GOLD3") chip, allowing the phone to be used on both UMTS and HSPA "3G" networks around the world. UTMS-based third-generation "3G" mobile networks are used around the world, while faster HSPA are being rolled out in Europe and the US (AT&T is expected to full HSPA coverage by late June).
The leaked firmware indicates that there will be support for Global Locate Library (GLL) software that handles assisted GPS related commands for the host processor. This would allow the iPhone to more accurately and quickly finding positioning information and points to use of Broadcom's recently acquired worldwide reference network that provides assistance data to its assisted GPS chips via GPRS or 3G mobile networks.
According to the report, Apple is also including three Skyworks chips that would facilitate HSPA/UTMS network connectivity on each of the roaming GSM frequencies around the world, including the 850MHz used by AT&T in the US and 1900MHz and 2100MHz used in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world.
The leak also shows that the chip will include a Murata LMRX3JCA-479 tri-band amplifier chip, which could be used to boost 3G signals. According to the leak, the phone will also have a Sony SP9T antenna switch for GSM / UMTS dual mode and UMTS Power Saving option (on or off) to conserve battery power.
Like the original iPhone, the report says the new 3G iPhone will sport an ARM 1176JZF-S processor. It also indicates that the internal build number of the iPhone is n82ap, consistent with the "m68ap" designation for the first-generation iPhone.
As we inch that much closer to WWDC on June the 9th, little tidbits of information are starting to leak out regarding the next-generation 3G iPhone. The latest rumor to find its way onto the interweb is the possibility that Apple will be selling the 3G iPhone in no fewer than three different colors.
As seen in the picture depicted here, the next-generation Apple iPhone could be shipping in your choice of silver, black, or red. The black with chrome trim is pretty much in line with the current model, but the inclusion of two other colors could provide Cupertino fans with a little more personality. The deep red is vaguely reminiscent of the red Chocolate phone from LG. Maybe it's just me.
In any case, you can chalk up the color option thing as a rumor for now. Look for more confirmation when Steve Jobs takes the stage early next month.
Apple Inc. said Monday its online stores in the U.S. and UK are sold out of the iPhone, a sign supplies are being winnowed ahead of the launch of the device's next generation featuring faster Internet surfing speeds.
The Cupertino-based company confirmed that the iPhone is out of stock online, but added that brick-and-mortar stores run by Apple and iPhone carriers including AT&T Inc. might still have units available.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris declined to comment on reasons for the shortage and on Apple's plans for an update to the device, which is widely expected to be unveiled in June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The paucity of iPhones for sale in some markets comes as Apple is hustling to meet its goal of selling 10 million of the hybrid iPod-cell phone-Internet surfing gadgets by the end of 2008. So far, Apple has sold 5.4 million iPhones, according to the latest data as of the end of March.
One way Apple is expanding the iPhone's reach is by inking deals with wireless carriers around the world, even breaking with its pattern of requiring exclusivity to sell in a certain country.
On Monday, four mobile providers in the Asia-Pacific region announced partnerships with Apple to bring the iPhone to their regions later this year.
SingTel will sell the gadget in Singapore, Bharti Airtel Ltd. in India, Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines and Optus in Australia, the companies said in a brief joint statement, without giving details.
SingTel owns Optus and holds a 30.5 percent stake in Bharti and 44.5 percent in Globe.
SingTel has about 2.3 million mobile subscribers in Singapore and around 7 million in Australia, according to data as of December 31, 2007. Bharti currently has about 64 million subscribers, while Globe reported a 21.3 million mobile subscriber base for the quarter ended March 31.
Last week, the top mobile phone operator in Latin America, America Movil SAB, also announced plans to deliver the iPhone to its region. America Movil has 159.2 million subscribers in 16 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
In recent weeks Apple has also signed deals with Rogers Communications Inc. to sell the device in Canada; Milan-based Telecom Italia SpA to sell the iPhone in Italy; and Vodafone Group PLC, the world's biggest mobile company by sales, to sell it in a total of 10 countries, including Australia, India, Italy and Turkey.
Until the spate of the latest deals, Apple adhered to its policy of exclusivity with one carrier in each country.
The exclusive deals for the iPhone were with AT&T Inc. in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom's Orange wireless arm in France.
Industry observers say some people may be holding off on buying an iPhone until the much-rumored next-generation of the device is launched, and the phone is officially rolled out in more countries.
It takes some technical gymnastics, but it's still possible to get the phone in some markets where Apple doesn't have arrangements with wireless carriers.
Many of the phones sold so far have been bought legitimately in one country, modified to work on any cellular network, and resold in countries where Apple doesn't have agreements to sell the iPhone. The trend expands the iPhone's reach but deprives Apple of some of the subscriber fees that Apple splits with its carrier partners.
Apple is also planning a software update for this summer that makes the iPhone work better with corporate e-mail, a necessary upgrade to help the iPhone compete with Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and Palm Inc.'s Treo smart phones.
After almost a year, the iPhone is my best tech purchase.
I was one of the suckers who bought an 8 GB iPhone for $599. When Apple dropped the price to $499 shortly thereafter, it stung a little; the $100 credit the company offered to early purchasers eased the pain somewhat.
The current lineup is more affordable: $399 for the 8 GB model and $499 for a 16 GB unit. That's still a lot of money, but not bad compared with other smartphones.
But you know what? Even at $599, the iPhone has been my best technology purchase of the last year. Here's why.
Ubiquitous Internet access. When you buy a house, the real-estate agent doesn't ask if you want electricity included as an add-on. You just expect it to be there when you plug in a lamp. That's what it's like to have the Internet available on the iPhone, wherever you are.
AT&T's Edge network isn't a stellar performer, but I'm rarely looking up high-bandwidth material — and when I need better access, I can switch to a Wi-Fi network. Driving directions and real-time traffic conditions are in the Maps application and Google searches on anything are always at my fingertips.
Much credit is due to both Apple and AT&T for hammering out an affordable, unmetered Internet-access plan, so I'm not always wondering if checking my e-mail is going to result in overage charges.
I've found that Internet ubiquity on the iPhone isn't just helpful when I'm out of the office or stuck in traffic. In fact, lately most of my iPhone Web browsing occurs on my couch, often in the middle of the night during my infant daughter's feedings.
I've become adept at balancing baby in the crook of my arm, bottle in my right hand, and iPhone in my left hand — to pass the time and sometimes to help me stay awake.
Much of that time is spent catching up on news and blogs at m.newsgator.com, a mobile-friendly (meaning the format has been optimized for reading on a smaller screen) aggregation of the RSS feeds to which I subscribe. On my Mac I use NewsGator's Mac software NetNewsWire (free), which synchronizes the read status of my feeds with the server.
I've also bookmarked mobile versions of sites such as The New York Times (mobile.nytimes.com) and Facebook (iphone.facebook.com).
When I'm in a more communicative mood, I use PocketTweets (www.pockettweets.com) to post messages and stay current on the Twitter streams that I follow.
The late, late show. To my surprise, as a new dad I've also watched several movies on my iPhone, usually in half-hour chunks. I haven't had much opportunity to sit down and watch a DVD, so the capability to rent movies from iTunes as digital downloads has enabled me to watch films I thought I would end up missing (including some movies, such as "The Kingdom," that I know my wife has little interest in watching with me).
I'll echo others' criticism that the 24-hour limit imposed on iTunes movie rentals once you've begun watching them is too brief. I managed to catch the first half of "300" before the movie disappeared from my phone.
What the iPhone doesn't yet let me do is rent movies directly from iTunes. I can purchase music, though, which I've done on occasion when I've decided to buy an album (often inspired by listening to songs in the KEXP Music That Matters podcast) and knew that I'd forget about it by the time I returned to my computer.
Software updates, SDK. Those are all things I can do now, but another reason the iPhone has been my best tech purchase is that it's not a device locked into its purchase date. The iPhone is a computer (running OS X, in fact) that happens to be small: I don't want to toss away a perfectly functional device when the next major software update comes along.
For the iPhone, that update will be version 2.0 of the operating system in June. And now that an iPhone SDK (software development kit) is finally available, we'll start to see third-party applications that go beyond what Apple has provided.
There are exceptions to the advantages I've listed so far, of course.
It's annoying to switch between accounts in Mail, as is scrolling through the contacts list; the capability to copy and paste text would be helpful; and I desperately want color-coded calendar categories that synchronize with iCal, rather than having all of my calendars grouped together on the iPhone.
But those are all items that can be applied in future software updates or third-party applications.
Personally, I hope someone creates an application that lets me remotely control iTunes on the computer that plays music through the living-room stereo, for those times when a sleeping baby won't let me get up from the couch.
The cost of Apple's iPhone handset is being cut to attract new customers.
The mobile phone operator O2 and retailer Carphone Warehouse are cutting the price of the standard handset by £100 to £169, in what O2 says will make the phone an "unbeatable proposition".
The offer for the 8GB model lasts until 1 June only, while the price of the more advanced 16GB handset remains unchanged at £329.
O2, which is the exclusive network contract holder, says the iPhone, launched last November, is its fastest-selling handset. However, some experts believe the price cut reflects a slowdown in sales.
An O2 spokesman said: "The iPhone has been very successful, but we want to expand it even further and price is a very good way to do that."
The price cut follows a similar move in Germany, where T-Mobile reduced the retail price of the 8GB version to as little as €99 (£78).
All handset makers are working on their iPhone competitors feverishly to halt its growth, but after 10 months in the market, no one has succeeded in bringing a high quality iPhone competitor. That’s not to say they won’t market them now. They will. But the question is - is there a point to launching an "iPhone Killer?" Isn’t it too late already? If iPod success story is anything to look into, it depicts how slow response could give Apple a permanent win.
With iPhone 2.0 on its way and Apple’s aggressive strategy to open the platform for independent development, soon-to-be-announced touchscreen phones appear to have an uncertain, if not a disappointing, future. You wouldn’t hear handset makers admitting defeat, and iPhone-like phones will meet internal sales targets (because the targets will never be quite as high), but Apple will continue to bounce higher with an updated iPhone every year or so.
Why Apple Should Not Open It's Mobile Platform
Unfortunately, handset makers either didn’t learn from music player makers and responded quickly to the iPhone, or they were blindsided. Either way, they are in a losing position now and will be constantly reminded of this at every iPhone launch in the future. That will destroy morale internally, and that’s never a good sign for innovation.
There’s obviously no point in fighting a losing battle, but maybe, just maybe, one of them can out top Apple at its own game. I say that, but in a highly competitive industry, it would be foolish to expect others to just give up. They are going to try, they are going to fight and they are going to innovate, but it’s that magic that none of the others will add to their mix of ingredients.
Thus far, it appears as though the iPhone will be another iPod, and Apple will continue its winning streak in the foreseeable future. But for our sakes and their, let’s get ready, step up to the plate and hit a homerun with a real iPhone Killer. Maybe.
Welcome to the next round of rumors and leaks about the “next” iPhone: The latest iPhone firmware hints provide some information on Apple’s iPhone global expansion plans, with Russia and Asia-Pacific being the prime targets. A MacNN reader claims to have found evidence for a GPS module in the next-generation iPhone and Gizmodo revealed a new feature to save web images in the iPhone photo library.
There is much more information in the latest iPhone Beta SDK as previously thought and developers and hackers are coming up with new information about new features almost on a daily basis. The most recent SDK seed apparently reveals support for additional language support, leading Computerworld to believe that this may reflect new markets for device. The magazine discovered support for Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Polish, Korean and Portuguese languages. These languages add to already existing support for English, French, German, Italian and Russian. As the handset was subsequently released in the UK, France, Germany and Italy - but not Russia - we believe that Russia and countries in Asia-Pacific will be the next targets of Apple.
A MacNN reader, who was diving through iPhone developer documentation, reportedly found "nearly conclusive evidence" of a GPS module in the next-gen iPhone. The documentation hinted towards altitude measurements, which is not possible with the iPhone’s WPS (and quite frankly not really accurate to within 100 ft in GPS as well). However, the developer note stated that this feature is supported in iPhone OS 2.0 and later.
Gizmodo also made this round of iPhone news by discovering an updated Safari version within the iPhone 2.0 software update, which will allow users to save web images to iPhone photo albums. According to Gizmodo, this feature works by holding your finger against an image for a longer time than usual, prompting a pop-up dialog to appear. Users can save a web image to iPhone photo albums for use as a background images, email or use as a custom contact icon. The new web image saving feature adds to the already discovered contact search and iCal meeting invitation features reported previously.
As far as the language support is concerned, it is of particular interest that the newly revealed Korean language files hint at Apple's preparation to debut the iPhone in the Far East with a Korean release, since talks in China have hit a wall. Apple was engaged in talks with China Mobile to release the iPhone in China, but China Mobile declined to play along Apple’s revenue sharing model. China Mobile has more than 380 million subscribers, covering almost 30% of the Chinese population. In total, China has about 565 million mobile phone users.
China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou confirmed that his company will not agree to a revenue sharing model Apple has in place in the U.S. and in Europe and said that his company will work with Apple once the two parties have worked out a better business model. Jianzhou told press members that the "door will remain open as long as there is customer demand." And it seems that customer demand for an iPhone in China is overwhelming. A recent Pearl Research survey indicated that 68% of the Chinese population has heard of the iPhone. 88% of those have an “interest” in the handset, despite a steep $500 price tag suggested by the survey.
Apple allegedly gets a monthly cut for each new AT&T subscriber that buys an iPhone. Media reports claimed that Apple got away with as much as 30% per user contract in deals signed with some operators in Europe. However, Apple executives recently hinted that the company may consider other business models beside revenue sharing: The Australian web site MacTalk claims that Australians will get unlocked iPhones soon. As the website reports, iPhone users in Australia won't be locked into a contract, will be free to choose from more than one mobile operator. It seems Apple will have to adjust its business model for markets that take the iPhone into new cultures and economies to translate the American and European success into a global success.
Bernstein Research said its iPhone supply checks showed that the multifunction device appeared to be out of stock at Apple's US stores and its online store, which could lead to lost sales of up to 40 000 units a week in the event of a prolonged shortage.
Sacconaghi said the impact so far was limited, estimating the average Apple store was out of stock for only a few days during the March quarter, and that supplies appeared to be fine at stores of wireless carrier partner AT&T.
"In our view, the most likely explanation for this unusual situation is a production shortfall, possibly due to a component shortage," analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a note.
pple declined to confirm if there was an iPhone shortage, but spokesperson Steve Dowling said: "We are working to replenish iPhone supplies as quickly as we can and our stores continue to receive shipments almost every day."
Recent reports of iPhone shortages have fuelled speculation that Apple is readying a new version of the device that will run on faster 3G wireless networks.
Apple could introduce a new iPhone in June or July, about three months earlier than previously expected, said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu, citing checks with unidentified supply chain sources.
"What gives us higher conviction in the accelerated timetable is that iPhone inventory levels appear fairly lean, which is consistent with Apple's tendency to wind down inventory ahead of an update," Wu wrote in a note.
Wu forecast Apple would sell 11 million phones by the end of 2008, 10 percent more than the company's stated goal, thanks to a new model, wider adoption among businesses, and price cuts.
With the release of iPhone 2.0 software in June, iPhone users will likely have a glut of Apple-approved programs to choose from. However, plenty of third-party iPhone software is out there now, provided you've opened your device to it, a process known as "jailbreaking." For those up to the task, here's how to load and manage programs on a jailbroken iPhone.
Until iPhone 2.0 software is released in June, if you want to add third-party software to your iPhone, you first need to jailbreak it (as I discuss in a blog entry). Jailbreaking, however, is only the first step. The next step is to actually install your choice of software. For this task, hackers have standardized on an iPhone application called, appropriately enough, "Installer." This program downloads software directly to your iPhone (assuming you have a WiFi or EDGE connection), much as Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple App Store promises to do.
If you decide to jailbreak your iPhone (which I encourage you to do), you'll need to get comfortable with this Installer. It comes with no instructions, however. In searching the Web, I found that there is very little tutorial information on how to use it. Admittedly, Installer is not a complex program, and you can figure out much of it yourself. Still, there are several nuances to the program that are not immediately obvious. So ... for the benefit of those who may find it useful ... here is my brief guide to using Installer. Button 1: Featured
After you launch Installer (and you wait briefly while it refreshes its sources), you'll find five buttons along the bottom of the screen: Featured, Install, Update, Uninstall and Sources. Tap each to go to the designated screen.
Featured is the default screen; you're already there. From here, you can find out what's hot and what's new in the world of Installer. The remaining 4 buttons are where the bulk of Installer's work is done. Button 2: Install
To start installing software, tap the Install button. This brings up a list of Category folders. The top folder is "All Packages." Tap this item to see an alphabetical list of all the software currently available to install.
Alternatively, scroll down the Categories list and pick a category of interest, such as Utilities. Tap this to see the subset of software that falls into that category.
The first thing I recommend that you install is Community Sources. Doing this greatly expands the list of software available for installing. Here's what to do:
1. Tap the Sources category
2. From the Packages list that appears, tap Community Sources
3. From the Package screen that next appears, tap the Install button in the upper right corner
4. From the buttons that pop-up from the bottom of the screen, tap Install
Wait briefly while Install does its work. When it's done, you are ready for the next installation. Repeat the same procedure for any other software you select.
I leave it up to you to explore the programs available and decide what you want on your iPhone. However, if you share my interest in "under the hood" utilities, here are a few programs I highly recommend you check out: MobileFinder, AFPd, SysInfo and Services.
Here are several Install tips you should know:
* A program's Package screen may include a More Info item. Tap it to get more detail about what the program does.
* To go back to a previous screen at any point, tap the button in the upper left (typically it will say "Packages" or "Categories").
* As stated above, when you tap the Install button in the upper right of the screen, a menu of buttons pops up. One button here is Add to Queue. If you tap this icon, the selected software is not immediately installed. Instead, you are returned to the previous screen, from which you can add further software. You can keep doing this. For the last selected item, tap Install instead of Add to Queue and all the items in the queue will be installed at the same time.
If there are items in the queue, the pop-up menu additionally includes a Clear Queue button.
Unfortunately, there is no way you can actually view the contents of the queue.
* The Install pop-up menu may warn you that a selected item is "untrusted." This will typically appear for software from sources you have added yourself (as described below). Assuming you had confidence that the added source was not fraudulent, you can ignore these "untrusted" warnings and install the software.
* If an installation fails and an error message pops up, the most common cause is that the server where the software originates is having problems. Try again later.
* After installing new software, it's a good idea to press the Home button. What will likely happen is that the iPhone's sundial "cursor" will briefly appear, followed by a jump to the iPhone's Lock screen. When you return to the Home screen, you'll see the icons for your newly added software.
* If you ever need to restore your iPhone, all of your Installer-added software is erased. As far as I know, there is no way to back up this software so that it can be automatically reinstalled after a restore. You'll just have to start over again from scratch. As such, it's probably a good idea to maintain a list of everything you've installed.
Button 3: Update
Installer automatically checks for updated versions of any software you have installed. If it finds any, a number will appear over the Update button at the bottom of the screen. The number indicates how many updates are waiting to be installed.
Tap the Update button to access the Update page. If there is more than one item listed, you can install just the programs you select or you can choose to install all listed programs at once. Button 4: Uninstall
If you tap the Uninstall button, you are taken to a list of all currently installed software. Tap any item to go to its package page. An Uninstall button should be in the upper right. Tap it to uninstall the software. If the button says "Reinstall" instead of "Uninstall," you've selected a "base" program that cannot be uninstalled. All you can do is reinstall it, which may be needed if you believe there is currently some problem with the software.
This page also serves as a convenient record of everything that you have elected to install on your iPhone. Button 5: Sources
The final button in the row of buttons along the bottom of the Installer screen is Sources; tap this to see a list of all the source servers that are contributing to the list of programs available from the Installer. This Sources list includes all the default sources put there when Installer was first installed plus any you added via items in the Sources category of the Install list.
Although it is unlikely that you will want to do so, you can uninstall any item in Sources. To do so, tap the Edit button in the upper right of the screen. Next, for each source you want to uninstall, tap the minus icon that appears next to its name followed by a tap of the Delete button. Finally, tap Done (which has replaced Edit in the upper right).
More often useful is the ability to add further sources. This is how you can gain access to software that is not included in any of Installer's sources. To do this:
1. From the Sources screen, tap the Edit button in the upper right
2. Tap the Add button in the upper left corner
3. From the Add Source window that appears, enter the URL (universal resource locator) of the desired source
4. Tap OK; then Tap Done in the upper right corner
5. Tap the Refresh button in the upper left corner
How do you find out the needed URL to enter here? From iPhone Web sites. Here are two examples of sources to add, which also happen to show off two of the cooler things you can do with a jailbroken iPhone:
* Apple Screenshot Enabler. Want to take a screenshot of an iPhone display? You'll be happy to know that Apple has built a screen capture function into the iPhone software. Unfortunately, they aren't telling anyone about it and, in fact, have the feature turned off by default.
To turn it on, you have to modify a .plist file on the iPhone. Yup, this is the same technique used to add "secret" features to your Mac (as I describe here). For iPhone screenshots, the required file is com.apple.springboard.plist, located in /var/mobile/Library/Preferences. What you have to do is add a SBMobileScreenshotr property to this file, with a Boolean class and a value of Yes. Exactly how to do this "by hand" goes beyond what I want to cover in this article. Happily, there is a simpler alternative: 1. Using the Installer utility, go to Sources and add http://repository.ripdev.com as a source
2. Go to Install and, from the RiP Dev category, install Apple Screenshot Enabler
3. Press the Home button to complete the installation
That's it. Now, to actually take a screenshot, press and hold the Home button while toggling the Mute button. When the screen flashes white, you have your shot. You'll find it stored in Photo's Camera Roll folder.
* ShowTime. Want to take a movie using the iPhone's camera? Just install ShowTime. To get it to appear in Installer's listings, you first have to add http://www.polarbearfarms.com/repo/ as a Source. You'll now find it in the Multimedia category. Recorded videos are stored in the iPhone's /var/mobile/Media/PBFVideo folder. You can transfer recordings to your Mac by using the AFPd utility to mount your iPhone as a hard drive and navigate to this folder.
Palm and RIM's BlackBerry are set to lose market share to Apple's iPhone, an analyst has claimed.
Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf has commenced coverage of Palm and RIM, and notes that both companies face challenges as iPhone wins hearts and minds in the consumer and enterprise markets.
Palm faced the deepest challenge. Wolf warned that the company had "lost its way." The lack of a new OS release in five years meant the company was increasingly reliant on in-development products to regain its lost market lead.
"Neither is likely to be introduced until late in the year. Even then, it's an open question whether they'll be successful. We're initiating coverage with an underperform rating," Needham said.
Wolf also believed that Apple's iPhone may take market share from both competing firms once it introduces new enterprise-friendly features in June. RIM will see some impact in its core enterprise markets, while the expected diversity of third-party iPhone applications would hammer Palm's place in the consumer market.
"We believe BlackBerry's supercharged growth in this [consumer] market could slow materially when far more versatile applications developed for the iPhone begin to appear in the second half of the year," Wolf warned.
The analyst does note that this triptych of smartphone developers still hold a great lead on most competitors, because other firms (such as Motorola or Samsung) were tied to Microsoft's Windows Mobile system, which Needham calls "a non-starter in the consumer world."
The introduction of Google's Android platform for mobile phones may change the game once again, the analyst said, as it will offer a more extendible base OS than Windows Mobile to competing firms.
Despite it all, Wolf notes that Apple changed the smartphone industry when it chose to launch iPhone, describing the market as "totally disrupted" by the product's introduction.
"The iPhone is a game changer, weaving together a wide array of computer-like functions," he explained. "Given the choice between a BlackBerry and iPhone, we believe a material percentage of consumers will opt for the iPhone once exciting applications for the phone begin to proliferate in the second half of the year. BlackBerry sales should continue to grow but at a materially slower rate than they would have in the absence of the iPhone."
RIM's market leadership was based entirely on the incompetence of the competition, the analyst also said: "RIM's competitors until quite recently were simply inept. Their failure stemmed less from their ability to design sleek phones than in their choice of an operating system on which to run them," he explained.
The analyst rates Palm shares as under-perform, while RIM takes a hold rating pending the effects of June's release of iPhone Software 2.0.
AppleInsider reports that the ZiPhone creators have discovered a few lines of code that refer to a 3G chipset in the latest iPhone firmware. Tucked within firmware beta 5A240d are references to Infineon chipset SGOLD3H, an unsurprising choice as the current iPhone uses the older Infineon SGOLD2.
The new chipset will serve a variety of functions such as application acceleration and A/V processor. It will also enable support of GSM 3G access, meaning HSDPA will be on the next iPhones. It supports up to 7.2Mbps over HSDPA, but unfortunately does not support the newer HSUPA standard.
The iPhone already has a reputation in China -- about 68 percent of respondents in a recent survey had heard of the device, although it's not officially sold or marketed there. The price -- $500 was the number the survey used -- was the most common factor cited by those who said they wouldn't buy one.
Some 68 percent of respondents in a Chinese survey have heard of the iPhone, though the high price -- US$500 was used in the survey -- could be a hurdle for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple in the country of 565 million mobile phone users.
The survey was conducted by Pearl Research though Apple has not announced plans for the iPhone in China, where many of gray market iPhones are already available.
The firm said that a $500 price tag was the most often mentioned reason for survey respondents to not be interested in the phone, though information released by the company to the media did not include the exact percentage of those surveyed who said they would not buy the device. Evidence of Marketing Genius?
If the sample is accurate, 68 percent of respondents having heard of the iPhone is extraordinary in a market where Apple's market share is tiny in computers and only marginally larger in the digital media device market.
It speaks volumes about Apple's ability to garner attention for its every move throughout the world.
That said, the survey also found that 88 percent of existing iPod owners were interested in the iPhone, demonstrating the power that getting Apple products in the hands of customers can have. Net Not So Important
Other key points in the survey include the fact that surfing the Internet is not a key selling point in China, in part because of the high costs of data plans in the country.
The survey also found consumer interest in the many iPhone knockoffs already being offered in China.
Pearl Research said the survey was conducted on 450 online survey respondents and 24 in-depth one-on-one interviews across both first-tier and second-tier Chinese cities.
MOSCOW — Apple Inc. has gained unlikely allies in its bid to boost iPhone sales: Russian smugglers.
The device isn’t sold by Cupertino, California-based Apple in Russia and it can’t be used legally on local networks. Still, about 250,000 people own one, more than any other country except the U.S. and China, according to Eldar Murtazin, chief analyst at Moscow-based Mobile Research Group.
That popularity has turned into a bonanza for traders who sell the phones in kiosks and on the Internet for $1,000 each, more than twice the U.S. price. Hackers say they charge as much as 2,500 rubles ($105) to “unlock” them so they work locally.
“It’s an icon for Russians,” said Timofei Kulikov, a lawyer and buyer of electronic products for X5 Retail Group NV, Russia’s largest supermarket chain. “If you see two businessmen at lunch in Moscow, they’ll both have iPhones on the table.”
The evolution from web-surfing, touch-screen gadget to status symbol has been a boon for Peter Aloisson. The jeweler sold a diamond-studded iPhone encased in white gold to a Russian businessman in March for 120,000 euros and is working on a 500,000-euro ($783,000) version that may go to another Russian client.
“There is no doubt that Russia, when it comes to luxury items, is by far the best marketplace,” Aloission, 47, said last week from his studio in Vienna. “More and more Russian customers visit us here in Austria,” said Aloissen, who started customizing handsets 10 years ago.
Notable users include President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, billionaire Alexander Mamut and Boris Yeltsin Jr., grandson of the former president, according to the newspaper Kommersant. Medvedev’s spokeswoman declined to comment.
Murtazin says about 20,000 iPhones arrive in Russia each month.
“They arrive in suitcases,” Murtazin said. “Practically every flight from the U.S. brings new iPhones.”
Apple, the world’s biggest buyer of flash memory chips, hasn’t said how many of the 4 million iPhones sold through Jan. 15 were unlocked to work on unauthorized networks. Analysts including Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray & Co. put the figure at 1 million. About 400,000 of those are in China, CNET News reported in February, citing market research firm In-Stat.
Apple, which sells the 8-gigabyte version for $399, gets an undisclosed cut of monthly wireless fees for the device, released in June, and has deals with carriers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Ireland and Austria. Users have hacked the handset to modify its software so it works on other carriers’ networks, depriving Apple of fees.
Chief Operating Officer Timothy Cook said in March that the number of unlocked iPhones used in countries where Apple hasn’t started selling them is a sign of “great demand.” Spokeswoman Natalie Kerris declined to comment on the use of the product in the former Soviet Union.
The iPhone’s popularity in Russia, home to 101 billionaires by Finans Magazine’s count, is an irritation for retailers including Yevroset, the country’s largest mobile-phone chain, whose sales are suffering because it can’t stock the product.
“The phones aren’t certified on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Yevroset co-owner and Chariman Yevgeny Chichvarkin, said in a telephone interview. “Import duties and value-added taxes aren’t paid.” Those taxes equal 24 percent of a phone’s retail price on average, said Murtazin of Mobile Research Group, which advises VimpelCom and MegaFon, two of Russia’s three national mobile operators.
Russia’s economy has expanded about 7 percent annually since President Vladimir Putin was elected in 2000, boosting average wages sixfold and spurring demand for mobile phones and other imported goods. Handset sales rose 10 percent last year to a record 32.5 million units, according to closely held Yevroset, which reported revenue of $5.6 billion in the period.
“In Russia, people want to stand out, even a person with a small income will find the money to buy expensive accessories,” said Sergei Savin, senior analyst at technology research firm J’son & Partners in Moscow.
The prevalence of the iPhone underscores Russia’s attitude toward licensed goods, which the U.S. has made a sticking point in approving the country’s 14-year quest to join the World Trade Organization. Hackers and sellers of contraband products openly advertise on the Internet.
“You can basically do whatever you like,” said Ivan, 21, after he unlocked an iPhone in a basement office he shares with two friends in one of the capital’s most expensive neighborhoods. “We’re not liable for anything because officially it’s not here,” said Ivan, who declined to give his last name.
That doesn’t worry Maxim Mokeyev, executive director at Evans Property Services, a real estate broker in Moscow.
“It’s radically different from anything else out there,” said Mokeyev, who taught himself how to unlock the phone with special software. “The one I bought in New York took me two hours,” Mokeyev said, pointing to his handset. “The second one I did, for a friend, took about 20 minutes.”
Meanwhile, the online technology journal CNews reported Monday that Apple intends to expand its presence in Russia in the near future. The report said that the online shop iTunes Store would be available to Russian users from April 21st. Yevgeny Chichvarkin, Yevroset’s owner, was quoted as saying that “the given step proves Apple’s interest in legal iPhone sales in Russia.”
According to CNews, billboard teasers designed in the iPhone colors appeared in Moscow on Friday. The billboards display the inscription ‘iSkoro 21.04.2008’ (iSoon 21.04.2008) against a black background, similar to the iPhone packaging.
The heavily anticipated 3G-capable iPhone will be available within the next 60 days, Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg revealed at a Beet.
TV executive conference in Washington, DC. The veteran writer made the comment while discussing the limits of cellular broadband in the US, noting that third-generation access in the country is still slow compared to other areas of the world. Mossberg doesn't offer supporting evidence in the speech but is known to regularly have exclusive access to advance details, having received a review iPhone weeks ahead of its June 2007 debut.
The comments fuel growing speculation over the launch of an iPhone that supports HSPA Internet access, which is considered by many to be essential for adding more Internet-dependent features to the handset as well as offering access to Japan and other countries where 3G is the only option for phone service. A special T-Mobile Germany promotion and analyst reports have all pointed to a likely iPhone upgrade to the faster wireless technology in June.
The Journal writer also noted that he appreciated the Apple TV but that current bandwidth limits on American broadband affect potential enjoyment of the experience. HD and very long videos often require long download times before they can reliably play on most users' devices.
Despite sitting out the CTIA 2008 conference, Apple's iPhone business had an eventful week.
Today, on "This Week in iPhone," we'll address two significant developments. Apple stores around the country are starting to recover from an iPhone shortage, while T-Mobile has cut the price of the iPhone in Germany by 300 euros.
First up, the supply concerns. Apple acknowledged the shortage and told The New York Times that it was working to get iPhones into its retail stores as fast as possible. The cause of the shortage still hasn't emerged, but speculation that a 3G iPhone would be arriving sooner than expected has cooled.
One reason, advanced by Sanford Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi, is that all the newly arriving iPhones are the regular models, not 3G versions. If Apple really was gearing up to launch a 3G model in the near future, it probably wouldn't build inventories of the older models. Sacconaghi thinks that Apple ran into a production issue, and made the decision to allocate the iPhones it had on hand to AT&T's stores, because it can count iPhones shipped to channel partners as sales. Remember, the first quarter just ended last week.
But, Sacconaghi doesn't think the shortage really cost Apple all that much business. "We believe the impact to Apple's overall iPhone sales has been minimal so far, and is likely to be modest unless the shortage persists or worsens," he wrote in a report.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile is running a special on iPhones until the end of June. You can now get an 8GB iPhone in Germany for 99 euros ($154.78), if you choose a hefty service plan. Several analysts think this means the 3G iPhone launch is therefore timed for the end of June, which would make some sense given the identical target date for the iPhone 2.0 software.
Bans on Apple's popular iPhone may be lifted after a license with ActiveSync means e-mail can safely be pushed to the devices. The European Commission is likely to approve Google's move to acquire DoubleClick with an April 2 deadline looming, and Microsoft's Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest man.
The much-awaited iPhone with 3G is coming in May, according to a report by the Bank of America. Both Apple and AT&T, its exclusive carrier partner in the U.S., have said a higher-speed version of the popular device is coming, but they haven't set a date. The BOA's research report was authored by analyst Scott Craig and cited Friday by the Reuters news service.
Three Million in May
Craig told Reuters that there will be "an initial small build in May," and "significant production" in June. Despite the report, AT&T and Apple declined comment. But June would be a good time for the release, as there is an iPhone developers' conference that month, as well as the release of new firmware.
Craig added that he expects production volume to be higher than earlier estimates, even his. He predicted the production run in May will be more than three million iPhones, with another eight million in the third quarter. Previously, he had projected eight million iPhones for all of 2008.
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with JupiterResearch, said he expects Apple to refresh the iPhone sometime this year, but he doubted outsiders know exactly when that might be. "Apple keeps it own schedule," he noted.
A refresh of any sort could help Apple meet its target of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of this year. As of January, Apple has said it had sold about four million.
3G on the iPhone "would be a nice addition," Gartenberg said, but the real question is what Apple or third-party developers would do with the additional bandwidth that they haven't already done with, for instance, AT&T's EDGE.
Web Sites, Business Users, Europe
The faster cellular bandwidth could give users more reliable access to media-rich Web sites. It could also enable third-party developers to create applications that assume some consistent access to high-speed connections. Recently, Apple released the second beta version of its iPhone software developers kit, and a variety of developers are working on applications for the popular device.
One of those companies is Microsoft. Some observers have noted that extending its portfolio to the iPhone would be, in part, a defensive move for Microsoft, since it has been a leading provider of Mac-based applications, most notably Microsoft Office for Mac.
Microsoft's interest in application development is also related to Apple's plans to provide Microsoft Exchange support for the iPhone. If users send Microsoft Office documents as attachments, it's in Microsoft's interest to make sure everything works as it should. With 3G capability, the iPhone takes another step toward becoming a respectable tool for business users exchanging large file sizes.
Finally, 3G would make the iPhone more competitive in Europe and elsewhere, where 3G is more common than in the U.S.
Apple on Thursday released the second beta version of the software development kit for building applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch.
The free download is available online through the company's Apple Developer Connection Web site. The second beta of the SDK includes an interface builder, the Xcode integrated development environment, the iPhone simulator, frameworks and samples, compilers, and the Shark analysis tool.
Developers who want to test their code directly on the iPhone and distribute their applications through Apple's App Store have to apply for membership in the iPhone Developer Program.
Apple released the first test version of the SDK on March 6. Since then, developers have logged a number of complaints, starting with Apple's requirement that all distribution of applications to iPhone users go through the company's App Store.
More recently, developers learned that they won't be able to create music players for the iPhone. The SDK apparently doesn't permit access to iTunes, the iTunes library, or any facets of the iPhone's music player. As a result, music services such as Amazon.com and eMusic, won't be able to write their own download services for the iPhone.
Some developers, however, have been trying to make an end-run around Apple. Hackers calling themselves the iPhone Dev Team reported a couple of week ago that they found a way to run applications on the upcoming firmware of the iPhone and iPod Touch without a development certificate from Apple.
The company plans to upgrade the devices' firmware in June. The new software will have the hooks necessary to run applications built with the SDK.
Microsoft may look to launch an Office suite on iPhone
Microsoft and Apple may be rivals, but that doesn't stop Microsoft from being very excited about developing possible applications for the iPhone, according to recent reports.
Soon after the release of Apple's third party software developer kit (SDK) for the iPhone, Microsoft set an entire team of engineers to work analyzing it. Tom Gibbons, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Specialized Devices and Applications Group, states, "It’s really important for us to understand what we can bring to the iPhone. To the extent that Mac Office customers have functionality that they need in that environment, we’re actually in the process of trying to understand that now."
The move is not an entirely new one either. Microsoft has long maintained a group of engineers tasked with porting Microsoft software to Apple's operating systems. Microsoft's Mac Business Unit is based in Mountain View, Calif., cozily close to Apple's headquarters, which is just miles away. The Mac Business Unit has been extremely successful in marketing the Microsoft Office Suite to Mac users. Though Microsoft refuses to release figures on the unit, one of its most lucrative, Fortune magazine estimates that it did around $350M USD in business last year, and may have made as much as $200M USD in profit.
Microsoft has taken a strange sense of pride in being the best Apple developer other than Apple. Microsoft's extensive experience with OS X and its inside knowledge of the Microsoft Exchange protocols the iPhone is adopting for business email means that Microsoft should be primed to deliver some powerful iPhone applications.
Gibbons states, "We do have experience with that environment, and that gives us confidence to be able to do something. The key question is, what is the value that we need to bring? We’re still getting comfortable with the SDK, right? It’s just come out. So we had a guess as to what feasibility would be like, now we’ll really get our head wrapped around that."
Microsoft's voice recognition unit TellMe, a recent acquisition, is also eyeing the iPhone. TellMe's primary focus is in developing for the Windows Mobile operating system. While the situation may be slightly ironic, it is pure business and general manager Mike McCue says that as long as the iPhone SDK supports voice recording and location based technology, TellMe will be all over it. McCue states, "If the SDK supports these things we’re absolutely going to get a version out there as soon as we can, get TellMe out there on the iPhone."
In June, Apple will release an update which will allow third-party SDK-based software. Until then Microsoft will be busy coding, coming up with new products for the iPhone. Business certainly makes strange bedfellows.
This week I wrote a letter to the desktop welcoming it back. Then I got an email from one of my long time commentors asking if the iPhone counted as a “desktop”. Sure it’s not a desktop in the traditional sense, but in the application sense, it might be. This article about Microsoft looking at ways to create iPhone applications seems to help support that thought.
The iPhone is unlike any other mobile device partly because the general experience, both user and developer, is so similar to a desktop. We’ve already seen a lot of Ajax-RIAs created specifically for the iPhone. It has rich media capabilities, and while I haven’t spent much time with the SDK, I assume application developers can take advantage of some of those.
So the iPhone has some native, desktop-like traits. Should it be included in the desktop conversation? What do you think? Are iPhone applications going to be counted as RIAs?
Apple may have inadvertently revealed ongoing testing of the App Store for the iPhone and the iPod touch, a popular hacking site claims. One contributor notes that while experimenting recently with the v2.0 firmware, he inadvertently managed to enter the App Store, instead of receiving the normal "cannot connect" message. Found inside were two web applications, including the well-known iPhone version of Facebook; it is speculated that Apple is doing live testing of the Store, and using placeholders in advance of the first truly native applications.
Also observed in the Store were a five-star ratings system, and a series of navigation buttons which mimic those of the current Wi-Fi Music Store. As with its sibling, visitors to the App Store can browse featured apps, the top 50, or specific keywords; apps are further divided into genres, such as "Business" or "Blogs & Forums." Each program may also receive a unique icon, though these are not visible at the moment.
The device makes it easy to search for data on the run. That can quickly turn a casual conversation into the Pursuit of Truth.
When she whipped out her iPhone, Erica Sadum could feel her husband's eyes roll. But she had a point to prove. And in less than a minute, she was able to report to the skeptics around the dinner table that Menno Simons, whose followers are known as Mennonites, was in fact born in 1496.
Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which went on sale nine months ago, isn't the only so-called smart phone that provides itinerant access to the Web. But its wide screen and top-quality browser make it easy to use and read, which means it can in seconds change a lighthearted conversation into the Pursuit of Truth.
"It's turned me from a really annoying know-it-all into an incredibly annoying know-it-all, with the Internet to back me up," said Sadum, a technology writer in Denver. "It's not a social advantage."
New technology always brings new habits with it, some of them unpopular. The mobile handset took phone calls into the streets and the BlackBerry created a generation of thumb-typing e-mail addicts. Some smart phones hook their owners up to facts and figures that ordinary people pull off the Internet with a proper computer.
As USC student and iPhoner Cliff Smith put it, "I have the ability to clear up any confusion."
Fewer than 1% of the 219 million cellphones in the U.S. are iPhones, according to M:Metrics. (One possible reason: An iPhone costs about $400.) That hasn't been enough to trigger a broader boom of Internet browsing on hand-held gadgets. The percentage of U.S. mobile phone users surfing the Internet over the last year has stayed flat at 13%, M:Metrics found.
Internet companies, though, report that they have been getting more traffic from mobile devices, much of it from outside the U.S. And the companies have noticed that iPhoners use their handsets differently from other owners of mobile phones. They search the Internet more, particularly for movies, restaurants and news, according to market researchers, and they watch more videos on YouTube and do more online banking.
Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are betting that mobile services and advertising will be the next big business opportunity. For example, the Yahoo Go service for Internet-connected cellphones (not yet available for the iPhone) showcases a program called PriceCheck. It allows people to check prices at a number of stores by entering a product's bar code number.
"Maybe you will remember to do price comparisons for flat-screen TVs online before you head out the door to a store like Best Buy, but maybe not," said Steve Boom, a Yahoo senior vice president. "Your need for that kind of information is immediate."
Wil Shipley, a Seattle software developer, uses his iPhone at the Whole Foods fish counter to check websites for updates on which seafood is the most environmentally correct to purchase. He quizzes the staff on where and how a fish was caught. Because he carries the Internet with him, "I can be super-picky," he said.
The clerks who work the fish counter don't mind. "He's confirming on the Internet things that I am saying," said Whole Foods' Ken Shugarts.
That's nice, but as Sadum warned, you should pick your iPhone moments carefully. "The second you go into the pocket for the iPhone, you have disconnected yourself from the conversation," she said. "No one has the patience."
Nora Wells certainly doesn't. When she's with iPhone-toting friends and a question comes up, she braces herself, as she did recently when it was suggested that they go out for beers "stat." Inevitably, someone wanted the exact definition.
"The iPhone even gave us the Latin," said Wells, a radio traffic reporter who learned that stat is an abbreviation of statim, "immediately," often used in the medical field. "We probably could have been having our beer in the amount of time it took to look it up."
The proud owner of a Motorola Razr cellphone (from which she can forward text messages, which she happily noted was beyond the iPhone's capabilities), Wells worries that iPhoneism might overtake even her.
"I feel so pressured to get one," the 27-year-old Venice resident said. "People expect it from me. It's the hip, young, fun thing to do."
Or not. Backstage recently in a Little Rock, Ark., theater, actress Natalie Canerday said the cast of a play was enjoying debating the year Bruce Springsteen's album "Born to Run" was released. Then the director took out his iPhone. All conversation stopped as he sought the answer: 1975, according to Wikipedia.
"Everyone said, 'Oh,' " Canerday recalled. It was another awkward iPhone moment.
Daniel Bernstein had one when he arranged to meet friends at a bowling alley in Daly City, near San Francisco. The lanes were booked. Bernstein used his iPhone to locate another bowling alley 10 miles away, find out how long the wait for a lane was and get driving directions.
Bernstein, director of business development at an Internet company, said his friends seemed more irked than appreciative. "They said, 'Thank you, iPhone,' " and not very nicely.
Flash on Apple's iPhone has been on and off several times in the last few weeks. On Wednesday, Adobe Systems dampened expectations following a report that it would build a Flash player for the smartphone.
The report, first cited in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, said Adobe had begun work on a Flash player for the iPhone. The Journal cited remarks by Adobe Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen, who reportedly made the comments during a conference call with investors. He said Apple's recent release of a software developers kit (SDK) gave his company the tools it needed to create a media player for the popular iPhone.
The Fine Print
According to news reports, Narayen said Adobe had evaluated the SDK and "we think we can develop an iPhone Flash player ourselves."
Adobe said Wednesday it has "evaluated the iPhone SDK and can now start to develop a way to bring Flash Player to the iPhone." But it added, "to bring the full capabilities of Flash to the iPhone Web-browsing experience" the company needs to work with Apple for capabilities beyond what the SDK allows.
One of the problems is the SDK's fine print, which is being interpreted by many observers as prohibiting the kind of plug-in capabilities offered by Flash. To use the SDK for those purposes, Adobe would need cooperation and permission from Apple.
Earlier this month, following persistent reports on various Web blogs that Flash on the iPhone was imminent, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the current Flash mobile player is not ready for the iPhone.
He said Flash Lite, designed for mobile devices, is not powerful enough, and regular Flash, designed for full-featured computers, runs too slowly on the iPhone. "There's this missing product in the middle," he told the Dow Jones news service.
Developers Looking Elsewhere?
Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, said it was "interesting to see the discontinuity of Apple's approach to all this." He noted that Apple is promoting the iPhone as offering the full Web, but Flash is a key part of that environment.
There appear to be more restrictions emerging from the conditions surrounding the SDK, he said, plus Apple takes a "hefty cut" from purchased applications on its new App Store. He said Apple is acting in the protective way that telephone companies have acted for years.
Hammond said he is detecting "a certain amount of frustration" among developers. The more barriers Apple puts in front of developers, he noted, the more they will look for other platforms.
In particular, he pointed out that Google's open-source Android platform for mobile devices could be a more fertile ground for third-party applications. Additionally, Microsoft recently announced it is licensing Flash Lite for future versions of Windows Mobile.
Two groups of hackers trying to keep the iPhone unlocked say they have obtained the beta of the iPhone firmware version 2.0, and have already cracked it.
With this, the upgrade will be able to be "jailbroken" as soon as it's released. This will allow users to run unsigned applications from third-party developers as well as those officially approved by Apple.
At the current time, only phones that were activated through a hack will work with the process, although the iPhone Dev Team expressed confidence that they will have a solution for AT&T customers soon.
A hacker that goes by the nickname "Zibri" has similarly reported that his unlocking tool called ZiPhone has been proven to work with the new firmware.
Since hackers will likely have both processes down to a science by the time the final versions of the firmware releases in June, it could be a matter of days --or even hours-- before those with hacked iPhones could update to the new software.
In the past, it could have been weeks after a firmware update before users could "safely" upgrade without experiencing problems. Either way, Apple's new openness is probably making the hacking process a whole lot easier.
Those who sign up for the development program will receive a beta of the firmware upgrade as well as preview versions of upcoming releases, meaning it will likely fall into hackers' hands before it releases to the public.
There are lingering questions over whether Apple's iPhone 2.0 beta software, with Exchange e-mail and powerful security tools, can gain wide acceptance inside corporations for mission critical needs.
An IT official at a major U.S. bank today said that the case for iPhone 2.0 internal deployment looks "less optimistic" than when the announcement was first made on March 6. That comment came after the bank's IT officials got a thorough review of the 2.0 beta from Apple officials earlier this week, partly to see if federal security requirements imposed on banks can be satisfied, said the official, who asked not be named, citing bank policies.
The bank's review of 2.0 software is not complete, and the official would not elaborate.
Industry analysts agreed that iPhone 2.0 is filled with important features needed by corporate users. But some corporations, such as financial services firms and hospitals, have more demanding requirements, including federal rules for protecting data. Enterprise Lite?
At its announcement, Apple Inc. said Nike Inc. and The Walt Disney Co., among others, would be adding more iPhone users with the 2.0 release in late June. But the announced users, so far, do not face some of the tight regulatory scrutiny of banks particularly, some analysts said.
"I'd call it [iPhone 2.0] enterprise lite," said one of those analysts, Nathan Dyer of Yankee Group Inc. in Boston, during a conference call with reporters and IT managers. "In financial and health care sectors, you're not going to see a huge uptick. It's certainly not for everyone."
Clearly, some analysts disagree, including Michael Gartenberg at Jupiter Research Inc., who said that when the CEO of a company buys an iPhone and wants to use it at work, "it becomes a defacto enterprise business tool." He added that the security in the iPhone "is certainly going to be good enough for most enterprises."
Apple officials would not respond to queries on this topic, referring a reporter to a Webcast of the iPhone 2.0 announcement.
Business Concerns
The announcement includes many important security features, but there might be some small gaps that would pose problems for the toughest customers, some analysts said. Included with Exchange ActiveSync will be the ability to remotely wipe data off an iPhone that is lost or stolen. A Cisco Systems Inc. IPsec VPN also will provide encrypted access to private corporate networks.
But there is still the possibility, unlikely as it may be, that a user could drop an iPhone with data on its screen that can be intercepted by anyone. For that concern, IT managers could presumably set a function that requires re-authentication even after a very short lapse in time when the device is not used. However, it is not clear how that issue would be addressed, and Apple has not provided complete answers, analysts said.
Further, Kevin Coleman, a vice president of operations for Bluefire Security Technologies in Baltimore, questioned whether the device can wipe off data automatically after a certain amount of failed brute force authorization attempts.
Coleman also said that despite the VPN and over-the-air encryption, apparently there is still not encryption or a firewall capability on the device itself. Dyer said Yankee analysts have been told that the Cisco PIX (Private Internet Exchange) firewall will be used, although it is not clear if that firewall will satisfy all users. Data Encryption
Jack Gold , an analyst at J. Gold Associates, said today that the biggest security concern is how Apple plans to provide true data encryption of all data on the device. "Is it currently good enough?" he asked. "What if you download a patient file or a financial statement to the device and store it locally?"
Password protection on the device is fine, but Gold added, "that is usually insufficient for regulated industries" such as banks, hospitals and utilities. "Mission critical security is something that no enterprise wants to compromise on," he said.
In response, Gartenberg said data encryption on the iPhone is "not much of a concern" because data can't be loaded onto it via a tiny SD card, as with many phones, simply because there is no SD card slot.
Gold and Dyer said the iPhone 2.0, as announced, still does not appear to have the same level of security as a BlackBerry, Windows Mobile or Symbian device. They said that the iPhone SDK will allow for third parties to build beefed-up security, but it could take some time to see what security applications are most effective.
"My advice to most enterprises would be to wait for better protection on the device before moving to endorse this as an enterprise ready, mission critical device," Gold said. Single Carrier
Beyond security, Dyer said there are many other factors that will limit enterprise adoption, including Apple's reliance on a single carrier, AT&T Inc., for cellular service. While the iPhone works on AT&T in the U.S. and several European carriers in Europe, Windows Mobile devices function on 170 operators' networks, and BlackBerry devices work on 300 operators' networks in 120 countries.
"Granted, it is the early days for iPhone, but it takes years to cultivate these carrier relationships, so you question if Apple is willing to put out that effort," Dyer said.
The inexperience with multiple carriers is an indication of a broader concern Apple faces with the iPhone in the enterprise, he added. Simply put, Apple doesn't have broad experience in IT shops. It also doesn't have a full set of explanations or examples of its ability to improve productivity and to provide a return on investment in order to be used by hundreds or thousands of users within a company, he said.
"It's still not seen as a legitimate solution by IT, which faces a steep learning curve in supporting it," Dyer added. "The lack of a cost of ownership story means it is a tough sell, in the near term, when compared to other platforms."
But Gartenberg had the last word on that issue, noting that the iPhone 2.0 will probably be bought by enlightened consumers who bring them to work and will want to use them for work tasks and then get paid back through an expense account rather than relying on IT to distribute them.
"They'll be asking, does it fit into the enterprise infrastructure? And the answer is, yes it does," he said.
Japanese analysts are doubtful whether the iPhone will catch on in markets like Japan, where consumers favor smaller and sleeker multifunctional handsets. They also question whether Japanese carriers will accept ceding to Apple's tight control over handset design and agree to its demand for a certain share of subscription fees.
Unlike much of the rest of the world, Japan is unlikely to embrace the iPhone, Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple Internet-enabled multimedia mobile phone, said Nahoko Mitsuyama, a telecom analyst at Gartner Japan who attended the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in February.
While she noted that foreign cellular phone makers are taking the iPhone threat seriously and rushing to release their own versions, most Japanese consumers are more likely to remain content with what they already have.
The iPhone, which combines the features of a mobile phone and the popular iPod digital music player, also boasts a full-scale Web browser, a touch screen with colorful icons and a virtual keyboard as well as a camera.
Apple released the iPhone in the United States in late June under an exclusive licensing deal with AT&T (NYSE: T) Latest News about AT&T, the nation's biggest phone service provider.
Hot Seller Stateside
It took Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., only 74 days to hit the 1 million mark in iPhones sold. In contrast, it took two years for the millionth iPod to sell, according to Apple.
Outside the U.S., Apple has struck similar deals with O2, Britain's largest telecom operator, Germany's T-Mobile Latest News about T-Mobile and France's Orange.
Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research, said iPhone sales in the U.S. are "very strong" but "mildly disappointing" in Europe.
Apple said the iPhone will be available in Asia sometime this year. Media reports indicate NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) Latest News about NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading wireless firm, and No. 3 operator Softbank are in talks with Apple to release the iPhone in Japan. Both firms declined comment. 'Very Attractive Market'
However, Japanese analysts are doubtful whether the iPhone will catch on in markets like Japan, where consumers favor smaller and sleeker multifunctional handsets. They also question whether Japanese carriers will accept ceding to Apple's tight control over handset design and agree to its demand for a certain share of subscription fees.
Current iPhones won't work in Japan, where the faster third-generation network has become the mainstream. Industry watchers believe 3G Latest News about 3G iPhones will be released in the latter half of this year.
Apple hopes to reach an agreement with a Japanese mobile phone operator to achieve its goal of selling 10 million iPhones worldwide by the end of 2008. It sold some 3.7 million iPhones throughout the world in 2007.
Japan is a "very attractive market" for Apple, Golvin of Forrester Research said, because the company has established itself here as a user-friendly, fashionable and cutting-edge innovator through the sales of its Macintosh Latest News about Macintosh personal computers and iPod products.
"Japan is a leader in mobile communications and success there will reinforce Apple's position as influential in this market," he said in an e-mail E-Mail Marketing Software - Free Trial. Click Here. from California. "Japanese consumers desire cutting-edge devices so success there will reinforce the supremacy of the iPhone's design."
Noritaka Kobayashi, an information and communications consultant at Nomura Research Institute in Tokyo, said: "Most of the world's Internet users via mobile phone are Japanese, so success in mobile services here can be applied to other markets."
Japanese consumers have fallen in love with the iPod, which controls 54.5 percent of Japan's digital portable music player market -- well above Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony Walkman with 26.2 percent, according to market research firm BCN. The iPhone could benefit from an emotional attachment to Apple among Japanese.
"Japanese like anything new and trendy, so the thing is how many customers can Apple attract beyond Apple fans," Gartner's Mitsuyama said, noting that Japanese on average change their handsets every two years. The Thumb Factor
Still, Japan is expected to be a difficult market. Here, mobile phone carriers control the release of new handsets and dictate specific features and functions of new cell phones to satisfy consumers who are picky about product usability, design and quality. Foreign makers account for only about 10 percent of the roughly 50 million handsets sold annually in Japan, although their market share is on the rise, according to Yano Research Institute.
Many Japanese like small, multifunctional clamshell handsets because they fit easily in the hand or a pocket and allow for Net-surfing and e-mailing with a thumb in crowded and small places, said Yutaka Shimbo, executive director of Japan Research Institute.
He noted that the iPhone's touch screen virtual keypad is not convenient for writing a message with just a thumb.
Munehisa Kamio, a product developer at Softbank, agrees.
Ease of writing by thumb matters as many Japanese today rely on e-mailing with mobile phones as a key communication tool, he said.
"The point is how quickly they can type a message," he said. "The Japanese language is rich in terms of kinds of signs -- hiragana, katakana and kanji. Many Japanese also use symbols in their messages rather than just plain text. When coming up with an idea for a new handset, being able to switch between writing systems is an important factor." Who Gets it?
When the iPhone was announced, many Japanese were excited about its interface, which allows users to move content by a dragging motion of the finger, notes Kobayashi of Nomura Research. However, because the latest version of the iPod operates the same way, some of the excitement surrounding the iPhone has worn off, he added. "The situation would have been different if iPhone had (hit the Japanese market) earlier."
Because Apple has been keen to sign licensing deals with No. 1 carriers in other markets, analysts believe DoCoMo is Apple's likely first choice.
For DoCoMo, the deal is important as a possible way to curb the customer defections it has suffered since the number portability system was introduced in 2006. In January, DoCoMo dropped to fourth place in net gains in the number of new subscribers, while Softbank Mobile remained the No. 1 winner for the ninth consecutive month, according to industry group data.
Apple may even turn to Softbank, which has been taking customers away from its larger rivals, analysts and industry executives say.
"(Softbank chief) Masayoshi Son is now one of the most respected mobile phone businesspeople after turning his company into the most vigorous mobile phone company. He made a big impression in his keynote speech delivered at the Mobile World Congress," said Takuya Miyata, chief executive of a company providing mobile phone content who also took part in the conference.
