Loading ...This afternoon was ground breaking for all of us patiently waiting, because AT&T finally announced the release date of the iPhone – June 29th – along with three new iPhone ads. Jobs wasn’t kidding when he said the iPhone would arrive late June.
Heading over to 9to5Mac, there seem to be a couple of new developments unknown until now. But keep in mind what you are about to read is subject to change. First, the iPhone will interact with Mac OSX through iPhoto as well as iTunes but will not show up on the desktop as a removeable drive. The site goes on to 
report that the SIM tray or slot is nowhere to be found. “There is no latch or place to change or swap it or anything else (battery) out. It's just one solid piece of hardware,” said Nettles. However, I remember Jobs mentioning a SIM tray as well as the depiction in the image (on the left). If the iPhone is one solid piece of hardware, how in the heck will owners get the SIM card in the iPhone? It just doesn’t make any sense. It is possible this particular iPhone is a preproduction model. Third, don’t look for OEMed versions of the iPhone because none exist. And what about aftermarket units? Don’t bother, because the price $499 and $599 price comes with a 2-year contract and painful buy-out fees.
Nettles also reports that “the latest builds of the iPhone embedded OS (Which have just recently been updated to 1.0 status) do not include iChat.” iChat is a critical application for the iPhone. I can live without the fancy iTunes cover flow, but not without iChat right out of the box.
I’m delighted Safari browser features tabbed browsing (if this information is indeed true). There’s also rumblings of a VPN client – why would anyone need a VPN client on the iPhone?
Finally, I’ve been asked whether the iPhone has a vibrate mode, a million times. Yes. So stop asking will ya’?
"[Form factor] ..is just perfect. Small enough to fit in a suit pocket without messing up the lines, with an unbelievably blemish-resistant screen."
Hmmm, could this really be Steve’s iPhone?
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
A VPN client would be great. that was actually the one part of the iPhone I was worried about.
“why would anyone need a VPN client on the iPhone?”
College.
Text Messaging IS iChat on the iPhone.
Just look at all the kids who text each other.
It’s just like iChat.
iChat as a separate application is not needed. Just get the other person’s iPhone number.
Okay, first off when you say something like this, your credibility goes out the window:
“Heading over to 9to5Mac, there seem to be a couple of new developments unknown until now. But keep in mind what you are about to read is subject to change.”
Second, as for this:
“The site goes on to Apple iPhonereport that the SIM tray or slot is nowhere to be found. “There is no latch or place to change or swap it or anything else (battery) out. It’s just one solid piece of hardware,” said Nettles. However, I remember Jobs mentioning a SIM tray as well as the depiction in the image (on the left).”
While this no doubt will piss off international users, it’s entirely in line with how Apple does things, and is entirely designed to keep hackers away. Accessible SIM slot means hackers can unlock the phone by breaking into the software and start selling them on the open market to T-Mobile customers. That would kill Apple’s revenue stream (i.e. take away the kickback they get when iPhone buyers sign a 2 year AT&T contract). Without a SIM slot, unlocking the phone is basically useless as it would still require authorized AT&T activation the way that Sprint & Verizon CDMA handsets do. I personally hope iPhone DOES have a SIM slot. But I’ll betcha it doesn’t.
Finally, you said:
“There’s also rumblings of a VPN client – why would anyone need a VPN client on the iPhone?”
Do you know anything about how people use smartphones? Business users VPN into work networks from smartphones because it’s a secure way to access data on the go. iPhone isn’t a smartphone, so I don’t mean to get into comparing apples and oranges (pardon the pun), but before you get all “Why in the world?” on us, do your homework.
In view of its several and severe disadvantages (high price, restriction to Cingular/AT&T, lack of voice dialing, small amount of memory for music & video, relatively short battery life), what the iPhone truly needs to succeed is a KILLER APP.
Such an app could well be DICTATION SOFTWARE, since the device already has an operating system and microphone–software that would let a user dictate an Email or dictate text that could go into a rudimentary word processor, like TEXTEDIT, and then to a computer file or printer.
Now that would set this head and shoulders above every other cell phone !
[quote comment="3160"]Text Messaging IS iChat on the iPhone.
Just look at all the kids who text each other.
It’s just like iChat.
iChat as a separate application is not needed. Just get the other person’s iPhone number.[/quote]
iChat is free, while text messaging cost money (unless there’s an unlimited plan for $x amount / month)
Now you can see why iChat is not included, as it would be considered a “revenue loss” for not using a text messaging plan. I’m not surprised that AT&T (likely) would want to capitalize on this and nickle-and-dime us to death. How much do you wanna bet that Visual Voicemail will be a separate charge or add-on (possibly mandatory)? Or now that its “real web surfing” that they’ll force us into a higher data plan because they think it’ll be more bandwidth used than, say, a WAP browser? Not like Apple is totally innocent, but I can picture an AT&T exec rubbing his hands with a devilish grin at every line on a monthly bill.
Nguyen you dumbass. Still kissing Apple’s ass after losing the domain name? LOL
[quote comment="3203"]Nguyen you dumbass. Still kissing Apple’s ass after losing the domain name? LOL[/quote]
First of all, we didn’t lose the domain http://www.myiphone.com - those not happy with the name change are welcome to continue using myiphone.com. Secondly, I kiss no one’s ass. The simple truth is the iPhone is by far the most superior mobile device on the market today and will remain that way for sometime. Kissing ass is more like saying the Motorola RAZR2 is such an “earth shattering and marvelous phone.” If a product suck, I’ll say that it suck and here’s why.
The next time you’re inclined to call me or my staff a dumbass, feel free to give me a call.
Is there any way that the iphone can be bought and unlocked.!
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