Taiwan manufacturer gets order for Apple "iPhone" handset

While it is very likely that if Apple brings out a phone right now, it will be 2G - CDMA or GSM, perhaps some people might expect Apple to come out with something more cutting edge - using 3G or one of the higher speed wireless standards. We are at the cusp of a big shift in wireless technology and anyone entering this market right now will have to quite agile. I think given the current state of the infrastructure, introducing a phone GSM/CDMA is smart, but they will quickly have to move to the newer technologies.

This might be wishful thinking, but i see them introducing an unlocked SIM-free GSM phone and selling it for a price that is slightly more than an equivalent iPod.

I hope for the world's sake that the phone part of it is generic GSM (tri-band or quad-band) and not CDMA.

However, given how US-centric Apple is (just compare how much Apple promotes their products in the States with TV and print ads vs. how little they promote them in the rest of the world), it would not surprise me if they initially only launched in the US (with perhaps a US-standard only handset), and then after a few months made it available in a GSM model for the rest of the world.

Apple likes to go it alone. I do not see them tying themselves in with a carrier, but you never know. In the US it is much easier to promote your handset if you are doing it through a carrier.

It never ceases to amaze me how the US phone market is so antiquated in the way you can only get certain phones from certain carriers, and you can only use that handset with that carrier. In Europe and Asia, you can use pretty much any phone with any carrier. Here in the UK, you usually get credit towards a new phone when you sign a 1-year contract, but very rarely are those phones locked to the carrier. You can walk in to any high street mobile phone shop, and they would have a whole range of phones available and you decide which phone you want and which carrier to go with based on the calling plan and amount the carrier gives towards the phone. In other words, you can get [almost] any handset you want, not pay the full retail price (for most handsets you end up paying nothing) and use whichever carrier you wish.

The Taiwanese newspaper article (http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/NewsSearch.asp?DocID=VL000000000000000000000000000323&query=APPLE) refers to Sunrex Technology as the keyboard manufacturer. I checked out Sunrex and they make the same old boring press button keyboards that we have seen on desktops, notebooks and cellphones for the last 10 years. I was hoping that the cellphone and the full-screen touch-sensitive video ipod would be combined into one product. Thus the keyboard would be virtual (and somehow Apple would solve the pains that come with that) and contextual. This kind of product could actually then be several different products as Apple sold "hard-software" which could change the function of the ipod platform. However the Sunrex reference leaves me blue.

when the phone does launch, don't expect it to look as much like the zune as the picture above. It will be quite apple-ified.

SubFuse: I don't much mind the 3-year contract (2 years to pay off the phone and then get a "Free" upgrade). What I do mind is that Bell has a really crappy selection of phones and the prices are quite high. The Motorola E815 which is a great BT/1.3MP/flip/dual-screen/speakerphone cell phone and was introduced in the US almost 3 years ago (almost 2 for Bell) still will cost me $99 AFTER the $200 credit. Bell has only one 2MP phone (Nokia 6275i) and 3-4 of their phones are Razrs and Razr clones.

Also my 3-year contract is nothing compared to the 5-year contract that a friend of mine signed 6 years ago (I can't understand why anyone would choose to enslave themselves for such a long period especially with a cell phone where new useful features are introduced every 12-18 months).

Piotr - 3 years?! I felt like I was selling my soul with a 2-year contract.

My guess is that they'll be GSM phones (which has a much larger world-wide footprint than CDMA).

Isn't that "iPhone" picture just a mock up of the LG Choclate?

Regards--- jgurbisz

3G, 4G. who cares? Irrelevant. What's relevant is what carriers it will work with. That's what I want to know.

Anyone know whether the phone will be CDMA or GSM?

I still have a year left (on my 3-year contract) with Bell Mobility (CDMA, Canada) so I'm currently elegible for the free hardware upgrade ($200 CDN off of retail cell phone price), but I don't know whether I should wait for Apple's iPhone (if it's CDMA) or get a new phone now (and resigning a new 3-year contract). Damn the timing.

does nobody else notice the reference to a 15" macbook in the article?

It is a 4th Gen, it was the first one with the clickwheel with integrated buttons.