The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Today's China Times says the iPod design has been "finalized and released to manufacturing".

The word iPod should probably be replaced with iPhone.

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Please, dear god, read TUAW and other websites. Yay! But please don't come into an Apple Retail Store and ask us to confirm or deny this or any other rumor/discovery. No one tells us black shirts anything, and the people who do know aren't at Apple Retail Stores. We get into trouble for even speculating. So please, dear people who we love so much because you keep us employed, please don't ask us. We don't know. Sorry. =(

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if it's not GSM I'll be ticked... unless apple becomes and MVNO, in which case I'll be paying a fat-ass cancellation fee on my TMo contract :D

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Why is it that I would rather that it did not have a camera?
Does every phone have to include a camera - why not a breathalyser or a stud finder?

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I still say there is no iPhone release imminent in the next year.

The rumors have been floating for years, but I have yet to see a compelling reason for Apple to make an iPhone. Sure, they COULD make one, and I bet it'd be great. But just because you CAN make something, doesn't mean you should. Apple is a business, and they shouldn't sell anything that doesn't make business sense. And looking at the current marketplace (cellphones, PDAs, and iPods), I don't think it makes sense.

Perhaps Steve Jobs will prove me wrong. If he does, and the iPhone exhibits a user interface worthy of the Apple logo, I'll happily jump on board. I have never been happy with a cellphone, and hate every cellphone interface I have seen.

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BJ - I find myself agreeing with you. The cell phone biz is a LOT more entrenched than the portable music player business was, and the various carriers are probably more difficult to work with than even the recording industry.

The behemoths like Verizon can basically say what they want or don't want a phone to do, what they want it to be priced at, etc etc.

Should be interesting to see. If anything, even the speculation is probably good for consumers because it keeps the pressure on the manufacturers to keep refining their offerings to compete.

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2 megapixel?

If they are going to incorporate a camera, I would have thought 3 megapixel would have to be the minimum.

By the time this thing ships, all the super slim phones will be packing them. Many are now.

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" I have never been happy with a cellphone, and hate every cellphone interface I have seen."

BJ, this is exactly why now is a great time for Apple to release a phone. We have to face the fact that fever about the iPod is dying down, it'll never go on forever in any case.

Now Apple can release another product to get most people excited about again and at the same time build more of a halo; and to get people around to trying the computers with even more reason. Apple surely doesn't want to be a one-hit wonder to the majority of the world with its iPod, no matter how great it is.

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They are referencing Digitimes translation of a China Times article. Big difference and it should be stated.

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please please please have a keyboard!!!

anyway, regarding the release of an iphone.
why wouldnt it be possible.
after apples witnessed how many people have come back after only a years time
to buy another ipod, might as well do the same thing with a cell phone. ill buy a new one every year for $300 each if its worth it.
hell if it replaces my ipod and my email phone then thats for sure worth it.

either way,
if it doesnt have some sort of easy text input, i would say that it would be a great mistake on their part.

people that are savvy enough to love ipods usually* love email and texting.
i actually depend on it.

i say they should make it somewhat similar to the sony ericsson M600i
(the keyboard and thinness mainly)
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=gb&lc=en&ver=4000&template=pp1_loader&php=php1_10385&zone=pp&lm=pp1&pid=10385

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ps - dont need wifi. never did on a phone.
and it will def be a quad band gsm phone if it does come out.

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Two megapixel struck me as a little weak, too. I'd love to see an iPhone, but it would have to knock the socks off everything else already out there. If it appears it'll be interesting to see how an iPhone is designed. Personally, I think a phone requires just too much fuss and clutter for it to fit in with Apple's design ethos...

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Man I'll be outraged if it doesn't come up to my crazy speculations! I demand a 15mp camera, not because I need one, just because it's what I expect! and an 100gig hard drive, no, it's Apple hmm it should have a 100gig new fangled holographic type drive and use that foldable screen stuff.

I don't think a stud finder is really too much to ask for either naugahyde.

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@ #12: They pulled it off the the operating system, they might just well be able to pull it off with the phone, too

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Shouldn't mosey levey get a star or two for writing in blank verse?

We don't see enough Shakespeare in this blog if you ask me.

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check this:


http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Communication/Mobile_Phones?Article=/Communication/Mobile%20Phones/C4P4W7L9

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Looking at the list of manufacturers and suppliers, in particular the maker of the latest iPod nanos and minis, I would say the phone will have an aluminum casing similar to those iPods, and I would bet they come in different colors.

Now the only decsion for me would be whether to get it in red or blue :)

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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.

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I'm glad to see growing support for inclusion of a stud finder. This would come in handy all the time. Is there a petition we can sign?

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Least Ye not Forget....Apple aquired a brand spanking new MCI Data Center a while back...perfect perhaps for oh managing a Mobile Network!? I think with Apple controling the Design, Hardware and Software as is there custom an iPhone would be a thing to behold, and the complete opposite of dumbed down Carrier provided handset. Full Bluetooth intergration with iCal, Address Book etc perhaps a mobile vs of Safari...?
I would happily pay a premium for an Apple iPhone as you just know that if the thing ever gets out the door it will blow evreyone else out of the water.

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