The TUAW podcast is back in effect ladies and gents, though this week we're a tad late due to some technical difficulties. Nevertheless, expect a steady new stream of podcasts and screencasts from here on out, starting with today's entry: TUAW Podcast #23: There and Back Again with the iPhone. Fellow TUAW blogger Michael Rose and I explore the iPhone's past, including how far back speculation about one of Apple's most anticipated devices actually reaches, as well as when Apple first gave away any hints that it was even considering such a device (hint: it's older than the 4.5 years Jobs mentioned at Macworld 07).

We then take a look at the state of the iPhone now, less than a month from its expected release, why the corporate and enterprise worlds are taking an unexpected interest in it, what happened with the 'iPhone/Leopard delay' email hoax Engadget experienced on Wednesday and how powerful that kind of news can really be. Heck, even a tech-savvy dolphin makes it into the show - where else are you going to hear that?

Michael wanted to clear up one specific piece of data we spoke about, however: we were discussing some differences between the iPod and iPhone, and Michael indicated the MP3 player retail market hit $600m in March. Turns out he was a tad high, as these numbers from Bloomberg put the number for MP3 players sold at retail at just under $225m. Just wanted to make sure we're keepin' it real.

You can snag a copy of this 36 minute, 17 MB AAC (m4a) podcast from our iTunes Store Podcast directory, this direct link or our own podcast rss feed. Enjoy!

Update: It took a couple of days for iTunes to catch up with our podcast feed, but as of Monday the show is appearing on the iTunes store. Sorry for the delay.


Show Notes

Links mentioned in the podcast:

- Engadget official response to Apple delay memo issue: http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/17/regarding-yesterdays-apple-news/
- MacRumors iPhone speculation from 2002: http://www.macrumors.com/2002/08/18/apple-iphone-rumors-speculation/
- Jason O'Grady isn't buying (still?): http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/index.php?p=335
- Fierce Wireless timeline of iPhone speculation: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/timeline-apple-iphone-rumors-1999-present
- The Onion's Flappy the Dolphin on the iPhone: http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/test_driving_the_new

Last night we broke the Snowball mic out and did an impromptu podcast debating what we would see at the Stevenote. Some of our predictions were right, some were wrong (like all of mine) but it was entertaining and fun to do.

Tonight, after the Keynote, we decided to gather round the USB mic once again and reflect upon what Steve, and the many talented people at Apple, hath wrought. Keep in mind that this is a quick and dirty podcast, so the production level isn't high but the content makes up for that.

This time around the podcast weighs in at just over 21MB and 23 minutes. As always, you can grab it via direct link here, our iTunes Store podcast directory or with our dedicated podcast RSS feed. Enjoy, and be sure to drop us some feedback in the comments!