iPhone Yabber! :: ZiPhone, Apple iPhone News, Rumours & Downloads

Most of the high end products are pirated in one form or the other and the same is true where the new Apple 3G is concerned. There are quite a few ‘unofficial’ Apple phones currently available in most of the Asian countries and these phones have already been hacked into and unlocked, so as to allow the purchaser full access to all the high end features. This is what you would normally term as the ‘gray market’, with the Apple launch soon to take place, the gray market and the respective buyers are in a tizzy wondering if their illegal phones are going to the frizzled for good.

Vodaphone has already made a public announcement that it is gearing up to introduce the Apple 3G phone to customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey, who will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network. The other GSM mobile operator who will be marketing the Apple iPhone in India as well as some parts of Asia will be none other than Bharati Airtel servicing some 62 million mobile subscribers at present. So between Bharati and Vodafone, the Apple product should be available to most of the Mobile phone users in India as well as other parts of the world.

The rumors that have started anew is that the launch is set to take place somewhere around the Diwali season since it is the time when most Indian families indulge in shopping sprees. But rumors aside, as the date for the official launch comes near, the owners of the pirated iPhones are becoming increasingly worried. One, the cost is less, so it may be that the original versions would cost a lot less than the pirated ones. Two, with both Bharati Airtel and Vodafone supporting the iPhone, they may not take kindly to any illegal use of iPhone and may jam their phones. Three, the Apple corp may not find it amusing that illegal versions of its product is being sold over the counter and would want to take action against all the buyers and sellers. So considering everything, the gray market has due cause to be worried.

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Asia gets ready to welcome the Iphone as Hutchinson announced that it had signed a deal with Apple to bring the ‘much hyped’ phone to both Hongkong and Macau. The fact that Apple is thinking of extending its market base speaks volumes as to their confidence with relation to the Apple Iphone.

The announcement is along all the expected lines as the rumors of the Apple revolution in the works has already hit the Island shores of Hongkong quite a while back. Now with this announcement, with no dates being announced, many are left hanging as to when the ‘launch’ will take place. And one is left in the dark as to whether it is the new generation that is going to be marketed here in Asia or the old model. With rumors flying fast and thick, all that one can do is to literally twiddle one’s thumbs and wait for the launch to take place.

With Apple already planning to notch up the sales upwards of 10 million units by the year end, most of these sales should come from the Asian continent, seeing that nearly half of the world’s populace resides here. The new avatars of the Iphone is already available in most of the developed parts of the world with the United states leading the pack in maximum usage. It is only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches up, not just in usage terms but also in the availability of the latest version of the Apple iPhone.

Hutchinson is the perfect company for Apple to partner with in order to launch its series of Phones in Asia, seeing that Hutchinson has already  quite a base all across this part of the world. Hutchinson provides a multitude of services from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and all the way to India.

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If the production plans are any indication, then it can be expected that Apple’s iPhone will see a huge boost in sales this year. Apple plans to produce 11 million iPhones this year, split between the current 2.5G phone, and the new 3G iPhone to be released in June. The production of the iPhone will be slowed in the first half of the year, then production is scheduled to dramatically increase in the third quarter after the introduction of the second generation iPhone, a year after its initial release.

This increase in production could turn out to be a gold mine for Apple and investors. If the production plans are correct, Bank of America analyst, Scott Craig, expects 8 million of the 11 million iPhones produced will be sold this year. Additionally, if the new 3G iPhone model is successful, Apple is looking at an additional $400 million in sales

Via: iPhonesTalk

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More next-gen iPhone tidbits today, with latest rumor on the block being from ‘industry sources’ who believe Apple will release two versions of the 3G iPhone at WWDC 2008, one with 8GB of storage and priced at $399 and another with 16GB priced at $499. According to TG Daily, it’s possible that a 32GB version could be introduced, with a $599 price point, but they couldn’t get that confirmed via their sources.

As for the devices themselves, apparently the 3G iPhone will be around 2.5mm thinner than the existing model, and have some minor case revisions that help stop the handset looking “plasticky”. Neither the GUI or software will be changed - although Firmware 2.0 will obviously be preinstalled, as the most recent Apple mobile OS - but the accelerometer has been “tuned”. The device still uses a non-removable battery.

Elsewhere in Apple’s range, TG Daily suggest that Apple are pricing the iPod Touch in parallel with the iPhone, the differentiating factor being that the PMP will have twice the memory of its cellphone counterpart.

Via TopiPhoneNews

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Germany has become the cheapest place to buy a box-fresh iPhone, as T-Mobile there cuts prices of the 8GB model to just €99 ($155) as long a you’re willing to take out a “Complete XL” contract priced at €89 ($139) each month. The tariff includes 1,000 minutes, 300 SMS messages, unlimited data via EDGE and use of T-Mobile’s WiFi hotspots.

Three other tariffs, priced at €29, €49 and €69, are also available, with the iPhone priced between €149 and €249 accordingly. All require a two-year commitment.

Source: PhoneMag.com

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Hey guys,

Sorry for the recent downtime, the current server I am hosted on has not been stable in the last few days, causing the server to go offline due to high server loads, it wasn’t actually down as such just refusing connections.

We may move servers shortly, however iPhoneYabber.com (our domain) was registered by one of my good friends who has had his net cut off for a while, so I don’t know what to do with DNS.

If I can’t get in contact with him, we may need to get a new name, i’ll try my hardest to get in contact with him though.

Will update everyone shortly.

Nick

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Microsoft recently told Fortune magazine that it is looking at developing software for the iPhone.

It was only inevitable that Microsoft would be trying to cash in on the popularity of the iPhone, especially after the release of the iPhone SDK. The iPhone SDK gives Microsoft the opportunity to jump on the millions of people using the iPhone without having to work with Apple, at least directly. The SDK gives Microsoft the ability to produce suites of Office and other applications for the iPhone.

[More!]

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