Nokia ships N97 Flagship Smartphone

Nokia today finally set a launch window for its N97 flagship smartphone. The company’s second-ever touchscreen device ships in June to 75 countries and should include a version with 3G support for North American carriers. It continues to have the same 3.5-inch 640x360 display, 32GB of built-in storage, 5-megapixel camera, GPS and Wi-Fi. The N97 is also Nokia’s first device with a customizable home screen with widgets for Facebook, news and weather.

The US release will for now only involve selling an unlocked but unsubsidized N97 for $699 that supports AT&T’s 3G services as well as 2G for both it and T-Mobile.

Rumor Describes More Powerful 32GB iPhone

The current iPhone 3GJohn Gruber of Daring Fireball has stepped into the iPhone rumor arena for the second time this week. Initially Gruber gave some insight into the potential for background applications on the iPhone, this time the prominent blogger is talking hardware.

Gruber who has been accurate with rumors in the past concurs with speculation that the new iPhone will come in capacities of 16 and 32GB. On top of this Gruber also describes the new iPhone as having a 600MHz processor compared to the current 400MHz processor, but states that the “next-generation” CPU will give the illusion of being much faster than the megahertz increase would suggest.

Let’s say the rumors are right — and I believe they are — that the next-generation iPhone’s CPU will be running at 600 MHz. In the same way that, say, a 90 MHz Pentium was more than 1.5 times as fast as a 60 MHz 486, the 600 MHz CPU in the next iPhone will be more than 1.5 times as fast as the current 400 MHz iPhone CPU.

Alongside the change in processor the new iPhone will also sport 256MB of RAM twice that of the current iPhone.

As we’ve heard from other sources Gruber suggests that the external casing will remain very similar to the current iPhone.

Finally the Daring Fireball blogger confirms the presence of a digital compass (magnetometer) and the ability to record video. The new iPhone is said to have an auto-focus lens which will improve still photography and videos will be able to be edited and very easily uploaded to the Internet.

The new iPhone is expected to be announced at the WWDC 2009 opening keynote on June 8th.

source:worldofapple

Best Buy will have the Palm Pre for $199, no rebate required

Yesterday, Sprint announced that it will charge $200 for thePalm Pre,but to get that price customers will have to send in a mail-in rebate.  As much as I dislike Best Buy, it looks like ‘the’ place to go for the Palm Pre.

This retailer will have Palm’s latest smartphone in its stores on the launch day, June 6, and will be selling this device at $200 with an instant rebate, not a mail-in one.

To get this price, customers will still have to commit toa two-year service plan, a requirementthat’s become standardfor discounts on smartphone purchases in the U.S.

Update on Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 9:39PM by Jon Arnason

Best Buy stores are allegedly restricted to an initial distribution of 4,250 Palm Pres for the June 6th launch day, an unnamed source has told the Boy Genius Report. If true, each of the 1,000 stores to sell the device will only get 4 units at first. A separate source claims that RadioShack will only receive two phones per store, with availability limited to coastal areas such as New York, New Jersey and California.

iPhone doubles smartphone share in early 2009

Apple has managed to more than double its smartphone market share from year to year in the first quarter of 2009, according to Gartner data. iPhones jumped from 5.3 percent of the industry in early 2008 to 10.8 percent a year later. The jump has made Apple the third-largest smartphone maker in the world and gives it twice as much share as HTC, which had just 5.4 percent of the market and grew slowly even with the launch of Android phones.  In terms of unit sales, Apple jumped from 1.7 million in the first quarter of 2008 to 3.9 million during the same period in 2009.

Palm Pre to launch on Sprint June 6th for $200

At long last we have this thing.  Sprint today confirmed that it will launch the Palm Pre on June 6th for $200 on a two-year plan and after a $100 rebate. The first-ever webOS smartphone will sell not only in Sprint stores but also Best Buy, Radio Shack and Walmart. Using the phone will require either at least an Everything Data plan for home users, a Simply Everything plan, or a Business Essentials with Messaging and Data plan.

iPhone Falls to Second Place in Smartphone wars

According to data from NPD Group the iPhone lost its position as the best selling smartphone in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2009 to the BlackBerry Curve. According to NPD the top five bestselling smartphones in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2009 were: 

1. BlackBerry Curve (all 8300 models)
2. Apple iPhone
3. BlackBerry Storm
4. BlackBerry Pearl
5. T-Mobile G1

 source:npdgroup

iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 4 and iTunes 8.2 Pre-Release to Developers [Blu-Ray Evidence?]

Continuing a pattern of biweekly releases, Apple tonight seeded the fourth beta version of iPhone OS 3.0 to developers. Apple also issued a developer pre-release version of iTunes 8.2, which is required to activate the new beta. No new features in the fourth beta version have been revealed as of yet.

The iPhone OS 3.0 was first demonstrated at a media event in mid-March and will bring over 100 new features to users. The iPhone OS 3.0 is expected to be a major focus of Apple’s sold out Worldwide Developers Conference to be held in San Francisco in June.

Update: One forum poster points out that the latest iTunes 8.2 beta carries references to Blu-Ray data from Gracenote, suggesting that iTunes could support the reading/recognizing of Blu-Ray discs.

source:macrumors

iPhone OS 3.0 to feature voice control and feedback

Sources have discovered evidence of new voice control features coming to iPhone OS 3.0. Apparently going by the code name “Jibbler,” it looks like it will provide not just voice synthesis, but also voice recognition for the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0.

Not much information is known at this time, but according to our own people familiar with the matter, Jibbler appears be an enhancement to the iPhone SpringBoard application, the Finder-esque app that acts as a launcher and will support the newly announced 3.0 Spotlight search. Jibbler may be controlled via the iPhone headset—button squeezes could be used to record short voice segments from the user, which Jibbler will then interpret. Voice synthesis can then be used to give the user a response, similar to the latest generation iPod shuffle, which can “read” playlists and track names—the difference being that the iPhone hardware itself could handle real-time voice synthesis.

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Next iPhone, iPod touch to support HD?

(current iPhone 3G)

Apple is reported today as phasing out its video cables in what may be a sign of a broader move to HD video-capable iPhone and iPod touch devices. An unnamed source for PhoneNews claims that resellers are being told both the Apple Composite AV and Component AV cables are being scrapped in favor of a single cable pack that, like the Xbox 360’s component cable, has both the component and composite (RCA) cables on a single line and would let users hook up to both HDTVs and standard-definition sets by purchasing one pack.

While convenience is an important factor, the ultimate reason for the move is purportedly a desire to make HD video widespread on its portable devices, starting with the iPhone. “At least one” model of this, and eventually the iPod touch, will have a higher-resolution screen and would give Apple a better position against a new wave of smartphones with sharper displays, like the 480x800 resolution of the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2. Its hardware would appropriately have the power to play HD video natively and output it to a TV at 720p or 1080i.

To compensate for the large file sizes, which balloon the content of iTunes Store videos to as much as 4GB for 720p versions, Apple is rumored letting the iPhone use its Wi-Fi to stream videos from iTunes libraries on the local network and thus give users an impromptu alternative to an Apple TV.

The rumor hasn’t been independently corroborated and should be treated with caution. However, Apple has recently enabled HD movie purchases and rentals on iTunes and is either rumored or confirmed as improving hardware on the iPhone that would assist in handling HD. iPhone 3.0 testing firmware has already revealed an 802.11n Wi-Fi chipset that would improve speed on local networks, while many expect Apple to replace the iPhone’s graphics core with a PowerVR SGX chip and potentially to speed up the ARM processor.

Microsoft is also all but confirmed as launching the Zune HD this year and, according to rumors surrounding the device, will use an NVIDIA Tegra processor that can play 720p video and get a sharper display to complement the upgrade.

source:electronista

AT&T in talks to extend iPhone deal to 2011: report

Say it ain’t so!  We need more competition in this country.  Other markets have multiple outlets for the iPhone, which makes it available to those who want it.  Greedy little bastards!

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -

AT&T Inc is in talks with Apple Inc to extend its exclusive U.S. agreement to sell the iPhone from 2010 to 2011, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said in an interview that he plans to shift the company’s focus away from the U.S. landline phone business into wireless.

Apple’s iPhone has sold 17 million units worldwide since it was launched in June of 2007.

AT&T declined to comment on the report and repeated its previous statement that it had a multi-year agreement with Apple. An Apple spokeswoman also had no comment on the Journal report.

Apple has a number of relationships with other wireless carriers who service the iPhone in 80 countries. Those carriers include 02 in the United Kingdom, Softbank in Japan, Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany.

The Journal also said Stephenson spent several months in 2008 evaluating potential acquisitions in India, including a deal with Indian cell phone giant Reliance Communications Ltd.

Stephenson ultimately decided that the potential price of as much as $30 billion, was too high, the Journal said, quoting people familiar with the discussions.

Update on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 10:48PM by Jon Arnason

The Wall Street Journal reports on comments made by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg on a broad number of topics surrounding the company.

Of interest to readers, however, is the fact that Seidenberg addressed the possibility of Apple’s iPhone coming to the Verizon network.

Mr. Seidenberg also addressed the notion of Apple Inc.’s iPhone ever coming to the Verizon Wireless network, saying it is more likely that Apple would be willing to work with the carrier under the fourth-generation, or 4G, network, which follows the same technology standard as AT&T Inc.’s 4G plans. He said Apple never seriously considered making a CDMA version of the iPhone because it didn’t have as wide a distribution opportunity.

CDMA is the technology behind Verizon’s current cellular network and prevents the current Apple iPhone from running on their network. In order to accommodate Verizon, Apple would have to release a modified (CDMA) iPhone which Seidenberg seems to think was never likely.

Verizon plans to launch their 4G network in 2010, conveniently near the time AT&T’s exclusivity expires.