Unlocked iPhone is popular in China

The largest chinese mobile network operator China Mobile has confirmed over 400,000 Apple iPhones are being used on its network. This makes up more than 10% of the 3.7 million Apple iPhones sold last year.
This is mixed news for Apple as it has revenue sharing agreements in place with official partners such as AT&T in the US and O2 in the UK, which it is not benefitting from in China, but Apple are obviously able to make a profit on every iPhone sold.

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Apple iPhone 16GB drops in

The Apple iPhone is now available with 16GB memory. Price in the UK will be £329 when it goes on sale today on the O2 network.

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iWash my iPhone

ClubWest have an ingenious solution for keeping the screen clean on your iPhone. Simply download the video from clubwesttv.com and watch in amazement as the iWash bikini girl uses her bucket and sponge to clean the inside of your iPhone screen!

See the video here

O2 changes tariffs to give customers more

From the 1st February 2008 O2 contract customers will benefit from a new choice of pay monthly tariffs. Six price points will offer a set bundle of minutes and texts, further customised with additional bolt-ons.
The three current tariffs for the Apple iPhone will be brought in line with these new options. This will mean a £35 tariff for an iPhone customer will offer three times the free calls and more than double the free texts, plus users will continue to receive 'unlimited' data access.

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FastMac IV iPhone battery case

Added bulk aside this seems like a good idea for those who can't cope with the iPhone's standard battery performance. Watching videos, surfing the net and listening to music all play their part in affecting the standby and talktime of the iPhone, so if you're finding a desire for longer between charges then FastMac have the answer.
The iV iPhone battery case adds up to 24 hours of talk time or 72 hours of audio playback in a rubberised case that clips on the bottom of your iPhone. As well as protecting the back of the device it also adds a belt clip for carrying, plus a flash light for emergency use and low light photos. When it comes to re-charging the iV iPhone battery case plugs straight in to your docking unit and even offers a USB port for charging another device such as your Bluetooth headset.

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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

Then this is taking it to extremes. It's hard to imagine Apple's response to this Chinese imitation of the iPhone but contrary to our expectations some aspects actually improve on the iPhone's standards. Twin SIM holders, microSD card memory expansion and 2 megapixel camera make for an appealing package.
Now that plans to launch the Apple iPhone in China look to have hit problems amid rumours of China Mobile rejecting Apple's request for 20%-30% of user revenues, could this imitation fill a gap in the market for those wanting a slice of Apple shaped technology?

UK iPhone sales figure cover up

A report in yesterdays Mail on Sunday says Apple are telling its UK partners O2 and The Carphone Warehouse to keep quite about iPhone sales, fueling rumours about the phones poor sales performance to date.
Mobile phone sales were up this Christmas, but the value of sales was down suggesting the £269 iPhone was positioned against the trend.
According to industry insiders Apple have instructed O2 and CPW not to tell investors the sales figures, and Steve Jobs' speech at Macworld Expo this week is expected to focus on pan-European sales rather than reporting on individual countries, which can be construed as avoiding highlighting market problems.

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Video recording on the Apple iPhone

If it has been one of the irritating omissions that make you think twice about buying the much revered wonder gadget then help looks like its on the way.

We have found reports that suggest a third party application is under development to allow the camera built in to the Apple iPhone to record video at up to 2 megapixel resolution. Clips in testing have been limited to 5-10 seconds and at a low 10fps rating but up to 30fps is promised, along with unlimited file length.

Lets hope the coders get this app finished before the second generation iPhone comes along next year.

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New iFilms rental service for iPhone?

I stumbled across an interesting article today; it seems that some busy little bee has cracked the coding of the latest iPhone firmware update. Apart from the expected security patch, there was the following section of code:

pumpkin:~ pumpkin$ strings /usr/local/share/iphone-filesystem/usr/libexec/lockdownd grep -i rental
trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not retrieve FairPlayID
trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not initialize FairPlay context
trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not verify the rental bag response: %d
load_rental_bag_request: Could not retrieve FairPlayID
load_rental_bag_request: Could not initialize FairPlay context
load_rental_bag_request: Could not generate rental bag request
load_rental_bag_request: Could not create mutable dictionary
load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFData from request message
load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFArray
load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFNumber from indice
RentalBagResponse
RentalBagRequest
pumpkin:~ pumpkin$

This ties in with various references to rental in code from iTunes 7.5 and seems to suggest that we might be getting an online rental service, as previous rumours have suggested. Speculation on pricing is still rife, but it would have to be quite cheap to tempt us away from our existing rental services.

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Unlocked iPhone - 999euro from T-Mobile

Following Vodafone's recent court order against T-Mobile in Germany hindering the sale of Apple iPhones on contract only, T-Mobile have responded by offering an unlocked iPhone for sale.

Priced at 999euro, the SIM free Apple iPhone will only be available through T-Mobile stores in Germany and is not open to telephone or internet orders.
The good news is mostly for the customers who bought the iPhone between the 19th of November and the day the first unlocked handsets are released. Their iPhones can be unlocked for free.

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Apple says more iPhone features in future

Apple has confirmed that it has plenty more upgrades to come for the Apple iPhone.
They claim the complaints and feature requests can be fixed and added by software upgrades.

"We didn't want to include something for something's sake. For the average mobile phone most people only use around 10%, Apple didn't want that to happen with the iPhone."

Some believe that not including all the software features from day one will allow Apple to entice new customers over the next few months.
Others think if the reason to upgrade the software each time is compelling enough, then you are less likely to hack the software, meaning Apple gets to earn the substantial revenue agreement it has with the official operator.

We here at TMPC look forward to seeing the iPhone develop in to its full potential!

10 iPhone Tips

Further to the ongoing news and rumours about the UK launch of the Apple iPhone this Friday (9th November), mobile magazine have published some user tips that will be useful to know for those of you planning on purchasing an iphone over the weekend...

See the "Top Ten iPhone Secrets"

UK iPhones to be re-locked in firmware update

T3 magazine report that any Apple iPhone bought through official UK channels (Apple stores, O2 and The Carphone Warehouse) will be supplied with firmware 1.1.2. This will mean the current 'known' unlock methods will not work.
It closes the so called 'TIFF exploit' and ability to use third party applications.

Apple are also expected to release the new firmware for existing iPhones through an iTunes update on Friday - the day the handsets go on sale in the UK.

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Apple iPhone Nano - is the rumour true?

Images of the much talked about iPhone Nano are not hard to come by on the web. Up until now all pictures have been fan made mock ups and the talk has been just that, with Apple staying tight lipped on the subject.

Now some photo's have appeared claiming to be taken by an Apple insider, showing the iPhone Nano truly may exist. It shows a much smaller device than it's big brother - which is due to go on sale in the UK next week.

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