World of Apple

According to a report in the Australian IT Telstra is set to join Optus and Vodafone as carriers of the iPhone in Australia.

Telstra stayed quiet as its rivals wracked up marketing points by standing in the glow of the local iPhone launch, but will now go ahead and sell the device according to people close to the company.

The report states that the iPhone won’t be available from Telstra on July 11th but should follow later in the month, possibly July 22nd.

An official announcement is expected next week.

Apple is said to be making headway with negotiations with carriers to sell the iPhone in Russia within the year according to a report today.

Eldar Murtazin, editor of Moscow-based Mobile Research Group told the Moscow Times, “About 20,000 iPhone handsets are brought into the country in suitcases every month,” he continued, “The current model, which sells officially in six countries for a marked-up $399, currently sells for about $1,000 in Moscow.”

Two Russian carriers, Mobile TeleSystems and MegaFon, have confirmed to having talks with Apple, but no final commitment has been reached.

Barrons.com is reporting that Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) the manufacturer of the iPhone is set to ramp up production of the 3G iPhone later this month.

According to Barrons Foxconn has only shipped “several thousand” iPhones but is expected to ramp up production towards the middle of this month.

The news is consistent with reports that the iPhone will hit the shelves at the end of June or beginning of July.

The 3G iPhone is expected to be announced later today at the WWDC 2008 keynote presentation, join World of Apple for live coverage of the keynote and up-to-date news and rumours.

USA Today is providing further evidence that carriers of the iPhone around the world will most likely subsidise the iPhone.

According to the newspaper the new iPhone will start at $199, that is with a $200 subsidy from AT&T.

The price also will rock: $199, according to people with knowledge of the matter, down from the current $399 and $499. Sources declined to be cited by name or affiliation because Apple and AT&T haven’t authorized anybody to speak publicly about pricing until after Monday’s announcement. The $199 price is being subsidized, though USA TODAY could not confirm details.

Ars Technica is reporting that multiple Apple retail stores gave received “unidentified shipments” as well as new marketing material to go up Monday.

According to the report London’s Regent Street Apple Store has received a single box which is padlocked and under orders to be kept in a safe until Monday.

The news comes after controversial reports that Australian Apple resellers were receiving mystery packages with orders not to open them until after the WWDC keynote.

The images are widely being considered fake due to many glaring omissions but many of the sites have published them for interests sake.

See all the photos here.

At 10 am pacific time on Monday Steve Jobs will address a hall full of thousands of eager developers who are waiting to see what Apple will unveil at this years Worldwide Developers Conference.

World of Apple has offered rumour roundups leading up to Apple events for many years but this year we’ve mixed things up a bit. Due to the mass of speculation surrounding the iPhone we believe it is deserving of its own roundup, everything else will follow shortly after.

So, without further ado lets hit it!

(more…)

As O2 and AT&T run dry of iPhone stock T-Mobile in Germany still seems to have plenty of stock even though it slashed the price to just €99.

The official carrier of the iPhone is now indicating that it will no longer sell the iPhone after June 30th.

The 3G iPhone which is widely expected to be announced next week at WWDC has been pinpointed to hit shelves worldwide in early July.

[Update] According to one World of Apple comment left on this story, T-Mobile is not stating that it will cease sales of the iPhone only that the company will no longer have a promotion on the product after June 30th.

Shaw Wu, analyst for American Technology Research noted to clients earlier this week that he believed that there was a 50/50 chance that Apple will introduce a new form factor multi-touch device at WWDC.

Image courtesy of iLounge.com

On a similar note iLounge published photos of what is claimed to be new 3.2-inch and 2.8-inch displays set to be used in future iPhones.

iLounge notes that suppliers of Apple components rarely confirm that they’re working with Apple and for this reason is sceptical about the images but continues:

the first pictures and diagrams of a touchscreen display that a Taiwanese company claims is being used in an upcoming iPhone. It’s a 2.8” display—shown here alongside a newer 3.2” version—two sizes that would enable Apple to start shrinking both iPhones and touchscreen iPods from the current 3.5” screen size found in its first-generation models.

iLounge believes there is a “zero-chance” that the new 2.8-inch display will be used in the 3G iPhone expected next week but considers it possible that Apple will release further additions to the iPhone lineup in the future.

Image courtesy of MacTalk.com.au

SUBJECT TO TERMS OF NDA
DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY JUNE 10TH, 2008

June 10th (in Australia) is the day of Steve Jobs’ keynote presentation which kicks off the start of WWDC 2008. Apple is widely expected to show off the 3G iPhone which will be brought to Australia “later this year” by carriers Vodafone and SingTel Optus.