World of Apple

Fortune’s Brian Caulfield has been playing a game of espionage at a Quanta Computer distribution centre.

Acting on previous reports that Apple shipped 19 deliveries from Quanta the reporter went about staking out Quanta’s distribution facility in Fremont, California. The building although designed for product distribution is reportedly overwhelmed with stock of a mystery Apple product.

The location on Wednesday evening had dozens of tall pallets outside, all reportedly belonging to Apple. Many of them were clearly iMac boxes but around 20 others placed side-by-side were wrapped in unmarked brown packaging.

Caulfield attempted to speak to some Quanta employees but was told that the shipping supervisor was “very busy” while another employee stated that he was “not at liberty” to discuss what the manufacturer was shipping when asked if the pallets contained iPhones.

Macworld UK is reporting that O2 is planning to offer the new iPhone free to customers who sign onto the top tariffs.

The article also concurs with a rumour last week that the iPhone will cost £100 and be sold with an 18-month contract. But it appears O2 is also planning to offer free upgrades to some users and free iPhones to those on the top iPhone tariff which is currently £75 per month.

It is also expected that owners of the current iPhone will be able to upgrade their handsets without charge although they will be “obliged” to sign-up for another 18-month contract.

The 3G iPhone is widely expected to see a debut this coming Monday at WWDC but not ship until later in the month.

According to CNET, native iPhone apps will see an official unveiling next week at WWDC.

The information which reportedly comes from a firm developing iPhone software alludes to the launch of the App Store which would be necessary to install native iPhone applications.

$200 Low-End iPhone?

Digg founder and co-host of Diggnation Kevin Rose has posted a video where he explains that he expects a $200 lower-end iPhone to be introduced alongside the new 3G iPhone.

Although most likely a coincidence the rumoured price point tallys with a rumour today that the iPhone will be £100 in the UK.

3G iPhone Specs Revealed?

Mac Rumors is reporting for “interest alone” 3G iPhone some specs they revealed from an unconfirmed source.

• Lighter weight
• Black + other colors
• Focus on Multimedia with Video recording
• Video Conferencing
• GPS
• 16GB $499
• 32GB $699

Times Online is reporting that the new iPhone could retail in the UK market for as little as £100.

Apple is widely expected to allow mobile carriers to subsidise the new iPhone which is rumoured to see an introduction at WWDC which kicks off on June 9th.

A source close to the deal stated to Times Online that the new iPhone will be on store shelves by July.

Earlier rumours that .Mac will be renamed have become somewhat concreted by the discovery of references to an existing Apple trademark.

A reference found in the latest iPhone 2.0 OS beta points towards the use of “Mobile Me” as the new name for .Mac.

Apple’s 24-hour Apple Store in Manhattan has closed this afternoon and is set to reopen in the morning. The Fifth Avenue Apple Store has seen very few closures in its lifetime, but Apple’s retail page confirms that the Apple store will be temporary closed:

Please note we will be temporarily closed Thursday, May 29 at 3:00 p.m. and will reopen Friday, May 30 at 9:00 a.m. During this time, please visit one of our other two Manhattan locations.

According to Mac Rumors employees are telling passers by that a commercial is being filmed at the location and according to their sources Apple is filming a commercial for the upcoming 3G iPhone.

Image courtesy of Flickr user paulmonkeypaul

Analyst, Nicolas Gaudois for UBS Invesment Research has issued a report to clients today in which he took the news of profit warnings from baseband chip maker Infineon as a sign that Apple’s future iPhone model could see delays in ramping up manufacturing.

“In our view the profit warning has been caused by ramp changes of next generation iPhone, into which Infineon is supplying the main High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) chipset,” Gaudois said. More specifically, he said the delay has resulted in 1.5 million fewer orders for the chipset during Infineon’s current quarter.

A spokesperson for Infineon later stated that the company had “received lower orders than expected” for certain HSDPA chips destined for a “high-speed Internet phone.”

The company also said that a 1.5 month delay on a “Nokia project” is also to blame for the revenue shortfall.

SDK Icon Files Reveal New iPhone Design?

MacRumors is reporting that one reader of the site has found an interesting icon file in a file called “iPhone.icns” which comes with the latest iPhone SDK beta.

The icon file appears to show clear differences around the edge of the display and the outer rim of the phone.

Strings Point towards 3G

With the release of the latest iPhone OS 2.0 beta developers have discovered the addition of more strings pointing towards the 3G iPhone. Earlier this month it was discovered that Apple has built-in a switch to turn 3G on and off, new strings now reveal that Apple has added warnings when users try and turn off 3G during a call.

• “Disabling 3G will end your phone call. Are you sure you want to disable 3G?”
• “Enabling 3G will end your phone call. Are you sure you want to enable 3G?”

According to French technology site PCInpact (via Electronista) multiple readers of the site have been contacted by Orange regarding upgrading to future iPhone models.

Apparently two solutions are on the table, the first entails a direct swap. A trade-in for the current model would almost fully subsidise the new handset leaving just €50 to be paid off.

Alternatively existing subscribers could obtain the next-generation iPhone at a “generous discount”, currently the exact amount is unknown.