World of Apple

Following the official launch of the iPhone in China the main carrier China Unicom confirmed that it had signed up more than a million subscribers but only 5,000 iPhone customers.

Reuters reports that Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing said his company expects to add a million new 3G subscribers each month and that it was satisfied with iPhone sales so far.

The iPhone was released in China last Friday, the top end iPhone 3GS is available without a contract for 6,999 yuan, or $1,024. No iPhone handsets currently have any Wi-Fi capabilities but new models are expected to be released before the years end with Wi-Fi built in. The discrepancy reportedly comes from the Chinese governments ban on Wi-Fi which was lifted in May, after the current models were manufactured.

Orange UK has today revealed prices and tariffs ahead of the iPhone launch on November 10.

Although many were expect Orange to compete heavily with O2 in the UK, the carrier appears to have decided to be very much in line with the current O2 pricing.

Orange’s cheapest 24 month pay monthly contract is £29.36 compared to O2’s cheapest which is £34.26 with the former offering far fewer minutes and texts but is offering a free iPhone 3G 8GB handset.

The iPhone will be sold by Orange in the UK in Orange shops, Orange on-line, Orange HMV concessions, Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and more. A number of Orange stores across the UK will be celebrating the launch of iPhone on Orange with early opening times from 7am on November 10th, with other stores across the country keeping their doors open until late.

“The excitement for the iPhone is immense, and this is a great day for our customers, our company and our employees. Since we announced the iPhone on Orange we have already seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website. We will be matching their enthusiasm with a 3G mobile broadband network that covers more people in the UK than any other operator, a commitment to deliver the best 3G experience on the iPhone and best-in-class applications and plans. Earlier this year we stated our ambition to become the destination brand of choice for high end mobile users in the UK. With the launch of the iPhone on November 10 we’re pleased to be fulfilling that ambition.” Stated Tom Alexander, CEO of Orange UK in a press release today.

In Apple’s form 10-K filed yesterday the company revealed that it will defend itself vigorously against Nokia who earlier this month took action against Apple.

Nokia claims that the iPhone breaches certain patents related to “one or more of the GSM, UMTS and 802.11 wireless communications standards” and seeks unspecified compensation or other relief.

Apple’s response to the case is not yet due but intends to “defend the case vigorously.”

Further reading: Apple’s 2009 Form 10-K.

The Times is reporting that Orange will launch the iPhone on its network in the UK on November 10, one day after O2 loses its exclusive grasp on the Apple handset.

The Times also adds that over 200,000 people have pre-registered their interest in buying the iPhone from Orange. Orange declined to comment on the launch date of pre-registration figures.

Vodafone will also begin selling the iPhone in early 2010 while 3 has confirmed to the The Times that it expects to begin selling the iPhone in mid-2010.

Currently no pricing for handsets of tariffs is available from Orange, Vodafone or 3.

Nokia said Thursday that it is suing Apple in the Delaware District Court for infringing patents on mobile phone technologies. Nokia claims that it has not been compensated and said Apple had “a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation”.

Nokia claims that Apple is infringing ten patents related to Global System for Mobile communications, or GSM; wireless local area network, or WLAN; and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, or UMTS.

“The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for,” said Ilkka Rahnasto, Vice President, Legal & Intellectual Property at Nokia. “Apple is also expected to follow this principle. By refusing to agree appropriate terms for Nokia’s intellectual property, Apple is attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.”

Nokia says that it has agreements with around 40 other mobile phone manufacturers allowing use of Nokia’s technologies but Apple is not one of them.

During today’s third quarter 2009 earnings report from official iPhone carrier AT&T the company revealed that 3.2 million iPhones were activated during the quarter. This figure represents the highest quarterly total of iPhone activations with the carrier.

AT&T’s third-quarter integrated device growth included 3.2 million iPhone activations, also the company’s largest quarterly total to date, with nearly 40 percent of the activations for customers who were new to AT&T.

AT&T also reported that iPhoned accounted for 74% of total postpaid activations of “integrated devices” offering either a physical or virtual keyboard in addition to voice capabilities. 40% of iPhone activations were from customers who were new to AT&T.

AT&T received two million subscribers during the quarter, the highest third quarter in the carriers history.

9 to 5 Mac is reporting that Apple could be looking to add FM radio support to the iPod touch and iPhone via an app. The story which is fuelled by a tip submitted to the rumour site suggests that the app from Apple will be allowed to run in the background and will work in a similar way to the new iPod nano.

9 to 5 Mac states that the project has been delayed while Apple works out how to implement the iTunes Store to allow easy purchasing of songs being played on the radio. Additionally all iPods and iPhones are said to already have hardware capable of receiving FM signals.

Apple has today released a minor iPhone OS update aimed at all iPhone models and the iPod touch. The update addresses issues with wake from sleep, network connection issues and crashes during video streaming.

This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:

- Resolves sporadic issue that may cause iPhone to not wake from sleep
- Resolves intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular network services until restart
- Fixes bug that could cause occasional crash during video streaming

The update does not make any mention of improvements to battery life issues which have plagued some iPhone users since updating to iPhone OS 3.1.

Hot on the heels of rumours that Rogers would be losing its exclusive hold of the iPhone in Canada, Bell and Telus have both announced that Apple and the carriers have come to an agreement.

Both Telus and Bell revealed today that the iPhone 3G and 3GS would be available in November. No pricing of handsets or tariffs was disclosed.

Following the news that Orange would begin selling the iPhone in the UK, Vodafone has also followed suit and announced that it will begin selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS in the UK and Ireland starting in early 2010.

Further pricing will be available nearer the time.

O2 who is currently the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the UK is expected to lose its exclusivity of the device at the end of November.