iPhone App Blog

Yesterday Apple announced in a press release that firmware updates may break iPhones equipped with third party apps. The announcement that unlocking programs void Apple’s warranty and may cause “irreparable damage” resulting in the modded iPhone becoming “permanently inoperable” somehow surprised some iPhone users. Other users saw the press release as some sort of threat to the hacking community.

I see the announcement as just the opposite. I mean, Apple has already made its neutral position on hackers clear enough. This press release is just Apple’s way of covering its butt because this next update may really break your unlocked iPhone. For some reason a lot of iPhone users seem to think that modding their phones and unlocking them wouldn’t void their warranty; just check out the angry comments on Gizmodo.

In this article by the Associated Press, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller said that this had nothing to do with “proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked.” Fortunately for those who have hacked and unlocked their iPhones and still want to update their firmware on a regular basis there are a few ways of re-locking the iPhone around.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog’s Erica Sadun, who was quoted in the above Associated Press article, has one re-lock method up and running…sort of. This re-lock method seems to work with some hacks, but not with others, and you still might destroy your phone. Sadun’s article is being continually updated with new re-lock info so keep checking back. If you’re still looking for re-lock code pop by the iPhone Dev Wiki; I’m sure those guys are on it as well.

The discussion continues at Techmeme…

Well, it’s Tuesday, and you know what that means. That’s right, there was a big ‘ole mysterious announcement to the British press in Apple’s flagship store on Reagent St. It wasn’t too terribly mysterious, though, because pretty much everyone predicted Steve Jobs was there to announce the UK launch of the iPhone.

He totally did.

The UK iPhone launch date is November 9th on the O2network, one of the largest mobile networks in Europe. Much to many Brit’s chagrin, the iPhone will remain largely unchanged for its UK release. There’s no 3G support, but O2 has cobbled together a deal with Cloud (one of the largest wi-fi providers in the UK) for 7,500 free wi-fi spots around UK as well as growing EDGE support (just 30% right now) to make an acceptable mobile web device.

The price for the iPhone in the UK will be £269 or about $537 including UK’s Value Added Tax. In most places the VAT is about 17.5%, so the untaxed price for UK’s iPhone would be about $443 for the 8GB model. Then you have to sign up for an 18 month contract with O2 for monthly tariffs of £35, £45, or £55 depending on the plan you want.

For minute by minute transcriptions and live blogging of the event check out Engadget or TechCrunch UK’s coverage. Both sources have some great quotes and information on the big announcement as well as pages of comments that are always entertaining and informative.

However, folks may want to hold their horses on buying an iPhone straight out of the gate. According to The Street, Apple is planning to release a 3G iPhone sometime next year; possibly as soon as the first quarter. Along with the much faster 3G capability, the new-and-improved iPhone may include GPS capability. Either way, I’d wait a bit before investing in an iPhone, if you haven’t already, at least wait until MacWorld 2008 to see what the Jobster has up his sleeve.

Members of the UK press have received a rather cryptic invitation to attend a press conference at Apple’s London store on Tuesday, September 18. Other than date, time, and direction info the invite merely states that “mum is no longer the word.” There is a lot of speculation as to what will be announced during the press conference.

Most people are putting their money on a UK iPhone announcement, either announcing the mobile service carrier or a sales date for Europe. Most likely Apple will be announcing when the iPhone will be on sale in Europe and save other announcements until the Apple Expo in Paris on the 25th.

Of course there are several other possible reasons for this hush-hush invitation only gathering. Some folks think Apple may be announcing BBC show availability on iTunes while others think the Beatles songbook will finally be added to iTunes’ six million song playlist. Still others think Apple may be releasing the iPod Touch to Europe. Of course it could be something completely different!

We’ll just have to wait until Tuesday to find out the news. Until then, mum’s the word!

According to Apple 2.0, a 50-hour survey of Apple stores by investment banking firm Piper Jaffray’sGene Munster found that the iPhone’s price cut has increased iPhone sales by a crazy amount. With the news that Apple sold its 1 millionth iPhone Sunday Munster was able to calculate that after the price decrease on the 5th the iPhone’s sales tripled. That’s an increase of 300%…that’s insane.

The numbers as reported by Apple 2.0 back it up, though. Munster estimates that Apple had sold 864,000 iPhones at 9,000 iPhones a day before the price increase. That means Apple would have to sell 136,000 iPhones, or 27,000 a day, to reach the 1 million mark by Sunday. Make sure you read their article to get all the numbers as well as read the rather combative comments it stirred up.

Former Apple employee Steve Chazin has an interesting post on his blog, Marketing Apple, about Apple’s transformation from underdog to big dog…also something about market share and stocks, I dunno. With Apple at the top of the heap in MP3 players and gaining popularity how long will it be before Apple becomes more like Microsoft?

Anyway, back to iPhone’s sales figures, Munster makes the point that this 300% increase is not sustainable. Furthermore, he estimates that sales will stabilize at a 50% increase. Only time will tell if his estimates are correct and how long it will take for Apple to sell its 10 millionth iPhone.

The discussion continues at Techmeme…

While not too terribly related to the iPhone I thought I should write a little article about the new iPods. Even the New York Timesdid an article about new iPods. The next generation of iPods were introduced Tuesday, but were a bit upstaged by the insane iPhone price drop. All of Apple’s iPods got at least a little makeover with the iPod Nano being totally re-designed and a brand-spanking new iPod category was introduced.

Behold, the iPod Touch. It’s like an iPhone, but without the phone part! That’s right, it looks exactly like the iPhone and has iPhone’s neat-o touch interface; it even has Wi-Fi access and a Safari browser. iPod Touch comes in two sizes, 8GB ($299) and 16GB ($399) and features a Wi-Fi iTunes music store. Awesome.

For hard-core music hoarders the “iPod Classic” is now available in a thinner, all-metal design that holds up to…wait for it…160GB of data. I wish Wordpress had one of those little “O face” emotes, because that would have been a perfect place for one. Anyway, the 80GB model goes for $249 with the 160GB model selling for $349.

Next up, the brand new iPod Nano! Now the new iPod Nano’s design has been pretty heavily criticized. It’s been called everything from “stubby” to “fat” to “fugly” to “Hobbit-like,” but y’know what? I think they’re adorable. And now they come with video, so there! The 4GB model is $149 and the 8GB (which comes in new, slightly questionable colors) is $199.

Last, but not least (although it is the smallest and the cheapest), the iPod Shuffle has a new palette of, slightly muted, colors. Still just 1GB for $79, the iPod Shuffle is the iPod for bargain seekers with 240 songs. 

Pretty much everyone is still reeling from Apple’s big announcement yesterday. Not only did Steve Jobs introduce three new/improved iPod models, but announced an iPhone price drop…a big one. Just two months after it’s release and iPhone’s price has dropped…wait for it…200 DOLLARS. That’s right, the 8GB iPhone is now on sale for $399.

That’s fantastic for folks that have waited for a price drop before shelling out the cash for this gadget. But what about the early adopters who bought an iPhone for full price two months ago? Well…they are really pissed. I’ll admit that I was really shocked about the huge price drop; I expected maybe a $100 drop and then another drop in time for Christmas.

The good news is if you bought an iPhone and are still in the 14 day return period you can take it to an Apple store and demand money back. For other early adopters there are fewer ways to get your vengeance on Apple, MacRumors and The Unofficial Apple Weblog both have good articles about getting something back from Apple after the 14 day return period has expired.

USA Today’s interview with Steve Jobs managed to get Apple fans into even more of an uproar. Specifically this exchange:

Q: What do you say to customers who just bought a new iPhone for $599? Sorry?

A: That’s technology. If they bought it this morning, they should go back to where they bought it and talk to them. If they bought it a month ago, well, that’s what happens in technology.

A lot of unhappy iPhone owners saw this as a big “F-You” from Jobs, but, seriously, that iswhat happens with technology. Almost everyone was expecting a price drop on the iPhone yesterday and, yes, it was a huge price drop and, yes, a lot of people feel cheated and, yes, it came extremely soon after the iPhone’s release. Is it really worth spending hours on the phone with Apple’s customer service for a $100 rebate or denouncing all Apple products forever? Well, probably not.

If you still want an explanation for the sudden price drop Apple 2.0 has compiled a rather comprehensive list. As always, the discussion continues at Techmeme…

Not even two months after the iPhone’s release and Apple is already offering refurbished units at a $100 discount. That’s right; if you haven’t gotten an iPhone because of the rather large price tag attached you can now pick up an “Apple Certified Refurbished” iPhone at a bit of a discount.

The refurbished units are being sold through Apple’s online store for $100 dollars off of the ticket price making the 4 GB model $399 with the 8 GB model going for $499. Both refurbished models come with a year warranty and are eligible for AppleCare Protection Program which extends repair coverage to two years. Even with the $69 AppleCare Protection Program you’ll get your refurbished iPhone at a discount.

Now the fact that these are “refurbished” units might deter some potential iPhone buyers, but the one year warranty should assuage most buyer’s fears. The reasons that an iPhone may be offered as a refurbished unit are many. Maybe it was returned days after purchase by unsatisfied customers, maybe it’s a retired loaner phone, maybe it was defective in some way. There are a lot of options.

Apple’s online store also offers refurbished Macs and iPods and includes warranties on everything it sells, so Apple has a pretty good reputation when it comes to refurbished items. Buying refurbished items can be a bit of a crap shoot, but they can be a good way to get the newest technology at a discount. For more information check out the discussions at DailyTech and Information Week.

There’s been a bit of a scuttlebutt lately about issues with iPhone’s touch screen. Reports of unresponsive areas or “dead spots” on iPhone’s revolutionary screen are all over sites like Techmeme today. Described as a half inch strip on the top or bottom of the vertical display the unresponsive areas prevent afflicted iPhone’s from performing necessary tasks like unlocking the phone and answering calls.

According to Apple 2.0 there have been at least 22 separate incidents reported on various Apple forums. Many relevant threads on Apple’s official forum have subsequently been removed. The problem doesn’t seem to be helped by resetting or reformatting the device and installing Update 1.0.1 has no effect.

Thankfully Apple seems to be quietly handling the problem; even going so far as to contact some forum posters before they could register a complaint. Others have reported that they have required direct replacements from Apple. At Apple stores employees have routinely recommended that the defective units be sent away for a 3 day repair period.During this time a temporary phone may be rented for $29, but some iPhone owners have been able to sweet talk Apple’s Geniuses into letting them have a loaner phone for free.

The cause of the touchscreen failure is being debated. MarketWatch (UK) has reported on a note by Nomura International analyst Richard Windsor saying, in part:

Windsor explained that the screen of the iPhone uses a chemical deposition to provide touch sensitivity based on heat. The international property rights for this technology, he said, were purchased from a bankrupt Finnish company that was trying to make a similar device. But that company encountered the problem that with extensive use, the film would begin to degrade and the screen would lose its sensitivity.

The article goes on to say that Apple should have been aware of the issue and repaired it before the iPhone’s release. However, many comments have been made in regard to the fact that iPhone’s touchscreen does not rely on heat. The iPhone’s screen uses charge capacitance (see How Stuff Works’ iPhone article) to register touch.

As of now it is unknown how many iPhones are or could be affected by these dead spots. Apple seems to be handling it well, albeit quietly. Only time will tell if this will become a serious problem for Apple, Apple’s stock, and iPhone users.

Late last night while I was walking my dog Apple released several patches for Mac OS as well as the first update for the iPhone. The six patches released fixed several security bugs and other flaws in Mac OS (including the server versions) and the iPhone. Apple has also released Safari ver. 3.0.3 for Mac and Windows.

The update downloads via iTunes while you sync your iPhone. The most obvious reason for this update is the huge security gap that the guys over at Independent Security Evaluatorsdiscovered. The update addresses the issue by ”performing additional validation of JavaScript regular expressions.” This comes just days before ISE was to announce the vulnerability at the annual Black Hat security conference.

In a rather classy move, Apple gave credit to the hackers at ISE that discovered the security issue that could allow someone to completely take over an iPhone. Charlie Miller and Jake Honoroff of ISE are named right in the update notes. Which I think is rather nice.

Of course the update does more than just block this security hole. Users who have downloaded update 1.0.1 are reporting less crashing while browsing and playing music, a noticeable improvement in volume level, and the ability to drag content from iTunes to the iPhone. For more information on the features of the update visit this PC World article. 

A quick note for those who have hacked their iPhones: the update hates you. If you’ve hacked your iPhone and try to install the update your phone will probably crash, restore, and finish the download. This also means that you’ll lose most, if not all, of your settings. For more info about the update and what it does to hacked iPhones check out this article from Gizmodo.

Well, the iPhone’s been out for a month and there’s already a class-action suit in the works. Illinois iPhone owner Jose Trujillo is suing both Apple and AT&Tstating that, among other things, the battery “can only be charged approximately 300 times before it will be in need of replacement, necessitating a new battery annually for owners of the iPhone.”

Trujillo claims that Apple kept it a big ‘ole secret that batteries eventually run out and must be replaced. His claim that iPhone users will have to replace their batteries annually is dubious at best and just plain wrong at worst. Not to mention his claim that the iPhone’s battery replacement was “undisclosed to the public” when Apple’s website clearly states that:

A properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs.

Well, keeping an 80% charge after 400 charge cycles doesn’t sound like the battery needs to be replaced to me. Some blogs and articles even place battery replacement at 2 years or more after purchasing the iPhone. Either way, it’s not possible for Trujillo to have fully charged his iPhone over 300 times in the month he has owned it.

Another point the lawsuit makes is that the iPhone’s battery is soldered in and cannot be replaced by the consumer. Well, this is true and a lot has been made of this design decision. A soldered battery allows the iPhone to be slimmer and more streamlined, but requires the phone to be sent in to Apple to get the battery replaced.

Apple has actually been called to task by New York’s Consumer Protection Boardfor its not-so-customer-friendly customer service. Among the complaints is (surprise) Apple’s battery replacement plan. After the year warranty has run out, replacement batteries go for $79 plus a $6.95 shipping fee. The whole thing takes three days and wipes the memory of the device. If you can’t bear to be without an iPhone for that long you can get a loaner iPhone for $29.

NY’s Consumer Protection Board makes many good points about Apple’s iPhone return policies, battery replacement, and other terms and conditions. Trujillo does not. Which just proves that a nice letter can get more support than a lawsuit.