MacRumors

On the second floor of Moscone West, there appears to be at least one banner that's shrouded in black cloth:

No one is allowed above the first floor of Moscone West until the keynote, so no closer shots could be taken.

Meanwhile, a photo of the "loot" they are giving away at WWDC primarily shows a T-shirt that reads "Power to the programmers."

WWDC kicks off on Monday, June 11th at 10am Pacific. We will be providing live converage at MacRumorsLive. SMS and "spoiler free" coverage also available.

Update: More covered banners can be seen in this photo

In May, we reported that iPhone browser signature has been seen in the wild, including here at MacRumors.com.

It appears the mobile browser has seen ongoing updates since that time, and has since graduated from mobile version "1A538a" to "1A543a". Small steady improvements are, of course, expected... but after we discovered this new mobile version, a Google search brought up this Google cached page - now expired ( cache screenshot ) where the iPhone was benchmarked using a mobile download benchmarking tool at BroadbandReports.com.

How'd the iPhone do? 157K/second (1262 kbps) to download a 1024 kilobyte file.

1262kbps 0.223s (1024k) apple.com Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3

The iPhone gave up an apple.com domain address, so it was apparently on Apple's local Wifi network, rather than AT&T's cellular network. All in all, not much additional information as download speeds are affected by a number of different factors... but does show more iPhone footprints around the web.

A ruling today by the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban new models of phones with 3G chips from Qualcomm could have a positive impact on Apple's iPhone, some are suggesting.

The ban came due to a patent infringment case brought by rival Broadcom, who claimed Qualcomm's 3G chips used Broadcom's patented power management technology. Samsung and LG both are expected to take the brunt of the ruling, with Motorola also expected to see reduced sales if the ruling is upheld. Carriers impacted by the ban include Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel.

Apple and AT&T will be launching the much-hyped iPhone on June 29th, and competitors are scrambling to launch their answers, which will no doubt see further delays if the ruling stands.

We've gotten copies of the full iPhone Training manual provided to AT&T employees that gives us a few more details about Apple's iPhone. Thanks to cindynjgirl79 for providing the scans.

This sales guide presents iPhone features and benefits, tips, comparisons, qualifying questions, and objections -- all designed to help you sell iPhone.
....
Keep in mind that there might be additional iPhone features that are announced at iPhone's launch as well as additional information about the features in this guide. (scan)

The training manual is broken down into features of the iPhone, and we've provided hilights and links to the scans:Revolutionary Mobile Phone (scan 1, scan 2)

- Dial any telephone number with the touch of a finger
- Create and manage a list of telephone numbers you call most
- If you choose to answer the call, the video will pause and resume once the call ends
- iPhone syncs contact information from the computer to iPhone (from Address Book on a Mac or Outlook or Outlook Express on a Windows PC).
- Built-in speakerphone
- iPhone lets you carry on a phone conversation while you simultaneously browse the Internet or send an email.
- There is a vibrate mode.

Photos (scan 1, scan 2)

- Sync photos from Mac or PC

SMS Text Messaging (scan 1)

- SMS text message button shows how many new messages are waiting
- Threaded conversations
- Hear an audio alert for new messages
- Error correction and prevention in the keyboard. Only displayed when you need it.
- iPhone users will not be able to conduct IM conversations with instant messaging users
- Does not support MMS messaging for photos or videos

Music and Video (scan 1, scan 2)

- All videos play in landscape mode
- If you prefer your widescreen content to take up the entire screen, you can double tap the video and iPhone will automatically scale the video to take up the entire screen
- Sync music with iTunes just like any other iPod
- Select how to display music: by playlist, artist, songs or more.
- Media Net, MobiTV, or Cellular Video are not available on iPhone

Email (scan 1, scan 2)

- Rich formatting
- Support for IMAP and POP3
- Yahoo! Push Mail
- Automatic address completion

Safari (scan 1, scan 2)

- Double tap an object to make it fill the screen, and double tap to zoom out
- Can have multiple websites open at once and switch between them
- Websites you have bookmarked on your computer will be transfered to your iPhone from your Mac or PC

Widgets (scan 1)

Google Maps (scan 1, scan 2)

- iPhone will not support the TeleNav solutions currently offered by other AT&T devices
- GPS is not part of the iPhone feature set.

Apple's iPhone is coming on June 29th, and surprisingly few details have been leaked about the phone itself, beyond the original specs described in January.

We've obtained the official list of specs that Apple lists for the upcoming device.

System requirements
- Mac or PC
- iTunes 7
- Internet access is required, and a broadband connection is recommended
- Mac: Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later
- PC: Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2)
External Controls
- Volume Up / Down
- Ringer / Silent
- Power / Lock
- Sleep / Wake
- Menu Button
Dimensions
- 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams
Input Method - Multi-touch
Operating System - OS X
Screen size - 3.5 inches
Screen resolution - 320 x 480 at 160 ppi
Storage - 4GB or 8GB
GSM - Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
Wireless data
- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
Camera - 2.0 megapixels
Battery
- Lithium
- Up to 5 hours - Talk / Video / Browsing
- Up to 16 hours - Audio playback
(Battery life varies by use)
Connectors and other input & output
- 30 pin iPod connector
- 3.5mm jack includes audio and mic support
- SIM tray
- Built-in speaker
- Built-in microphone

Most of the specs are no surprise, but it does lay to rest some recent rumors that the iPhone would lack an accessible SIM tray.

As WWDC 2007 approaches, we are organizing our coverage of the event. In January, we managed to integrate near real-time photos into our live feed with great success.

This year, our MacRumorsLive feed will be further improved with "continuous" text updates, larger photos, and more detailed transcriptions. The keynote begins on June 11th, 2007 at 10am PDT. The fastest way to hear about all of the announcements will be to watch MacRumorsLive.

But we also offer a few other options this year...

SMS Updates

We are launching an SMS announcement service for major Apple related announcements, including Keynote updates. We will send out 5-10 updates during the WWDC keynote to provide interval updates to those individuals without web access. After the event, the notification list will then serve as a low-volume announcement list for major Apple-related announcements. Standard text messaging charges apply. (SMS Signup Instructions)

Email Newsletter

The MacRumors newsletter is a low volume announcement newsletter which notifies you of important updates and announcements related to Apple. This includes new product announcements, product availability and other breaking events.

We will, of course, summarize WWDC's announcements, but also keep you up to date on future announcements related to Apple. Your email address is safe and will not be sold, distributed or revealed in any form. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Spoiler Free

And a reminder for those who want to watch the keynote video without any prior knowledge of the events, we offer a Spoiler Free page / mailing list which will notify you when the keynote video is available. Anyone seriously interested in this option should not sign up for the SMS or Newsletter lists above, as they will broadcast announcements as they come in.

ModMyiPhone.com posted photos from iPhone Sales Training manuals which arrived today at AT&T stores.

The site quotes some portions of the manual which describe the Email features and Safari features which help sell the iPhone. No new information about the iPhone is revealed in the available passages.

AT&T / Cingular stores have started displaying banners of the iPhone which read "Coming June 29". Forum user SLAPSHOTW was able to get some photos:

The Apple iPhone has been announced to be available starting June 29th, 2007 but few details about how sales will be organized have been released.

Parallels released Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Intel Macs today.

The $79.99 virtualization software allows owners of Intel Macs to run Windows applications alongside Mac OS X without requiring a reboot. Amongst many other features, version 3.0 brings improved integration between Mac OS X and Windows as well as long awaited 3D graphics support.

It was revealed in August that 3d acceleration for their software package. Until now, Parallels users had to reboot into Boot Camp to get full 3d acceleration.

Other listed features include:

- Cross OS application & file integration with Parallels SmartSelect
- Coherence 2.0, including shared folders and UI enhancements
- Expanded support for USB 2.0 devices
- Shared printers for cross OS printing
- Significant enhancements in performance and audio quality
- Bulletproof your VMs with SnapShots

Apple released Boot Camp 1.3 today.

Boot Camp 1.3 beta includes:

- Support for keyboard backlighting (MacBook Pro only)
- Apple Remote pairing
- Updated graphics drivers
- Improved Boot Camp driver installer
- Improved international keyboard support
- Localization fixes
- Updated Windows Help for Boot Camp

ThinkSecret reports that Apple will introduce a new iMac "at or around" next week's developer's conference.

The rumor site believes that the new iMacs will incorporate the Santa Rosa chipset, much like the MacBook Pro updates from earlier this week. The 17" model is expected to be discontinued, leaving the 20" and 24" iMacs at slightly lower price points.

Finally, the new iMac's enclosure is described as "brushed aluminum" to "better match that of Apple's high-end systems as the company repositions the iMac as a more premium offering."

The report echos predictions originally posted at 9to5mac.com earlier this week and contrary to expectations of no iMac updates at WWDC by Appleinsider.

Businessweek discusses the hype surrounding the iPhone and asks "How Big Will the iPhone Be?"

If Apple's goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 seemed ambitious to some back in January when Jobs first unwrapped his new baby, few doubt it now. Wall Street speculation has gone from how much market share it can steal, to how much it can expand the overall smartphone market

According to two Businessweek sources, Apple plans to have 3 million iPhones ready for sale on launch day. Apple revealed through television ads earlier this week that the iPhone was coming on June 29th. Meanwhile, AT&T apparently anticpates large crowds and has reportedly hired crowd control personal at the AT&T stores in anticipation of the launch.

Finally, a few first hand reports (one, two) on the iPhone have been circulating, though the validity of the accounts is difficult to verify.

Apple will kick off the 2007 World Wide Developer's Conference on June 11th 2007 with a keynote speech from Steve Jobs. News sites across the web will cover every announcement in detail, while Apple's site will be updated with any new products announced.

The keynote takes places on June 11th, 2007 at 10AM Pacific time and will be covered live at MacRumorsLive.com

Some readers prefer watching the keynote themselves without knowing the outcome. Unfortunately, there is no live video feed for the keynote. Instead, Apple posts a recorded Quicktime stream (usually) a few hours after the keynote completes.

For those individuals, we've posted this news story which will be updated with the link to the WWDC 2007 Keynote speech once it becomes available from Apple. No other news stories or announcements will be displayed alongside this story.

You can also subscribe to our notification list which will send out an email when the keynote is posted online. The mailing list will only be used for notifications for these spoiler free announcements and you may unsubscribe at any time.

Update: No, we haven't forgotten... Apple hasn't posted a link yet.

Update 2: An unconfirmed submission claimed this:

I just spoke with an apple spokesman, and they told me that the keynote stream might/probably not be posted until tomorrow, because they're having trouble updating the site.

We can't verify if true... but stay tuned.

Video: rtsp://a2047.v1412b.c1412.g.vq.akamaistream.net/5/2047/1412/1_h264_350/1a1a1ae555c531960166df4dbc3095c327960d7be756b71b49aa1576e344addb3ead1a497aaedf11/99427722_1_350.mov

Copy paste that url into Quicktime or your Web Browser or Click here

If you can't, you can visit this URL which has some hints at the content.

RoughlyDrafted has posted the first photographs of banners that have been setup at Moscone West in San Francisco for WWDC 2007.

Outside Moscone West
Leopard: Rocket fuel for your apps baner
Large X / Time Machine banner
Expand your universe banner

WWDC 2007 kicks off on Monday, June 11, 2007. Full details about Leopard are expected to be released at the keynote speech to be given by Steve Jobs.

MacRumors will be providing live text and photo coverage of the keynote speech at MacRumorsLive. No live video feed will be available during keynote, but Apple typically posts the keynote in Quicktime a few hours after the end of the event.

When Apple posted the first of the iPhone ads on Sunday night, a small blurb was included at the end of each ad indicating that a 2 year contract is required for service.

As noted by TUAW, when Apple added the latest iPhone ad to their website, they replaced all the ads with new ones that have removed that line altogether.

Clearly, Apple made a conscious decision to remove the line from all the advertisements, but the quesiton is why? Will there be pre-paid options, or other flexible ways to sign up for an iPhone?

It looks like the iPhone ads that aired on Sunday night were just the beginning. Sam L and several other MacRumors readers report that a new iPhone ad just aired on CNBC.

The unpublished iPhone ad focuses on the iPhone's ability to browse the internet, and demonstrates Safari browsing the New York Times website: scrolling, zooming, and browsing. Reader, lblev describes the voiceover:

"it's not the sorta internet... it's not the watered down internet... it's just... the internet... on your phone."

The ad has not yet been posted to Apple's iPhone ads website.

Forum member ajhill posted the video on Youtube.

Update: Apple has posted a high resolution version of the new ad.