MacRumors

CNN.com has an interesting article about the secrecy surrounding the Apple iPhone. What's been remarkable about the iPhone launch is that few accurate details of the phone were leaked prior to the launch. Part of Apple's success in keeping the details under wraps is the 5 month lead-time on the announcement. That being said, their level of secrecy, even with their wireless provider has reached new levels:

Even so, Apple didn't show Cingular the final iPhone prototype until just weeks before this week's debut. In some cases, Apple crafted bogus handset prototypes to show not just to Cingular executives, but also to Apple's own workers.

This would explain why even though knowledge of an iPhone product was widespread, the exact details of the device were successfully shielded.

In the coming days, we will look back at rumors and recap where the most accurate information came from.

Related Forum: iPhone

TreoCentral posted an excellent analysis of the Apple iPhone from the Palm and Smartphone market perspective. It addresses issues that have been long-standing in the smartphone world, including on-screen keyboards and battery life issues.

One interesting aspect is the lack of a removable battery in the iPhone. While this has worked for them in the iPod marketplace, the author suggests that Palm's experience has been one where users demand a removable battery. Certainly, the tradeoff provides a much slimmer form factor for the iPhone.

No other slim phone has every gotten good battery life. That is the tradeoff for slimness, and one of the primary reasons the Treo is so thick. While Apple's engineering is incredible, it seems hard to believe that they have solved this one industry-wide problem in a device that looks more power-hungry then any other.

Also pointed out, however, are the relatively vague battery life numbers provided, though, to be fair, the product remains 5 months from shipping.

The article also addresses on-screen keyboards, user interface, lack of 3G, non-open platform and more.

A Palm VP was quoted in terms of marketing against the iPhone in the coming months:

"How do you compete with vaporware? You sell the product that only costs half as much, and is available now. Palm's not going to try to market against product that they haven't seen yet."

Indeed, Palm CEO had suggested that Apple would have difficulties in entering the phone market after Palm had "learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone".

Related Forum: iPhone

Despite Apple's introduction of the iPhone, few hardware details of the device were revealed. One analyst produced a list of likely vendors for the parts that go into the iPhone. The list is as follows:

Samsung Electronics (applications/video processor), Marvell (802.11), Infineon Technologies (baseband), Broadcom Corp. (touch screen controller), and Cambridge Silicon Radio (Bluetooth)

Of interest, the CPU of the iPhone was never explicitly mentioned by Apple, but Intel has flatly denied that it is producing the processor for the iPhone. Buzz around the Macworld floor has suggested that a Samsung ARM processor is at the heart of the device.

Related Forum: iPhone

MacRumors founder and Editor-in-Chief Arn is once again scheduled to be interviewed on the CNBC On the Money program. The financial news show (today, 7pm EST, 4pm PST) is already in progress as we report this.

In constrast to the previous taped interviews, Arn is to be on the show "live" this time.

Arn was first interviewed on CNBC on November 16, discussing the iPhone rumors. This followup interview follows yesterday's iPhone announcement by Apple.
Update: Video is available on CNBC.
Update 2: Alternative direct link to video: here.

Cisco is suing Apple and seeking an injunction to prevent Apple from using Cisco's "iPhone" US trademark. As of yesterday, Cisco representatives said that a deal was close for licensing the trademark to Apple, however it appears as though Apple's announcement before a deal was reached may have forced Cisco into the courts.

"Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco's iPhone name," said Mark Chandler, senior vice president and general counsel, Cisco. "There is no doubt that Apple's new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.

"Today's iPhone is not tomorrow's iPhone. The potential for convergence of the home phone, cell phone, work phone and PC is limitless, which is why it is so important for us to protect our brand," Chandler concluded.

With its lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Cisco is seeking an injunction to prevent Apple from copying Cisco's iPhone trademark.

Note: While Cisco has the US trademark for "iPhone," Apple does have the trademark for "iPhone" in some other countries.

Related Forum: iPhone

Time.com was given some information about the development of the Apple iPhone. Of particular interest, especially to those who follow Apple rumors, is a tidbit about how the iPhone interface came to be. According to the author, "a few years ago" Steve Jobs noticed all the research money spent into Tablet PCs and had a team of Apple engineers working on a tablet interface with touch screen.

When they showed him the screen they came up with, he got excited. So excited that he thought he had the beginnings of a new product.

And so, the iPhone was born. What is interesting is that around this time, rumors of an Apple tablet had reemerged. Whispers of an Apple Tablet project began to resurface in late 2002 and peaked prior to Macworld SF 2003. No tablet came, but the description was an 8-inch multimedia device running Mac OS X. It appears that these rumors were likely true and based on this project.

Time's author as well as David Pogue had some one-on-one time with the device, and provides these additional details and observations:

- Can't download songs directly from iTunes Store
- Can't sync iPhone with a computer wirelessly.
- "Web speed was OKnot great, but OK."
- "Apple went through numerous iterations of the glass surface, trying to find one thats not too slick or too rough, or that shows grease and fingerprints too much. "
- "It feels amazing in your hand"
- "Typing is difficult"

According to Engadget, the iPhone is not open to 3rd party development at this time. Only Apple is providing (built-in) applications for the device.

Related Forum: iPhone

Some notes/commentary surrounding today's announcements:

iPhone Trademark
While it took many by surprise that Apple did indeed use the term "iPhone" to describe their mobile phone after Cisco/Linksys used their US trademark on "iPhone" and launched web-enabled handsets, Reuters reports that Cisco and Apple are close to a deal regarding the iPhone trademark.

Beatles Played During the Keynote
At 9:58 am, Steve played a song from the Beatles while demoing the iPhone. The Beatles have been noticeably absent from iTunes, however there have been rumors that Apple is close to signing an exclusive agreement to bring the Beatles' catalog into digital distribution via iTunes. Such an agreement was not announced today, but the choice of music was curious nonetheless.

Apple TV USB Connector
When initially previewed, many wondered why the "iTV" (now Apple TV) contained a USB port. According to the Apple TV website, the USB port is for "service and diagnostics" use.

Pictures From Apple's Booth
MacRumors' Arnold Kim was on hand to take high-resolution pictures from inside Apple's booth showing the Apple TV demoed and the iPhone being displayed.

Mini OS X
The question on the minds of many developers now that this new stripped down version of OS X will be made available is... can I develop applications for it? So far, the answer has been "no comment" from Apple. However, an interesting note is that the iPhone's display is extremely high-resolution (160 ppi). At WWDC 2006, Apple told developers to begin making their applications "resolution independent," a fact that may come to bear should Apple decide to distribute a software development kit.

Related Forum: iPhone

Photos from Apple's booth at Macworld San Francisco 2007. The iPhone was on display but only within a rotating display case. It did appear connected to power and did have live images on it.

Beyond that, it could not be used or interacted with.

The iTV was setup and being demoed.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Apple has posted a Quicktime video-on-demand stream of this morning's keynote address by CEO Steve Jobs. Two links are available on Apple's site: one for the keynote and one for the iPhone introduction.

Also introduced today during the keynote was the Apple TV (formerly iTV). Apple also announced a deal to bring catalog Paramount movies to the iTunes Store and a corporate name change to Apple Incorporated (from Apple Computer Incorporated).

Related Forum: iPhone

Microsoft announced today Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. While not scheduled to ship until the second half of 2007, the company overviewed some of the major new features.

Office 2008 will share the same graphics engine as Office for Windows, and include Office Art 2.0. Office 2008 will also gain new interface features from Office for Windows 2007 like the Ribbon.

Also mentioned are new Mac-only features such as a Publishing Layout View that will allow Word users to create layout-rich documents (newsletters, fliers, and brochures), Ledger Sheets in Excel, and "My Day" priority tracking in Entourage.

Office 2008 will use Microsoft's new Open XML format, and Microsoft has pledged to provide beta file format converters for users of Office 2004 by Spring 2004. Also, Office 2008 will be the first version of Office to be a Universal Binary.

Microsft has not yet released pricing information, however current versions range from $149 for the Student and Teacher Edition to $399 for the Standard Edition (Professional Edition is likely to be discontinued with the next version of Office since Microsoft's decision to stop developing VirtualPC for Mac).

Apple kicked off Macworld with a keynote address from Steve Jobs at Macworld San Francisco.

Apple announced the following items today:

- iPhone
- Apple TV
- Apple Computer, Inc is now Apple, Inc
- 802.11n capable Airport Extremes

A transcript and keynote photos from our live coverage are still available.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Although not mentioned during Steve Jobs' keynote address, Apple has updated their Airport Extreme base station to include 802.11n compatibility, producing up to 5x the performance and up to 2x the range as the previous Airport Extreme model. The new model also comes in a modified enclosure that closely resembles the Apple TV.

Features
- Protocol Support: 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n
- WEP/WPA/WPA2 for wireless security

Ports
- 1 USB (for sharing printers or USB Disk sharing)
- 1 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet WAN port for connecting to Internet
- 3 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN ports for connecting to local networked devices.
- Security slot and 12v power.

It also appears as though users of Core 2 Duo-based Macs which have been quietly shipping with 802.11n capable chipsets will be receiving "802.11n Enabler" software. The software is listed on the Airport Extreme specification page.

The new base station is priced at $179 and will ship in February, and can be purchased at the Apple Store (UK Apple Store).

A transcript and keynote photos from our live coverage are still available.

Update: According to both the Airport Extreme specification page and a 802.11 explanation page on Apple's website, it appears that the 802.11n Enabler software will only ship with the Airport Extreme.

Related Forum: Networking