Gizmodo is reporting that Steve Jobs health is "rapidly declining" and that is the reason behind Macworld and Jobs keynote cancellations. According to their source:
Steves health is rapidly declining. Apple is choosing to remove the hype factor strategically vs letting the hype destroy apple when the inevitable news comes later this spring.
As of now, there is no credible evidence that Apple is releasing the iPhone Nano in January, or possibly ever. Yet, some case manufacturers have placed images of iPhone Nano cases on their websites and some even offer the ability to buy a case for the yet-to-be announced or released iPhone Nano. For those who took them up on the offer, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn that might be of interest.
Even credible manufacturers like Vaja are getting in the act, allowing visitors to sign up for news related to the iPhone Nano. Perhaps they are just victims of the hype and someone said, "we'd better get information on our site". These companies have zero to lose. If the gamble pays off and Apple does announce an iPhone Nano next week, they have already built up a significant head start from an awareness perspective. When next week comes to pass and the iPhone Nano is not announced, they've lost nothing, save for a shred of credibility when it comes to the next rumor. Even though we'll all be lining up publish the next iPhone rumor based on a flimsy piece of silicon. Macworld cannot come soon enough.
Posted by: Christopher Meinck in iPhone nano on
Dec 15, 2008
MacWorld starts on January 5th, 2009 and Apple typically uses the big stage to announce new products. Today we officially start the rumor mill, with iDealsChina claiming to have information regarding a so-called iPhone nano. The case manufacturer has had a spotty track record, but did provide images of a Griffn case mold for the iPhone 3G before it was announced. Information regarding the iPhone nano comes with a rendering of a skin case designed for yet unannounced iPhone.
There have been rumors of Walmart being the next retailer to carry the iPhone, but now comes word they might be selling a 4GB version of the iPhone for just $99 with a 2-year agreement. It certainly sounds plausible as a 4GB iPhone would give Apple a low-cost model to compete in the sub-$100 market where phones like Palm's Centro have seen good results.
A Russian iPhone site claims to have information on the 2.2.1 iPhone firmware beta, stating that it includes background push notification. Apple first committed to a push notification service for iPhone applications back in June that would allow notifications to be sent to your iPhone even when the applications in question are not running. Apple stated it would be available for developers in September but it was missing from the recent 2.2 firmware update and no official word has come from Apple on the cause of the delay or when it can be expected at this point.
The image below is posted at RussianiPhone.ru but its authenticity has not been verified.
According to iPhone Hellas, the 2.2 firmware for the iPhone will be released on November 21. It should incorporate the features previously leaked from developers who had access to the first and second beta distributions, including Street View in Google Maps, the ability to turn off auto-correction for text entry, Japanese Emoji, changes to the App Store, and the ability to download podcasts directly in the iPod application.
What still appears to be missing is the push notification feature that was promised for October. There's been no word and few rumors about this feature, but it is still a hotly-anticipated one for many iPhone users. Of course, the iPhone is still missing other highly-desired features like copy and paste and MMS, but we can all hope and dream that Apple will throw something we're not expecting into this release.
Posted by: Lincoln in financial, apple, 3g on
Oct 5, 2008
Some members of The Mac Observer's Apple Finance Board have made an effort to determine how many iPhones Apple has sold, and it was revealed that the company may have already reached it's goal of selling 10 million units in 2008.
According to a few well placed sources (one being a Verizon insider), 9to5mac is reported that Apple could announce a deal to bring the iPhone to Verizon at Macworld 2009. This news comes in spite of reports that Apple has an exclusivity deal with AT&T for as long as 5 years from the initial launch. Of course, when Apple first announced the iPhone, word was the exclusivity deal ran through 2009.
When Kevin Rose
first described what he believed would be released by Apple in September, he listed the 2.1 firmware for the iPod Touch with the version for the iPhone to follow shortly after. Now, others are chiming in to say that we might see the iPhone 2.1 firmware tomorrow as well, not later. I am personally all for that since I've experienced many of the problems with apps not opening, text entry lag, and GPS/triangulation not working, and I want all of that fixed NOW, thank you very much.
Ars Technica has
gone on to say that we might even see new features in iPhone firmware 2.1, such as background push notification and more GPS capability. The background push notification sounds a little questionable, since this was removed from the last SDK beta, but I could definitely picture Apple intentionally hiding this feature so they could do something surprising with it before developers get to see it. Of course, this means that whatever that surprising thing is, it will not have been tested very much outside of Apple, and that doesn't inspire the most confidence in its stability and operability these days.
I normally love new stuff from Apple, but I think that this is the first time in my history as an Apple fan that I don't want new stuff for my iPhone.
If you owned a smartphone before the iPhone, you probably used it for tethering to get online with your computer in a place where wifi was not available or too expensive. With the iPhone, tethering hasn't been possible unless you've jailbroken your iPhone or were lucky enough to buy NullRiver's NetShare app while it was briefly available in the App Store. In the U.S., you'll notice that other smartphones offered by AT&T can make use of data plans that allow tethering, and the iPhone is one of the few smartphones, if not the only one, that they offer that cannot make use of one of these plans, nor is there currently a native app or Settings option on the iPhone that enables this.
Well, today there's a
rumor that indicates that AT&T and Apple are looking into this! The rumor revolves around an email supposedly sent by Steve Jobs in response to someone who complained about AT&T's lack of tethering options for the iPhone. The purported reply from Steve says "We agree, and are discussing it with ATT [sic]".
Every year, there is always at least one rumor supported by an alleged email from Steve Jobs, and we've already had one or two of these this year, but this could prove to be one of the more exciting ones so far for iPhone users who really want to be able to use their iPhone 3G's high-speed network connection to be able to do even more on the go without worrying about doing something unauthorized on AT&T's network and/or voiding the warranty on their iPhone to enable this capability.
So, as always, we'll wait and see if this turns out to be true. My trusty Magic 8 ball says the possibility of this rumor coming true is "Most Likely" and it's never lied to me yet.
Via
MacRumors
