[Video] Comparison on Windows Mobile and iPhone!

So much of what needs comparing between these two devices is software experience, so it had to be a video. And it turned into a more general “Windows Mobile vs. iPhone” sort of deal, so we bring you a long (25 minutes, too long for YouTube!) one. So grab a cuppa joe and witness the (low-key) smackdownery. If you don’t have time just now, here’s the short version:

• iPhone: Absolutely rocks the universe with its media capabilities and its browser.


• Windows Mobile: Still the king of productivity. …with plenty of “check out this native 3rd party app” cheap shots thrown in at the end.

Basically we’re looking at a situation that matches with everybody’s expectations surprisingly well - the Apple product is hip, flashy, and surprisingly easy to use. The Windows product actually lets you, you know, work. Now in the desktop world, I find that the Mac lets me do the work I need to as well (if not better) than Windows. But in the mobile space, well, the cloying commercials fit pretty well.

via pdasnews

Dumb iPhone Commercial Of The Week

So now the iPhone helps a pilot bust his plane out of a 3-hour tarmac delay by enabling him to surf to Weather.com? That’s the preposterous story line of Apple’s latest commercial, which was inescapable on Sunday whether you were watching football during the day on FOX and CBS, or game seven of the American League Championship Season in the evening.

At least for new “fatty” iPod Nanos, Apple took the soft sell approach, enlisting the charming Feist ditty 1234 in a meta-music-video.

No such luck with the latest iPhone commercial. This one has some guy who’s supposed to be a pilot, telling us his iPhone got him to a weather report which said the storm was breaking, so he “called the tower,” and within a half hour, he was on his way.

Even if that scenario were believable, who is it aimed at? The subgroup of the potential iPhone buying public who has commercial aviation licenses? I much preferred the original iPhone ads, which pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes by grossing inflating the Web-surfing speed of the EDGE network, and let it at that.

Here’s the iPhone “Fly Me” commercial, courtesy of YouTube:

What’s next? Steve Jobs friend Larry Ellison enlisting the iPhone to help him steer around a squall during the America’s Cup?

via InformationWeek

Apple to Release Unlocked iPhone in France

Apple is releasing an unlocked version of the iPhone that will allow users to run it on various cellular networks. But you have to live in France to get it.

Under a just-announced deal, the European mobile carrier Orange will be the exclusive source for the iPhone in the French market. The unlocked phone is concession to a French law that forbids companies to bundle a cell phone to a specific mobile operator.

According to a report in the International Herald Tribune, Orange will offer both a locked version for its French net for about $560 and an unlocked version for a higher, but undisclosed price. Both are expected to be unveiled in November.

Apple recently signed exclusive deals, similar to the one with U.S.-based AT&T, with Britain’s O2, the wireless division of Spain’s Telefonica, and with Germany’s T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom.

According to the Tribune report, Orange wouldn’t say whether it had agreed to give Apple a share of the service revenues generated by iPhone users. This is one of the most striking features of Apple’s move into the mobile phone market. The Tribune quoted a Nortel executive on how revolutionary this change is: ‘For operators, having an handset maker suddenly demand a slice of their revenues is like being asked to change your religion,’ said Gerry Collins, the director of strategic marketing at Nortel Networks, a Canadian company that makes wireless phone networks. “This is really a significant change for the industry.

From the outset, Apple’s decision has come under concerted attack by hackers trying to unlock the phone’s SIM card, thereby allowing the phone to run on a network other than AT&T. Apple has made a just-as-concerted counter-attack to undo those hacks.

via PCWorld

Viruses, Trojans and Remote Snooping: Hackers Release Their Own iPhone SDK

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced Wednesday that his company will release a software-development kit for the iPhone in February, to allow programmers to produce third-party applications for the device. But hackers have already come up with their own software-development kit. It allows them to deliver any code they want to the iPhone, including viruses, Trojan horses and the ability to snoop on audio and video.

Developer H.D. Moore has added support for iPhone attacks to the Metasploit Framework. Metasploit is an open source hacking tool used by computer-security administrators and black hats alike to create security applications and exploits.

Moore posted sample exploits and detailed instructions this week on how to write and deliver code that can take complete control of an iPhone.

The move takes hackers one step closer to being able to remotely and surreptitiously take control of an iPhone and turn it into a surveillance device.

But it also makes it easier for white hats to develop and install custom software for their own iPhones.

Moore’s tool and exploits take advantage of a vulnerability in the TIFF image-rendering library that’s used by the iPhone’s browser, mail and music software.

It’s the same vulnerability that has allowed numerous Apple customers to unlock and customize their iPhones. But Moore’s Metasploit Framework does much more, giving hackers remote shell access to iPhones that will allow them to run any code on the device.

“All you have to do is get somebody to open a TIFF image with an exploit in it ,and you’ve owned the phone,” says Rik Farrow, a security consultant and corporate speaker who delivered a security talk to Apple employees last year.

Attackers could conceivably write code to hijack the contacts in an iPhone address book, access the list of received and sent calls and messages, turn the phone into a listening device, track the user’s location, or instruct the phone to snap photos of the user’s surroundings — including any companions who may be in view of the camera lens.

Moore wrote on his blog that the iPhone is more vulnerable than other phones, because every application on the phone runs as “root.” That means a bug in the calculator application, for example, could lead to full access privileges on the device.

Simply patching the TIFF vulnerability in the iPhone won’t solve Apple’s problem. The Metasploit Framework allows hackers to easily mix and match exploits and payloads. That means hackers can develop code for the iPhone independent of any particular security hole, then deliver by means of whatever vulnerability in the phones is known and still unpatched at the time.

Jobs said in his announcement that the company is moving slowly on releasing the official SDK because it wants to provide broad access to developers, while also protecting users from hackers and others who might have ill designs on cracking the phones. That suggests the company recognizes it made a blunder by allowing full system privileges for every application.

“Apple is savvy enough to realize that this is really terrible,” says Farrow. “And it’s going to take them until February to actually be able to release the SDK, because they’re going to have to do basic things to the cellphone operating system itself to make it secure. So we’re not just talking about a software-development kit, we’re talking about fixing something that has major flaws in the security of it as it exists.”

But Moore and Farrow say to fix the problem, the company will need to do more, such as create precise rules in the system to limit what a malicious application can do on the phone.


“From what I’ve seen of the design of the phone, it doesn’t look like an easy task,” Moore says.

So why didn’t Apple do this before releasing the phone?

“Apple wants to sell really fancy, glitzy appliances that have great consumer appeal,” Farrow says. “And security has never been one of those things that has great consumer appeal. So Apple is totally correct to ship out an insecure product, because people snap them up. But at the same time I’m sure that there were engineers at Apple saying, ‘This is totally insane. We are going to get so hammered for this.’”

“There are some very clue-ful people there. But my impression is that they have to work very hard to make security a priority.”

Apple did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

via Wired

Apple asserts iPhone meets eco standards

Facing a lawsuit for allegedly using toxic substances in the iPhone, Apple today told MacWorld that the device "meets the restrictions placed on hazardous substances."

"Like all Apple products worldwide, iPhone complies with RoHS [Restriction of Hazardous Substances], the world's toughest restrictions on toxic substances in electronics," an Apple spokesperson told Macworld. "As we have said, Apple will voluntarily eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs by the end of 2008."

The declaration comes in the wake of a report from Greenpeace accusing Apple is using phthalates in the plastic earphone wiring. Phthalates is considered a reproductive toxin.

Although the iPhone may meet ROHS standards, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) is asserting the Apple has violated California law, which says that products that can expose consumers to phthaltes or other such chemicals must carry a warning label.

The CEH has given Apple 60-days legal notice, which is the first required by California law before a lawsuit is launched.

via infoworld

Greenpeace: iPhone Not Good For The Environment

International environmental group Greenpeace has launched an attack on Steve Jobs’ claims that Apple is a company with green credentials by releasing an analysis of the iPhone that finds toxic chemicals that have or are in the process of being eliminated by other mobile phone manufacturers.



According to Greenpeace, the iPhone contains toxic brominated compounds (indicating the prescence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs)) and hazardous PVCs.

Two of the “phthalate plasticisers” found at high levels in the iPhone headphone cable are classified in Europe as ‘toxic to reproduction, category 2′ and are banned from use in all toys or childcare articles sold in Europe.The report noted that Nokia is totally PVC free and that Motorola and Sony Ericsson already have products on the market with BFR free components.

Greenpeace called upon Apple to truly revolutionize the mobile phone by producing an environmentally friendly handset for the iPhone’s European launch.

via techcrunch

What a Future IPhone With WiMax Might Look Like

Imagine an iPhone from Apple that makes VOIP calls, gets faster-than-Wi-Fi internet access, and boasts weeks of battery life. Best of all, it's not tied to a pokey Edge network.

Taiwan's DigiTimes reports the rumor that Apple will base future iPhone versions on Intel's upcoming Moorestown processors -- low-power, high-performance systems-on-a-chip aimed at smartphones and mobile handsets.

The rumors sparked a lot of excitement on Mac gossip sites and forums about better battery life and increased software compatibility with Apple's Macs.

What many ignored, however, is the fact that Intel's Moorestown processors will also be an integrated WiMax platform. Intel has already announced that its Moorestown platform will feature a CPU, fast 3-D graphics, HD video decoding, Wi-Fi and WiMax on a single chip.

"The iPhone is the perfect device for (Moorestown)," says analyst Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies. "I mean, (the iPhone) is really a mobile internet device with a phone tacked on for good measure."

WiMax is an emerging standard for 4-G wireless data networks that promises maximum download speeds of 70 mbps -- more than six times the speed of 802.11b Wi-Fi's 11 mbps. In practice though, WiMax speeds will likely not reach the theoretical maximum, but will probably match that of Wi-Fi.

After years in the lab, WiMax is about to go mainstream, according to Intel. In 2008, the first devices from the likes of Nokia, Lenovo, Toshiba and others will debut. At the same time, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are working on nationwide WiMax networks, which should be completed by 2010. Intel is on task to begin Moorestown production in 2009.

The Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker has been a strong proponent of WiMax over the years. WiMax will theoretically compete with Wi-Fi and let service providers build ultra-fast networks using radio antennas. A WiMax-enabled iPhone could even signal the end of the traditional carrier-pricing models, because high-speed internet network connectivity would become virtually ubiquitous.

Intel is a powerful ally of the WiMax technology. After all, Intel's Centrino chip set is a major reason Wi-Fi is now nearly universal, and the company is hoping Moorestown will do the same for WiMax.

Apple's adoption of Moorestown could also provide a big boost. The research firm iSuppli predicts Apple will sell close to 22 million iPhones in 2009.

Whether Apple uses Moorestown processors for the iPhone, iSuppli says WiMax will find its way into devices like the Blackberry and other smartphones.

"You have to remember Apple isn't the only device maker that could be implementing WiMax," says Kay. "Everybody's seen this timeline. It's certainly no secret that a lot of companies are going down this road."

However, Apple’s position on WiMax remains unknown. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

Tina Teng, iSuppli's mobile communications analyst, says Intel is a force to be reckoned with, but there could be stiff competition from other 4-G wireless technologies. Other semiconductor vendors are supporting a technology known as LTE, an ongoing project to improve the existing 3-G UMTS mobile phone standard.

Which brings up another potential problem: As Chris Hazelton, senior analyst for mobile devices at IDC, notes, there might also be sticky exclusivity deals with AT&T that could hamper Apple's WiMax iPhone ambitions -- if indeed it has any.

AT&T itself is currently working on building out its own 3-G high-speed downlink packet access, HSDPA, network and has already said it's not interested in joining the likes of Sprint and Clearwire in WiMax build-outs.

In that sense, the real key to Apple's WiMax decision may come down to whether there's a decent infrastructure for iPhone customers to use in the first place.

via Wired

Korean Mobile Makers Step Up iPhone Attack

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics will confront Apple in a Christmas battle to take down the iPhone, the "blue chip" phone in the U.S. Verizon, one of the leading U.S. mobile operators, on Wednesday unveiled three new mobile phones to compete with the iPhone, which is available only through Verizon's rival AT&T.

Verizon has the biggest subscriber base in the eastern U.S. Among Verizon's new products, the Voyager from LG Electronics has a touchscreen display as wide as that of the iPhone. And the Voyager uses a wireless Internet service that is faster than the one available for the iPhone. Beside the touchscreen, it also has a flip-open keypad, which is expected to attract iPhone admirers who want a traditional keypad, experts say.

Another LG Electronics phone, the black and pink Venus, also has a touchscreen display with a keypad that slides beneath it. Both Venus and Voyager have 2-megapixel cameras and allow high-speed mobile Internet access for speedy music and movie downloads. Verizon will release the two phones next month.

Verizon's third iPhone competitor is the Juke from Samsung Electronics, an ultra-slim phone that looks like a bar-type but has a swivel keypad. In fact it's among the shortest swivel phones ever launched in the U.S. It doesn't support high-speed wireless Internet, but its high-tech design should appeal to young early adopters. The Juke will go on sale Oct. 19.

Verizon's new phones cost from US$100 to $400, less expensive than the iPhone ($399). It will kill the iPhone," promised Mike Lanman, Verizon's chief marketing officer.

via Chosun

Orange and Apple still arguing iPhone details

Orange's exclusive deal to distribute the iPhone in France may not be as solid as claimed, with the handset strangely absent at the Apple Expo in Paris, and a French newspaper reporting that the revenue share details are still under discussion.

The Challenges website reports (in French) that Orange's exclusive is far from a done deal, with the companies still in discussions over how large Apple's pound of flesh will be.
Click here to find out more!

It's certainly hard to explain why there were no iPhones at the Apple Expo otherwise, which could mean the French deal is still on the table, or perhaps Orange will successfully hold out for a more operator-friendly split. That could really annoy T-Mobile and O2, in Germany and the UK respectively, with their deals already inked and announced.

Just when we thought all the secret launches and quiet network-building were done, Apple still manages to keep us guessing... or perhaps that's the idea.

source TheRegister

iPhone's Bluetooth Bug Under Hackers' Microscope

Almost lost in the hubbub over the latest iPhone firmware update and whether it would "brick" unlocked phones was the fact that Apple patched 10 vulnerabilities.

Almost lost in the hubbub over Thursday's iPhone firmware update and whether it would "brick" unlocked phones was the fact that Apple Inc. patched 10 vulnerabilities -- twice the number of fixes issued since the phone's June debut.

The iPhone 1.1.1 update, which like previous upgrades is delivered through Apple's iTunes software, fixes seven flaws in the built-in Safari browser, two in the smart phone's Mail application and one in its use of Bluetooth, the short-range wireless technology.

The seven Safari vulnerabilities include several cross-site scripting (XSS) flaws, one that can disclose the URL of other viewed pages -- an online banking site, say -- and another that lets attackers execute malicious JavaScript in pages delivered by the SSL-encrypted HTTPS protocol. One of the Safari flaws, and an associated vulnerability in Mail, involve "tel:" links, which can be exploited by hackers to dial a number without the user confirming the call.

But it was the Bluetooth bug that got the attention of security researchers. Symantec's DeepSight threat network team pointed out the vulnerability in an advisory to customers Friday. "Reportedly, the Bluetooth flaw occurs when malicious Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) packets are handled; any attacker that is within Bluetooth range can exploit it remotely," wrote DeepSight analyst Anthony Roe in the alert. "Successful exploits are reported to allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code."

According to Apple's security advisory, the Bluetooth bug was discovered and reported by Kevin Mahaffey and John Hering of Flexillis Inc., a Los Angeles-based company that specializes in mobile security development and consulting. Flexillis may be best known for its reverse engineering of the exploit used to hack into several celebrities' T-Mobile cell phone accounts in 2005, include Paris Hilton and Vin Diesel.

The Bluetooth bug may prove to be dangerous to iPhones, Roe speculated, since the potential range of the technology is much greater than most people think. While Bluetooth's potential range -- and thus the maximum distance between attacker and victim -- is about 400 feet, "Several proof-of-concept Bluetooth antennas have intercepted Bluetooth signals at almost a mile," he said.

Roe also pointed out that HD Moore, the driving force behind the Metasploit penetration framework, had recently demonstrated that shellcode could be run on an iPhone. Moore, said Roe, proved that "exploiting security vulnerabilities affecting the iPhone is by no means out of reach."

In a post to his blog -- and to the Metasploit site -- on Wednesday, Moore said that because every process on the iPhone runs as root, and so has full privileges to the operating system, any exploit of an iPhone application vulnerability, such as Safari or Mail or Bluetooth, would result in a complete hijack of the device. Moore also announced that he would add iPhone support to Metasploit, which would make it much easier for hackers to access a vulnerable phone.

Moore acknowledged that he's looking at the Bluetooth vulnerability. "The Bluetooth SDP vulnerability is the only issue I am focusing on," he said in an e-mail Friday.

He also hinted that locating vulnerable iPhones wouldn't be a problem. "The Bluetooth MAC [media address control] address is always one less than the Wi-Fi interface's MAC address," he said. "Since the iPhone is always probing for or connected to its list of known access points, the presence of the iPhone and its Bluetooth MAC address can be determining by using a standard Wi-Fi sniffer.

"Once the Bluetooth MAC address is obtained, the SDP issue can be exploited by anyone within range of the Bluetooth chip, or within range of the attacker's antenna, which can be up to a mile away in some cases," he said.

If Moore manages to craft an exploit and add it to Metasploit, it's probable that criminal hackers will quickly follow. "Once we see something in Metasploit, we know it's likely we'll see it used in attacks," Alfred Huger, vice president of engineering with Symantec's security response group, said in a July interview.

Jarno Neimela, a senior researcher with F-Secure Corp., a Helsinki-based security vendor, also hit the alarm button, but for a different reason. In a posting to his company's blog Friday, Neimela pointed out that there's no security software available for the iPhone, thanks to Apple's decision to keep the device's inner workings a secret.

"The amount of technical information [available about the iPhone] makes it likely that sooner or later someone will create a worm or some other malware," Neimela said. "This will create an interesting problem for the security field as the iPhone is currently a closed system and it's not feasible to provide anti-virus or other third-party security solutions for it.

"So if someone were able to create a rapidly spreading worm on the iPhone, protecting users against it would be problematic."

Although iPhone owners will be automatically notified in the next week that the new patches are ready to download and install, a large number of those who have modified or unlocked their phones will probably forgo the fixes, since the 1.1.1 update apparently also disables unlocked phones and wipes unauthorized third-party applications that have been added with various hacks.

soource PCWorld

iPhone firmware 1.1.1 released; breaks everything

Today Apple released iPhone firmware version 1.1.1 via iTunes and it appears to be pretty nasty toward unlocked and otherwise hacked iPhones. According to Gizmodo and Engadget the update re-locks unlocked phones and renders the brilliant AppTapp installer and other third-party applications useless.

Features of the 1.1.1 update include:

• iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites of music controls
• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space
• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape
• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered
• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar
• Support for TV Out
• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally
• New Passcode lock time intervals
• Adjustable alert volume

I’d rather have AppTapp installer over the iTunes WiFi Store any day. I’m going to stick with firmware v.1.0.2, thanks.

source ZDNet by Jason D. O'Grady

Unauthorized iPhone Apps Market Flourishes

There is a vibrant community of developers writing apps to install directly on the iPhone, contrary to Apple's wishes.

Software developer Dylan Schiemann used Steve Jobs' own words against him in a presentation on developing third-party software applications for Apple's iPhone.

"You can write amazing Web 2.0 and Ajax apps that look and behave exactly like apps on the iPhone," CEO Jobs said at an Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June in San Francisco.

"It depends on your meaning of the word 'exactly,'" Schiemann said Monday at the AjaxWorld 2007 Conference & Expo in nearby Santa Clara.

Jobs says Apple will allow third-party software developers to write applications to run on an iPhone, but not be installed on it. Instead, the apps can only be delivered through the device's Safari Web browser. While an endorsement of Ajax from Steve Jobs is welcome, Schiemann and others at the Ajax conference say there are limitations on how their apps can run on Safari, and there is a vibrant community of developers writing apps to install directly on iPhone, contrary to Apple's wishes.

Schiemann's iPhone has 40 applications running on it, including the ones Apple ships from the factory, but also some unauthorized apps installed directly on the device. Christopher Allen, another AjaxWorld presenter who runs the Web site iPhoneWebDev.com, has 50 apps on his iPhone, including several unauthorized ones.

The Ajax conference, held Sept. 23 to 26 and drawing about 900 people, devoted five breakout sessions to developing iPhone apps using Ajax, a development tool for writing Web-based applications.

Schiemann, CEO of Web-based applications developer SitePen, promoted the Dojo Foundation's open source Dojo Toolkit for writing iPhone applications but says even it can't overcome all the limitations in trying to work with the current iPhone version of mobile Safari. Notably, he said, Web-based apps can't react to the iPhone's signature feature, which is the ability of a person to use finger-touch commands, such as the "pinch" to zoom in on a Web page.

Allen adds: "When the user pinches, the Web-based application is not notified that the end user is doing that . . . because the Web browser does not tell them."

Allen makes a distinction between hackers who add software apps and those who break into the iPhone to avoid using AT&T's wireless service. Jobs says Apple will take action to prevent unlocking.

Asked for comment for this story, an Apple spokeswoman e-mailed a company statement that seems to make no such distinction: "Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software . . . violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty."

Apple did not reply to attempts to clarify the statement.

Schiemann argues that his adding apps to his iPhone does not constitute "unlocking" it, so he doesn't consider that a violation of the terms of service. "It is, after all, still my iPhone."

The developers hope that Apple improves support for developers and fixes other glitches when it introduces an updated version of Safari, expected in October, and when its long-delayed Leopard operating system is released.

Still, Schiemann and Allen understand why Apple is being protective of its platform. If someone installs an unauthorized application and it breaks some other part of the iPhone, a customer will blame Apple, not the developer. If an iPhone software upgrade somehow disables an unauthorized app, Apple can't have to worry about apps it doesn't support in the first place.

Despite the frustrations, the iPhone app market is worth pursuing, both men say. Given the robustness of the iPhone experience, its expansion into markets abroad and Apple's sales forecast of 10 million units, it is a significant opportunity.

"This is a gold rush, but we're basically in the alchemy stage where we're trying to turn lead into gold," Schiemann says. "We're trying to do all these things with the device because it's so freaking fun to use."

source PCWorld

Researcher: iPhone has potential security problems

Apple's iPhone is a tough target for hackers, but a security researcher warned Friday that there are ways the sleek device could potentially be compromised.

The iPhone has no security software, but Apple doesn't let people load third-party programs on the device, reducing the risk of infection from malicious software. But when the iPhone is connected to the Web, possibilities emerge, said Marius van Oers, a security researcher with McAfee's AVERT Labs in Amsterdam.

He doesn't claim to have uncovered a specific security hole in the device, but listed several ways that determined hackers could use the Web to try to find a way in.

Apple is relying on developers to create rich Web-based applications that will be accessed through the mobile version of the company's Safari Web browser. Browser flaws are a proven way for hackers to get unauthorized code running on a system, van Oers said.

"It's fairly easy to send someone an SMS (Short Messaging Service) or an e-mail with a Web link," he said. "And once you go to the Web link, then that server can inject code into the iPhone, and if that happens, [a hacker] can have full control."

That's what happened with a Safari flaw found by Independent Security Evaluators, a company that detailed its findings at the Black Hat security conference in August. By constructing a malicious Web site, the researchers injected code into the iPhone and pilfered recent text messages, phone numbers and e-mail. Apple has since patched the flaw.

"Once you get access to the system, it's all over," van Oers said.

He presented his view of iPhone security Friday at the Virus Bulletin security conference in Vienna. Although he is based in Europe, he examined an iPhone purchased in the U.S. His view of the iPhone's security is more cautionary and speculative, but rooted in the well-known ways that hackers work.

Apple also allows the use of JavaScript when the iPhone interacts with Web pages, a programming language that has been used to exploit software problems, van Oers said.

Further, Apple's multimedia application QuickTime has been prone to trouble, and there are several proof-of-concept exploits circulating the Web now for version 7, van Oers said. How that proof-of-concept code could affect QuickTime on the iPhone remains to be seen.

Nonetheless, with the iPhone already popular in the U.S. and due to go on sale in Europe in about six weeks, Apple can expect more aggressive attempts by malicious hackers to meddle with it.

Hacking mobile devices is less prevalent than hacking desktop computers. But interesting malicious programs have been written for mobiles, including some that repeatedly autodial or send text messages to a premium number. The number is owned by the hackers, who collect the revenue.

The chance of those kinds of malicious software affecting the iPhone today is probably low, but "that's the future. Let's hope it will not come to that," van Oers said.

source InfoWorld

The iPhone Goes Orange

The iPhone's latest move is to France.

France Telecom will start marketing Apple Inc.'s million-selling iPhone in France through its wireless arm Orange.

Thursday's announcement came days after Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs visited Britain and Germany to unveil similar deals with mobile operator O2 and Deutsche Telekom AG.
The iPhone, a combined cell phone-iPod media player that also can wirelessly access the Internet, will go on sale in all three countries in November -- in time for the holiday season.

The latest deal was announced by France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard during a conference in Hanoi. Apple said last week that it had sold 1 million iPhones in the United States in the first 74 days it was on sale, shortly after slashing the price by a third. The iPhone debuted in the United States on June 29, with service exclusively through AT&T Inc.

France Telecom will be counting on the popular iPhone to raise sales, boosting its share of the cell phone market. Jobs said Tuesday his goal was to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008, representing 1 percent of the global handset market.

Officials with Orange would not say how much the phone will cost in France.
Consumers in Britain will pay 269 pounds ($536) for the 8-gigabyte model -- or about $139 more than what Apple charges in the United States.

In Germany the phone will cost 399 euros ($553). Both European price tags include value-added tax.

The company cut the 8-gigabyte iPhone to $399, from $599, and discontinued the $499 4-gigabyte version. It apologized to those who had paid full price and offered $100 credits to early buyers.

via AP www.ctv.ca

New 3G iPhone due in early ‘08 will have “assisted GPS chips”

Scott Moritz of financial news site TheStreet.com reports that a second-generation, 3G iPhone will be released early next year.

Their sources report that the upgraded phone will offer GPS from as yet-unspecified navigation services.

The new 3G iPhone is expected to include features like global positioning for navigation services.

This functionality, apparently, will be actualized via chips from Broadcom, optimized to work with capabilities already offered by a new (July of this year) Broadcom acquisition called Global Locate. Global Locate manufactures “assisted GPS chips” that use both satellite and cell antenna signals to pinpoint locations. Now part of Broadcom’s portfolio, Global Locate’s solution set is said to make the long-elusive dream of GPS indoor functionality a high-performance reality. The assisted GPS chips also are said to boost GPS fuctionality at points on the globe where a direct satellite read isn’t possible.

TheStreet also reports that chipmaker TriQuint will also be part of the next generation of iPhones. TriQuint’s specialty of interest to Apple: power amplifiers for the iPhone.

» via ZDNet

Jobs Says Apple Will Fight iPhone Unlocking Hacks

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs said Tuesday that it's his company's job to stymie hackers who try to unlock the iPhone -- the first time the company has officially said it would fight attempts to use the popular device on unauthorized networks.

At a London Apple retail store where he announced the iPhone's Nov. 9 U.K. debut, Jobs responded to a question about whether Apple would put a stop to the unlocking hacks that have mushroomed recently. "It's a cat-and-mouse game," said Jobs. "We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it's our job to stop them breaking in."

In last few weeks, people have unveiled several unlock hacks that let users swap the iPhone's included SIM card with one from another cellular service provider so the phone can make calls on that carrier's network. With the iPhone limited to domestic sales until November, unlocking is the only way consumers living outside the U.S. have been able to use their phones.

Last week, the iPhone Dev Team posted a free unlocking hack, then followed it Monday with anySIM, an unlocking tool tucked into a graphical interface. Just a day before the iPhone Dev Team released its free hack, a group called iPhoneSIMFree began selling an unlocking tool of its own through a network of online resellers at prices ranging from US$45 to $99.

Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner Inc. analyst who was at the London presentation, said she wondered if it matters much in the long run whether Apple stays a step ahead of hackers, as Jobs said it must do. "At the moment, as a consumer, you need to be very careful about unlocking the iPhone, and know how you want to use it," she said. "If you unlock it, you are not going to have a flat rate, and you will not have access to the 7,500 hot spots."

O2 Ltd., the iPhone's sole carrier in the U.K., will offer three flat-rate plans -- dubbed "tariffs" in Britain -- that range in price from $70 to $110 per month. Flat-rate plans are relatively rare in the U.K., said Milanesi. "If you unlock and then use the Internet and e-mail, you may be surprised by your first bill," she added, referring to the pay-as-you-go data rates charged by most carriers in the country and elsewhere in Europe.

O2 has struck a deal with a Wi-Fi provider called The Cloud that will give iPhone users unlimited wireless access to some 7,500 hot spots in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"There's a difference here, too, compared to the United States," said Milanesi. Because Apple plans to release its iPod Touch, an iPod-cum-Internet device, in the U.K. by the end of the month, consumers will have a choice between that and the iPhone when the latter launches five weeks later.

"Now with the Touch, you have an alternative," she said. People who might have been drawn to the iPhone for its music capabilities, interface and/or its Web browsing features -- and might have used an unlocking hack so they could avoid paying a penalty when they ditched their current carrier -- could instead opt for the iPod Touch.

Jobs did not go into details on how Apple would bar hacks, but the process would presumably involve firmware updates to the iPhone, delivered via the iTunes software. Both of the firmware updates issued since the iPhone's U.S. debut in late June have either broken other, non-unlocking hacks, or forced users to restore the device from scratch. IPhoneSIMFree, for instance, does not guarantee that its unlocking tool will work after future firmware updates.

Keeping unlocking hacks completely at bay, though, will probably be impossible, something Jobs tacitly acknowledged when he said that while it was a cat-and-mouse game between Apple and hackers, "I'm not sure if we are the cat or the mouse."

"Jobs said that they would stay a step ahead," said Milanesi, "but that will be easier said than done."

» via PCWorld

Google may try pitching a free iPhone alternative

If you weren't the first geek on your block with an iPhone, don't despair. There's still time to get in line for the GPhone.

That's G, as in Google.

Still warm from this summer's rollout of the stylish Apple iPhone, the Internet hype machine is whipping itself into a new frenzy over a mobile device that Google may -- or may not -- have up its sleeve.

Stealing a page from Apple's playbook, the search engine king is mum -- fueling the kind of rabid speculation that money can't buy.

Over at Engadget, a Web site for gadgeteers, they've been saying a Google announcement is imminent. Citing "inside sources" at Google, podcaster Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins claims the new phone is conceived more as a cheap wireless computer than as a threat to traditional cellular providers.

Some accounts suggest the GPhone will run a modified version of the Linux operating system, with a new Web browser and GPS location technology married to Google Maps and search applications.

And unlike the pricey iPhone, Google's device or its phone service may be free -- with a bombardment of ads.

"Google doesn't comment on rumor or speculation," is all Google spokesperson Erin Fors will say about any of this.

Here's what is known for sure: Google, which reaped $10.6 billion in revenues last year selling search-related ads online, sees mobile phones as the next frontier.

And with good reason: Research firm Frost & Sullivan predicts the U.S. market for mobile ads will jump from $301 million in 2006 to more than $2 billion in 2011. Another research firm, Gartner Inc., expects the figure will approach $4 billion in North America and nearly $15 billion globally.

Mobile versions of Google Maps, Gmail and Google's YouTube video-sharing site already are available.

Meanwhile, Google has lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to set aside a valuable swath of broadcast frequencies for "open access," freeing consumers to use any device or software they choose for interactive services.

That's the opposite of the iPhone business model, which restricts users to AT&T services. Google is poised to bid billions of dollars for these frequencies, indicating a desire to offer wireless services or partner with others.

Late last month, Google filed for a patent on a mobile phone payment method. Dubbed "GPay," it would enable consumers to buy items from vending machines and retailers using text messages.

Google's acquisitions include Android, a mobile software startup co-founded by an inventor of T-Mobile's flashy Sidekick cell phone.

"Simpler" and less flashy than the iPhone, the GPhone sports a small BlackBerry-style keyboard instead of iPhone's touch-screen, according to unnamed entrepreneurs quoted by The Boston Globe. The paper said a wireless expert from Google's Cambridge lab has shown a prototype to Boston venture capitalists.

Famed for its "Don't Be Evil" credo, Google has legions of fans drawn to such free innovations as Google Earth, offering fly-bys of the earth and sky.

But "cool" alone won't cut it in the fiercely competitive world of wireless, analysts say.

"Unless they show some key differentiation points -- like really strong distribution -- I would not advise going into this market," says Tole Hart, Gartner's research director.

Greg Blonder, a partner at Morgenthaler Ventures in Summit and former chief technical adviser at AT&T, says Google's challenge is cracking the vast local ad market -- the countless pizzerias and nail salons that together rival national advertisers in size, but are harder to serve in a cost-effective way.

Blonder says Google must generate $25 a month per subscriber from advertisers to eke profits from GPhone if there is no charge for the phone or service. He calculates that means subjecting subscribers to 2,500 ads per month -- nearly 100 per day.

"The key is to engage the customer on the phone for at least two hours a day," with a Web browser, games or music player, Blonder says via e-mail.

He says the tricky part is converting free calls into paid calls, when users fail to view enough ads.

Despite the sketchy details, Blonder feels sure Google will take the plunge.

"Google will not cede half the advertising market to a competitor. Period. Since they cannot broker acceptable deals with carriers, they believe they have no other solution than to create their own physical presence with hardware and spectrum."


» via NJ
» author: Kevin Coughlin may be reached at kcoughlin@starledger.com or (973) 392-1763.

T-Mobile Germany leaks 16GB iPhone with 3G HSDPA - may launch November 12

Right, this is technically still in the realm of rumor and hearsay, but, seeing as how T-Mobile Germany has pretty much been confirmed as Germany’s iPhone carrier, we can’t help but think that this one’s got some credibility.

The T-Mobile Germany website had previously leaked an iPhone-specific page, and now it seems they may have let an iPhone advertisement slip through the cracks. Interestingly, the ad seems to confirm he existence and eventual release of a 3G iPhone - with a hefty 16GB of storage to boot. If the specs on the advertisement pan out, the 3G European iPhone will be capable of pulling down 3.6Mbps data on US wireless frequencies with HSDPA support.

According to the alleged ad, the 3G iPhone will be bringing the same 2 megapixel camera and Visual Voicemail goodies that we all know and love - with a launch date set for November 12.

Germans can expect a 499 Euros ($687) price tag and will get to choose from 3 different wireless plans - all including unlimited data. The “L” plan will offer 200 wireless minutes and 100 SMS text messages for 50 Euros ($69), “XL” gets you 300 minutes and 150 text messages for 60 Euros ($83), and “XXL” offers 400 minutes and 200 texts for 70 Euros ($96).

We gotta admit, the prospect of a 16GB-packin’ 3G iPhone in Europe has us turning a slight shade of green. Those Europeans get all the good stuff. But, at least we pay a lot less for our iPhone rate plans and get a boat-load of minutes. Yeah, that makes us feel a little better (barely).

» via IntoMobile

Apple faces possible lawsuit with HTC

After yesterday’s Apple Event it seemed nothing could go wrong, they had successfully unveiled many exciting gadgets and news. However, there is much speculation over the name iPod Touch being very similar to the HTC Touch.

Cellphone company HTC, had created their own music player called the HTC Touch. A trademark lawyer said that the name alone is not enough to convict Apple of stealing the name, but there are similiarities between to two devices such as music and video playback, the touchscreen, and Wi-Fi capabilities. These may be enough of a reason to create a trademark argument. Additionally, the iPod Touch was unveiled three months after Taiwan’s HTC Touch was launched.

HTC head chief Peter Chou said he feels that the name is a “compliment” to the HTC Touch, however, he declined to comment on whether he would pursue action to force a name change or file a lawsuit. Furthermore, if anything happens between these two companies, it would mark the second time this year Apple has faced naming issues, the first being with CISCO.

Source: Gadgetell

Apple's Jobs Sorry for iPhone Price Cut

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs apologized and offered $100 credits Thursday to customers who shelled out $599 for the most advanced model of the iPhone this summer, only to have the company unexpectedly slash the price $200 in a push to boost holiday sales.

In a letter on the company's Web site, Jobs acknowledged that Apple disappointed some of its customers by cutting the price of the iPhone's 8-gigabyte model and said he has received hundreds of e-mails complaining about the price cut.

Jobs added that "the technology road is bumpy," and there will always be people who pay top dollar for the latest electronics but get angry later when the price drops.

"This is life in the technology lane," Jobs said.

And for many of the iPhone's early adopters, money is not and never was an issue. They were after the gratification of knowing they were among the first owners of something that was cool, even revolutionary.

"If they told me at the outset the iPhone would be $200 cheaper the next day, I would have thought about it for a second — and still bought it," said Andrew Brin, a 47-year-old addiction therapist in Los Angeles. "It was $600 and that was the price I was willing to pay for it."

Jobs said Apple will hand out $100 credits for Apple's retail and online stores to any iPhone owners who aren't eligible for a rebate under the company's refund policy. The policy covers those who bought their phones within 14 days of the price cut.

An Apple spokeswoman said the company did not have an estimate of how much the credits would cost Apple.

Enjoying that period of being among the first — before the price drops and the product reaches the masses — is part of the pleasure, Brin and others say. And in much of the tech world, the usual expectation is that six months will pass before there's a major price cut and a year before a next generation of the product — usually an improved version — appears.

The looks of envy and attraction are an elixir.

"It's better than a dog, if you want to meet people," Brin said of his iPhone.

Jack Shamama of San Francisco, who was among the thousands nationwide who lined up for iPhones on the day they first went on sale, said he got some smug text messages and phone calls from friends on Wednesday after Apple announced the price cut.

But Shamama is taking the price cut in stride, saying such cuts are the wages of being an early adopter.

Gadgets — and food — are the 33-year-old online marketing consultant's splurges.

"It's the equivalent of having that season's handbag," said Shamama, who goes through cell phones as quickly as some people do shoes, comfortably shelling out hundreds of dollars per handset every six to eight months.

He's got a collector's item in one of the first Palm Pilots. And, even though he didn't even want one at first, he felt compelled to buy a Nintendo Wii game system last November — paying a friend of a friend $400 to get the $250 machine — after he heard how scarce they were.

Shamama bought the BlackBerry Pearl — another trendy smart phone — only months before the iPhone was unveiled.

"My biggest fear with any product is that it's going to become obsolete, and that isn't what happened this time," Shamama said.

Jobs was talking the same way immediately after the iPhone price cut was announced Wednesday. In an interview with USA Today, Jobs tartly rebuffed criticism about whether Apple's most die-hard fans would be miffed.

IPhone owners who bought their device that morning "should go back to where they bought it and talk to them," he said. "If they bought it a month ago, well, that's what happens in technology."

Jobs apparently had a change of heart. The company is making the right decision by lowering the iPhone price, he said in his letter Thursday, but needs to "do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers."

"(W)e need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price," he said. "Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these."

Analysts said Thursday that Jobs erred by initially dismissing the gripes of people who bought iPhones early, many of whom are Apple loyalists who felt insulted they were being overlooked in the company's zeal to sell to a broader audience.

"In the course of a day, he probably got an earful and a better sense of the extent of the discontent on the part of these very, very loyal customers," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "On second and third thought, he realized these were probably the customers you most want to make sure are satisfied and retain a very positive impression about Apple overall, not just the iPhone."

Under Apple's refund policy, customers who bought an iPhone within 14 days of the price cut can get a refund of the price difference if they have the original receipt. Those who haven't opened the phones can return them for a full refund.

The price cut — and the phaseout of the 4-gigabyte iPhone, which retailed for $499 — came less than 10 weeks after the two products hit the market June 29 and angered some iPhone users.

Investors were also rattled by the news, sending Apple's shares down a total of more than 6 percent over the past two days, a drop that has wiped out about $8 billion in shareholder wealth. Apple's stock closed Thursday at $135.01.

Some worry that Apple is cutting the price to make up for waning demand, a concern Apple countered by saying the device is now affordable to more people and has the potential to be a blowout seller this holiday season.

Apple has said it's on track to sell 1 million iPhones by the end of the current quarter.

Source: AP