Apple is doing to the wireless industry what it did to the recording industry beginning back in 2001: Stealing its customer relationships. That’s the gist of an argument put forth this week by Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett, who believes that with the iPhone and App Store, Apple has upended the wireless market in much the same way it upended the music industry with the iPod and iTunes.
Apple’s new iPhone 3G S is en route to many of those who preordered it last week following its debut at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple began issuing shipping notifications and tracking numbers to some customers over the weekend.
Palm picked a hell of a day to launch the Pre. Two days before Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Two days before the unveiling of the iPhone 3G S, a new version of Apple’s iconic handset that runs twice as fast as its predecessor, shoots video with an improved three megapixel camera and boasts longer battery life and greater storage. And worst of all, two days prior to the announcement of a new $99 price point for the iPhone 3G, a disruptive move that puts the device in reach of far more consumers.
Apple rolled out updates to QuickTime and iTunes on Monday, presumably as preface to iPhone 3.0. Included in iTunes 8.2 are “many accessibility improvements and bug fixes.” Just what Apple means by that is unclear, although one wonders if it might be a clever euphemism for the Palm Pre’s recently disclosed Media Sync feature, which allows the device to synchronize seamlessly with iTunes, essentially by masquerading as an iPod.
At long last, the Palm Pre has a price and a release date. Ending months of rumor and speculation, Palm and Sprint said this morning that the device will arrive at market nationwide June 6. Price: $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a cheesy $100 mail-in rebate.
Palm’s too-long-in-coming smartphone, the Pre, seems on track for an early June launch. People briefed on the company’s plans tell the New York Times that Sprint will begin peddling the device the first week of June. That gibes with what I’ve been hearing as well, so it’s perhaps reasonable to assume that the June 5 street date batted around these past few weeks is a solid one.
This morning we learned that Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference does not herald the return of CEO Steve Jobs. Now comes word that it may not herald the announcement of company’s next-generation iPhone, either.
With Steve Jobs on medical leave until the end of June, some have wondered whether the Apple CEO might put in an appearance at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference or perhaps even show up to deliver its keynote address. This morning Apple put an end to that speculation, announcing that a team of Apple executives, led by Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the keynote.
If/when Apple uncrates its next-generation iPhone at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, it will be identical to its predecessor in physical design and boast only a few modest upgrades. This according to the latest rumor making the rounds, which describes the new device as a near “repeat” of the iPhone 3G.
Developers building applications for the iPhone best make sure their work runs on the device’s forthcoming 3.0 OS. Because effective yesterday, Apple is no longer accepting applications that don’t.
The release of Palm’s bet-the-company handset, the Pre, is imminent–perhaps as soon as June 5, if a document obtained by Boy Genius Report turns out to be the real deal.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
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