Bits: Where Are Those Million iPhones? Everywhere.
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Where is the world are the million missing iPhones? Our readers think they know.
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Plus: iPhone price cut, Google Phone rumors, and more.
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The hooplah. The stories. The comment Apple's iPhone goes on sale in the US this evening. The queues have formed, and limits placed on how many of the handsets punters can take away with them. What is all the fuss about? Find out by reading Register Hardware's most popular iPhone stories...â¦
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Seth Weintraub (computerworld) reports that a survey conducted by Canalys for Symbian âshows that iPhone sales are second only to Blackberry in North America. That means that iPhone has passed Windows Mobile, Palm and Linux in sales in North America.â
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A few dozen people waited in line since early afternoon outside an AT&T store in Columbus, Indiana. At a few minutes past six o'clock, twelve were let in at a time, and in only a half hour's time, everyone in line plus at least ten others walked out with an iPhone and accessories. There were no hitches, and plenty of smiling faces. So why isn't it like this everywhere else in the country?
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The recent debate over the number of iPhones sold in the U.S. by Apple Inc. -- which differs from the number of phones activated by AT&T -- misses the point, according to analysts. Apple is still making money, whichever number is correct.
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(InfoWorld) - What a world. We have to fight off viruses, zombies, bots, phishing, and on and on. Can you believe how many just plain evil people there are in the world? And what is their point? Simple thievery? To prove they are smarter than the rest of us? And think of all the money that's spent on defending, as best we can, against these miscreants or in cleaning up the mess when they get the better of us? Indeed, what a waste. While viruses have appeared on mobile devices, they are, thankfully, few and far between. Part of the reason for this has been a lack of standardization of software environments on handsets, and part is due to the minimal functionality that is typical on these products. It's hard for the socially challenged to overwrite boot sectors, corrupt data, or otherwise run amok on most cell phones today. Apple's decision to limit local software execution on the iPhone is undoubtedly due, at least in part, to a fundamental fear of hackers. While the Macintosh hasn't been much of a target for the hacker community, the iPhone could be a lot more tempting. There will be far more iPhones than Macs in the world in just a few years. Plus, Apple partner AT&T doesn't need the support headaches that come with having a large number of users jamming its 800 numbers with reports of bizarre symptoms on their iPhones. Regardless, being a Web services guy, I absolutely applaud Apple for moving the Web services art forward a notch or two with a very capable platform that might indeed replace PCs for many of us over the next decade or so. We don't need to run a lot of local code to have a meaningful IT experience while on the go. Of course, the iPhone will be hacked over time, requiring updates and fixes, just as is the case with the PC. There are already reports of hackers working diligently to unlock the phone so that non-AT&T SIM cards can be used, and to avoid cellular activation so that the device would be used only Wi-Fi networks -- with VoFi services, of course. Any programmable device runs this kind of risk, and defending against unauthorized code will remain a challenge for some time to come. Which brings me to a really obscure but very important, shall we say, "opportunity" for hackers. Last year, I wrote about one of the most exciting technology developments in wireless, software-defined radio (SDR). Basically, SDR simplifies radio hardware design by replacing specialized circuitry with software. Among the many benefits of SDR are over-the-air bug fixes, the ability to add new features on demand, and dynamic reprogrammability -- turning, for example, a GSM phone into a CDMA phone or even Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or UWB or whatever on the fly. With so much software at play here, the question has to be asked: Could an SDR get hacked? Suppose someone figures out how to build a virus that quickly spreads to SDR-based handsets, disabling them or using them as jammers or worse? What if those handsets are being used for public-safety applications? This is not to say that hacking is the only vector for wireless disruptions. After all, anyone can use a jammer to disable communications in a local area, and any moron with a reasonable shortwave transmitter can pretend to be an air traffic controller. That fact that we still use an unencrypted, unauthenticated communications protocol for such a critical service boggles my mind. The FCC is rightfully concerned about SDR hacking and has issued new regulations for SDRs that mostly attempt to deal with open source software in SDR applications. There is significant concern that open source software creates specific vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. I don't think this is very likely for two reasons. First, open source isn't the same as open architectures. Each product vendor would of necessity keep certain elements of their implementation secret, locking out all but the most determined hackers. But secondly, and more importantly, the real issue is how to protect individual phones from ever loading harmful software. We already have pretty good techniques for this from the PC world, and there are many effective approaches to solving this particular security concern. It could even be argued that the technical scrutiny that comes with open source actually enhances security and integrity; the real issue is controlling what software, open source or not, gets onto the mobile device. As I noted in my last column, the big issue with SDR isn't hackers or security: It is the need to lower the power demands of SDR implementations so that they have a prayer of running on batteries. The road to SDR-based handsets isn't at all paved yet, but open source is a relatively minor concern.
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Like hundreds of iPhone buyers yesterday, Computerworld's Seth Weintraub was among those who stood outside an Apple Store waiting to buy an iPhone. His conclusion: "It is hard not to justify buying out your current phone contract and making a beeline to the nearest Apple Store" to get one.
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Blog: With all of the hoopla surrounding the iPhone, we have all forgotten about the most important development of today's release: a new way to activate a cell phone.
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With the iPhone, Apple offers a glimpse of what's to come.
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âAfter all the ink thatâs been spilled describing, previewing and hyping the Apple iPhone, does it deserve the attention? Iâd have to say yes,â reports Ryan Kim (San Francisco Chronicle). âThe lure of the iPhone is that it makes you want to use it. Itâs actually fun. Do we say that about any phones? Hardly. Itâs not really the physical design, which is a marvel of simplicity. Itâs what happens when you pick it up and use it. There is nothing intimidating about it. Rather, itâs inviting.â âThe cell phone, the most personal of technology devices,â Kim concludes, âhas just gotten a whole lot more personal.â
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Apple sold 1.7 million more iPhones last year than AT&T activated on its network. The bulk of those, analysts say, were sold to gray market dealers who unlocked them and sold them overseas.
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Apple, known for its marketing wizardry, has apparently convinced thousands of people that the iPhone is no ordinary phone.
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As reported by DigiTimes, â âthe iPhone has become AT&Tâs top selling device, commanding some 13% of AT&Tâs overall handset sales, and the fourth top selling handset in the US market,â according to Barry Gilbert, VP of the Strategy Analytics BuyerTRAX programs.â Whatâs more, DigiTimes also quotes Gilbert as indicating that â â the sales trajectory we are observing with the iPhone could make it the top selling device in the US over the next 1-2 quarters.â â
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No list of trends would be complete without a mention of Apple's iPhone, a device that many handset manufacturers will be looking to beat in 2008 in order to attract a consumer that is ever more interested in advanced wireless services. Many of those devices will debut at CES next week.
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Almost 2% of US phones sold in July were Apple-based Market analyst iSuppli (no relation) reports that the iPhone captured 1.8 per cent of US handset sales in July, outselling all other models of smartphone during its launch month.â¦
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Blog: The iPhone's camera in action, shots of life in San Francisco and some thoughts