iPhone News Updated

Digital Lifestyle Outfitters is now shipping these new speakers, compatible with the iPhone, and basically any device with a standard speaker jack. On top of that, this speaker set introduces a removable, rotating iPhone stand (that also supports the iPhone while horizontal, if desired).

If you happened to get a call while viewing a movie, or listening to music, you don’t have to disconnect the speakers either - you can turn the iPhone into a speaker phone. Below is a list of features, directly from DLO’s website.

Hardware giant, Apple Inc., introduced two new memory-enhanced versions of its iPhone and iPod Touch products this week, doubling each device’s on-board memory.

The new and improved iPhone boasts 16GB of flash memory, while the enhanced iPod Touch now comes with 32GB. Each costs $499, or $100 more than their basic (8GB/16GB) counterparts, which remain available.

“There are a lot of users out there for whom there is never enough memory,” said Apple’s head of global marketing for iPod and iPhone products, Greg Joswiak. “We’ve given people more and more content that they can put on their iPhones. We always put our products out there and hope the market likes them. The higher-capacity models have always done well.”

This is no doubt a smart business move for Apple, especially after drastically cutting the cost of its 8GB iPhone last fall. Adding a few extra gigs of memory, after all, is a fairly cost-effective way to gross an extra $100 on each unit sold.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- I can hardly contain my excitement. I'm like a child counting the days until a birthday. It's Friday as I write and I don't head to the airport until Sunday, but I'm already packed. For me to be so organized ahead of a trip is highly unusual to say the least.

And what's causing such anticipation? Well, you can call me sad but I love gadgets, gizmos and all things hi-tech. Starting Sunday I get to live, eat, sleep and breathe cellphones for a whole week at the event formerly known as 3GSM in Barcelona. Talk about a busman's holiday!

I say "formerly known as" because organisers realise that mobile technology has moved way beyond traditional 3G and GSM and have decreed that their annual event from now on shall be known as the "World Mobile Congress."

Like any self respecting gadget geek, er, sorry, technology journalist, I'm keen as mustard to get my hands on the so called "iPhone killers," the new handsets that will become this year's "most wanted," to play with the new designs and marvel at just how much hi-tech wizardry can be crammed into such a sleek, desirable box.

But I'm also keen to hear how the mobile industry views its future in these unprecedented times. How open source software like Google's "Android," a form of mobile Linux, will impact the way in which we all use our mobiles. About innovations like mobile WiMax and Femtocell. About video and remotely hosted business applications.

And I'm especially keen to learn about how the iPhone has forced a change in the relationship between manufacturers and carriers to the benefit of us consumers.

And if all that was complete gobbledygook to you, look out for my daily reports from Barcelona when I'll explain all. It's going to be a really exciting week and you too can be a part of it thanks to CNN.

Sandra Schnitzler says she's embarrassed to admit that a British Columbia-based iPhone dealer has allegedly scammed her of almost $3,000, but she's swallowing her pride in order to warn others about it.

"This is what you pay, for wanting something that's in style," the stay-at-home mom told Sun Media yesterday.

Schnitzler ordered four units of Apple's latest "gottahave" gizmo, the iPhone, which functions as an iPod, a phone, a camera and a mobile Internet device, from iphonenow.ca in early January.

Apple hasn't released the iPhone in Canada, forcing people to order it through unofficial distributors.

Schnitzler paid more than $2,900 with her debit card after the seller, who identified himself as Andrew, told Schnitzler she'd get a $100 discount if she used Interac.

The dealer got her money, but she never got her phones.

Schnitzler recently saw reports by Vancouver media that the whole deal was a scam.

"What concerns me is that I heard nothing about this scam in Edmonton," she said. "There are probably people locally waiting for their iPhones."

She learned about iphonenow.ca through a TV commercial and went to the company's website.

Schnitzler said she knows she won't get her money back but she's encouraging others to report to police if they've been scammed.

"We currently have eight victims that have come forward and investigators anticipate more reports to follow," said Cpl. Brenda Gresiuk of Coquitlam RCMP.

Apple has moved into third position in the global smartphone market, eight months after releasing the iPhone

Apple has sent a strong message to Nokia and RIM, with new figures suggesting that its iPhone has leapt into third place in the global smartphone market, despite only having gone on sale in June.

In the fourth quarter of last year, Apple sold 2,321,000 iPhones worldwide, giving it a 6.5 per cent share, according to research by Canalys. That was fewer than RIM, the Blackberry maker, which held second place with 11.4 per cent, and Nokia, the runaway leader with 52.9 per cent, but ahead of Motorola, whose share fell by just over half a percentage point.

In North America, where Nokia has a weaker grip on the market, the iPhone's performance was even stronger. Apple took a 28 per cent share - still far behind RIM, which leads the market with 41 per cent, but ahead of all the devices which use the Windows Mobile platform combined, which between them had 21 per cent .

Even in Europe, where the iPhone was released only part way through the quarter, and only in three countries - the UK, France and Germany, Apple moved into fifth place, ahead of more established vendors such as Sony Ericsson, Palm and Samsung.

Pete Cunningham, a senior analyst at Canalys, said: “When you consider that it launched part way through the year, with limited operator and country coverage, and essentially just one product, Apple has shown very clearly that it can make a difference and has sent a wake-up call to the market leaders.”

He added, however, that Apple would need to increase the number of devices that it offered, suggesting that the iPhone's unique touchscreen interface had prompted "a lot of design activity" among its competitors.

"Experience shows that a vendor with only one smartphone design, no matter how good that design is, will soon struggle."

Overall, smartphone shipments rose worldwide rose by 60 per cent to 115 million in 2007, Canalys said. The biggest region in volume terms was the Asia Pacific, where Nokia dominates with more than 50 per cent share. Apple is yet to release its iPhone in Asia.

Following the rampant rumours that Pocket-lint was able to confirm earlier today, Apple has now officially announced the new model of the iPhone - and of the iPod touch - which both now have double the memory.

The iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299.

In the UK the 16GB iPhone now will cost £329, joining the 8GB model for £269. The iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for £329, joining the 16GB model for £269 and the 8GB model for £199.

"For some users, there’s never enough memory", said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing.

"Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world."

Provided by:

The Apple iPhone had a big impact on the smartphone market last year, prompting rivals to try to come up with equally innovative designs. But Apple's challenge this year will be in proving that it can sustain growth against fierce competitors, a market research firm said Tuesday.

"EDGE is pervasive throughout the U.S., and for many applications like e-mail, maps, stocks and weather, it is plenty fast," Jobs said. "The iPhone automatically switches to Wi-Fi whenever it senses a known Wi-Fi network, and Wi-Fi delivers data several times faster than 3-G networks. So the iPhone sandwiches 3-G networks with something a bit slower on the bottom and something far faster on the top."

That answer satisfied no one, of course, and it was always widely assumed that Apple would eventually produce a 3-G version of the phone when AT&T network build out was deemed pervasive enough.

More recently, at the European iPhone launch, Jobs used another excuse: That current 3-G chipsets are "power hogs." More specifically, he said most of today's 3-G devices have battery lives that span only 2 to 3 hours, compared to the iPhone's average 8 hours. (Note that with the 1.1.3 update, some iPhone users have noticed significant decreases in battery life after Apple supposedly fiddled around with the phone's power management/delivery)

"We've got to see the battery lives for 3-G get back up into the 5+ hour range," Jobs said. "Hopefully we'll see that late next year."

We see it now, in fact. Devices like Nokia's N95 are registering 6 plus hours while browsing on a 3-G network, so that argument doesn't hold much weigh either. The more likely hold-up is simply form factor, which Jobs has also used as an excuse. Squeezing in a 3-G chipset from the likes of Qualcomm into the iPhone while keeping the device as thin (or thinner) is likely no small feat. Nevertheless, a more robust 3-G network is good for the iPhone and many other devices .

As far as what you can expect from a 3-G iPhone and other devices on AT&T's network, most say it will deliver typical downlink speeds ranging between 600 and 1,400 Kbps, as well as faster uplink speeds, ranging from 500 and 800 Kbps.

According to AT&T, the ongoing 3-G initiative will include the roll out of more than 1,500 additional cell sites nationwide and other plans to complete of the nation's first High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)-enabled network by the middle of the year.

Apple doubled the capacity of the iPhone and the iPod Touch on Tuesday for an additional $100.

The iPhone once again comes in two capacities: 8GB for $399 and now 16GB for $499. Apple sold 8GB and 4GB varieties on iPhone Day, but it discontinued the 4GB model after it cut the price of the 8GB model to $399. Something like 90 percent of all early iPhone buyers opted for the 8GB version.

And the iPod Touch can also store more music and videos now, with 32GB of capacity for $499. That device is now available in three versions, with Apple also selling a 16GB model for $399 and an 8GB model for $299.

The new iPhone and iPod Touch appear to be unchanged from their previous incarnations, though they ship with the new software unveiled at Macworld, which provides the ability to edit the home screen and triangulate your position using Maps.

Both are available immediately. This move should give something of a boost to iPhone and iPod Touch sales. Apple shipped fewer iPods than expected during the fourth quarter but still grew iPod revenue at a strong pace, suggesting that the higher-priced iPod Touch is gaining ground against the iPod Nano and Shuffle as a percentage of Apple's iPod mix.

The iPhone story is a little more complicated. The rampant unlocking of the smartphone makes it both harder and easier to understand iPhone demand: On one hand, people want the iPhone so badly, they are willing to take risks to use it on their network or in their country. On the other hand, it's almost impossible to get a true number of how many phones have been unlocked.

This time around, there's no price cut on existing models, which some prognosticators felt was necessary in order to spike iPhone demand during the leaner first and second quarters of the year.

Given the price cut debacle the first time around, I wouldn't expect to see the price of the iPhone change too dramatically any time soon, at least until the 3G model is unveiled. Still, I'd imagine that most people who intended to spend $399 on an iPhone would be willing to cough up another hundred bucks to get twice as much storage.

BRUSSELS, Feb. 5, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Mobistar CEO Benoit Scheen said that the company could make a deal in 2008 to offer Apple's iPhone in Belgium, but cast doubt on the timing of such an agreement as Belgium is 'not a priority' for Apple.

'In Europe, the iPhone is only available in four markets', Scheen said, adding that Italy and Poland for example have a far greater growth potential than Belgium.

Japan and Korea are other priorities outside of Europe, Scheen said, 'so it will be many months before we will know more about the Belgian market'.

The new CEO of Belgium's second-largest mobile phone operator said that three important new services launched in 2007 are an indication of the strategy it intends to implement in 2008.

Mobistar is focusing increasingly on the convergence of fixed-line and mobile services and is also in discussion with partners to launch new MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) agreements to offer mobile services on Mobistar's network in Belgium.

'A third of Belgian households no longer has a fixed line, so a large part of the population wants services which are not necessarily linked to a landline,' Scheen said.

'We are responding to that demand', he added.

Mobistar, a member of the Orange group which bundles together France Telecom's (NYSE:FTE) main mobile activities, has no plans to rebrand itself as 'Orange' in the near future, although Scheen conceded that such a move would create value in an international market.

'Never say never,' Scheen told reporters at a press conference.

'Visibility helps, and Orange is a brand with visibility,' he said, but added that the group is not planning to 'go orange'.


antonia.vandevelde@thomson.com
Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.

By David Becker

You say your iPhone seems to be on the fritz—that when you make a call you can’t hear a word anyone on the other end of the line speaks? Although I’ve addressed this issue at iPhone Central, given that, in the past week, both a colleague and reader have queried me for a solution to the problem, it’s time to give that solution wider play right here.

The root of the problem is the iPhone’s belief that its headset is plugged in. Because it could swear you’re using the headset, it cuts off sound to the receiver port at the top of the phone. The solution to the problem is to convince the iPhone that it is not tethered to that headset.

The first way to make that argument is to plug the headset or set of headphones into the appropriate port a time or two. This generally clears things up in a jiffy.

If that won’t do the job, you may wish to turn to the swab and Windex™ method as demonstrated by Alan Luckow.

As I warned back in the autumn of 2007, so too will I warn now:

His solution (and the solution he uses) looks safe enough, but Apple’s Warranty Department may feel differently. In short: You’re on your own.