iPhone

Will someone please page the lithesome yet strong-handed nymphs whose job it is to massage the furry one's scalp right between the antlers? The Macalope's got a headache again.

What's causing it this time? PC World's 15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007 (motto: "It's not another lame top-10 piece if we have 15 items!").

The Macalope doesn't have a problem with most of the items, even Leopard. You just knew an Apple product was going to be on there somewhere -- they simply can't resist -- and Leopard probably did disappoint … Read more

Guess who's coming to dinner at IT's place?! Well, not the iPhone if Forrester Research has anything to say about it!

According to Forrester (tip o' the antlers to Blackfriars' Marketing), the iPhone isn't ready for enterprise use.

Well! That must bet the final word on that! Because it's not like Forrester's ever written something so completely bass-ackwards that it made you think about hanging up a shingle and becoming a high-priced technology consulting firm because, holy hell, if they're giving out advice like that, how hard could it be?

ZDNet's Larry Dignan … Read more

We had a pretty good idea that a new iPhone would be coming in 2008, but what will it look like?

A report from Goldman Sachs Wednesday spotted by AppleInsider doesn't exactly shed much more light on that subject, but says that Apple is gearing up to deliver two new iPhones next year. The first one sounds like it will be just a storage upgrade with more flash memory in the first half of the year, while the second half of the year should bring the long-awaited 3G iPhone, according to the report.

Both Apple CEO Steve Jobs and … Read more

After putting a two-unit limit on purchases of the iPhone back in October, the company has quietly raised the limit back to five.

iPhone Atlas spotted the move on Friday, and Wired also confirmed on Monday that Apple is still not taking cash for the iPhone. At the time the limit was announced, Apple said it wanted to ensure there would be enough supply in hand for the holiday shopping season, which is well under way.

So, either they've ramped up production, which would make sense following the European launches, or demand has waned. I don't see anything … Read more

Sometimes it seems that ZDNet drives around in big vans, catches those prone to willful obtuseness with nets and takes them immediately to its headquarters where they're each given a blog.

This time ZDNet's David Berlind is hot on the trail of the hideous secret behind Apple's requirement that iPhones be purchased with a credit card.

And he's got a camera. The Macalope just bets Apple sales associates and holiday shoppers alike were just thrilled to see him coming.

"Oh, hell, Mabel, it's another one o' them ZDNet bloggers. Maybe we should head over … Read more

Apple has been sued for patent infringement over the iPhone's visual voice mail feature.

Klausner Technologies announced Monday that it has filed suit against the company in everyone's favorite rocket docket, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Klauser is claiming that the visual voice mail feature infringes on two patents that are said to cover the iPhone's method of selectively listening to voice mail messages rather than in the order in which they were received.

Unlike the other inane iPhone lawsuits filed since the device made its debut in June, Apple might … Read more

Editor's note: This story initially incorrectly reported the discount that a German iPhone customer could receive by crossing the border and purchasing a unit in France. It's 250 euros.

Apple's learning fairly quickly that Europe is a very different place, especially when it comes to mobile phones.

The iPhone went on sale Wednesday through wireless carrier Orange in France, marking the third European country to carry the phone within its borders. The launch also marked the debut of the third pricing strategy for the iPhone in the three countries: France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

It appears … Read more

Would you pay more money just so you could have an unlocked iPhone?

T-Mobile is going to charge the equivalent of $1,478 for an unlocked iPhone in Germany, after deciding Wednesday to comply with a preliminary injunction issued by a court at the request of Vodafone, a rival carrier. The carrier will continue to challenge the court's decision, but it seems that locking phones to a specific carrier is against German law.

According to T-Mobile's Web site, "numerous functions remain exclusively available to T-Mobile customers with a Complete rate plan." The only feature that the … Read more

Earlier this year, I expressed skepticism that the iPhone would be able to break the convergence rule: historically, consumers have preferred devices that do one thing well over devices that combine multiple equally important functions. (The big exception being the personal computer.)

Some figures released today by retail researcher NPD suggest I may be wrong. Of the 38 million phones shipped to U.S. consumers last quarter, 50% of them were able to play music. That's up from 25% in the previous year.

Doing some quick math, it appears that the iPhone made up about 6% of all music-capable … Read more