Announcements

Today in my email box I received a message from Apple(below). The subject line: Thank you for your interest in iPhone. The message: “Talk to you soon.”

This email was sent out to thank me for signing up for more information about the iPhone. But I suspect the real reasoning is to keep all those potential iPhone buyers a little warm. Since the iPhone was announced in January, it seems like everyone has been talking about it except Apple. Aside from the occassional soundbite and the Oscar night commercial, Apple has been relatively quiet.

But if there was any sign of the iPhone hype dying down, this email sure got my blood pumping again. Now if only Apple can confirm waht Cingular has already: the June 11th American release date for the iPhone!

This news only effects the iPhone so far as dealing with music, but today EMI has announced that it will begin offering DRM-free music on the iTunes music store.

There had been speculation that the announcement between the two companies would involve the Beatles, but it turns out that DRM-free music is on the table. EMI’s entire music collection will be available as both DRM-locked and DRM-free over the coming year, with half the catalogue being converted by the end of this year. DRM-locked songs will stay at the regular $0.99 (79p) with 128Kbps whilst the DRM-free songs will cost a little more at $1.29 (99p) and with double the bit-trate at 256Kbps. As it stands, album prices will be unchanged but the bit-rate for those songs will double to 256Kbps. Users will also have the option of upgrading their previously purchase EMI tracks for an extra $0.30 (20p).

However, it appears that films and T.V shows on the iTunes store won’t be receiving the same treatment any time soon as Jobs’ said at the announcement that “the music and video markets are not parallel. The video industry does not deliver 90% of… more...

Recent reports have Google confirming they DO have a phone in the works. But contrary to original speculation, their phone will not compete with Apple’s iPhone. The Google phone will apparently be a low-cost phone, manufactured by a major phone provider (Samsung?) and is thought to cost under $150.

Although, the price points may not be the same, any phone from a company like Google is sure to compete with the “must-have” status that Apple’s iPhone carries. According to Tech Boggle, this low-cost phone has “the goal to bring Google to people who lacked a computer, which in the end is really just an attempt by Google to actually tap into the people without internet, which would raise their already high 60% search engine market share.”

[Via Tech Boggle]

According to Tim Cook, Apple’s COO, the iPhone is still set to release in June. Cook was speaking at the Goldman Sachs 2007 Technology Investment Symposium Conference yesterday. He later added Apple expects to sell 10 million iPhones.

[Via Silicon Valley Business Journal]

Fresh from the Apple website is a career opportunity in the iPhone division. The job posting starts off by declaring the iPhone as the “next step in the evolutionary process of consumer electronics”. Following is a summary of the principle duties:

“Duties: The iPhone Wireless EPM manages the integration of state of the art wireless technology into our innovative cellular products. The EPM is the key interface for our internal HW and SW teams to wireless chipset suppliers. As a member of our project teams the wireless EPM ensures that the project activities of the vendors are aligned with our development schedules. The EPM coordinates SW and HW development and validation and approval testing with the vendors and tracks HW and SW issues and drives to resolution.”

If you have any idea what that means, you may be what Apple is looking for.

[Via Apple.com]

What were you doing January 9th, after you heard or watched the 2007 Macworld Keynote Address by Steve Jobs? If you were like me, you were wiping the drool off your keyboard at the thought of holding the iPhone. Or you could have been like Charlie White who posted the Top Five Reasons Why the iPhone Sucks on Gizmodo. Regardless of your level of enthusiasm, you probably felt a little tingle in your body at the idea.

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