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I’m technically doubting it but that’s not to say you could pick it up in your nearest Apple store for $100. Over in England the full price of a mobile phone is never paid when subscribing to a mobile telephone network such as T-Mobile, Vodafone or O2 UK. I’m not 100% sure how things work over in the States but in the U.K you subscribe to a network operator for a price varying between £15 to £45, this usually includes free minutes and text messages plus a certain amount of bandwidth to play with on the internet - the contract also lasts for either 12 or 18 months.

Now whilst you’ll be paying out £630 over an 18 month period with a £35 a month tariff, you’ll still receive the mobile phone either free (normally for new customers) or for an upgrade charge (between £50 to £150). Even some of the higher end phones that cost a bomb (i.e - the iPhone), you’ll still only pay out a maximum of about £200 initially for the phone (the iPhones retail price in U.K being around £300), saving yourself £100 and thus not actually paying the full price of… more...

Apparently, Cingular likes it when people insult them. Because that’s exactly what Steve Jobs did when negotiating with Cingular for iPhone exclusivity. Of course, “negotiation” might be the wrong word to use as it seems Apple did all the talking and Cingular just tucked their tail between their legs and said, “Please Steve, may I have another?”

According to the Wall Street Journal article reported by the Inquirer, “Jobs started out by reminding Cingular that it was an ‘orifice’ and should not get too cocky over what it could do. He dismissed them as “commodities” and telling them that they would never understand the Web and entertainment industry the way Apple did.”

Please Steve, next time, don’t hold anything back!

[Via The Inquirer]

I’m loving how the iPhone doesn’t actually exist on the market yet, but still manages to be the main guy to beat despite some lacking features. We’ve heard that Neonode will be releasing a couple of touch-screen beauties to keep Apple on its toes, not to mention a Chinese firm which already has their Meizu model already lined up to “kill the iPhone”, but now Samsung have unveiled an touchscreen iPhone close aiming to “kill the iPhone”.

The bizarre thing about it is that, aesthetically speaking, the F700 looks uncannily like the iPhone, except that it features a slide-phone style keyboard which appears out of the back of the phone.

The F700 is apparently the first touchscreen phone to take advantage of both 3G and older GSM transmission systems, allowing up to 7.2MB data transfer to browse the internet with. On top of that, the phone has a 5-mega pixel camera and an expandable MicroSD memory card slot, beating the iPhone with a large stick, but it’s 2.8 inch 440x240 resolution display is a tad mediocre compared to the iPhone’s 3.5 inches and 320x480 resolution screen.

With little over four months now until the iPhone is released, manufacturers up and down the globe are already looking at Apple’s supreme device as the standard for all phones, and aim to discuss how to prevent the iPods success translating over to the iPhone at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona next week.

Companies such as Nokia will take centre stage to show off their latest devices whilst also discussing their future with consumers, but one company that is going to stand out more than most is Neonode, who plan to introduce a series of touch-screen phones that are aiming to better the iPhone. It seems that companies are already looking at the iPhone as the way forward, despite it lacking 3G capabilities, expandable memory and a non-removable battery.

Microsoft are also planning to steal some of the show with the announcement of their up-coming Windows Mobile 5.0, previously code-named Crossbow, an operating system that competes directly with Research in Motion and Symbian over OS X.

As a follow up to our previous post about a June 15th release date of the iPhone, here is the actual letter that Apple sent to the FCC via Gizmodo.

According to OneCompare.com, Apple technically didn’t invent the Multi-touch touchscreen technology that is currently over-powering all other touch screen technologies available at the minute.

A company called FingerWorks, an advanced technology company founded by two professors, created the multi-touch only a few years ago before ceasing operating as a business in February 2005. To this day it’s not quite understood why FingerWorks went under, but rumors around the web suggest that IBM, Microsoft or Apple were the likely suspects in buying out FingerWorks and their amazing new technology, used then on their TouchStream LP keyboard.

So although Steve Jobs claimed Apple to have invented the Multi-touch it may not be entirely true, as the technology was probably bought out by Apple from FingerWorks. The reasoning behind no legal battles from FingerWorks after Apple claimed their technology? A hefty “thank you” brief case is the most likely answer.

Recent news hints that Verizon was initially approached by Apple to land exclusivity to the iPhone here in the states but that Verizon rejected Apple’s demands. Among the reported disagreements was Apple’s wish to decide whether or not to repair or replace a defective iPhone.

[Via Monsters and Critics]

Just when you thought the iPhone trademark war was simple, in comes another player into the fray. Apparently, it was Comwave Telecom Inc, a Toronto based company which claims they have used the iPhone name even before Cisco. Although Cisco has held the trademark since 2000, in Canada, things are different. In Canada, it takes 3 to play doubles tennis, bacon is ham and the first person to use a term, owns it. Which means that Comwave, who has been using the term, iPhone since 2004 owns the rights to the name in Canada.

[Via Central Chronicle]

As it stands Apple has partnered up with Cingular in the States as the sole service provider for the iPhone, but what about the rest of the world? Whilst yours truly is still holding out for O2 in the U.K, it’s almost likely Apple will stick with Vodafone simply because they are the biggest provider over here. But it’s just been pretty much confirmed that Rogers Wireless will be the top dogs in Canada to partner up with Apple for exclusive rights to the iPhone. According to Electronista, the two companies are working closely together to get the iPhone launched just after the U.S launch date, so some time around June or July.

With regards to the rest of the world, all that is mentioned on Macworld UK is that Apple is still in talks with several European network operators trying to fix a single deal to cover the region - Vodafone, O2 or T-Mobile being the most likely contenders to gain exclusive rights to the iPhone.

More here as it happens folks.

As previously mentioned, Steve Jobs and Apple are no strangers to legal battles over trademarked names. This article reveals from the pages of former Apple CEO John Sculley’s biography, that Steve Jobs was advised to choose another name for the “Mac” in 1984 because another company already owned the name. Apparently, it took over 2 million dollars worth of out of court settlements to secure the name. This further proces that when Steve wants something, he just takes it.

[Via One Compare]