News

Speculation has been rampant over a Verizon Wireless iPhone, however a simpler path for Apple to expand its iPhone market would be to offer the device to T-Mobile. Doug Reid, an analyst at Thomas Weisel, sees this move as a logical step.

Apple already offers the iPhone through Germany's T-Mobile unit (T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom). The carrier has compatible wireless technology to AT&T and wouldn't require any hardware changes to the iPhone, unlike any move to Verizon Wireless.

Qualcomm is talking to Apple about its new hybrid mobile chipsets going into future iPhones. These chips would make it possible for one iPhone to work on several different carriers, including Verizon and AT&T.

The chips are not expected to make it into the summer 2010 iPhone release, as they are too new to have been properly field tested. DigiTimes is reporting that Qualcomm is looking for a deal with Apple for "future cooperation".

Unlike Apple's lackluster product launch in China, South Koreans are going crazy for the iPhone. Long lines were seen in Seoul overnight and 65,000 people pre-ordered the device.

KT Corp is the country's second largest mobile carrier. The company expects the iPhone to boost their subscriber base and they hope to sell up to 500,000 units. Only one percent of mobile phones in South Korea are smartphones.

Microsoft is adding iPhone compatibility to Silverlight and has already demonstrated the technology. No modifications to Safari are necessary, as the software will send video in an iPhone-compatible H.264 stream just like YouTube and other streaming sites do currently.

Content providers will have the option of making their Silverlight streaming video iPhone-compatible now that Microsoft has added the feature on the server side.

Apple is right on schedule to release the next generation iPhone in summer of 2010. Unreleased iPhone hardware version 3,1 has been logged by PinchMedia this month in San Francisco. This means the company is already field testing hardware for the next model iPhone.

In the past, Apple has field tested other iPhone models 6-8 months before release. The jump in hardware designation from 2,1 to 3,1 indicates the hardware update from the 3GS to the next model will be significant.