Gawker: valleywag, 3g

The real secret of Steve Jobs's success

Owen Thomas — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:40:00 EDT

Everyone likes to talk up Apple's innovative design. It's a much more attractive story than the real reason why Apple has come to dominate first the MP3 player market, and soon, the smartphone market: Ruthless haggling with suppliers to lock up crucial components, shutting out rivals. Apple is buying 50 million 8-gigabyte memory chips from Samsung — the kind used in its entry-level iPhone 3G — and Samsung is cutting off other customers as a result of tight supplies. [DigiTimes]

3G iPhones will choke wireless networks, as any EVDO user will tell you

Jackson West — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:40:00 EDT

One of the reasons that 3G data networks are so fast, especially here in the United States, is that relatively few people use them. However, go to a technology conference where the density of EVDO users reaches a critical mass and suddenly those zippy downloads begin to slow. A room full of iPhone owners frustrated by slowdowns over AT&T's network isn't the customer experience I think Steve Jobs was imagining. [GigaOm]

AT&T's 3G iPhone Is $199 This Summer

Jason Chen — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:44:45 EDT

According to Fortune, AT&T's going to further subsidize the iPhone down as much as $200, making the final retail price a scant $199 with two-year-contract. The rumor is that the $200 bonus will only be available in AT&T stores, not in Apple stores, so people buying and exporting or using it with T-Mobile will be paying the higher price. Current first-gen iPhone users probably won't get this $200 subsidy when upgrading either, unless perhaps they renew for another 2 years.

If you're buying straight from Apple, it seems like their prices will still be $399 and $499 for the 8 and 16GB models. Fortune's source also says that the phone will have GPS and be 2.5mm thinner, not thicker as previously indicated. And you'll know when the new phone is coming—Apple will cut off shipments of the old phone in order to clear up inventory and give a subtle hint that you should wait before buying. [Fortune]

Update: It looks like Scott Moritz is the same guy who made predictions before that didn't come true. He comes from thestreet.com, who, via Jim Cramer, made the prediction that the iPhone would get 1.5 years of free service. The rumor sounds less credible to us now.

Apple contractor Foxconn promises 3G iPhone by June, 25 million total

Jackson West — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn will manufacture and ship the first batch of new, faster 3G-network enabled iPhones by June, according to reports from Taipei, Taiwan. 3 million should ship that month, and an estimated 25 million over the life of the product. Foxconn is the sole manufacturer of the current generation of iPhones. But it has also been known to break Chinese labor laws — not that such practices would stop your typical antiwar environmentalist here in the Bay Area from upgrading. After all, that Yes, We Can video will download so much faster from YouTube now! (Photo by AP/Jason DeCrow)

His Royal Steveness a Late Entry for 2007's Best-Dressed Lists

AddyDugdale — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:16:17 EST

Dear Steve, I knew you could do it— get away from that zen-inspired "one single look means one minute in the closet" sartorial philosophy. But a shirt and tie? Oh, my son, you look positively ravishing. Look how the silver tie brings out the distinguished saltiness of your hair, puts a ruddy fairness in your cheeks, enfin, makes you look hawwt (continues in this vein for several minutes until colleagues administer a slap around the face). So, who was lucky enough to see Steve rock the "I'm a PC, but admit it, a really gorgeous one" look?

Jobso (or Jobs , since he's in Vikingingland at the moment) was in Norway to watch Al Gore pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. While he was there, he also hooked up with the boss of Telenor, yes, that is a Norwegian telecoms company, to discuss a potential iPhone launch in the Scandinavian country (the other candidate for Norway's iPhone gig being Netcom). Talks have been postponed until after Christmas, as Apple is currently more interested in the iPhone's sales in Britain, France and Germany.

And finally, according to a Telenor spokesman, "Apple might be deciding on which unit to launch." I think they mean 3G, or not 3G, that is the question. [VG]