Sunday Apple Tech Buzz - September 16, 2007

A $200 price cut with the iPhone to boost the sales. All early iPhone owners get $100 Apple store credit.

Apple also released the new iPod nano, the "Fat iPod" and iPhone II ... I mean the iPod touch.

iPhone is unlockable

[via Gizmodo]

Line Up Days in Advance for iPhone

Apple's iPhone would be officially go on sale tomorrow. Not surprisingly, we are already seeing people in the big cities lining up outside the Apple Stores trying to get their hands on the iPhone.

People are getting used to pay the big bucks and wait in line for days to get their hands on latest gadgets (e.g. PS3, Wii, etc...) I'm not sure how many of them are actually looking to resale it for profits.

In order to feed the crowd, all the Apple stores would be open until midnight on Friday and each customer can buy up to two iPhone (if available).

Quick facts about the iPhone:

• $499 for 4GB model, $599 for 8GB model
• Touch screen and iPod compatible
• HTML web browser with WiFi
• NO GPS and MMS support for pictures (not in this version)
• 2.0 megapixels Camera
• AT&T data plans $60, $80, $100 (details)

iPhone-like Interface for PocketPC

A developer called Tzywen has developed his own iPhone interface for a Eten M600 Pocket-PC. It is 99% iPhone look alike and the dragging, unlocking, clicking features are fully functionable. It is very impressive!

The video of the PocketPC was posted on YouTube and received over 100k views before it was taken down by YouTube upon Apple's request. A couple of days after, Tzywen received a letter from Apple's lawyers asking him to cease the development and distribution of this software and remove any related postings/videos. He was also asked to destroy any portion of the software that infringes Apple’s rights or otherwise violates applicable law.

It looks like most of the design, skins and features (like unlocking/dragging page) are copyrighted by Apple.

Note: the above picture was NOT the design of Tzywen's software interface as all the images were removed from his site.

Apple, Cisco Share iPhone Trademark

Apple and Cisco Systems ended their feud over the iPhone name on Wednesday as they agreed to share rights to the name and end their legal battle over it. USA Today,

"Cisco - the longtime owner of the name - had earlier said it would share it with Apple as long as the electronics-maker made its iPhone compatible with other companies' products. The settlement addressed that concern, with the two companies pledging to "explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and (business) communications." Other terms were confidential."

Since the full deal was not made public, it's hard to say for sure which company got the better end of the deal. As many have said, it looks like a "face-saving" agreement for Cisco and a "money-saving agreement" for Apple.

Apple, Cisco settlement extended

Yesterday was supposed to be the deadline for Apple to respond to Cisco's iPhone trademark lawsuit.

Again, Cisco has granted another extension for Apple. This time, Cisco has given Apple five more days to February 21, at which point the two companies will hopefully have reached a “mutually beneficial agreement.”

Besides reaching an agreement on sharing the trademark, Cisco also expressed interest in reaching a deal on how the products could interoperate. But this is VERY unlikely going to happan. Apple uses a closed system with all of its portable devices, which are tightly integrated with its iTunes software and online store.

Stay tune.

iPhone Buzz

Apple's CEO Steve Job has announced last week (Jan 9) iPhone is going to be released this year. It quickly became the biggest buzz of the year. Its pictures and video are everywhere and it is going to be one of those must-haves for the year.

Shortly after Apple announced the release of iPhone, Cisco quickly respond by saying they had the name "iPhone" trademarked in 2000. Expect lots of press from both sides and let's see how Apple resolve this issue.

During the Keynote Steve Jobs took a call on his iPhone (of course it is a spin, would you possibly answering your cell phone in front of that many people during a presentation?) . Some hardcord fans took the time to extract the ringtone audio from the presentation, clean up the static and allow everyone to download this unique iPhone ringtone. (hey, not everyone can afford the iPhone, but I guess most of us can get a iPhone tone right?)

Anyhow, what can be expected other than seeing this mediaplayer/phone everywhere on the street in June? We could also see that it gives a hugh boost in mobile advertising now that a lot more people having big screen smart phones.

Here is a stupid/crazy idea in making million bucks from Apple. You can anticipate what the next Apple new hit is and what products they are developing, then start creating low quality similar products. After that, file trademark for your products with an “i”, like “iTV”, “iRadio”, “iRobot”, etc. If you nailed it right, you could resell your trademark name to Apple and make millions of dollars!