Rui CarmoThis page is a semi-automated link dump from all the stuff I tracked while the 3G version of the device wasn’t made public, and then some. It doesn’t try to be complete or unbiased – it’s just a link dump.
With the announcement of the 3GS model in 2009-06-08, I’ve decided to cut down on the updates a bit, since it’s clear that the platform (and its impact) is now stable enough, and this page will be deprecated (and bits of its content moved elsewhere) in favor of other, more future-proof topics…
News Coverage
| Date | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | ||
| May 25 | Apple Probably Killing The iPhone 3G | It was a good run. |
| May 07 | iPhone 3G gets an Android port to call its own | Why? |
| 2009 | ||
| Jun 26 | Why AT&T Has a Lock on the iPhone | A cogent explanation of the sorry state the US is in regarding mobile network technology and why the iPhone will likely remain a 3GPP device. |
| Apr 23 | iPhone App Store crosses the 1 billion finish line | Not too shabby, even if most apps aren’t that hot. |
| Apr 14 | Forrester Research changes tune on iPhone in enterprise | Go figure, huh? |
| Mar 31 | iPhone 3.0 beta 2 released, push notifications are a go | For later reference. |
| Mar 27 | iPhone 3G Finally Available In US Contract-Free | i.e., at a non-subsidized price of $599 for 8GB, $699 for 16GB. |
| Mar 17 | Apple reveals slew of new features for iPhone OS 3.0 | One of the few sane overviews that wasn’t spread across umpteen micro-posts as banner ad fodder. I also kept a copy of the promo graphic, since it’s quite nicely done:  |
| Mar 16 | Computerworld – Apple Tablet to be announced tomorrow | Yeah, right… Another rumor that didn’t pan out – at all. |
| Mar 10 | Dilbert gets one |  Maybe. |
| Mar 9 | iPhone now has more commercial apps than Windows Mobile | Strange, but apparently true. |
| Feb 27 | Millionth UK iPhone sold last quarter, says O2 | A bit low, I should say. |
| Feb 19 | Adobe changes its tune slightly on iPhone Flash | Not so positive now, eh? |
| Feb 13 | Report gives iPhone 51% of US smartphone ad market | But only 32% worldwide. I still think AdMob’s metrics require a very large pinch of salt, but the pies are nice: |
| Feb 11 | Over 20,000 iPhone and iPod touch apps now available | Impressive by any standard. |
| Feb 9 | iPhone may not see light of day in China thanks to App Store | Can’t see this happening, at least not in the way/reasons depicted here. |
| Jan 31 | iPhone passes 1 percent goal for 2008, looking good for 2009 | Analyst predictions – tread with caution. |
| Jan 29 | Report: iPhone Costs Less Than BlackBerry Storm To Make | US$174 vs. US$203. I am not surprised at all. |
| Jan 21 | Apple Reports First Quarter Results | 4.3M iPhones sold in the quarter, raising the total up to around 14M. |
| 2008 | ||
| Dec 29 | Contract-free iPhones now available in France | As would be expected, sooner or later. |
| Dec 23 | iPhone ends year with strong market share, faces challenges | Some wishful thinking here, but the figures are nice for a recent entrant. I’m saving a local copy of the graph here: |
| Dec 17 | Orange’s iPhone exclusive ruled illegal in France | L’exclusíf, c’est fini… |
| Dec 4 | Gartner: Apple overtakes Microsoft as world’s #3 smartphone OS vendor in Q308 | Again, this depends on how you define “smartphone”, which is irritating. |
| Dec 2 | iPhone Now Has 16.6 Percent of World Smartphone Market | |
| Dec 1 | Apple iPhone 3G – The Top 10 Everything of 2008 | TIME ranks it at #3, which isn’t shabby. And they nail the bit about it not being that good a phone. |
| Nov 28 | Linux on the iPhone! | Jailbreaking wasn’t enough, apparently, so the next step is to spend years trying to deliver an alternate sub-par user experience to 0.01% of people. |
| Nov 12 | Analysts: Apple and iPhone partners blowing it in India | More evidence of analysts who simply don’t know what they’re talking about – in a market as deeply segmented ias India and where phones and tariff plans are fundamentally different, the iPhone (or any other smartphone) simply can’t be sold in droves. |
| Nov 10 | iPhone 3G Tops RAZR, Ending Moto’s Three-Year U.S. Reign | Again, this isn’t really news, considering the average suckiness of US phones. |
| iPhone Best-Selling Phone in the U.S. for Q3 2008 | ||
| iPhone 3G (temporarily?) trounces RAZR as top consumer phone | ||
| Oct 30 | Analysts: Apple ‘Top 10’ Cell Phone Vendor As iPhone Grabs 2% Of Market | Somewhat hyped – I’d have liked a better definition of what they consider to be the market. |
| Oct 24 | Revised iPhone SDK NDA better late than never | The new NDA is not that different from the old one, but will help smooth ruffled feathers. |
| Oct 21 | So iPhone reached 11.6 million unit sales in past 12 months | Somewhat opinionated and clueless (esp. regarding profitability), but worth reading. |
| Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results | Impressive. | |
| Oct 13 | iPhone 3G becomes second best-selling handset in the US | Not at all surprising, considering the average US phone is crap. |
| Oct 8 | The Relevance of 10 M – awaiting the final numbers for the iPhone | The percentages are mostly right, but there is an understimation of how much the industry is being driven at the high end (and in carriers) to react to the iPhone. |
| Oct 8 | iPhone wins heart and mind of British public, takes 4 awards | Funny thing about those British technology awards – they’re a public vote, and therefore largely a matter of perception, not experience. |
| Oct 1 | Apple Drops Part of iPhone Developer NDA | Making a whole lot of people sigh in relief |
| Sep 17 | Mixed data on smartphones sales makes iPhone a wildcard | Rather pointless, really. With all the different definitions of smartphone right now, nobody will ever be able to do any sort of precise stats, and everyone can claim a win. |
| Sep 10 | Apple Gains Smartphone Market Share | A minute gain overall, but measurable (depending, of course, on what you define as a smartphone). Here’s a local copy of the AdMob and Wireless Week stats graphs:
|
| Sep 1 | Apple iPhone: 8 million and counting | Although I think that counting the 2G ones is cheating a bit. Still, it’s nothing compared to what Nokia sells (and is still much less than what they sell in new S60 models alone) |
| Aug 24 | iPhone 3G antenna test | Which shows that there is no problem whatsoever |
| Aug 17 | Apple trims push notification out of newest iPhone firmware beta | Makes sense – best to remove something that needs tweaking than to push out an update with problems |
| Aug 14 | iPhone 3G Issues: The Plot Thickens | I wouldn’t call it so much of a plot – more a sort of unsubstantiated hysteria. |
| What’s Behind the iPhone 3G Glitches | Speculation reaches the mainstream, sustained by little more than anecdotal evidence. | |
| Aug 11 | Analyst: 3 million iPhones sold in first month | Hmm. Nice. |
| Is iPhone’s 3G Connection a Disappointment? | Sometimes I wonder why it’s taking the US four years to catch up with “Europe“European in 3G. | |
| Jul 17 | Apple’s iPhone Configuration Utility Disappoints | An interesting take on the enterprise tools. |
| Jul 14 | The Second Coming: Ars goes in-depth with the iPhone 3G | Up to their usual standards, and crammed with detailed shots. |
| First Impressions of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 | Short but informative. | |
| Apple Sells One Million iPhone 3Gs in First Weekend | Not bad. | |
| iPhone App Store Downloads Top 10 Million in First Weekend | ||
| Apple: iPhone 3G Battery Life Beats the Competition, Apple’s Own Tests | This has got to be a joke – not one Nokia or SonyEricsson in the bunch. | |
| Jul 13 | iPhone 3G: Hands-on reviewer’s notebook | Some decent points here. the full review is also worth a read. |
| Jul 12 | Apple iPhone 3G exposed | More details on chipsets and sourcing |
| Jul 11 | iPhone 3G disassembly | Loads of hi-res PCB shots. |
| Jul 10 | Apple releases iPhone Configuration Utilities for business | First decent mention of what profiles are, too. |
| Jul 9 | For iPhone, the’New’ Is Relative | Pogue weighs in. |
| Jul 8 | Apple’s new iPhone 3G: Still not perfect, but really close | An enthusiastic thumbs up, apparently. |
| Walt Mossberg reviews the iPhone 3G, isn’t that impressed | Neither am I, really. | |
| Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G | Back when “cheaper” was still thought of as actual price. | |
| Jul 7 | iPhone 3G prices and plans for 21 countries | Pretty nice summary table. The plans are almost completely outdated by now (Sep’08), but it’s interesting nevertheless. |
| Jul 4 | iPhone Timeline | A great graphical timeline, a copy of which I saved locally: |
| Jul 1 | Apple posts iPhone 3G Guided Tour | Yep. No changes. |
| The Real Price Of The iPhone: $599 | Of course, $199 is with contract only. | |
| Jun 29 | Leaked iPhone prices in Spain, official in Norway and Sweden | Subsidizing seems to be paying off |
| Jun 26 | Orange announces iPhone 3G pricing and plan details for France | To be available Jul 17 |
| Jun 7 | Apple ranked third among smartphone vendors | Discussion of Gartner figures for the quarter, compared to 2007. |
| Jun 4 | The trend for form over function continues | _almost a quarter (24%) of respondents upgraded to their iPhone having previously owned a Motorola RAZR Good grief. |
| May 29 | NYTimes Speculates On the Next iPhone | The unwashed masses go wild |
| May 28 | Analysts: Apple won’t sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 | I expect more controversy on this throughout the whole year. |
| The Guessing Game Has Begun on the Next iPhone | Surprisingly contained | |
| May 27 | Even more ‘leaked’ 3G iPhone photos make it out | Blurry shots of a white plastic casing. People eat it up. |
| May 19 | Analyst: Don’t Buy iPhone 2.0 | Hard to believe someone would base an entire piece on a Rob Enderle quote these days, but still, here’s proof. |
| 3G iPhone revealed in third-party case render? | Not really. | |
| May 10 | Newsflash! Firmware 2.0 hints suggest Apple might be working on a 3G iPhone | Shots of a prototype network preference pane. |
| May 9 | Safari YouTube, .Mac push e-mail found in new iPhone SDK beta | Probably the first credible reference to .Mac mobile enhancements (although it could just be IMAP IDLE support). |
| May 8 | O2 to customers: No more iPhone for you! | Purported shortages of 2G devices fuel the hype. |
| iPhone non-exclusivity in Italy – it’s all about prepaid | Not quite true, but an interesting rationalization nonetheless. | |
| May 7 | More “leaked” 3G iPhone shots hit the web | Some of these have nothing to do with the iPhone. |
| Apple and Orange in talks about multi-country iPhone rollout | pure speculation at this point (no press releases yet) | |
| May 6 | 3G iPhone again rumored for summer US/Europe launch, AT&T preps | AT&T schedules their training sessions a month in advance, and the wrong message gets out. |
| Vodafone, Telecom Italia announce massive iPhone rollout | Reactions to the first press releases | |
| May 1 | Case manufacturers getting early 3G iPhone size specs? | People start going nuts and debating whether or not there’s a front facing camera based on the sensor holes |
| Apr 29 | AT&T rumored to be considering subsidies on next-gen iPhone | First mention of $199 that I can find. |
| Apr 18 | Vodafone will reportedly carry iPhone in India in September | First mention of Vodafone deal, during a lull. |
