Later today (Tuesday) Apple will hold a press conference to unveil its upcoming iPhone 3.0 operating system and a new SDK ,or software developer kit, for the phone that is aimed at helping engineers and third parties write applications for the device.
Naturally enough, speculation on the blogosphere is rife about what will be on offer. Apple notoriously stays mum on what will be coming out but here is a selection of what some people are taking guesses on what might be included and what they would like to see.
Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, says he expects a cut and copy and paste function. A feature that has arguably been one of the most requested.
Macworld is looking for quite a few improvements to the iPhone so I will just note a couple of them. The blog wants a new improved mail programme with a single unified inbox. Great for those with more than one e-mail account. It also wants to be able to synch notes and to-do applications and would like to see better app organisation.
The site says back in the day "when the iPhone had only 20 apps - all from Apple - its one-panel home screen was a simple and easy-to-use way to launch those apps." No more of course because there are more than 15,000 to choose from and most people have a host of apps that end up running over several pages.
Macworld suggests being able to group apps into useful categories like games on one screen, productivity apps on another and so on. Another way would be to manage apps from within iTunes.
Engadget.com says it thinks a copy and paste function is "weak" and is calling on readers to vote for what should come in the update.
The list includes proper Bluetooth support, video recording, Flash, or "ridiculous proprietary headphones." A jibe obviously at the fact that the headphones that come with the new iPod shuffle have a proprietary control chip that wannabe headphone makers would have to pay to use so their product will work with the shuffle.
CNET thinks the announcement will include being able to tether the iPhone 3G so it can be used as a wireless modem for a laptop even though it hasn't had a rush of readers asking for it.
It lists a series of capabilities that many other smartphones and cell phones have that the iPhone lacks and should include like video recording, more camera options, voice dialing, speed dialing, text forwarding, and multi media messaging.
It almost makes you wonder why the iPhone is such a megastar in the smartphone category without all this built in.
PCWorld.com thinks "push notification" is on the cards. That's where apps get information from Apple servers even when they are not running. It is also looking for a horizontal keyboard as a standard function rather than users having to pay for it via an application from the AppStore.
While the invitation I got only refers to giving us a "sneak peak" at the new software and the SDK, it's unlikely there will be any mention of new hardware. However using my finely honed Sherlock Holmes skills, I would deduce that if Apple provides a date for the new OS then it's an obvious leap to make that a new iPhone would follow shortly thereafter. The big betting is on June or July.
As always there is plenty of hype and speculation around the Tuesday press announcement and a flurry of gossip that Apple will also talk about a 10-inch tablet computer.
Seth Weintraub of Computerworld is not alone in raising the flag on this one, but perhaps he goes a bit further than most. He notes that Apple is "developing a touchscreen in the 9.5-10 inch area for release in Q3."
His reasoning is that while Apple won't compete directly with the Netbook market, it will try to release a similar type product. Mr Weintraub says if Apple is aiming for a summer release it needs to start talking about such a device now so that developers can get to work to make their apps function on this smaller device.
MG Siegler at VentureBeat is of the same mind on this and writes "given that this is an "advance preview" of the new OS, it seems Apple wants to give developers some time to prepare for some big changes."
As always with Apple product announcements, lots of unanswered questions ahead of the launch. Take thanks in knowing that this time tomorrow the fuss will all be over.

So, after plenty of rumours, and even more leaks, the "free" internet calls service Skype will finally come to Apple's iPhone on Tuesday. Is this the moment that Voip - to use the ugly jargon - finally makes the leap from the laptop to the mobile? After a quick play with the new application, I must say I'm sceptical.
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It works fine - just install the app, tap on the icon and Skype launches with the familiar start-up sound you get on your computer. Your contacts list then tells you who is online - and you can either send them an instant message or make a call. When I tried it, the sound quality was about the same as on any mobile call - and as it was to a Skype contact it was free.
But here's the catch - I could only make the call because I was on a wi-fi network. Apple's restrictions on the use of its software development kit mean that Voip applications cannot use the 3G network. The other issue is that the iPhone doesn't allow you to have more than one application open at the same time - so your Skype buddies probably won't be able to get you on the phone unless you happen to be in the app when they call.
Most iPhone users will be on a contract giving them a lot of call minutes - so it's unlikely they'd want to use Skype unless they were abroad - or calling abroad. And wi-fi, as we know, is a lot less widespread and efficient than we might have thought it would be by now - whereas fast mobile networks are now widely available.
You can already use Skype on a dedicated phone from the 3 network, and Nokia is building the application into its N series of phones. In both cases you can make free calls to other Skype users over 3G as well as via wi-fi - so why would you choose an iPhone for its Skype capabilities?
What might make it into a killer app is free video calls - which aren't available on any mobile right now. but for that to happen on an iPhone, it would need a new camera on the front of the phone.
Skype is obviously very happy to be on the iPhone. But unless Apple takes a radically different approach to integrating the free calls service into its phone, it's unlikley to make a huge impact. And like many businesses, Apple is probably wondering whether "free" is such a great idea anyway.

Ever since Apple changed mobiles forever with the launch of its iPhone, the rest of the industry has been playing catch up.
Now, one of its biggest rivals in the market, Nokia, claims to have done just that.
Released on 23 January, its 5800 XpressMusic is the company's first touch screen phone.
Costing almost £100 less than the iPhone, it could start a price war.
But at £250 it's still not cheap and the big question is - is it good enough to take on Apple?
Newsbeat listeners Sophie Reed and Nik Williams got a sneak preview and gave us their thoughts.
Screen size
Sophie's first impression wasn't good but it did improve.
She said: "When I got the phone I thought it was quite hard to use - the screen is smaller than the iPhone - but I've had it a couple of weeks now and I've gotten used to it.

Sophie thinks the screen on the 5800 could be bigger
"You can view pictures, go on the internet and connect to any wi-fi that's available."
The 5800 has got 8G of memory, meaning it can hold around 6000 songs.
And Sophie reckons that's one of its best features.
"I think it's really good as a music player. I just got loads of songs from my computer, put them all on there and the quality when you play it out, either through headphones or its speakers, is really good," she said.
Pointer pen
Style wise the 5800 is slightly thicker than its rival and has a smaller screen - 3.2 inches compared to 3.5 for the iPhone.
She said: "It's a bit chunky but because it's got a big screen it looks quite good. But I think the iPhone looks cooler really because it's thinner and looks more modern."
Although it uses similar touch technology to the iPhone, the 5800 comes with a plastic pointer pen that makes it easier to use than just with fingers.
But Nik reckons the pen takes away from the whole point of having a touch-sensitive screen.
He said: "It just seemed so fiddly to use with your fingers.
"You either missed what you were trying to hit or ended up touching the wrong part of the screen or internet link and ending up not getting to where you wanted to be."
So overall?
Sophie said: "It's a good phone, and cheaper than the iPhone. But I don't think it's as good because the iPhone has a bigger screen and seems to have more to it."
Nik said: "It's got some pretty cool features but ultimately, for me, Apple has just set the bar so high with the iPhone that the 800 XpressMusic doesn't come close."

In San Francisco on Monday, Apple unveiled what it calls the "fastest, most powerful iPhone yet" - the 3GS. So how does it compare to previous versions?

The iPhone 3GS has voice control and a built-in compass
Some critics say the new incarnation isn't anything that wasn't expected.
They argue that for many iPhone users, the new model may simply do things they expected the original one to be capable of.
It has more speed, more storage, better battery life and a better camera that can record video.
The new model will also be able to send picture messages, allow copy and pasting of text and a full search capability.
Apple is promising the new model will be up to two times faster than the iPhone 3G, and users will be able to take higher resolution photos and capture video using the new 3 megapixel camera.
Video function

Critics say the 3GS only does what was expected of the original
But once Apple's marketing boss Phil Schiller had got round to announcing the new iPhone's built-in compass, the audience in California had realised this was not a day that would change the mobile phone market very much.
For many users, the decision whether to buy an iPhone 3GS will come down to its price, regardless of how many new features it has.
Apple has not yet given details of how much the handset will cost in the UK.
In the US it is priced at $199 (£125) for the 16GB model, $299 (£187) for 32GB.
Other tweaks which set the iPhone 3GS apart from previous models include up to 32GB of storage, but that's only the same as the biggest iPod Touch.
Apple said it has sold more than 40m iPhones and iPod Touch devices, but the company is facing competition.
Palm will soon be releasing the new Pre phone in the UK, launched on the 02 network.
Whilst it has not generated as much hype as the iPhone, it has proved popular in the US and is seen as a big rival to Apple's product.
The new iPhone 3GS will be available in the UK from 19 June.

After months of speculation the Apple iPhone is coming to the island...
We get e-mails fairly regularly from people asking whether they can get things in Jersey. From DAB radio and Freeview to WiFi and the iPhone.
The answer to the first two is no, the third is yes and the fourth used to be no.
The problem was that Apple ties the iPhone to a single network in each location it’s sold and until now that hasn’t included Jersey.
In the UK the iPhone is only available on the O2 network and in France the phone is sold by Orange.
Some people in Jersey do already have an iPhone, purchased unlocked in the UK or France and then had a Jersey sim card put into it – but this does mean a number of network tied features aren’t available.
You will now be able to buy the 3G version of the iPhone in Jersey through the Jersey Telecom or Sure network.
Both operators have purchases the phones through a European operator to sell unlocked in the island.
We've been told that the phone should be available to buy within the next few weeks.
If you want it on the Jersey Telecom network you will need to pre-register your interest, whereas Sure are offering it on a first come first serve basis.
Airtel-Vodafone have confirmed that they will also be offering the iPhone.
However, Airtel's Matthew Morrell told BBC Jersey that the company is working with Apple, local Apple retailer IQ and Airtel's parent company, Bharti Telecom, to bring the full iPhone service, complete with Visual Voicemail, to the island as quickly as possible.
We don't have the exact details of the Sure or Jersey Telecom plans or price points yet but will bring you details when we get confirmation.

In less than three months, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen to try to reach an agreement on tackling climate change.
Environmental scientists say only a far-reaching deal to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions will prevent major environmental degradation, in the form of melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods.
But in many parts of the world, the effects of global warming are already very apparent, and they are forcing local communities to adapt, often at great expense.
The Alps, climatologists agree, are especially sensitive to global warming. Alpine glaciers have retreated faster in the last 20 years, losing around 25% of their surface area.
Now the Swiss region of the Jungfrau, which is classed as a Unesco Heritage Site, is hoping to show the world exactly what global warming looks like, in the form of a graphic interactive guide along its hiking trails.
Graphic guide
The guide has been developed by the University of Berne's Institute for Climate Change, and uses the latest in modern technology - an iPhone complete with GPS.

Taking the iPhones, which are available from local tourist offices, along any one of seven Climate Change Hiking Trails, allows hikers to compare, for example, pictures of the glaciers 100 years ago with their condition now.
They can also see interviews with climatologists explaining how glaciers normally advance and retreat, and the devices can be used to identify rare alpine flowers, many of which are now growing in areas once covered by ice.
"We wanted to show people that climate change is already happening," said Kaspar Meuli of the Climate Change Institute.
"You can see the consequences already, it's happening now and here. We want to make people feel more concerned about this whole problem."
Crumbling mountains
Walking with Mr Meuli up the trail towards the lower Grindelwald glacier provided a stark illustration of the problem.

"This area is of particular interest because there are many natural hazards due to climate change that can be witnessed here," he explained.
And sure enough, just as the climate guide instructs hikers to stop and examine a particular rock formation, the rock begins to crumble, and boulders roll down the mountainside.
The rock slide is the result of thawing permafrost, which once held the rock in place.
"This kind of thing is happening basically all the time now," said Mr Meuli.
"Just two kilometres from here they had to build a special tunnel to protect the path from rock falls."
Disappearing restaurants
Closer to the glacier, or rather, closer to where the glacier used to be, there is another graphic example.


A brand new mountain restaurant welcomes hikers, but just a few hundred metres on, visitors can see where the old restaurant stood until three years ago.
Now the spot is a collapsed wall of earth and rock. As the glacier retreated, the ice stopped supporting the earth beneath the restaurant, the ground crumbled away, and the restaurant fell.
Such examples are not only stark evidence of the fact that global warming is already damaging the planet, they are also forcing local communities into costly and complicated protection measures.
A particular danger caused by the melting glaciers is the excess water.
As the lower Grindelwald glacier melts, the levels of the glacial lake are rising, threatening to flood the villages in the valley hundreds of metres below.
Now the local community is spending almost $15m (£9.4) to build a complicated series of run-off tunnels, drilling through the mountain and up to the lake, in a bid to give the water a safe route down.
"This is a good example of the consequences of global warming," explained tunnel engineer Nils Haehlen.
"With the melting of the glacier this lake becomes bigger and bigger and so does the danger. So we are building these tunnels to try to lower the level of the lake."
New foundations
Right across the Alps, similar measures are under way.
Many cable car stations are built into permafrost; now that the permafrost is thawing, the stations have to have new foundations.

It's not the kind of information you would expect tourist boards to want to spread around too much - after all, the Alpine economy depends on tourists enjoying themselves, not worrying about rock falls or floods.
Nevertheless Sammy Salm, of the Jungfrau tourist office, believes the new interactive climate guide is a way to show visitors the reality of what's happening to the mountains.
"First of all it's a cool tool, and our visitors like it," he said.
But more importantly, he pointed out, it is a way to confront the public with the consequences of climate change, and perhaps spur them to action.
"Up here you can really see what climate change does to nature, what it does to our mountains," he explained.
"I think with this we can really raise the awareness of each individual person about what's actually happening, and then also maybe make them more sensitive to their own daily behaviour about how they use resources."

A university is offering a free iPhone application it has developed to help students starting their first term.
The University of Central Lancashire in Preston says the mobile phone service will provide maps and details of entertainment and local transport.
There will also be details of campus facilities and access to students' university e-mail accounts.
Director of learning, Michael Ahern, say this will help connect with students who "lead very busy lives".
He believes this is the first such iPhone application for a university in the UK.
Keeping track
"At the beginning of term you're always being stopped by students asking for directions, now they're going to have the information they need in their pockets," says Mr Ahern.
"As they roam around the campus they can get information about lecture theatres, places to eat and libraries," he says.
The mobile phone service links to an alternative student guide, written by fellow students, and can also access student union services, such as letting students book tickets for bands.
Students are increasingly likely to be studying part-time - or to have term-time jobs - and Mr Ahern says that a mobile phone is a convenient way for the university to keep in touch with busy people in many different locations.
"It's a different track for reaching students," says Mr Ahern.
But he says that there is a question about the lack of access for students who do not have iPhones - and although not wrapped into a single package, the same information can be accessed through laptops and other mobiles which can access the internet.
The university has just invested a £1m in laptops and online access for students who cannot afford their own computers, he says.
The iPhone "applications" are customised information services which can be downloaded onto this type of mobile phone.
It has been estimated that there will be 100,000 applications available by the end of the year, with 1.8 billion having been downloaded so far.

Vodafone has reached an agreement to sell Apple's popular iPhone in the UK.
The announcement follows news that network operator Orange had secured a similar agreement with Apple.
The deals mark an end to the exclusive UK arrangement between O2 and the US technology firm, which has been in place since 2007.
Vodafone says users can register an interest online, with the handsets becoming available to customers from early 2010.
Orange said its customers would be able to buy the phone "later this year" but did not specify a date or pricing.
Vodafone is one of the biggest mobile operators in the world with an estimated 300 million customers world wide, making it the second largest carrier after China Mobile.
The agreement sees both Orange and Vodafone selling both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.
A spokesperson for Vodafone said the firm was "delighted" at securing an agreement with Apple and that the phone was going to be primarily for existing Vodafone customers.
This is a different model from that adopted by O2, which used the iPhone as an incentive to attract new customers.
Exclusivity
O2 has offered the handset in the UK since its launch in 2007. In February, it said it had sold more than one million of the handsets.
The launch of the latest iPhone 3GS in June significantly boosted sales, with many stores running out of stock.
The phone has also allowed the firm to win subscribers from other networks, according to analysts.
Dave McQueen, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media told BBC News said that the smartphones - which have the ability to surf the web and send e-mail - has put a burden on the O2 network.
"IPhone users to tend to use data quite extensively - perhaps more than anticipated," he said.
O2 will continue to sell the handset in Britain, alongside iPhone rival the Palm Pre.
The Palm phone, described by some as an "iPhone killer", will be available exclusively to O2 from 16 October.
O2 said that it always knew that its exclusive deal was for "a limited period of time".
In countries where exclusive deals still persist, such as the US, some customers choose to "unlock" their phones using third party software so they work on an unlicensed network.
However, Apple has warned that the practice can cause "irreparable" damage to a handset and has engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse, releasing periodic software updates which prevent unlocked phones from working correctly.

Apple has shrugged off the recession with profits surging on demand for its iPhones, laptops and desktop computers.
The technology giant made a net profit of $1.67bn (£1bn) in the three months to 26 September, up 47% on a year earlier. Sales rose 25% to $9.87bn.
Computer sales grew 17%, and iPhone sales climbed 7%, though there was an 8% drop in the number of iPods sold.
The results come ahead of rival Microsoft launching its new Windows 7 operating system later this week.
Shares in California-based Apple closed at $189.86 on the Nasdaq index, but rose to above $200 in extended trading on the results, which were well ahead of what analysts had forecast.
Premium products
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said he was "thrilled" at selling more Macintosh computers and iPhones than in any previous quarter.
The company sold 3.1 million Macs, a 19% rise from the same period a year ago.
Analysts said that Apple's unveiling of a faster iPhone in June, and cutting the price of the previous version of the phone had helped it boost iPhone sales to 7.4 million devices, half a million more than last year.
The launch of Apple's latest operating system, Snow Leopard, had also driven sales of new computers, said Dan Akerman, senior editor at CNET.com.
"They concentrate at higher-end premium products at a higher margin so they're aiming at the premium consumer."
Meanwhile, Jane Snorek, analyst at First American Funds described the results as "huge numbers" and that they bode well for sales in the next couple of months.
"This makes me think Apple will have a great Christmas."

Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, has said that it is suing its US rival Apple for infringing patents on mobile phone technology for the iPhone.
Nokia said it had not been compensated for its technology, and accused Apple of "trying to get a free ride on the back of Nokia's innovation".
The 10 alleged patent infringements involve wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption.
Apple, which did not comment on the news, saw its shares dip slightly.
The breaches applied to all models of the iPhone since its launch in 2007, Nokia added.
'Basic principle'
Finland's Nokia said that it had agreements with about 40 firms - including most mobile phone handset makers - allowing them to use the firm's technology, but that Apple had not signed an agreement.
"The basic principle in the mobile industry is that those companies who contribute in technology development to establish standards create intellectual property, which others then need to compensate for," said Ilkka Rahnasto, vice-president of legal and intellectual property at Nokia.
"Apple is also expected to follow this principle."
He added that during the last two decades, Nokia had invested approximately 40bn euros (£36.2bn; $60bn) on research and development.
Earlier this month, Nokia posted its first quarterly loss in a decade amid falling sales.
Analysts said that the poor results had come partly as customers turned from Nokia models to the iPhone and RIM's Blackberry.
Meanwhile, Apple reported profits of $1.67bn (£1bn) in the three months to 26 September - partly due to a 7% growth in iPhone sales.

So a mobile phone network is getting a new phone - or rather a phone that's already been available elsewhere for a couple of years. No big deal, eh? Well, think again. When the news broke this morning that O2 was losing its exclusive contract to sell Apple's iPhone, and that Orange would be selling the phone in the run-up to Christmas, there was huge interest.
It went straight to the top of the list of most-read news stories on our site and social networks were buzzing with the news. Clever old Apple - the whole marketing strategy around the iPhone has been masterful, and now it's scored another winner.
By keeping the phone exclusive to one network since its UK launch in November 2007, it's given it an air of, well, exclusivity. O2 has worked extremely hard to promote the iPhone over the last couple of years - and, it seems, has handed over quite a lot of cash for the privilege. Now, just as the shine is beginning to fade, Apple hands the phone to a network with a huge incentive to give it another massive marketing push.
But here's the key question yet to be answered by either Apple or Orange this morning: what is going to happen to tariffs?

You can't believe that Orange will go into this market charging the same as O2 - and if it does, questions may be asked by the competition authorities. So there's the juicy prospect that an iPhone price war may break out by Christmas - though given the big subsidy operators hand over for a handset like the iPhone, don't expect too much.
Customers will also be glad to have a choice of operators given the strain that the flood of data from the iPhone appears to have put on O2's network. They may find Ofcom's research on mobile broadband coverage in the UK [667 Kb PDF] a useful guide to whether Orange or O2 is stronger in their area.
But what of the operators? This morning, O2 was putting a brave face on things, stressing its pride in its record with the iPhone - but also the fact that the network is about to offer the Palm Pre. As one analyst put it to me, "you knew they were losing the iPhone exclusivity when they unveiled the Pre deal."
Orange is of course punching the air, delighted that months of painful negotiation have ended with it winning the prize. But should the network really be celebrating?
A few months back, a telecoms consulting company which has long been sceptical about the importance of the iPhone and its value to operators released a pretty devastating report. Strand Consult's The Moment of Truth: A Portrait of the iPhone set out to demolish what it said were 10 myths about the "miracle" handset:
"1) The iPhone drives data traffic into mobile operators networks2) The iPhone helps operators attract new customers3) The iPhone is good business for mobile operators4) The iPhone is dominating the mobile services market5) App store is a huge success that has revolutionised the services market6) There is money to be made by developing applications for the iPhone7) It is iPhone customers that are generating the majority of online mobile surfing traffic8) The iPhone has a large market share9) The iPhone was the first mobile phone with a touchscreen10) The iPhone is a technologically advanced mobile phone"
Now I'm not sure that the Strand report's one-sided view of the phone's significance to the industry really bears too much scrutiny. I don't see, for instance, how you can deny that the App Store has been a huge success, and one that has been imitated by the rest of the industry. But one thing does seem true - the iPhone appears to have done far more for Apple, both in financial and marketing terms, than it has delivered for the operators around the world which have fought for the right to sell it.
So today's news is good for consumers and good for Apple - but does it really mean a brighter future for Orange?

Remember the price war that was supposed to break out once O2 lost its exclusive contract to sell the iPhone in Britain?
Well, the price plans that Orange has published for the phone show little sign of an eagerness for hand-to-hand combat.
Apart from an entry-level £30 tariff which promises twice as many minutes as O2's deal, the two firms' offers look virtually identical.
Look at what's likely to be among the most popular tariffs, a 24-month contract for a 16GB iPhone 3GS at £34.26 a month, where you pay £87 for the device.
That's identical in every respect to the O2 deal, except for the cost of the device - which is £87.11.
As we suspected, the high price that Apple extracts from operators leaves them little margin to undercut their rivals - about 11p in fact.
But what does stand out when you examine Orange's price card more closely is what it says about the unlimited data that has been an essential part of the iPhone's appeal.
An asterisk next to the "unlimited" leads to a note saying "Fair Usage policy of 750MB/ month applies." Cue plenty of grumbling from potential customers, particularly on Twitter.
The cap appeared to apply to data downloaded via wi-fi as well as via the 3g network, so some concluded that Orange was planning to curb their customers' use of their own home networks.
I called Orange to check this out - and found the company slightly confused about its own fair usage policy. More than four hours later, the press office finally returned with chapter and verse.
There was a 750MB cap for 3g mobile data, and a separate 750MB for data downloaded with their wi-fi partner BT Openzone - you are free to do what you want on your own network.
So how does this compare with O2? That company came back with its own statement, confirming that its "unlimited" data policy did in fact have its limits.
"We reserve the right... to contact customers about their usage if we believe it adversely affects the service of our other customers, eg if a customer uses their SIM in another device for which it is not intended."
So O2 looks to be a little less restrictive than Orange.
But will many really run up against Orange's limit? At first 750MB may seem an awful lot of data to use on a phone - I reckon I get through about 200MB in a heavy month.
But what we've seen so far is that once you offer people "unlimited" data, they rush to use it, and software developers provide them with new data-rich applications.Streaming audio and video are increasingly popular on the iPhone, and they can chew up your data allowance at an alarming rate.
Last night someone pointed me towards this clause in Orange's Terms and Conditions:
"Not to be used for other activities (eg using your handset as a modem, non-Orange internet based streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing, non-Orange internet based video). Should such use be detected notice may be given and Network protection controls applied to all services which Orange does not believe constitutes mobile browsing."
It sounds as though services like Spotify, AudioBoo, Ustream and even Facebook messaging - increasingly popular with O2 iPhone customers - will be out of bounds for Orange users.
The operator is caught between a rock and a hard place. With little room for manoeuvre on prices, it will be hoping that better network coverage will be one factor winning over iPhone customers from O2.
But if too many power users start streaming TV and playing online games on their phones, the Orange network may buckle under the strain - hence the need for a fair usage limit.
Just hours after publishing its price list, Orange appeared to be having second thoughts about that 750MB cap, admitting that plenty of e-mails had been coming in and that it had noticed the rising tide of Twitter comments.
A spokesman told me the cap would be "reviewed" to make sure that it was at the right level.
The problem for the operators is that users no longer see the iPhone and similar devices as phones but as small computers. And who wants to be told 25 days into each month that they must now stop playing around with their computer and just use it to make calls?

IPhone 3G and 3GS handsets will be available to Orange customers from 10 November, marking the end of a two- year exclusive deal with operator O2.
Orange said it would offer the handset to pay as you go, pay monthly and business customers.
Customers taking out 24 month contracts worth £30 or £45 a month will get the 8GB standard handset for free.
The Orange tariffs are very similar to O2. The cheapest 24 month contract is £29.36, compared with £34.26 with O2.
"Since we announced the iPhone on Orange we have already seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website," said Tom Alexander, head of Orange UK.
In September, both Orange and Vodafone announced that they would be offering the iPhone. Vodafone said the phone would be available on its network from 2010 but has yet to confirm pricing details.
O2 has offered the iPhone since its UK launch in 2007. By February 2009 over a million handsets had been sold.

Capping literally years of speculation on perhaps the most intensely followed unconfirmed product in Apple's history -- and that's saying a lot -- the iPhone has been announced today. Yeah, we said it: "iPhone," the name the entire free world had all but unanimously christened it from the time it'd been nothing more than a twinkle in Stevie J's eye (comments, Cisco?). Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that's frickin' thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the screen when it's close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 4GB or 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quad-band GSM radio with EDGE. Perhaps most amazingly, though, it somehow runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out of the gate. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email. Apple quotes 5 hours of battery life for talk or video, with a full 16 hours in music mode -- no word on standby time yet. In a twisted way, this is one rumor mill we're almost sad to see grind to a halt; after all, when is the next time we're going to have an opportunity to run this picture? The 4GB iPhone will go out the door in the US as a Cingular exclusive for $499 on a two-year contract, 8GB for $599. Ships Stateside in June, Europe in fourth quarter, Asia in 2008.

The Apple iPhone is not just a phone - it is a phone, music player, video player, internet device, and camera all in one. Like its Apple iPod Nano and iPod video cousins, the iPhone is slim and sleek at just 11.6mm thick, 2.4-inches wide, and 4.5-inches tall.

Steve Jobs has such confidence in the new iPhone that he has said he wants to sell over 10 million of them by 2008. I think he's setting his sights a little low, and project that Apple will sell over 10 million iPhones in less than 6 months. With the following that Apple has, and the fact that this device has been rumored about and anticipated for almost four years now, it shouldn't be too far out of the realm of possiblity.
iPod Features:
The Apple iPhone is a widescreen iPod that features touch screen controls that allow you to enjoy all your content, including audiobooks, music, TV shows, and movies. It features an amazing 3.5-inch widescreen display, and allows you to sync content from your iTunes library on your PC or Mac, making that content also accessible with just the touch of a finger.
iPhone users will be able to scroll through songs, artists, albums, and playlists with just a flick of a finger. One cool new feature of this function is the display of album artwork - you can now use Cover Flow to browse your music library by album artwork for the first time on an iPod.
Phone Features:
Using the phone function of the Apple iPhone, you can calls by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. All your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet device are also automatically synched, you can select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email. Calls can easily be merged together with just the touch of a button to create a conference call. Conference calling has never been easier!
SMS Text Messaging:
Using the iPhone, you can send text messages withan SMS application with a predictive QWERTY soft keyboard that prevents and corrects mistakes. This makes it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards found on many smartphones.
Camera Function:
The Apple iPhone also features an amazing 2-megapixel camera, as well as a photo management application unlike anything available on a phone today. Users can sync photos from a PC or Mac, browse or email them with just a touch of the screen.
Internet Device:
The iPhone features a rich HTML email client as well as the Safari browser, which automatically syncs bookmarks from a PC or Mac. The Safari browser has built-in Google and Yahoo! search. You can also multi-task by reading a web page while simultaneously downloading your email in the background via WiFi or EDGE. Safari also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! search. You can even display Google Maps as they were meant to be seen, and zoom in to view specific points.
E-mail:
The iPhone is great for multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over Wi-Fi or EDGE. Its e-mail client fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services, and then displays photos and graphics along with the text.
Widgets:
Extend your iPhone with widgets, small applications that give you helpful information like stock reports, weather reports, and more in real time.
Touchscreen:
The iPhone features an amazing 3.5-inch widescreen display, and has one of the most revolutionary user interfaces since the mouse. The interface is unlike anything you've ever experienced on a phone, with a large multi-touch display and innovate new software that allows you to control everything with the touch of a finger.
Intelligent Keyboard:
The iPhone features a full QWERTY keyboard that allows you to send and receive SMS messages, email, etc. It is predicitive, and therefore prevents and corrects mistakes.
Built-in Sensors:
The iPhone incorporates an accelerometer, which detects when a user switches from holding the phone in landscape to portrait mode, and automatically updates the image on screen to fit the mode. The sensors also detect when you put the iPhone near your phone, and automatically shuts off the display screen until you move it away to save on battery power. An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the screen's brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, which enhances user experience and also saves on battery power.
Accessories:
As of now, Apple has announced a Bluetooth headset that will work with the iPhone, as well as new headphones that incorporate a small white box in the middle of the cord. This box has a built-in microphone and a switch to answer and hang up phone calls.
The phone is expected to come out in June 2007 in USA, Europe in the fourth QTR and Asia in 2008 and it will be available exclusively on Cingular for $499 on a two-year contract for the 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB version

European settlement of Mobile, then known as Fort Louis de la Louisiane, started in 1702, at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff on the Mobile River, as the first capital of the French colony of Louisiana. It was founded by French Canadian brothers Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, establish control over France's Louisiana claims. Bienville was made governor of French Louisiana in 1701. Mobile’s Roman Catholic parish was established on 20 July 1703, by Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier, Bishop of Quebec. The parish was the first established on the Gulf Coast of the United States. In 1704 the ship Pélican delivered 23 French women to the colony, along with yellow fever which passengers had contracted at a stop in Havana. Though most of the "Pélican girls" recovered, numerous colonists and neighboring Native Americans died from the illness. This early period was also the occasion of the arrival of the first African slaves, transported aboard a French supply ship from Saint-Domingue. The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years, growing to 279 persons by 1708, yet descending to 178 persons two years later due to disease.

These additional outbreaks of disease and a series of floods caused Bienville to order the town relocated several miles downriver to its present location at the confluence of the Mobile River and Mobile Bay in 1711. A new earth and palisade Fort Louis was constructed at the new site during this time. By 1712, when Antoine Crozat took over administration of the colony by royal appointment, the colony boasted a population of 400 persons. The capital of Louisiana was moved to Biloxi in 1720, leaving Mobile in the role of military and trading center. In 1723 the construction of a new brick fort with a stone foundation began and it was renamed Fort Condé in honor of Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon and prince of Condé.

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the French and Indian War. The treaty ceded Mobile and the surrounding territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain, and it was made a part of the expanded British West Florida colony. The British changed the name of Fort Condé to Fort Charlotte, after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, King George III's queen.

The British were eager not to lose any useful inhabitants and promised religious tolerance to the French colonists, ultimately 112 French Mobilians remained in the colony. The first permanent Jewish presence in Mobile began in 1763 as a result of the new religious tolerance. Jews had not been allowed to officially reside in colonial French Louisiana due to the Code Noir, a decree passed by France's King Louis XIV in 1685 that forbade the exercise of any religion other than Roman Catholicism, and ordered all Jews out of France's colonies. Most of these colonial era Jews in Mobile were merchants and traders, and added to the commercial development of Mobile. In 1766 the population was estimated to be 860, though the town's borders were smaller than they had been during the French colonial efforts. During the American Revolutionary War, West Florida and Mobile became a refuge for loyalists fleeing the other colonies.

The Spanish captured Mobile during the Battle of Fort Charlotte in 1780. They wished to eliminate any British threat to their Louisiana colony, which they had received from France in 1763s Treaty of Paris. Their actions were also condoned by the revolting American colonies due to the fact that West Florida, for the most part, remained loyal to the British Crown. The fort was renamed Fortaleza Carlota, with the Spanish holding Mobile as a part of Spanish West Florida until 1813, when it was seized by the U.S. General James Wilkinson during the War of 1812.

By the time Mobile was included in the Mississippi Territory in 1813, the population had dwindled to roughly 300 people. The city was included in the Alabama Territory in 1817, after Mississippi gained statehood. Alabama was granted statehood in 1819; Mobile's population had increased to 809 by that time. As the river frontage areas of Alabama and Mississippi were settled by farmers and the plantation economy became established, Mobile's population exploded. It came to be settled by merchants, attorneys, mechanics, doctors and others seeking to capitalize on trade with these upriver areas. Mobile was well situated for trade, as its location tied it to a river system that served as the principal navigational access for most of Alabama and a large part of Mississippi. By 1822 the city's population was 2800.

From the 1830s onward, Mobile expanded into a city of commerce with a primary focus on the cotton trade. The waterfront was developed with wharves, terminal facilities, and fireproof brick warehouses. The exports of cotton grew in proportion to the amounts being produced in the Black Belt; by 1840 Mobile was second only to New Orleans in cotton exports in the nation. With the economy so focused on one crop, Mobile's fortunes were always tied to those of cotton, and the city weathered many financial crises. Though Mobile had a relatively small slave-owning population compared to the inland plantation areas, it was the slave-trading center of the state until surpassed by Montgomery in the 1850s. By 1853, there were fifty Jewish families living in Mobile, including Philp Phillips,an attorney who was elected to the Alabama State Legislature and then to the United States Congress. By 1860 Mobile's population within the city limits had reached 29,258 people; it was the 27th largest city in the United States and 4th largest in what would soon be the Confederate States of America. The free population in the whole of Mobile County, including the city, consisted of 29,754 citizens, of which only 1195 were black. Additionally, 1785 slave owners held 11,376 slaves, for a total county population of 41,130 people.

The Tacon-Barfield Mansion (built c. 1896) on Government Street.
During the American Civil War, Mobile was a Confederate city. The first submarine to successfully sink an enemy ship, the H. L. Hunley, was built in Mobile. One of the most famous naval engagements of the war was the Battle of Mobile Bay, resulting in the Union taking possession of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864. On 12 April 1865, 3 days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, the city of Mobile surrendered to the Union army to avoid destruction following the Union victories at the Battle of Spanish Fort and the Battle of Fort Blakely. Ironically, on 25 May 1865, the city suffered loss when some three hundred people died as a result of an explosion at a federal ammunition depot on Beauregard Street. The explosion left a 30-foot (9 m) deep hole at the depot's location, sunk ships docked on the Mobile River, and the resulting fires destroyed the northern portion of the city.

Federal Reconstruction in Mobile began after the Civil War and effectively ended in 1874 when the local Democrats gained control of the city government. The last quarter of the 19th century was a time of economic depression and municipal insolvency for Mobile. One example can be provided by the value of Mobile's exports during this period of depression. The value of exports leaving the city fell from $9 million in 1878 to $3 million in 1882.

The turn of the century brought the Progressive Era to Mobile and saw Mobile's economic structure evolve along with a significant increase in population. The population increased from around 40,000 in 1900 to 60,000 by 1920. During this time the city received $3 million in federal grants for harbor improvements to deepen the shipping channels in the harbor. During and after World War I, manufacturing became increasingly vital to Mobile's economic health, with shipbuilding and steel production being two of the most important. During this time, social justice and race relations in Mobile worsened, however. In 1902 the city government passed Mobile's first segregation ordinance, one that segregated the city streetcars. It legislated what had been informal practice, enforced by convention. Mobile's African-American population responded to this with a two-month boycott, but it did not change the law. After this, Mobile's de facto segregation was increasingly replaced with legislated segregation as whites imposed Jim Crow laws to maintain dominance.

World War II led to a massive military effort causing a considerable increase in Mobile's population, largely due to the massive influx of workers coming to Mobile to work in the shipyards and at the Brookley Army Air Field. Between 1940 and 1943, more than 89,000 people moved into Mobile to work for war effort industries. Mobile was one of eighteen U.S. cities producing Liberty ships. Its Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company supported the war effort by producing ships faster than the Axis powers could sink them. Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation, a subsidiary of Waterman Steamship Corporation, focused on building freighters, Fletcher class destroyers, and minesweepers.

The years after World War II brought about changes in Mobile's social structure and economy. Instead of shipbuilding being a primary economic force, the paper and chemical industries began to expand, and most of the old military bases were converted to civilian uses.

After World War II and their sacrifices in service, African Americans stepped up their efforts to achieve equal rights and social justice. Some residents of Mobile had considered the city to be tolerant and racially accommodating compared to other cities in the South, especially as the police force and one local college became integrated in the 1950s. Buses and lunch counters were voluntarily desegregated by the early 1960s. Mobile's African-American citizens were not as content with the status quo as such residents believed. In 1963 three African-American students brought a case against the Mobile County School Board for being denied admission to Murphy High School. The court ordered that the three students be admitted to Murphy for the 1964 school year, leading to the desegregation of Mobile County's school system. The Civil Rights Movement led to the end of legal racial segregation with passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the late 1960s, Mobile's economy was dealt a blow with the closing of Brookley Air Force Base. This and other factors ushered in a period of economic depression that lasted through the 1970s. Beginning in the late 1980s, the new mayor, Mike Dow, and the city council began an effort termed the "String of Pearls Initiative" to make Mobile into a competitive city. The city initiated construction of numerous new facilities and projects, and the restoration of hundreds of historic downtown buildings and homes. Violent crime was reduced, and city and county leaders attracted new business ventures to the area. The effort continues into the present under the current mayor, Sam Jones, and city council. Shipbuilding began to make a major comeback in Mobile in 1999 with the founding of Austal USA.

Apple has filed more than 200 patents related to the technology behind the iPhone.

LG Electronics claimed the iPhone's design was copied from the LG Prada. Woo-Young Kwak, head of LG Mobile Handset R&D Center, said at a press conference, “We consider that Apple copied Prada phone after the design was unveiled when it was presented in the iF Design Award and won the prize in September 2006.”
On September 3, 1993, Infogear filed for the U.S. trademark "I PHONE" and on March 20, 1996 applied for the trademark "IPhone". "I Phone" was registered in March 1998, and "IPhone" was registered in 1999. Since then, the I PHONE mark had been abandoned. Infogear's trademarks cover "communications terminals comprising computer hardware and software providing integrated telephone, data communications and personal computer functions" (1993 filing), and "computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks" (1996 filing). Infogear released a telephone with an integrated web browser under the name iPhone in 1998. In 2000, Infogear won an infringement claim against the owners of the iphones.com domain name. In June 2000, Cisco Systems acquired Infogear, including the iPhone trademark. On December 18, 2006 they released a range of re-branded Voice over IP (VoIP) sets under the name iPhone.
In October 2002, Apple applied for the "iPhone" trademark in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and the European Union. A Canadian application followed in October 2004 and a New Zealand application in September 2006. As of October 2006 only the Singapore and Australian applications had been granted. In September 2006, a company called Ocean Telecom Services applied for an "iPhone" trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and Hong Kong, following a filing in Trinidad and Tobago. As the Ocean Telecom trademark applications use exactly the same wording as Apple's New Zealand application, it is assumed that Ocean Telecom is applying on behalf of Apple. The Canadian application was opposed in August 2005 by a Canadian company called Comwave who themselves applied for the trademark three months later. Comwave have been selling VoIP devices called iPhone since 2004.

Shortly after Steve Jobs' January 9, 2007 announcement that Apple would be selling a product called iPhone in June 2007, Cisco issued a statement that it had been negotiating trademark licensing with Apple and expected Apple to agree to the final documents that had been submitted the night before. On January 10, 2007 Cisco announced it had filed a lawsuit against Apple over the infringement of the trademark iPhone, seeking an injunction in federal court to prohibit Apple from using the name. More recently, Cisco claimed that the trademark lawsuit was a "minor skirmish" that was not about money, but about interoperability.

On February 2, 2007, Apple and Cisco announced that they had agreed to temporarily suspend litigation while they hold settlement talks, and subsequently announced on February 20, 2007 that they had reached an agreement. Both companies will be allowed to use the "iPhone" name in exchange for "exploring interoperability" between their security, consumer, and business communications products.
The iPhone has also inspired several leading high-tech clones, driving both Apple's popularity and consumer willingness to upgrade iPhones quickly.

The iPhone normally prevents access to its media player and web features unless it has also been activated as a phone with an authorized carrier. On July 3, 2007, Jon Lech Johansen reported on his blog that he had successfully bypassed this requirement and unlocked the iPhone's other features with a combination of custom software and modification of the iTunes binary. He published the software and offsets for others to use.

Unlike the original, the iPhone 3G must be activated in the store in most countries. This makes the iPhone 3G more difficult, but not impossible, to hack. The need for in-store activation, as well as the huge number of first-generation iPhone and iPod Touch users upgrading to iPhone OS 2.0, caused a worldwide overload of Apple's servers on July 11, 2008, the day on which both the iPhone 3G and iPhone OS 2.0 updates as well as MobileMe were released. After the update, devices were required to connect to Apple's servers to authenticate the update, causing many devices to be temporarily unusable. Apple avoided this by releasing the 3.0 software two days before the iPhone 3GS.

Users on the O2 network in the United Kingdom, however, can buy the phone online and activate it via iTunes as with the previous model. Even where not required, vendors usually offer activation for the buyer's convenience. In the U.S., Apple has begun to offer free shipping on both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS (when available), reversing the in-store activation requirement. Best Buy and Wal-Mart will also sell the iPhone.

The majority of iPhones are sold with a SIM lock, which restricts the use of the phone with one particular carrier, a common practice with subsidized GSM phones. Unlike most GSM phones however, the phone cannot be officially unlocked via inputting a code. The locked/unlocked state is maintained on Apple's servers per IMEI and is set when the iPhone is activated.

While the iPhone was initially sold on the AT&T network only with a SIM lock in place, various hackers have found methods to "unlock" the phone from a specific network. Although AT&T is the only authorized iPhone carrier in the United States, unlocked iPhones can be used with an unauthorized carrier after unlocking. More than a quarter of the original iPhones sold in the United States were not registered with AT&T. Apple speculates that they were likely shipped overseas and unlocked, a lucrative market prior to the iPhone 3G's worldwide release. Unlocking iPhones in the U.S. is done because many would-be users dislike switching carriers or consider AT&T's monthly fees too expensive.

On November 21, 2007, T-Mobile in Germany announced it would sell the phone unlocked and without a T-Mobile contract, caused by a preliminary injunction against T-Mobile put in place by their competitor, Vodafone. On December 4, 2007, a German court decided to grant T-Mobile exclusive rights to sell the iPhone with SIM lock, overturning the temporary injunction. In addition, T-Mobile will voluntarily offer to unlock customers' iPhone after the contract expires.

AT&T has stated that the "iPhone cannot be unlocked, even if you are out of contract". On March 26, 2009 AT&T in the United States began selling the iPhone without a contract, though still SIM-locked to their network. Such iPhone units are often twice as expensive as those with contracts, because Apple and AT&T lose the deferred income. Vendors in Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, and Russia (among others) sell iPhones not locked to any carrier. In Australia, four major carriers (Three, Optus, Telstra, and Vodafone) sell locked phones, but will unlock upon request, in addition to Apple selling unlocked iPhones directly.

A recent case study posted in Microsoft’s developer site tells how one programmer ported his iPhone app over to Windows Mobile. It’s the logical next step in the campaign to woo the hearts and minds of mobile developers away from Apple’s iPhone platform. Or more likely, it’s hoped to be the way of getting Windows developers now writing for iPhone to give Windows Mobile another try. “Dude, we’re over here! Remember us?”
Perhaps Redmond can hire sign wavers to stand on the corner with signs shaped like giant hands, the ones that you see pointing to condo developments that aren’t sellin. Microsoft could set up offices in vacant strip malls, so the sign wavers could direct developers to attend seminars on the benefits of Windows Mobile 6.5 and the forthcoming Windows Marketplace, which no doubt will be everything that Apple’s App Store ain’t.
Go for it!
The case study at Windows Mobile Developer Center tells how engineer Luke Thompson at Gripwire.com ported Amplitude to Windows Mobile. According to the report, he was able to get his app to run on a HTC Touch Pro phone with a build of Windows Mobile 6.5.
For the Macphiles and their Windows counterparts [do the latter love Windows or just hate the Mac, I wonder?], the discussion is all about “only” apps, or programs that only run on either iPhone OS or Windows Mobile. This is a very unrealistic and unbusinesslike attitude.
Of course, developers will seek new customers for their products on different platforms. While they will look at the market picture for earch OS and its hardware platforms as well as the business case for the respective stores, developers will have another important question to answer: How many IDEs will they and can they take on to produce small, low cost applications?
This will be a concern especially for small developers. Certainly, they will want Xcode for the iPhone — after all, this case study is about porting to Windows Mobile from the Apple platform. Apple is currently the mindshare leader. But what will be the next target? Windows Mobile? If you’re into Eclipse, Google Chrome? Or Maven 2 for Cydia packages.
A Mac developer in the mobile space who declined attribution predicted that “iPhone and Android will pretty much kill Windows Mobile in the next couple of years.”

Microsoft will be throwing plenty of dough around to prevent that. Speaking of which, I got a laugh at the hand Microsoft’s legal dept.

Here was a note in the case study:

Luke ran into an issue with hardware variations in the end device. The expectation was that the application would run on both devices; however, the latter Windows Mobile release on the HTC Touch Pro was a significant improvement over the HTC Touch Diamond 2. Most other issues with similar devices centered on the display and required that all layout and alignment code be changed to be device independent and take into consideration the screen resolution. Once this was set, the device displayed the layout accordingly. The expectation is that this should translate quite nicely between different devices.

My guess here is that this is called an “expectation” because there are so many Windows Mobile devices and makers that one or more might not be compatible. Could it be?

At the Windows Team Blog, Community Product Manager Constanze Roman makes some even wilder statements:

In his conclusion, Thompson credits the Windows Mobile Developer Community for helping him resolve the issues he encountered along the road, stating that: “The large development community, both within Microsoft and outside, and the various whitepapers, blogs, virtual labs, websites, and other online documentation, offered a wealth of information that provided direction and greatly facilitated problem resolution. The only real challenge was assuring total portability between screens, and that was assured by utilizing the concept of aspect ratios.”

I have no doubt saying that Luke Thompson never “said” that statement. These were the words of the corporate flak or hired writer who crafted the case study. No human being outside of a PR or Marketing department ever uses the word “utilizing.” Or “wealth of information.” Or “greatly facilitated.”

I found two actual quotes from Thompson in the case study. The first was about developing in C# over Objective C.

“What I’m finding is that it’s harder to mess up with C# than in Objective-C, which is used for iPhone application development. This makes any extra effort needed to customize the classes I want worthwhile,” commented Luke Thompson, Gripwire software engineer porting the Amplitude application.

Of course, he’s more familiar with C#.

The second was about the IDE interface. He likes Visual Studio and said its integration with the interface tools was better than the Apple Xcode setup.

Luke commented, “The ease and speed of development was illustrated by putting together four different interface screens simultaneously. With Apple, this activity is really jumbled and you need to jump between numerous applications.”

Yahoo has been busy. Last week, it announced a new customizable home page you can personalize by adding favorite Yahoo services and social-networking modules. On Tuesday, Yahoo unveiled a new iPhone-optimized design for the iPhone's Safari browser that invites you to sync the modules between the PC and your iPhone.
Here's how it works on the desktop. When you navigate to Yahoo.com from your browser, you'll be able to click a link at the top of the page to try out the redesigned home page. You'll then move to m.www.yahoo.com (which is distinct from m.yahoo.com on the desktop). From there, you'll see a much sparser design that is flanked on the left by a list of modules--Favorites--that you can add and activate. These include Yahoo finance, eBay, Facebook, MySpace, Movies, Maps, Messenger, Weather, and so on. Hovering over the module displays a summary and some points for interaction. Clicking more deeply may short-cut you to a new Yahoo page.
You'll be able to sync changes to these favorites on the iPhone's newly optimized site, and vice versa. The second of three tabs on m.yahoo.com from iPhone's Safari (it redirects to new.m.yahoo.com) is where your preferred news categories and social networks manifest on the Web app. After logging in, you'll be able to see, edit, and add new favorites.
In addition to acquiring syncing smarts, Yahoo's mobile iPhone site has undergone a dramatic redesign. Once a richly populated, linear site, the new home page on iPhone hosts just three tabs--Today, which features headline news and a search field, My Favorites (described above), and All Sites, which provides shortcuts to a plethora of Yahoo services.
Interestingly, Yahoo Mobile the Web app is posed to at least temporarily cannibalize Yahoo Mobile the iPhone app, a richer native application that also endeavors to make accessible Yahoo's reams of services and information. While Yahoo's iPhone app also has a Favorites section (called My Interests on the app), it does not currently sync with the desktop Web app.
A Yahoo spokesperson told CNET that the PC-to-mobile sync functionality is planned for native iPhone app in the future.
Both Yahoo's new iPhone-optimized Web site and its new favorites-focused Web app operate now in the following 17 countries: U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

Comcast's new iPhone and iPod touch app allows subscribers to check and send e-mail, listen to their VoIP voicemails, check out TV listings, and more. It may not be of much use if you don't subscribe to those services, but hey, it works.

Comcast customers may have a love/hate relationship with their broadband service of choice, but the company has been making numerous efforts lately to expand its services in order to tip us a little more towards the "love" side. One of those expansions includes the recently-launched iPhone and iPod touch app aimed at customers who make use of all the company's services, including e-mail, VoIP, TV listings, and Comcast On Demand.
We were given the opportunity to play with the free Comcast Mobile app with all of the services enabled in order to test things out. While it may not be enough reason for someone to start subscribing to Comcast, it's a handy app to have if you're already a user of these services.

From the main screen (after you log in with your Comcast username and password), you can access your Comcast Inbox, your Address Book, your Digital Voice info, the TV listings, and Comcast's On Demand content. The Inbox not only displays your Comcast e-mail, it also shows how many voicemails you might have waiting in your VoIP box. In terms of an e-mail client, it's pretty run-of-the-mill, comparable to Gmail's iPhone interface, but tapping on your voicemails will play it right through the iPhone or iPod touch's speakers, which is cool.

The Address Book's neat feature is that you can import your iPhone's contacts so that they are merged with your Comcast contacts. From here, you can search your contacts by name, and tapping on someone's e-mail address will bring up a new message in the Comcast Mobile e-mail interface.

Why you would want to do this instead of simply sending someone an e-mail through the iPhone's native Mail client is somewhat beyond me, but if you're married to the idea of keeping your Comcast e-mail completely separate from your iPhone, then this solution works decently enough.
Through the Digital Voice section, you can see all the same information you might see on your iPhone's calling interface—except through Comcast's VoIP service instead. Outgoing calls, missed calls, and voicemails are all displayed here, and you can even change your call forwarding settings right from within the app.

Finally, the TV stuff. "The Guide" allows you to navigate through the TV listings by searching or casually browsing—you can change times and days easily to see what's on and when.

Tap on a show to read the description of that episode, see a list of showtimes, add it to your favorites, or share it with friends. You can also set reminders for when the show is about to come on.

The downside, as far as we can tell, is that you can't actually program your Comcast DVR through the iPhone app (something we hear you can do with the DirecTV app, which is apparently "totally awesome" according to other Ars staff members). Is it really that great that I can look at the listings while I'm out and about? (Note: If this functionality is present somehow and we have just missed it, please let us know.)
Finally, the Comcast On Demand part of the app allows you to watch movie trailers and... that's pretty much it. Again, this feature is mildly cool—we guess—but it's not mindblowing and it's certainly not a feature that's going to sell us on subscribing to Comcast. Movie trailers can be seen all over the Internet, even from the iPhone. However, we suppose if you're already in the app and in the mood to check out some new movies, then this is a convenient place to do so.
Overall, the app is a handy companion to your already-existing Comcast services—assuming you actually subscribe to all those things. Most of us on staff don't, though, so many of the app's features are a bit of overkill for us. But hey, it's free. Go download it and give it a try.