Apple Phone In August?

[MacRumors]

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Contrary to recent reports, Engadget says that Apple's rumored "iPhone" may appear as early as August.

A reader is reporting to us that a coworker's tech-unsavvy friend, who is regularly hired by Apple to do marketing photo shoots, was recently brought on to take some shots of "the sleekest, sexiest damn phone he's ever seen."

It has been well-established that Apple has been working on an Apple-branded phone for some time, however the release date has been difficult to pinpoint. Recently, various patents (1, 2) have been uncovered regarding Apple's cell phone technology and Peter Oppenheimer made comments during Apple's Q3 2006 conference call virtually acknowledging Apple's work on the product, stating "We're not sitting around doing nothing" with regard to cell phones.

[NewSc2]

my t-mobile contract expires in september..

maybe along with the mac pros, new macbook pros, intel core 2 duo, movies on iTunes, WWDC will bring about the iPhone and no-touch full screen video iPod..

*yeah right*

[twoodcc]

well 2 months after i buy a new Razr, i don't doubt that this phone will be released

[Frisco]

I'd buy in a second, even if I had a Razr.

[BornAgainMac]

Finally, a phone that might be able to iSync with my Mac.

[craigatkinson]

Of course Verizon will wait two years before they decide to adopt it into their lineup.

[Peace]

I can already see Phil sitting in the audience and then Job's cell phone rings..

Jobs: um..excuse me a sec..Seems I have a phone call..
Pulls out this cool looking cell phone,flips it open and says hello?
Phil: Say Steve,can we have a chat real fast ? then starts up iChat on his iPhone..
Jobs: starts up iChat on his cell phone..

The rest is history

[DavidLeblond]

Originally Posted by craigatkinson

Of course Verizon will wait two years before they decide to adopt it into their lineup.

Yeah tell me about it.

How much does it take to break a Verizon contract again...?

[twoodcc]

Originally Posted by Peace

I can already see Phil sitting in the audience and then Job's cell phone rings..

Jobs: um..excuse me a sec..Seems I have a phone call..
Pulls out this cool looking cell phone,flips it open and says hello?
Phil: Say Steve,can we have a chat real fast ? then starts up iChat on his iPhone..
Jobs: starts up iChat on his cell phone..

The rest is history

i could see something like that happening

[Super Dave]

If only I wasn't locked in with a stupid CDMA company. I doubt the iPhone will be anything but GSM. My local GSM company's plans suck!

David

[bigandy]

i'm betting it will be introduced by apple's special flying pig.

[bigbossbmb]

yeah, i just got a razor too...but luckily im with verizon, so by the time i upgrade my phone again, this will be verizon's new addition

[iMacZealot]

I'm not sure....it could be the next great product to be unveiled @ WWDC, but it seems a little soon and I just can't really see Apple making a phone. Sorry. While I'm sure if it is true, it'd be a cool phone, but it just seems like one of those rumours that comes up occasionally and then goes away, just like the Tablet Mac. On the other hand, the Marklar rumours were true, so I don't know. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Originally Posted by DavidLeblond

Yeah tell me about it.

How much does it take to break a Verizon contract again...?

It's $175, and I think it'd be worth it. I never get more than maybe three bars, and let's just forget their international plans. I think I'm going to switch to T-Mobile in a few weeks. My Verizon phone was $1.50 a minute internationally and it didn't even work in Rome and my aunt's T-Mobile phone I borrowed for my trip to Singapore was $0.99/min. and worked so well.

[l008com]

I read somehwere that the iPhone has been ready to go for a while, the problem is all the greedy scum bag cell providers want to get paid $1 every time a customer puts a song on their phone, where as apple wants people to load up their phone for free just like they do with an iPod. Without the providers on board, you won't get [Retail $350, with 2 Year Plan $50] for the phone, you'll just get [Price $350].

Anyway I'm on verizon and its been nothing but problems with them for the past year or so. Their 'can you hear me now' network has turned into the 'what? hello? HELLO? *click*' network. I'll be happy to switch if the new phone is not on verizon.

[ravenvii]

If they somehow include a full qwerty thumb keyboard, this sleek and sexy phone is mine.

[iMacZealot]

Originally Posted by l008com

I read somehwere that the iPhone has been ready to go for a while, the problem is all the greedy scum bag cell providers want to get paid $1 every time a customer puts a song on their phone, where as apple wants people to load up their phone for free just like they do with an iPod. Without the providers on board, you won't get [Retail $350, with 2 Year Plan $50] for the phone, you'll just get [Price $350].

Anyway I'm on verizon and its been nothing but problems with them for the past year or so. Their 'can you hear me now' network has turned into the 'what? hello? HELLO? *click*' network. I'll be happy to switch if the new phone is not on verizon.

I know. My brother travels a ton (new day, new state) and he even says that he has awful problems with it. Sprint works pretty well, but just too expensive, especially internationally.

As for the iPhone, that is the problem. For example, in the case of the ROKR, Apple wanted users to add their music for free from their comp. They went to other companies where they wanted people to pay $2-3 for a song. Maybe this new iPhone will not be music related, but Apple has become to be synonymous with music.

(Sorry this is my third post in fifteen minutes)

[Paulius]

Ah man. I wanted a cheap, robust, no-BS phone. I don't know what my next cellphone will be. I just don't feel like investing a lot into a cellphone. What I want to do is to just TALK!

[l008com]

If apple could get one of the phone carriers to go with the free song plan, maybe one of the smaller ones like Alltel, they could single handedly turn Alltel into a major player. Alltel and Apple would both win. And it probably wouldn't be long before the crappy carriers decided to carry the "ipod phone" with free song loading anyway.

I'm a big fan of the Motorola E815. Best for just talking, and great for doing more. Of course verizon disables most of the great features so you can pay verizon $5 a month for the same abilities the phone was already capable of.

Alternately, Apple could do something really big like buy one of the companies like Alltel, or create some sort of major partnership where Apple has a say in the service, not just selling the phones. Apple could be the provider, and your phone could come with free (minus airtime) Safari Jr for web browsing any time :-) That would be fricken sweet.

[lhawkins]

I don't doubt that Apple is possibly working on something like this, but would a professional photographer (who probably is paid very well while working for Apple) really risk future jobs as well as lawsuits (NDA is surely in effect) just to brag to his friend about a new cell phone he saw?

[l008com]

I tell my close friends everything. I doubt his friends signed an NDA. Small leaks snowball quickly.

[Avicdar]

I can see the crafty photoshop composites now...a keypad from this funky german gadget, a display from an old star trek episode, a set of floating M&Ms stylized as hot buttons...

there we go!

[mozmac]

Judging from Apple's past, I hope they stick with Cingular. They always seem to get all the newest and greatest phones that come out (while I still hate the RAZR). I have a BlackBerry 8700c with Cingular right now. If they came out with the sweetest freaking phone on earth, and had Exchange support built into it, I would jump all over that like a kid on his parents' bed on Christmas morning. Seriously...bring it on!

[DTphonehome]

Originally Posted by craigatkinson

Of course Verizon will wait two years before they decide to adopt it into their lineup.

Ha! Verizon will NEVER carry it.

Originally Posted by l008com

Anyway I'm on verizon and its been nothing but problems with them for the past year or so. Their 'can you hear me now' network has turned into the 'what? hello? HELLO? *click*' network. I'll be happy to switch if the new phone is not on verizon.

I'm pretty happy with VZW service. Their phones are lousy and crippled, but after trying every other provider, VZW was the only one who had almost perfect service in NYC, and I need reliable service more than I need a shiny phone.

[l008com]

Up until about a year or so ago, Cingular used to have the worst network. And the Verizon network was mint. Great signal everywhere on earth and never lost a call. Now I have to try every call 4 times before it goes through. I'd rather see Apple buy up another carrier and own them. How much does a small cellular carrier cost to buy? :-)

[twoodcc]

Originally Posted by Frisco

I'd buy in a second, even if I had a Razr.

i think i'll buy a Macbook instead