More iPhone Details?

[MacRumors]

ThinkSecret is chiming in on the recent flurry of iPhone rumors and speculation, stating that the rumored device will be a GSM/EDGE only device. While this information contrasts with a recent rumor put forth by Kevin Rose on popular tech podcast Diggnation, it does seem to lie more in line with Apple's hiring practices. Apple has been known to have been courting EDGE engineers, but we aren't currently aware of Apple courting CDMA engineers.

However, ThinkSecret claims that Apple is still courting multiple GSM wireless carriers across North America, Europe, and Asia. Apple is also said to be asking for carriers to NOT subsidize the price of the phone. GSM carriers in North America include Cingular and T-Mobile.

A release date for the phone is still said to be somewhat variable.

Meanwhile, it is growing increasingly unlikely that Apple will be ready to ship the iPhone at or around Macworld Expo San Francisco in January, despite word that some suppliers have already started delivering components for the iPhone to manufacturing. Some sources have also gone so far as to suggest that even an announcement may elude Expo, especially if it appears the phone will not be available in sufficient quantities until the second quarter. It should be noted that announcement and release dates are frequently subject to change, however, and neither is locked in at this point.

[Motley]

Ah I love rumors. Announcement on Monday, no announcement at the expo in January, does it even exist!

The only reason I look forward to an apple phone would be a good user interface and non crippled easy to use features.

[MattyMac]

Originally Posted by Motley

Ah I love rumors. Announcement on Monday, no announcement at the expo in January, does it even exist!

The only reason I look forward to an apple phone would be a good user interface and non crippled easy to use features.

Ahhh I love the Rumors too!

[ricksbrain]

MacDailyNews has some info about Skyworks and Broadcom. Here's a potentially related article...

http://www.govtech.net/digitalcommun....php?id=101228

[MacinDoc]

This from ThinkSecret, so it must be true - NOT!

[drewpage]

In a word, no. I just bought a Sony W310i Walkman phone and it works great for music, with its 1 GB Memory Stick Micro. It even works with my mac. I just plug it in and drag MP3s to it in Finder. I find it hard to believe people will pay $300-600 for an Apple iPhone WITH a plan. Apple is asking too much for the carriers not to subsidize it. I believe Steve Jobs has finally fallen off his rocker.

[dan-o-mac]

Originally Posted by drewpage

In a word, no. I just bought a Sony W310i Walkman phone and it works great for music, with its 1 GB Memory Stick Micro. It even works with my mac. I just plug it in and drag MP3s to it in Finder. I find it hard to believe people will pay $300-600 for an Apple iPhone WITH a plan. Apple is asking too much for the carriers not to subsidize it. I believe Steve Jobs has finally fallen off his rocker.

You should give this script a shot, it might be a better solution than dragging and dropping mp3's.

http://helmen.blogspot.com/2005/12/k...mywalkman.html

[Stridder44]

Originally Posted by drewpage

In a word, no. I just bought a Sony W310i Walkman phone and it works great for music, with its 1 GB Memory Stick Micro. It even works with my mac. I just plug it in and drag MP3s to it in Finder. I find it hard to believe people will pay $300-600 for an Apple iPhone WITH a plan. Apple is asking too much for the carriers not to subsidize it. I believe Steve Jobs has finally fallen off his rocker.

SonyEricsson phones rock my face off. I have one myself and it's been nothing but awesome. A MILLION times better than the crappy RAZRs.

Originally Posted by Rychiar

i see how sim cards are def useful but CDMA and verizon are def the best in the US, my calls are all crystal clear, never dropped and i get service allover. my friends with Cingular have all sorts of issues. Plus GSM phones make all household electronics make a weird buzz noise when a call comes in (tv's, radios, etc) whereas CDMA causes no such interference. I wish there was somethin new and global and not tied to some damn carrier here. Cingulars prices are insane, especially for data and txt plans which arent even unlimited in network

That reminded me of this

[toughboy]

Originally Posted by drewpage

I believe Steve Jobs has finally fallen off his rocker.

what are u? A MS fan-boy or something?..

UI is everything in electronics and I believe Apple will kick some a** if they can manage to do what they did in iPod with the brand new iPhone..

[Le Big Mac]

I love the idea of not subsidizing the phone . . .

I assume that means that Apple doesn't want to let any carrier "customize" the interface to that carrier. At that point, why not just sell it in the Apple store and tell people it's unlocked and all they need is their current SIM card?

[MacBoobsPro]

Originally Posted by Le Big Mac

I love the idea of not subsidizing the phone . . .

I assume that means that Apple doesn't want to let any carrier "customize" the interface to that carrier. At that point, why not just sell it in the Apple store and tell people it's unlocked and all they need is their current SIM card?

Thats what i want to hear

Apple have total control over the phone and it is open to anyone to use it.

You could even get a new phone on contract for free from say T-Mobile stick the sim card in the iPhone and sell the brand new phone from T-Mobile. Therefore 'subsidising' the fone without penalty to anyone but the makers of crap phones

[longofest]

Despite ThinkSecret's recent track record, this is actually one of the more well-rounded rumors that has come out. As much as I'd like there to be a CDMA version (since I'm a Verizon customer), there simply isn't any evidence that Apple has the manpower to engineer such a phone, so rumors that state that it would work as a CDMA phone are a little bit more iffy than rumors that state GSM-only.

[joshysquashy]

When I renewed my contract, I chose to keep my Razr V3 as it still worked and there were no better phones on the market, even 2 years after it was created!

O2 UK offered me £100 credit on my contract instead of a new phone, this could work for Apple:

Buy phone from apple store or a network, it costs say £150 or something. You choose a tariff and get given £100 credit on a low monthly tariff or £150 credit on a top of the range tariff. Therefore, you pay upfront for the device, but get the money back over the next few months.

What do you think? Apple's style is not pay monthly, its pay as you go, but pay monthly tends to end up better value.

[danman]

Forcing a network not to subsidise is insanity - here in the UK especially, we sign contracts for 12 to 18 months specifically to cover the cost of the phone, the price of which varies from nothing to perhaps £100 - ie mostly very little, and that is what we expect.

I'm assuming the Apple phone will be a design and usability revelation (hey, it's theirs to f**k up init), but would not be happy paying £250 for it where normally I would pay little or nothing.

[DVK916]

Horrible news, no CDMA support . I won't be getting an iphone for sure now. FYI no 3G support means this phone will be crap for web browsing.

[dayton]

Originally Posted by Maestro64

There are PCS engineers, Motorola has a whole group of them in San Deigo.

Yeah, PCS refers to a network that operates on the 1900-mhz radio band. CDMA, GSM, etc. refer to network technologies that can operate in the PCS frequency. PCS is usually distinguished from "cellular" which operates in the ~800-~850 MHz range.

If it is GSM, I hope the phone is quad-band so that it can be used pretty much anywhere in the world. Although, I'd really prefer a true 3G phone.

[longofest]

Thanks everyone who chimed in on the PCS/CDMA debate. I updated the article, as it does look like PCS is a superset of a few different technologies, and Sprint currently uses CDMA for their PCS network. Of course, other networks use GSM on their PCS networks, so it PCS does not equate to CDMA.

I agree with the folks that say that its a bummer that Apple doesn't seem to be making a CDMA version of the phone (at least at first). But, lets see... maybe Kevin will be right after all...

[jmbear]

Originally Posted by iJaz

Oh my god, another one!

Your cat is too fat!

[Cinch]

If it is more compelling than the Motorola KRZR, I'm buying it out of contract. Price is not a factor. On a side note, I'm surprise no one has made a good looking phone that snap out to talk similar to the one used in the Matrix series. As I recalled the Matrix movie series use a phone that make a quick snap sound extending the phone a bit down. It is too masculine i think, than what Apple is use to.

Cinch

[SilvorX]

Originally Posted by Le Big Mac

I love the idea of not subsidizing the phone . . .

I assume that means that Apple doesn't want to let any carrier "customize" the interface to that carrier. At that point, why not just sell it in the Apple store and tell people it's unlocked and all they need is their current SIM card?

If the phone is going to be $400+ like one of the many rumour articles speculated yesterday, I better not be getting a freaking 3 year contract (that's the most common type of contract in Canada) for paying for an unsubsidized phone, if I was to pay for the phone.

Originally Posted by chabig

PCS is not a phone technology. There are no "PCS" engineers. Sprint's network is based on CDMA.

exactlement!

but we aren't currently aware of Apple courting CDMA (Verizon) or PCS (Sprint) engineers.

I know quite a few of us aren't cellphone experts here but PCS is just the brand name (Sprint PCS) for Sprint, it uses CDMA/EV-DO technology like Verizon, there's nothing really that different between the two.


Something doesn't sit with me right about the whole CDMA thing, I can't recall a time in either Verizon or Sprint's life (or Telus in Canada) where you could just buy an "unlocked" phone and put it on their network, CDMA phones are tied to the network because of their serial numbers, someone can try to put a phone on a competitor's network but usually it fails, I've tried myself and I was a customer service rep who had to do all that sort of BS, didn't work. If a CDMA version was to be released, either carrier could just say "no", or both of them will release it, it's near impossible to sell the CDMA version in an Apple Store for the whole reason of the serial number being tied to the network, however if Apple was to sell models tied to specific networks, then that would be different!

Originally Posted by Maestro64

There are PCS engineers, Motorola has a whole group of them in San Deigo.

That's iDen I believe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona...ations_Service it's pre-CDMA it looks like

[asphalt-proof]

So many conflicting rumors in such a short time. Methinks Apple may be seeding bad info in an effort ot discover where the potential leaks are. Nawww that's way too Machivellian. Gizmodo would be crazy to post his 'guarantee' if he even thought the info was a bit shady. It would be like Arn guarantee that the iPhone is coming out on Monday and it not panning out. He/the site would never live it down. Too much credibility is at stake. Especially with such a high profile product like the iPhone. However, this information sounds very credible as well and the details sound very Apple-esque.

I think I am finally starting to feel iPhone-rumor burnout. I know some here had this months ago but I am in the market for a new phone and have been hanging on each new morsel. No more. I'll wait for Monday then I have to buy a new phone. My Treo just gave it up and is beyond resusitation.

[Rychiar]

i see how sim cards are def useful but CDMA and verizon are def the best in the US, my calls are all crystal clear, never dropped and i get service allover. my friends with Cingular have all sorts of issues. Plus GSM phones make all household electronics make a weird buzz noise when a call comes in (tv's, radios, etc) whereas CDMA causes no such interference. I wish there was somethin new and global and not tied to some damn carrier here. Cingulars prices are insane, especially for data and txt plans which arent even unlimited in network

[dayton]

Originally Posted by SilvorX

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona...ations_Service it's pre-CDMA it looks like

You might want to read the first two lines from that page.

Personal Communications Service or PCS is the name for the 1900-MHz radio band used for digital mobile phone services in Canada and the United States. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), GSM, and D-AMPS systems can be used on PCS frequencies.

[Maestro64]

Originally Posted by SilvorX

That's iDen I believe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona...ations_Service it's pre-CDMA it looks like

No iden products are done in the chiago area, even thou Verizon and Sprint are CDMA they both work differently. In order to make CDMA phone work with sprints networks other things need to be done. Thus the reason you pointed out above a Sprint CDMA phone can not be activitated on Verizon. Which is very different than GSM where you can move a phone from one GSM provider to another by simply changing SIM cards.

[SilvorX]

Originally Posted by Maestro64

No iden products are done in the chiago area, even thou Verizon and Sprint are CDMA they both work differently. In order to make CDMA phone work with sprints networks other things need to be done. Thus the reason you pointed out above a Sprint CDMA phone can not be activitated on Verizon. Which is very different than GSM where you can move a phone from one GSM provider to another by simply changing SIM cards.

Sprint's Nextel carrier has iDen coverage in Chicago, possibly even sell phones there but I've never been out there so I can't speak for myself.

I knew for years that Sprint's phones cannot be ran on Verizon

But anywho, I just feel that Apple will end up releasing a CDMA version sooner or later, it just seems to be common sense, Motorola disappeared from the CDMA market for a large period of time, but they're back now, even on Sprint, but Motorola isn't Apple. It just depends on what the demand is.. but us Apple fans will buy it no matter what