Ewan sent me this link today.

Well, things are looking up for Rogers customers. Word on the street has it that the Nokia N95 is due to hit Rogers’ GSM network on May 2. The Canada-bound variant of the Nokia N95 should hit market sporting the same 5 megapixel camera, GPS receiver, WiFi, TV-out, and 3G HSDPA data connection that the US enjoys. And, with the help of Rogers, the Nokia N95 should be able to make use of its video call camera.

Pricing for the Nokia N95 on Rogers is reported to hit $699 without contract.

And, all you Canadian iPhone hopefuls (those of you that haven’t already jumped across the border for an unlocked iPhone) may soon be able to get your hands on a Rogers-locked Apple iPhone in the near future. The Toronto Star cites industry sources as indicating that Rogers is gearing up to launch a touchscreen-based handset campaign with the release of the master of touchscreen handsets, the Apple iPhone. The iPhone’s entry into Canada has been speculated to as being held up by the country’s costly GSM data plans. But, with the launch of the Rogers’ $20 unlimited data plan, the “Communicate Value Pack,” Rogers is believed to be preparing to receive the heralded iPhone.

Ok good, good. A year too late but hey. It’s about time someone clued in. Honestly, it’s getting to the point where if I see one more person with a RAZR and they think it’s top of the line I’m going to scream.

There is better out there people! SEE!

Ok so it’s not great, I know you’re sitting there going “ahh but we already have those and have had them forever” yes i know, but baby steps, right direction and all eh?

And they have to introduce the unlimited data, they have to. (Although $20/month is too much, hello! Bell is doing it for $7, although only with the Touch.) you can’t give someone a phone like this and not give them unlimited data.

“Here you go sir, here’s your top of the line BMW with power windows and GPS and leather and heated seats and this and that, but you’re only allowed to drive it and not touch anything. Yes that’s right, only drive, don’t touch any buttons. Roll the windows down by hand and oh, here’s a map.”

Fingers crossed.

After O2 cut the price of the iPhone, it seems like it’s provoked a surprising phenomenon: Mobile Today reports people are once again queuing to buy the device. So much so, it seems, that the device is once again selling out.

Mobile Today quotes one Carphone Warehouse staffer as saying “it’s like launch day again”.

One mobile watcher who I spoke to recently suggested that price cuts could actually be a bad thing for Apple, with the whiff of luxury brand that appeals to style freaks and early adopters deserting it if more and more people can actually afford to buy the device. It doesn’t look to be the case just yet: the brand is fairly bulletproof thanks to its hardcore fanbase and quieter-than-quiet press office and it looks a price cut has been just the shot in the arm the iPhone needed to recover its sales storm and fits in better with the European consumers’ familiarity with subsidised handsets.

VoIP company Fring has unveiled what it claims is the first true VoIP application for Apple’s iPhone. Granted, there are other VoIP apps out there, but Fring is a VoIP and IM combo. While it’s currently just in beta version, iPhone users can download it from Fring’s website and give the company feedback on how the application is going.

Fring promises all the usual call and chat functionality you’d expect from VoIP, and it integrates with a whole host of other services, including Skype, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo! & AIM, with a single contacts list.

I can’t imagine the likes of Apple being happy about this - the iPhone needs to please its ‘carrier partners’, and most operators haven’t been exactly ready to embrace VoIP just yet. Others have suggested that Apple might be working on its own VoIP app, and therefore unlikely to embrace the budding competition. Either way, Apple has shown when it released updates that bricked jailbroken iPhones, it’s not shy of taking drastic action when iPhone users are doing things with the device it doesn’t like - and that doesn’t bode well for VoIP.

Who does love a good iPhone rumour story? Well here’s another. Apparently, according to Computerworld, programmers have uncovered hints within the iPhone SDK that not only is a 3G device on the way, but it will include a Infineone’s S-Gold 3 chipset which hopes up the possibilities of a host of other goodies.

The chipset in question offers some tantalising possibilities of future iPhone upgrades, including the ability to support cameras up to 5 megapixels and supports HSDPA up to 72.Mbps.

I wouldn’t expect to see the 3G iPhone move to the top end of these capabilities straight away - after all, it would be a massive bump from the original device with its 2 megapixel camera and edge connectivity. Still, it looks like there’s still enough wiggle room to improve the device far enough to convince those who bought the first handset that it’s time for an upgrade already.

Remember that rumour that said that a 3G iPhone was coming within 60 days, based on a comment made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ favourite journalist and Wall Street Journal hack, Walt Mossberg, in a recent event at the Finnish embassy? Well, Mossberg has decided to clean up some of that speculation.

Mossberg told Silicon Alley Insider that he doesn’t actually have any more info on a 3G iPhone than the average man in the street. “If I knew when this date was, why would I announce it in the middle of a sentence at the Finnish embassy, rather than report it in the Wall Street Journal?” he told the publication.

Whether Mossberg has a special link to Apple central or not, his predictions are unlikely to be way off. But given that Mossberg is pretty much as close to Apple as journos get, I’m guessing the prediction is more than likely on the money.

Here’s an interesting move if ever there was one: it looks like T-Mobile, the Germany iPhone carrier, has decided to cut the price of the iPhone. As part of a new offer, anyone who wants to buy the Apple device can do so for €99.

But, to get their hands on the device for the cheaper price, German shoppers will also need to get their hands on a more expensive phone plan, the Complete XL, at €89 a month with 1000 minutes and 300 texts. There’s also a price cut on devices that come with a cheaper subscription - for those on €29 monthly contract, the device has dropped to €249.

So what’s behind the price cut? A sign that sales haven’t come up to T-Mobile’s projected figures? A simple way to increase premium subscriptions? Or a sign there’s a 3G iPhone coming out before too long?

Despite all the talk of the iPhone being the data consumer’s phone of choice, it seems Nokia is still holding its own. According to research from StatCounter, Nokia’s browser has 0.15 percent of the UK browser market share (the stats take in browsers on both PCs and mobiles), with the iPhone making up 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry made up 0.02 percent and SonyEricsson has 0.01 percent. In the US, it’s a different story - there, the iPhone is beating Nokia with 0.18 percent to 0.01 percent respectively. However, globally, Nokia is way out in front with 0,25 percent compared to the 0.06 percent that the iPhone has.

While the US stats don’t look good for Nokia, it’s worth remembering that it’s one of the markets where Nokia hasn’t traditionally been the number one. That said, the iPhone’s performance should be more than enough to worry the Finnish manufacturer, when the numbers of iPhones and Nokia handsets in use throughout the world are compared.

According to a report in the Financial Times, Apple is looking to make a break with its traditional pay-per-song iTunes model and switch to offering giving away a swathe of with each purchase of an iPhone (or an iPod, for that matter). In return for unlimited access to the iTunes library, individuals would be expected to pay a premium on the device when they buy it - up to $100 for the lifetime of the device.

As the FT points out, Apple wouldn’t be the first company to bundle in a music subscription with device purchases - Nokia unveiled its ‘comes with music scheme’ late last year, whereby some Nokia phones come bundled with a year of unlimited access to the company’s music store.

While it seems that Apple is only at the negotiating stage on its own plan to bundle music with the iPhone, if it goes ahead with the scheme, it’ll make a major departure for the company. Nevertheless, the promise of all you can eat music is an attractive one, so now Apple just has to find a price that consumers — not to mention the record labels — are happy to work with.

A new survey has confirmed what most people have already been talking about anecdotally: that iPhone users are massive consumers of mobile web content. According to the latest bit of research from M:Metrics, 85 percent of iPhone users accessed news and information on their device during January, compared to the average of 58 percent for other smartphone users and 13.1 percent for the rest of mobile owners.

The data consumption spike also carried across to other services, with 30.9 percent of iPhone owners watching mobile TV or video, compared to 4.6 percent of the market average or 14.2 percent of smartphones; while 49.7 percent of iPhone owners accessed a social networking site in January, compared to 19.4 precent of smartphone owners and 4.2 percent of average mobile users.

So what’s driving the trend: it’s not the speedy network access, after all, so it’s either the huge screen or the slick interface. Either way, I suspect once carriers and content providers get wind of this, they’ll be pressurising other handset manufacturers to start moving in the same direction while keeping their fingers crossed for a spike in data consumption as a result.

Since the release of the iPhone SDK last week it seems developers have been falling over themselves to download it — 100,000 of them in fact. According to Apple, the six-figure landmark was hit on 10 March.

Among those readying applications for the iPhone are AOL, Electronic Arts, Epocrates, salesforce.com, Netsuite and Sega. I’m also quite excited to hear that Namco is planning on bringing Pac-man to the iPhone before too long — I can really see that working with the touch interface.

Not all the results of Apple’s popularity have been so positive though - there are reports hackers have already worked out how to crack the iPhone 2.0 software to allow non-Apple approved applications to be written to the iPhone. It’s not great news for Apple, but if history is any guide, the company is likely to fix up the problem in a software update pretty soon.

If you fancy getting your fix of Auntie on your iPhone, relax: your dream has come true. The BBC’s iPlayer is now available for both the Apple mobile and the iPod Touch.

For BBC junkies, that means a chance to switch off the goggle box and watch TV on the iPhone instead. Insterestingly, this is the first time the Beeb has customised the iPlayer for a mobile device. Apparently, the Beeb said it started off the iPlayer’s mobile odyssey with the iPhone because it’s the “device most optimised for high quality video currently available”, according to the BBC blog.

I can see what they mean about optimised, but the same blog also says: “You’ll need to be online via a wi-fi broadband connection (the iPhone’s EDGE connectivity is too slow for streaming video).” That doesn’t sound too promising - why bring out a media playing app for a mobile phone that you can’t use on the go? It’s great to hear that the Beeb is taking mobile seriously but it’s a shame the first attempt can’t be used over mobile networks.

Apple’s got its SDK out of the door and it’s hoping developers will bite. Meanwhile, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is making almost certain they will, with the iFund - a $100 million fund available for investing in companies developing applications and services for Apple’s iPhone.

The iFund is looking to back entrepreneurs with ventures that could become standalone companies in the future, with a special focuse on location based services, social networking, mCommerce, communication, and entertainment services.

What better way to encourage developers to look seriously at the iPhone than a potential $100 million pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow? While I’m sure Apple won’t be short of willing developers, this is the sort of thing that will really help foster clever service launches.

At the long-awaited SDK roadmap announcement in Cupertino today Apple released details of the iPhone SDK and a number of new enterprise features. Key points in the announcement were:

• Full push-sync to Microsoft Exchange of e-mail, calendar and contacts. Also supports global address list and admin features like remote wipe.
• Enterprise improvements covering VPNs, certificates, authentication, WiFi authentication.
• Full SDK and development suite with remote debugging tools and device simulator. Games, business applications and an IM client were demoed with presenters stressing the graphical power of the platform and speed / ease of development.
• An application store icon will be added to phones to distribute applications (the only way, although they can be obtained albeit via both ‘over-the-air’ or iTunes sync). The store application will also notify user when applications they have installed are updated. Revenue split is 70/30 developer / Apple for commercial apps. Free apps are to be distributed for free once approved. Apple are also working on an enterprise tool for distributing firms’ internal applications.
• Parental controls are to be added to allow blocking of features such as web browsing or the application store.

The SDK will be available to developers immediately for free ($99 entrance to the developers’ programme to publish applications to the store).  Version 2.0 firmware for iPhone and iPod Touch, including these new features and support for 3rd-party apps, will be released internationally in June as a free upgrade for iPhone customers (Touch will be a paid upgrade as before).

The VC firm KPCB have also announced a $100m ‘iFund’ to support development and establish a ‘few Amazons or Googles’.

See these live-blogs for the full announcement ‘as it happened’: Engadget, Macworld, Wired.

My initial thoughts:

1. Exchange Activesync makes this an immediately viable business phone and use of this protcol offers the widest fit without excluding the smaller businesses who use Zimbra or Kerrio (which also both support this sync protocol).
2. The VPN and WiFi authentication features are nice, but really only fixes to what was broken previously. At least Apple were listening to the vocal minority who needed these things. That bodes well for the future.
3. The SDK appears capable and the applications demoed show a full range of capabilities. As a consumer there’s an exciting range of possibilities presented including some attractive games and IM (at last!). It’s probably worth reserving judgement on the developer’s side for the moment though regarding how far into the iPhone they can tap… there’s no detail yet on any capability to enhance or modify the UI or low-level functionality. Also, with no change to the Bluetooth stack use of peripherals with applications is likely to be limited to those that plug-in via the existing connector specification or utilise WiFi connections as now.

Roll on June!

Could an about face be on the cards at Apple? According to Macworld , the company’s CFO said during a Morgan Stanley Technology Conference that the company is “not wedded to any one particular way to go to market” and would consider other models.
Many people have read this as a sign that Apple might consider selling unlocked iPhones or dropping its model of selling the device exclusively through a single carrier. The practice of unlocking has already taken off without Apple’s say so - take the 400,000 devices being used on China Mobile’s network for example - so why not give the people what they want and open the device up to all and sundry?

Surely it’s a smart move on Apple’s part - unlocking the iPhone would equally open up the device to a far larger customer base and avoid any of the those pesky legal issues.

4 months later than I wrongly predicted last September the iPhone is coming to O2 in Ireland for €399 / €499 for 8GB / 16GB respectively (the same price as other Euro countries). It’s without visual voicemail and has a 1GB data allowance. Some commentators have described this as being ‘without an unlimited data plan‘ which, whilst technically true, is rather ungenerous as I defy anyone to exceed 1GB of data usage per month over EDGE.  Also, other operators define 1GB as being the limit of ‘fair use’ for handset downloads on their ‘unlimited’ data tariffs.

If you’ve been wondering where the iPhone SDK is, you’re probably not the only one: Apple had promised to have it out by February, but the month is almost over and no SDK. It looks like Apple watchers won’t have that much longer to wait, as the company has sent out an invite to journalists (US journalists, naturally) inviting them to take a look at the “iPhone software” roadmap on 6 March.

No guarantees, sadly, that the SDK will actually be available then but at least we’ll be able to hear more about how Apple is planning to open up the iPhone.

Another interesting element to the invitation is that it promises Apple will reveal some exciting “new enterprise features” - since when did the iPhone fancy itself as an enterprise device? Enterprises are notoriously fond of Windows Mobile devices and keeping costs down - both of which the iPhone precludes. I can’t wait to find out what those features are and if Apple is planning a change of direction for the device.

Since the iPhone was first announced, Australia has been asking ‘when are we going to get it?’ While the country is no closer to finding out the answer to that question, it has discovered that a deal tying the device to a single operator would be illegal under the Aussie Trade Practices Act, according to a group of legal researchers from Queensland.

“If Apple enter into an exclusive agreement with any particular carrier then it would be a matter for the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) as to whether that agreement was anticompetitive and contravened the trade practices act,” The Australian quotes one of the researchers as saying.

Does this mean Apple could be end of the lawsuit if it decides to launch Down Under? Possibly not, if the company uses the iPhone model of iPhone selling as a template for Australia. There, consumers can buy a handset locked to T-Mobile or they can buy an unlocked device, and pay through the nose for the privilege. I’d say it’s more than likely the same idea will be recycled when the iPhone finally does make an appearance in Oz.

Apple updated the iPhone firmware to v1.1.4 this morning via a new iTunes update. The iPhone SDK hasn’t been officially released yet, so we’re not quite sure exactly what this new update brings us, but stayed tuned, we’ll update you as soon as we know.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a play-by-play going on here. Obviously, if you’ve previously unlocked/jailbroken your iPhone, don’t do this update until you’ve got confirmation that it’s been jailbroken, as well.

On a more editorial note, does anyone else think it’s slightly odd/interesting that it’s referred to as being ‘jailbroken’? As if it’s being ‘freed’ when you perform the jailbreak? Fascinating.

Another thought, as it seems to be easier and easier for the dev crews to jailbreak the newer firmwares, do you think maybe Steve Jobs has his hooligans setting that up. Any other phone gets a firmware update, it’s slow news. The iPhone, however, hits the front page of most sites, and has the tech world wondering how long it’ll be until it’s jailbroken. Personally I think it’s a BRILLIANT way to keep the hackers entertained, techies attentive, and everyone else interested.

I could not be more proud to announce this morning that Abilene Christian University, my alma mater, has officially become the first university in the U.S. to provide an iPhone or iPod Touch to all incoming freshmen. They will use their iPhone or iPod Touch to answer surveys and quizzes, receive homework notifications, and even check their meal and account balances. More than 15 web applications have been developed specifically for this program.

ACU’s CIO Kevin Roberts recently returned from Cupertino where he presented the school’s ‘Connected’ initiative to Apple Execs, as well as leaders from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Duke, and others. They’ve put together this whole ‘Connected’ video, showing just how the university plans to use mobile connectivity to enrich students’ lives and the learning process.

The coolest part isn’t the iPhones, it’s the ideas behind them, and how they’re using advanced mobile devices to help students learn. I think it’s fascinating.

I’m really beaming right now. How cool is this.

If you weren’t sure where all those off the grid iPhones are, it’s time to stop looking under the sofa and look towards China Mobile. According to telecoms analyst In-Stat, the operator has 400,000 of the Apple devices on its network - that’s one in every ten iPhones sold.

“We have never doubted that the iPhone will achieve greater success than iPod in China if Apple teams with China Mobile to launch its Chinese version. There are two reasons,” In-Stat said. “Firstly, different from the US where the smartphone market is fairly limited, appealing primarily to business users, The smartphone market in China, though, is an entertainment-oriented individual consumer market. The main reasons that Chinese mobile users purchase smartphones include entertainment (such as music players, cameras and video) and to access mobile Internet applications (such as IM, e-book, and games). We believe the iPhone will be favored by these consumers as it can better meet such demand. Secondly, high-end handset buyers significantly outnumber high-end mp3 player buyers.”

It seems the Chinese market can’t get enough of expensive mobiles: In-Stat also reckons that around 20 percent of all mobiles sold in China cost over 4000 yuan, or nearly £285, making around 28 million potential iPhone users in the country. Wow. No wonder Apple is rumoured to be in talks with China Mobile.

This is something that I had personally guessed, but didn’t have any numbers to prove my theory. Thanks to IntoMobile.com and Canalysis.com, I now have the numbers to back up my theory that the iPhone hasn’t been ’stealing’ marketshare away from existing smartphone manufacturers, but has instead merely increased the size of the smartphone market overall, likely converting more featurephone users into smartphone users, as opposed to converting existing smartphone users.

When Steve Jobs said that the iPhone was killing in the smartphone market, fanboys the world over declared war on the other smartphone manufacturers, saying they’d better watch out. Not so fast, kiddies. The iPhone has garnered an impressive share for such a short product life thus far, but it’s not quite a threat in reality.

Take a gander at this chart from Canalysis.com showing smartphone device shipments and corresponding marketshare numbers for Q4 ‘06 and Q4 ‘07. You’ll notice that the entire smartphone market grew by 14.8 million units between the two quarters, a 72% increase. Of that increase, Apple snagged 16%, whereas RIM also managed 15%, and Nokia claimed a whopping 52% increase quarter over quarter.

Apple is most certainly doing well with the iPhone, and 16% of the smartphone market increase is definitely something to be proud of, but it’s no more growth than the incumbents saw for the same time period, proving that the entire market is growing quickly, not just Apple’s share. Apple is going to have to bring more than just firmware updates and storage increases in 2008 to maintain that level of growth and really create a firm foundation.

Confirmed with the manager of an O2 store. The Engadget rumour is correct.

Handsets are in the stores being ‘checked in’ now. Available from 1:30pm.

Update: Still no news on the UK Apple or O2 sites, but the US stores have them listed at $499 which confirms the price leaks were also correct.  No new features, just a second model to run in parallel with the existing 8GB model.  iPod Touch also gets a bump to 32GB too which may indicate this form factor still has space for more…

My thoughts?  16GB is nice, but £329 isn’t going to have the people who haven’t already bought one flocking to buy one.  Other than a price drop, 3G is the only thing that will do the job here…

Bored of waiting for Apple to launch the iPhone on the network you like? You and a great big wodge of US iPhone users. According to an analyst quoted by Reuters, one quarter of iPhone owners are using their Apple mobiles on networks that aren’t AT&T’s.

If that’s the case, then it’s Apple that should be worried, rather than AT&T (the carrier said last week it had achieved the highest number of quarterly subscriber adds of any US carrier ever after all.) Apple gets a share of data revenues for each AT&T user signed up on an iPhone contract, so for every one that’s off the grid, the company’s bottom line takes a hit - up to $500 million according to Reuters.

It just shows the pulling power of the iPhone - after all, that’s one in four iPhone owners that are risking ending up with a brick the next time Apple updates the device’s firmware.

Link: O2 iPhone Tariffs for Existing Customers via TUAW

O2 have announced that they’re changing iPhone tariffs, bringing them in line with their recently-revised standard offerings (making them a bit more competitive):

• £35 per month customers now get 600 anytime minutes (up from 200) and 500 anytime texts a month (up from 200).

• £45 per month customers now get 1,200 anytime minutes (up from 600) and 500 anytime texts a month (unchanged).

• £55 per month customers are switched by default to the new £45 tariff which now gives higher allowances than the £55 tariff did previously, but you can request bigger bundles.

The changes will happen between February and March for existing customers and will be available from the 1st Feb for new customers.

Like many this evening, I anxiously rushed in to watch the Apple keynote wondering what iPhone excitement might be announced and was delighted to see the 1.1.3 firmware that had been leaked last week was real, finished and released. My joy wasn’t long lived though as the upgrade succeeded and then failed… all because I have the SIM lock enabled on my iPhone (just relying on the phone lock to protect me cost me well over £100 in calls when I lost my last phone and the thief swapped my SIM into their handset).

A few ‘OKs’, iPhone clicks and re-starts later all is well and I’m busy playing with the new features (my girlfriend is not impressed my iPhone can tell me we’re at home, she could so that without a phone she points out), but this is not the slickness you usually get from Mr Jobs et al…