Sidney San Martin online at Macworld 2008 for theiLife.

This year, over 5000 developers are attending WWDC and Apple has announced that for the first time ever that they have sold out of tickets. As usual, Steve Jobs will be kicking off the conference with a Keynote, taking place on Monday June 9th. We at theiLife.com are proud to announce that Sidney San Martin, theiLife regular, will be in attendance. This means coverage similar to Macworld 2008- which included videos, pictures, liveblogging (from the Keynote and Expo) as well as regular blog coverage. Regarding the liveblogging there will be more details coming soon- we are not sure if it will be AJAX based, due to the heavy load it puts on our servers. Stay tuned for more details coming soon, and certinally if you would like to offer any suggestions, please contact us or leave a comment below!

This is the first part in a series of WWDC rumor articles to come, exploring the possibilities of the new second generation iPhone speculated to launch at WWDC 2008.

A supposed spy shot of the new iPhone

For years rumors have been flying about an Apple phone. Finally, last year at Macworld 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone. Ever since the January 9th release, rumors and speculation have run wild regarding everything from rumored firmware updates to hardware revisions and even new iPhone models. Now with a little over two weeks until WWDC, the iPhone rumors have exponentially increased- and everyone seems to be unanimously shouting one thing- 3G iPhone.

The first generation iPhone is held by some as one of the best cell phone ever created. Both users and critics agree that the iPhone is close to perfection- or at least a step up for cell phones. However, some of the of the cons with the iPhone are the touch screen keyboard, slow EDGE connection (no 3G) and the lack of third party applications. With the rumored second generation iPhone, it appears that Apple is out to fix two of those three flaws for sure- 3G and third party application support with iPhone firmware 2.0 (already revealed).

Ever since the public release of the iPhone in June of 2007, the iPhone has been rumored to be getting a 3G chip in a future update. For a time, some speculated September 2007 (coinciding with iPod updates), then others thought Macworld 2008, but now it seems like an iPhone with 3G is impending for WWDC 2008. Here is some proof:

In April, AppleInsider reported that references were found in the latest iPhone 2.0 betas to the Infineon chipset, SGOLD3H. The SGOLD3H is a cellular chip that supports 3G cellular data access via HSDPA to up to 7.2 megabits/second. The chip even supports the WCDMA technology which is needed in countries such as Japan or Korea. Currently, the iPhone uses a SGOLD2 to power 2.5G (EDGE) cellular communications.

Last week, 3G settings were found in the latest betas of the iPhone 2.0 firmware.

Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of annoucments regarding the worldwide release of the new iPhone, and it appears that Apple is gearing up for a widespread International launch much larger than the one with the current iPhone. In April, Rogers announced that it was going to bring the iPhone to Canada later in the year. Last week SingTel announced it would be offering the iPhone in parts of Australia and Asia. France Télécom’s Orange announced it would be offering 3G iPhones in Austria, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Jordan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, its current African markets. America Movil announced that it would be offering the iPhone in Mexico and other parts of the region later this year. Telecom Itaila stated that it would be carrying the iPhone in Italy. Telefónica announced they were bringing the iPhone to Spain, and is rumored to launch on June 18th, with the iPhone 2. Finally, in a statement last week, Vodafone said:

“Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network.”

Over all, these following countries, listed in alphabetical order, will be getting or currently sell the iPhone: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Italy, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Slovakia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Romania, Turkey, United States and Uruguay.

Not only is the current iPhone nearing its first public birthday, but it is very hard to find at the moment. As reported in April with the then temporary shortage of iPhones, today the iPhone is very hard to come by. Since last week, a quick check to the Apple Online Store shows the product “Currently Unavailable”. iPhones are also in very limited quantities in both Apple Retail Stores and AT&T Retail stores. These are definitly indicators that Apple is readying an update and has sold out of the remaining inventory of iPhones.

While 3G is the likely next move for the iPhone, there is still much speculation of other changes Apple might want to make. The next few topics are debatable and the evidence is not nearly as solid as it is for 3G.

iPhone Videoconferencing developed by Ken and Greg Aspeslagh for the Iron Coder Live

Videoconferencing: There have been many rumors that the second generation iPhone will have two cameras; a camera on the back and a hidden forward facing camera to be used for video conferencing. This rumor is not supported by anything solid except that the SGOLD3H cellular chip supports live recording and videoconferencing, where as the SGOLD2 cellular chip (found in the current iPhone) does not.

Flush Headphone Jack: Another complaint about the current generation iPhone is that the recessed headphone jack makes it very hard or impossible to plug third party headphones in. It would only be logical for Apple to revise the case and mount the headphone jack flush for this next update.

GPS: Built in GPS would certainly compliment the Google Maps application. By allowing the iPhone to give a precise location fix, dynamic turn by turn directions, geotag pictures, and more.

Material Change: By switching the back case of the iPhone from anodized aluminum to plastic; the iPhone could become lighter and allow for better wireless signal reception- especially if adding GPS. One possibility is that Apple will remove the aluminum backing and use a similar material to the black plastic piece at the bottom of the current iPhone (which is there for the antennas for the cell and 802.11 wireless).

Curvier Body: The current iPhone, while rounded, seems almost square in your hand. When holding an iPhone in your palm, you generally only feel the edges of the phone. It is rumored that the back of the iPhone will be more rounded for that reason.

Verdict: We will certainly see a new iPhone launched sometime before the end of this year with 3G. Gizmodo, Tuesday morning is reporting that Apple will launch the new iPhone on June 9th, for immediate worldwide release; which is a fairly reasonable claim.

Keep tuned for theiLife’s predictions in the days leading up to WWDC.

While the iPhone will probably be the center of attention at this years World Wide Developers Convention, at this point, it isn’t unreasonable to assume that there is going to be something relating to the Mac. If you haven’t already, check out Part I.

WWDC 2008 Invitation.

WWDC is often a very difficult keynote to accurately predict. While this can basically be said about any Steve Jobs keynote or Apple event, WWDC is often more unpredictable than the others and usually centered around one thing. For example, in 2005, after presenting some sales numbers, Steve Jobs spent the entire keynote discussing the transition to Intel processors. In 2006, Jobs introduced new Intel based replacements for the Power Mac G5 (now Mac Pro) and Xserves and demoed 10 new features planned for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

This year it wouldn’t be surprising to see both a software announcement accompanied by a hardware announcement. Like Macworld is primarily for the Mac, the developers would appreciate a keynote that includes something other than the iPhone. So at this point, the second generation iPhone will probably be released at a later date. However, we definitely should see information about the iPhone 2.0 software update, the App Store and, some examples of what developers have done over the months with the SDK.

As for the hardware, at this point, it looks like a laptop revision is in order for the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Coincidentally, both products are due for a redesign- both haven’t seen any hardware changes since the introduction of Intel processors. AppleInsider ran a story recently about the MacBook line redesign, how both laptops will get a style change similar to the new iMacs or MacBook Air. Apple seems to be moving away from White products- first seen last fall with the 6th Generation iPods. WWDC would be a very appropriate place to reveal new MacBook Pros.

While it is really way to early to predict what might happen at WWDC, we can tickle our imaginations for now. As it becomes closer, things will become more certain and the predictions can become more accurate. But, lets let it sink in. What do you think?

With WWDC now only two months away, its is time to start thinking about what we might see in the Stevenote.

WWDC 2008 Invitation.

This years World Wide Developers Conference is shaping out to be one of the most anticipated in the past couple years. For those who are not familiar with WWDC, it is the yearly conference held by Apple for developing for the Mac OS, and now iPhone platforms. It is a showcase for new Apple software geared towards developers- WWDC also offers a number of hands-on labs and feedback seminars. Often Steve Jobs uses it to demonstrate the latest Mac Operating System in development, and usually updates Pro hardware such as the Mac Pro or Xserve.

Typically held in June, this year is no exception. This year, however, we saw the iPhone SDK announcement on March 6th which added an entirely new platform to the Apple Development scene and demonstrated the true power behind the iPhone and OS X technologies. This year we should see, among other things, more developers attending just because of the iPhone.

The iPhone, a key product in the lineup of the Cupertino company, probably will be the central focus of Steve’s Keynote. In March, Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone 2.0 Software Update would released in June, which could mean WWDC. There has also been an enormous amount of speculation about the second generation iPhone, with 3G- which is another possibility for WWDC.

What complicates things about the second generation iPhone however, is the FCC. If Apple wants to begin to manufacture the second generation iPhone, it needs to pass through the FCC. However, the FCC would spoil a secret release, which is why Apple announced the iPhone at Macworld 2007 and waited until June to release the iPhone. Now with the phone released, it becomes more of an issue, as the transition time between the two different iPhones could mean wasted sales.

On the other hand, the introduction of the iPhone 2.0 software could be a time killer for a second generation iPhone release- along with a price cut, it could keep people buying the current iPhones, even with a new iPhone revealed. Yet another possibility to consider is the introduction of a release of a new iPhone that will remain on the same shelf as the current iPhone- to break into new price points with the iPhone, analogous to the iPod and the iPod mini in 2004.

Whatever will end up happening, these are all ideas to consider for now. Another critical focus of WWDC is the Mac, which may loose some spotlight to the iPhone, but will definitely be mentioned. More to come tomorrow. Meanwhile, what do you think?

Over the past few years, I have always wondered- how far can Mac OS X go?

Mac OS X was first released in 1999, with Mac OS X Server 1.0. In 2001, Mac OS X version 10.0 was released for desktop consumption. Based on UNIX, and taking many hints from NeXTSTEP, the NeXT Operating System, OS X brought us Aqua- a new GUI that reflected Apple’s colorful product lineup at the time. Now, almost ten years later, what has become of OS X?

Speaking about the recent Mac OS Tiger v10.4 release at WWDC 2005, Steve Jobs said:

“It [OS X] has set Apple up for the next 20 years.”

Funny, that makes a lot sense- with last October’s release of the latest iteration of OS X, 10.5 Leopard- we are not even halfway into the 20 years Steve mentioned, but halfway through the 10.x cycle. In 2007, the Mac saw its market share rise to almost 8% by years end. Apple sold almost 4 million iPhones worldwide. Both product lines rely on OS X for software. From its inception in 1999, this is significant progress. OS X has become more than an Operating System- it is working its way into the core of Apple.

Last week’s iPhone Road Map event is a great example of the power in OS X and what it can do beyond the personal computer. The iPhone SDK will probably become another landmark event for OS X, as developers harness the power of the software running in the iPhone. Intern, not only will that sell more iPhones, but it will expand and solidify Mac OS X’s presence.

Later this year, we will see more and more integration of OS X into Apple’s other products that aren’t a desktop or laptop. For example, last year, we saw the iPhone, iPod Touch and AppleTV introduced- all of which run OS X at the core. This year, and as we continue into the future, we will see more devises shipping with OS X and continue to see it’s market share increase.

With more products running OS X, and continued demand for these products- be it iPods, Macs or iPhones- OS X has a very bright future. The shear fact that one OS is powering a Phone, an iPod, a set top media box and personal computers demonstrates its power and potential for future devices. The question is… what will OS XI bring us?