Canada’s Telus has been taking about a possible iPhone debut for some time – and has now updated its web site to reflect the change in policy:
As usual, the box comes with a three-year contract. The 16GB version will then go for 200 Canadian dollars, while the 32GB one will cost 300 Canadian currency units.
Further information can be had at the URL below:
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/AB/home/iphone_coming_soon.shtml
So far, O2 had an exclusivity on the iPhone 3Gs – people who wanted the latest iPhone had to stick to O2 whether they liked it or not.
According to The Guardian, this situation could be over soon:
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The mobile phone company announced last month that it had become the first UK network to prise open O2’s exclusive grasp on the device, which has helped the company maintain its place as the UK’s largest operator.
Orange is understood to be planning to launch the iPhone on 10 November, the day after O2’s two-year exclusive contract with Apple comes to an end. It will be sold through the company’s own shops and Phones4U .
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As of now, not much further information is available – stay tuned!
When asked about piracy, iPhone developers tend to change the topic rather quickly: Apple does not want people to talk about it, and developers tend to do whatever Apple wants them to.
One developer now broke the silence and posted sales and piracy figures. According to him, piracy constantly is above 70%. When it comes to pirates who eventually buy their app of choice, the rate looks similar: the conversion rate is a whooping 0%.
He figured out another extremely interesting trend:
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One interesting note is that the most pirate scores are submitted for Story level, then Rounds, then survival. This is the same order that the game types show up in our menus. This may point out that Pirates generally have a lower attention span – they quickly move on to the next game.
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Further information can be had below:
http://smellslikedonkey.com/wordpress/?page_id=274
Love it or hate it, but the world domination of microUSB is now all but confirmed. After getting endorsements from the EU and CTIA, the ITU has now joined the gang of MicroUSB heads.
Ecran Mobile reports the following:
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The ITU move isn’t binding or compulsory, but there’s enough momentum behind micro-USB at this point that it’s pretty much going to happen for any phone you’d ever consider buying going forward, and many of the big players have already hopped on the bandwagon
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Ideas, anyone?
Many countries have censorship boards for video games (btw: Austria doesn’t). These boards tend to be made up of useless government officials who think to understand the market, but sometimes fail at the very first level of the game they should “rate” (proven case in Germany).
itnews.com.au now reports the following:
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“I recently wrote to the minister regarding my concern that some so-called mobile phone applications, which can be purchased online or either downloaded to mobile phones or played online via mobile phone access, are not being submitted to the board for classification,” Australia’s Classification Board director Donald McDonald told a Senate Estimates committee in Canberra on Monday.
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I guess that there is little need to explain this topic further – if these guys get their wishes, Apple could effectively close the Australian branch of the iTunes app store. The reason for this is that these reviews tend to cost about 2000$ a pop, and also take some time…which means that they will be uneconomical for all but the largest developers.
Ideas, anyone?
This one should probably be filed in the non-existing “fan base support section”. However, those of you who feel like some real-life interaction with the Tamoggemon Content team and want to learn more about Symbian in the process should mark the 25th of October in their calendar.
Austria’s MetaLab hosts its famous Linuxwochenende: a weekend full of talks about open-source technologies. I will be there on the 25th – my talk begins at 12h local time:
So: see you all there. Don’t leave /me hanging 
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When Apple unlocked in-app purchases for free games, many expected this to be the end of application piracy on the iPhone. After all, purchases are now “verified online” – whatever that may mean.
A former anti-piracy expert for Nagravision (a pay-TV company) now started that he considers the solution largely useless:
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I couldn’t test all my theories, so hopefully I am wrong, but I strongly believe that In App Purchases are not the holy grail of anti-piracy that Apple and others claim it is. If some people have information to confirm or infirm my claims, I would be glad to hear it.
Further information can be had at the URL below:
http://blog.off-by-one.mobi/2009/10/in-app-purchase-and-state-of-iphone.html
When talking about the Q3 financials, AT&T’s CEO made the following statement regarding the iPhone:
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“We know (growth is) going to continue after the iPhone is no longer exclusive to us,” he said. “And we think that we’ll be able to continue with our growth with the iPhone and with other products that we think will be very attractive to customers.”
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This marks the first time that the carrier talks about the end of its iPhone exclusivity (rumored for Q4) – let’s stay tuned what follows…
Apple’s iTunes App Store is the largest mobile application store currently on the market. This gives it a disproportional amount of media attention – even though it still is far from perfect.
Microsoft has now launched a funny video making fun of craplet apps, Apple’s extremely complex rejection/approval process and a variety of other issues.
The full video is below – hit the play button if you feel like a good laugh:
When running, 99.9% of people take an MP3 player along – after all, there is nothing more boring than running through an area you already know for the fifty-thousandth time.
According to the German news agency pressetext.de, the Milwaukee marathon winner Jennifer Goebel was forced to give back her prize and cash after a photo surfaced showing her running with an iPod.
From my personal point of view, there is little to add to this absolutely bone-headed story – German speakers should hit the link above if they feel like a good laugh…
Image: Apple, licensing contract here
