While all eyes are turned on Nokia’s N81 launch it seems Italy is now gearing up for the introduction of Apple’s iPhone. Rumours abound that TIM is in talks with Apple for Italian distribution. Details have not been issued, but the mobile arm of Telecom Italia Group – which now counts almost 54 million mobile phone lines worldwide, 26 million in Italy alone – looks to join ranks with O2 in the UK, Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany.
The reported agreement with these first three EU countries is that Apple will receive 10% of revenue from use of voice and data services, so no surprises if the Italian deal echoes these terms.
Here’s hoping that some affordable mobile web tariffs are also on the cards for Italian users. Offering flat rate options for customers would minimize enormously the confusion many consumers in Italy have over the cost of mobile web use. Along with Conad’s recent mobile offering announcement, the arrival of the iPhone could provide TIM with a similar opportunity to introduce user friendly billing options that increase customer trust.
Adding Italian distribution to the deals already signed in the UK, France and Germany will further bolster the iPhone’s current success. Analyst reports tracking US sales have recently revealed that the company is well ahead of the stated 1 million sales target by this quarter end.
Link
Nov 26, 2007
Fring goes super connected, iPhone's legal woes and Sony's phantom PlayStation phone
Last week has been busier than usual on our beloved sister site Pocket Picks, though there has been little in the way of huge news – just a steady stream of interesting happenings in the world of mobile technology.
While not likely to shake the industry to its core, but interesting for fans nonetheless, the week kicked off with news that Nokia users will be the first to get their hands on Kylie Minogue's new album via the Nokia Music Store. Elsewhere, Nokia upgraded its Nseries suite to version 2.0, delighting users who've been waiting since the upgrade was delayed in September.
There were other software releases from the company in the form of fresh firmware for the N95 8GB and the N81, as well as an application called Sports Tracker which is bound to help in making hordes of us desk guardians feel lazy in the near future.
The company was also caught smooching with Fring, voting it 'application of the week' for a second time this year, cementing our suspicions that Nokia is mobile VoIP's biggest fan. Later, Fring let loose some details about new super connectivity widgets designed to tie Fring to social networking sites and Google maps, which will no doubt be popular when it's all up and running.
In other VoIP news, meanwhile, Yeigo updated its service with some new IM features, amongst a slew of other bits and pieces on the run up to its UK release.
The iPhone saw its share of turmoil this week, with all manner of legal wranglings over in the heart of the European continent: Germany. Essentially, it transpired that (as in France) locking the device to a single network is against the country's commercial laws. Sensing an opportunity, Vodafone leapt into the fold issuing a court injunction against T-Mobile and demanding that the device be sold unlocked.
This first prompted rumours about Vodafone looking to secure the rights to any 3G iPhone that is released in the future, which was swiftly followed with similar conjecture about O2's plans for a 3G version of the must-have handset.
Later in the week, T-Mobile went into damage limitation mode, agreeing to sell the iPhone unlocked for EUR 999 (£719 – ouch), which is more than double the EUR 399 (£287) price tag of the handset when on one of T-Mobile's contracts.
Bedsides that, it also came to light that iPhone users are a little on the slap-dash side of accurate when texting, which Pocket Picks explored on the second part of our serial review of the handset (that has now covered the camera, the iPod functions and its web browsing and YouTube features). More of these will follow in the coming weeks, together with some regular spots on iPhone apps which we started off last week with a look at HarperCollins Browse Inside.
Moving away from Apple's news magnet, there were some interesting rumours and culture snippets flying around. Rumour of the week has to go to Sony and Sony Ericsson, with fresh rumblings of a possible PlayStation branded phone. These were swiftly quashed by the obligatory Sony press statement.
In culture, ITV revealed its first made-for-mobile TV show, Vodafone launched a service called InsideOut that allows you to make calls to people in the Second Life virtual world, Japanese handset powerhouse DoCoMo announced a new earthquake detection and warning system for mobiles, while LG launched a photography competition for the chance to win a lovely Viewty handset.
See what we meant by busy? Of course, there are always many more great bits and pieces that we just can't fit into the Pocket Picks round-up so if you're a mobile tech enthusiast, you'll know where to head to (or better still, subscribe to the RSS feed and let it come to you).
That's it for now, then. Click 'Track It!' to catch next week's update.
Link
While not likely to shake the industry to its core, but interesting for fans nonetheless, the week kicked off with news that Nokia users will be the first to get their hands on Kylie Minogue's new album via the Nokia Music Store. Elsewhere, Nokia upgraded its Nseries suite to version 2.0, delighting users who've been waiting since the upgrade was delayed in September.
There were other software releases from the company in the form of fresh firmware for the N95 8GB and the N81, as well as an application called Sports Tracker which is bound to help in making hordes of us desk guardians feel lazy in the near future.
The company was also caught smooching with Fring, voting it 'application of the week' for a second time this year, cementing our suspicions that Nokia is mobile VoIP's biggest fan. Later, Fring let loose some details about new super connectivity widgets designed to tie Fring to social networking sites and Google maps, which will no doubt be popular when it's all up and running.
In other VoIP news, meanwhile, Yeigo updated its service with some new IM features, amongst a slew of other bits and pieces on the run up to its UK release.
The iPhone saw its share of turmoil this week, with all manner of legal wranglings over in the heart of the European continent: Germany. Essentially, it transpired that (as in France) locking the device to a single network is against the country's commercial laws. Sensing an opportunity, Vodafone leapt into the fold issuing a court injunction against T-Mobile and demanding that the device be sold unlocked.
This first prompted rumours about Vodafone looking to secure the rights to any 3G iPhone that is released in the future, which was swiftly followed with similar conjecture about O2's plans for a 3G version of the must-have handset.
Later in the week, T-Mobile went into damage limitation mode, agreeing to sell the iPhone unlocked for EUR 999 (£719 – ouch), which is more than double the EUR 399 (£287) price tag of the handset when on one of T-Mobile's contracts.
Bedsides that, it also came to light that iPhone users are a little on the slap-dash side of accurate when texting, which Pocket Picks explored on the second part of our serial review of the handset (that has now covered the camera, the iPod functions and its web browsing and YouTube features). More of these will follow in the coming weeks, together with some regular spots on iPhone apps which we started off last week with a look at HarperCollins Browse Inside.
Moving away from Apple's news magnet, there were some interesting rumours and culture snippets flying around. Rumour of the week has to go to Sony and Sony Ericsson, with fresh rumblings of a possible PlayStation branded phone. These were swiftly quashed by the obligatory Sony press statement.
In culture, ITV revealed its first made-for-mobile TV show, Vodafone launched a service called InsideOut that allows you to make calls to people in the Second Life virtual world, Japanese handset powerhouse DoCoMo announced a new earthquake detection and warning system for mobiles, while LG launched a photography competition for the chance to win a lovely Viewty handset.
See what we meant by busy? Of course, there are always many more great bits and pieces that we just can't fit into the Pocket Picks round-up so if you're a mobile tech enthusiast, you'll know where to head to (or better still, subscribe to the RSS feed and let it come to you).
That's it for now, then. Click 'Track It!' to catch next week's update.
Link
Tutorial: Hack your iPhone/iTouch
Before you all start thinking I’m going crazy and say mean things like “He’s Nuts!” and “Hasn’t this been posted before?”, let me explain; please. I recently (and foolishly) upgraded to 1.1.2 on my iPod touch because I wanted to see the non-existent new features it brought.
Yes, it gave me the much desired calendar “Add” button and yes, it gave me the useless battery indicator in iTunes, but I already had the Calendar button and had no need for the battery indicator, so I set on my mission to downgrade back to 1.1.1.
I read on some sites that the process was hard to do, with having to download an extra application or input a secret button sequence into the iPod. However this was not the case. After getting my copy of 1.1.1 from Apple’s site, all that was left was to Option + Click on the update button in iTunes, and navigate to the downloaded zip file. This process leaves all personal data and music on the iPhone or iPod Touch, but allows you to downgrade easily and safely.
After the downgrade was complete (which is exactly the same process as an upgrade) I set about re-hacking my shiny little Touch. The hacking process on the older firmware is ridiculously easy. Simply point Safari to jailbreakme.com and click install. This will JailBreak your iPod or iPhone, install the Installer.app and also patch the TIFF exploit, so you get the same security as in 1.1.2.
After the installation completed I set about looking for the iPhone apps. I installed the BSD Subsystem and Community Sources from Installer.app and then added http://repo.us.to to the sources manually. This then allowed me to install the iPhone apps from the list of packages.
There are also literally hundreds of community developed apps including games, chat apps, and the AnySim unlock app for the iPhone to allow it to be used on any network. That’s it, happy hacking! (Please Note: Hacking of devices is at your own risk. The above tutorial is simply for educational purposes only).
Link
Yes, it gave me the much desired calendar “Add” button and yes, it gave me the useless battery indicator in iTunes, but I already had the Calendar button and had no need for the battery indicator, so I set on my mission to downgrade back to 1.1.1.
I read on some sites that the process was hard to do, with having to download an extra application or input a secret button sequence into the iPod. However this was not the case. After getting my copy of 1.1.1 from Apple’s site, all that was left was to Option + Click on the update button in iTunes, and navigate to the downloaded zip file. This process leaves all personal data and music on the iPhone or iPod Touch, but allows you to downgrade easily and safely.
After the downgrade was complete (which is exactly the same process as an upgrade) I set about re-hacking my shiny little Touch. The hacking process on the older firmware is ridiculously easy. Simply point Safari to jailbreakme.com and click install. This will JailBreak your iPod or iPhone, install the Installer.app and also patch the TIFF exploit, so you get the same security as in 1.1.2.
After the installation completed I set about looking for the iPhone apps. I installed the BSD Subsystem and Community Sources from Installer.app and then added http://repo.us.to to the sources manually. This then allowed me to install the iPhone apps from the list of packages.
There are also literally hundreds of community developed apps including games, chat apps, and the AnySim unlock app for the iPhone to allow it to be used on any network. That’s it, happy hacking! (Please Note: Hacking of devices is at your own risk. The above tutorial is simply for educational purposes only).
Link
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