Software problems bug Apple’s launch of new iPhone

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK - Apple Inc.’s new iPhone went on sale Friday to eager buyers worldwide, but there were problems getting the phones to work.

Kenny Pichardo, 24, was the first to buy an iPhone 3G at an AT&T store in the New York borough of Queens, but he said it took the store half an hour to get the phone working.

That boded badly for the approximately 70 people after him in line. Pichardo had camped out overnight to be first.

A spokesman for AT&T Inc., the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said there was a global problem with Apple Inc.’s iTunes software that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store, as had been planned.

Instead, employees are telling buyers to go home and perform the last step by connecting their phones to their own computers, spokesman Michael Coe said.

When the first iPhone went on sale a year ago, customers performed the whole activation procedure at home, off-loading employees. But the new model is subsidized by carriers, as is standard in the wireless industry, and Apple and AT&T therefore planned to activate all phones in-store.

Enthusiasm was high for the new model ahead of the 8 a.m. launch in the U.S. At the flagship Apple store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, a line of hundreds encircled the block. Many of them were already owners of the first iPhone, suggesting that Apple is preaching to the choir with the new model, which updates the one launched a year ago by speeding up Internet access and adding a navigation chip.

Thanks to subsidies by the carrier, the price has also been cut substantially to $199 for the cheapest model in the United States.

More on the iPhone story here.

Wordpress CEO Matt Mullenweg or like what he likes to call himself CBBQTT (which stands for “Chief BBQ Taste Tester” for the company that produces Wordpress - Automattic.com) wrote recently:

iPhone Updates: Prologue and Mdot

If you’re an iPhone user — and I expect there will be a few more of you on July 11th — these latest updates are for you.

First we’ve updated our mobile interface, which you can reach at m.wordpress.com, to be much more iPhone friendly. It’s still not sexy, but it’s quite snappy and is great for checking your stats, posting an entry, or posting a bookmark on the go.

Second we’ve updated the Prologue theme to be much friendlier to iPhones both for browsing and posting. We now have about half a dozen Prologues that we use internally at Automattic to coordinate our development, support, and even communication with contractors, so I’ve been testing this out pretty heavily over the last few days and it’s quite handy.

I think the iPhone is a pretty exciting new platform, and I think we’ll do more to embrace it in the future. Having such a powerful browser available on the phone really opens up what you can do. I recently picked up a N95 because I’ve heard people compare it favorably to the iPhone, but the web experience is terrible! Once you get used to that touchscreen, it’s hard to go back.

T-Mobile Offers New Home Phone Service

By Laura M. Holson

How is this for a twist: Wireless carrier T-Mobile wants to sell consumers phone service in their homes.

The company announced Wednesday that it would introduce a Internet-based phone service called T-Mobile@Home later this month which it hopes will compete with landline and voice-over-Internet offerings from the likes of AT&T, Verizon and Vonage. The service will cost $10 a month, but customers must also have a T-Mobile cellphone plan (which typically start at $29.99 a month) and broadband Internet service (which typically costs $20 to $50 a month, depending on who the provider is).

The move is part of T-Mobile’s effort to extend its brand beyond wireless communications. Unlike AT&T or Verizon, which have roots as old-line phone companies, T-Mobile does not sell traditional phone service.

The offering also builds on the company’s innovative service began a year ago that allowed its mobile phone customers to make unlimited calls over their home wireless Internet networks.

T-Mobile@Home transmits calls from the phone handset through a $50 T-Mobile router to the Internet, where voice-over-Internet-protocol technology is used to complete the call. Customers are allowed to keep their existing home phone number. At the same time, said the chief executive, Robert Dotson, they can get the same services they get from mobile phones, like personalized ring tones.

The $10 price tag for unlimited calling is cheaper than what competitors like AT&T and Verizon, charge for wired or VOIP access. Vonage, which also sells telephone calling plans using VOIP technology, offers unlimited calling for $24.99.

BURLINGAME, CALIF. - Apple’s new iPhone promises to be 4.7 ounces of awesome.

It will do everything the iPhone does well–surfing the Web, serving up music and movies, and letting you flick through your voicemail messages with a fingertip–only faster and cheaper.

Yet imperfections still lurk, in spite of Chairman Steve Jobs‘ maniacal attention to detail. Even before its release, there are some niggling issues–some minor, others major–that make the iPhone a mere gadget, just like any other. Just ask those pesky bloggers:

The Cost
Those crafty phone companies! Yes, at $199, the new iPhone is cheaper up-front than the original, which first went on sale starting at $499 last year. It is not, however, less expensive to own. Do the math and you find out the iPhone will cost $160 more over two years than the original iPhone because AT&T (nyse: T - news - people ) put together a pricier data plan for the phone to help it subsidize the up-front cost of the handset. The gadget fiends at Gizmodo called that “a small price to play,” but Bits, the technology blog at The New York Times, called it “a step backwards for consumers.”

No Flash
The iPhone is a surprisingly capable Web browser. Its wide, high-resolution screen and the ability to bop around the Web by tapping links with a fingertip has turned mobile Web surfing from a chore into a pleasure. The biggest hitch: the iPhone still doesn’t support Adobe’s (nasdaq: ADBE - news - people ) Flash technology, which means many multimedia-rich sites remain off limits. While Adobe is working hard to make its technology iPhone-friendly, don’t hold your breath.

No Replaceable Batteries
Hardcore road warriors don’t have time to stop and recharge their phones. Instead they carry their batteries with them, clicking them into their BlackBerrys in the backs of cabs, or, if they’re lucky, in a coffee shop. By contrast, there’s no easy way to crack open the new iPhone’s sleek case to pop in a battery, disappointing bloggers. And while kits are available for do-it-yourselfers, we wouldn’t recommend trying it in between bites of your bagel.

Video Recording
Apple’s (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) computers come preloaded with iMovie, a slick little application that makes video editing easy and fun. Apple’s iPods, with the exception of the Shuffle, have evolved into snappy little video viewing machines. But if you want to record video, you’d better talk to Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ). Despite its built-in two-megapixel camera, Apple isn’t building the ability to take video into its new phone, a feature even many low-end so-called “feature phones” include.

No Cut-And-Paste
The inability to copy a chunk of text and paste it into another application has baffled geeks since the iPhone’s introduction last year. It’s a simple tool that would make blogging and zapping bits of text to friends via e-mail a breeze. And, yes, it can be done without screwing up the phone’s interface.

No Multimedia Messaging Service
This might be the most interesting example of what makes the iPhone quirky: There are some things dirt-cheap phones cranked out by the tens of millions can do that the vaunted iPhone cannot. Forbes.com’s David Ewalt sees the lack of support for Multimedia Messaging Service as one of the most maddening. Want to open an image sent to you via MMS by a friend from her (dirt-cheap) mobile phone? No dice.

Bonus: No Voice Dialing
No blogger we’ve seen has complained about this yet. Maybe that’s because all the geeks who might whine about how tough it is to dial the iPhone died in fiery auto wrecks first, seeing as the iPhone doesn’t have the voice-recognition smarts to let users dial verbally–the one feature makes the BlackBerry, with its nubby little plastic keyboard, usable on the road.

More here:

One iPhone to rule them all

Deaf Leopard

I didn’t.

Until a potential client told me today and mentioned that I should call them on Google Talk. So, I went ahead and downloaded the free phone software application which I thought was a chatting client. Well, guess what?

The quality was REALLY poor between here in Korea and Canada. So, I had to get my client to talk on Skype which was so much more clear! So, I’m officially giving the service a “thumbs down” for being a free phone service, BUT for FREE, it’s not bad!

One of my readers recently told me to check out Jangl.com because it was similar to one of the other services I had posted about like Jaxtr.com or Voipwise.com. I read up on the site what the service was all about, but no where on the site could I find what countries it serves.

In some sense, I can understand why they would keep the list confidential to get you to sign up if you’re curious and if you’re just attracted to the idea that it’s free.  However, what a waste if your country isn’t served like here in South Korea.  So, after I signed up for the service, I found out the list of countries that the service does serve supposedly free phone voipwise phone service or as I always say “almost” free phone voipwise service. 

Here’s the list of countries that Jangl provides almost free phone services at this point (June 2008):
Australia
Austria
Belgium Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxemborg
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
  

From the Italy (Italia), United Kingdom, and Romania pay nothing or call for free abroad. For a small fee of 2.50 Euros, you can call from France, Germany Sweden, Switzerland, the U.S.A., Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium everywhere else for free.

At least this is what EuteliaVoip.com says is available on their service. The website defaults to Italian, but once you click on the flag icons at the top right, you can change it to English by clicking on the UK Flag.

fring supposedly gives you free mobile calls along with chat over an internet plan or even WiFi.  In fringcubator, there’s supposedly even a pre-release version of fring for iPhone available now. 

Supposedly your balance never expires with Call61.com and you can call from 20 countries including Spain, Italy, England, Japan, Israel, Hungary and more with this latest telecom technology http://www.call61.com

Free 15 minutes and low rates advertised at NobleCom. The site also offers cheap calling cards as well.  http://www.nobelcom.com

This service supposedly gives you Free International Calling from your Mobile Phone.  Supposedly you can call up to 74 countries including China, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and India for free from your mobile phone.  http://www.aussiecall.com/ *this may be specific to Australian residents. 

VOIP Service that doesn’t offer anything free, it appears…just supposedly inexpensive VOIP rates. http://www.swiftcom.com.au

Reviewers for Almost Free Phone haven’t been able to do thorough reviews with these services.  As you can see, the theme is mostly Australian with most of these services.  So, if you’re an Australian consumer who’s been able to use these (almost free) phone services, feel free to write reviews in the comments!  Cheers!

The new iPhone will use the 3G phone network for faster surfing of the internet, and the handset could be offered for free on some of the more expensive monthly tariffs.

Sources have said those who pay a tariff of £75 a month will get the phone for free.

It is also likely to be available on pay-as-you-go for the first time in Britain.

So far O2, which has an exclusive agreement for the iPhone with Apple in the UK, has charged customers an up-front fee for the gadget, which is a combined mobile phone, iPod and web browser.

But analysts say the strategy has failed to deliver the volume of sales expected.

Now Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, appears to have dropped his resistance to giving away the phone for ‘free’ in exchange for a larger cut of tariffs and service charges.

Mr Jobs will unveil the new phone at a press briefing in San Francisco.

The new 3G iPhone will go on sale immediately in the US and customers will be able to buy them in Britain next month.

To date Apple has sold just 5.4 million iPhones, out of the 1.2 billion global mobile phone market.

It has sold reasonably well in the US but analysts believe sales have been hampered in Europe by a perception of high price.

In April O2 and Carphone Warehouse announced they were cutting the cost of the 8GB version by £100 to £169.”

Website hot-deals.org also reports:

” There is no official announcement when stores will put the new iPhone for sale, however Apple stores and the AT&T Store are mysteriously out of stock of all iPhones today, so it is probably likely they pulled all old iPhones off the shelves in anticipation of placing the new iPhone for sale sometime later today.”