Jobs: App Store launching with 500 iPhone applications, 25% free

July 9, 2008

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var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Jobs_App_Store_launching_with_500_iPhone_apps_25_free'; Steve Jobs told USA Today that the Apple App Store will launch with "more than 500" applications Thursday night for the iPhone and iPod touch. Of these, 25% will be free and 90% (of those for sale) will cost $9.99 or less. "This is the biggest launch of my career," said Jobs. Analyst Tim Bajarin at Creative Strategies said, "When IBM introduced the PC, it was good, but it didn't take off until people started discovering the software." It's these apps then, he adds, that will "dramatically differentiates the iPhone" from Treos and BlackBerrys. Indeed, while consumers are focused on the launch of the iPhone 3G device, it's the App Store which has analysts in such a tizzy.

Update: The New York Times reports that 1/3 of all first-wave applications will be games. We also corrected the Bajarin misquote above.

[Thanks, Matt and Chris Z.]
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Eee PC shipments “fail expectations” for first half of 08

July 9, 2008

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Welcome back to reality ASUS. The Taiwanese giant just announced that it shipped 1.7 million Eee PCs in the "first half of 2008," 300,000 less than had been forecast. Of course, this could be explained in any number of ways including a downturn in the global economy and those consumers who skipped past the Eee PC 900 in favor of the Atom-based Eee PC 901. With Atom processors in short supply and ASUS diluting the Eee brand as much as they have, well, we wouldn't be surprised to see these failed expectations become the expectation moving forward; especially for companies like Acer who seem to be betting the farm on these new netbook-class mini-laptops.
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Verizon Settles Lawsuit Over Early Termination Fees

July 9, 2008

Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by California customers upset with the company's early termination fees.

Early termination fees, charged when a wireless subscriber breaks a contract before it ends, have been in the sights of the Federal Communications Commission, where Chairman Kevin Martin wants to construct a national framework for the way they are assessed.

Wireless carriers have long enforced penalties of as much as $175 on subscribers who leave their one-year or two-year service contracts early. The carriers argue that the fees are a necessary measure because the companies pay for a part of the initial cost of the cell phone, and need to recoup those expenses.

The settlement covers all of the lawsuits throughout the nation, according to a Verizon spokesman.

"We are recovering cash that would be available to Verizon mobile phone customers who paid fees to end their contracts early," said Alan Plutzik, an attorney for the customers. Plutzik said its unclear how many Verizon customers will be eligible to share in the settlement, a decision that will ultimately be up to the judge.

Customers of six companies sued the carriers in 2006 in Alameda County Superior Court alleging that the fees violate California law.

Sprint Nextel faced trial first in Alameda County Superior Court last month. The judge has not yet issued a decision on the legality of the fees in California in that case.

Jury selection began last month in Verizon's trial, which will be halted now that an agreement has been reached. AT&T is next up for trial, Plutznik said.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin last month laid out a plan to regulate the fees, saying he was skeptical that the lawsuits would adequately resolve all pending issues about the unpopular fees. The industry supports Martin's proposal to prorate the fees in exchange for immunity from state lawsuits.


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Meet the world’s first ten iPhone 3G owners

July 9, 2008

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digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Meet_the_world_s_first_first_ten_iPhone_3G_owners'; With just seven hours to go out here in New Zealand before the first worldwide iPhone 3G launch (yeah, we flew all the way out for it), the line at the Auckland Vodafone store is growing steadily but surely. Everyone's in high spirits, despite the fact that it's winter here in the southern hemisphere, and they can't as easily get away with that whole hippie line-sitter thing like in New York. We'll check back in soon as we get our international iPhone 3G launch lineblog started.

#1
Name: Jonny Gladwell, 22 (pictured above, right)
Current phone: Sony Ericsson K800i on Voda
Waiting for: more than 48 hours now
Buying: black 8GB
Motivation: to be the first, duh! His girlfriend is just in it to keep him company, she's not actually getting one herself. Jonny tells us he's not going to eBay the world's first iPhone 3G, though. Whatever, dude!

Continue reading Meet the world's first ten iPhone 3G owners

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Meet the world’s first first ten iPhone 3G owners

July 9, 2008

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With just seven hours to go out here in New Zealand before the first worldwide iPhone 3G launch (yeah, we flew all the way out for it), the line at the Auckland Vodafone store is growing steadily but surely. Everyone's in high spirits, despite the fact that it's winter here in the southern hemisphere, and they can't as easily get away with that whole hippie line-sitter thing like in New York. We'll check back in soon as we get our international iPhone 3G launch lineblog started.

#1
Name: Jonny Gladwell, 22 (pictured above, right)
Current phone: Sony Ericsson K800i on Voda
Waiting for: more than 48 hours now
Buying: black 8GB
Motivation: to be the first, duh! His girlfriend is just in it to keep him company, she's not actually getting one herself. Jonny tells us he's not going to eBay the world's first iPhone 3G, though. Whatever, dude!

Continue reading Meet the world's first first ten iPhone 3G owners

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Kodak bumps out a pair of new Flickr-friendly Wireless Digital Frames

July 9, 2008

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Kodak's new W820 (8-inch) and W1020 (10-inch) are the latest in the company's charming line of Quick Touch Border digital photo frames. Quite similar to their M820 and M1020 (pictured) counterparts in most respects, the new frames add WiFi, which brings with it services like Flickr, FrameChannel and Kodak Gallery. Unfortunately, the only way to add generic RSS feeds is FrameChannel, and all FrameChannel subscriptions include a monstrous banner ad across the bottom of each frame -- at least Kodak's partnership with Flickr is separate, so those subs are clean. Each frame includes 512MB of storage in addition to memory card slots, and they should be out next month for $250 and $280, respectively.
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Kodak bumps out a pair of new Flickr-friendly Wireless Digital Frames

July 9, 2008

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Kodak's new W820 (8-inch) and W1020 (10-inch) are the latest in the company's charming line of Quick Touch Border digital photo frames. Quite similar to their M820 and M1020 (pictured) counterparts in most respects, the new frames add WiFi, which brings with it services like Flickr, FrameChannel and Kodak Gallery. Unfortunately, the only way to add generic RSS feeds is FrameChannel, and all FrameChannel subscriptions include a monstrous banner ad across the bottom of each frame -- at least Kodak's partnership with Flickr is separate, so those subs are clean. Each frame includes 512MB of storage in addition to memory card slots, and they should be out next month for $250 and $280, respectively.
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Kodak Theatre HD Player: at last, a reason to sit on your ass and stare at the TV

July 9, 2008

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Many have tried to be that other box that sits under your TV. You know, the DVD player, the cable box, the TiVo, the consoles are all well and good, but somebody somehow needs to solve they mystery of getting web and PC content onto your TV, and Kodak might be on the cusp of cracking it. Kodak's new Kodak Theatre HD Player is a simple, slick little box with multiple flash card slots, a USB port, and all the requisite home theater outputs like HDMI, component and all that. The unit can naturally shuffle through photos like there's no tomorrow, and includes wireless access to pull stuff off of Flickr feeds or your PC's hard drive, but there's also 720p video playback, online radio and what have you. The real clincher is that you won't be interacting with all this via a clunky d-pad remote, but instead there's an amazingly great gyroscopic mouse that makes the whole thing a joy to use. The $300 price tag might turn some people off when this lands in September, especially with no built-in storage, but we still think Kodak might have a winner on its hands.
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Kodak Theatre HD Player: at last, a reason to sit on your ass and stare at the TV

July 9, 2008

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Many have tried to be that other box that sits under your TV. You know, the DVD player, the cable box, the TiVo, the consoles are all well and good, but somebody somehow needs to solve they mystery of getting web and PC content onto your TV, and Kodak might be on the cusp of cracking it. Kodak's new Kodak Theatre HD Player is a simple, slick little box with multiple flash card slots, a USB port, and all the requisite home theater outputs like HDMI, component and all that. The unit can naturally shuffle through photos like there's no tomorrow, and includes wireless access to pull stuff off of Flickr feeds or your PC's hard drive, but there's also 720p video playback, online radio and what have you. The real clincher is that you won't be interacting with all this via a clunky d-pad remote, but instead there's an amazingly great gyroscopic mouse that makes the whole thing a joy to use. The $300 price tag might turn some people off when this lands in September, especially with no built-in storage, but we still think Kodak might have a winner on its hands.
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Kodak’s EasyShare Z1015 IS shooter packs 15x zoom, 10 megapixel sensor

July 9, 2008

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Kodak's got a new one for the semi-casual point-and-shoot crowd, the EasyShare Z1015 IS. The 10 megapixel Z-series camera manages a 15x optical zoom, a 3-inch LCD, HD footage at 720p and 30 fps, and Kodak's Perfect Touch processing. Naturally the IS implies optical image stabilization, but the 6400 ISO should help out in the shaking department as well if grain is not an issue, and full manual controls should help out all the in-betweens. It'll go for $350 come September.
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