Appletell

On the heals of the iPhone’s geographic expansion in Europe, the iPhone is making it’s official entrance into Asia.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) will bring the iPhone to Singapore, India, Australia and the Philippines later this year (read, iPhone 2 with 3G speeds).

This is probably the only way to curb the massive knockoff problem that is currently going on in Asia. Further, a 2.5G iPhone is of no or little interest to countries and carriers with 3G networks. 

MacRumors has discovered a new preference in the iPhone firmware 2.0 beta. The “Enable 3G” option allows you to turn 3G data speeds on and off - Apple claims that “Using 3G loads data faster, but decreases battery life”. Steve Jobs once said at the iPhone UK launch that the iPhone was not using 3G chips because they sucked up battery life too quickly - this could give users the option of either, when they need it most.

Although the iPhone 2.0 firmware appears to contain this 3G code, owners of current generation iPhones will not be able to take advantage of the 3G speed option without buying a new iPhone with a 3G capabilities embedded. It looks like Apple will be using similar, if not the same firmware for both 3G and 2.5G iPhones. The 3G iPhone is still expected for launch at the WWDC in June, however there is no confirmation of this from Apple themselves.

Via [MacRumors]

Apple US Online Store - reads: “Ships: Currently Unavailable”

iPhones have been in high demand recently and the lack of stock in both US and UK Apple stores is not helping the problem. The iPhone is one of the most sought-after devices of the year and both retail and online stores are having their supplies dry up. Many believe this is due to Apple’s expected announcement of the 3G iPhone next month.

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TUAW has received information from an anonymous tipster about future Apple plans. Apparently, .Mac is going to undergo a complete revamp - and will be re-launched at the same time as the iPhone 2.0 launch - which is expected some time in June (most likely in the Worldwide Developers’ Conference). .Mac’s new changes would bring new features to the service for both Mac and Windows users for the first time; some of these features include:

• .Mac push e-mail
• Wireless syncing for calendars, contacts, and email (similar to Microsoft Exchange)
• .Mac syncing on Windows

It makes sense for Apple to integrate .Mac into the iPhone. Wireless syncing of calendars and contacts would make it a big competitor to Microsoft’s Exchange service - which is widely used as the standard for many businesses. .Mac hasn’t been too successful either, this could be Apple’s way of bringing the product to success.

Via [TUAW]

Recently, Apple has been stepping up in the business environment and has really begun hammering it home that they are ready to more aggressively enter this field.  With the new iPhone software to contain ActiveSync support for Microsoft Exchange and possibly more business geared features such as a camera for video conferencing, this move is no joke.  Furthermore, it was recently reported that according to a rumor from TUAW, .Mac will soon include “Full over-the-air syncing including calendars, contacts, and email (similar to Exchange).” What do both of these have in common?  They are very attractive offers for anyone involved in a high business position at a big or small company.  Apple has made their impression in the everyday consumer market and is now moving onto bigger goals.  A smart move, I may add.

By making their products better for a business environment, Apple is opening them up to a large amount of potentially new customers.  Many businesses have stuck with Windows as their main OS for years, and Apple has realized that.  By realizing that, they are now beginning to compete with it.  Most of their new products and updates have more features that are meant for business type people which can only lead to good.  Good on you Apple for taking a risk and putting your cards into this deck.  Keep on innovating, we all look forward to you having more of a presence in larger corporation settings!

When the SDK for the iPhone is launched at WWDC, it is going to be exhilarating.  Apple has given developers plenty of time to create useful and outstanding apps, and I expect there will be plenty of them.  For example, at the keynote, developers had already made Spore and an instant messaging client in only a couple weeks.  Also, third party developers that have been using Installer.app have also made extremely awesome and helpful apps in a short amount of time.  What does this all mean?  Excitement.  When this whole deal is officially released, there are going to be hundreds of apps released with it.  The functionality of the iPhone is going to skyrocket and it is going to be even more desired.  But the real question is what apps do you really want to see.

First and foremost for me, and probably many others, is some sort of iChat. This would be great to keep in contact with friends on the go and, not to mention, save me a ton of money on text messaging overage fees.  Another application I would love to see would be for voice recording.  Whenever I am on the go, I always end up thinking of something I want to remember.  It could be so easy just to record it in the phone rather than writing a whole note.  This could also be very useful for business people who need to record a quick interview on their phone for later.  Lastly, and more general, I would love to see some awesome games.  There are a lot of times where I’m bored in the car or on a plane and iPhone games would be perfect to pass the time with.  What do you want to see and/or waste your time with?  Games, productivity, educational?  Let us know in the comments!

Apple has now opened up its iPhone and iPod Touch developer program to areas outside of the United States.  Why does this matter?  Now, developers outside of the States can create official, Apple accepted apps that can be published in the App Store that is to come out with the new iPhone software in June.  All of this news comes from a TUAW reader who says he has been accepted into the program but lives in the UK.

This is great news not only for the developers who will now be able to create apps, but also for everyone who owns an iPod Touch or iPhone.  This creates a potential for hundreds of more apps created by the large population of Apple developers outside of the States.  I’ve said it before, the SDK announcement is going to be huge, and I have a feeling the App Store is going to be filled with hundreds of goodies to waste some time trying out and using.  The usefulness of the iPhone will skyrocket with third party apps, and I can’t wait.  Are you excited?

If you remember a while back, I wrote about a third party app that allows for handwriting recognition on the iPhone called HWPen. Now, according to recent reports, build number 5A258f of the iPhone 2.0 beta software supports a handwriting recognition interface that currently allows only Chinese character input.  A translated page of the website of the man who is reporting about this, Kenneth, goes into detail about the interface and contains tons of screenshots.

This app works by suggesting four character possibilities on the right hand side of the screen as the user begins to write the symbol.  AppleInsider also points out that a recent patent filing by Apple suggested a next generation multi-touch surface that would allow for this and many more touch operations.  All this handwriting news brings back the good old days of the Newton.  Let’s hope it gets a little better of a reputation if it does appear on the iPhone.  Would you like to see this on the next iPhone software update?

The iPhone is finally rapidly expanding into more worldwide markets. Vodafone has just made an announcement stating that it has signed a contract with Apple, and will start selling iPhones in 10 new countries: Australia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. No specific date has been given, but expect the phone to be out later this year.

The fact that Apple has chosen Vodafone for all 10 of these countries speeds up the process of deploying the iPhone. It means Apple doesn’t have to deal with 10 different carriers for each country, as they have previously. Apple chose AT&T in the US, O2 in the UK, Orange in France and T-Mobile in Germany. It’s good to see Apple meeting their goals with bringing the iPhone to the rest of the world, especially where it has huge demand. This should also prevent iPhones being exported from the US, and being hacked to work on local networks.

Via [Engadget]

Twitter is an amazing social network - there’s no doubt about it. Most Twitter users find themselves addicted to the thing, and therefore need ways of catching up with friends’ updates, and even posting their own on-the-go. Thanks to the iPhone’s sophisticated Safari web browser, iPhone-specific web apps using Twitter’s API can be created. In my opinion, Dean Robinson‘s Hahlo is the best iPhone Twitter web app out there.

Hahlo 3, the highly anticipated version of Hahlo, has just been released to the public and is no longer in beta testing. All users who visit Hahlo.com on their iPhone or iPod Touch will be able to notice the new features and design immediately. In addition to the newly designed user interface, Hahlo 3 has full search capabilities through Summize.

Via [TUAW]