Appletell

Poor, poor, UK customers, first you’re offered an extremely buggy pre-order site to try and satisfy your 3G iPhone needs, then o2 tells you that you need to send scans of your most sensitive information (passports, bank cards) through e-mail, and now you can’t even pick one up from a shop hassle free.

It seems that that Apple’s flagship store in London has had huge trouble trying to activate 3G iPhones. iPhones must now be activated before leaving the store, a change from the previous method of customers activating when they got back home. The problems arose due to a web-based activation system from o2 that isn’t compatible with Safari! Ironic, no?

More after the break.

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It seems o2 are blaming Apple for a shortage of UK iPhone 3G stock. In an e-mail response to an inquiring customer, Steve Shurrock, sales director of o2 had the following to say,

“We have been working continuously with them [Apple] to get as much stock for the UK as possible. Unfortunately, they have only been able to supply a small proportion of the number of phones we asked for, because they are launching simultaneously in 22 countries.”

Shurrock goes onto say that he is confident that the volume of iPhones will increase over time and become sufficient for customer demand.

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I was awoken this morning by a text message from o2, which read, “iPhone 3G is here. The iPhone you have been waiting to early upgrade to. Order from 8am today.”

Yup! If you’re an o2 customer/wannabe customer, you can now pre-order the iPhone 3G at o2’s website! o2 say that pre-orders are on a first-come, first-served basis, and if you order sooner, there’s a bigger chance it will arrive on July the 11th via courier!

If you’re going through the upgrade route, you will need to visit the o2 iPhone upgrade page where you will be asked to type in your iPhone mobile number. You will then receive a text message with an upgrade code, which you must then enter before the upgrade process can continue.

The website is acting extremely erratically (at time of writing), whether this is due to traffic or o2 not getting their web page up in time is unknown. The upgrade site currently throws me between being able to order the phone and a maintenance page (8 a.m., ey’ o2?).

No word on how new customers are getting on, but I have a feeling they might not be having as much trouble. I haven’t as yet been able to pre-order my 3G iPhone. Come on o2, fix your website!

Happy iPhone 3G pre-ordering UK o2 customers.

Looks like it might be time to invest in a Macbook Air, that’s if you’ve been holding of. Apple quietly, and without explanation, has slashed the price of the 1.8GHz model to just $2598 which is $500 than it’s previous price at $3098. Adding the solid-state drive to the 1.6GHz model will now cost just $599 from its previous $999 and will reduce the price of upgrading the 1.6GHz processor to the faster 1.8GHz model from $300 to $200.

Apple hasn’t officially noted the price drop, but it’s obvious that the increase in SSD production has led the to the cheaper price points. All the Air needs now is a larger storage capacity (and more power), but the wait shouldn’t be too long as Samsung, which currently produces the SSDs for the Macbook Air, have said they could be delivering cheap 256GB SSD drives later this year, as well as a 128GB model.

Product [MacBook Air]

If you’re in need of a new notebook and are considering the Macbook Air, then you should probably consider some key points first. Is the Air worth spending your money on? Should you go for a cheaper alternative such as the Macbook? And just what could the future bring for the Macbook Air?

The Macbook Air is the newest addition to Apple’s notebook line, and it’s arguably the best looking, but there are many reasons why a Macbook Air probably isn’t right for you...yet.

Reasons after the break.

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There have been various reports on the internet that the new iPhone 3G will be available exclusively from O2 and Carphone Warehouse, not from Apple stores (in the UK, anyway). The reports came after the UK version of the iPhone site listed only O2 and Carphone Warehouse under “Where to Buy.” But, it seems Apple will indeed be selling the new iPhone in their stores, after all.

MacWorld UK reports that O2 is working closely with Apple to enable them to sell the iPhone at the O2 subsidized cost throughout Apple stores in the UK.

Apple currently can’t sell the iPhone 3G at its stores due to the need for credit checks (which Apple can’t currently do in-store) and because their staff is currently not trained to sell contracts, which is required for the iPhone 3G because it will be activated in-store only.

“We are currently working closely with Apple to enable them to issue contracts in store. Full details are still to be confirmed,” explained a spokesperson for O2. The new iPhone, launching July 11th, will be available in the UK at O2 stores, The Carphone Warehouse, and, if all goes well, Apple stores too.

I had a feeling that Apple would be selling in store; after all, it’s their product!

Via [Macworld UK]

iLuv, a company that specializes in “developing solutions and unique accessories for the Apple iPod and other MP3 players” has just released a new multimedia system that promises to bring all your media formats to one place.

The i1255 (couldn’t they have thought of something a little more creative?) is a 5.1 channel desktop DVD and iPod player that lets you play music and movies on your TV and includes an attractive “On-Screen-Display” that lets you navigate your iPod’s music and movies with ease. The actual player bears a striking resemblance to a Playstation 3.

iPod features of the i1255 include an integrated dock that lets you charge and play your ipod, full screen control/navigation of your iPod with the included remote control, and the ability to output your favorite iPod movies through s-video or AV outputs. iPods that are compatible are the iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano 3G and iPod with video.

The DVD feature of the i1255 gives you all of the features you would expect in a standard DVD player: DVD playback, VCD, MP3 and JPEG playback are included. The “On-Screen-Display” is also used with the DVD features to navigate MP3s, etc. stored on your DVDs.

The i1255 includes a remote control, AV cable, warranty card, quick-start guide, and instruction manual, and is available now for $149.99.

Product [iLuv i1255]

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It seems Apple has decided to restrict access to its online storage component, iDisk, from certain browsers. iDisk, once supported by any browser, is now blocking access to the site unless the browser used to visit it is officially supported.

Supported browsers include:

• Safari 1.3 or Firefox 1.0.4 (And later versions of these browsers)
• Camino (Which uses Firefox’s Gecko technology)
• Opera 9.5

PC users can access their iDisk using:

• Firefox 1.0.4 (Or later)
• Internet Explorer 6 (Or Later)

Browsers which are now officially unsupported (and consequently blocked) include OmniWeb and Firefox 3 release candidates, although the upcoming Firefox 3 will most likely be supported soon. If your browser is not supported, a warning message appears (see picture).

Browser restrictions are limited to iDisk pages, as all other .Mac services are still available for use with any browser. Is Apple ramping up security, or does this have something to do with Apple’s upcoming service, MobileMe which will replace .Mac and include the iDisk feature. Restrictions shouldn’t affect most people, though the move is interesting since Apple touts the new MobileMe service as being accessible by virtually any computer in the world.

Via [MacNN]

Looking for a powerful image editing solution but don’t want the hefty price tag? Well, Nolobe has just released a brand new image editor for your Mac, called Iris, which promises to do just that.

“Iris has been created for previously overlooked Mac owners who simply wanted an accessible and easy to use image program that provides professional results, without the professional price tag,” explained Matthew Drayton, founder and CEO of Nolobe.

Touted as “The ultimate image editor for Mac OS X,” Iris promises to provide a powerful, intuitive, easy-to-use solution for all of your image editing needs. Read on for features and download information.

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