Appletell | Apple, Mac, iPhone, iPod | News, Rumors, Reviews, How-Tos

Well, folks, its this time of year again. Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. EST/9:00 a.m. PST, Steve will be donning the blue jeans and black turtle neck and heading for the stage of the Moscone Center. As this year’s World Wide Developer Conference gets ever closer, it’s time for a rumor and speculation round-up.

Regarding a New iPhone

• 3G iPhone Firmware Leaked? by Patrick Lutz for Appletell “There is a lot of speculation about the details of the suspected 3G iPhone release at Apple’s WWDC keynote. However, there has been little material evidence on which to rely, until now; a reliable source has leaked details of the 3G iPhone’s firmware…”
• Apple Casting for New Product TV Ad by Patrick Lutz for Appletell\ “According to an unverified source, Apple has just sent out the following casting call through a major talent agency this week in search for actors to do an advertisement for a new Apple product. The casting call is as follows…”
• Loads of Crap…er, Fake iPhone Photos by Arnold Zafra for appletell “We expected this to happen. With the anticipation, excitement and hype building up as the WWDC approaches, an iPhone fan leaked faked photos of the supposedly new iPhone. Actually, CrunchGear was the first to break the news, claiming it the images arrived in their e-mail inbox…”
• Rumor: O2 to Offer Free 3G Upgrade; Pay as You Go Option by Steve Embleton for Appletell “According to Macworld UK, O2, the network carrier for the iPhone in the UK, could soon be offering new deals to try to boost sales in the UK. iPhone sales have been sluggish in the UK so far; could this be how O2 plans to change that?”
• Apple to release two new iPhones? by JG Mason for Gadgetell “Rumors are flying fast and hard as we all gear up mentally for the big Apple party coming June 9 at 10 am.  One I really like is the idea of 2 iPhones being introduced.  Isn’t it more like Apple to whip out something they’ve undersold and surprise us?”
• Glimpse at the future or bad Photoshop Job? by Mark Rowland for Appletell “A post in a MacRumors forum by mrat93 exposes a hidden file in the iPhone SDK that could be a preview of the next iPhone.  The poster found a document titled iPhone.icns…”
• Are we really looking at a white 3G iPhone? by Arnold Zafra for Appletell “In the mood for some juicy rumors or a news item that may perk up your day? Here’s something from Dutch community site iPhoneclub.nl with some fresh pictures of a new iPhone model…”
• New shipping terminology points to 3G iPhone by Mark Rowland for Appletell ”...In recent shipping manifests for Apple product shipments, a new term has popped up. Apple apparently is using “Electric Computers” as a disguised product name…”
• AT&T wrapping up 3G network upgrade just in time for Apple by Partick Lutz for Appletell “Yesterday, AT&T announced that it plans to release its High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) in six more US markets by the end of June, completing its deployment of HSPA. Once that task is completed, the company says that the 3G service will offer uplink speeds of between 500 and 800Kbps…”
• iPhone 3G Date Confirmed? by Stephen Chinnadorai for Appletell “Gizmodo is claiming that someone “very closely related” to the 3G iPhone launch has given them a confirmation announcement date of June 9th. Apparently, the second-generation iPhone will be available straight after its launch at the WWDC conference on June 9th…”
• We’re certain about 3G, now let’s speculate features! by Mark Rowland for Appletell “Okay, it’s official. 3G iPhone rumors have become a little too much. Asking “Will a 3G iPhone be released at WWDC?” is up there with the likes of “Does a bear use the restroom in the woods?” and “Is the Pope Catholic?” In other words, yes. It will be there…”
• 3G iPhone set to impact mobile TV market by Kirk Hiner for Appletell “Can the imminent 3G iPhone really make a significant impact on the mobile TV market? The folks over at Analasys Mason sure believe it can, according to their report, “iPhone Shows the Way for Mobile TV.” Mark Heath, co-author of the report, states, “The iPhone could become the mobile video delivery device of choice for many consumers, by providing a compelling mobile TV and video proposition before mobile broadcasting networks, such as DVB-H, become widely available.”
• Apple reverses its stand on the proposed iPhone subsidies by Arnold Zafra for Appletell “Barely two days to go before launching the new iPhone, Apple reportedly issued a statement reversing its earlier stand of not allowing U.S. and European mobile carriers to bring down the price of the iPhone by subsidizing part of the cost that consumers have to pay for it…”

Regarding .Mac

• Are major changes coming to .Mac? by Opal Tribble for Appletell “Rumors have been circulating about Apple’s .Mac service. Many believe that we will be seeing a massive upgrade to its service we will see these features revealed alongside the launch of the iPhone Software 2.0 in June…”
• Apple set to change .Mac to Me.com? by Opal Tribble for Appletell “The rumors have been flying about the upcoming changes to Apple’s .Mac service. Will .Mac service be changed to MobileMe? What about .Mac? Will it redirect to a new domain?”

Regarding an iTablet

• Tablet Mac coming this fall? by Stephen Chinnadorai for Appletell “According to Jason D. O’Grady of ZDNet, Apple will announce a 12 or 13-inch Mac tablet this fall – most likely in September or October…”
• No, the WWDC banner doesn’t reveal an iTablet by Adam Fisher-Cox for Appletell “The folks over at 9to5Mac on Thursday posted a news item entirely about the leaked WWDC photo you see above. The article in question, if you can call it that, has an ultra-cropped version of the photo zeroing in on the iPhone in the background poster. Their charge is that the iPhone is much too square, even compensating for the squishing effects of foreshortening, to be the iPhone. Could it be the iTablet?”

Regarding Mac OS 10.6

• Mac OS 10.6 to support Power PC despite rumors by Patrick Lutz for Appletell “Contrary to the recent rumors that Apple would drop PowerPC architecture support with its newest update to OS X, a tipster (and possible Apple insider) was able to acquire the latest build of the soon to be released update of Mac OS X 10.6, and found some evidence that Apple might actually be keeping the chip alive…”

All Other WWDC Info

• How to prepare for WWDC ‘08 by Josh Holat for Appletell “Are you so excited for WWDC that you can barely wait for June?  Do you need something to hold you over until then to stop you from going insane?  With the event containing over 150 labs and sessions this year as well as being sold out, there are endless possibilities for this year.  Well, good thing for you there are plenty of ways to prepare for this years WWDC. Here are the top 3…”

• Christmas to Come Early by Mark Rowland for Appletell “With all the WDDC rumors flying around Worldwide Developers Conference 2008, it has become tough to keep track of them all. Here is a list of recent rumors, and details on their credibility…”

This year’s WWDC will not disappoint.  The show is sold out, and a few wonderful new products are probably going to come out of the wraps. Be sure to tune in tomorrow starting at 12:00 EST/9:00 am PST for our live-blog coverage of the event!