iPhone

Rogers Communications, Canada's dominant wireless carrier, has responded to the outcry over its iPhone rate plans with a new option for nearly unlimited data.

The company announced a $30-a-month data plan for the iPhone 3G that subscribers can add to their voice plans. With it, they can consume up to 6 gigabytes of data a month.

Before Wednesday, Rogers drew the ire of many a Canadian with its plan to offer a maximum 2GB voice-data plan at $115 a month. Lots of other carriers are offering unlimited data plans for the iPhone, which generates much more Web traffic on … Read more

The first iPhone 3G reviews have been released, and if you've been paying attention to the news for the past month, you won't be surprised.

Walt Mossberg of All Things Digital, David Pogue of The New York Times, and Edward Baig of USA Today were the chosen few selected to review the iPhone 3G ahead of its launch on Friday. There wasn't nearly as much suspense about the reviews this year, since we already knew the iPhone 3G was--with the exception of the faster networks, GPS, and third-party applications--essentially the same phone.

Still, some interesting details … Read more

Apple has revealed how it plans to handle the iPhone 3G crowd on Friday at its retail stores: about 30 iPhone buyers at a time.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Ron Johnson, Apple's retail chief, explained the company plans to admit iPhone customers into its retail stores starting at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday. There will be an orange-shirted "concierge" at each store, according to Apple, who will herd iPhone 3G buyers approximately 30 at a time to the "iPhone bay" for processing.

Apple did something similar last year, when … Read more

While Rogers, Canada's largest wireless carrier, has made few friends with its iPhone 3G rate plans, it's not the only foreign carrier that will have to go it alone with iPhone sales on Friday.

The Internet was all atwitter Tuesday with reports that Apple had decided to pull iPhone 3Gs from its six Canadian retail stores for Friday's launch, apparently in protest over Rogers' decision to not offer its iPhone 3G customers an unlimited data plan. Appleinsider said that Apple made the decision in a Monday night conference call after it grew "disgusted" with the rate plans, … Read more

If the online demand for the iPhone 3G in the U.K. is any indication, Apple, O2, and U.S. carrier AT&T could be in for a long weekend.

O2, the U.K. carrier of the iPhone, had hoped to deflect some of the expected demand for Apple's new iPhone, scheduled to launch Friday, by taking preorders for the phone. It sent text messages to existing O2 customers Monday morning informing them of a chance to upgrade to the iPhone 3G. But that prompt overwhelmed O2's Web site Monday, forcing the carrier to halt the upgrade process … Read more

Time's Anita Hamilton wonders why you can't have your iPhone application cake and eat it, too (tip o' the antlers to John Gruber via email).

It's probably been a while since you bought new software.

Is a month and a half a long time?

That's because so many tech firms -- buoyed by ads placed in Web-based applications like the Google Docs word processor and the thousands of apps on Facebook -- can now afford to give their programs away for free. But don't expect the same deal when you're shopping for add-ons to … Read more

You've got to wonder whether Apple and AT&T are excited or worried about a repeat of last year's iPhone mania.

Even though a few people have already started lining up outside Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York, the buzz surrounding Friday's launch of the iPhone 3G has been far less prevalent on our shores this year than last year, when I thought I was going to lose my mind writing about Apple's first mobile phone.

That makes some sense, since, in many ways, the iPhone is old news. But a new activation … Read more

Strangely, I found myself with 30 minutes of free time yesterday. And, instead of doing something productive, I found myself drawn to watch the latest 30-minute iPhone 3G video from Apple.

Sure, it's that same creepy guy from last year, and this time, he looks even more CGI-generated than last. I think he gained some weight too. But, the new features made up for the the excessive use of "most advanced," "incredible" and other doped-up adjectives. Those are 30 minutes down the tubes watching this man, but, the 3G iPhone does look pretty enticing. … Read more

Samsung is warning its customers that NAND flash memory might be hard to come by for some time after Apple placed a large order, according to a report out of Taiwan.

Digitimes reported Wednesday that Apple recently placed an order of 50 million 8Gb flash chips that it plans to use for that iPhone thing you might have heard about, and therefore the rest of Samsung's customers will have to wait for their chips. Samsung is one of the companies that Apple contracted with to secure supply of flash memory back in 2005.

The order would translate into 50 … Read more