Hasta La Gadget!

T-Mobile USA has been an oft-rumored darkhorse to help kill off AT&T’s iPhone exclusivity in the country — and for the life of us, we can’t think of a good reason that the carrier’s corporate stores would be carrying iPhone charge / sync cables now other than in preparation for a launch. It’s interesting to note that Deutsche Telekom boss Rene Obermann in part blamed the lack of the iPhone in the States as a driving factor in its third quarter churn rate… a meaningless musing, perhaps, but it could’ve been a little bit of foreshadowing, too. It’s important to note that T-Mobile has carried Nexus One accessories this year, too, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think that they’re just trying to cater to the unlockers who are already using iPhones on T-Mobile — but then again, we’d argue that the people savvy enough to do that probably aren’t shopping for overpriced cables in carrier stores. It’s also important to note that T-Mobile literally just took a dig at FaceTime (while blasting AT&T’s network in the same breath), so it’s hard to say what this means, if anything.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Why is T-Mobile selling an iPhone cable? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though Verizon famously turned down the original iPhone before Apple ultimately signed a deal with AT&T, the company’s outspoken CEO — Ivan Seidenberg — has been very careful over the past couple years to note that he’d love to eventually have an iPhone in his lineup. With Verizon Wireless boss Lowell McAdam tapped to take over the top job next year, what’d be a better swan song for Seidenberg than to finally pull it off? Fortune‘s new profile of the longstanding chief exec and elder statesman is reporting in very matter-of-fact terms that a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 will be a reality on Verizon in “early 2011,” lining up with most of the rumors the interwebs has been generating over the past few months.

The piece details the phone as the culmination of literally years of careful discussions between Seidenberg, McAdams, and Steve Jobs; Verizon’s guys claim that Jobs acknowledged in late 2007 that the two companies had “missed something” by failing to partner up. The first visible fruit of those talks is the MiFi-bundled iPad that just launched, but that’s clearly a minor stepping stone on the way to an actual handset. Fortune reports that Jobs has voiced his concerns over CDMA in the past and the fact that it doesn’t work in nearly as many countries as GSM does, but the story goes on to say that the first model on Verizon’s shelves “probably” won’t be dual-mode and presumably won’t have compatibility with the company’s shiny new LTE network, either. If true, that’ll make for an interesting battle for the spotlight in the first few months of 2011 as an EV-DO iPhone wages war with a number of LTE phones — some of which look downright gorgeous — and might put Verizon in the awkward position of having to heavily push two almost diametrically opposed handset and platform initiatives. Furthermore, it’s hard to deny that a Verizon iPhone would stress the carrier’s network in ways it’s never been stressed before; they may be prepared for it, but there’s no way of knowing until it all goes down and they get a sense for uptake and conquests from AT&T. Translation: McAdam looks to have a busy 2011 ahead of him as he transitions into the new office.

iPhone locked for early 2011 on Verizon, says Fortune originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s some food for thought: the white iPhone 4 may well have been another antennaegate for Apple–another crack in the Apple’s once seemingly unflappable exterior. The company delayed the device again this week–that’s the third time Apple has done so since it was announced back in June.

There’s a good deal of speculation now that we may never see this model brought to market–that Apple is actually going to delay and delay until its ready to introduce the iPhone 5 next summer.

As it stands, the phone is delayed until spring. “We’re sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone yet again,” the company wrote in a statement. Apple didn’t actually give a reason for the delay this time out, though the first time it announced a push back, it told the press that the phones, “have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected.”

Sources are chalking it up to an aesthetic issue. The white faceplate is reportedly a slightly different color than the home button. Even for a design nut like Steve Jobs, however, that doesn’t seem like a particularly good reason to delay a handset for so long.

According to a new report, the problem goes deeper. The light color of the case is reportedly leaking in light, ruining pictures taken with the phone’s camera–particularly when the flash is used. The problem, it seems, wasn’t discovered until just back Apple began shipping.

Let’s just be honest, Apple: white stuff is impossible to manufacture. In fact, scientists have yet to prove that white even exists, so we’re not sure why you’re bothering to try to make a phone out of it! That’s right: after a missed availability date in July and another delay after that, Cupertino has once again pushed back the manufacture of the palest iPhone 4 — this time clear into spring of 2011. It won’t say why, but in all likelihood, they’re still dealing with the same manufacturing woes they’ve had from the start. By the time mid-2011 rolls around, it seems probable that the release will be butting up against news of the iPhone 4’s successor — or at the very least, a CDMA version of the phone — so it’ll be fascinating to see how this timeline unfolds. In the meantime, yeah… might want to give up the wait and go for black.

Apple delays white iPhone 4 into spring 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, you may or may not have noticed that this morning, Apple updated its own Apple Store app for the very first time, and version 1.1 has a little surprise. That’s right, in the ‘Reserve Products’ screen, the much delayed white iPhone 4 shows up as an option. Now, before you lose control of yourself, keep in mind that you can’t actually reserve one… yet. Of course, this could just be some sort of cruel glitch in the system, or it could be a tiny bit of evidence that the white iPhone is actually, finally on its way. At the very least, we know that Apple’s still thinking of it… just like us.

Update: Apple’s now removed the white iPhone 4 references, but don’t worry: we’ll always have that screen grab.

White iPhone 4 evidence shows up in Apple Store app’s update? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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