News for Tuesday, 8 July 2008

In the Netherlands the iPhone can be yours for 1 euro! (Except for the cheapest plan):

subscription fee/month	iPhone cost	What you get
29.95	79.95	150 minutes AND 150 sms
44.95	1	300 minutes AND 300 sms
64.95	1	500 minutes AND 500 sms

(Prices are in euro)
When you exceed these limits, the tariff is 0.25 euro per minute and per SMS.
Visual Voicemail and 2048/384kbps mobile internet (3G) is included.
In comparison: Mobistar (same group as Orange FR) has just announced its pricing for the iPhone in Belgium:

subscription fee/month	iPhone cost	What you get
30	525	180 minutes OR 300 sms, 200 Mb data
45	525	360 minutes OR 600 sms, 500 Mb data
60	525	540 minutes OR 900 sms, 1 Gb data

(Prices are in euro) - the 16Gb models is priced at 615 euro
In Belgium, the iPhone 3G is simlock-free though. You don't have to buy one of these data plans, and you can also switch to another operator. This explains (part of the, still steep) price.

If Sony bas been associated during many years with innovation and technologies, it has been heavily impacted by Apple and its iPod, making the "walkman" part of the history. Other technology changes have also been partially or entirely missed by the Japanese companies, such as the end of the CRT TV, and the exponential growth of the LCD display market.
In a new move to avoid reproducing the same forecasting mistakes, the company decided to massively invest into display-linked technologies, including OLED, but also FED, a system making use of small electron "gun".
Sony plans to manufacture the first 26" FED displays in 2009 in a fabrication plan where Pioneer was previously producing its plasma TV. Such display will initially be dedicated to Pro-users, and one will have to wait longer before seeing such technology brought to the consumer electronic mass market.

Maybe one of the only concerns about the iPhone is its not-easily replaceable battery, even though most users of mobile phones will never replace the battery of their handheld.
If some systems are already available for extending the battery life of the iPhone Morphie offers an elegant alternative:

The Juice Pack is an iPhone clip-holder designed to be attached to your belt, it includes a Li-Po battery which will double the original battery life. Featuring an iPod port this holder can be charged simultaneously with the iPhone. It is available around 100 USD.
Let's hope that the Juice Pack is able to accommodate the iPhone 3G as Apple modified the design enough to make several iPhone 1G-dedicated peripheral not compatible with the new 3G model.

Last week, Mobistar, the Belgian carrier distributing the iPhone 3G in Belgium, cancelled its press conference originally planned to introduce the new device in this country. The reason was linked to some local legal concerns related to mobile phones and bundled subscription plans.
As the legal aspects seem to have been solved, a new conference should take place today at 15h00, and we should learn how they have modified terms of the exclusive iPhone plan to comply with local regulations as it is forbidden to link a subscription plan to the purchase of a mobile phone by the Belgian law.

If it remains unclear why the Apple Stores are closed already for 2 hours, one can speculate that Apple needs to prepare everything to get the AppStore up and running in couple of hours, as well as releasing the Firmware v2 and having ready the new Mobile.Me service. Some rumors indicate that Apple could launch the iPhone Firmware v2 as well as the AppStore today.
Altogether quite some work, without forgetting that it might also include some new products or revision of existing models. One can imagine that several iPhone 3G-dedicated peripherals will have to be entered in the Apple Store.
[update]
All Apple Stores are back online, and nothing mew is obviously visible... probably the final test before the official launch of AppStore, Firmware v2.0 and Mobile.Me in couple of hours.

While Intel only recently initiated the transition to 45-nm engraving for its CPU with the Penryn, the next step will be the 32nm process, currently set to kick off next year, followed by 14nm in couple of years and from there then sub-10nm.
According to Pat Gelsinger, currently VP of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, if the ways to achieve the future goals are identified, it is not the case beyond 14-nm:

But we did do that, and today we see a clear way to get to under 10 nanometers. With Moore's Law we always have about 10 years of visibility into the future, so beyond 10 nanometers, we're not sure how we'll do it,

However, as Intel will have to move forward and get the technologies implemented to enter the sub-10-nm engraving era, new processes will have to emerge, and Pat Gelsinger to quote:

We replaced the gate with high-K, we put metal on top of it, but it's still, quote, silicon... It may be carbon nanotubes next or it may be spintronics. But we'll keep moving forward.

Pioneer announced to have succeeded in producing a Blu-ray disc equipped with 16 layers of 25 GB.
The secret of these media lies in the way in which the layers are arranged so as the interferences in readings caused by the adjacent layers is reduced to a minimum.
Of course, it awaits a technological demonstration and has very little chances to be accessible by the general public in the next years. However with this announcement, Pioneer reawakens the good memories of everyone in a market where it has a chance to make some sparks.

In order to plug the wound of the iPhone V1 seeping into the grey market, Apple has re-examined the mode of marketing its new model everywhere in the world. From now on, it will be impossible to buy an iPhone without having first subscribed to a subscription plan, or to pay a much higher price which exempts it of any subscription.
This is even the case in the United States where AT& T will sell it "naked" at $599 for the 8 GB and $699 for 16 GB. However even in this case, it will be impossible to have the freedom of using it with another operator. Apple has avoided rejecting those who do not want to sign a contract of distribution, however they will irritate those who want to change operators, and also the people who travel and who, to save money, use prepaid cards in the countries where they go.
For these reasons, the market of the desimlockage of the iPhones has little chance to disappear even though the device is available everywhere. The hackers await July 11 impatiently, the day when the final version of firmware 2.0 will be available for download to see this has a soft belly ready to be opened up.
Finally it should be noted that the policy of officially unlocking the iPhone varies according to the country.
- In the United States, nothing seems envisaged for the moment.
- In France, one should be able tounlock it free at the end of 6 months or by paying 100€ at the time of the purchase..
- In Switzerland, Swisscom should accept to unlock the iPhone only at the end of the two years of contract.
Update: We hear that in Australia the price of the 'naked' iPhone from Optus will be $AUS 729 for the 8GB and $AUS 849 for the 16 GB and there will be an additional fee of $AUS 88.- for unlocking it (or at no charge after 6 months)

Although Blu-ray remains the only candidate in the battle of the blue laser, its sales remain very weak if the PS3 is excluded.
In the computing world, the computers proposed with this type of reader are still extremely rare, but the things could change soon thanks to the progressive fall of the price of such readers. Today, a BD-ROM reader costs approximately $95 while a combo able to read the Blu-ray discs and to engrave CD and DVD costs between $110 and 120$. This is still very much more expensive than a simple DVD engraver, however these prices have dropped enough so that certain manufacturers, such as HP, have decided to place an order so that tthey can offer these products in their computers. The first HP products should hit the marketin time for the 'back-to-school' period.
At Apple, there is still a total black out on this subject. We do not know if they regulated their problem with the AACS LA on the implementation of the reading of films, and even if they finally will decide to add the support of the HDCP to their monitors which are certainly the only ones in the world still being marketed without supporting the standard.