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Archive for August, 2009

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Filed under: Apple Corporate, iPhone

Several news sources have been reporting that, at long last, the iPhone will finally make its way to China after Apple was able to strike a deal with China Unicom. However, according to CNW (English translation), the integration of the iPhone may not be so easy; in fact, the App Store, from which customers can buy supplementary applications for their iPhones, presents a rather large problem.

In China, telecommunications businesses must apply for a "value-added telecommunications business license," which certifies that the company is allowed to function in the country, and subjects it to any conditions or standards set by the government, which currently include a minimum registered capital of 10 million yuan and and established reputation to "provide users with credibility and capacity." So far, Apple has not taken any steps toward obtaining this operating license and thereby receiving the approval of the Chinese government, but not a big deal, right?

Unfortunately, the issue is not simple as a bit of paperwork. One stipulation of the license is that the government must be able to monitor the activity of the company. Apple's servers for the App Store are not in China, and so they do not fall under Chinese jurisdiction. If the servers cannot be monitored by the Chinese government to a degree of their own satisfaction, the terms of a telecommunications license will not be fulfilled.

This is not to say that the iPhone can't go to China at all -- if Apple removes the App Store option, their application is otherwise fine. There's an old wives' tale that a sort of Cro-Magnon iPhone once roamed the earth pre-App Store, and they weren't so bad. However, the availability of such a wide variety of apps is one of the main advantages of an iPhone as compared to other smart phones, and that would be a hard leg-up to lose for Apple. Combining this with the lack of Wi-Fi capability, Apple's grapple with China is likely far from over.

Thanks for the tip, David!

TUAWNot so fast, Chinese App Store! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Voxilla.com

Analyst says iPhone to go to multiple US carriers in 2010 Macworld Gene Munster, senior research analyst with Piper Jaffrey, predicts that the iPhone will be available through multiple cell carriers in the United States ... iPhone Moving Beyond AT&T in 2010? MaybeMashable AT&T and Apple: Cutting Ties That OverbindVoxilla.com Are Carriers Cheating?Motley Fool all 14 news articles »

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, Wireless, Odds and ends, iPhone

Gene Munster, the Piper Jaffrey senior research analyst who usually hits the nail on the head when it comes to Apple forecasts, thinks that Apple will move to multiple U.S. carriers within the next year. He believe that this will happen next summer, which has been the time when Apple has introduced new models of the iPhone.

Munster noted that having multiple carriers in a market has helped Apple to achieve greater success in terms of market penetration. He pointed to France as an example; originally, Apple inked an exclusive arrangement with Orange. When it moved to a multi-carrier deal, Apple's market share in France jumped to about the 40 percent range. In the U.S., the iPhone's market share is only in the mid-teens.

Many industry pundits expect the next iPhone carrier to be Verizon, since they are beginning a transition to a new, iPhone-compatible 4G network (LTE) in the next year. This would make the transition rather simple for Apple, since they wouldn't have to design an EV-DO iPhone, but instead just use the current hardware design.

Update: Per TUAW reader Ben C., the Verizon 4G transition is not expected to be completed until 2013. In addition, a CDMA-based iPhone would need to be deployed for Verizon. Thanks for the correction and explanation.

[via LoopInsight]

TUAWGene Munster: iPhone on multiple U.S. carriers in 2010 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The good news: Rockstar Games is bringing an installment of Grand Theft Auto to the iPhone. The possibly good, possibly terrible news, depending on your tastes: It's going to be a top-down affair. iPhone-owning GTA fans of various vintages, fight!

Devising a decent control scheme for a GTA3-style third-person on the iPhone sounds laughably hard, so I see the fact that GTA: Chinatown Wars will be a top-down shooter, a la the original 90s crime simulators we all fell in love with back in the late 90s, as a good thing. Plus, the DS version of this same game was pretty great, aside from the terrible graphics. The forthcoming PSP version, pictured above, looks way better, as should the iPhone's (no screens yet, oddly enough), which is due in "fall." [Rockstar Games]

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Little About

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GadgetCrave.com

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Student Uses iPhone to Catch Robbery Suspects FOXNews An iPhone, Skype, and Google were all it took for one lucky Carnegie Mellon student to catch a group of armed robbers. ... and more »