Ramblings for the week of May 12th in My Digital Life

The rumors have been flying about the 3G iPhone and this weekend's unavailability of original iPhones at Apple's online store just spurred things on.

Will Apple release the device in May, June or July? Well nobody but Steve Jobs seems to know, but everyone can reliably predict that an announcement will be made at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference June 9th - 13th. I think that pretty much rules out any May launch of the 3G Phone. Now all the pundits are debating whether the lack of inventory of the original iPhone was planned or a gaff. I think it was maybe a bit of both, but it really does not matter, it is a win win situation for Apple because they clear out their inventory with no markdowns and the pent up demand for the 3G phone will be that much greater. It is a fact that the 3G iPhone is coming, we just have to wait another month to know the exact date.  The more interesting rumor however, is the potential big announcement of a MID, UMPC or tablet style computer and where that takes Apple.

With the Sony Experia X1, the HTC Touch Diamond announcement last week and RIM's Blackberry Bold announcement, the competition is not sitting still. Are these iPhone killers, I doubt it but it will help stem users from migrating away. This next year will be an interesting one...

This week:

• My review of SBSH Mobile Software Facade application for pocketnow.com. should be published this week. This is a smartphone (Windows Mobile Standard) today screen replacement.
• Working on a review of SBSH Mobile Software Pocket Weather.
• Working on a review of CellPoint's Flamingo Music earphones.

Comments

[Chris Carlin]

Do you have a link to the rumor of the tablet computer? I hadn't heard that rumor, but I'd be surprised if Apple went that direction after the spectacular failures of the past.

[Stephen Skarlatos]

Chris,

I found it in several articles, here is a quote from macrumors: "but there have been rumors that Apple was developing a mini-tablet multitouch device for launch in 2008. This PDA-like device would reportedly have a higher screen resolution (720x480) and be about 1.5x the size of the existing iPhone." http://www.macrumors.com/2008/05/11/3g-iphone-in-may-another-device-at-wwdc/

And I4U News: "Apple is rumored to be building a Mobile Internet Device (MID). The MIDs market is shaping up and with the Intel Atom chipset it might have a chance this time around - anybody remember UMPCs?" http://www.i4u.com/article17163.html

On a related note, there is a company called axiotron http://www.axiotron.com/ which uses an obscure clause in their Apple OEM agreement to legally modify Mac laptops into Tablet PCs using a WACOM digitizer. They apparently add their own drivers to enable some Newton code in Leopard.

[Chris Carlin]

Interesting.

I recently started using a tablet PC (found it in surplus at work), and have come to appreciate it as an internet tablet.

If Apple releases such a thing, and it's done properly, perhaps it will be my entrance into Apple ownership.