Despite all the bad press the iPhone has been getting in response to such allegations as locking people to a certain network and preventing third party applications from going on the iPhone, 82% of all people who've ever bought an iPhone are reported as being "very satisfied". The iPhone also makes up two percent of all phones on the street today, and 16% of all phone customers who plan on buying a new phone within the next six months are planning on getting an iPhone.

Big deal, most would say, every console or device that hopes to catch on needs an SDK (Software Development Kit), so that popular games and applications can run on the device. However, for quite a while, Apple seemed to think it was impervious to this law of the market. With the latest iPhone controversy however, involving lawsuits of network-locking and possible toxicity, Apple decided it was for the better if they let third-party developers put their stuff on the iPhone. An SDK will be shipped to anyone who wants one as soon as all the kinks are worked out, which Apple estimates to be some time in February 2008.

Lawyers filed a class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T seeking $1.2 billion in damages because the iPhone is locked to AT&T's wireless network. The suit also notes that Apple will not allow unauthorized applications on the iPhone. Filed on behalf of Paul Holman in the State of Washington and Lucy Rivello in California, the lawsuit explains that in the United States the SIM chip is locked to the wireless carrier, not the hardware device. Damian Fernadez, the attorney who filed the state suit explains in court documents what Apple is accused of:

Apple punished consumers for exercising their rights to unlock their iPhones. Apple issued a software update that 'bricked' or otherwise caused iPhone malfunctions for consumers who unlocked their phones and installed the update. Apple's unlawful trust with AT&T substantially lessens competition and tends to create a monopoly in trade and commerce throughout the entire United States.

Apple and AT&T both declined to comment on the story.

Second anti-iPhone lawsuit in two weeks alleges that Apple violated antitrust laws. A California man filed a lawsuit accusing Apple Inc. of violating antitrust law because its iPhone forces buyers to use AT&T Inc. as their wireless carrier and the company "bricked" phones that had been modified to call over other networks. Timothy Smith filed the lawsuit Friday with a California state court in San Jose seeking class-action status. The suit demands that Apple be barred from selling locked iPhones and that it be required to provide warranty service for owners of unlocked devices. The lawsuit also asks for unspecified monetary damages. In the lawsuit Smith alleges that Apple violated several California antitrust statutes when it tied the smart phone to AT&T and prohibited customers from using other carriers. Click here to read the full story.

With Firmware v1.1.1, Apple aimed to do more than prevent users from accessing other networks: they were trying to fix critical security holes. While their efforts did work temporarily, hackers recently are proclaiming that they are cracking those security measures. Hackers claim that a special TIFF file can cause a buffer overflow error in Mobile Safari, rendering the iPhone itself vulnerable. While these hacks are nowhere near as easy to use as what was happening in previous versions of firmware, it's definitely a start. There is no word as to when firmware v1.1.1 will be hacked to the point where alternative networks are available for the iPhone.

IPhone firmware version 1.1.1 did a particularly nasty trick on anyone who had unlocked it via software: it rendered the iPhone unusable on any network other than AT&T in some cases, and in others, it "bricked" them, rendering them useless. Discussions on Apple boards were quickly locked down, and now a community of angry users is planning on suing Apple. The small group did not specify how much they plan on suing Apple for, but chances are, Apple is going to settle out of court.

Well, Apple did warn customers not to unlock their iPhones, and now the firm has taken steps to prevent it happening. With the launch of the new 1.1.1 update for Apple's new gadget, users will no longer be able to use third party SIM cards, they are instead restricted to AT&T only. Although there are some reports of unlocked iPhones becoming expensive paperweights, this seems rare and no more common than it is for locked phones, with most users instead finding themselves with a 'factory-fresh' iPhone with all the stock settings restored. But to be on the safe side, if you do have an unlocked iPhone it is recommended that you either don't download the latest update or you return your phone to its locked, factory state before you update it, with all the information you need available from Engadget.

Apple today released for the first time an official statement addressing iPhone unlocking software. The company said in a press release that it has discovered that "many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software. In fact, the damage may be so serious that "the modified phone" could become "permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed." Several iPhone unlocking products - free and fee-based - are available on the Internet today. Apple also noted that users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone will violate their iPhone software license agreement and void the warranty.

Since the iPhone and the new iPod touch seems to be very similar in design, most people assume that they also use the same screen. However, Gizmodo has reported that the iPod touch screen's deep black colors are grayish and appears to be shimmering at times. The shadows also seem to be washed out compared to the iPhone's screen.

Apple Inc. said Monday it sold its one millionth iPhone on Sunday, just 74 days after its introduction and ahead of its expectations to hit the mark by the end of September. The news came less than a week after CEO Steve Jobs apologized for cutting the price last week from $599 to $399, offering $100 credits to people who paid the higer price. Apple cut the price of its 8GB iPhone on Wednesday and said it would phase out the 4GB version, which sold for $499. The steep price cut annoyed many customers who purchased the phone early, though others saw it as the expected consequence of being an early adopter.

Steve Jobs has received tons of emails from iPhone customers complaining about the $200 price cut on the iPhone only two months after it was released. After reading through every single one of the e-mails, he has now decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.

After releasing an entirely new lineup of iPods, Apple has also launched an iTunes Wi-Fi music store for the new iPod touch along with a new version of iTunes for customers to purchase ringtones for their iPhone. Customers must first pay $0.99 for a song from iTunes, then another $0.99 for the privilege of using that song as a ringtone. The new version of iTunes will include a utility to create ringtones based on any 30-second segment from a song complete with fade-in and fade-out. iPod touch owners will be able to use their Wi-Fi connection to logon to iTunes from any wireless hotspot to download individual songs or complete albums.

For more information, please visit Apple's Wi-Fi Music Store page.

The iPhone battery replacement policy is causing quite a lot of controversy. Some allege that it costs over $100USD to replace your iPhone's battery, including the cost of an iPhone rental while Apple replaces the battery on the iPhone you actually own. And so, it's only natural that consumers who feel they have been swindled start a class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs Zoltan Stiener and Ynez Stiener accuse Apple of breach of contract, fraud, and violations of California law for not telling users how expensive an iPhone replacement really is. This is the third time someone has tried to hit Apple with a class action lawsuit for the cited reasons, and Apple has settled in all the previous cases.

American teenager George Hotz enjoyed quite the busy summer this year. While simultaneously preparing for college, tinkering with his car, and working to complete several other projects, Hotz managed to find a risky (yet completely effective) method of unlocking the iPhone. While everyone else seems to think that the best way to unlock the iPhone is with a software program, Hotz unlocked it with an intricate 10-step technique involving soldering irons and voltage meters. And while it's not good for the day-to-day hardware modder, a factory could automate the process, and make a substantial amount of profit. Certicell founder Terry Diadone thinks so, and felt that the unlocked iPhone was worth a Nissan 350Z sports car, and three brand-new iPhones. George Hotz gladly accepted the offer, and the official trade was made on Saturday. Hotz drives off to college in style tomorrow, and will be giving away all three iPhones to his best benefactors and friends. While in college, Hotz plans to work with Certicell to do some consulting work, and to add GPS functionality to the iPhone.

If you think you can unlock the iPhone yourself, check out Hotz' blog here.

Iphoneunlocking.com, a subsidiary of UniquePhones (www.uniquephones.com), was poised and ready to release remote software unlocking services for the iphone today at 12 noon EST. The sale of unlocking codes is on hold after the company received a telephone call from a Menlo Park, California, law firm at approximately 2:54 a.m. this morning (GMT).

After saying they were phoning on behalf of AT&T, the law firm presented issues such as copyright infringement and illegal software dissemination. Uniquephones is taking legal advice to ascertain whether AT&T was sending a warning shot or directly threatening legal action. The logistics of different continents as well as it being a weekend factors into how the situation develops.

Last night Apple released iPhone firmware version 1.0.2 on iTunes. It is a 3.7MB update that includes some bug fixes.

Spartans aren't the only things that come in groups of 300, nowadays. AT&T detailed a certain woman's phone bill so well that it took 300 pages to completely write out, and was shipped to it's recipient in a box. Most of those pages were used to describe every single text message the lady had sent. The recipient feels that "This (phone bill) is a lot of waste. It's a cardboard box, a ton of pages, and plus, it was almost $10 to send this, so it does not make any sense." The recipient of the monumental bill signed up for E-billing promptly after this, but not before recording a video for her blog of her opening the 300 page bill. The blog is currently down, probably due to such a large volume of traffic. She took the video with the hope that other people would learn from her mistakes, and sign up for E-billing. Instead, people have already vowed to beat her record next billing period.

As everyone knows, the $600 Apple iPhone is designed to run exclusively on AT&T's cellular network, as well as the occasional Wi-Fi hotspot. Hackers decided that they didn't want to be forced into buying a 2 year contract from AT&T, and worked day and night to get the iPhone to run on alternative networks. Finally, we are seeing some progress. Croatians, using a particular SIM card (SuperSIM - V1, U types), a SIM read/writer, a Silvercard, and a particular software suite, succeeded in making the iPhone run on T-Mobile's European network. The hacking software works on both Mac OS X and Windows computers. The only thing lost with the hack is YouTube functionality However, considering the limited library available on the iPhone's version of YouTube, The Inquirer does not consider it that great a loss.

A hacker by the name of 'stepwhite' has successfully integrated the infoNES core with Apple's iPhone. You can watch the video here! According to the folks at 'The Unofficial Apple Weblog' the emulator is still in development. Apparently it runs to slowly and the control implementation needs work.

Well didnt take long enough for another company after Skinit to release its own line of accessories for the ipod. However this time we are not getting skins for the famous phone but a silicon case "i145", two leather cases "i70" and "i146", a sports armband "i207" and a Bluetooth hands-free kit "i322".

Well people i dont know what to say about Apple....First they release iPhone exclusively from AT&T....Later on we learn that T-Mobille is the exclusive carrier for iPhone in Germany.....And now we can find an unlocked iPhone for preorder in Expansys...
Bad for people who signed on with AT&T in order to get their hands on the iPhone but good for the rest of us who could standby and wait....All that remails now is a price...

Seems that AT&T isnt the only cell phone company to use iPhone after all...T-Mobile has snagged a deal for the handset in Germany as you can all see in the screenshot bellow.
Whether or not this has an effect on Apple's UK network of choice however isn't clear at all.
With the general consensus of opinion that the iPhone will be Europe bound in September or October there should be a press release or even announcement soon.

WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers are criticizing high early-termination fees and the inability of consumers to use mobile devices such as the new iPhone on more than one network. Before switching to another wireless provider, mobile customers usually have to pay $175 or more to terminate their current plan, and they usually have to get a new phone. How can the iPhone be a threat when millions of us can't even use it because we're not AT&T Wireless customers? Personally, I'm not in a position to pay to break my Verizon Wireless contract - which has five family phones on the plan - so I can pay $500 for an iPhone, sign a two-year contract with AT&T Wireless and still not be able to manage my e-mail in the tunnel between the Woodley Park and Dupont Circle Metro stations.

Since iPhone was released almost a month ago it was just a matter of time until some company took advantage of it and start making custom skins.
SkinIt is the first and only company so far that offers vinyl skins for the hottest phone ever. Their selection is vast covering anything from a Dance Dance Revolution skin to flags of the world. The skins retail for $14.95 each.
SkinIt also produces skins for certain digital cameras.

A recent report in the Commercial Times China newspaper indicated that Taiwan-based Wintek has gained touch screen panel orders from Apple for its second-generation iPhone.
The article not only states that the new iPhone is to begin shipping in September with prices ranging from US$249-299 but also that people from Apple visited Wintek a few days ago to deliver instructions on manufacturing and the company has begun test production in small volumes.
JP Morgan officially believes that the next iPhone iteration will be a 3G phone.