Apologies for all the iPhone posts, but it looks like there’s rather a lot going on with everybody’s favourite touchscreen mobile phone at the moment…

Here’s a little bit of good news for people still unsure as to whether they want to subscribe to a network monopoly in order to get their hands on the iPhone – rumour has it that O2’s exclusivity on the handset will end on the 9th October, though it looks as though they will retain solitary rights to the 3rd generation iPhone 3GS.

Great news for those who have been admiring the iPhone from afar but didn’t want to switch networks or hack their new, expensive device for a taste! O2 remain tight-lipped on the actual date, though. The facts are that they currently hold the rights to sell the iPhone until 2012, but the deal to be the sole network was only a two-year contract, and that’s almost come to an end.

Since it’s only the UK, USA and Germany who have adopted network exclusivity (out of around 80 countries in which the iPhone is sold), this development doesn’t really change the bigger picture for the iPhone. But one thing’s for sure – you can expect to see far more of them once they’re readily available on every cellular network.

As of mid-July 2009 Apple had approved over 65,000 apps to the burgeoning App Store, and had attracted over 1,500,000,000 downloads from iPhone and iPod Touch users. Added to the wonderfully useful Twitter clients With the sheer amount of pointless apps in the store – such as fart machines, accelerometer-aided Zippo lighters, and even a toaster simulator – you would think that Apple’s approach to sanctioning third party apps was fairly lax. That is, until an app comes along that treads on a few of Apple’s toes.

Google Voice was in the news a week or so ago thanks to the official iPhone app (along with some from third party developers) being rejected from the App Store on the somewhat dubious grounds that it ‘replicates existing features on the iPhone’. Whilst it was OK for hundreds of alternative SMS and VoIP (most notably Skype and Fring) – all of which duplicate features already on the iPhone – Google Voice has earned Apple’s ire. However, it’s somewhat suspicious to note that it was removed a while after it had been accepted into the App store, implying that perhaps somebody else was a little peeved at their potential loss of profits.

AT&T Рthe most likely culprit here, since Google Voice would certainly impinge on their profits with cheaper calls & SMS Рclaimed to have no involvement once the regulatory body of the FCC got involved in the deb̢cle, though a little Googling shows that there is a certain degree of evidence that hints otherwise.

OK, so it’s not exactly the first time that Apple haven’t acted like the most forward-thinking company ever, beyond its somewhat draconian App Store approval system: the iPhone OS has, since the very beginning, been tightly restricted by Apple to prevent (amongst many other things) SIM unlocking, non-sanctioned third party apps, and customisation of fonts, user interface and ringtones.

iPod Touch 2G users were excited about the enabling of the existing Bluetooth chip in the 3.0 firmware update until updating revealed that it only gave wireless headset functionality and ad-hoc multiplayer – still no BT file transfer, which has been standard on the vast majority of mobile phones and mid to high-end electronic devices since before 2003.

Thankfully there still remain a few alternatives for getting Google Voice – not yet available in the UK, sadly – working on your iPhone, but you’ll need to jailbreak your phone to get hold of them.

Sorry to break from the norm, but this was a pretty interesting story I read about today while Googling for some Apple rumours.

http://news.ninmsn.com.au // CHINA – A young worker has jumped to his death after an iPhone prototype he was responsible for went missing.

Sun Danyong, 25, jumped from his apartment in the city of Shenzhen, in China’s Guangdong province north of Hong Kong last week, after he was reportedly interrogated over the missing product.

He worked at a plant run by massive electronics component-maker Foxconn — which manufactures iPods and iPhones — and was responsible for handling product communications.

Sun reported one of 16 fourth-generation iPhone prototypes was missing on July 13, four days after he received them from the production line.

Surveillance video from inside Sun’s apartment building shows he jumped from the 12-storey to his death just after 3am on Thursday morning, three days after he reported the phone missing.

You can read the rest of the article here. Pretty crazy stuff!

Since the iPhone 3GS has only recently usurped the 3G from its flagship iPhone status, not much is known yet about the 4th generation iPhone in terms of new features or a design refresh, other than that it will probably be released sometime in 2010.

Do excuse the morbid humour, but it already looks like it’s going to be a killer phone.

Those of whom who have upgraded to the new Apple iPhone 3GS seem to have plenty to shout about – sure, the camera is rather better quality than before and includes autofocus, video recording and a built-in video editor/uploader; but let’s be honest here, it’s a 3MP camera with a pretty ordinary lens, on a phone.

That hasn’t stopped Japanese electronics accessories manufacturer Factron from designing and releasing the Quattro, an almost alienesque metal monstrosity of an iPhone case, complete with detachable, interchangeable lenses to improve the camera even further – coming in macro, wide angle and fisheye flavours, which range from $15 to $55 (~£10-35).

While I hate to criticise without having much further knowledge (the Factron site is in Japanese and doesn’t seem to offer much more info, sadly), I really can’t help but focus on the glaringly obvious downsides of such a heavy duty metal case:

• Overheating? The 3GS has already been known to overheat – surely sticking it in this isn’t exactly going to help.

• Signal? Isn’t all that metal mesh surrounding your phone going to destroy your reception?
• Aesthetics? With the strong aesthetic appeal of the iPhone, surely you would have to be a little stir crazy to place your thin, sleek handset into this bulky, pocket-destroying case. Not to mention the fact that a case with that much metal is likely to scratch your precious iPhone…
• Portability? Clearly you can’t stick it in your pocket with a massive lens on it like that. Which leaves the only alternative – removing the lenses and carrying them around in a separate bag. And take a look at those corners – imagine those digging into your thighs as you walk down the street.
• Price? Well, here’s where it all goes horribly wrong. You can get your hands on a Factron Quattro for just under $200. Yes, $200 (~£125). Considering the iPhone 3G handset has fallen to around $99 after the release of the 3GS, by buying this you’d be paying enough for 2 iPhones. Or – and call me crazy here – a separate camera…

OK, so at least it’s imaginative, and the design certainly will turn a head or two. But who on earth would spend $200 (~£125) on an impracticable case and set of lenses for their iPhone when for that money, they could just buy a decent 8MP camera (with flash, optical zoom and all the other goodies you get from a standalone digital camera)?

I’m not sure about anybody else, but in my eyes this could be a prime nominee for the most shameless and pointless attempt to cash in on Apple’s new generation of iPhones… still, different strokes for different folks!

The third incarnation of Apple’s iPhone line, the iPhone 3GS, which launches in the UK on July 11th, looks to be improving on a good formula. What’s more, its release is wonderfully well-timed, since the v3 update to the iPhone OS went public on the 17th. Clever move!

The 3GS offers improved speed over the 3G (Apple claim twice as fast in some cases), as well as better battery life, a 3 MP camera with autofocus and video recording, voice commands, and a built-in compass. Check out a speed comparison with the iPhone 3G – it really races along:

Everybody with an iPhone or iPod Touch can benefit from the features of the new software however – though iPod Touch owners have to pay a £6.99 fee to update. The improvements include copy & paste and MMS (even if some might say that perhaps they could have been there from the start), a phone-wide search feature (Spotlight), a landscape keyboard to make it easier to type, and plenty of other system-wide improvements.

What with the unveiling of the 3GS also coinciding with the usual upgrade period following the release of the original 2G iPhone, in many ways it’s a great time to get your hands on the 3GS. Even through all the hype and clever marketing, it has to be said that the satisfying user interface and flexibility of the App Store have cemented the iPhone’s place in the market for a good while.