Japanese Perverts: Be Aware of iPhones Use in Public Places

The iPhone 3G in Japan has a special feature unique to that country: The camera always makes a conspicuous “shutter” sound when a picture is taken, even when the phone is set to “silent” mode.The loud shutter sound is supposed to deter voyeurs from taking sneaky pictures up women’s’ skirts — or down their tops.In Japan, upskirt and downblouse shots have become increasingly popular with the advent of high-resolution camera phones.As a result, all cell phones sold in Japan make a conspicuous shutter sound, or say the word “cheese” when a snap is taken, according to Nobuyuki Hayashi, a tech reporter based in Tokyo. On almost all new cell phones, the camera shutter sound can not be muted, Hayashi says.”Some manufacturers have even put louder shutter sound,” he reports.The shutter on the first iPhone sold in Japan could be muted in silent mode; an anomaly that many wondered whether Apple would correct in the iPhone 3G, Hayashi says.Apple did: The shutter sound cannot be turned off, even in silent mode, Hayashi says.

Does FreeiPhoneSwap Tell The Truth about Original iPhones Retail Values Overseas?

While I was doing my research on which phone to buy, I cam across this article published by the NYTimes. I found out about this company, freeiphoneswap.com, that is trying to buy old iphones from their owners. They offer cash, but it is very little considering the market that exists overseas. On Ebay and Craigslist, owners can make much more.
Here is a excerpt of the article, read it at Nytimes.com

"The company’s Web site repeats the safe recycling line, as does its press release. But Joe Weingarten of FreeiPhoneSwap, who has been soliciting used phones in Miami, gave a different account to The Miami Herald:
“There’s a very big demand, especially because there is a big shortage overseas,” Weingarten said. He added that he has 15 people working with him and he will be doing the same thing at stores in New York.
Freeiphoneswap.com spokeswoman Leah Handwerger said that there is also a high demand for the original iPhones that don’t require an AT&T contract to activate. The new iPhone 3G will only work once activated inside an AT&T store.
This indicates that FreeiPhoneSwap is feeding the vast gray market for iPhones that have been hacked to work on any compatible network, not just those owned by companies with which Apple has signed deals.
With the introduction of the 3G iPhone, the original phone is officially yesterday’s gadget, which should mean that its resale value is plummeting. But it turns out that because of some unusual factors, demand for those phones is holding up surprisingly well.
Techniques for unlocking the original phones for use overseas are already well established, while those for the 3G phones are still under development. And in the United States, Apple and AT&T have made it harder to buy a 3G phone without also getting locked into an AT&T contract, making those phones harder to export or peddle on the gray market. If you don’t care about or can’t take advantage of faster network speeds, or you don’t want a contract, or you live in someplace like China, where there are still no authorized iPhone dealers, the original phone might suit you just fine.
EBay’s marketplace is setting prices for those used phones that make FreeiPhoneSwap’s payout levels look like a ripoff. The 8-gigabyte model is getting bid up to well over $300 on eBay, versus the $200 you would get from FreeiPhoneSwap. It’s not hard to find similar offers on Craigslist.
Is FreeiPhoneSwap being vague about the ultimate fate of traded-in phones because it doesn’t want people....."

Apple Beats Wall Street Estimates in New Reports

Computer and consumer electronics maker Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings Monday that beat forecasts on strong sales of Mac computers and iPhones. But shares fell after-hours as the company's outlook for the fourth quarter disappointed investors.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company posted fiscal third-quarter net income of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, up 31% from last year's earnings of $818 million, or 92 cents per share. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.08 per share according to Thomson Reuters.

Dr. Arnold Kim Blogs: App3G presents macrumors.com, a rumor report publication of all Things Mac

Dr. Arnold Kim prefers to blog on www.macrumors.com instead of practicing medicine. He figures out that building traffic on his site will bring him power and money over time. After leaving the site to focus on his studies, he is now going back to updating the site every day. He is blogging. He is also a former computer science major from Columbia University. He knows how to do it.

Apple Computer Is in The News: Apple's Comeback Story

Apple Computer again cracked the top three in U.S. PC sales for the third quarter, according to surveys released Wednesday by both Gartner and IDC.

Worldwide, Apple didn't make the top five PC vendors, according to both firms. But within the U.S., IDC estimated that Apple finished in a virtual dead heat with Acer for third place, just 2,000 units behind the Asian PC maker. Gartner, meanwhile, said that Apple took the third-place spot outright, topping Acer by 65,000 PCs sold.

Both IDC and Gartner retroactively ranked Apple fourth in sales for the second quarter of 2007, if measured against a merged Acer-Gateway business. If treated as separate companies, Apple would have maintained its third-place ranking.

Both sets of data are preliminary, the firms said. The PC sales estimates include desktops, laptops, and X86 servers, but not handheld PCs. Ultraportables and so-called mini-notes were also included, although Gartner estimated that they represented just 3 percent of the market.

Domestically, Dell maintained its top spot, capturing 31.9 percent of the market according to Gartner, with 5.25 million PCs sold; IDC said that Dell's market share was 32.0 percent, with 5.44 million PCs sold. Both firms estimated that Dell grew between 11 and 12 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

Welcome to App3G and Beyond: App3G will Document Apple's Rise in Micro Computer

Let us witness the new rise of Apple's new computing platform. Apple has once again done it. It is ready to take the lead in micro computing with the release of iphone 3G. All over the world, consumers want to get it. They want to purchase it. This is just the beginning of something great.

Go to AppiPhone3GandMore to get more Apple iphone-related news.