Seems like the Photoshopped pictures of an iPhone nano might become a reality in the last quarter of this year, if a JP Morgan report turns out to be true. According to this report, Apple filed a patent for a handheld device eerily similar to the iPod nano, even sporting the same circular touch pad control.

To add credibility to his report, JP Morgan analyst Kevin Chang cited people from an unnamed supply channel as well as the smoking gun: an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for his report.

Indeed, the launching of a more affordable version of the iPhone will bring both Apple and the consumers into a win-win situation. For Apple, such a move will boost iPhone sales, which initially expects only a meager 1% of the entire cell phone market shares. For the consumers (who usually spare about US$ 100 for getting mobile phones), a release of a budget iPhone will make owning one much more ideal.

Chang said in his report that should Apple go through with the possible iPhone remodeling, attaining sales as high as 30 million to 40 million will become an achievable goal in 2008. Also, with a lot of people turning up to get themselves a piece of the hot iPhone, getting - or even exceeding - that sales mark can be a very sure thing.

To view the U.S. patent application, you can click on the Read link.

Rumors have it that the new version of iLife has reached the Golden Master phase in terms of development and is ready for public release before Leopard's launch this coming October.

Actually, the release window is quite vague as sources mentioned that the company could release it by summer or even earlier. It was also said that the new version of iLife will both support Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) and Leopard (10.5) operating system.

Despite that, it is still unclear what improvements and additions have been added to the software. Another valid point of discussion is whether Apple will release it under the name "iLife 07" or "iLife 08" since it's already the middle of the year.

More importantly, we have to remember that the final version of Leopard is still not yet finished. If Apple will indeed release iLife earlier than October, then there is a high possibility that consumers will need to perform an upgrade to make the operating system compatible with the application.

As always, we will be watching this one closely and inform you on any further developments.

Do you think that the iPhone is a great gadget to have? And are you willing to shell out money to get yourself one, though you're not up to the idea of getting a 2-year postpaid contract along with your iPhone?

After a grueling process of trying to set up her own account, Erica Sadun posting on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) signed up instead through iTunes, and entered 999-99-9999 as her social security number when prompted (at the suggestion of an AT&T employee). Doing so failed the credit check on purpose, and she was offered the prepaid plan (see screenshots of the prepaid plan option prompts).

She just followed the steps outlined for the prepaid plan, and voila! Her account was placed into the activation queue. All she needs to do after choosing to use prepaid now is wait for the activation to be completed.

We haven't heard news of someone actually on an iPhone prepaid plan, so we'll just have to wait and see if Erica's application for one gets approved. "Til then, we'll file this one under Rumors. More news as we get them.

 

Mac Rumors sniffed out an interesting tidbit about the required online application for Apple's iPhone, which is iTunes 7.3. Apparently, there is a new function aptly called the "Make into Ringtone" feature.

This supposed ringtone-converter application in iTunes will allow users to choose any song available in the iTunes store, and will enable them to capture up to 30 seconds of the track to convert it into a ringtone. The cost of the service is reportedly US .99 cents.

Knowing that the option to use MP3s in the iPhone is non-existent, Apple may rub its iPhone customers the wrong way should this turn out to be true. Most smartphones available in the market can set MP3s as ringtones, free of charge. If Apple were to charge its customers for this generally free service, it may be another point off the iPhone.

It has been reported that the iPhone will launch in the UK this Monday, July 2, with Vodafone being named as the official carrier. There have been no confirmations, however, new reports have pointed out that Vodafone may be one of three of carriers, with support from T-Mobile of Germany and Carphone Warehouse, after a joint agreement was reportedly signed to carry the new phone in Europe... with 3G support!

It is believed that the new developments could save iPhone from the recent criticism that it doesn't actually do well as a phone at all and carry well on its other features because of a 2G service limitation in the US. This also carries the recent disappointment revolving around American iPhones being tied to a single carrier: AT&T.

And while shipment dates for the phone are as yet unspecified, it was reported to be "on course" for Jobs' year-end date announced last year. Rene Oberman, CEO of T-Mobile, was reported to have been "ecstatic" over the joint contract by inside sources and is anticipated to make a showing at the launch on Monday.

However, until the more formal announcements have been made or until developments at the launch party confirm these reports, we will leave the insider tips neatly wrapped under rumors.

A lot have been said on Apple's Mac OS X Leopard, especially when the consumers finally got to see it running during the recently concluded WWDC. The new operating software wouldn't be arriving officially until October but those in the know are already saying that a number of useful small updates will come with the commercial version.

Apple is quite known for doing this to its products - never really telling the consumers everything that has changed. Just think of it as a finders-keepers game from Steve Jobs and the rest of the crew. And when you really think about it, it's not really harmful. If anything, it encourages users to play around with the software, learning it fully in the process.

Anyway, until the official release date comes, we're still tagging these under Rumors. But it would really be appreciated if these turn out to be true:

• A new version of Quicktime included with Leopard will reportedly allow full-screen mode without a QuickTime Pro key, echoing the feature added months before to iTunes.
• DVD Player will also see a major update with an HD options pane for Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs as well as the opportunity to add DVD cover art and change movie region support on the fly.
• Sun's unique file system will appear as a non-default, read-only format out of the box with write support possibly arriving as a separate update in the future.
• ZFS in Leopard will support some of the trademark features, such as instant and low-storage "snapshots" of a disk volume, and cloned copies that can be modified with only a small penalty in terms of disk space.
• iChat may also have received a substantial upgrade: Those contacts with mobile phone numbers can be sent an SMS text message.
• Google's influence is also allegedly present in the instant messaging app and will let Google Talk accounts mix with today's AIM, Jabber, and .Mac users.
• Users choose the default IM program, similar to the way Safari is used to choose the default browser, and will also be able to explicitly share more than the Public folder on a network.
• Even Dictionary will have the choice of switching from the Oxford dictionary to Wikipedia.

A lot of talk on the net has focused on the iPhone's lack of support for the Microsoft Exchange Server, Research in Motion's Blackberry servers, and Motorola's Good Technology e-mail servers.

While there still has been no word regarding support for the Blackberry and Good Technology servers, ZDNet was able to get some information from a "reliable source" that the iPhone will be supporting the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Apple's promised big announcement this week is allegedly the confirmation that it has licensed the Exchange ActiveSync licensing protocol. If this holds true, we're going to be able to use Activesync to connect to Exchange Server and use its wireless messaging and synchronization capabilities.

Apple and Microsoft were asked about the said agreement and while the former has yet to respond, the latter gave a very cryptic answer, "we canÂ?t comment on (these) rumors. In general, Microsoft is always in discussions with other companies about licensing its intellectual property."

This shouldn't surprise a lot of people considering that a number of mobile phone developers such as Nokia, Palm, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson have already licensed the technology. Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff spoke about this deal and downplayed it a bit, though he did hint that it is a step forward in the adaptation of Microsoft IPs.

Apple and Microsoft would sign a deal to incorporate ActiveSync into the iPhone, just as Nokia, Motorola, and PalmOne are doing.

So this wouldnÂ?t be anything new from MicrosoftÂ?s perspective, just a deal with a new telephone handset makerÂ?Apple. ItÂ?s in MicrosoftÂ?s interest for Exchange to be supported as widely as possible, even on what will probably be a consumer-oriented product.

If the incorporation of Activesync support on the iPhone is true, it should make the transition for those already using Activesync for their mobile phones easier. Could this be another selling point for the phone? We'll have to wait and see how the market reacts before we can really give anything definitive. We'll be keeping an eye out for more updates on this as it develops.

 

If the rumors of a cheaper iPhone are true, then it's not the first time that Apple developed a more affordable variant of its popular product to better reach out to the general market. Shaw Wu of American Technology Research believes that Apple will react favorably to the market pressure brought about by the immense popularity of the iPhone.

"Apple needs to round out its iPhone product line at lower price points," he said, "if it expects to replicate the success of its iPod with sales of 100 million units." It's not really rocket science, but hearing it said by a professional in the field makes us feel a bit more positive about the likelihood of seeing inexpensive iPhones.

Wu also mentions that there will be "lower cost iPhone prototypes for release at unspecified future dates," according to his sources in the market. He goes on to give another reason why the iPhone will be a hit with the general market:

We believe one overlooked advantage iPhone may have over other smartphones is that when making calls, its virtual dialer has no extra clutter, and it is likely easier to dial unprogrammed phone numbers than on fixed QWERTY keyboards.

That's all good, if the rumored affordable iPhones will even have the touchscreen feature.

Come this July to August, frequent purveyors of Apple's product line may want to keep posted for a couple of possible info snippets regarding the company's line of iMac desktop computers.

First up is the possibility of a radically redesigned iMac line, which will come in a slimmer and sleeker package, and is further expected to come with 20 to 24-inch screens.

In line with this news, there was also the speculation that Apple would release iMacs featuring the "brushed metal" look. This new product line was expected to release shortly after the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC), although speculation suggested that the event was instead used to cover matters on Apple's Mac OS X Leopard, third-party iPhone development, and software strategy.

With all the hype the iPhone has been generating and the impending release date, it's inevitable for an iPhone commercial to be part of its promotional campaign. We have one alright, but we're not sure if this is an official iPhone commercial or an unofficial vid created by a fan.

It is pretty consistent with the other Apple commercials released for their other products - attention grabbing and informative. The commercial also gave quite a few details on the features of the iPhone. If this really is official, then it looks like they are targetting the mass-market with the product, it makes one wonder though if the mass-market can really afford its expected US$ 500 price tag.

That said, we won't keep you any longer from watching it. Here's the video: