Someone must be looking out for Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc. because it's all good news as far as the eye can see for the Cupertino-based company. After the successful launch of the iPhone 3G, demand for the new model is still high as people are driving up its impressive sales record from its initial launch last July 11. Just as we mentioned in last week's Weekend Warrior article, we kept a close eye on the aftermath of Apple's new releases.

The new iPhone wasn't without its share of problems, however. Despite reports of allowing users to update their new signature phones at home using the iTunes 7.7 software update, many people have experienced major problems just trying to access the Apple servers. In spite of this, things were still looking up for the company.

The homebrew scene also saw a lot of promise as the iphone-dev team promised that the new jailbreak for firmware 2.0 was nearly completion. The team provided a steady progress report over the week of all the new things PwnageTool 2.0 will contain. This and the continuation of Nullriver's Installer.app project show the determination of the homebrew community in delivering third party apps to users who want a neat alternative outside of Apple's selection.

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The Apple success story of the week

Apple had a literal field day this week, as it basked in the glory of its successful release of the new iPhone 3G. A week after its release, people around the world are now enjoying their new signature mobile phones with all its enhanced features.

People who dared to brave the lines outside their respective Apple Stores definitely felt like it was worth it. This was apparent with the record breaking sales that the iPhone 3G was able to generate within just three days. Over one million units were reported to have been sold within just three days, overshadowing the release of the original iPhone, which took 74 days to reach the one million mark.

Link: Apple's iPhone 3G sells one mill in three days

  

However, despite its reputed success, many new iPhone 3G owners were left disgruntled with the actual process of activating their units. All over the world, iPhone users were encountering major difficulties activating their units through the latest iTunes software update. It didn't matter whether you tried activating from at home or at the nearest Apple store, the amount of traffic generated during that time literally clogged the Apple servers and prevented anybody from updating their iPhones.

Link: Apple, AT&T encounter major difficulties in activating new iPhones

The iPhone 3G wasn't the only success story that Apple was able to revel in. The latest sales reports from Gartner's Client Computing Markets group showed that Apple was now the third largest PC vendor in the country. The Cupertino-based company saw sales of nearly 1.4 million units during the second quarter of 2008, bumping off Acer from its previous top three slot.

Link: Apple becomes third leading PC vendor in North America

While it seems like everything is going Apple's way, we also have to wonder what its competitors think about the iPhone from the perspective of a gaming platform. Sony's John Koller had no worries in that aspect, since he believed that the PSP can win out against its competitors due to its superior gaming experience. He further stated that Nintendo, and not Sony, should be worried about the iPhone's rise in the casual gaming community.

Link: E3 2008: Koller says DS, not PSP, should be worrying about iPhone

The Apple homebrew community was also abuzz with a lot of activity, owing much of its excitement from the release of the new firmware 2.0. The iphone-dev team was working hard to finalize its work on the new and improved jailbreaking tool designed especially for firmware 2.0.

Progress towards the completion of PwnageTool 2.0 has been quite steady during the week, with the dev team announcing that its release should be ready very soon. As of our last report, the iphone-dev team was already adding the finishing touches and squashing the last few bugs they've spotted using the hardware and software they have on hand.

Link: PwnageTool 2.0 - iphone-dev team jailbreaking tool to be released soon
Link: The iphone-dev team releases info on new iPhone 3G jailbreaking tool
Link: PwnageTool 2.0 finishing touches being implemented; release imminent

Finally, people who were worried that Nullriver may discontinue Installer.app have nothing to fear. The developer mentioned that updates will still be rolled out for the application, despite the release of the new App Store. Since there will always be a couple of third-party applications that will never make it to the online download store for one reason or another, there will always be a place for Installer.app on the Apple iPhone.

Link: Nullriver to continue development of Installer.app; new info on version 4.0

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How long will it last?

It seems like all the hype has finally paid off for Apple with the successful launch of its new iPhone 3G product. The next few weeks will be important for the company in determining whether it can still maintain its superior sales burst during the iPhone's initial launch.

It was also fortunate that third-party developers were still more than willing to continue their efforts in providing homebrew access for people who wanted to look for alternatives outside of the App Store. Like we previously mentioned in last week's Weekend Warrior, our coverage of the homebrew scene will still encompass both the retail and non-commercial apps, regardless of its status on Apple's downloadable application store.

That's all we have for this week's issue of the Apple Weekend Warrior. Make sure to visit this spot again for the latest Apple news here at QJ.NET as we compile more updates for next week's coverage.