More good news has been going Apple's way this week as the company continues to receive its blessings from the superior sales of its newly released iPhone 3G product. We covered the phenomenal sales of the new handset in last week's Apple Weekend Warrior feature, and this week sees a very similar scenario hitting the Apple scene.

Homebrew developers were also quick to pick up on Apple's newly released firmware 2.0. The iphone-dev team was finally able come up with its official release of both PwnageTool 2.0.1 and WinPwn 2.0, designed to jailbreak iPhones running on the new software update. As an added bonus, they also released a suite of development tools which was used to make such applications on both Mac- and Windows-based systems.

Anyway, read on if you want to find out the latest happenings in anything and everything Apple during the past week.

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Pwning the iPhone

Consumers have been busy swiping iPhone 3G handsets off the shelves since its release a couple of weeks ago. The new model's record breaking sales have been doing so well that a shortage has been reported by Apple. Fortunately, the Cupertino-based company has been taking measures to meet up with the phone's high demand. In fact, Apple will be spreading the iPhone 3G love to 20 other countries by August, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled out for them by then.

Link: Apple experiences iPhone 3G shortage, will launch iPhone 3G to 20 other countries in August

Loyal Apple gadget consumers can expect more good news to swing their way as analysts have predicted a huge price cut for MacBook and iPod products to hit the market soon. The lowered production costs for both products may have been a contributing factor for this forecast and will give Apple a deciding edge in the electronics market should this prediction hold true.

Link: Analysts predict price cuts for MacBook and iPod products

Not long after the release of its firmware 2.0, Apple has already released a beta version of its new iPhone OS 2.1 for developers. The new beta firmware includes a release of the new iPhone SDK along with several interesting GPS features. While the packaged iPhone SDK still can't be used for App Store submissions, it will be interesting to see what new apps developers can come up with using the newly released software.

Link: Apple releases beta version of iPhone OS 2.1

 

Get ready to pwn your iPhone with the iphone-dev team's release of PwnageTool 2.0.1 and WinPwn 2.0. Designed to jailbreak iPhones (yes, even the new 3G model) running on firmware 2.0, these jailbreaking applications are sure to open previously locked phones due to the newly released Apple software update. PwnageTool is a software designed to run on Mac systems, while WinPwn is based on the PC's Windows platform.

Link: Pwn your iPhone: PwnageTool 2.0.1 now out
Link: Developer cmw releases WinPwn 2.0 for Window XP users

Homebrew developers who want to know the secret of how the iphone-dev team was able to come up with their jailbreaking software can take a look at the iPhone development suite used to come up with PwnageTool and WinPwn. Entitled "xpwn", it's basically a set of command-line utilities which can be used by developers to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone without any platform limits. The latest build is clocked at version 0.3 and is aimed to unlock the latest 2.0 firmware released by Apple.

Link: xpwn 0.3 - open source iPhone development utility suite

The homebrew scene was rather sparse this week as developer jonz was the only one to make a mark with the latest release of the NES emulator for the iPhone, NES.app. The latest build bumps itself up to version 2.2.4 and introduces several improvements in the emulator's landscape orientation mode. Those looking for some old-school entertainment on the go should definitely take a look into this updated release of the homebrew emulator.

Link: NES.app v2.2.4

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That homebrew synergy

With the demand for more iPhones skyrocketing, third party devs also have their hands full trying to meet up to users expectations to try and hack the latest software being released by the original developers. Still, the two entities have a strange sort of symbiotic relationship going on with one another, so the future for both parties will still be an optimistic one in any case.

With Apple's App Store already in full swing, homebrew devs are still churning out applications as a cheaper alternative to the ones being put up on the online download store. This proves the unique synergy between Apple and its homebrew community.

How this development will turn out in the future is something we can only look forward to with anticipation. We'll be here to cover it with more updates added to next week's issue of the Apple Weekend Warrior. Make sure to drop by again next week for another week filled with Apple news and tidbits.