Bites from the Apple: Swirling Down the Rumor Hole

The Apple rumors have been flying fast and furious this week, so let’s sort through what’s been whirling about. First off, USA Today reported that Apple and Verizon were considering joining up for an iPhone offering next year, at which time AT&T’s exclusivity runs out. Now there are certainly many reasons Verizon would love to get on the iPhone bandwagon, but I’m in agreement with folks like my pal, all-things-wireless guru Glenn Fleishman, in being firm in my belief that Apple is not going to be making a CDMA version of its iPhone. For those of you not up on your cellular acronyms, both Verizon and Sprint use the CDMA method of cellular transmission while AT&T and T-Mobile as well as most of the rest of the world uses the GSM standard–thus, there’s a much larger market worldwide for a GSM phone. Additionally, Verizon will be transitioning in the next few years to a new 4G cellular standard called LTE, which makes moving to a CDMA-based provider seem like a waste of time since, as Roughly Drafted put it, “that’s where the puck is, not where it’s going.”

EVDO will be EDGE two years from now. In 2011, Apple doesn’t want to be back in 2007 again. It would be ridiculous for Apple to spend a year developing an EVDO mobile stack so that it could offer potential AT&T switchers a lazier alternative for another year before everyone began wanting a mobile device faster than EVDO or today’s UMTS can deliver.

But then another rumor floated out via Business Week that not only were Verizon and Apple in talks about offering an “iPhone lite” device but that there was a second device in discussion–”a media pad that would let users listen to music, view photos, and watch high-definition videos” that could place phone calls over Wi-Fi. Could this finally be the long-rumored touchscreen iTablet (check out this really cool fanboy concept of a MacBook Touch, seen below over at 9to5Mac) or an Apple netbook? But then came another Rumor that Verizon and Microsoft were chatting up a smartphone rival to the iPhone referred to as Project Pink (for a better read on who’s zooming who, check out this article over at Slate’s Big Money site).

Hopefully we’ll be able to sort out these and other rumors after the keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which will be held starting June 8.

• Speaking of WWDC, it’s now sold out (and in record time; via Cult of Mac).
• AppleInsider reports that Apple may introduce some cheaper models in response to the growth of netbook sales as well as a counterpoint to the much-discussed Laptop Hunters ads from Microsoft. Another one of the LH series was released this week, this time with the spending limit upped to $2000 to help Sheila get a notebook with a fast processor, big screen and that’s “able to cut video.” She passes on a MacBook Pro because it only has 2 GB of RAM, but as Electronista notes it would only cost Sheila about another $100 to add in another 2 GB.
• In another video follow-up, the SciFi Network’s Dvice blog released more Talking Gadget Theater installments with the computerized voices of the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPod shuffle taking on more hallowed scenes from the sci-fi geek canon: Empire Strikes Back (”I’m your father…”) and Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (”Khan!”).
• AppleInsider traffics in another rumor in which the upcoming version of QuickTime X Player will support direct upload to YouTube.
• MacRumors forum posters noticed that the latest iTunes 8.2 beta version released to developers included code that could point to support for the reading/recognizing of Blu-Ray discs (though Betanews throws some cold water on this).
• Based on a patent filing, Ars Technica reports that Apple might move to notebooks made of carbon fiber–which would be much lighter than aluminum.
• If you run multiple iTunes accounts (as I do), the iPhone 3.0 software looks like it will be adding the ability to switch between accounts on the iPhone (currently, you have to switch accounts using the iTunes desktop software).
• A couple weeks back, it was reported that AT&T had altered its terms of service to make the use of a video-shifting applications (such as the in-development and nearly ready-to-release SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone app) not kosher. After that reporting, AT&T backtracked and pulled the language, but Electronista reports that it’s back in there.
• If you live in the Seattle area, the local alternative weekly The Stranger has released its first iPhone app. The free Cocktail Compass (link opens iTunes) supplies a list of nearby bars (based on your GPS coordinates) that are hosting happy hours, as well as offers the ability to sort for features such as billiards and allowed dogs and an easy call for a cab at the end of the evening.

• And finally, some questions to ponder this weekend: Will Palm spoil the next iPhone’s coming out party by releasing its Palm Pre the day before the WWDC keynote address? Will Disney/ABC’s acquiescence to joining Hulu (which was created by NBC and Fox to compete with iTunes) with its 30 percent buy-in ultimately kill the iTunes Store? And will Hulu release an iPhone app?

–Agen G.N. Schmitz