As promised, Virgin Mobile has started selling Apple's iPhone to its prepaid customers.
Customers looking to get their hands on the device can opt for the 8GB iPhone 4 or the 16GB iPhone 4S. The former will set customers back $550, while the iPhone 4S will cost $650. As one might expect, based on those prices, they come with no contract and no fees for activation.
After reports surfaced of its Chrome browser causing crashes on some of Apple's new MacBook systems, Google has publicly acknowledged the issue, claiming a workaround is immediately available and a true fix is in the works.
Owners of Apple's new MacBook Air had been experiencing persistent kernel panics on their systems, which after investigation were found to be rooted in actions like closing tabs and otherwise managing windows in Google's Chrome Web browser. Unfortunately, being kernel panics, the crashes did not just close the browser, but caused the entire system to require rebooting.
Foxconn aims to use its investment in Sharp to land orders for Apple's upcoming large-screen TV -- so the ongoing speculation goes.
The latest guesswork comes from Asia Ho Chao-yang, former president of Chimei Innolux, Taiwan's largest LCD maker, and current chairman of Chi Mei Materials Technology, who concludes that Foxconn Electronics' investment in Sharp is a play to "secure iTV orders from Apple," according to Taipei-based DigiTimes.
Ho added that the launch of an iTV would benefit polarizer makers, of which Chi Mei Materials is one.
This is by no means the first time that Foxconn-Sharp theory more
Five years ago today, at exactly 6 p.m. in each time zone, the original Apple iPhone went on sale in the United States. At the time I was outside the Apple store in downtown San Francisco witnessing tech history being made. And even though I've been to scores of other product launches since June 29, 2007, I can still recall the day vividly.
Editors' note: This story was originally published on June 29, 2011, but has been updated with the iPhone 4S.
The sidewalk in front of the Stockton Street store that evening was absolutely mobbed and a line of eager buyers stretched around the corner and out of sight. Indeed, as I was waiting to pick up our review model, I was nearly flattened against the store's glass wall when the enormous crowd began to surge toward the entrance.
Finally, as the magic hour struck and the doors opened, a line of applauding employees welcomed the first buyers. The line began to cheer "iPhone!, iPhone!" and a few minutes the first guy exited with his handset held high. I quickly sneaked inside to pick mine up and then hurried back to CNET's office with Donald Bell for a long night of writing the review (relive our review in real time!). Yet, that was after Brian Cooley got to take it out of the box on video.
Of course, you know what happened next. A worldwide sensation was born and the smartphone industry has never been the same. Four more models followed, competitors rushed to counter Apple's moves, and the smartphone moved from the hands of high-powered execs into the hands of everyday consumers.
A year later Android emerged as a powerful foe, while RIM and Palm began to crumble under the iOS onslaught. Windows Phone may still make it big, but the iPhone's worldwide appeal shows no signs of slowing. So now, as we again wait through the summer for a possible iPhone 5 (the company moved to a new release schedule with the iPhone 4), join me to a look back at all the iPhones that Apple has grown.
Sales of pricey ultrabooks are up at retailers, a market research firm said, indicating that skinny laptops may be competing directly with Apple's MacBook line.
First, the bad news: the overall Windows market for notebook PC sales at retail fell by 17 percent in the first five months of the year, according to Stephen Baker, an NPD Group analyst, who published a research note Thursday.
The good news: sales of ultrabooks -- thin, light laptops that compete with the MacBook Air -- are up in the premium market segment. more
Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering Bob Mansfield is retiring, the company said today.
Mansfield, who has been with Apple since 1999, will be replaced by Dan Riccio, Apple's current vice president of iPad hardware engineering.
"Bob has been an instrumental part of our executive team, leading the hardware engineering organization and overseeing the team that has delivered dozens of breakthrough products over the years," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "We are very sad to have him leave and hope he enjoys every day of his retirement."
Editor's note: The iPhone is 5 years old. Last year, I reflected on my very first iPhone, and what owning one was like before the smartphone landscape had utterly changed...before the App Store...before iPads. What I wrote last year is still true now, maybe even more so, although one important event has transpired since: Steve Jobs died October 5, 2011, less than four months later. What follows is what I wrote, along with photos of that iPhone that I still have kicking around, compared with the iPhone 4S. Looking at them side by side, it's amazing how little has changed in terms of form.
It was only 2007 when the iPhone debuted. It seems like longer. My first HDTV, my Wii, and my PlayStation 3 all existed before the first iPhone. Yet, in 2007, BlackBerrys were all the rage. The Motorola Q was an eye-catching phone. Android didn't exist.
Also, my grandparents were still alive. I wasn't married. I didn't have a kid. I was freelance-writing a novel. My life was different then.
The iPhone lines were crazy, but if you picked the right time you could sneak into an Apple Store and buy one. That's because the first iPhone started at $499. No one knew yet whether the device was a smash hit. Apple didn't have a reservation system in place yet, or claim tickets. In the summer of 2007, the iPhone was a novelty.
The very best feature the iPhone ever had didn't exist until a year after the iPhone first debuted. It wasn't the Web browser. It wasn't the touch screen.
It was the apps.
While I remember the magical parts of owning the first iPhone, those aren't really what I think it will be remembered for. After all, touch screens, cameras, and all its other iconic elements have been appropriated by competitors.
The lingering bombshell that the iPhone has birthed is, needless to say, the idea of apps.more
His sales pitches are now legendary but this one stood out from the rest. On the approach of the five-year anniversary of Apple's iPhone, we dug out this video of Steve Jobs at his mesmerizing best.
It was vintage Jobs, striding across the stage as he teased the crowd into bursts of applause and whoops of delight while the features appeared on the big screen behind him.
"An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communicator...are you getting it? These are not three separate devices. This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today Apple is going
Apple has done just about all it can to get the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned from sale in the U.S.
The company late yesterday posted a $2.6 million bond to inch closer to stopping the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from being offered for sale, according to Foss Patents, which was first to report the news. The bond was set Tuesday by Judge Lucy Koh, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, who awarded Apple a preliminary injunction against Samsung's tablet.
The posting of bonds is a commonly used technique designed more
At the start of the 21st century, there's no tech outfit more influential than Apple. CNET News' Josh Lowensohn and other reporters will attempt to make sense of the rumors, hype, products, and people that will shape the future of the company. But Apple's not the only game in town, as the established cell phone companies and others strike back against the iPhone and iPad. E-mail Josh at josh.lowensohn@cnet.com.
