Apple iPhone launch 'imminent' says US research firm

[TNDan21]

Apple iPhone launch 'imminent' says US research firm
By Stuart Corner
Sunday, 02 April 2006

US market research company, Visiongain, is tipping Apple to launch its much-rumoured iPhone mobile phone to co-incide with the launch of Helio, a US mobile virtual network operator with which it has close ties.

According to Pam Duffey, telecoms analyst at Visiongain, "There exists a relationship between Apple and Helio management that goes back to the ROKR iTunes phone, and Helio has declared a target audience identical to iPod's existing market. Helio's top rank executives have also publicly voiced frustration with mainstream carriers and appear to be on a crusade to radically shake-up the industry."

Helio is a partnership between US ISP, Earthlink and Korean telco, SK Telecom, in which the two are estimated to have invested $US440milion.

According to Visiongain, Helio CFO, Todd Tappin has said that Helio plans to sign about three million customers and generate more than $US2 billion in revenue by 2009. He also said that Helio would subsidise its handsets, and that its target demographic was both willing and able to pay for high-end phones.

"The iPhone will most likely be produced in South Korea by an existing handset maker, and made available exclusively through Helio," Duffey predicted, adding "the iPhone will likely be as disruptive to the existing carrier market as the iPod was to the mobile music industry. When the iPhone adds VoIP capability, it will be even more disruptive to carriers."

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/3787/127/

[Critic]

In related news, an unnamed New York City official has announced the sale of the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge - $500 or best offer.

[TurboDan]

Is this Helio thing going to take off? Seems to me like they'll be the same thing as V-Cast, especially since their first handset will be a Koran EV-DO device. If they're not cheaper than VZW, what's the point? I know they have plans for wireless VoIP, but until then, what will the advantage be?

[TNDan21]

More iPhone News:

BenQ confirms iPhone?
Posted Mar 22nd 2006 3:53PM by Marc Perton
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

The good folks at Morgan Stanley have already done all they could to convince anyone who wants to believe that Apple's working on an iPhone. Now another source has apparently come forward to buttress the claims. According to the Australian site Smarthouse, an executive at BenQ has confirmed plans for the phone, saying that "BenQ will not be making it ... however several of our suppliers have been approached to manufacture parts. Among manufacturers in Taiwan it is common knowledge." While we have no way to confirm the alleged exec's account, it does jibe with Morgan Stanley's claims that various Taiwanese manufacturers have been contacted to work on the project. If it's true that this is "common knowledge" in Taiwan, though, we expect that Stevie J. will be sending his minions to the island any day now. Apple's been pretty good about avoiding leaks from manufacturing partners, and if tongues are wagging in Taiwan, some of these contracts may just end up getting shifted across the Strait. (And, yes, the pic is one of the many iPhone fakes out there; we sort of like this one, since it's based on the original iBook, a design Apple abandoned years ago.)

http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/22/b...nfirms-iphone/

[MOTOhooligan]

The 'iBook' iPod phone design shown in that article is pretty cool. I wouldn't want to own one but it's still pretty cool.

If we're stealing designs from Apple's past maybe it will be based on the Newton or Apple IIe!