James Middleton

July 16, 2008

2 Min Read
iPhone hype fall-out continues

The web is still crawling with iPhone stories. Sensibly, marketing departments appear to have taken a breather since last week, leaving Apple to bask in the media’s attention. Though not all of it has been welcome.

Saturday’s headlines seemed to focus (perhaps unfairly) on the glitches that bugged the new release. The working week, though, started brightly with many news sources reporting the iPhone 3G had hit the one million units sold marker in its first weekend. “iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs was widely reported saying. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”

Generally speaking, most commentators seemed to think that the device was well worth the wait. The improved network access speed and improvements in pricing being the obvious headline grabbers.

It wasn’t all good news though. Demand was outstripping supply in most markets. Though a cynical viewpoint suggests Apple was chocking supply to generate desire for the device. While in some markets the lucky punters who did manage to get hold of the new terminal were finding the activation process difficult.

Still there was plenty of advice readily available online for those struggling with their new phone. And by the time Tuesday rolled around online sources were claiming that some Brazilians had become the first to hack into the iPhone 3G. Meanwhile, a number of other sites reported that the iPhone Dev Team managed to jailbreak the iPhone 3G and will be making a PwanageTool 2.0 available imminently.

A number of sites reported accessories that would improve such things as battery life or audio quality, while others focused on rival handsets with similar look and feel. Some criticised the email functionality but on the whole the coverage has been positive.

One of the more commical stories of the week though happened last Friday in New York. Dan Bowman was first in line at the Apple’s Big Apple flagship store. However, there was something about him that the security guard just didn’t like. Maybe it was his big basket of apples (intended for the shop’s workers) maybe it was his American flag, maybe they just thought he must be weird so should probably take him away. Who knows?

And finally, if you too are suffering from over-exposure to the wonder gadget, this list of the top ten video iPhone parodies will almost certainly help to brighten up your day.

About the Author(s)

James Middleton

James Middleton is managing editor of telecoms.com | Follow him @telecomsjames

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