Macworld's Christopher Breen speculates that Mail, Stocks, Maps, Weather and Notes will be available for older iPod touch models as part of the 2.0 update coming on July 11. The apps are no longer available via the January Software Upgrade through iTunes. (Try clicking the link on this page to see what happens: nada.)

If you recall, The Stevinator said during the WWDC keynote that the 2.0 update will be available to iPod touch users for $9.99: half the cost of the January Software Upgrade that brought those apps (officially) to the iPod touch.

This move is sure to perturb the users who already bought the apps, who could be nearly $30 in the hole for something that will cost others (me, for example) a slim Hamilton.

I can think of a worse situation for iPod touch owners: Apple offering the apps individually via the app store, at some undetermined cost for each one. I have no reason at all to believe that will happen, and I really hope that it won't.

Update: Speculation alert! Christopher Breen (himself!) said in comments that his source for this information is a little shakier than he thought. He's updated the original article, and this post's been placed in the Rumors category. So add a few more grains o' salt to this one.

Silicon Alley Insider reported yesterday that the waiting list to be accepted into the iPhone developer program is six months long.

However, insiders say that the App Store approval process is "surprisingly" efficient, and that the beta period may be drawing to a close. Apple could throw the doors wide open when the beta period ends July 11, meaning no waiting list at all.

Apple has been allowing a small fraction of applicants into the program: At WWDC, The Steve himself said that 4,000 developers have been allowed into the program out of about 25,000 applications. As of the keynote, 250,000 had downloaded the SDK.

After being accepted to the program and submitting your app, there is another waiting period while Apple reviews it, and determines whether or not it's suitable for the App Store. How long that takes is up for speculation, but the time between June 26 and July 11 is about two business weeks.

So, how's mid-January 2009 looking for you? At least we'll have new Battlestar Galactica episodes by then.

Macrumors.com is reporting that for some .Mac users, using a me.com email address seems to be working. For instance, if your .Mac account name is username, sending an email to username@me.com works the same as sending one to username@mac.com.

Your mileage may vary -- as of 8:35 PM EDT on Saturday, June 28, 2008, it wasn't working for me.

Update: About four hours later, it's working for me.

[via MacRumors.com]

Back at WWDC as Steve Jobs ran down the list of carrier agreements for the 3G iPhone one country in particular was conspicuous in its absence. Now Reuters is reporting that one of the biggest obstacles to bringing the iPhone to China has been overcome. A China Mobile spokeswoman told Reuters that "Apple is no longer insisting on a revenue-sharing policy, so the biggest hurdle for China Mobile to bring in the iPhone has been cleared, but there are practical issues still to be resolved."

Apparently the shift towards carrier subsidies, as has happened even with original partner AT&T, facilitated this move as it has basically brought the iPhone into line with other smartphones. Even at WWDC Jobs was confident that the iPhone would arrive in China (and Russia) before the end of the year, and this latest announcement from China Mobile seems clearly to suggest that the iPhone will soon officially be set to conquer the world's largest mobile phone market, well beyond the gray market for the first iPhone.

We mentioned yesterday a rumor that Apple won't cut a check for iPhone application developers until the dev's share of the sales tops $250. A lot of commenters were upset about this, if it's true: TomWBrowning said "So if you make an app that costs $1 you won't see a penny even if 359 people buy it?"

From the (indie) developer's perspective, this stinks. They've already paid at least $99 just to participate, and now they have to wait until they make (potentially) hundreds of sales before they see a dime from Apple. Will the high barrier for entry discourage truly good app development? Or will it act like a cover charge to keep out the riffraff?

From Apple's perspective, this is just good business sense. It costs money to cut checks and make electronic transfers in quantity. Plus, Apple can aggregate a great deal of interest on all those little sums they have tucked away. Their cut -- effectively -- is probably far more than the advertised 30 percent, depending on how smartly they invest their savings.

The model isn't exactly foreign: Google AdSense makes a great deal of money (on paper, at least) on the backs of smaller sites that don't earn the $100 minimum for Google to cut a check. Some commenters were suggesting that a $50 threshold for iPhone apps would be more reasonable.

In any event, it certainly makes ad hoc distribution look more and more attractive.

Along with the new iPhone SDK 8 beta that came out tonight, Apple also shipped a pre-release version of iTunes 7.7 to developers in the iPhone Dev Program. iTunes 7.7 is a requirement for the new iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 firmware; it also appears to include a new remote control feature.

According to an anonymous tipster, iTunes 7.7 will allow either an iPhone or iPod touch to download a free application that can remote control iTunes from anywhere in the vicinity of your Mac (most likely over your home network). Reportedly, this free application will be available in the App Store upon the 2.0 firmware release.

As we cannot confirm nor deny this tip, take it with a grain of salt until we get official word from Apple. However, as you may recall, we hinted about this capability a while back.

Thanks, (redacted)!

According to a few anonymous tips, the iPhone App Store is open and ready for business -- for developers.

Apple has opened the App Store to allow registered developers to prepare the final versions of their apps for distribution. Apple has the ultimate say about which apps will appear in the App Store when it launches in early July. The source speculates that larger app developers could get preferential treatment in obtaining expedited approval.

The source also mentioned that developers will be able to select prices for their apps, so long as the price ends in 99 cents. So, for example, prices of $0.99, $1.99, and $99.99 are all acceptable. "Free" is also an option, as expected.

In related news, developers will be using iTunes Connect, familiar to bands and artists who sell their music through the iTunes Store, to monitor the financial performance of their apps. Additionally, Apple will withhold any payments until the developer's share of the sales reaches $250, or its regional currency equivalent. It is unclear what increments Apple will pay after that threshold is reached.

Developers can find out more information about submitting their apps from the "Program Portal" on Apple's secure developer website.

AppleInsider claims to have information on the next point update of Mac OS X Leopard (version 10.5.4). According to AppleInsider, the build number of 10.5.4 is 9E17. They also reported that the beta of 10.5.4 has "no known issues" in its latest build, and that beta testers were asked to focus on AirPort, networking with Windows, Spaces and other frequently used (and often problematic) aspects of OS X.

As we reported a while back, OS X 10.5.4 should incorporate support for Apple's new MobileMe web service.

A German site, Apfeltalk.de has posted screenshots of the forthcoming version of Mac OS X, 10.6 (a.k.a "Snow Leopard"). Most of the screenshots show off the Safari 4 developer preview that will include the "Save as Web Application" option in the File menu.

The website also shows off the next version of Address Book.app that will bring Microsoft Exchange support to the Mac platform. We do however have to speculate about the System Preferences.app screenshot that shows two Time Machine icons with one labled "Dock" and another labeled "Time Machine" -- this seems out of place and unlike Apple.

You can see all of the screenshots (before Apple's legal team gets a hold of them) on the Apfeltalk.de site.

[via Engadget]

Speaking of Intel, The Register is reporting that the chipmaker is preparing three, next-generation processors based on its "Nehalem" architecture, with the fastest topping out at 3.2 GHz. Each processor has four cores with eight processing threads.

The chip architecture, codenamed "Bloomfield," is targeted mostly at gamers. This is purely speculation, of course, but Apple's mid-range high-end desktops could be good candidates for the chips as well.

Intel anticipates the processors will be available in the fourth quarter of 2008.

[Via AMD vs. Intel.]

According to a recent MacRumors posting, Apple might be working on a "next generation" high definition iSight camera. This comes after a reference in the localization strings file for QuickTime shows "iSight HD" as one of the import devices.

You can see the localization strings for "iSight HD" by opening the following file in either QuickLook (space bar) or by opening it in TextEdit: /System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings

Once you have the file opened, you can clearly see where Apple has placed the following bit of code:
/* Next Generation USB iSight */
"iSight HD" = "iSight HD";

We should note that while this code has been found, it doesn't necessarily mean that Apple will release a new iSight product, but this does give us hope.

[via World of Apple]

Yesterday, Twitter was abuzz with incorrect rumors that current iPhone owners would have to trade-in their 2G phones in order to upgrade to the iPhone 3G. I spoke with AT&T's mobility media contact yesterday and confirmed that the rumors were bogus, but after the original source posted a clarification and retraction, we didn't think it was necessary to post, fearing it might just confuse readers further.

However, today we received a tip from a reader linking to a FinancialWire story that mentions an exchange/rebate option for AT&T customers, but does not properly explain the procedure and the eligibility. Because I spoke with AT&T yesterday, I would like to set the record straight.

As Mark Siegel from AT&T explained to me yesterday, "AT&T wants to be as fair as possible to customers who very recently purchased an iPhone." Thus, if you purchased an iPhone from an AT&T store AFTER May 27, 2008, you have the option of returning the phone to an AT&T store between July 11, 2008 and August 1, 2008 for the new iPhone 3G. Those customers will also be refunded the difference between the price paid for the 2G iPhone and the iPhone 3G.

I commend AT&T on taking such a proactive and consumer-friendly approach.

Just to reiterate: if you bought a 2G iPhone BEFORE May 27, 2008 and you want to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G, you can do so at the subsidized price ($199 or $299), as long as you sign and new two-year contract and add-on the 3G data plan (this plan will replace any data plan you currently have for the iPhone). You do NOT need to trade-in your old phone.


Thanks Mark!

On WWDC Eve, we at TUAW are hard at work keeping an eye out for the unknown and unexpected. We just received a tip showing what appears to be the Mac Nano computer that we've all wanted -- and it looks to be aimed towards the developer crowd.

The pictures appear to show a Mac geared towards developers on Windows and Linux systems. "Leave Windows behind. Build your Apps for OS X" states the title. While we are extremely cautious about rumors like these right before WWDC, we did have a rumor that a "new Mac" or at least an updated Mac might be released.

Thanks Jackie!

Late last night, several rumor websites, including CrunchGear, reported that they had received copies of "leaked" iPhone advertisements. These ads depict matte black and Product (Red) iPhones. Most of the sites that were sent these images are calling them fakes, including our own Engadget.

There are two major flaws that stick out in these images, the first of which is the lack of a sleep/wake button on the red iPhone in the image above. The second of which: where the iChat details are shown, the requirements state "Windows Xp." However, Apple always states "XP" as just that; not upper case, then lower case letters.

We do have to agree with Engadget when it comes to the video chat images. Ryan Block states, "No Apple design would be laid out the way this guy's got his page laid out here." We have to agree -- Apple designs are normally clean and minimalist; not jumbled as these images are.

[via CrunchGear]

We're all eagerly awaiting what must be the worst kept secret ever in mobile technology announcements next week, but up until now some of the detailed features of the iPhone 3G have been subject to speculation and debate. Earlier tonight, Engadget posted a preliminary firmware spec of the next iPhone; it includes tri-band HSDPA for near-global high speed data coverage, and an A-GPS unit for the location awareness we crave.

Interestingly, the internal build number on the firmware is quoted as "n82ap" (as compared to the original iPhone's "m68ap" designation). Remember back in February, when Erica noted an "N82" platform indicator in the iPhone's supported platform list? Isn't that special.