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Gadgets Apple iPhone Confirmed at Foxconn
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - November 15, 2006 12:44 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 29 comment(s) - last by crazydrummer45.. on Nov 23 at 2:47 AM
12 million units and counting

According to reports, Apple's much talked about iPhone has been confirmed for mass production at Hon Hai Precision, otherwise known as Foxconn. The report was issued today when sources close to Foxconn told reporters in Taiwan. If the sources are correct, Foxconn secured the order from Apple to produce roughly 12 million iPhone units.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone sometime in the first half of 2007. The product has been long in waiting and is expected to combine the functionality of Apple's popular iPod with the communications capabilities of a mobile phone. Some analysts are expecting that while the first generation iPhone units will lack smart phone features, Apple will follow-up with an "iPhone Pro" for business folks.

DailyTech previously reported that the iPhone trademark was officially filed by Apple roughly a month ago, but the iPhone domain has been around for quite some time. Earlier reports also indicated that Apple entered into a partnership with Cingular Wireless to launch the iPhone as a Cingular exclusive product -- Apple is expected to make the phone available at its retail locations as well.

Expectations are high for Apple's iPhone. Analysts predict that Apple will gain roughly 1 percent market share of the mobile phone space in under a year's time, equating to roughly $2 billion. No further details of Apple's contract with Foxconn for the iPhone was released.

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Cingular Wireless
By Trisped on 11/15/2006 1:36:43 PM , Rating: 3
I hope they don't go with Cingular. Everyone I know that has them hates them. When they bought out AT&T wireless they cut service for the AT&T customers, then charged them large fees to get new phones, phone numbers, and service plans all so they could switch over from AT&T stuff to the Cingular. If you didn't want to pay you would have to deal with poor to non-existent service or pay a fee to terminate your contract.

I am not saying there is a best system out there, but to be fair the iPhone should come out on all major carriers. Otherwise it becomes a gimmick draw, like EA with NHL games (Only EA can make NHL games because they paid millions of dollars to the NHL to prevent competition).




RE: Cingular Wireless
By Spivonious on 11/15/06, Rating: 0
RE: Cingular Wireless
By Trisped on 11/16/2006 2:05:39 PM , Rating: 2
Some people love their carrier, some people don't. My point wasn't to be a direct attack against one carrier, but that Apple should make the phone for everyone, that way people that only like their carrier can get it.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By UNCjigga on 11/17/2006 4:46:20 PM , Rating: 2
Well typical practice for a phone-maker is to release a device on one carrier first as an exclusive, and then offer a follow-on device for other carriers after 6-12 months.

Based on the speculation on "iPhone Pro", I expect Cingular will be first-to-market and exclusive with the consumer, music-focused iPhone in Q1/Q2 2007, and Verizon and/or Sprint Nextel will get the business-focused iPhone Pro in Q3/Q4 2007.

This makes a lot of sense, since Cingular is the #1 brand for consumers, while businesses prefer the EVDO networks that Verizon and Sprint offer.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By TomZ on 11/15/2006 2:04:47 PM , Rating: 2
I agree, Cingular has inferior coverage and technology relative to Verizon, for example.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By AlexWade on 11/15/2006 2:55:39 PM , Rating: 2
GSM is inferior to CDMA, true. But, 3G GSM is not inferior to 3G CDMA, neither is better. And, in Europe, where GSM is the de-facto standard, the problems Americans face are non-existent. America should be smart and go all GSM.

I've had Cingular since before it was Cingular. Customer service sucks. The main reason I stayed was rollover, they were smart enough to be GSM, and the great rate plan. Here in NC where there is coverage, you have a strong signal. The commercials are true, dropped calls don't exist anymore. Of course, it used to be a major problem.

I have a problem with all cell-phone companies. Verizon never stops lying to you. A Verizon funded study said Verizon was the best. Very objective. Although Verizon is good, if they would just dump CDMA. Sprint nickel-and-dimes you to death and has one of the worst networks. They say they are the most powerful; but they don't define powerful. Cingular doesn't tell who did the independent study.

My dislike for CDMA stems from the fact that I've been to Europe several times and my Cingular phone worked like a charm everywhere, even deep in mountains. I was thinking why service in the US is terrible. It isn't in Europe because they have one standard. Competition is only good in the marketplace, not standards. This includes Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD.

I was dissatisfied with Cingular for a while, but not anymore. They've become so good, I'll never use anyone else.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By crazydrummer4562 on 11/23/2006 2:47:01 AM , Rating: 2
I disagree, Cingular has much better coverage where I live than Verizon does.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By hands on 11/15/2006 2:13:40 PM , Rating: 2
Either you or your friends (or perhaps both) don't know too much about Cingular or mobile phone contracts. I wasn't among those who switched over to Cingular from AT&T, but I know people who did without any complaints or fees. Also, any change to a contract with a mobile carrier automatically gives you the option to terminate the contract within thirty days without any fees. So, even if your friends did have problems with Cingular not living up to the service contract, it should have been simple to walk away. And, just for good measure, AT&T was bought out by Cingular more than two years ago. I didn't know that AT&T was offering contracts that would still be valid...

From my perspective I don't care what may have happened with AT&T. That's in the past. Cingular is as good as any carrier that I have had experience with, and they have better plans than most. If Cingular gets some exclusive phones, more power to them. All of the big carriers have exclusive phones.

Finally, there really shouldn't be any reason why you couldn't by an iPhone from Cingular and use it with any carrier that supports GSM (like T-Mobile) unless they do something a bit sneakier than just "locking" the phone.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By oms on 11/15/2006 2:42:48 PM , Rating: 1
Really? I was an AT&T customer who just moved to California when I subscribed to its service. Since my address was still in North Carolina and Cingular sold AT&T's NC customers to SunCom, I was forced to fulfill the 2-year contract with SunCom. After exchanging emails back and forth to explain this would be inconvenient for me and I'm not likely to receive any local support (firmware upgrade, etc.), I received very adament replies from SunCom that I was not allowed to leave the contract unless I paid the early termination fee. I'm wondering if they were lying to me now. But in any case, I'll definitely switch to another carrier as soon as my 2-year contract ends, which is coming in one month :-) ...


RE: Cingular Wireless
By Trisped on 11/16/2006 2:03:41 PM , Rating: 2
When he bought the AT&T phone they gave him a 1 month trial so he could see if it worked where he needed it to. He found that it worked at work, at his 2 different properties in mid to northern California, and at his house. He bought the phone and contract.

When Cingular bought AT&T out, they sent him a notice saying he needed to upgrade phones and service plans. He is the type that doesn't give anyone money if he can avoid it, so he didn't. After the switch over (I don't know how long, maybe it was a month, maybe less) Cingular dropped the contracts it had with certain cell towers. Their reason was that they were redundant. As a result, the phone that use to work everywhere now only worked in a few places on or around the freeway. When he called to complain they said he would have to buy a new phone and a new plan. He thought about it, but the plans were all more expensive then what he had been paying, and offered less. Also, his phone was working just fine so why put out more money for a new one? He told them no, and that he wanted out of his contract. They told him that if he left he would have to pay the termination fee (something like $60). His point was that they had already voided the contract because they changed his service, so they pointed out the part of the contract that said they could add or remove cell towers from his service when ever they wanted to.

A few more calls and a lot of yelling latter he finally got them to cancel his contract and not charge him the fee. He then switched to the carrier his wife was using and has been relatively happy ever since.

Some people have had good experiences with their company, some have had bad. My point was that Apple should release their phone for every carrier, that way this type of complaint wouldn’t be as important.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By CrazyBernie on 11/15/2006 3:11:28 PM , Rating: 2
Everyone has their own experiences when it comes to cell phone service... I had no problems with AT&T -> Cingular, and Cingular works fine for me. I even have the Ericsson w800 (excellent phone; 2mp camera, MP3 player, supports memory stick duo w/2gb - w810 is the new non-import version) which only works on half the network (850mhz not suported by the imported phone) and my coverage is great. Certain providers are going to work better in certain areas; it's all about where they have towers.

The contract with Cingular is only for a short period (6 months if memory serves), and then other carriers will start sporting the phone. In the meantime, if Apple wants to limit themselves with availablilty then that's their problem.


RE: Cingular Wireless
By treehugger87 on 11/15/2006 11:28:09 PM , Rating: 2
One moment, doesnt 989 studios make NHL 2K7?


RE: Cingular Wireless
By Trisped on 11/16/2006 1:45:50 PM , Rating: 2
wouldn't that be 2k Sports if it was a 2k7 game?
I am not 100% positive on the years and the games. I though it was 2007 that EA bought out the NHL license, but I could be wrong. My brother-in-law works for 2k Sports. At one of the family gatherings we were talking about the industry and he pointed out that EA was buying out certain licenses (I thought it was NHL, PGA, and another one) for more money then they could ever hope to make on the game. Then gamers buy their game because it is the official one with actual names and such from the industry (which seems to be a major draw for people buying sports games). The other game makers of the same genre stop making them because they can't compete, then EA becomes the king of the hill. They drop the exclusive contract, and start up companies can't compete because they don't have an already completed engine with name recognition. Then EA just gets out the rake and starts pulling in the money.


wake up
By standusa on 11/15/2006 3:32:22 PM , Rating: 2
Men, wake up! there will be a time when this country will understand that Verizon, Sprint...but cingular are deadend companies if they don't change their technology: CDMA.

Nowhere else you can find it because it outdated. GSM and DCS are the most powerfull and secure technologies.

I have cingualr because it is the only US network offering GSM techno, hence SIM card. We live in a global world and CDMA is stuck between west and east cost.

I'm glad that Iphone will be at cingular, at least we could travel without changing cell, synchronizing musics, movies, podcast...Since apple is a cutting edge company, they did a smart move unlike verizon which provides 10 years old dinosaures like phones for a rubbery.

Cingular is the closest provider to high tech cells in the US after Asia and Europe




RE: wake up
By Lakku on 11/15/2006 4:51:41 PM , Rating: 2
T-Mobile uses GSM in the US, hence the need for a SIM card in mine and the fact I can use it in over 200 countries out of the box. Then again, T-Mobile is a German owned company last I checked, so that may explain the use of GSM.


RE: wake up
By xsilver on 11/15/2006 5:39:39 PM , Rating: 2
I was under the impression that CDMA wasnt actually that much older than GSM and the use of CDMA was actually due to superior transmission distances over GSM. Here in australia we work on a dual network where major cities will have GSM due to call quality and mobile data features offered.
In the countryside though people will use CDMA because there are no GSM towers there and CDMA towers range extend much longer, hence reducing cost of outlaying the network.


Also, I think second generation CDMA has allowed data/video (3G) streaming capabilities, so some people in the city are using that because of their services offered.


RE: wake up
By xsilver on 11/15/2006 5:46:37 PM , Rating: 3
also, forgot to comment that I thought there was already a phone with iTunes inbuilt?
http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_rokr_e1-1273.php

what exactly will be different about this phone? just the fact its manufactured by apple rather than motorola?


RE: wake up
By oTAL (blog) on 11/15/2006 11:29:19 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
what exactly will be different about this phone? just the fact its manufactured by apple rather than motorola?


Hmmm... diffenreces... Well... maybe it won't SUCK... not really an informed opinion (never tried one nor seen one), but from what I read I wouldn't buy a ROKR.


RE: wake up
By howardluo on 11/16/2006 8:58:46 AM , Rating: 2
My uncle has a ROKR and it had been nothing but a pain. Transfers about a song a minute. The volume up button died, and the volume down button keeps getting pressed since they're on the side. Thus resulting in missed calls everyday.


IPhone
By thx1169 on 11/15/2006 3:15:30 PM , Rating: 3
A couple of thoughts, as I work in the MP business. 1. Apple and Hon Hai are tradionally VERY closemouthed about leaks, so I am surprised that this news got out, unless they wanted it out. Also, designing mobile phones is not trivial. One typically needs a partner (like Samsung, etc.).

And as people have said, it's a consumer play, not that there's anything wrong with that. There's plents of consumers out there. It's an expected move for Apple and sure to capture decent market share and extend the brand.




RE: IPhone
By UNCjigga on 11/17/2006 4:56:10 PM , Rating: 2
Well I work in the carrier business, and I can tell you that a "certain carrier" speculated to be the launch partner for iPhone is VERY VERY VERY loose-lipped about new devices undergoing carrier certification.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Apple wanted to penetrate the business user smartphone market--I expect they might leverage the "open" architecture of their FreeBSD-based OSX into a Smartphone OS. The problem is I don't see them getting a lot of traction, since MS is close to winning the Palm OS userbase (though BlackBerry is starting to get more 3rd-party app support.) Symbian is strong in Europe, and I'm waiting to see if ALX becomes the OS of choice in Asia, but right now Windows Mobile is the runaway favorite for developers.


this is a great plan for apple
By IMPoor on 11/15/2006 1:57:16 PM , Rating: 1
I would imagine that every little punk kid I see with a iPod also has a cell phone. Now they can have both in one unit. Thats a great idea. Parents save money by not buying both items separately. Kids feel cool since everybody else already has one. And all the gym rats can now have one item instead of two. You have to keep in mind that most people, especially kids, do not have a need for a smart or business phone. I hope apple makes it with the same flash memory as the nano so there is no need for memory cards like your smart phone uses. Plus most, not all, smart phones can't touch the video quality of the ipod.




By CrazyBernie on 11/15/2006 6:14:07 PM , Rating: 2
Lol, more like parents spend MORE money 'cause those same punks kids that have ipods and cell phones absolutely MUST HAVE that iPhone!


Be interesting to see if Apple can pull this off
By WelshBloke on 11/15/2006 2:35:46 PM , Rating: 2
This should be interesting.

The main pull of the ipod (as I see it) are looks and usability. Now a phone is going to need a completely different interface to the ipod (a scroll wheel is not going to cut it).

So if this phone looks drastically different to an ipod it will be interesting to see what design Apple use to make it stand out.

The mobile phone market is a lot more crowded and mature than the mp3 player market when Apple launched the ipod.




By Griswold on 11/22/2006 12:13:52 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
The mobile phone market is a lot more crowded and mature than the mp3 player market when Apple launched the ipod.


Thats exactly what I was thinking when the first rumors about an "iphone" surfaced. When was the last time apple entered a market that was already under a firm grip by a handful heavyweights such as nokia and motorolla? Not to mention that it seems like market saturation isnt too far away these days.


Pro please and no iTunes.
By TimberJon on 11/15/06, Rating: -1
RE: Pro please and no iTunes.
By bldckstark on 11/15/2006 1:18:50 PM , Rating: 2
I already have a phone that plays music (stereo bluetooth at that). My phone keeps all my appointments and reminds me of them. It synchs with my computer. It's extrememly hackable. It charges on a mini USB cable, and transfers files by IR, bluetooth, and cable. It's got the web and e-mail, and it's pretty small.

Why would I want one that just plays music? Why would anyone? Especially one that only plays iTunes music?

Yes, I already know the answer - because it says "iPhone" on it.


RE: Pro please and no iTunes.
By Hare on 11/15/2006 2:37:26 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Especially one that only plays iTunes music?
Eh. iPods have absolutely no problem playing any mp3 that doesn't have third party DRM. Why would the phone be any different?

Does your phone play MP3 with DRM? How's the usability?


RE: Pro please and no iTunes.
By noxipoo on 11/15/2006 1:22:34 PM , Rating: 2
dissent is growing? its not even out. plus i don't see how any business will pay for iphone, or any music player phone. they will pay for either smart phone (like blackberry) or a plain old cell phone. why would a business need its employees to have music on the go? silly


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