Apple iPhone News

The iSAglove case for the iPhone, is a silicone cover available in ice clear, grey and black. The corners of the case are reinforced with an additional layer of silicone, crash cushion, to protect against the phone being dropped or if it falls.

There is also a flip cover to stop the phone becoming affected by dust, dirt or sand. The buttons are now easier to push and enhanced sensors with a 3G revision. The classic pack includes the cover, screen protect film and a disposable cleaning cloth. The iSAglove 3G case costs $29.99.

Three separate analysts have explained their predictions of the coming iPhone, and the potential sales that could be gathered over the first weekend after hitting shelves. According to all three, the potential for a significant loss have been determined, due in part to several factors.

First, is it thought by many that the release in eight countries within the first quarter, rather than the last iPhones release to twenty-one will create a serious stunt in the market, even with increased marketing and hype leading up to the final release. Though within the next few weeks the iPhone OS 3.0 will be available globally, the loss in profits may continue as reviews begin to hit the web that will likely stress the similarities, rather than the differences.

Second, is the release of the updating software, which was launched on Wednesday, and many may opt for as a cheap alternative. This in an especially attractive option given the state of the global economy, which has reduced the funds available for luxury and entertainment items. This is a point that has to be conceded by Apple, and was, with greater price options available, which were not included with previous models. This includes models ranging from $99.00 - $299.00.

Either way, analysts seem to agree on the amount of sales likely to be seen over the first three days proceeding the iPhone release. The average projection has been pegged at 500,000 to 70,000, a significant loss from the estimated 1 million sales expected when the new iPhone was first announced.

Paramount digital entertainment has released an iPhone game named School of Rock based on the popular movie by the same name. School of Rock teaches players about rock and roll music and also how to play various instruments such as guitars and drums with interactive lessons. It also includes quotes, trivia questions and memory challenges. The game features music by popular rock musicians such as The Scorpions and Lynyrd Skynyrd and allows the user to play along to any song in his iTunes music library. This app is priced at 6.99$ and is currently available at the iTunes store.

The iPhone has some unique capabilities among smartphones that makes it an interesting game platform. These features such as the accelerometer and touchscreen can be utilized in unique ways by developers to create interesting games. Around 1/3rd of the applications at Apple’s application Store are iPhone games, which establishes the popularity of the iPhone as a games platform.

The iGames Summit aims to explore the many possibilities and challenges that lie before the iPhone games industry. It is a half-day conference that is scheduled for March 19th in San Francisco, California. The conference will be attended by notable iPhone game developers, executives and investors. There will be discussions on various aspects of the making, marketing and sales of iPhone games as well as the future prospects of the iPhone games industry at the conference.

A mobile web usage report by research firm Net Applications, showed that 66% of all mobile web usage comes from iPhones, which includes the older iPhone and the newer iPhone 3G. While the mobile web usage from nearest iPhone competitor Windows mobile is only around 7%. Another research report from AdMob, a mobile advertising network, had earlier shown that 51% of USA web traffic originating from smartphones, came from iPhones. These reports indicate that the iPhone with it’s Safari browser, is the most preferred smartphone for browsing the Internet.

Simultravel GPS is an iPhone application that lets the user find hotels located nearby, or in a selected location anywhere in the world. The application displays the prices charged by various hotels in the area and allows the user to book any displayed hotel by tapping a button. Simultravel GPS also lets users select hotels from interactive maps and see hotel reviews by previous customers. The application costs .99$ at the app store, but a free version – Simultravel lite is also available. However the free version doesn’t have interactive maps or customer reviews.

Turn by turn voice navigation is one of the most requested features for the iPhone, yet neither Apple nor other software developers have released any iPhone applications that add this feature to the iPhone so far, despite the demand for the feature. But turn by turn voice navigation is now accessible on jailbroken iPhones, thanks to xGPS. xGPS is a realtime GPS navigation software and the latest version is version 1.2 that has been recently released. This version has support for voice instructions as well as other new features. The navigation is based on Google maps data. xGPS can be obtained for free via Cydia.

Kace has recently released an iphone module for its systems management appliance KBOX. This iPhone management module lets companies manage, track and monitor any number of iPhones used in their corporate network and execute tasks such as software installation on those iPhones. The module can find iPhones used in a network, monitor software installed in them, track and generate reports on iPhone usage and associated costs. It also features the ability to create user profiles to configure iPhones so as to keep iPhone usage in accordance with company policies. The iPhone management module costs around 2000$, while the price for KBOX and the iPhone module combined is 11900$.

Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s biggest mobile network operator recently announced it’s official contract with Apple to release iPhones in Taiwan. However contrary to their previous statements, the iPhones currently being sold by Chunghwa are not SIM locked to Chunghwa’s network and can therefore be used with any carrier, although Chunghwa’s iPhone specific web service will be missing if other networks are utilized. France, Italy and Hong Kong are the only other countries where legitimately unlocked iPhones are available. However Chunghwa’s unlocked iPhone 3G’s are relatively expensive, 8 GB models cost approximately $800, while 16 GB versions are priced around $900.

Namco games has recently released an iPhone version of it’s popular puzzle game for the Playstation 2, Katamari Damacy. In the game “I love Katamari”, the player controls a magic adhesive ball and rolls up various objects with it by tilting the iPhone and using the accelerometer. The game features four gameplay modes with varying objectives. The initial release of the game suffers from a few performance issues such as slow frame rates, which are expected to be fixed in a future update. “I love Katamari” is currently available at Apple’s app store and is priced at 7.99$.