The text of AT&T’s email to those who signed up online for Apple iPhone information verbatim followed by a report that Apple will bundle Safari with iTunes later this year:
Get ready for iPhone.
iPhone arrives on June 29. iPhone features an amazing mobile phone, is the best iPod ever created, and puts the Internet in your pocket with desktop–class email, web browsing, searching, and maps. And iPhone makes it all easy to use with its revolutionary multi-touch user interface. iPhone syncs with your PC or Mac just like an iPod, so organizing your content now will help you start calling, texting, emailing, surfing, listening, and watching even faster when you get your iPhone. Here are a few suggestions to help you get ready:
Contacts
Making a call with iPhone is as simple as tapping a name. You won’t need to re-enter all your contacts because iPhone syncs with the address book you already use on your computer—Address Book or Entourage on a Mac, or Outlook or Outlook Express on a PC. If you keep your contacts on the web using Yahoo! Address Book, iPhone can sync with them, too. To get ready for iPhone, organize your contacts in one of these applications and make sure they’re up to date with the latest phone numbers and email addresses. If you don’t have contacts on your computer, don’t worry. You can still enter them directly into iPhone.
Calendar
Using its built-in calendar, iPhone lets you check your appointments with the flick of a finger. iPhone uses iTunes to sync with the calendar application you already use on your computer—iCal or Entourage on the Mac, or Outlook on a PC—just like it does with your contacts. If you don’t already use one of these applications to manage your appointments, now is a great time to start, so you’ll be ready to sync when your iPhone arrives. If you choose not to use a calendar program, that’s OK. You’ll be able to enter appointments directly into your iPhone calendar.
Email
iPhone is the first phone to come with a desktop–class email application. So now your phone can display rich HTML email with graphics and photos alongside the text. iPhone will even fetch your latest email every time you open the application and automatically retrieve your email on a set schedule, just like a computer does. iPhone works with the most popular email systems—including Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail. If you’re not already using one of these services, now would be a great time to get an account. iTunes will make email setup on the iPhone a breeze by automatically syncing the settings from email accounts stored in Mail on a Mac or Outlook on a PC. Don’t worry if you’re not on one of these email services; iPhone also works with almost any industry-standard POP3 and IMAP email system.
Photos
iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera and a gorgeous 3.5–inch display, so it’s a great way to enjoy and show off your digital photos. iPhone uses iTunes to sync your photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Album, or any picture folder on a PC. You can carry thousands of photos on iPhone, but you can start by creating an album or two with 50 to 100 of your favorite photos, so that when you first sync your iPhone, you’ll be ready to quickly show off some of your best shots.
Music and Video
iPhone is the best iPod ever. Its beautiful, 3.5–inch widescreen display allows you to easily enjoy the music, TV shows, and movies you have in your iTunes library. If you already use iTunes, you can start getting ready for iPhone by creating a playlist of a few hundred of your favorite songs. If you don’t have iTunes, now is a good time to download it and start a music and video library. That way, when you sync your iPhone with iTunes, you’ll be able to take your favorite music, as well as a few of your TV shows and movies, with you wherever you go.
iTunes Account
To set up your iPhone, you’ll need an account with Apple’s iTunes Store. If you already have an iTunes account, make sure you know your account name and password. If you don’t have an account, you should set one up now to save time later. To set up an account, launch iTunes, select the iTunes Store, and click the “Sign In” button in the upper right corner of iTunes. Sign in and you’re ready to go.
— — —
Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider, “Apple Inc.’s iTunes digital jukebox software is downloaded 1 million times per day and has an active user base of 500 million users, the company said during annual developers conference on Monday. The massive install base will work to the Cupertino-based company’s advantage when it begins inserting the neawly announced Windows version of its Safari 3.0 web browser alongside iTunes for Windows downloads later this year, UBS analyst Ben Retizes says.”
“‘We believe that this new strategy to give Windows users a taste of Safari will help the mass market become much more familiar with the iPhone interface, driving higher sales long-term,’ he wrote in a research note to clients on Tuesday. ‘As a result, this strategy shift seems like a brilliant move—showing how iTunes can be used as a Trojan horse to push the Apple ecosystem into new frontiers,'” McLean reports.
“Reitzes, who had a chance to speak with members of Apple’s senior management both before and after Monday’s WWDC keynote address, said he also believes the company has a full pipeline of products including new iPods and Macs, as well as additional content and iPhones which could come later in fiscal 2007 into fiscal 2008,” McLean reports.
Full article here.
I struggled a bit with, “Its beautiful, 3.5–inch widescreen display allows you to easily enjoy the music”
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Well remember there is an iPod inside of that iPhone so that doesn’t really sound that wierd to me. Of course you will need an iTunes account.
I’ll take one ! Can’t wait for April 29th.
Buy AAPL !
I’ll take one ! Can’t wait for April 29th.
Buy AAPL !
I’ll take one ! Can’t wait for April 29th.
Buy AAPL !
I’ll take one ! Can’t wait for April 29th.
Buy AAPL !
Indeed I am quite ready for iPhone.
April 29th? Huh? Did you read the previous article and get stuck in a timewarp?
What a good idea! Safe, secure and familiar.
Makes for easier upgrades because it means that upgrades are not just thrown onto the internet in the hope that legitimate iphone owners will download them.
That means that if M$ et tal want to imitate Apple’s system, they will have to own an iphone and open an itunes account!
How painfull will that be for the Balmy one and his cohorts?
Sublime move S J
iPhone, Safari 3, Web 2.0, AJAX, web apps … that’s why we haven’t seen iLife/iWork ’07. They’re moving to the web! …
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Apple iTunes Store account required to set up iPhone; Safari to be bundled with iTunes
Jesus H. Christmas, is all this really necessary?
Talk about being locked in to a Windows world, it’s looking like it’s a bastion of freedom compared to what Apple is doing lately.
*sigh*
Ps MDN we already know all there is to know about the iphone, up until todays announcement that is, please try not to repeat the above bits and bobs that we have seen from the MacWorld Keynote address!
I love how Apple provides updates to it’s hardware through iTunes. Try updating the software on your cel phone you have now. It doesn’t happen.
@ Not 4 Me, What do you think you already have with your current Mobile Phone or Cell Phone?
Do you need an account with your service provider?
If you don’t have a contract with a SP, do you need a SIM card? Is the SIM card locked to a provider? or can it be used to access any carrier?
Do you have a land line phone?
Is it locked to a provider via line rental and monthly charges?
Are your monthly charges based on call time used?
Do you have to pay by direct debit?
Is there an extra charge if you pay by cheque/check?
Can you change your provider instantly?
If you are not a hermit………….
EXACTLY WHAT IS IT THAT YOU SAY IS NOT FOR YOU?
@ Not 4 Me
> Jesus H. Christmas, is all this really necessary?
> Talk about being locked in to a Windows world, it’s looking like > it’s a bastion of freedom compared to what Apple is doing lately.
Too much trouble for you? You want to see how the other side does it? Here’s a great description with screenshots of the Zune software setup:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/13/installing-the-zune-sucked/
I’ll accept your apology when you come back.
Hi Steve,
Thought you were cutting edge but looks like Sun beat you to iMutate.
We were the first to use Mutational Magic on Vista – does it show?
Just between you and me, where are the missing iPhones?
Fake Bill
http://71.18.81.225/Pretty Blue Planet – Evolutionary Software Development.pdf
‘Not 4 Me’ is clearly an astroturfer. One of the many that has suddenly started popping up on MDN and other Apple-related sites hitting these ‘talking points’. iPhone must be scaring people more than I had thought if they’re willing to pay for this surge of astroturf. These guys aren’t even subtle! It’s a real eye-opener…not what these morons say…but that people are worried anough to pay them to say it.
Apologies…correction: “… worried enough…”
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… for those of you who live and die by your spellcheckers.
I don’t particularly like Safari for Windows. The way the menu bar and title bar meld together looks ugly, and it appears to take up too much space. And their is no feature to automatically import bookmarks from Firefox or IE. Having to import all your bookmarks manually into Safari is too much of hassle, and contradicts the whole ‘easy’ and ‘just works’ mantra of Apple.
The whole program seems like an afterthought, that apple doesn’t care enough about Windows users to take the time to give them the best web browsing experience possible. Safari for Windows seems more likely to reinforce negative feelings towards apple then win over new converts.
It would have been so much better if they just let you import all your bookmarks automatically, and tweaked the UI to make it more attractive in a Windows environment.
Everyone is just going to stick with IE or Firefox because Safari offers nothing compellingly different, easier, or better.
iTunes account mandatory too?
It\’s like giving my entire life over to the Apple ecosystem.
Why do I need a account? This is stupid.
Yea sure I got a SIM card and a carrier, but I can put that SIM card into any GSM device, including the iPhone and it\’s supposed to work like all other phones.
But now Apple says it won\’t unless I fork over my info for a iTunes account in addition to my carrier account.
I don\’t need a iTunes account to update the OS on my Mac, why should I need it for a phone? It should update itself though the carrier or wirelessly.
I\’m not around a computer that is mine enough to be able to install iTunes/Safari and update my phone whenever Apple feels like fixing their numerous exploits.
I thought the iPhone would make a nice occassional browser for my travels, but now I see I have to drag a computer around to update the iPhone.
Updating my iPod got to be a total frigging drag. The little iPods are really annoyingly slow to update. I compromised and placed all my music on a huge iPod with thousands of playlist combinations.
I haven\’t needed to update it in years, because when I did do it, it\’s a afternoon long chore. I have to wind up Zeroing the iPod hard drive for some reason or another, yea you can do it, and reformating it and waiting all afternoon for it to load all my music on it. (dam I miss firewire)
Now I got to do this for my phone?
No fscking way!! All that work for what?
Looking at tiny webpages on a 3\” screen?
The 8GB of storage is limiting, the camera sucks, no GPS, no FM/AM radio and it\’s $600!
I think I\’ll keep my Razr. It\’s slim and it\’s a phone, plain and simple. If it fails, I get another one immediatly without a computer account and insert the SIM card.
I\’ll have a hard time draining the battery, unlike the iPhone which will drain quite fast.
If the iPhone fails or gets a virus/bug, I lose everything and have to bounce between my carrier and Apple to get it resolved.
Convergence sucks sometimes, you\’ll see.
Not 4 Me Either
>Apologies…correction: “… worried enough…”
… for those of you who live and die by your spellcheckers.>
My spell checker is in my head. Of course I went to school in England when they had caning and if you had a spelling error in a math problem it was marked “fail”.
Seems everyone is bit down after the Keynote. I’m a diehard Mac guy, and I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe the media has gotten too strong, their stock-knocking prognostications a swooning song.
I don’t know.
But one thing’s for sure, I’m with Apple all the way.
Not 4 Me –
You are not 4 . You are obviously too clueless to understand this is a freakilng iPod! Are you so stupid…
Wait, you use a Zune, right?
Sorry, my bad.
S.
Seems everyone is bit down after the Keynote
Yea it\’s called cult product burnout
Apple has pumped up the marketing juice so much it\’s reached over the saturation point.
Now it\’s just sickening to hear the word \”Apple\” and people are going to react by not paying attention to them anymore.
How many times do we need our OS dramtically changed? It hasn\’t contributed one iota to my productivity.
I still get the same amount of work done, so it shaves a fraction of a second here and there. Some fancy eyecandy that gets old rather fast.
Nothing truely revolutionary that will make people buy a Mac because they can\’t do \’what ever it\’ is on Windows.
Apple justs keep pouring on the eyecandy on Mac OS X to the point it looks like a circus.
How about finding a new market for the Mac instead? That will dramatically increase market share, people bought the iPod because they can bring all their music with them in one device. That\’s the core reason.
Mac\’s no longer have a core reason for people to buy them. It used to be DTP, but that\’s over.
Now Apple is going after the TV, but cable boxes, consoles and the like are already there.
I don\’t need to run my content through my computer. It\’s a total waste of time and money.
The iPhone only has 8GB of space, not even close to 30GB of a large iPod for large music collections.
Sorry charlie, it\’s phone first, iPod and other features next.
When it gets more storage and a better camera, perhaps it can be more of those other things.
@mfshroom…”And their is no feature to automatically import bookmarks from Firefox or IE. Having to import all your bookmarks manually into Safari is too much of hassle, and contradicts the whole ‘easy’ and ‘just works’ mantra of Apple.”
Safari does indeed automatically import all your bookmarks from whatever browser you’re running in Windows. Just click on the little book icon on the left end of the toolbar to get to your bookmarks. You’ll see a folder named “Imported IE Favorites”. And you didn’t have to do a darn thing to have them imported other than install Safari. I guess maybe it “just works”.
Guys, don’t fall for all the trolls, or maybe just one that posts under different names, its really pathetic and soo obvious.
Something a shade less than umbrage comes to mind hearing, “Yea it\’s called cult product burnout.”
Hmmmm. I’d have to call “bullshit” on that. I’ve integrated Apple’s products into most aspects of my personal and business experience, and they have been a good companion. The emphasis is on using them rather than understanding them (and I used to be a programmer).
Yeh, there’s some hype, but you encounter that everywhere.
For me, it just works!
MacGuy,
People are entitled to their own opinion.
There is something wrong with you calling people that for simply speaking their dissatisfaction with a product or service.
Happy customers are buying customers.
can u use the aol thingy on itunes as a acoount on itunes plz get back with me on this ar bos6268@yahoo.com
I for one don’t like the strategy of extending iTunes functionality into a be-all Trojan for the Windows world and Apple media store, and now, a way to synch iCal and contact lists with the iPhone. Yeah, it’s Machieavellian and all that, but it smacks of Microsoft philosophy.
Wanted: Open Source music player. Must be as good or better than iTunes without the baggage. Will donate to project.
What Apple should do is offer a free version of .Mac with limited functionality, and a pay-for Pro version with mass storage and hosting. What’s in the free version? iChat account, synching of bookmarks, iCal, email and contacts with a measley 10MB of overall storage.
What I don’t want to see is a stealthy takeover of .Mac by iTunes.
Use your noodle, kids. It’s an iPod. Which means that any content you didn’t buy from the itunes store will go across fine, but those tunes/movies/tv shows won’t unless the machine is authorized to play them. And to authorize them, you have to have an account.
Besides beating a dead horse morons, your provider, be it at&t, verizon, t-mobile all have your email and credit card, your address, phone number, and if you go through the web to pay a bill, your IP address (which is almost as dangerous as you SSN).
So please pull your head out. Completely out. So you can see the light.
And quit crying about the price. If you can’t play, don’t play. Nobody here wants to hear you crap.
MDN magic word: Half!
As in half the haters here are just trying to stir up the sh-t!
Uh, by the way, it isn’t even for sale yet. it’s all speculation. But I agree. If you can’t pay, don’t play. Don’t wine about the price. It aint going down. Buy a RAZR. You get what you pay for.
“I … don’t like the strategy of extending iTunes functionality into a be-all Trojan for the Windows world and Apple media store, and now, a way to synch iCal and contact lists with the iPhone. Yeah, it’s Machieavellian and all that, but it smacks of Microsoft philosophy.”
For goodness’ sake. What truly pathetic FUD!
Trying to pretend there’s a problem here is just so ridiculous.
A *major* advantage of the iPhone is that there will be painless synching via iTunes–which is fantastic software: mature, stable, intuitively usable–of music, photos, tiny MP4/H.264 videos, contacts and calendar to it, as there is currently with iPods.
Synching on virtually everything else–no, scratch that *everything* else–is mostly crap.
And don’t pretend this “smacks of Microsoft”. It doesn’t.
No Windows CE device even has the functionality of the iPhone. The Zune doesn’t even sync with Windows Media Player 11. An Microsoft user will need three programs–*none* of which works particularly well–to get the same functionality. He’ll need Windows Media Player 11 as a media player, the Zune software to sync his Zune, and some crappy third-party sync -software to sync his phone. That’s the OPPOSITE of what Apple is doing. It’s a fucking ad-hoc mess–as usual with Microsoft.
And if Microshaft even did something like this it would default to its own formats–WMA for music and WMV for video–not open ones like Apple uses.
No one is forcing you to buy an iPhone and no-one is forcing you to use Safari on your Windows machine. If you don’t like Safari, download Opera or Firefox or Netscape or use IE. Offering good software on an open market is NOT Machiavellian and most certainly does NOT “smack of Microsoft”.
Not worrying how bad the software is but going for tie-in with proprietary formats and illegally forcing OEMs not to offer anyone else’s software is what Microsoft does:
Read about the “Microsoft Tax” here:
“Microsoft will literally put an OEM out of business before it lets them help a competitor. This is why big OEMs like Dell keep introducing Linux support and then pulling it again when Microsoft flexes its muscles.”
http://catb.org/~esr/writings/world-domination/world-domination-201.html#msoft
Since when did Apple say to AT & T, “You may not carry any other phone than the iPhone”?
Microsoft is about bad software and illegal actions against competitors. Nothing Apple has done “smacks of [that]”. They’ve just offered superbly good products on an open market.
personally i think tieing the iPhone to an iTunes account is a good idea.
imagine your phone gets stolen! mister theif goes to use it with say another sim card (if that’s possible at all) then finds out he needs to use an iTunes account, sync’s it up to his computer the serial goes to apple and finds it registered to another person alarm bells sound locks the phone down and informs the police.
Last but not least. itunes has (& I hope I’m not tempting fate) never been hacked into therefor no account customer details have ever been released or exploited through it. If I have to have my details on a web server, then let it be the itunes server!
For all the Not 4 me’s of this World, iphone comes equiped with wi-fi, know what wi-fi is? if you do, then take the image of you back packing a pc out of your head!
You will only need to sync with itunes for the music & video part of the iphone.
All else could be delivered by wi-fi-web and email web.
As for the screen size and therefor size of the browser, only small minds will see small browsers.
This is just wrong. I can understand it from Apple’s point of view but if Microsoft had done this MDN and its readers would be up in arms! Yes it is an iPod but you don’t NEED an iTunes acct to run an iPod right? Or do you? I am not sure. My first one (3rd Gen) came before the store and when the store came I gladly signed up. Since then I bought a shuffle (1st gen) and a Nano (first gen) but because I already had an iTunes accnt signing up for one when I got my 2nd and 3rd iPods was moot. So does Apple now require people to have iTunes accts when they purchase an iPod?
Why an iTunes ACCOUNT? You don’t need an iTunes ACCOUNT to run iTunes, no? Why would you need an iTunes ACCOUNT to synch non-iTunes music, or non-iTunes pictures, or non-iTunes video?
Will we see the day when one needs an iTunes ACCOUNT just to play one’s CD on a Mac or to rip music to mp3 and maybe upload to an iPhone? Fine, then I can see why a kid might want what Less is More asked for: an Open Source unfettered player.
My kid has a Nano and a Sony-Ericsson phone with a good part of his music library. And he didn’t need iTunes or an iTunes ACCOUNT to upload his library into the phone.
Let me spell the word “account” that you seem to have missed: M-O-R-O-N.
“@STEFANO JOBSO” was responding to me I believe. But if I am wrong please forgive me. First, I am surprised that you have someone under your care. The low level of maturity that you have exhibited is astounding. Second, I was almost 100% sure that one did not need an iTunes acct (and I can spell account but I just chose to abbreviate) to use an iPod. That was my point. But I conceded the fact that that situation might have changed since I purchased my first iPod. I, in fact, agree with “@STEFANO JOBSO” point. One does not need an iTunes acct to use their iPod so why would Apple force someone to get an acct with the iPhone. It seems a bit heavy handed to me. Something that you might see emanating from Redmond, Washington. You would think that with all of the negative press Apple received on SOME PARTS (EDGE, Touchscreen (which I am sure folks will come around to once they use it. . . it is just a feeling I have)) of the product launch that they would tread gingerly.