“It wasn’t long ago that my inbox was full of screen caps from an image editing program of a new iPod, it was a fat yet small iPod that we now know as the 3rd gen Nano. We posted the photos and were later told by Apple’s legal team to take them down,” Matt Hickey reports for CrunchGear.
“A similar tipster tonight has very generously given us these pics of the iPhone 2, or iPhone 3G as some are calling it. Like the Fat Nano from last summer, the images come from Apple or AT&T promotional material that shows not just the new iPhone, but also gives away a couple secrets,” Hickey reports.
• Thinner than the current model
• Stereo speakers on the back
• Front facing camera for iChat AV
• Multiple color choices, including (RED)
• Evidence that Apple will launch iChat for Windows
Full article with more info plus more and larger images via CrunchGear here.
MacDailyNews Note: Engadget is calling these images “fake,” here. The fact that the images remain online in various places might also be a hint that these are fake.
Maybe it was both fake and not fake.
There’s that small possibility that it was provided by Apple to weed out certain tipsters per quater.
@Sam
It might confirm the subsidy rumors; iPhone 2 for the masses! Seriously though, once Apple penetrates the market as deeply as it has with the iPod, it’s going to be very hard for its competitors to get those consumers back. I, for one, can’t imagine going back to using a normal cell phone; can you?
Just be glad you can’t see Carlos’ left hand.
@ krquet
I almost certain most of these leaks are Apple-created, but I don’t think they’re looking for moles, I think they just like to get the grist mill going to build hype for the show. You’ll notice they always show up one day after another in the week or two leading up to the show, almost like clockwork. I expect another leaked photo or firmware find tomorrow.
apple would never use that carlos guy to sell a product….
“I think they just like to get the grist mill going to build hype for the show.”
But only the upper crust subscribe to such half-baked ideas sandwiched between grainy assumptions and harvested loafers outside of their fields.
Carlos looks like a terrorist – and thats racial stereotyping, so the ad is REAL.
@Just be glad you can’t see Carlos’ left hand.
iPhone ships now with iWindshieldWiper….
keeps your screen clean
@dallas
Oh and, what good would “Stereo Speakers do on the back?
Speakers on the back might not be too bad (depending on placement). They could be placed in such a way so that sound would bounce off the hand and towards the user. That might even give better sound than where they are currently placed since the sound now comes out the bottom.
Notice there is no lock button on the top of the red one as compared to the black one.
@It’s real
Apple is totally capable of out-of-the-blue-nobody-expected-this type of thing.
Then how could we expect it? Hmm.
Think that if those weren’t the fake ones, than apple would have closed this page 10 minutes after the article was published =)
I like the idea of having iChat capability.
@Ampar
Why do they call it that? Have you ever had Turkish Delight? It’s anything but delightful. Ugh.
If you look at the original article, you can see the iChat blurb and it says something like
“…iChat on your phone… and Windows!”
Personally I don’t think Apple would use the “…”, and they especially wouldn’t use an exclamation mark in their marketing. It takes away their cool, calm, sophisticated attitude and shows a lack of maturity.
It looks very cool, but fake.
@ Ampar
I LOLed. Srsly. =)
Thanks, C1. I’m hugging you. Pleeeease don’t call the cops again. Bail is almost as much as the gas.
Ho ho… the red one is a fake, or not fake, Product Red edition! And an earlier prototype, duh.
Don’t know about the pics, but would guess that they are close.
iChat for Win is more than a little interesting – it allows Mac/iPhone users to video chat with Win users. Sort of like opening iTunes to Win users – it expanded the Mac experience and moved a lot of people to a Mac.
For me it’s ideal. We’re a Mac household, but my wife has a brother in Australia and we have to use Skype for them to video chat. iChat would double the framework for them and might move her brother closer to a Mac.
It would raise the standard (my Magic Word)for iPhone/Win users, making the iPhone a much more desirable product.
iChat for a 3G iPhone is almost a certainty. Apple needs a “killer application” for the 3G capability, and iChat AV is exactly that. And they own it anyway.
Its the idiots at CrunchGear trying to drive up traffic to their lame ass “tech” (if you could call it that) site.
What A Holes…
How the hell would you do a video chat when the camera is on the back side?
The speakers aren’t really on the back, they are on the bottom facing down as with the current model… But since the edges mimic the Macbook Air, it looks like the rear.
I dunno, I would say looks like a great fake if fake, and a decent real if real LOL.
Am I the only one who has been using iChat AV with Windows users (for the last four years, no less)? AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) for Windows had AV capability ever since iChat AV Beta came out in 2003 (that is five years ago, folks!). The networking protocol that iChat AV uses belongs to AOL (as do the authentication servers). In order to develop client software with functionality that already exists, and for protocol owned by another company, Apple would have to get permission from AOL. I’m not sure what benefit AOL would have from having Apple increase the workload of their servers without bringing the revenue of advertising and other AOL properties that their own Windows client does. Conclusion: no iChat for Windows (most likely).
As for the authenticity of the pictures, that isn’t relevant anymore. They may as well be authentic; Apple’s point has been made – about half of people here believe, the other don’t, in their validity. Apple has absolutely no reason to intervene. None of the supposed leaks we have seen or heard so far have been reliably corroborated, thus continuing the anticipation and uncertainty. Apple’s goal has been accomplished – we still don’t know if there will be 3G iPhone and what it will look like, less than 48 hours before the show. Apple had done it again!
And on he subject of iChat for Windows, I would have to say that such a piece of software would be light years ahead of what today Windows users are forced to use if they wish to video chat with their Mac friends on iChat. AIM for Windows is a monstrosity beyond parallel, and that includes such ugly beasts as Microsoft Office, or Windows Vista itself! I would really be hard pressed to think of more atrocious piece of software than AIM for Windows. Unfortunately, as things stand, it is unlikely that AOL would ever let Apple build and distribute (for free) something that would immediately replace AIM on every single Windows desktop that has it.