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We’re not particularly inclined to believe them, but the whispers that Apple is about to bump the top-end iPhone capacity to 32GB are getting harder to ignore — especially since 8GB inventory is drying up, leading to speculation that’s it’s going to be dropped as soon as next week. We think the timing’s a little odd on the heels of the Let’s Rock iPod refresh, but considering the rampant speculation that Apple was forced to bump the nano to 16GB and drop the “limited edition” 4GB model entirely at the last minute in response to the new Zune lineup we suppose it makes competitive sense. AppleInsider also says customers will once again get the option to activate in-home, but we haven’t heard anything about that — we’ll see what happens in the next few days.

[Engadget]

So the good news is that T-Mobile has decided to keep right on taking pre-orders for the G1 through October 21, just one day before the handset’s official launch. The bad news, though, is that it doesn’t mean you’ll be getting your Android on come October 22. Turns out that the initial allotment of G1s set aside for pre-orders is now sold out completely, and any names taken between now and launch will be allotted phones being shipped quot;at a later date.quot; It’s not clear if a quot;later datequot; means a week, a month, or a decade after the 22nd, but for the sake of everyone involved, we hope its the former. br /strongUpdate:/strong T-Mobile’s site says that pre-orders taken from here on out will be delivered quot;as early as November 10,quot; so it looks like you early birds are going to have a nice little period of exclusivity. [Engadget]

I missed out on the cushy, well-received home activation process enjoyed by pretty much every first gen iPhone user. Instead, I waited in line for my iPhone 3G, waited some more, and then waited some more as the AT&T store employees told us about a hundred times that iTunes was kaput. Eventually, I was sent home to wait until the system was ready. On that note, here’s some good news for future iPhone 3G buyers: The critically acclaimed home activation process could be returning soon.

AppleInsider cites Apple Store employees as the source of the rumor. Apparently, a new "Home" option (currently inactive) appears in their EasyPay system when they make an iPhone 3G sale. As the 8GB model runs dry on store shelves, there’s also indications a 32GB model could appear fairly soon to replace it, and match the iPod Touch. [AppleInsider via Gizmodo]

Competition in the touch-screen smartphone segment is set to heat up soon now that Asustek Computer has unveiled its first touch-screen handset, the Asus P552w, while High Tech Computer (HTC) is preparing to launch a mid-range touch-screen model, the HTC Opal, to strengthen its penetration in the segment, according to market watchers in Taiwan.
The P552w, which was unveiled on September 5, features the latest Asustek-grown 3D touch user interface, the Glide, which is able to perform functions similar to the HTC-grown 3D TouchFLO technology, the noted the observers. Asustek is expected to start volume shipments of the P552w in the fourth quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter of this year as originally planned, the observers indicated.
View: The full story @ DigiTimes

The on-again, off-again saga of NetShare, an iPhone tethering application, continued over the weekend as Apple briefly returned the program to the App Store on Friday, but then yanked it from the mart a second time. The NetShare application, which lets iPhone owners share the phone’s EDGE or 3G cellular Internet connection with a notebook computer, reappeared Friday for several hours on Apple’s App Store after being pulled Thursday . By approximately 10 p.m. PDT Friday, however, NetShare again went missing.
As of 3 p.m. Sunday, NetShare remained unavailable. Developer Nullriver Inc. had no idea why its software had been reposted to the App Store on Friday, or why it had been removed later in the day. “NetShare is now back up and available from the App Store!” the company said midday Friday in an update to a statement posted to its Web site. Hours later, it updated the online statement. “Apple has taken it down again, with no explanation yet again,” Nullriver said early Saturday.
View: The full story @ InfoWorld

Looks like we’ll have to get up bright and early to buy the new iPhone. Also, AT&T says a “no-commitment” iPhone is “coming soon.”

First things first: The new iPhone 3G will go on sale at 8 a.m. next Friday at AT&T retail stores and Apple stores. So if you’re planning on lining up, you’d better be ready well before sunrise.

Also, AT&T has finally clarified pricing for current AT&T subscribers who want the iPhone 3G.  

In a nutshell, if you’re “upgrade eligible” (log into your AT&T account to see if you are), you’ll be able to buy the new iPhone for the discounted price of $199 for the 8GB version or $299 for the 16GB model. (AT&T is somewhat vague about the eligibility criteria, although your credit history and the time remaining on your contract are factors.) You’ll also have to pay an $18 “upgrade fee.”

If you’re not eligible for the discount, you’ll have to fork over extra for an “early upgrade”-$399 for the 8GB iPhone 3G or $499 for the 16GB model. Ouch.
AT&T also says that a “no-commitment” (read: no contract) iPhone 3G will be available soon, at $599 for the 8GB version and or $699 for the 16GB handset. Pricey, but hey-no two-year contract.

Unfortunately, AT&T won’t offer the new iPhone on a prepaid basis, at least not at launch. [Yahoo! Tech]

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July 11 the 3G iPhone will reach the snatching hands of the crazed public. The new iPhone supports new features such as 3G wireless (surprise!), GPS mapping, enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store. Keeping in line with the original iPhone, you get the same major features: widescreen iPod, and desktop-class web browser. It also includes smart sensors that help save battery life by adjusting the backlight based on ambient light.
The 3G iPhone is presented with the lines: “Twice as fast. Half the price.” The price will start at $199. [Neowin]
View: Apple 3G iPhone Features

The era of officially sanctioned iPhone applications should kick off on Monday.
That’s the same day Apple CEO Steve Jobs is expected to take the stage at the Moscone Center to unveil the next-generation iPhone at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers’ Conference. A source at a software company that has been working on a native iPhone application tells us the company is getting ready to launch that application on Monday, which could also imply that Apple’s App Store will be up and running that day.
The App Store is going to be the only way to get official third-party iPhone applications onto your device. Developers have been submitting their applications to Apple for testing and verification since the iPhone SDK became available, and in exchange for hosting and distributing the applications Apple is taking 30 percent of the revenue generated by sales of that application. [cnet]

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Smartphones are seen as a more of a security risk than laptops and mobile storage devices, according to new research. Some 94 percent of senior IT staff fear PDAs present a security risk, just above the 88 percent who highlighted mobile storage devices as a worry. Nearly eight in 10 said laptops were an issue. Only four in 10 had encrypted data on their laptops, and the remainder said the information was “not worth” protecting.
The results come from a survey of 300 senior IT staff conducted by endpoint data protection supplier Credant Technologies. A key danger with PDAs was that over half of IT executives surveyed were “not bothering” to enter a password when they used their phone. Nine in 10 of the smartphones were being given access to company networks without extra security, even though the phones were individually owned by users. There were no access restrictions being applied to 81 percent of the phones.

View: The full story @ Infoworld

Apple’s iPhone, a new model of which is widely expected this summer, took 19.2 percent of the U.S. market for smart-phones sold in the first quarter of 2008, according to research firm IDC’s  vendor survey. That was down from 26.7 percent of smart-phones sold in the fourth quarter of last year, which included the holiday shopping season. Much of the slack was picked up by Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, which took 35.1 percent of the market in the fourth quarter and then 44.5 percent in the first. IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the BlackBerry is now strong in the “prosumer” segment, as RIM has successfully widened the appeal of the device beyond the professionals who have been its core customer group.
View: Full Story at SiliconValley.com