OK – I’m the first to admit that I am a newbie on this prediction thing. Tuesday has long passed us, and no 3G iPhone yet. I did say something about sooner than once thought, and that does look like it’s the case. Telefonica O2 Europe, Apple’s Europe carrier, made remarks about, “a joint statement over the coming weeks but declined to say whether it would be about 3G iPhones.”

I then read a few reports/articles by the Apple blogosphere veterans about how Steve Jobs has intentionally held a product back so that the stock would dissipate. Andy Space, of 9 to 5 Mac wrote a good synopsis of what might be going behind the curtain, you can find the full article here.

Space points out that Jobs and company could be doing it deliberately to A.) Create scarcity and stimulate demand, and B.) Keep customers happy. You might remember that I mentioned that I felt this would make a lot of sense. To quote, “Sure, that’d be a way to avoid major amounts of disappointed people, throngs of them showing up to return theirs for the new devise. Imagine the craziness if those people and the newbies swarmed in all at once.”

Speaking of iPhone, I realized to day when I was once again downtown, flirting with the iphone at the Apple store; I can type pretty well on it now. Amazingly well. A side effect I never contemplated, but there you are. I also noticed that my web site, Whiplash Design, is broken in the areas I have used Flash. Bugger. Soon Flash will be there…soon.

Any of you not have an iPhone yet? What is your reasoning for not having it right now? Same as mine? Let me know, I look forward to the discussion it might spark.

Church of The Apple Mind | Comments

Just received FastCompany’s new issue fir June, a Wow! what a cover story. Featured is the Ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky who won a $300 million dollar contract with Microsoft, winning over some pretty sweet choices.

Trouble is, on the cover, the question is asked, “Can This Dude make Microsoft Cool?” And just under that reads, “Alex Bogusky is the Steve Jobs of the Ad world. His $300 million mission: To Crush Apple.” You see, I thought , “Wow, this will be great! This is going to a be a juicy read.”

After reading it, I came to one very painful (for Microsoft and CP & B) conclusion: you can’t make a company cool just by hiring an ad agency. You have to actually make products that people want. Focus on the products and you might get somewhere. I found it laughable when the article pointed out that the CP & P agency was built on Macs, and then states, “…Keller and Reilly today are using their team as an early focus group for learning how to persuade Mac lovers to embrace Windows.”

Huh? Mac people switching to Windows? Absurd and strangely intriguing. I’ll post more on this later, but Wow. This made me wince, and I’m open minded when it comes to the great debate. (Okay a tiny bit biased.) At least these guys do know that you can’t create cool by riding on its back, and that chasing cool would be redundant. I’ll give CP & B their due, the Burger King commercials were successful (although creepy) and the TRUTH ads are done very well. They have a long, long road ahead though if they don’t have products that the early adopters want. It just won’t happen.

Zune anyone?

Church of The Apple Mind, On Microsoft… | Comments

The crew at Think Brilliant Media Studios decided they’d had enough of struggling to keep up with all the Apple blogs, news and rumors whizzing about – so they created MacBlogz.com

I say welcome and good luck to you guys! The Apple Blogosphere is beginning to explode, even more so in the near future. Hopefully, if I do this right, I can be on there as well. Until my true launch of this blog though, I’ll keep truckin’ and salivating over the 3G iPhone rumors.

Church of The Apple Mind | Comments

After I posted my prediction yesterday, I came across this on MacRumors

What’s strange is that nothing is being said by anyone about when this announcement is expected. This morning, every Apple blog was reporting that on AT&T there was evidence of a 2nd option available to choose a iPhone Black. What that means, is beyond anyone, one can only speculate.

The drums are beating people. Mark my words, it’s going to happen soon. I’m saying that and I don’t even have any spies or journalist insider tricks.

iphone | Comments

It’s been known since Saturday, May 10th that the Apple online store has a sign on the iPhone, “Currently Unavailable.” Not just the US web site – Our friends in the UK can’t get one either when they want to pull it up.

My prediction: the 3G iphone is coming sooner than once thought, and that will be this week. More specifically, Tuesday May 13th. Yes, I am being bold, but there is no other explanation for the sporadic oddities snapping about. That is – if it isn’t announced on Monday the 12th.

Apple doesn’t miscalculate demand for the current iPhone. That’s ridiculous. Some say that Apple is being rarely polite and nice to the would-be purchasers of the 1st gen. iPhone. Don’t want people buying the phone now, when the new one is coming out in a day or two. Sure, that’d be a way to avoid major amounts of disappointed people, throngs of them showing up to return theirs for the new devise. Imagine the craziness if those people and the newbies swarmed in all at once. I don’t get that either – they’re going to sell the 1st generation iPhone anyway. They’d be crazy not to have it on hand for those that still want it as an option.

Tomorrow we’ll see though – Monday is gonna be fun.

iphone | Comments

I just saw on TUAW that we loyal .Mac subscribers may get an upgrade, coinciding with the iPhone 2.0 launch. Hmm…that would be nice.

I don’t use mine all that much anymore, except to sync my personal settings and bookmarks. I have a blog on there, but haven’t used or put an entry in it since – well, I subscribed last year. If this is true, it’d be extra great for me, because my renewal is up in July and I’ll finally be getting my iPhone in June or July. Perfect timing!

So what are these new features? Take look:

This would be pretty sweet. Pretty soon the iPhone will really be a substitute for your laptop. (Well, ok – maybe not, but close.)

So tell me – what do you use your .Mac account for?

iLife & iWork | Comments

I remember the day that Apple changed the game. January 9, 2007 the Mac world watched as Steve Jobs revealed the device. I wasn’t there, but I followed on a live text and photo feed. As I refreshed my browser over and over again, I got giddy as a Carrie Bradshaw with a new pair of Jimmy Choos. I kept saying out loud to my cat, and myself, “OMG – they actually did it!”

Ever since that day, I have been an addict, slurping up everything iPhone. You would think I’d have one by now.

Not so – I have waited, like a kid who’s Christmas was never going to come. Why? I’m an early adopter to only a wee degree. There’s also the missing pieces. The same reasons a lot of others have waited. No 3G, no cut and paste, and no GPS. Also, as everyone in the civilized world knows, you never go and purchase the first generation of an electronic device or software.The bugs have to be worked out.

That’s not to say I haven’t gone to my local Apple store and fondled and played with it. I have – every time I’m downtown! When I’m in the company of people that have one, I of course have to turn away, like a vampire avoiding the sun. It’s been really hard to wait.

It looks like my wait has paid off. This summer in June, at the WWDC, Steve Jobs is expected to introduce the new iPhone. It’s not a secret anymore, and Apple simply cannot coverup everything that is going on in the world because of it. Vodafone has confirmed that they have secured the distribution rights for the device in 10 different countries.

I will be in line, you can bet money on that. I have waited long enough. And what a day to be an iPhone owner. The SDK release will be done at the same time, and watch out for the circus to begin – Candy Canes and Rainbows for developers. The applications that several companies were allowed to create for the phone (with a 2 week deadline!) are incredible.

Truly, the Mac is and will forever be in our shirt pocket.

iphone | Comments