World of Apple

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonny Ive has bagged himself another award, this time for the iPhone’s iconic design.

The Mobile Data Association recognizes “those UK companies and individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the uptake and success of mobile data over the last 12 months.”

Ive has won the MDA Personal Achievement Award for the “design of the Apple iPhone and its user interface”.

Ive has previously won awards for his designs on the original iMac, iBook and iPod.

Photo courtesy of MacPlus.net

Today MacPlus.net has posted photos of the interior of the future three-level store including the glass staircase, back-lit wall graphics and stainless steel interior panels.

Top Apple executives including CEO Steve Jobs are once again facing legal action over the backdating scandal.

Last year Apple had the high profile case against the company dismissed after both the US Securities and Exchange Commission and an internal investigation.

Apple shareholders Kenneth Mahoney and Martin Vogel last week filed a new lawsuit that accuses co-founder Steve Jobs, other executives, and board members with damaging the company’s share value through backdating, causing a 14 percent drop in the company’s stock value during 2006 that wiped out about $7 billion of Apple’s worth on the market in just two weeks.

According to the claim executives dated stocks that weren’t revealed to shareholders and also falsified records.

At the time when Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.4 earlier this week the company stated that the update included “RAW image support for several cameras.”

Since then Apple has released a document detailing which cameras benefit from the added support, RAW support is now included in Mac OS X 10.5 for the following cameras:

• Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi / Kiss Digital x2 / EOS 450D
• Epson R-D1 / R-D1s
• Leaf AFi 7
• Leaf AFi 6
• Leaf AFi 5
• Pentax K200D
• Pentax K20D

Today Apple quietly dropped the price of the top-end MacBook Air.

The lower-end model featuring a 1.6GHz processor and 80GB hard drive remains the same at $1799.

Apple has emailed those who currently have the top-end model on order:

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Support

Australian telecoms company Optus has today announced the pricing for the iPhone 3G as well as the price of the handset on a pre-paid basis.

Optus is selling the iPhone 3G on pre-paid for $729 and $849 for the 8GB and 16GB models respectively. The pre-paid handsets can be unlocked for $80 and then used on any other mobile network.

Optus also outlined plans for iPhone 3G on a contract, pricing can be viewed on the carriers website.

Optus is not the the only carrier offering the iPhone 3G in Australia, both Telstra and Vodafone are also selling the iPhone in the country.

Today Telstra announced pricing for the iPhone 3G. Plans start at $30 per month with an upfront cost of $279 for the 8GB model and $399 for the 16GB model.

On an $80 per month plan the 8GB iPhone 3G is free and either the 8GB or the 16GB model at no cost with plans starting at $100 per month. All plans include free Wi-Fi access at Telstra hotspots and require a 24-month contract.

Apple has today given developers an official deadline for the last date in which they can submit their application to the App Store for inclusion on iPhone 3G launch day.

To ensure your application can be considered for the exciting launch of the App Store, submit your application by 12 PM PDT, on July 7, 2008. We will continue to accept applications after this time, however your application may not be available until after the launch of the App Store.

Yesterday Apple posted two guided tours of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 firmware, the 38-minute guided tour is aimed at beginners to the iPhone, running through almost all the features of the iPhone. An additional 12-minute version covers just new features to the iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 software.

Apple also showed the front screen of the App Store which features a previously unmentioned application. The application is an AOL instant messaging application which will be distributed for free.

The App Store was also shown to operate different to the iTunes WiFi Music Store which downloads to a queue, the App Store immediately displays the application on the home screen and shows a progress bar showing the download completion status.

To ease confusions for those wishing to purchase an iPhone 3G on July 11, AT&T has posted videos offering information about the upgrade process for existing AT&T customers as well as new customers.

The iPhone 3G will go on sale at 8am in AT&T stores across the US on July 11.

AT&T offers a video for existing customers in which the company outlines that current iPhone owners backup their iPhone using iTunes prior to purchasing an iPhone 3G. The video also notes that voicemail will be deleted when upgrading.

In a second video AT&T advises those wishing to sing-up with AT&T for the first time to visit a store before July 11th and complete a credit check to save time on launch day.

Gizmodo has posted a brief video walking through just a few of the features that are in the iPhone 2.0 firmware update which is expected on July 11.

The update will be a free update to current iPhone owners and should come pre-installed on the iPhone 3G.

Gizmodo also posts some screenshots from iTunes 7.7 which includes preferences to look for iPod touch and iPhone remotes.