It’s late July. Do you know who Fake Steve is yet? According to buzz on the web today, a new top candidate has emerged as the fake iCEO, and this one’s actually plausible.

Some clever dudes at Sitening created a tracker link to a fairly lame iPhone haiku, trusting that Fake Steve would take the bait. He did, and they traced it to a Boston IP address. That points to Andy Ihnatko so far as the Sitening guys are concerned (and most of the rest of the commenters). It’s also consistent with previous accusations, including one from Fake Steve Ballmer.

What’s my take? Well, it makes sense, if nothing else. I can’t think of many people I would call “Macintosh Humorists,” but Andy is one of them. His old MacWorld columns were a hoot, and I learned many key phrases from him, including “web that smut!”

On the other hand, I don’t actually ever want to know who Fake Steve is – his anonymity makes him powerful, and even leaves open the possibility it’s actually Real Steve (it’s the perfect cover!). Unfortunately, we probably will know, and soon, and the fun will be gone.

This all makes me think of Mac the Knife, the weekly rumor columnist for MacWeek back in the day. No one ever copped to penning the column, which was the best in the business at its time. There’s a prevailing rumor that former editor Matthew Rothenberg was MtK, but it’s never really been proven. And that’s powerful. We’re in a different era now, but it makes me nostalgic for a time when the silent crusader could remain silent.

But Andy, if it’s you? You’ve been doing a great job. Keep up the good work – or get John Mackey to do it for you.

Via Apple 2.0.

It’s just a mock-up, but I’d totally wear it, wouldn’t you? For me, I would want a single pendant with the iPhone Safari logo, nestled against my heart…

Via Geeksugar.

Mastered the iPhone keyboard? Track your speed with a new website testing just that. Digg readers claim they’ve topped 40 words per minute, but then, I used my PowerBook keyboard and got 70, so take it with a grain of salt. If you’re actually an iPhone user, I’d love to know about your best score.

Via Digg.

We’ve officially moved beyond skepticism that Apple would be able to get a foothold into the mobile market to full-on speculation for how the company will follow up the breakout success of the iPhone. According to MSNBC, it will be with the iPhone Nano. Which they make sound like…the iPod Nano. With a phone on it.

Kevin Chang, a JP Morgan analyst based in Taiwan, cited people in the supply channel that he did not name and an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for his report.

Apple filed a patent application document that refers to a multifunctional handheld device with a circular touch pad control, similar to the Nano’s scroll wheel.

Yeah, I’m sure that will be exactly what Apple does. I’m sorry, there’s no way Apple ever releases a product with a click-wheel. The company has sent clear messages that it considers that to be the iPod interface and the iPod interface alone. The iPhone is about multitouch. You don’t get the name otherwise.

The iPhone will quite obviously eat into iPod sales. That’s kind of the point long-term. It doesn’t mean Apple’s ready to roll out a bad product to replace good ones.

Via Digg.
Image via Information Architects

A bit more than a week into the iPhone launch, we’ve established some certainties:

1. All the iPod functions are awesome
2. Browsing in Safari is surprisingly good
3. No. 2 is only true when connected to WiFi, because EDGE is SLOW

For all of the nit-picking and armchair quarterbacking, the only feature that people are consistently upset about is the lack of high-speed wireless data. Unfortunately, some early adopters are trying to justify their purchases. From the sounds of it, the always-entertaining Robert Cringely is among their ranks:

The question here is whether 3G is already built into the iPhones shipping now or whether it will require a new model? Given that it is coming so soon after the iPhone introduction, I can’t believe that even Steve would make us buy new phones. It is very likely that a firmware upgrade will awaken the 3G within all you iPhone owners.

That’s a different definition of “very likely” than I’ve ever heard. I wish it were true, Bob, but it just ain’t. Many people have gone through the iPhone with a fine-toothed comb, and there is no secret 3G hardware. If there were, Steve Jobs wouldn’t have explicitly complained about the poor battery life of current 3G chipsets, and the many geeks who’ve ripped open their iPhones would have found the chip. The first-gen iPhone is the first-gen iPhone is the first-gen iPhone. Flash and java support can be added. New hardware can’t.

I won’t be surprised at all if Steve gooses iPhone sales with a 3G model in time for Christmas, maybe with 16GB of on-board storage. I will, however, eat a haberdashery worth of hats, if current iPhones get on that high-speed highway.

Via Apple 2.0

Update: Ben Rudolph, Parallels’ spokesman, says the ad’s removal is nothing major:

Nah, just testing out some marketing concepts, getting feedback, etc.  Nothing that sordid. :)

Original post: Remember when the Internet was 89 percent “Get a Mac” parodies? You know, back before bad iPhone parodies were in vogue? Well, that era briefly resumed today as Parallels, makers of virtualization app Parallels Desktop, posted their own “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials. As you might expect, the traditional rivals work together well for the first time ever in the four Parallels parodies.

Then, as suddenly as it arrived, the post vanished. Not only is the official blog linking the files gone, but the videos are clear off of YouTube. You can read the original link at a Google cache, and it’s clear that this was a deliberate PR campaign to start:

Everyone’s seen Apple’s great “I’m a PC. I’m a Mac.” commercials, and you knew it was only a matter of time before we did our own.

We took a different approach than the “official” ads…rather than talking about why PCs and Macs are different and arguing which is better, we decided to show how you can experience the best of both worlds with Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Take a look. They’ll (hopefully) make you laugh:

I’ve written to Parallels to see if Apple is involved with a C&D here. I would be surprised to learn that this isn’t protected as parody – I don’t believe the rules are different if the creator has a commercial interest. Still, a mystery.

Via DownloadSquad.

Think I really blew it with some key part of the Apple Product Roadmap? Here’s your chance to do it one better.

I have uploaded the file I created to SlideShare (unfortunately, they convert to PowerPoint, but I did it and brought it back to Keynote and it looks right). Feel free to take it, add images, remove some, add commentary and just generally get creative with it. Then, when you’re finished, upload your finished file as a PDF to scribd and send me the link – I’ll provide links to the coolest stuff you come up with.

Get the file! 

Too often, we dissect minute details of a company’s everyday actions looking for signs of health or strategy. Unfortunately, quarterly reports and individual actions can be totally misleading. That’s why I’ve created the above map, which charts, near as I can tell, the evolution of Apple’s entire product family from the Apple I to the iPhone. I was inspired to do it by this chronological sort done by Edwin Tofslie that Fake Steve linked to last night. The images involved are of every major design revision, not necessarily model revision, that Apple has made in its 30 year history. So I decided to chart how various products superceded others in Apple’s history, and start to think about new implications.

I’m tired, I haven’t done much thinking, other than to notice that Apple’s four product lines really came together perfectly in 2001, just in time to launch the iPod from a position of strength. The above image is tiny, so head to Scribd to see it in full, especially as a PDF download. There’s a lot to take in, but I’m dying to know what you think. Do my connections make sense? Does a pattern emerge that implies where Apple will go next?

See the full map!

Jon Lech Johansen, the 23-year-old who first cracked the CSS encryption screen for DVDs when he was 15, has now discovered a method for activating the iPhone without registering with AT&T at all. With the help of a little Windows application called Phone Activation Server and a few “magic numbers” Jon posted, Apple’s amazing new device wakes up as a touchscreen iPod and WiFi-enabled Internet device — that, of course, can’t make phone calls. With this, I think it’s safe to assume we’ll see an unlocked iPhone running on T-Mobile or one of the European carriers very shortly. I know there’s a lot more to it, but people are really honing in on the secured side of the iPhone now. Still, it would be nice if the cracks were written for Linux and Mac OS X instead of .NET…

Via Apple 2.0

David Pogue of the New York Times, ladies and gentlemen. Would that we could all be so un-self-conscious.

At the end of its first full week on sale, a distinct pattern has emerged for iPhone availability: We West Coasters are out of luck. Though Apple has obviously begun to restock its stores with iPhones, they appear to be working from East to West.

According to Apple’s availability checker, virtually every Apple Store in New York, all of them in New Jersey, and most shops up and down the eastern seaboard are chock full of iPhones, while no state west of Utah has even one iPhone available in Apple Stores. Hopefully, new shipments could arrive out here tomorrow for a weekend pick-up. As a reminder, Apple announces the next day’s iPhone availability at 9 p.m. each day – which is a nice way to avoid going to a store and coming back empty-handed.

This is great news. I couldn’t be more delighted that BBC journalist Alan Johnston’s kidnapping didn’t end tragically. He’d been detained for 16 weeks and his release was negotiated by Hamas, now in control of Gaza.

He told the BBC: “It is the most fantastic thing to be free.”

More details at NYT.

It must be a constant frustration to Steve Jobs that journalists and message board commenters alike routinely “misspell” iLife, iTunes, iPod, etc. as Ilife, Itunes, Ipod. Well, in the universe of the iPhone, that vicious cycle will end. Reader Scott notes:

I don’t know if anybody else has noticed this yet, but the spellcheck on iPhone auto corrects the “mis-punctuation” of Apple’s i-products.
For example:

Ilife becomes iLife
Itunes becomes iTunes
etc.

It gave me a little chuckle to realize Apple edited the dictionary in it’s own favor.

Update: Scott came through with the evidence.

Picture: CommonGate

The paparazzi caught Ms. Lohan leaving Planet Blue at the Country Mart in Malibu on Saturday clutching an iPhone in her hand, according to crazyGossip. More crazy Lohan shopping pics at the site.

I bet the iPhone’s glass top is great for chopping and snorting.

According to Erica Sadun at TUAW, the iPhone can be used with an old SIM card. She activated her phone, then popped out the SIM card and put in an old one. The iPhone continued to function as an iPod, plus web and email via Wi-Fi.

However, I’m pretty sure this won’t work with an unactivated iPhone — and in the comments someone noted that it’ll likely get disabled when iTunes checks for a software update.

Todd Ficharker, who describes himself as the “clumsiest person in the world” smashed the screen of his iPhone less than 24 hours after he bought it. He explains:

“I tried answering a call while it was plugged in and the short cord pulled it out of my hand and hit the corner of a table on the way down. 100% my fault.”

But there’s a silver lining! Unbelievably, Apple replaced it for free.

“They gave me a brand new phone for free. Talk about fantastic customer care. I am in love 4-eva with Apple.”

Via MacFeber

Pic by Leander Kahney: Apple’s San Francisco store on iPhone opening night.

Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey thinks Apple sold 700,000 iPhones on its opening weekend, more than half again than the 500,000 estimated by his esteemed colleague Gene Munster.

Bloomberg reports that Bailey initially pegged 350,000 iPhone sales, and Munster estimated 200,000.

Said Munster: “In 2009, we estimate a third of Apple’s sales will be from iPhone. This is a huge product.”

Dinner Conversation: June 28th, 2007
Click on the pic to read the captions.

Apple sold half a million iPhones in its opening weekend, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimates.

Munster was impressed with the raw speed at which the iPhones were sold. Some stores had 50 cashiers selling 1,000 iPhones an hour, he said. Most were the 8-Gbyte model.

It looks like the iPhone is beginning to sell out. Almost every store in California is out, except for one San Francisco store. However, there are iPhones available in New York and other states.

But I bet they’ll be sold out by the weekend. EBay sellers disappointed that the handsets aren’t being snapped up need only wait a week or two and they’ll be scarce again. (iPhone Not Quite The Cash Cow eBay Sellers Were Hoping: by Corey Spring, Newsvine)

The above YouTube video shows someone typing quite fast on the iPhone. He or she writes:

“People who can’t type fast on this phone are retarded.”

Via Gizmodo.

We performed an iPhone autopsy at Wired News on Friday night. Don’t worry, it’s on Conde Nast’s tab.

Breaking it open was pretty daunting. The iPhone is near impregnable. But we sank a few beers and soon the knife was out.

We learned a few valuable lessons about taking it apart — like don’t drink beer. It’s all detailed here.

The iPhone is gadget heaven. It really does restore your sense of childlike wonder. I’ve had a blast all weekend running my greasy finger over its glassy surface.

It’s a Crackberry for the masses. Finally, mobile email, messaging and web browsing is fun and easy — how did it take so long?

I’ve had a Treo and cell phone email for years, but never, ever used them — they’re a mess. Now I’m an iPhone text addict — a 41-year-old acting like a teenager.

I bought one on Friday and have been out around town with my kids all weekend. The little angels monopolized it, surfing the web and watching YouTube. They figured it out immediately. I showed them one thing — how to use your fingers to shrink and zoom — that was it. I took some calls, surfed the web and sent some email.

I found it’s not all roses — there’s serious issues using it for work — but in general, we’re true believers.

The Good and The Bad after the jump. Plus camera phone samples.

This never takes long anymore, does it? The guys at WirelessInfo.com seem to have been the first to film and post an unboxing video of their new iPhone to the Intarwebs, as you can see above. A bit excited, yes?

iFixit, meanwhile, not only posted an unboxing gallery, which you can see here, they took it all the way to the logical conclusion: TOTAL DISASSEMBLY. Do not try this at home, folks. Damn.

Via Digg and Apple 2.0

Apple is selling the iPhone in what I have to assume is their first-ever product specific shopping bag. Madness.

The box, needless to say, is gorgeous.

See above. I’m heading to the Genius Bar tomorrow. Who wants to be bet there’s already someone there to complain that Apple sold them a defective phone without a keypad?