What’s that you say? You missed your chance to get a free case from Apple for your iPhone 4 as part of their Antennagate free case giveaway? Well, good news: you can once again buy an official iPhone 4 bumper in a panoply of colors directly from Apple. It’ll cost you just $29.99.

Don’t have the scratch? Not to worry: you can still try your luck complaining to an Apple Store Genius about your iPhone 4’s attenuation issues. Really, though, isn’t it worth thirty bucks not to have to listen to some insufferable turtleneck lecture you on the physics of radio antennas for half an hour before he wearily sighs and condescends to hand over your free Apple-branded rubber band?

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal threw some more sparks at the kindling of the rumored Verizon iPhone, claiming that it was conclusively on track for debut in the first quarter of 2011.

Personally, I wasn’t inclined to believe the rumor. It was only two weeks ago that Verizon’s own CEO said that the iPhone wouldn’t be coming to their network until they had their 4G network in place, claiming that the wireless carrier needed to “earn” the iPhone.

Today, though, I’m ready to change my tune due to two new revelations. The first is that Verizon has announced that they would be rolling out 4G to 38 cities this year, and start showing off 4G-capable smartphones at CES in January 2011. That makes a 4G Verizon iPhone next year possible, even within the Wall Street Journal’s optimistic first quarter timeframe.

Over in the world of Android smartphones, one form factor that has been seeing an increasing push from handset makers is the 4.3 inch touchscreen phone, best exemplified by the likes of the Motorola Droid X and HTC EVO 4G. That’s significantly larger than the iPhone’s 3.5-inch touchscreen.

While many companies are embracing this larger display, which makes internet browsing a lot easier at the expense of pocketability, it’s unclear if consumers really prefer it… which makes the claims of one Wall Street analyst that Apple will expand the iPhone line with a series of handsets with larger displays pretty suspect.

According to Shaw Wu, a Wall Street analyst from Kaufman Brothers, sources familiar with Apple’s overseas suppliers say that Apple is considering larger as well as smaller displays for its iPhone line.

The file cabinets of mobile companies are always filled with patents, but it’s only recently they have started going to war over them. Before 2007, in fact, most patent disputes were handled behind closed doors with smiles and handshakes. Then the iPhone came along, and all of a sudden, it was sue or die.

Motorola’s the latest company to launch into the smartphone patent lawsuit fray, lodging
a series of patent infringement complaints against Apple in both Northern Illinois and Southern Florida federal district courts, as well as asking the International Trade Commission to ban Apple from importing, marketing or selling all iOS devices, as well as some Mac products. They’re out for blood.

Plans have emerged today from people briefed by Apple that the company is to begin mass producing a new iPhone by the end of 2010 that will allow Verizon Wireless to sell its popular smartphone early next year.

The new iPhone will be no different externally to the iPhone 4 in shops today, however, internally it will feature an alternative wireless technology called CDMA used by Verizon. According to the same people, the key chip will be provided by Qualcomm, and the device is expected to be released in the first quarter of next year.

A CDMA iPhone would spell the end of Apple’s exclusive arrangement with AT&T in the U.S., a deal that has been in place since the iPhone made its debut in 2007.

The same people have also spilled some beans on the fifth-generation iPhone, which they claim is currently being developed by the Cupertino computer giant. One person familiar with the plan claims that the next model will feature a different form factor from the iPhones currently available, however, it was unclear how soon this version will be available to Verizon.

Spokeswomen for both Apple and Qualcomm have unsurprisingly declined to comment on the matter, and so has a spokesman for Verizon Wireless.

[via WSJ]

You have until midnight, October 6 to enter your best iPhone snaps to be part of a traveling exhibit of the best in iPhone Photography.

Winners will be showcased in Apple stores around the US — Chicago (Oct. 21), New York’s Soho Store (Oct. 29) and in Santa Monica (Nov. 11).

Your best shots must be done on an iPhone, unaltered and family friendly (this is retail, people).

Look at this incredible picture from London’s Mail on Sunday showing the massive crowds that line up every morning to buy unlocked iPhone 4s.

The Mail claims the unlocked iPhones are being shipped to Asia and the Middle East, where the iPhone 4 has yet to go on sale. Unlocked handsets can be sold for double their purchase price. At first I thought the picture was from the grand opening of Apple’s new Covent Garden store, which opened recently, but the Mail says the lines are forming every morning:

At 6.50am in Covent Garden security guards stopped people from joining the queue. About 230 were cordoned off behind airport-style barriers waiting for the shop to open.
At 7.30am a manager came out and stood on a chair and said: ‘We have iPhones for you. We will open the store in half an hour. Just be nice. Be orderly.’A cheer broke out as the shop doors opened just before 8am.

The New York Times says the same thing is happening in NYC, but may slack off when the iPhone 4 goes on sale in China on Saturday: Buyers Send iPhones on a Long Relay to China.

Thanks Kato.

We start off another day of dealing with something new in the spotlight: refurbished iPads. The Apple Store is offering refurbed 16GB, 32GB and 64GB Wi-Fi iPads for $449, $549 and $649, respectively. Apple is also offering a deal on the 160GB Apple TV for $129 – a $60 drop. Finally, there is another chance to get a 2-year iPhone warranty from the folks at SquareTrade. The $89 extended warranty covers spills and drops.

Along the way, we’ll also check out more software and hardware deals for your favorite Apple product. As always, details on these and many more bargains can be found on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

More signs appear every day that Apple is prepping a CDMA version of its popular iPhone for early 2011. The Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly has told suppliers it wants the first 3 million CDMA-only handsets ready for December 2010. The addition of a CDMA version alongside the current GSM-only iPhone should push fourth-quarter iPhone production to between 21 million and 22 million Apple handsets, one analyst told investors.

Citing overseas suppliers, Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Jeffrey Fidarco said shipments of GSM-only iPhones will be betweem 18.2 million and 18.4 million for the September quarter, a figure he described as “well above investor expectations.” Additionally, the analyst forecasts Apple will sell 11.6 million iPhones for the fourth-quarter of fiscal 2010, a 39 percent jump from the 8.4 million Apple sold in the third quarter. The recent launch of iPhone sales in China, along with Apple’s goal to launch the iPhone 4 in 88 countries by the end of September will aid results in in the fourth-quarter, the analyst told investors.

Are you wondering how a company like Nokia can, on the one hand, claim that it is selling more smartphones every day than the iPhone, and yet be kicking its CEOout the door like a mangy dog? These pie charts ought to make everything crystal clear.

Advisory firm Canaccord Genuity told investors to buy, buy, buy Apple stock on Tuesday, targeting Apple’s price at $356 per share… and to give investors an idea on why they were so excited about Apple’s prospects, they accompanied their note with the following observation: even though Apple only sold 17 million handsets in the first half of 2010, Apple has pulled in 39% of the mobile sector’s profit.

Meanwhile, Nokia, Samsung and LG sold 400 million phones last year — over twenty times as many handsets as Apple sold iPhones — and yet their profit was dwarfed by Apple’s in the same period.

As Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley notes, “[W]where most handset OEMs struggle to post a profit or even 10% operating margins… we estimate Apple boasts roughly 50% gross margin and 30%+ operating margin for its iPhone products.”

No wonder the boards of companies like Nokia are lopping off their key executives’ heads and bowling them out the door.