FCC OKs iPhone, but iPhony delay (and moon fishing)

Ahhh, Friday's IT Blogwatch: in which Apple's iPhone gets set for takeoff, but is it delayed? Not to mention what happened when The Toast King organized a fishing trip on the moon...

Nancy Gohring sizzles:

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Apple Inc.'s iPhone, clearing the way for the combined phone and music player to hit the shelves. Apple expects to begin selling the phones in late June
...
The long, public FCC certification process may have been the reason Apple decided uncharacteristically to announce the iPhone in January, six months in advance. Rather than let rumors leak out based on FCC filings, Apple may have decided to tell the public about the iPhone itself ... Apple requires approval from the FCC to sell devices like the iPhone that operate on public airwaves.
...
Eager would-be buyers who hoped for a faster data connection will be disappointed that the approval is only for EDGE. Many operators, including Apple partner AT&T Inc., have upgraded their networks to deliver download speeds of about 500Kbits/sec or more -- more than twice as fast as EDGE ... It will have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless capabilities and operate in the [GSM] 1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands. That means that despite the phone's high price, users won't be able to roam with it in Europe, where operators use different frequencies.

Hang on, what was that? James Quintana Pearce explains:

The FCC confirms what we knew, but adds that the phone will operate in the 1900MHz and 850MHz frequency bands—which means it won’t work in Europe ... Apple has plans to launch the iPhone in Europe so the decision to prevent the phone working in Europe probably has something to do Apple’s desire to maintain full control of the distribution process—although it could be something to do with the iTunes store and geographic boundaries on selling songs, but I doubt it. The problem is that iPhone users won’t be able to use the device to roam in Europe.

Richard Baguley, il dit, "au contraire":

It is actually a quad band phone that supports all four GSM bands. However, the FCC only tests it on the bands that are used in the USA; the GSM850 and GSM1900 bands.  The others (GSM900 and GSM1800) are used outside of the USA, and it seems the iPhone will support them as well, although they were not tested for the FCC submission.

Kasper Jade adds geeky detail:

According to FCC documents obtained by AppleInsider, the "GSM Cellular Telephone with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi" carries model number A1203 and FCC ID: BCGA1203. In an SAR Test Report conducted on February 6th, 2007, FCC Test Lab Manager Lothar Schmidt wrote the following: "The Apple Inc. A1203 GSM Cellular Telephone with Bluetooth and Wifi, FCC ID: BCGA1203, is in compliance with the limits for general population uncontrolled exposure specified in FCC 2.1093. The device was tested according to the measurement standards and procedures specified in FCC OET Bulletin 65, Supplement C (Edition 01-01) and IEEE p1528/D1.2, April 21, 2003."

Per Apple's request, the test report omitted the following for "short term" confidentiality reasons: Test Setup Photos, External Photographs, Internal Photographs, and the iPhone User Manual. Permanent confidentiality omissions included the iPhone's Block Diagram, Operational Description, Radio Schematic, Radio Bill of Material, Radio Tune-up Procedure, and Exhibit notes.

Meanwhile Ryan Block is eating much crow:

Yesterday Engadget posted an incorrect story about an iPhone delay, and I wanted to go into greater detail about how this happened.

At 9:09am CDT yesterday a number of Apple employees received an email that appeared to be from Apple corporate reporting that the iPhone and the next version of OS X had been delayed. An Apple employee who we trust then forwarded this email to us ... We contacted our source after receiving their email, and they confirmed for us that they had indeed received this email, an email which by all appearances was a legitimate email from Apple corporate. In fact, this Apple employee certainly believed this, especially since the email had also been received by other Apple employees. They gave us absolutely no indication that its origin might be in doubt.
...
Given the nature of that news, we felt we had an obligation to inform people that Apple had sent out an internal memo in preparation of a delay in the iPhone and Leopard. And so I ran the story ... About an hour and 40 minutes [later], a second memo was sent to the same internal Apple lists, dismissing the first ... unfortunately no amount of vetting and confirming sources can account for what happens when a corporate memo turns out to be fraudulently produced and distributed in this way.
...
Credibility and trust is the currency of our realm, and it's clear we lost some of that ... [and] learned a very serious lesson yesterday.

There, but for the grace of the Deity, goes Michael Arrington:

Yesterday Engadget posted that the iPhone was going to be delayed several months, relying on what turned out to be a bogus email for the story. Four billion dollars in market cap was wiped off of Apple’s stock price in six minutes as the “news” hit the market. Engadget quickly corrected the story and the stock recovered within twenty minutes, but many investors had lost a staggering amount of money in the amount of time it takes to brush your teeth.

I have to say that I, too, would have posted this news based on the source ... Whether Engadget screwed up or not will be debated endlessly by the blogosphere, and some mainstream media will pick up the story to gleefully report the inadequacies of fact checking procedures at blogs.
...
But the fact is that big blogs now have an incredible amount of power to move information quickly, and influence people more broadly than ever before. I’m not sure we (bloggers) understood quite how much influence we really had until yesterday ... With power comes responsibility. And I think Engadget handled the situation with an appropriate degree of professionalism.

But Jonathan Berr disagrees:

Remember that old chestnut about not believing everything you read in the paper? It's still true. And even more so in the internet age ... This is one the oddest episodes I've seen in my career as a business journalist. From the start, there were plenty of red flags.

Firstly, why would a company whose obsession with media leaks rival that of the late Richard Nixon distribute an open memo to employees on such a sensitive topic?
...
Secondly, Apple would have been required to put out a public statement about an iPhone delay. In the eyes of the SEC, this is material information that must be disseminated.

John Paczkowski, too:

Pity the poor Apple investors who closed out their position in the company after
reading an erroneous report yesterday ... Shares of Apple slipped on the news, falling to $103.42 from $107.89 in about six minutes. And the company’s market capitalization dropped by $4 billion ... Apple was quick to quell the rumor–issuing a press release assuring investors that both products will ship on schedule. And the company’s stock soon recovered. But that did little to appease investors outraged by the market-moving story.

Here's Mathew Ingram, with a perspective:

Stocks go up and down every day, in some cases by large amounts, based on rumours and trader talk and (in some cases) the weather. Day traders can make and lose lots of money on those gyrations, but for the most part it is noise.

The fact that Engadget’s fake memo moved Apple so much is an indication to me of just how volatile the stock is, another sign that expectations are getting overdone.

Last word has to go to Steve Jobs (for it is he):

Now some are calling for an S.E.C. investigation. Guilty party at Engadget is our good friend Ryan Block, boy toy of the luscious Veronica Belmont. I know what you're thinking. Was this one of those fake Apple leaks where we try to put a stick in some poor blogger's spokes? Would Apple really resort to something as evil as this? Would we really still harbor a grudge from months ago when Veronica Belmont ripped me and said the Toshiba Gigabeat was better than the iPod? And would we get back at her by trying to get her boyfriend fired from his job? Come on. You know we would.

Bloggers, hear me now: This is war. You beat us in court, so now we're resorting to Plan B. We're going to undermine your credibility. Frankly I can't understand why anyone believes anything they read on a blog in the first place.

Buffer overflow:

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Around Computerworld

• Martin MC Brown: Mobile batteries, cheap and nasty, or expensive; what a choice
• Preston Gralla: Speak softly...the FBI may be listening
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Previously in IT Blogwatch

• Amazon antagonizes Apple with DRM-free music (and but is it art?)
• Sun's CEO slaps down Microsoft (and power-tool dragsters)
• No YouTube for you, private! (and Gears of Bore)
• Microsoft's forceful FOSS fight (and electric Harleys)
• VCs juice Joost (and rate my network)
• Older posts

And finally... On The Moon, s01e12

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk.