iPhone in Thailand, O2's iPhone sales, MacBook Air unboxed, more

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple is discussing bringing the iPhone to Thailand, local carrier Advanced Info Service says. Also, British carrier O2's iPhone sales may be low but have tripled store activity, while Japanese press got the world's first taste of unpacking the MacBook Air.



Thai iPhone talks underway



Thailand telecom firm Advanced Info Service (AIS) is in talks with Apple to offer the iPhone in the southeast Asian country, company assistant marketing VP Prattana Leelapanang has confirmed on Monday.



The executive has not said whether the talks are close to their conclusion but notes that, as with other carriers already offering the iPhone, AIS is in the midst of negotiating a revenue sharing plan.



Apple's move makes Thailand the third provider in Asia known to be discussing the introduction of the iPhone, with China Mobile and Japan's NTT DoCoMo both having acknowledged high-level meetings between themselves and the Cupertino, Calif.-based electronics giant.



O2 sells 190,000 iPhones, sees store traffic boost



The UK's official iPhone carrier, O2, has sold 190,000 handsets in the two months since its launch on November 9th, according to a report in the Financial Times.



Citing anonymous sources, the paper says about 190,000 Apple handsets have traded hands since launch. This may fall underneath a "conservative" 200,000 figure and suggests that Apple's £269 ($524) price is too high for customers used to far less expensive devices, the report says.



O2 has not published its official figures but says that its retail store traffic has tripled compared to a year ago courtesy of the iPhone. The spike is believed to have provided a surge in O2's sales for the end of 2007 regardless of how many customers eventually chose the iPhone over an alternative.



MacBook Air's ultra-minimal box revealed in Japan



Apple chief Steve Jobs' claims of reducing Apple's packaging volume for the MacBook Air by 50 percent versus the MacBook has been confirmed through a photo gallery posted by an attendee of Apple Japan's press event for the new subnotebook.



Where the normal-sized MacBook still ships with a foam shield, the Air's box contains no foam at all -- just a tray deep enough to hold the portable. A paper pull tab reveals all the accessories and software hidden in a section underneath the computer.



In an additional treat, the Japanese event also reveals that the MacBook Air is roughly half the thickness of the Sony VAIO SZ despite sharing the common trait of a 13.3-inch screen.



























Microsoft ahead of Apple in allowing home OS virtual machines



As part of a series of virtualization-related announcements, Microsoft on Monday opened up its licensing agreements to allow Home Basic and Premium versions of Windows Vista to run within virtual machines.



In the past, only advanced editions of the OS -- Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise -- were allowed to be used in these environments. This has stopped Parallels and other software developers from officially supporting the more accessible and inexpensive versions.



By contrast, Apple has only just begun to allow Mac OS X virtualization: the company's Leopard Server license agreement is the first to allow Mac virtual machines. It also requires a separately licensed copy of Leopard Server in place of either the standard Mac OS X Leopard client or an additional license for the same copy.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 72
    eaieai Posts: 417member
    I'm not sure many consumers will care about virtualization - us geeks might, but your average OS X user won't... That said, theres not much reason for Apple to not allow it - they can have the same 'Apple hardware only' restriction OS X server has.
  • Reply 2 of 72
    joy.



    that vaio is pwned.
  • Reply 3 of 72
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    Between the UK and France we are looking at roughly 290,000 iPhones sold in Europe. And still waiting for Germany.
  • Reply 4 of 72
    So how far along is Apple to making that 10 million iPhone sales goal?
  • Reply 5 of 72
    moochmooch Posts: 113member
    Yay! Now I don't need to shell out the big bucks for Vista Ultimate when I get my Mac Pro.
  • Reply 6 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    So how far along is Apple to making that 10 million iPhone sales goal?



    the number 4mil was released at MacWorld. This puts them on pace to sell 10mil. I think the quarterly report coming up will elaborate. I believe its coming tomorrow?
  • Reply 7 of 72
    Thailand? When will we have the iPhone in Canada? It's right next door to the US after all, and grey market iPhones are being sold in many of the local computer stores.
  • Reply 8 of 72
    Woohoo! Thailand, then the rest of South East Asia!
  • Reply 9 of 72
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    So how far along is Apple to making that 10 million iPhone sales goal?



    Well considering they are basically only counting 2008 (i.e. not 2007) sales they are only starting out. They'll easily reach it though. And if they bring out an iPhone nano later in the year they'll double or triple those numbers.
  • Reply 10 of 72
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by HyteProsector View Post


    I think the quarterly report coming up will elaborate. I believe its coming tomorrow?



    That's right Sir
  • Reply 11 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple's move makes Thailand the third provider in Asia known to be discussing the introduction of the iPhone, with China Mobile and .......



    Huh? Didn't SJ say explicitly in an interview that there were no talks going on with Chinese service providers? In fact, I recall that he said something along the lines that someone from China Mobile visited Cupertino once, and that's about it.



    Of course, he could be b-s'ing.......



    (Here's the AppleInsider article that quotes SJ re. what I said above: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...ndle_more.html)
  • Reply 12 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple is discussing bringing the iPhone to Thailand



    Does that mean the iPod will eventually get Thai script support then? I think the iPod is currently limited to Latin, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean only currently.
  • Reply 13 of 72
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    So how far along is Apple to making that 10 million iPhone sales goal?





    Maybe about 4,400,000 sales, after the German results come in.
  • Reply 14 of 72
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Huh? Didn't SJ say explicitly in an interview that there were no talks going on with Chinese service providers? In fact, I recall that he said something along the lines that someone from China Mobile visited Cupertino once, and that's about it.



    Of course, he could be b-s'ing.......



    (Here's the AppleInsider article that quotes SJ re. what I said above: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...ndle_more.html)



    He was very explicit about that. I don't think he would lie about something that important.



    I was going to post on it myself.
  • Reply 15 of 72
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Other than for servers, what would be the point to virtualizing OS X on Macs?



    While it's true that an 8 core and even a 4 core machine could do it, it might not be such a good idea.



    There will be contention for other services which would slow the machine down with conflicts. The drives would also be pounded.



    However, it's good that MS has now bowed to users and given the nod to Home. I wonder why, since the assumption was that it was to forestall Mac movers.
  • Reply 16 of 72
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Well considering they are basically only counting 2008 (i.e. not 2007) sales they are only starting out. They'll easily reach it though. And if they bring out an iPhone nano later in the year they'll double or triple those numbers.



    The original statement wasn't for 10 million in 2008 only, it was total for sometime in 2008, including 2007.
  • Reply 17 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    The original statement wasn't for 10 million in 2008 only, it was total for sometime in 2008, including 2007.



    I'm not sure how Apple is 'on track' to meet their 10 mil goal by anytime this year based on the current sales. They'll have to offer additional, cheaper models or broaden their offering of cell providers.
  • Reply 18 of 72
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    I'm not sure how Apple is 'on track' to meet their 10 mil goal by anytime this year based on the current sales. They'll have to offer additional, cheaper models or broaden their offering of cell providers.



    If they sold about 4.5 million in the first 6 months, then they just have to sell about 5.5 million in the next 12. I see no problem there.



    We know they will have new models, that's been said. What those models will be other than including 3g, I don't know.



    But, the SDK will also add a good deal of appeal, even if it is limited, which we don't yet know. Business software has already been coming from some of the biggest names in business software.



    I would expect that they will add more Flash sometime this year as a good bet.



    One way or the other, they will add more carriers.
  • Reply 19 of 72
    msnlymsnly Posts: 378member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    One way or the other, they will add more carriers.



    If they would let Verizon use it I would tack it on to my 1.3 years left on my contract, then I would switch to AT&T if that makes Apple happy, I'm just tired of having to wait out this contract.
  • Reply 20 of 72
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MsNly View Post


    If they would let Verizon use it I would tack it on to my 1.3 years left on my contract, then I would switch to AT&T if that makes Apple happy, I'm just tired of having to wait out this contract.



    It would have to be a different phone. The iPhone, as it is, only uses GSM. They would either have to have a CDMA model, or one that has both (some do).
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