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iPhone Round Up: 3G Available Unlocked, App Reviews Require Ownership, Apple Lowers Output

A whole lot has been happening in iPhone-land lately. The 3G iPhone is now available unlocked...in China. If you want to write a nasty note about an iPhone Application, you're going to have to pay for it first. Lastly, Apple has lowered the number of iPhones it will manufacture this year, but has raised the number it thinks it will sell.

3G Unlocked iPhone

If you want an unlocked iPhone, get ready to shell out some cold, hard cash. The Apple iPhone 3G is available unlocked in China for a sum of $700 for the 8-GB version and $800 for the 16-GB version. The Apple Web site says that the iPhone 3G purchased at the Apple Online Store can be activated with any wireless carrier. It doesn't specify if that means any carrier in China or any carrier in the world.

Alternately, you can buy one here at the subsidized price of $200 or $300 and unlock it yourself for free. Of course, there's that pesky two-year contract to consider...

App Reviews

Here's a nice little PR move. One of the great things about the iPhone Apps Store are the user reviews. They give you the real deal, not marketing lingo, so you know what you're in store for if you choose to buy an application. Well, before this weekend, you could write a review of an application even if you hadn't downloaded it. That is no longer the case. In order to write a review of an application, you must have downloaded it and installed it on the iPhone.

This is a good move, if you ask me. Any reviewer who writes a review even if he/she hasn't even used the application is wasting my time.

iPhone Output

According to analysts, Apple has cut the production of 3G iPhones from 18 million units to 14 or 15 million units during the third and fourth quarter of this year. The Register reports that, "[Pacific Crest Securities] reckons Apple will sell 11m iPhones during H2 2008, up from its previous forecast of 8m. Accounting for the apparent discrepancy -- increased sales yet reduced production -- PCS noted that cutting back on manufacturing costs gives Apple 'sustainable pricing power,' implying the Mac maker could reduce the handset's price over the period."

Apple and analysts think the company will sell all of the iPhones that it makes.

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