iPhone 5 Confirmed GSM / CDMA World Phone by Verizon CFO

We say confirmed but really it should be revealed that the new Apple iPhone 5 would be a world phone aka global phone according to Verizon CFO (Chief Financial Officer) named Fran Shammo.

According to PCmag there was an interview with Reuters and the Verizon CFO revealed that the next Apple smartphone iPhone 5 also known as the iPhone 4S would be a world phone aka global iPhone, another words it will be both CDMA and GSM.

This mean that AT&T and many other network companies will have this world phone model, this will give all customers the chance to make calls on both CDMA and GSM. PCmag does report that the AT&T version might have both even though it would only need GSM to be considered a global phone.

The Verizon iPhone 4 is only CDMA, which means it will only work on CDMA networks and not GSM networks such as Africa, parts of Asia and most of Europe. The AT&T iPhone 4 only works on GSM networks, so if the iPhone5 is release on both GSM and CDMA this gives customers more of an option.

Apparently the iPhone 5g will be released on both AT&T and Verizon at the same time, specs on the next-generation iPhone are not known yet but it will be released in September 2011. Can Apple really develop a new iPhone to run on both networks giving customers a world phone?

Here's more on the iPhone 5 news

The Data Plan Dilemma Gets Uglier: Verizon To Drop Unlimited Plans Ahead of iPhone 5 Release

Data transfer is the lifeblood of smartphone usage — and the thing that sends mobile phone bills (and tempers) through the roof. New news of Verizon canceling its unlimited data plan ahead of the iPhone 5 release joins a recent report that AT&T is overcharging for data usage on the iPhone and iPad 2 review. When will the data gouging stop?

As the summer heats up, people might have more to stress about than the rising price of gasoline — a pair of news stories have surfaced this week concerning data plans on America's top mobile carries — AT&T and Verizon — and how iPhone users are systematically getting as gouged at the "data pump" as they are the gas pump.

The iPhone 5 News Blog posted an article earlier in the week about a class-action lawsuit filed against AT&T for purportedly overcharging all 20 million of their  iPhone and iPad users for "phantom" data transfers when the devices are not even in use, leading to bills that are anywhere from 7% to 300% higher than what they should be. Clearly, stories like this raise the level of concern on the part of prospective iPhone 5 customers, who fear that new features such as a cloud storage, NFC, and the 4G network (likely to debut in the iPhone 6), will only exacerbate data transfer usage. In our previous article, we postulated that the next shoe to drop on this developing story would focus on Verizon.

Well, the second shoe has dropped.

Tech media outlet ZDNET is reporting that, according to Verizon CEO Fran Shammo, their "unlimited data plans would be replaced by tiered service plans aimed at heavy users. Verizon's tiered data plans would likely mimic AT&T's own, which offer 250MB of data for $15 per month and 2GB for $25." This news comes ahead of the eventual release of the iPhone5 (or "iPhone 4s" as some have suggested it will be called), as well as several new Android phones that will have 4G LTE functionality. While consensus still remains that the next iPhone will now be a 4G smartphone, there are other possible features, such as cloud storage and NFC, which could lead to exponentially more data usage from iPhone users. It would seem that, in light of these possible new features, Verizon is positioning itself to gouge iPhone 5g users as they are potentially forced to swap data at much higher rates.

Data Plans: Moving In the Wrong Direction

Over the years, telecom-related plans have always moved from incremental billing to flat rate billing. Think about it: early Internet access on services like AOL were billed hourly, but eventually were forced to move to a flat rate billing model. The same has been true with long distance phone calls, with most land line voice plans replacing minute-by-minute billing with a flat rate.

Data plans, however, seem to be moving in the opposite direction.

With this news of Verizon abandoning unlimited data plans, smartphone users will be forced to scrutinize their own mobile Internet usage (particularly in our weak economy), much in the same way that mobile phone users have struggled to keep track of their "minutes" of phone usage. But as more and more mobile plans include either unlimited or high-level voice usage allowances, it is clear that carriers like Verizon and AT&T are looking for new ways to raise revenues, and hitting smartphone users up for data usage is clearly the new cash cow.

What the larger companies like Verizon and AT&T are failing to recognize is that they are giving price-leading mobile networks like Sprint the opportunity to undercut them on data plan pricing in the future. In the past, when Internet providers like AOL switched from hourly billing to flat rate pricing, it was a viable and necessary move, since more and more people were getting "online" every month; there were enough newcomers to the Internet experience to allow AOL to make more money with flat rate pricing, since it would attract more new customers.

But with an already established smartphone customer in place worldwide, carriers like Verizon would seemingly have more to lose by nixing their flat rate data plan, ostensibly losing that edge over their fiercest competitor, AT&T, and encouraging their own iPhone users to conserve and script on their data usage. And what if Sprint gets the iPhone 5? In spite of the fact that Sprint uses the slower CDMA technology, wouldn't the iPhone 5 paired with Sprint's Simply Everything plan look attractive compared to Verizon and AT&T nickel and diming iPhone 5 users on data?

Data plans are getting increasingly ugly for iPhone users, and it looks like the trend toward data gouging is only going to increase as the iPhone 5 looms closer.

Here's more on the iPhone 5 verizon

Foxconn Plant Explosion May Delay iPhone 5

A massive explosion and subsequent fire at a Foxconn plant in China has killed two workers and injured 16 others, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The explosion took place at the Hongfujin Precision Electronics Plant, which is located just west of Chengdu, in Sichuan province. No other injuries or damage to buildings was reported.

As Foxconn is the largest manufacturing partner of Apple and is currently producing the iPad 2 review and ramping up for production of Apple's next iPhone 5, investors are worried that the explosion could cause delays or worse. Reuters reports that shares of Apple stock, traded on the Nasdaq, were down over 1.5 percent to $335.22 at closing.

It is currently unknown what is actually in production at the plant. Foxconn International Holdings, a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision and the largest contract manufacturer on the planet, owns and operates a large number of factories in China with a wide variety of high-tech electronics produced at each.

Edmund Ding, a spokesperson for Foxconn, emailed Bloomberg that "the fire was under control, and full cooperation had been given to investigators." Ding also pointed out that Foxconn had "halted production at the site of the explosion until the investigation is complete," but wouldn't comment on which products were affected.

Foxconn has been in the news quite a bit recently – including making headlines over the past year for worker suicides caused by the high levels of stress that come with working at the plants. The company has worked hard since then to improve both working conditions and its brand image – something that may suffer a minor setback due to these recent events.

Apple issued a brief comment through spokesperson Steve Dowling, stating "We are deeply saddened by the tragedy at the Foxconn plant in Chengdu and our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We are working closely with Foxconn to understand what caused this terrible event." He would not comment in regards to any possible disruptions in production of Apple products, including the iPad 2 or iPhone 5g.

One analyst, Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities, told Reuters that he is confident that the plant did produce iPads in Chengdu. He referred to the shifting of iPad production from Shenzhen to Chengdu recently as an indication that Apple may suffer some supply issues down the road due to this fire, however Apple has yet to confirm or deny this as fact.

Here's more on the iPhone 5 news

iPhone 5 News Blog: Revolutionary New PaperPhone Reveals A Flexible Future For Smartphones And Tablets

While the iPhone 5 News Blog is committed to reporting on iPhone news, rumor, and opinion, we also keep an eye on next-generation communication concepts that could someday put technology like the iPhone to rest. Read lead columnist Charles Moore's fascinating exposé on a new smartphone design that could put the iPhone 5 to shame — the PaperPhone!

The iPhone has been a game-changing device. just ask Apple's competitors like Research In Motion (RIM) and Nokia. And iPhones to come like the iPhone 5, iPhone 6, and beyond will be cooler yet. However, a Canadian university scientist and inventor says the thin film phone he and his team have developed will make current smartphones like the iPhone obsolete in 5 to 10 years.

The world's first interactive paper computer is set to revolutionize the world of interactive computing, according to its creator Dr. Roel Vertegaal, director of the Queen's University Human Media Lab at Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and incidentally a current iPhone user.

Could this be the smartphone that puts the iPhone5 to shame?

"This is the future," says Dr. Vertegaal, "Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years. This computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper. You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen."

I can hardly wait.

Notwithstanding the many virtues of devices like the iPhone, iPad, other tablet computers, as well as dedicated e-readers like Amazon.com's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook, in my estimation a major deficiency they all share as platforms for comfortable, relaxed reading is tactile — that rigid form factor with a plastic or metal feel. Consequently, I much prefer traditional ink-on-paper newspapers, magazines and books to e-books and other e-publishing formats. Especially when reading for pleasure. I still subscribe to a hard-copy daily newspaper, and the ink-on-paper versions of five magazines. They're more expensive than their corresponding e-editions, but I just prefer the friendly, flexible feel and heft of them.

It's partly generational I suppose. I was 40 by the time I got my first computer, and I didn't grow up reading off electronic screens. Heck, our family didn't even get its first black & white television, with reception on a whopping two broadcast channels until I was 10. Don't get me wrong. I love digital devices as powerful creative tools, communication platforms, and information access, storage.and retrieval media, and I'm Internet-addicted, but for me the paradigmatic reading experience involves print on paper.

However, Dr. Vertegaal's smartphone prototype, called PaperPhone, can be aptly described as a flexible iPhone. It does everything a smartphone does, such as store books, play music or even make phone calls. But instead of a rigid glass or plastic its display consists of a 9.5 cm diagonal thin-film flexible E-Ink display. The flexible form of the display makes it much more portable that any current mobile computer: it will shape with your pocket. It's also much more durable than any current mobile phone, a point illustrated convincingly in a demonstration video in which a PaperPhone screen is shown being beaten on vigorously with a mallet without as much as an image flicker. It still feels like plastic of course, but in this context flexible plastic beats the whiz out of rigid plastic in terms of comfortable feel. The potential for it supporting user input via a standard pen as cited by Dr. Vertegaal would just be icing on the proverbial cake.

Stylin'!

Being able to store and interact with documents on larger versions of these light, flexible computers would also be a major step toward realization of the long-predicted but thus far elusive paperless office by lessening the need for paper and printers even further.

"The paperless office is here. Everything can be stored digitally and you can place these computers on top of each other just like a stack of paper, or throw them around the desk" enthuses Dr. Vertegaal, who notes that besides revolutionizing the world of mobile smartphones, this invention heralds a new generation of computers that are super lightweight, thin-film in form factor, comfortably flexible, and that use no power when nobody is interacting with them, and when you are, it doesn't feel like you're holding a slab of glass or metal.

The only downside is that you'll likely have to wait at least five hears for this next wave of potentially disruptive technology to reach consumer hands. At least by that time the iPhone 5 should have arrived!

Dr. Vertegaal will unveil his paper computer to his scientific peers on May 10 at 2 pm at the Association of Computing Machinery's CHI 2011 (Computer Human Interaction) conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, — the field's premier international event. An article on a study of interactive use of bending with flexible thinfilm computers is to be published at this conference, where the development group is also demonstrating a thinfilm wristband computer called "Snaplet."

Just like the iPhone, PaperPhone has a dynamic touch screen

The PaperPhone development team also includes researchers Byron Lahey and Win Burleson of the Motivational Environments Research Group at Arizona State University (ASU), Audrey Girouard and Aneesh Tarun from the Human Media Lab at Queen's University, Jann Kaminski and Nick Colaneri, director of ASU's Flexible Display Center, and Seth Bishop and Michael McCreary, the VP R&D of E Ink Corporation.

iPhone 5G

We have received several reports that Apple is strengthening ties with the company Nuance to develop voice recognition software. It is hoped that this will allow them to match and hopefully supersede such capabilities as exist on Google's Android iphone 5g.

Existing voice recognition software on iOS has been in the past provided by Microsoft, however as it developed an inferior reputation to Google's Android's abilities it seems that this development is an attempt by Apple to strengthen its place as industry leader in the phone market.

Competition between Apple and Google has become increasingly fierce over the past couple of years; with Apple adding Microsoft Bing support and it's own 'Google Maps' clone, it has increasingly come to see Google as it's prime competitor rather than partner.

It is in this context that this move must be seen and it's likely that rather than any strategic disagreement between Apple and Microsoft, Apples move towards Nuance is simply due to them being able to design better software.

Rumors on the internet are also declaring that Apples massive data center in North Carolina is already utilizing Nuance voice recognition technology and that this integration occurred in defiance of Microsoft demands that their software be better integrated into iOS5.

Running Nuance software in Apples data center is beneficial for numerous  reasons, firstly it allows them to build upon the software as they see fit, without having to run it through third party servers first. It would also allow them to process data much faster, compared to having to send data to Nuance servers and then wait for it to come back again.

So why did Apple decide to partner with Nuance? The answer to this is is to do with who owns the patents that underlay voice recognition technology, the vast majority of them belonging to Nuance and Google. Given the fact that almost all the worlds voice recognition experts work for these two companies, Apple didn't really have a choice in going with Nuance if they were to develop new and Google beating software.

What this all means for Apple fans anticipating the WWDC coming up this summer is that the Apple/Nuance partnership is likely to play a big role in Apples new cloud initiative which is set to be a huge part of iOS5. Whether prospective developers will get any further insight to this at the WWDC is as of yet to be known.

Here's more on the iPhone 5g

iPhone 5 holdup means clinging to older model was a mistakeiPhone 5 holdup means clinging to older model was a mistake

The holdup of the iPhone 5, which will see it released later than most anyone outside of Cupertino had been expecting, represents the final nail in the coffin of the idea that skipping the iPhone 4 was a wise move. Those who opted to cling to their iPhone 3G or 3GS are now left holding the bag, or more accurately, left holding outdated technology. They've spent the year missing out on the superior hardware of the iPhone 4 as well as at least part of the iOS 4 experience, even if they've installed the latter. Now they get to continue limping by with an aging iPhone even longer, even as it looks increasingly likely that the iPhone 5 will deliver a new iPhone experience entirely. Here are the top reasons why it originally seemed en vogue to skip the iPhone 4, and why none of those reasons still make sense in hindsight.

Timing: Apple's initial iPhone 4 inventory shortage saw many existing iPhone users unable to upgrade until a month or two into the iPhone era. Doing the math on a twelve month subsidized pricing cycle and not wanting to get stuck overpaying for the iPhone 5 when the time comes, they opted to skip the iPhone 4 altogether. Now, as it turns out, the iPhone 4 era will last more than a year anyway – meaning they could have bought an iPhone 4 in August and likely still been able to have bought a subsidized iPhone 5g at launch.

Controversy: All the external hype about supposed iPhone 4 antenna issues and supposed iPhone 4 scratching issues turned out to be a bunch of made-up nonsense. But it motivated a number of potential buyers to skip the iPhone 4 until the smoke cleared.

Repetition: Some folks prefer to buy the second iteration of the same model, along the lines of the notion that the iPhone 3GS represented the original iPhone 3G perfected. Many were assuming all along that the iPhone 5 would merely be a second iteration of the iPhone 4. But the delay strongly suggests a full redesign of the iPhone 5 (if it were merely an iPhone 4GS labeled as iPhone 5, there would have been no reason for a holdup). That's good news for many, but not for those who were hoping to get their hands on a second-generation iPhone 4, as it were. Here's more on the iPhone5.

Moved Camera Flash Another "Fix" For the iPhone 5, or a 3D Camera?

Thanks to a purported leak of an iPhone 5 case, new rumors of the iPhone5 featuring a repositioned camera flash could be the result of yet another flawed design on the iPhone 4. But could that other cut-out also be for a rumored 3D camera?

iPhone users eager for a sneak peak at the iPhone 5′s form factor have been abuzz3D in conjecture over a recently-discovered iPhone case being offered on the trade site alibaba.com that purports to be for the "iPhone 5G." While the iPhone inside the photo is most definitely a mock-up, the case itself is possibly believed to be the product of a design leak from one of Apple's China-based component manufacturers, giving the tech community a kind of "outline" of what the form factor of the iPhone 5 may end up being.

While many have focused on the sloped shoulders of the purported iPhone 5 case's chassis and seemingly-edge-to-edge screen, new reports are taking notice of a considerable shift in the position of the rear-facing flash. As opposed to the positioning of the iPhone 4′s LED flash — which sits just to the side of the camera sensor — the mysterious iPhone 5 case features a cutout on the other side of the rear face of the design.

If this indeed is an inside peak at what the iPhone 5 features, what would a repositioned camera flash mean? Given some of the issues with the camera flash on the iPhone 4, would this not constitute yet another "fix" on the iPhone 5?

Or, could that circular cutout be for something revolutionary for the iPhone 5, such as a 3D camera?

iPhone 4 Camera Flash Issues: a History

Camera flash issues are nothing new for the iPhone 4. Early on in the release of the iPhone 4 in the Summer of 2010, there were numerous reports of the iPhone 4 taking yellowed photos. Heather Kelly at Macworld did a thorough investigation of the issue way back in July of 2010, most of which was inconclusive, stating: "Hopefully, this isn't a hardware issue involving the camera's lens, and Apple can fix the problem with an update to the iPhone 4′s firmware."

It still remains to be seen what the culprit of the camera flash issues on some iPhone 4s are: while some believed that it was a software issue, others suggested it was a design flaw in the LED flash, or even an effect of shoddy, poorly-designed iPhone 4 cases.

More recently, Apple purportedly had to deal with similar problems with the white iPhone 4′s chassis. Cult of Mac, which predicted the release of the white iPhone 4 perfectly, indicated in a report from October of 2010 that the white plastic was letting too much light into the case, affecting the clarity of photos: "The handset's semi-translucent glass case leaks light in, ruining pictures taken with the internal camera, especially when the built-in flash is used." It was this flaw that caused the delay in the release of the white iPhone 4.

While Apple only made nominal changes to the positioning of camera components to compensate for the white iPhone 4, the iPhone 5 could feature a dramatic repositioning of the camera flash, particularly if it is looking to invest in an 8-megapixel camera and upping the ante on the iPhone being consider a serious picture-taker.

Is that a repositioned camera flash, or another 3D camera sensor?

Of course, if this is the case, it will be yet another "fix" for an iPhone 4 flaw: first the antenna, now the camera flash. As we've commented before, Apple cannot sell fixes like these as "new features," and raise conjecture about the quality of the previous device.

Could Two Cutouts on the Purported iPhone 5 Case Be For a 3D Camera Array?

There is another more exciting possible feature that the two cutouts on the iPhone 5 case could suggest: t a 3D camera array. Rumors of a 3D camera have gained little traction over the past year, with most reports focusing on a relatively nondescript Apple patent, which outlines the schematics for taking 3D photos. Typically, patents such as there are years away from seeing mainstream introduction, but the purported iPhone 5 case design features several elements that conform to the schematics of the 3D camera patent.

Could that cutout be for a second camera sensor with integrated LED flash?

To achieve a 3D image, two offset photos would need to be taken to create a "stereo" image.

All accounts of the Apple 3D camera patent's schematic show the placement of three sensors, whereas the purported iPhone 5 case only accounts for two. But other elements of the patent explain that Apple's approach to achieving 3D would be accomplished not through software alone, but through hardware as well, as Neil Hughes at Apple Insider explains, noting that current 3D software "must 'guess' at how to perform stereo disparity compensation for 3D images. Those guesses, Apple said, can result in images with artifacts in a composed 3D image that would result in a poor quality photo. Apple's method would instead employ a hardware-based approach with a 'deterministic calculation for stereo disparity compensation.'"

The notion of a "stereo" image, together with an example photo from the patent, suggests that perhaps Apple has managed to capture 3D photo-taking technology with just two sensors.

there's no doubt that 3D technology is a hot commodity right now, and even though we've written about how Apple Should Put the Brakes on 3D Photo Technology for the iPhone 5, 3D photo capabilities would be a mind-blowing new feature that would define the iPhone 5 not as a simple refresh, but rather as a next-generation device. It could also make up for the lack of 4G capabilities.

Chances are, 3D technology is still a way's off for the iPhone, and a shady iPhone 5 case design isn't nearly enough to put a 3D camera into the "probable" column for iPhone 5 features. But if that case is real, it's time to start think out of the box for what else it could be.