Kevin Rose confirms iPhone?

So apparently last night Kevin Rose, of Digg and Diggnation fame, apparently confirmed information he knew about the iPhone on his eponymous vidcast. According to Kevin, who, to his credit, accurately predicted one of Apple's most secretive and hyped launches of 2005, the iPod nano, the iPhone will feature the following:

• January launch on "all" providers, both CDMA and GSM
• Extremely small form factor
• Two battery design (with single charger) -- one for playing music, the other for phone functions
• Flash memory: 4GB for $249, 8GB for $449
• "Slide-out keyboard"
• Possibly touchscreen

There's obviously a lot there to process -- some new rumor, some old rumor, and some which does and does not jibe with what we've heard. According to a trusted source of Engadget's, whose iPhone information has gone heretofore unpublished, it's pretty safe to say it won't have a QWERTY keyboard (although it may be a slider), touchscreen is out, and it's only going to be GSM with 3G at launch, going with a singular carrier in the US (guess which). So that covers basically all of the rumors we've already heard anyway. We can confirm we've also heard about this dual battery design which powers the flash music player and phone portions separately, but that's about all we've got that crosses over with Rose's information. Either way, we don't want to bark up the wrong tree with this one because insider and rumored information is so often totally inaccurate, even if only because radical design changes are known to be made, especially by Steve "loose cannon" Jobs. Guess we'll have to settle in for our usual wait until January.

[Thanks to Andrew and everyone who sent this in]

[rhett @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:27PM]

sweet #1!!

cant wait for it. hopefully its better than all the razr's for fone function since its the most important thing for a cell fone! and hopefully we get it on rogers in canada either at launch or close to it!

[Laurence McKenny @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:28PM]

Niiice

[Andrew @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:30PM]

Well actually they recorded it Thursday or Friday but whatever it was released last night.

-Andrew

Cant Wait to get my hand's on that IPhone!!!

[beanspants @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:34PM]

I love all these rumors. they are all so.... different.

[Tenken @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:37PM]

The dual battery design is the first interesting development I've seen in all of these iPhone rumors. I've always found it strange how people would want to drain battery life from such a critical device as their cell phone just to listen to music. What's more important, having battery life during an emergency or listening to Diddy's latest? This may actually be a good stop-gap solution until we see further advances in battery tech.

[Mrfreezie @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:38PM]

As long as it's way different then the RAZR.. I hate that beast. I'm really excited about this, I would like to see what Apple can do with a cell phone interface/menu system. All the phones I have tried, I hate them all when it comes to menus and simplicity.

[Frank Black @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:38PM]

HUM! Lets try and clear up some clutter here!
-------

* January launch on "all" providers, both CDMA and GSM
NO - GSM/UMTS 3G Only at launch.

* Extremely small form factor
YES

* Two battery design (with single charger)
YES

* Flash memory: 4GB for $249, 8GB for $449
MEMORY - YES. PRICE - DON'T KNOW.

* "Slide-out keyboard"
YES

* Possibly touchscreen
NO

-------
And don't ask me how I know. Just check back here next month and compare the product to whats above ;^)...

[Mrfreezie @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:39PM]

BTW, engadget is talking about Cingular when they say "and it's only going to be GSM with 3G at launch, going with a singular carrier in the US (guess which)." Right?

[Diacronic @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:42PM]

If it was really true, and not to get his "friend" in trouble. Why didn't they just edit it out of the show? Oh wait , yes because sites like this will bring new light to the show.

[DK @ Dec 3rd 2006 2:58PM]

If you followed digg for more than a few months, you would remember Kevin's friend told him about the nano and many other products and kevin leaked it before anyone else knew about it. if this is the same source then it is reliable

[Ryan Block @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:06PM]

Not necessarily. I can tell you a few hard lessons learned about sources, and that's that a) they can be compromised, b) despite some good information they are not always reliable and accurate, c) even the best sourced info can't prevent design / schedule / direction changes. We'll just have to wait and see!

[Korey @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:01PM]

If it launches in January sweet!!! but I don't think that price point is right seems a little cheap don't ya think? I mean all that technology alone should be around $500.00 but I'm down for it this will be the best Christmas Present ever. So happy I got Cingular.

[ipod freak @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:04PM]

Will this support pay as you go?

[Jonhimslf @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:10PM]

That iPhone mock-up makes me laugh every time I see it. If someone could take an old iPod and make it a functional rotary-dial home-phone I would purchase it in a second... especially if they could make the display be Call ID.

[Carlos @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:15PM]

The two battery concept is actually very very interesting. My only issue is how on earth do those memory prices compute? The 4GB nano is $199, the 8GB is $249. Why on earth would a fifty dollar price difference turn into $200? The 8GB price sounds more realistic, I'd assume the 4GB model would start at $349.

But then again, we're batting like, two for three thousand on iPhone rumors, so meh?

[Hk @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:21PM]

why hasn't it showed up on the fcc website yet ? I mean it would have to show up there to be approved I don't care if you're apple on not all phones are posted on there whether its sony ericcson, moto, LG, samsung, sanyo etc.....

[totalundone @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:34PM]

249$/349$ with a contract seem more plausible.

[Zach @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:39PM]

Flash memory...two batteries...small form...
WHY DONT I JUST GET A NANO.

I mean honestly, all new phones have MP3 functionality. And since this thing is only 4GB, you might as well get a nice miniSD card and drag and drop songs from iTunes into your favorite cell phone. You should by a cell phone for all of the other important features.

Speakerphone? Windows mobile? Palm? Size? Battery? GPS? and most importantly....
..........
........
....
..
THE FACT THAT IT WAS ONLY 99 DOLLARS WITH A TWO YEAR CONTRACT!
Why pay Apple for a feature that already exists on most other phones?

I would understand if it had 30 gb of music, but not for something that can only fit a portion of your library anyway. JUST DRAG AND DROP A PLAYLIST INTO YOUR OTHER PHONE....

The only thing that will sell this phone is everything besides the MP3 player.
I have faith that Apple will make a sleek phone that can play music.

BUT I DOUBT THAT IT WILL BEAT THE COMPETITION AT WHAT THEY DO BEST...

PHONES!!!

[Michael @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:42PM]

My sources tell me the iphone can double as an isight camera when hooked to your Mac or PC. iChat will be released for Windows. I guess the reason is because mac users are having a hard time finding other people to video chat with since the rest of their family and friends usually use PC's.

I also hear the second battery can be used for jumping your car or knocking people out. Fancy that.

[Arno @ Dec 3rd 2006 3:50PM]

Let me guess, Verizon exclusive? Agh.


Oh well, probably wouldn't have got it anyway.

[anon @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:43PM]

No... it would be a Cingular exclusive if it was exclusive anything. That's GSM/3G

[KRiS @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:19PM]

anything about the camera?

[B @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:27PM]

I agree with Zach.
At these capacities there is nothing to separate the iPhone from any other mp3 capable phone out there right now. I want an iPod and a Phone, Not a nano and a phone. I want ALL my music, not a couple CD's.

Arno- It will be a cingular exclusive if there is an exclusive at all. 3g GSM is NOT verizon.

[Neil @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:48PM]

It just holds "a couple CD's"? Come on, 4 gigs is a thousand songs. That's a fair amount because it's so easy to swap out play lists for variety. 8 gigs is two thousand songs. That's 133 hours of non-stop music without any repeats. This is plenty for the people who want to have some music at the gym without having to lug around that heavy brick of a hard drive. This isn't supposed to be your home theater. If you want a phone and an iPod, don't you already have a phone and an iPod? This is supposed to be a phone with some music. ;-)

[Neil @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:28PM]

If this phone also has at least a one megapixel camera with flash and at least a 320x240 .mp4 video camera, then I'm excited. Otherwise, I'll wait for the next generation. Knowing Apple, they'll try to keep this simple. K.I.S.S.

[Ed T @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:29PM]

Does Steve Jobs have access to Polonium 210? Stay out of sushi bars Kevin...

[Gregory Moore @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:33PM]

Sounds like they described the lg vx8500 "chocolate" almost exactly, with the sliding keypad and the touchscreen. Although my chocolate cant hold 4 or 8 gigs of music. oh well i still love that thing.

[Eddie @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:42PM]

"January launch on "all" providers, both CDMA and GSM"

that's how EVERY phone should be.

[Liquidsg @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:44PM]

Hmm..I wonder if it will have a normal sized headphone jack and not one of the crappy little ones for cell phones or maybe this will open up a new field for better sleeker bluetooth apple headphones. Anyone think that apple will be selling this sucker unlocked at their stores? i feel like it could be marketed almost better that way considering it has so many ipodesqe features

[Patrick Kane @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:44PM]

Call me silly, but I think the use of the word "singular" instead of "single" might be a subtle hint about what carrier it is :)

[Chris M @ Dec 3rd 2006 5:31PM]

Neil, you need to think about what you're saying. You'd rather lug around a single device, and a few thousand of your songs, rather than the whole shebang and your phone separately?

I think you guys should remember to keep things separate sometimes, PDA + Phone combos are one thing- you'd have both devices on you ANYWAY, but with the Phone + Camera + MP3 + Toaster, etc- I've got the one advantage over those guys: one device fails, at least you're not out a Phone AND a music player.

This device is going to have to be one hell of a workhorse and very durable in order to even make it worth my time, I know some people that feel similarly. I think all these combo devices are starting to make us too dependant. These days, if your cell breaks, people are out a cell phone, an MP3 player, a camera, etc.

I think the dependency is getting way too huge. This iPhone is going to make things a big pain. People complaining about battery life because they've played it to death like an iPod, and then they need to make phone calls.

I'll stick with my iPod and my BlackBerry.

Chris

[Neil @ Dec 3rd 2006 4:51PM]

Gregory,

I would love the Chocolate too if it had a flash and at least a qVGA video camera. Does it play AAC music? How many pixels in the still camera?

[Zach @ Dec 3rd 2006 5:11PM]

i doubt it will support pay as you go.

I really can't see a simultaneous launch on both GSM and CDMA at the same time :/ That would be sweet, however, it always usually ends up CDMA, aka Verizon, getting screwed outta some hot products. Damn you Cingular *shakes fist wildly*

I was actually planning on getting a VX9900 for Christmas, but this changes everything! When is Apple supposedly officially releasing the details?

[Liquidsg @ Dec 3rd 2006 5:43PM]

haha chris..do u throw ur ipod and blackberry into walls or something? granted, I use my Samsung Blacjack and an iPod but how often do these things break? maybe you have poor luck with tech, but its really only once in a blue moon where one of these devices "fail". ill take that risk any day of the week then having to put an ipod and a phone in each pocket as opposed to just having one small sleek device.

[Digitalosh @ Dec 4th 2006 3:25PM]

"People complaining about battery life because they've played it to death like an iPod, and then they need to make phone calls."

Were you paying any attention there? did you RTFA? 2 batteries. One for music, one for phone.

[Neil @ Dec 3rd 2006 5:51PM]

Chris,

I don't need to take 20,000 songs with me everywhere I go. Most of the time, I don't need more than a thousand. So, give me a few songs in my small cell phone, don't turn my cell phone into a huge hard drive based iPod. I have a hard drive based iPod for when I need more songs. I don't want to be forced to carry that brick around with me everywhere I go, especially the gym where I only wear shorts and a t-shirt. My fifth gen iPod is too bulky for that situation.

By the way, if my cell phone breaks, I still have my iPod if I really need music. It's not like adding music to my cell phone means that all of a sudden every time I drop my cell phone, my iPod , camcorder, Palm Pilot, and BlackBerry will all break too.

[bobby @ Dec 3rd 2006 5:58PM]

Kevin Rose doesn't work for or represent Apple, and therefore can't 'confirm' squat about this rumor.

[Ein @ Dec 3rd 2006 5:59PM]

The price point is nice. The Sony Walkman phone sells for about the same money.

I'm just curious what ring tones Apple will use. :-)

[xVariable @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:08PM]

Chris M: How much do you pay for all those separate devices that take-up 10-15x more space than a single device?

Now how much does one device that does everything cost? About the same as one of your single function devices, maybe 20% more at the most. So if you break or lose it (I can't say that's ever been a problem for me BTW), then just buy another. It's still cheaper than buying a bunch of single-purpose devices and you get the benefit of it taking a lot less space.

Personally, I think you just work in the electronics industry and don't like the move towards device consolidation. After all, such a development devalues all those single-function devices you currently find so profitable, not to mention it makes it more difficult for you to differentiate, in the marketplace, any multifunction device you might produce, in the future, in order to compete in said new marketplace.

[Chris M @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:10PM]

Neil, and Liquidsg-

Let me note, for the record, that the 30 GB iPod video I have is definitely not a brick, it's one of the slimmest devices I own. If that's a brick by today's standards, then we've truly been brainwashed by the Razr and the 'Q' and like devices, striving to be the thinnest with zero regard to battery life and radio power.

My Blackberry isn't thrown into walls, I'm just saying, accidents aren't necessarily plotted out in black in white for you. Anytime we consolidate any devices, you risk loosing them both, opposed to just one at a time.

Neil, people like you and I are intelligent enough to know that having a separate device for music is the way to go, but you've got the 15 year olds that will see this as the hand of God, and will throw out their 30 GB iPods and phones in exchange for this 'end all' and then it's gone...

That's all I'm saying, and don't take the preceeding the wrong way- it's no way intended to be offensive.

Chris

[Liquidsg @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:22PM]

despite my "lack of intelligence", device consolidation is the way of the future...in 5-15 years people will just not be carrying around multiple devices. even technology of today i.e. this new iphone is making the idea of carrying around multiple devices totally impracticable and not cost effective.

[Chris M @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:18PM]

xVariable, I don't work in the electronics divison. My father founded his electrical contracting company about 40 years ago, and I took it over after his passing.

Our company employs about 160 people, and staying connected at all times is imperative. I think the implication that I work with electronics is rather small-minded, and quite childish that you'd take that metaphor too far.

I just have to remain connected.

And 10-15x more space is a huge exaggeration. My iPod and my BlackBerry are all that go out of the office with me at all times, then my laptop stays in the car. So that's 2x the size. Because I like being able to differentiate. The fact that I'd rather drain my ipod battery and my phone batteries separatly makes me a communist in your book. That's quite the assumption.

I paid $300 for my iPod and $300 for my BlackBerry. I'm in the unique position to be able to live comfortably- but that's beside the point. My BB is extremely durable, and my iPod stays in my aircraft-grade aluminum case at all times, and Apple isn't known for making the most durable devices.

I have to play devil's advocate, because it seems to me, nobody else here is interested in it.

Chris

[Chris M @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:32PM]

Liquids- I didn't intend to undermine your intelligence.

I'm saying, this consolidation is great for the future, but right now.. I'm just skeptical.

And some things aren't meant to be put together in my opinion. That's all I'm saying. Please, refrain from intentionally taking it the wrong way.

Chris

[Robert @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:34PM]

wow i bet my IPAQ 6515 will pwn it with 8 gigs of memory!!! battery lasts 14hrs when using my bluetooth headphones, video lasts about 3hrs, with the extended battery it lasts 24hrs music , 7hrs video (full brightness)... oh one more thing did i mention it has A GPS, Phone, Live TV, Camera... i got this last year... lol apple is a little late on this.

[Andy @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:41PM]

Personally, I love the idea of Motorola's "Dumb" Phone.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/28/low-cost-motofone-hits-india/

Simple, no frills phone; and yet still looks good. I don't need a camera on my phone, that's what my D50 is for. I don't need iTunes on my phone, that's what my PC and iPod are for.

I've had a RAZR V3c (Verizon) for almost a year now, and know what? I've found that I rarely use any of that junk. It's not that I don't know how; I've tried eveything out and have even dabbled in hacking it. It's just that practically, I don't need any of those fancy things. Device consolidating is cool, but I'd rather pay $50-$100 for a "dumb" phone than $200-$300+ for something with stuff I don't need.

[geep @ Dec 4th 2006 10:36AM]

Amen! The only reason I'm looking forward to the iPhone is for ease of use...not music, not photos, not anything! Just a phone that will be flexible enough to interface w/my macbook and program features I want. (God, I miss my Startac :-))

[Liquidsg @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:45PM]

lol robert your ipaq 6515 has a pretty bad form factor tho and its running an outdated os and if you flashed it with the new wm5, then its deff bugging out because that things not fast enough to run wm5 smoothly unless you overclock it which would totally kill the battery...

[Jack @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:47PM]

well, i work for radioshack and we carry cingular... and judging by the precedent that any contract cingular phone can be bought outright and then one can just put their pre-paid SIM card in it... i'd be shocked if this wasnt compatible w/ pre-paid... you gotta remember that with GSM it doesnt matter what phone the SIM card is in... that will automatically make that physical "phone" the account "phone"

[Matt @ Dec 3rd 2006 6:49PM]

More tired Apple rumors...

[P L @ Dec 3rd 2006 9:00PM]

If this is it, no smartphone with QWERTY + then my e61 will be upgraded with the e61i when released unless Jobs exceeds it!