back to article After six months, Steve Jobs speaks

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took his first small step towards retaking the reins in Cupertino on Monday morning, issuing a short statement in a press release announcing that sales of the company's new iPhone 3GS* (Reg review link) have topped one million since its release last Friday. Jobs has been conspicuously absent from any Apple …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    The 3GS...

    ...one better than the //GS!

  2. Jimbo 7

    With over 50,000 applications available ....

    iPhone is great phone, I just don't get a comment "With over 50,000 applications available ...". We all know that maybe 1000 is useful, the rest is useless junk Fart 1,2,3,4,5. Yet there is no app for turn-by-turn navigation.

    Myabe I'm only one out there, but I don't even look at TOP 25 online apps anymore, it's just junk. I wish nokia would push their phones more in US, I cannot justify to spend $500 on a phone.

  3. vincent himpe

    he still SPEAKS ?

    I thought that, by now, he would have mastered telepathic communication...

  4. rherror404
    Joke

    Joy of Tech four-panel on the topic of the 3G S

    http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1255.html

  5. Chris Hatfield

    all hail the leader

    He's like David Miscavige. All hail the glorious leader

  6. Adam Starkey

    re: With over 50,000 applications available ....

    >Yet there is no app for turn-by-turn navigation.

    There are at least three of them in the store right now, though some are country specific. At least another two are in some active stage of development.

  7. Thomas 18

    @vincent

    You will have to wait till iPhone 4.0 for telepathy support

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    There have been turn-by-turn apps for a long while now…

    @Jimbo7

    There has been at least one turn-by-turn app available for a long time on the app store now (and long before OS 3.0 too). Tom Tom are not the only company making them you know! I can't comment on how good it is as I don't have a car.

  9. Ian Ferguson
    Jobs Horns

    Erm

    Do you really believe that CEOs really actually say what is attributed to them in press releases? If so, you've got a lot to learn about journalism...

    Unless there is actual video of him saying this words, it's an Apple press release written by some press department ex-hack. You can usually tell by quote-in-a-nutshell lines like 'Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning.'

    The only notable thing about this press release is that Apple PR are comfortable putting Steve Jobs' name back in the news. That could mean anything; at a minimum, he's probably not dead.

  10. Andy Bright

    After six months, Steve Jobs speaks

    For some reason I'm reminded of a few scenes from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy..

  11. Jimbo 7

    There have been turn-by-turn apps for a long while now…

    Can you send me the names, please. I live in US and what I saw was Google Maps with a dot and very creepy unusable crashing apps. TomTom has been talking about the app for more than 6 months now, did you actually use it?

    every other smartphone has solid turn-by-turn solution (Nokia Symbian, Blackberry, WinMo, PRE)

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Hmmm...

    I have the urge to pass this statement through a reverse spin cycle...

    Okay, so they have sold a million... Does that mean a million consumers are running about with a 3GS now? Strange I haven't bumped into one yet.

    Somehow I think the truth of the matter is Apple have taken orders for a million. Most of those orders will be from carriers and phone shops.

    I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't actually manufacturer a million yet!

    You'd have to be a serious fanboy to sign your name in the first weekend, we all know what happened to the prices last time!

  13. Rolf Howarth

    @AC

    "You'd have to be a serious fanboy to sign your name in the first weekend, we all know what happened to the prices last time!"

    What, you mean that after a while the prices might come down a little? Gosh, I've never seen that happen with any other bit of new technology.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: Ian Ferguson

    I was about to post something similar. Furthermore, the tone and the 'thrust' of the comment attributed to him sounds very un-Jobs like - it seems much more like something a PR flac would say. Not that he can't be snarky or combative, but when he's quoted for real he always speaks in a way that's a bit different from everyone else. This sounds like the kind of comment that any tech industry CEO type could make.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Maybe Jobs will take O2 to task (we can but hope)

    We can but hope when Jobs returns to his office today that one of the first things he does is to call O2 to give them a bollocking over the damage they've done over their extortionate upgrade policy that has meant the overwhelming majority of those who want the 3GS can't yet get the 3GS because they've already got the 3G and are soured towards both Apple and O2 if not the hardware.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC 22:02

    "Strange I haven't bumped into one yet."

    What, all the people who have bought one are going to live in your neck of the woods? Or in your street? One million phones world-wide - spread on a reasonable geographic distro? Sigh.

  17. Dave Jones
    Flame

    Fools and their money are soon parted........

    If you're stupid enough to pay for an over priced iPhone in the first place, then o2 must reckon you're stupid enough to pay a fortune for the 3GS as well.... i'm waiting for the 3GS+ when Apple clock the processor of the 3GS at it's rated speed and enable 720p video recording and charge you fools a fortune again for the latest and greatest Jesus phone....

  18. Ascylto

    @ spicycauldron

    Hear, hear!

    O2, whom I mostly admire for their Customer Services (they're as good as Orange were when they first came to market), have seriously got it wrong. They assured me that it was Apple's fault that their pricing was bad. Apple wouldn't comment (no surprises there, then).

    The contract/phone announcement plan is dysfuncional. O2 spoiled users last time around by allowing new phone (3G) purchase on the signing of a new contract. This time they want us to pay off the remainder of the contract and I don't have a problem with that as I signed up for 18 months. But they want £185 for a phone which, in the US, is £125. Even adding a US Sales Tax brings it nowhere near the £185!

    So, the result for just me is that both o2 and Apple have lost a potential customer for at least 6 months but more likely 12 months because I'll wait for the iPhone 4.

    Baaaaad marketing!

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Upgrades, tethering and maps.

    I'm missing something. You see, when you sign a contract for a phone, you are normally bound to that contract for the length of it. Most mobile operators seem to let you upgrade in the last 3 months, if it's an 18 month contract. The iPhone was released, contrary to another of The Register's articles, 11 months ago. So if the iPhone was bought on launch day (11 July) then surely those individuals have got to wait until at least November (15 months) before they can upgrade. There are of course two other methods available. Either buy a new handset at full price, sim free from France or buy out the rest of the contract. I know that O2 had offered an early upgrade option at last years release, but clearly that was a one off. Tethering on the other hand. If, as gleefully reported by several individuals, other mobiles can be tethered at no extra charge, the the same should be applied to iPhone. Several thousand letters, phone calls and emails of complaint to OFCOM from iPhone owners is perhaps the best course of action.

    Jimbo 7. Use Google to search for iPhone TomTom. Then go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afwq2_HGJ1A to see it in action. It's an odd one to pick on as the infomation is out there. Several thousand people have seen the demo given by TomToms CTO. Everyone else seems to be highlighting the 'lack' of multitasking as the new missing 'feature'. The brands that you mention do not support turn by turn navigation as a standard factory configuration. They are available as part of a collaborative deal with mobile operators or bought by the owner of the phone. Let it go.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Jimbo7

    I can't recall the name of the one that has been available for some time (I read about it on a forum quite some time ago and as I don't have a car I didn't take any note of it), but here is one that is out since OS 3.0 and has good reviews:

    http://www.navigon.com/site/int/en/products/navigation_software/iphone

    Not sure if it is available in the US, but it is on the UK store.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I attribute the iFone sales...

    to many dumb, sheep like people who would pay for jobs' knob cheese, if it was called iSmeg

    nothing to see here, move along, move along

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Anonymous Coward 09:11 GMT

    Why are you reading and commenting the article then? People like you that hide behind the AC button are genuine cowards that generally wouldn't have what it takes to say that to someones face. Many in these 'debates' revel in the fact that in the last year Windows Mobile based devices outsold the iPhone. Are those that bought Windows Mobile handsets sheep as well? What about the reported 3.6 million that bought Blackberrys? Surely that's just down to marketing? What about all those millions that refuse to look at anything other than a Nokia? Are they sheep? Hey, Windows users! You are sheep too! I do get it though. Your "thinking" only applies to people that buy Apple products because you are obviously a bit of a dick, and like the others, you just have to have your say. It's like the individuals that protest vociferously how they aren’t racist or homophobic - protesting a little too much perhaps? In reality, it's simple. No one says that you have to buy one, and if you don’t want one, well that’s fine. It’s even ok to not like the device. We do after all live in a (relatively) free country. Other people have decided that the phone is for them and are happy with the functionality and the cost. That is their right. You, as a coward, don’t get to call people names. It’s childish and devalues any argument and reasoning that you (or others) may have for or against a device. So please, take your cowardly playground trolling elsewhere and get some medical help – it’s not normal to feel that way about an object. I didn't realise that the school holidays had started already...

  23. Paul Ross
    Thumb Down

    Never thought i'd like windows mobile

    Apple won't get my vote.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC 10:49 GMT

    +1

    (Interestingly I couldn't just post +1 as I got the errmsg: "A comment is required, in addition to a title." Surely they haven't automated the Moderatrix yet?)

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    AC 10:49 GMT

    I must have accidently clicked the AC button...

  26. Giles Jones Gold badge

    @With over 50,000 applications available

    Turn by turn is provided by Navigon mobilenavigator, out now for £54.99.

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