Some vague but noteworthy revelations on the iPhone

With the iPhone probably being this year's and maybe this decade's hottest gizmo, a lot of buzz was generated around it, though very few unofficial information has been leaked so far. Sources provided MacScoop some hints at what Apple hasn't said yet on the device, no huge scoop there, just some vague but noteworthy reports.

A major business oriented feature?

There have been various reports on the Internet claiming that the Apple might reveal an unannounced feature along with the release of the iPhone.

Sources didn't even claim to know what this feature is yet but confirmed there is a quite big one coming and that it's very likely to be a business oriented feature.

Discussing this further with sources, we ended-up speculating on the possible support of the RIM's BlackBerry Push network or Office documents compatibility which sources found less likely than the first suggestion. We may also bet for a Microsoft Exchange compatibility, considering Mail.app already includes it.

iPhone SDK: true but not ready for prime time

In contradiction with statements made just after the introduction of the iPhone in January, Steve Jobs recently admited that Apple was studying the possibility Apple lets developers bring their own application to the iPhone platform.

A New York Times report added that Apple was developing a Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPhone developers and many started speculating the kit would be ready for next Monday's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Our own sources confirmed that this isn't a joke and Apple will really allow developers bring their software on the iPhone. However, developers expecting an SDK for WWDC will be disappointed as there isn't likely to be something like this ready yet, sources said to MacScoop.

More about the Software

We were given general impressions on the iPhone's software from people who had the chance to use the device for some time. We should be agreeably surprised by Google Maps, Mail and Safari applications in terms of usability and performance, sources said.

Some reports were recently claiming that the final version of the iPhone would include more widgets. Though we couldn't obtain more information on that from our own sources, the first idea that comes to our mind is a widget accessing an RSS feed of H264 converted YouTube videos ;).

A word on the OS, it appears that Apple uses Mac OS X Tiger as base for the iPhone, although it has brought some technologies such as CoreAnimation to the mobile version of the system. The reason why Apple may have chosen Mac OS X 10.4 in favor of 10.5 could be the fact that the kernel and other foundation parts of the system are very stable on the current iteration of the system.

Other rumblings

If you're one of those who are sceptic regarding the device's battery life, we suggest you to read this earlier MacScoop report.

Also noteworthy are some reports (1, 2) which are clearing fears that the iPhone could lack an easily accessible SIM-card slot and are providing further details on the production model.

There has never been so much excitement and optimism before the launch of an Apple product. Businessweek claims that Apple will have no less than 3 million iPhones ready to ship for the launch on June the 29th while analyst Gene Munster believes the company will sell as many as 45 million iPhones in 2009, grabbing 7% of the mobile phones market.