John Gruber of DaringFireball.net, who knows people who know people — no names! — has weighed in with his opinion on what we just might see from Apple in terms of a next generation iPhone at WWDC 2009.

Very likely: July release with roughly double the CPU power, digital compass, better camera with video shooting + editing, and 16GB/32GB SKUs.

Somewhat likely: Same $199/$299 price point, 256MB of RAM

Just maybe: Better battery life

Very unlikely: iTablet at WWDC

Sorta unlikely but…: iPhone mini at WWDC.

We’re guessing that’s soft affirmation from him on both the iTablet and iPhone mini/nano, just not yet.

Pretty much in line with all the other rumors, so consider this just more weight on the scales.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Daring Fireball Weighs in on Next Gen iPhone

A while back we mentioned that an update to popular Twitter client, Tweetie was rejected by the iTunes App Store because, at that particular day and time, ****itlist showed up as a popular trend on Twitter. Later that same day Apple reversed the decision. But they haven’t, apparently, reversed the capricious lunacy that led to it.

Latest example: the e-book reader Eucalyptus has been rejected because not once, but twice, an App Store reviewer specifically searched for “the kama sutra of vatsyanya translated fr…” (or at least searching for enough of it to be offered that search term, then selecting it).

Developer James Montgomerie blogs about his frustrations, the continued opaqueness of the App Store review policy, and points out the blatant inconsistency of Safari, Google Mobile, and a variety of other built-in and already approved 3rd party apps providing complete internet search access to pretty much any content imaginable. (And some we’d frankly rather not imagine, thanks!)

Needless to say — and regardless of Apple’s statistics saying 98% of all apps are approved within 7 days of submission, 35,000+ apps in the store, and over one billion downloads — that simple, clear, and consistent guidelines, and developer support equal to the customer support Apple touts and prides itself on, are still not available some 10 months since launch, is embarrassing.

The App Store is a phenomenal success, no doubt about it, but doesn’t matter how fine your tuxedo is if you keep walking around with one or more battered, bloody eyes.

Need more absurdity? Forbes profiles the trials and tribulations involved in getting an app approved about US President Obama’s dog in cartoon form…

[via @chokenberry on Twitter, and the Reptile]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Do iPhone App Store Reviewers Spend Their Time Searching for Porn?

In today’s Apps For Less we found a few very worthy deals that you should definitely take advantage of.

First up we have a gem of a game from Gameloft — you might have heard it? — Assassin’s Creed - Altaïr’s Chronicles [iTunes Link]. You should know that it is one to pick up, especially at it’s new low price of $5.99 (down from $9.99!) Not a bad deal at all.

The fate of the Holy Land depends on you… Plunge into this direct prequel to the critically acclaimed game title, Assassin’s Creed™, offering rich gameplay and a well-balanced mix of stealth, chaotic action, and riddle-solving exploration in the midst of fully 3D-rendered historical environments of the Crusades’ Middle East

This next game also comes to us from Gameloft, Siberian Strike. [iTunes Link] You can now pick this one up for $.99! Great deal for an action packed, quality game!

Renewing the retro genre, Siberian Strike offers tons of enemies to destroy in many different ways thanks to the wild array of dangerous weapons at your disposal. Explosive missions make this game one of a kind with gameplay mixing shooting and riveting piloting assignments. Made for shoot’em up fans and casual players thanks to intuitive gameplay that makes it fun and within reach for everyone.

Last but not least we have an application that is actually not a game! The unit conversion app, Convertbot, [iTunes Link] is now on sale for a very limited time for the low price of $.99!

Convert currency, length, mass, time and much more in an exciting new way! Converting numbers will never again be a mundane task. In addition to its innovative interface, our robot is smart enough to convert to and from mixed units. Are you 5 foot 9 inches tall? Other converters require you to convert that to 5.75 ft in your head before being able to enter it. Convertbot allows mixed units like Foot + Inches, Pounds + Ounces, and more!

If you are a developer and are planning on a sale for your application feel free to contact us to be included in the next Apps for Less!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apps for Less: Assassin’s Creed, Siberian Strike, Convertbot

Once again it is time for another From the Forums. A weekly post in which TiPb takes some of the many good threads from our forums to put into the spotlight. To join in on the forum action be sure to register, it’s a painless process - we promise.

If you are like me, you are sick and tired of hearing rumors about an iPhone coming to Verizon. Well here is yet another rumor that started in the Crackberry forums that has now found it’s way onto our forums thanks to Duvi - iPhone on Verizon Soon? Now I can’t speak for everyone here at TiPb but I can honestly say I do not see this happening anytime in the near future. Thoughts?

This next thread started by KaiZeRKhan, is actually a question that I get asked quite a bit - Do you ever get bored of your iPhone? I’ve had a ton of phones along with my iPhone and the reason the others always end up sold is that I get bored with them, not the iPhone. How about you?

The last thread for today is one that has been spotlighted here before. We figured with WWDC approaching fast why not toss it in one more time - Will Apple reveal the new iPhone at WWDC? Did I mention this one has a poll and so far it’s 38-14 in favor of yes, we will see the new iPhone introduced at WWDC.

See you on the forums!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

From the Forums: iPhone on Verizon Soon? Bored of Your iPhone? WWDC and New iPhone?

Perennial Apple guestimator, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, is back in the headlines (see above) with his prognostications about an Apple iTablet, which he sees hitting market in 2010 at a price point between $500 and $700 (i.e. between the top level iPod touch and bottom level MacBook).

Apple Insider sums up the specs, which are likewise ranged: screen between 7 and 10 inches, OS between iPhone and Mac. In one interesting aside, Munster wonders if Apple would allow both a higher screen resolution into the App Store to leverage more pixels, but also let several iPhone 320×480 apps run on screen at the same time (like Mac apps do in their windowing environment). Wireless carrier subsidies, like the iPhone enjoys from AT&T are also speculated.

Our favorite line?

“In other words, we expect the end result of the expected product to be launched later but with more dramatic differentiation than the Street is expecting.”

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Analyst Expects $700 iPhone-like iTablet in 2010

MacRumors has come across an Apple job listing for someone with:

excellent understanding and knowledge of processor architecture, specifically ARM and its vector unit NEON. Additional Intel SSE or PowerPC AltiVec is also very helpful. Being able to use processor micro-architecture to write and deliver fast routines is an essential attribute.

Neon, they remind us, is the brand name for the ARMv7 Cortex, the next-generation of the processor Apple uses in the current iPhone and iPod touch.

What’s not yet clear is whether Apple will tap the multi-core potential of the ARMv7 Cortex to really shift multimedia performance into the mobile stratosphere. However, another tantalizing glimpse into the iPhone’s potential future is revealed in a second job listing, this one for an engineer with:

Experience developing embedded image and video processing solutions. Experience developing embedded image and video analysis solutions. Experience working on real-time media and networking applications (WiFi and cellular networks).

Of course, we won’t keep our fingers crossed too hard for those iTunes Replay, personalized podcast streaming, or remote DVR access patents Apple has teases us with in the past…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Wanted: Faster, More Powerful iPhone Processor Architect + Embedded Video Engineer

Apple Insider lets us know who’s been tapped to provide the magnetometer (digital compass) for the new iPhone hardware expected to hit at WWDC 2009:

People familiar with betas of the iPhone 3.0 software developers kit recently dug up several header files attributed to the Japanese manufacturer in a directory appropriately labeled “compass.” More specifically, the files identify Asahi Kasei’s azimuth sensor No. AK8973, a 16-pin leadless IC package measuring 4mm square and 0.7mm thick, as the chip that will help future iPhone users determine their direction. It bundles a master clock oscillator.

As already evident in the Android G1, a digital compass allows for a better Google Street View experience, but can also make things like turn-by-turn navigation and other orientation-based functions smoother and more precise.

Apple Insider also states that this is but one of three new, confirmed hardware features, the others being a better, video-capable camera and a faster, 802.11n Wi-Fi chip.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Next Gen iPhone: Asahi Kasei Confirmed for Digital Compass

Amazon has gone and updated their iPhone Kindle App [iTunes link] to version 1.1 and added in some nifty new features to boot:

• Read in portrait or landscape mode.
• Select alternate background and text colors to improve reading comfort in low light conditions.
• Tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages.
• Pinch to zoom images in books.

Still free but also still requiring purchases through Amazon’s web-based Kindle Store, it’s never the less a good point release and overall improvement. And our resident Chadman was kind enough to provide some screenshots, so check out the gallery after the break!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: Kindle 1.1 for iPhone