iPhone 3GS

Apple may have underestimated its iPhone 3GS handset, as several sources are indicating that Apple has recently increased manufacturing orders for the iPhone 3GS by up to 20%. The company has apparently increased fourth-quarter orders for the iPhone 3GS to its Taiwan-based manufacturing partners Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Primax Electronics by 17-20%, noted the sources.

Today Apple reported its financial results for its fiscal 2009 fourth quarter ended September 26, 2009. Amidst the announcement that Q4 was Apple's second highest quarterly revenue, Apple also announced that 7.4 million iPhones had been sold in the September quarter. This is a new company record and an increase of 7% from the previous September quarter.

Regarding the recent change by the FASB to allow non-subscription accounting, Apple has said that it's not sure when they will begin adopting a non-GAAP accounting system. For the time being, Apple's sales of Apple TVs, iPhones, and the iPod touch will remain under subscription accounting.

Good news, everyone! Yesterday, the unfortunate news broke that Apple was now shipping iPhone 3GSs with a modified boot ROM that would make the devices impervious to the Dev Team's jailbreak exploit, 24kpwn. Amazingly, this has already been cracked, and one of the new devices has been successfully jailbroken.

The iPhone Dev-Team has released the latest version of its Mac-only jailbreaking software which is now compatible with iPhone OS 3.1.x. PwnageTool 3.1.4 now supports the iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and all 1st and 2nd gen iPod touches. The Dev-Team warns all iPhone 3GS users who wish to jailbreak now or in the future that they should do so as soon as possible. This is recommended so that your ECID hash can be saved for use in future update jailbreaks. More information can be found at the iPhone Dev-Team blog.

Windows users looking to jailbreak their iPhone or iPod touch should check out Blackra1n.

In spite of an upcoming price war and a potential influx of iPhone handsets being returned, O2's UK division has temporarily run out of both the 16 and 32 GB iPhone 3GS models from the company's online store. According to The Telegraph, most physical outlets are said to have been without phones for two weeks. Supplies of the 32GB model were only depleted on or after September 28th.

Wireless carrier China Unicom announced that it plans to offer five versions of Apple’s iPhone through an array of two-year service plans when the operator puts the smartphones on sale next month. According to Macworld, China Unicom initially said the iPhone 3G would be priced at around 5,000 yuan (US$732) when it goes on sale in October, though the operator didn’t offer detailed pricing for the eight service plans that it will offer customers. On Tuesday, China Unicom offered more specifics of its pricing plans, saying it would begin taking preorders for the phones on Oct. 1, when it launches its commercial 3G service.

As much as you want the TomTom iPhone Kit, you'll have to wait a bit longer.

According to AppleInsider, TomTom spokesman Kevin Carter has confirmed that the company's iPhone hardware kit will not be available for its previously announced summer release deadline, though no specific reason was given. The accessory is a cradle that will interface with the iPhone and provide enhanced GPS capabilities.

Wireless carrier China Mobile has confirmed that the company is still in talks with Apple about offering the iPhone in China even though rival China Unicom last week announced a distribution deal for the handset. According to Macworld, the talks between Apple and China Mobile, the world’s biggest carrier by subscribers, yet to reach a conclusion, as confirmed by a China Mobile spokeswoman on Tuesday. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the company's three-year distribution deal with China Unicom is not exclusive, but did not say if the company is in talks with other potential partners.