Tong Family

!>http://www.isuppli.com/images/iphone_shipment.png! Wow, these things are popular. I ordered mine online 5 minutes after the Apple store opened online so here’s a compendium of mostly good, but with three bad things (activations are taking a very long time, AT&T won’t unlock the phone for a new SIM for you, and the headphone port isn’t very standard so it is hard to fit third party headphones in):

Think Secret – Steve Jobs: Free iPhones for Apple employees

Meanwhile, unconfirmed Think Secret reports suggest that while three million iPhones are said to have been manufactured ahead of Friday’s launch, Apple will only release about one million into the channel this week, staggering product availability availability beyond that to avoid any perceived major shortages.

iPod News | iLounge

The Times is reporting that cellular service provider O2 has beaten out Vodafone and others to win exclusive rights to offer the iPhone in the UK. According to the report, negotiations are still ongoing with mobile phone retailers like Carphone Warehouse over an agreement to allow sales of the iPhone in their stores after a period of exclusivity with O2. The agreement between Apple and O2 is thought to include a share of revenues generated by iPhone customers, and O2 is expected to make the necessary network configuration changes to support iPhone’s at-home activation and features such as Visual Voicemail. As previously reported, T-Mobile is expected to offer the iPhone in Germany, while Orange is believed to be the front-runner to carry the phone in France.

iPhone hack allows iPod, Wi-Fi use without activation

Well-known hacker “DVD” Jon Johansen has discovered a way to “activate” an iPhone without signing up with AT&T. The hack allows iPhone owners to use the device’s iPod and Wi-Fi features, but due to the lack of an AT&T contract, the device’s phone features still won’t work. In a post titled ”iPhone Independence Day,” Johansen posted Phone Activation Server 1.0, along with several other instructions necessary to run the hack. The hack does not unlock the iPhone for use with other carriers. [Basically iPhones are locked to AT&T, how unfair!]

Teardowns undress iPhone, suggest $200-$265 component cost

Teardowns by iSuppli, Portelligent, iFixit, and iResQ have revealed much about the inner workings of the iPhone. As reported by BusinessWeek, Portelligent estimates the component cost for the phone to be in the $200-$220 range, with iSuppli’s estimate of $265.83 in cost for the 8GB model slightly higher.

Taking the iPhone Apart

The most expensive component on the phone, Carey says, is the touch screen, for which Apple tapped a little-known German concern called Balda

Taking the iPhone Apart

Samsung, which supplied the main microprocessor chip. It was stamped with an Apple logo, but with a serial number that matches closely a chip that Samsung sells. Samsung also supplied the NAND-type flash memory that stores data on the phone, including songs, video, and pictures. Samsung’s microprocessor chip, interestingly, is based on a core design that is owned by the British chip technology licensing firm ARM Holdings (ARMHY)

iSuppli Corporation : Applied Market Intelligence

Infineon, a new supplier to the iPod family, was among the biggest winners in terms of semiconductor content. The German semiconductor supplier contributed the digital baseband, radio-frequency transceiver and power-management devices, providing much of the core communications capability of the iPhone.

iPhone activation problems widespread, serious (updated x3)

Discussions on Apple’s support forms now describe quoted wait times of “up to 24 hours” for activation, as well as numerous other issues relating to conversion of Individual Plans to Family Plans. Though 5 of our 7 iPhones activated properly, iLounge’s editors are currently attempting to get activation issues resolved with the other 2, and will update this article as appropriate.

Update: A second AT&T representative has told iLounge that a team of AT&T engineers has been manually working around the clock to process the flood of delayed activation requests experienced last night, which were described as falling into the “change of account type from individual to family” and “number portability” categories. Wait times range from 6 to 9 to 24 hours based on the category of account change; iLounge received a “24 hours” notice on a ported number. More straightforward iPhone accounts are typically set up via iTunes in minutes.

Updates 2 and 3: One of iLounge’s 2 long-activation iPhones was activated successfully after 18 hours. The other took roughly 40 hours, and five phone calls, since the first attempt on Friday night, and has now been fully activated.