iLounge

By Charles Starrett

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
News Category: Mix

OH-based insurance company Safeware is now offering insurance for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The comprehensive plan provides coverage against accidental damage, liquid spills, power surge, drops, falls, collisions, flood, fire, vandalism and theft. Pricing is based on the model of phone and runs $82 per year for a 16GB iPhone 3GS, not including a $100 per incident deductible. There is no time since purchase requirement to sign up, no occurrence limit, and no waiting period for new claims. For more information, visit Safeware’s iPhone insurance page.

Skyhook Wireless, provider of the iPhone’s and iPod touch’s Wi-Fi-based location feature, has released its latest report (PDF Link) on location-aware (LBS) apps. While the most common price point for LBS apps on both the App Store and Android Marketplace was $1, the report suggests this is due to what the company calls “bulk apps,” or template-based applications that sold at the same price point but with different content. As an example, the report singles out one developer who sells over 850 travel apps based on the same template, but with location-specific content in each. The report claims that nearly 1/3 of all LBS apps on the App Store are these mass-produced local search or travel guides, and that while Apple enjoys touting the large number of apps available on the store, bulk apps account for much of this volume.

Citing an unnamed source, Chinese-language daily 163.com is reporting that a Shenzhen, China subsidiary of Foxconn has begun mass production of a customized iPhone 3G meant for the Chinese market and China Unicom in particular. This customized model reportedly lacks built-in Wi-Fi, which lines up with information from an independent iLounge source, who indicated that mainland China would get a slightly different version of the iPhone than other countries. The 163 report goes on to indicate that the iPhone will receive its network license after negotiations between China Unicom and Apple have finished, possibly in the next few weeks. [via Tech Trader Daily]