In case the last HTC Touch HD pics didn’t satisfy your craving, this massive gallery certainly will.

Also, the site causally mentions that O2 Germany will be the first carrier worldwide to launch the WME smartphone sometime in November with a 659 Euro price tag. No word when that exclusive deal is up though.

theunwired via wmpoweruser via BGR

I like to pound on AT&T when given the chance, but I can’t justifiably rag them over iPocalypse. Apple dropped the ball when the iTunes servers crashed from everyone and their mother trying to update their first gen and/or activate the 3G model. They didn’t even bother sending out a release over the matter, which is sort of a PR no-no, IMO. But what else is new these days? Walt ragged on MobileMe earlier and for good reason. It stinks. Apple has a big fat FAIL rating at the moment. I’ve grown ever so close to my iP3G and barely ever touch my beloved BlackBerry anymore. However, it’s not all puppies and rainbows. The transition from 3G to EDGE and back is horrendous. But I won’t go any further then that.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, the iPhone 3G shortage. Wherever you go it seems that the iP3G is sold out and, let’s face it, cheaper hardware will do that sort of thing, but AT&T stores are a barren wasteland compared to Apple stores. Again, not their fault since Apple hordes them, but today they’ve gone ahead and updated their press site with info on inventory.

We’ve seen incredible demand for iPhone 3G since it launched — and subsequently sold out — on July 11. Many customers have opted to purchase iPhone 3G through direct fulfillment, which lets them purchase the device at their convenience and return to the store to pick it up as soon as it arrives in to the store. For those customers who have ordered through direct fulfillment, and have not yet received their iPhone 3G, here’s a quick update on our current inventory:

* As of July 23, direct fulfillment customers are receiving their iPhone 3G, on average, 13 or 14 days following purchase.
* Delivery times vary based on the specific model a customer chooses (8 GB, 16 GB white, 16 GB black).

AT&T handles direct fulfillment on a first-come, first-served basis, giving everyone an opportunity for stress-free shopping. As we receive new inventory from Apple, we are shipping it out immediately to fill customers’ orders. We hope to begin re-stocking our stores as soon as we can, but first priority goes to those customers who purchased through direct fulfillment.

Looks like I found a reason to rag on you, AT&T. It’s nice that you’ve updated the site regarding the iP3G shortage and all, but it’s sort of “whatever” if you don’t have a stock tracker for your chain of stores like Apple does. Look across the pond at O2 and take some notes. They’ve included a list of stores that have them in stock and update it daily. But hey, at least you’re trying. I can’t say the same for Apple.

Guess I didn’t think this one through all the way.

O2 has confirmed that unsubsidized iPhones will be available in Apple retail stores, O2 shops and Carphone warehouses for roughly £350 ($685) sans contract. Ouch.

Aw, lucky!!! New O2 customers in the United Kingdom will be able to grab an 8GB iPhone 3G for free with monthly plans of £45 and up. The required contract is only 18 months, too. Mike Butcher of our TechCrunch UK site says…

The news is pretty astounding. From going from a device which costs over £300 to virtually free at POS will supercharge iPhone sales in the UK and make it a real contender for mobile web startups as a platform. It will also suck out early adopters from other networks.

Butcher also caught wind that new iPhones will be able to be ordered online from O2’s web site and “will be sent out as O2 gets them from Apple,” whereas it’s being reported that here in the US, the new iPhone won’t be sold online at first – you’ll have to camp out at an Apple store or an AT&T retail location to get one.

Rumor has it that O2 will sell the 3G iPhone for $193 or may give it away for free to folks who sign up on an $140/month service plan with 3,000 minutes of talk time and 500 text messages. They may also offer the iPhone for about $500 on a prepaid-plan and may offer a free upgrade to current iPhone owners if they renew for 18 months. That said, Crazy Spice may also star in a lurid shiesse film featuring corporphilia and watersports. Any or all of these things may, in fact, be true. We just don’t know.

Rather than bombarding you folks with two successive 3G iPhone rumor posts, I’ll do so in one so as not to piss off the iPhone haters.

First, Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac has a hot tip that the new iPhone will include the following:

3G
GPS
2 x memory (16GB and 32GB)
22 percent thinner
Better battery life

We’ve already suspected all of the above to be true except the 22 percent thinner part.

Second, UBS analysts are feel it in their bones that O2 will offer the upcoming handset for a mere £100 while the rest of Europe will see it for €99 sometime in July.

Head over to O2’s iPhone shop. They are no longer selling the 8GB and 16GB iPhones… but if you click on “Find out more” you can order a 16GB. What is going on here? Are we in Crazy Land among the Crazyputians? Is up down and down up? Perhaps we’ll never know.

Register Hardware takes a gander at the S730 from HTC, also available on O2 as the XDA Atmos, and gave it a slightly above average score of 75 out of 100.

The S730’s keyboard won some big-time praise as “one of the best HTC keyboards we’ve used,” according to the review, and the device’s form factor is described as “chunky yet comfortable”.

Connectivity options include 3G HSDPA at 3.6Mb/second, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

The S730 got dinged for its slightly-sluggish 400MHz processor and 64MB of RAM, Home Screen UI quirkiness, and the fact that there’s no included hands-free kit — it must be purchased for £14.95. Also, the screen and battery life seem to be so-so.

HTC S730 Windows Mobile smartphone [Reg Hardware]

‘Tis their intention ta dry off and then buy an iPhone. Join ‘em?

Pull a pint and twiddle your muff because Ireland’s O2 will be selling the iPhone (translation: “tha’ bleedin’ iPhone, ye ponce”) at $600 for the 8GB and $750 for the 16GB. For about $50 a month you get up to 1GB of data and the standard SMS and talk times. Don’t be a wee sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie! Get thee to the Carphone Warhouse!

O2 Confirms Winning Irish iPhone Exclusivity [Cellular-News]
O2

Thanks for sending this in, Chris.

European telecomm O2 is expecting 200,000 iPhone sold in the UK by the end of the year while analysts expect up to 400,000 in the next few months. It’s this news that buoyed O2’s hopes in Europe and made everyone — including big Steve — purdy happy. The real takeaway, however, is that O2 will be carrying the 3G iPhone in Europe.

O 2 has signed a multi-year deal with Apple for the iPhone and Mr Key insists Vodafone, for example, could not muscle in and take the 3G iPhone in the UK.

I’m sure Vodafone or T-Mo could grab the contract if they wanted to, but I suspect the iPhone will go unlocked in its next gen form, ensuring everybody gets to try that sweet, sweet Apple pie.

iPhone take-up the key as O2 targets Europe [FT]

The BBC visited five UK-based Carphone Warehouse stores to see if rumors were true concerning customers being told that if they didn’t buy insurance on their iPhone and they happened to lose it somewhere, it would cost them at least £630 and a whole new contract to replace it.

While it’s true that they’d have to buy a new phone, the 18-month contract would not start over.

Read More

O2 is reporting that they sold “tens of thousands” of iPhones over the weekend, which means that tens of thousands of Brits are wandering the streets with mini-computers as we speak. O2 is very please and believes this is in line with expectations.

As there are only twenty thousand people in Britain at any one time — they’re too polite to push onto the island so most of them stay on Ibiza until it’s their turn to come back — this means the majority of the population owns an iPhone. Excellent work, O2!

iPhone sales are in line with expectations, says O2 chief [Guardian]

Do you live in London like Pete Doherty and have an iPod Touch? Well then! Leave that pipe at home and head out into the streets baby, ’cause you’ve got yourself some WiFi for that iPod Touch thanks to The Cloud. A new plan called Cloud Unlimited Music will be available today for £3.99 or ~$8 and allows iPod Touch users to access the internet as much as they want. Basically, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

Thinking of getting an iPhone when it comes out on O2? Well go ahead and get one, ’cause The Cloud and O2 have partnered to offer you the same damn plan for the same price. If only us Americans could get iPhone WiFi plans for $8 bucks a month. Sheesh.

The Cloud offers Wi-Fi access for iPod touch users [iLounge]

So, when is the UK getting the Apple iPhone? British mobile provider O2 continues to flirt with the iPhone, dropping little hints here and there that it will be the UK home for Apple’s cellphone++. Apparently, the company’s CEO mentioned, you know, just casually, that the iPhone will help the company “maintain momentum” as it heads into the remainder of the year. Then, immediately afterwards, O2 denied that it actually won the coveted iPhone contract.

Loose lips sink ships.

Read More

Apparently the iPhone will be hitting European shores in Q4, instead of Q3 as some had guessed.

Bad news for our pals across the pond who are waiting for Cupertino’s latest and greatest. But hey, you guys get plenty of cool phones before we do and by Q4 we’ll probably all be in flying cars anyway and you’ll have forgotten all about the iPhone!

Steve Jobs thinks that Apple will sell its millionth iPhone by the end of the fourth quarter. It’s unknown whether or not he’s factoring in European buyers but those sales certainly couldn’t hurt.

Apple Discusses European iPhone Release [PCWorld.com/Yahoo! News]

After a 30-percent overall increase in the months leading up to the iPhone release, Apple’s stock has continued to climb since last Friday. They’ve now hit their all-time high stock price, trading for as much as $132.97 on Nasdaq.

AT&T, on the other hand, closed down 1.3 percent (54 cents) and has seen a slight loss over the last few months.

So Tuesday Apple’s stock was $122, Wednesday the markets were closed, and Thursday the stock’s up to $132. Incredible. Investors have a lot of faith in Apple, not so much in AT&T. Picture the star athlete from your high school days: a true champion, a man’s man, always pulling through no matter what the odds against him. That’s Apple. Now imagine the star athlete’s dad: a washed-up insurance salesman that never really left high school, reliving his glory days vicariously through his son. That’s AT&T. Except in this scenario, the son can switch families after 5 years and has a much cooler, faster dad in Europe.

Apple shares at new high on iPhone sales prospects [Reuters]

There’s really not too much to say about this heretofore unseen Helen cellphone from O2. I could say that it sorta has an HTC-like vibe to it, but that could be just because it’s running WinMo 6 like the Wing. I could also say that its 3G-nessm, which includes UMTS, is impressive, but that’s only true because I’m an American whose country has the worst cellphone networks in the Developed World. Or perhaps I could mention that the built-in Wi-Fi, to a point, makes the 3G irrelevant when it comes out in Asia later this year.

But that would be boring, and I don’t want to do that to you.

Helen Info [CE4Arab via Electronista]

O2 Germany starts Selling and Shipping the first WM 6 Professional smartphone [The Unwired]