• 2007 Apple sets a contract with AT&T to be the exclusive distributor of the iPhone, but nobody knows how long.
• 2008 In the midst of a class-action lawsuit, the end date comes out, and
  it’s in 2012. The market begins to evolve.
• 2010 Engadget finds this
  detail and posts about
  it, but suggests that
  the contract may have
  changed. source

• 33% of smartphone sales are made by BlackBerry maker RIM
• 28% of smartphone sales are various phones that run on Google’s Android OS
• 21% of smartphone sales are made by Apple; note the lack of Microsoft source

• » Red herring?: Before we go gaga over these sales numbers, one thing to keep in mind is that Apple only sells one phone, whereas Research in Motion has a whole lineup of phones and Android is used by numerous companies. Business Insider sees a different (and also probably accurate) conclusion: Apple needs to get their phone on Verizon, like yesterday.

• MAYBE the feds are on the case source

• Steve Jobs will see you in his office, STAT. Hogan, 21, found the iPhone prototype at a bar and later sold Gizmodo the device thinking it would be reviewed. Earlier, Hogan had a friend attempt to get the phone back to Apple, but reportedly didn’t try very hard. After that, he and others working with him made the rounds among journalists, asking for money, including Wired (which broke the story). Gizmodo took the bait. And the rest is this guy’s infamy. source

• Key point: It’s not getting on the iPhone due to technology reasons. Steve Jobs’ 1,657-word manifesto on Flash is a really interesting document on the nature of one of Silicon Valley’s biggest fights. We don’t think Jobs has ever been this open. We’d like to see him keep this up in the future. It really makes his points seem reasonable. Here’s a summary that’s about a fifth of the size.

First: Let’s get this out of the way

• no Steve doesn’t mention the
  kerfuffle between Apple and Gizmodo over the leaked iPhone
• no Flash won’t be getting on the
  iPhone anytime soon, so lose
  those dreams now, guys

Cutting his six points to three

• one Flash is a closed, proprietary standard, and Apple’s goals for the Web are to use open standards such as HTML5. And lots of sites use these already.
• two Flash is another thing that has to run on a device that needs to be as lightweight as possible. This affects phone performance as well as battery life.
• three Flash is a technology that’s designed for PCs, not touchscreens. Plus, Adobe has been bad about supporting our platforms in the past, and could repeat here.

Key quote from his Steveness

• Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.
• Steve Jobs • Sticking the dagger into the company’s technology. His main point? Flash isn’t a platform designed for mobile phones, and as he’s trying to push for the strongest app development on the platform he can, he wants to avoid putting a technology on his phones that adds one more thing to the load. But he’s clear that it’s not because of competitive reasons, like everyone thinks it is. We’re still not convinced. source

• one Apple sits on the steering committee of the task force that raided Jason Chen’s house.
• two Jason Chen, as you might imagine, owns a lot of computers; here’s what got taken away.
• three It’s still inconclusive as to whether the search warrant was legal. Some say yes; some no.

• yes There is an investigation regarding the lost iPhone that showed up on Gizmodo earlier this week.
• no Gizmodo has yet to be contacted in the case. But there could be criminal action in the case. source

• 8.75
  million the number of iPhones (including one prototype) that sold last quarter
• 133%
  boost the year-over-year increase from
  last year source

• iPhone update. We think we’ve identified the sorry Apple engineer who left the next-gen phone at the bar. Calling in a min.
• Gawker Media founder Nick Denton • Regarding that iPhone prototype they just paid $5,000 for. The guy, who Gizmodo just wrote an article on, is a 27-year-old Apple software engineer named Gray Powell. Poor guy’s last Facebook update from the bar was, “I underestimated how good German beer is.” As famous last words go, perhaps not very revealing, but ones we can totally stand behind. We feel for you, Gray Powell. If you’re in D.C., call us. We’ll buy you a … rum and coke. Because beer is bad luck for you. source