More evidence that Apple (AAPL) will officially be entering the world’s biggest cellphone market… eventually. As of today, it’s advertising a job opening for an iPhone Quality Assurance Engineer in Beijing to “focus on international releases of our iPhone and iPod touch products for Beijing.”

The job posting was added to Apple’s career site today. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything: Apple posted an opening for an “iPhone Service Quality Engineer/Manager” for Shanghai in August, 2007.

Over the last year, Apple has dramatically increased the number of countries where the iPhone is on sale, which has boosted its sales. Similarly, selling the iPhone in China might also significantly boost sales. But so far, China has been a major holdout.

There’s clearly demand for the iPhone there: China Mobile, the nation’s biggest carrier, said in February that more than 400,000 unlocked iPhones were running “unofficially” on its network at the end of last year. That could be millions by now.

iPhone apps are all the rage and everyone is out to make the next top app. Speculation is rampant, especially in the eve of a software update for the iPhone. One such rumor surrounds Google and the ability to search via voice commands.

A study of new mobile phones from an online warranty supplier has suggested that Apple’s iPhone has substantially fewer failures than handsets from BlackBerry and Palm.

San Francisco-based SquareTrade sells extended warranties for electronic goods in the United States. At the weekend, it published a report that looked at the failure rates from more than 15,000 new phones within 12 months of ownership.

After the first year of handset use, it found a 5.6 percent malfunction rate reported on the iPhone, which was “significantly lower” than malfunction rate of 11.9 percent for BlackBerry handsets. Palm Treo users suffered the worst, with a malfunction rate of 16.2 percent.

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The hot-shot hired to run Apple’s iPhone and iPod division has disappeared - at least from the company’s website.

Following the recent retirement of Tony Fadell, the contractor who designed the original iPod in 2001 then rose to head the company’s iPod Division, Apple went hunting for a replacement.

By late October, CEO Steve Jobs had located his prey, and duly poached one Mark Papermaster, the head of IBM’s blade server unit, to replace Fadell as senior vice president in charge of its iPod division, which includes the hit iPhone.

IBM immediately sued, saying Mr Papermaster had to sit out a year-long non-compete agreement. Apple professed to be unworried by the suit, and on November 4 said it would press ahead with its plan to hire Mr Papermaster regardless. An Federal District judge demurred, however, as IBM successfully gained an injuction on November 8 to immediately top Mr Papermaster from working at Apple.

Today the new hire’s biography had been removed from Apple’s website, along with the press release announcing his appointment.

The internet being the internet however, and Mr Papermaster’s name so search-engine friendly, it was not long before Apple fans located his now in-limbo appointment announcement and bio, living on forever in Google cache.

With its magnificent 3.5 inch display, the iPhone is perfect for reading not just documents, but entire books.

And the application Stanza not only gives you access to a massive database of books (including Project Gutenberg) but also allows you to share books from your computer using Stanza Desktop.

We were blown away by the fact that you can turn a page by flicking your finger across the screen.

While Google Maps is an excellent application, it does not give you the option to find hotels, cinema halls and other hang-outs near you (unless you are willing to squint at the map, of course).

For that you need to try out AroundMe, which uses the location provided by Google Maps to find out key landmarks in your vicinity.

These can range from pharmacies and restaurants to parking lots and banks. The information for Indian cities is not as comprehensive as we would have liked it sure is handy.

SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov 06, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Epocrates, Inc. today announced hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals and consumers, including more than 50,000 U.S. physicians, have downloaded its drug and formulary reference application to an Apple iPhone(TM) or iPod Touch(R) device in only four months. The free Epocrates Rx software(R), designed specifically for the iPhone platform, was available at the launch of the Apple App store in July. The professional drug guide was an immediate hit with physicians, and is continuously ranked as one of the most popular apps in the health and fitness category.
“The early adoption and reception of our iPhone application has been phenomenal,” said Kirk Loevner, chairman and chief executive officer for Epocrates. “Physicians appreciate how we have capitalized on the iPhone’s advanced capabilities with the Epocrates Rx software, particularly the powerful processor, rich graphics and large storage capacity.”
Epocrates provides on-demand drug information for healthcare professionals to reference during a patient consultation. In a clinical scenario, a physician can use the iPhone with Epocrates to look up the correct dosing for a new medication, or enter a patient’s list of drugs to check for potentially harmful interactions. A standout feature for many physicians is the pill identifier tool, which has been central to solving mystery pills patients bring in or cannot recall by name.
“Epocrates is my ‘killer app’ for the iPhone. The drug information is concise, the pill photos are clear and well-rendered, and the clinical messages are always timely,” said Dr. Alan Koenigsberg. “It’s a five-star program I recommend to physicians in all specialties, and to the general public who want reliable current medication information.”
Epocrates continues to develop for the Apple platform, most recently introducing software updates to enhance usability, such as the ability to receive automatic updates for its clinical content that ensures physicians always have current information at their fingertips. Additionally, the company will be launching its premium Epocrates Essentials(R) drug, disease and diagnostic guide for iPhone and iPod Touch devices in early 2009.
“We are continuing to innovate on the iPhone,” said Loevner. “We will broaden the range of content and tools we provide to healthcare professionals, while providing a rich and compelling user experience.”

LEXTECH Labs has released a mobile surveillance viewing and controlling application for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
The iRa application is available in the Apple App Store. It allows the device to control and view multiple live video feeds over a wireless connection and control camera pan, tilt and zoon functions.
According to the developers, their application will create situational awareness for technicians remotely monitoring the situation at their factories and facilities, without the need for a room full of camera monitors.

Apple is likely to cut production of its iPhone 3G smartphone by up to 40 percent during the current quarter, an analyst warned, saying the expected change signals weaker demand for consumer electronics, which isn’t news for anyone following the grim economy of late.

Apple followers replied by saying the cut won’t be so severe, but there probably will be a cut of some kind.

“That the firm’s iPhone production plans are being revised lower suggests that the global macroeconomic weakness

If the iPhone’s many competitors and imitators had a rallying cry as they unleashed the latest set of products designed to topple Apple’s sleek smartphone from its position atop the market, “Take that, iPhone” might be it. But “take that, Blackberry” might be more apt — at least if Yale students have anything to say about it.

In a Yale Daily News poll e-mailed to 650 Yale undergraduates this week, 30 percent of the 159 respondents said they own a smartphone, with owners of BlackBerrys, the iPhone’s rival, outnumbering iPhone owners by about 3 percent. Yet the number of those who said they would like to own an iPhone was almost double that of those who want a BlackBerry. And with the newest BlackBerry — the large, elegant Bold — on the market as of yesterday, and the touch-screen Storm to follow on November 14th, it seems the old iPhone vs. Blackberry war is as fiery as ever.

The iPhone has dominated cell phone industry buzz over the past year, spawning a host of copycats and challengers, from the Samsung Instinct to the LG Vu to the Nokia N78.

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