Research In Motion's iPhone substitute, the touchscreen-equipped BlackBerry Storm, has debuted. Perhaps a bit hastily. In the U.K., it's sold by Vodafone, which has displayed a page of specifications. The screenshots show the Storm displaying the iPhone's characteristic icons and Apple's Safari Web browser. Has Apple licensed the iPhone's operating system to RIM? No, what this looks like is a rushed-out product launch, and an overeager Web designer. Another shot:

The latest estimates show Apple has sold 10 million iPhones so far in 2008 — a goal CEO Steve Jobs expected the company to hit by the end of this year, when he launched the first-generation iPhone last summer. [Apple 2.0]

"Hong Kong is now the one and only country in the world where you can buy an unlocked contract-free iPhone directly from the online Apple Store," writes John Gruber, aka Daring Fireball. He goes on to answer my plea for an explanation of Apple's motives. You can read his full-length post, or my 100-word edit:

What took so long? Obama '08, the iPhone app, is free. Sort of: There's no charge, but the app will try to put you to work dialing friends in battleground states. CNET non-Democrat Declan McCullagh test-drove it: "The application ranked contacts in Colorado, Michigan, and New Mexico at the top; at the bottom was a friend whose cell phone has a Texas number, though she actually lives in California." The app's controversial feature is that it reports back to Obama Central on the total number of calls you've dialed.

The folks at Loopt managed to garner a heaping helping of positive publicity from Michael Arrington by releasing a tool allowing readers of Arrington's TechCrunch blog to stalk each other out in the real world. And not only will it help you raise all sorts of privacy concerns among perfect strangers, Arrington himself will tell you where he is in the world at all times. So it shouldn't be hard to find him when he ditches the plebes at the next TechCrunch event for a Scotch-fueled afterparty. (Photo by Andrew Mager)

Apple made developers who wanted to write applications for the iPhone sign a non-disclosure agreement that was rigorous it even forbade them from publishing Apple's letters rejecting their app from its iTunes store. More seriously, the NDA also prevented developers from learning from each others mistakes and publishers from writing how-to manuals for would-be application developers. So after loud complaints, Apple today announced it would drop the non-disclosure agreement for released iPhone software. Developers rejoiced. Explaining the need for the NDA in the first place, Apple also landed a few only slightly veiled jabs at an old rival, Microsoft. I couldn't help but be reminded of a scene from Pirates of Silicon Valley, which I've embedded below.

If your iPhone 3G's American AC adapter doesn't have a green dot on it, Apple wants you to swap it for a new one. The recalled adapter's plugs have been reported to break off in wall sockets — not just an annoyance, but an electrical shock and fire hazard.

A senior Adobe engineer confirmed the obvious at a Flash developer's conference in England that yes, they're building a Flash player especially for the iPhone. Paul Betlem from Adobe balked at saying the app was sure to be built into Apple's Safari browser that ships with the phone, but it seems a certainty. Flash websites and video clips are no longer the "Skip Intro" bane of the Web. Apple went out of its way to enable YouTube on the first iPhone. Enabling the iPhone to work on any Flash-based website seems the obvious next step in removing the functional differences between phone and laptop. (Photoillustration by Jackson West)

I waited until today to post this, in hopes someone would explain why Apple now sells unlocked 3G iPhones in Hong Kong. Previously, the phones were locked into a two-year contract with Hutchison. The AP reports that unlocked iPhones were "widely available on the black market," but that's also true on eBay. Anyone? Gruber?

Apple's 3G iPhone commercials, shown here, are a big lie. But at least they're a pleasant falsehood. And they don't display a disregard for proper wordsmithing the way T-Mobile's new G1 "with Google" commercial, below, does in some misguided attempt to be irreverent, hip and Internet-trendy. Dissing the dictionary isn't hip. Ask Yahoo's Jerry Yang. "Smarterer, funnerer, connecteder?" Someone should be fireder.

Apple had planned to build 18 million iPhones in 2008. Pacific Crest Securities, an analyst which closely watches Apple's supply chain, says Apple has cut that number to between 14 million and 15 million. BlackBerry maker RIM announced lower-than-expected quarterly sales last week, so perhaps Apple is seeing a similar softening in demand. Another possibility: Apple plans to quit selling its iPhone with 8GB of storage and sell its 16GB model for $199 instead. The news is not helping Apple shares, which are already down 13 percent on analysts' predictions that strapped consumers will buy fewer Macs.

JAMESON'S IRISH BAR, BOSTON, MASS. — If you'd gotten over that unclothed photo of Robert Scoble and Naked Conversations coauthor Shel Israel, here's a new one to haunt your memories. Scoble, Fast Company's pet videoblogger and social media guru, was in Boston for the EmTech conference, and he wanted to go to a bar. Why? So he could sit at a table and ignore everyone around him, constantly reloading FriendFeed, the Web-activity tracker on which he relentlessly documents his nonparticipation in the world which surrounds him. Two startup executives who had just watched the Red Sox play at Fenway Park with Scoble told me he Twittered nonstop through his visit to the Green Monster. The only time he was separated from his iPhone? When he lent it to me to take a picture of him. That didn't turn out, but I found another pic Scoble had taken of himself, fresh out of the shower.

The coming iPhone-vs.-Android fight will be drawn along clear lines: Keyboard versus touchscreen. And for phone applications, open bazaar versus walled garden. While Google talks up the openness of its platform, Apple keeps plugging leaks through which iPhone app developers can thwart Apple's ruthless management of its App Store. The latest: Podcaster app developer Alamerica had been rejected by Apple. Someone at Alamerica figured out a workaround: They could hand out ad hoc licenses — meant for development and testing — in return for a $10 donation.Not only did it end-run the App Store, it cut Apple out of its 30 percent take on the fee. No more, though. Apple has shut down access to the ad hoc license system. I wouldn't go so far as to claim Apple's iron-fist approach will cause consumers to switch phones. But there's an obvious angle for Google: Play up the goofy apps like Pull My Finger that Steve Jobs wouldn't touch. Because if you've ever watched a bunch of drunk twentysomethings playing with their phones in a nightclub, you know that stupid and entertaining often beats pretty and functional.

Jilted developers whose finished iPhone apps are rejected by Apple now get an extra reminder in the Dear John letters sent by App Store guardian Victor Wang, "THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS UNDER NON-DISCLOSURE." Translation: Your contract with Apple forbids you from posting our rejection letter on MacRumors for a few bitter laughs.

CBS EyeMobile, the new iPhone application that will let you beam horrific images of disasters directly from the scene to the CBS News team. And it lets you upload video as well as photos. But only if you first hack your iPhone with Jailbreak and other software to enable video recording — thereby voiding your warranty. And new subsidiary CNet will be happy to show you how! [NewTeeVee]

Russian telecom VimpelCom has a deal with Apple to offer the iPhone earlier this month, but it's not on sale in Russia until later this year. So how did Russian president Dmitry Medvedev end up with one? Russian blog Siberian Light spotted him playing with an iPhone — presumably black-market — at a press conference.

PMc is here! (Pause for applause). That, of course, is the name of the new iPhone-only magazine founded by nightlife photographer and long-aspiring celebrity Patrick McMullan. For only 99 cents on iTunes, you can now have a piece of this revolutionary bit of media progress. And McMullan himself is absolutely sweating to bring the latest in celebrity ruffle-wearing to his (dozens of?) readers:

After Apple banned iPhone app Podcaster from its iTunes App Store, CNET called Podcaster the iPhone app that's "so good, Apple won't let you have it." Apple hasn't said why, but it's widely believed that the app was banned for competing with the iPhone's built-in podcast-downloading software. But blogger Niall Kennedy writes that he tested the Podcaster app according to Apple's stated rules, and discovered three reasons Apple might have legitimately rejected Alex Sokirynsky's app.Kennedy said Podcaster takes as long as 3 to 5 minutes to load some menus, that he had to dismiss a confirmation sheet each time he added a new podcast, and that Podcaster's interface is crowded and ugly. Remember, ugly is an unforgivable sin in the eyes of Apple, which warns developers on its Developer Connection site:

Samsung has launched a hostile $5.9 billion offer for SanDisk, a rival maker of flash-memory chips, which SanDisk has rejected. Toshiba, which manufactures chips in partnership with SanDisk, is considering a blocking bid. The posturing is typical: SanDisk says the bid undervalues the company, while Samsung executives retort that it is "full and fair." Leave aside the deal theatrics: Why does Samsung want SanDisk?Simple: It needs to bulk up to contend with the might of Apple, one of the largest buyers of flash memory. Samsung has supplied the memory chips for Apple's iPhone since its launch last year. Before then, Samsung sold Apple memory for its iPod line, and continues to do so today. Apple is a huge customer for Samsung — so huge that it can command deep discounts, and tie up an enormous amount of Samsung's manufacturing capability. When Apple first launched its flash-memory iPod Nano, it locked up enough production to keep rivals off the market for months. (Even Samsung and SanDisk tried to launch me-too clones of the Nano, to no effect.) Regulators may block Samsung's SanDisk bid. But they ought to keep an eye on Apple, too. Antitrust cops tend to spend all their time watching for monopolies — sellers who wield undue influence over a market. They should crack open their investment glossaries and look up "monopsony" — the condition that exists when a buyer dominates a market. (Illustration via Apple Insider)

Loopt has certainly gotten creative marketing the company's "social-mapping and communication service" — three-minute video advertisements on the touch-screen displays in New York City taxi cabs. Perfect for reaching the pink and green, double-popped-collar crowd. Care to help with the caption? Best offering in the comments is sacrificed to the new headline gods. The gods rewarded rwe112 for yesterday's winner, "Forgive me father, for I have sinned..."