There is quite a bit of Internet chatter about Apple's (AAPL) new iPhone 4. Unfortunately for the tech company, a good deal of it is negative. There is a problem with reception for the iPhone, a problem that stems from touching "a spot" on the lower left side of the phone. This problem caused Consumer Reports to say that it "can't recommend the iPhone 4." On July 2, Apple tried to explain that the problem was not the antenna, but that it was a calculation mistake that makes it appear that there were two more bars of reception -- seriously. Apple did offer to fix the problem with a free software update (available in a "few weeks") for the iPhone 4, 3, and 3GS.

AT&T, Inc. (T) has been getting itself into a wad about recent commercials from larger competitor Verizon Wireless. In those ads, Verizon touts its advanced 3G wireless coverage over AT&T's tepid 3G coverage as a way to battle the ubiquitous popularity of the Apple (AAPL) iPhone that no carrier seems to be able an unseat as the phone to exclusively sell.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) could sell twice as many iPhones if it decided to dump partner AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) as the only exclusive provider of the iPhone, according to some Bernstein Research analysts. Would Apple dare do that? Since Apple and AT&T joined exclusive forces almost two years ago, Verizon Wireless has emerged as the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. -- and none of its 87+ million subscribers has an iPhone. Mighty tempting, Apple.

Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G has admittedly caused problems for wireless partner AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T). Little did AT&T know that so many iPhones would be sold and so much data would be pumped over its wireless network.

What would happen if a newer iPhone was announced and released this year that featured front-facing camera videoconferencing? Would the millions of iPhone users start sending out even more bucketloads of data doing a ton of live video over their iPhones?

In his BullMarket.com advisory, Bill Martin looks to new products from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), such as the next version of the iPhone.

In addition, the advisors looks to the recent stronger-than-expected results announced by Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and why that may bode well for Apple's own upcoming results.

Martin observes, "RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said Apple will launch a new version of the iPhone inJune, which the analyst has dubbed the iPhone 3G Pro.

"In a research note, Abramsky said the new version of the popular smartphone will include a number of new features and improvements over the one introduced last summer to popular appeal.

With most Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone App Store applications gathering dust after a very short period of time, one has to wonder if the ultimate application store for the iPhone is all what it's cracked up to be. If most of the applications have very limited usefulness (one the novelty wears off), is the iPhone more than just an expensive applications platform with a mobile phone attached?

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is slicing $10 off the price of the 8GB Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G, cutting its price to $189.99 through January 3rd. In addition, the 16GB version of the iPhone will drop to $289.99 as well. Wow! A measly $10 off a new iPhone! Stop the presses!

Best Buy's Scott Moore indicated that "we thought this would be a way to help customers right now." What a generous gift, yes? Truth be told, it's Apple who dictates to its retailer partners the prices they can sell Apple goods. This is why you'll see almost the exact same price for any Apple product no matter where you purchase it.

But, if Best Buy thinks whacking $10 off the price of an already-overpriced piece of hardware is doing customers a favor, something's in the food in Richfield. And, a $30 "setup fee" for the iPhone? What kind of nonsense is that? At least this fee is being waived along with this huge price reduction. Since Best Buy gives a free "walking out working" setup to all the other cellphones it sells, why on earth is there a $30 fee to setup the iPhone -- which is heralded as one of the easiest phones to setup anyway?

It's no secret that Best Buy has been hurt by the holiday season retail sales slowdown -- it has said as much -- but I'm not sure this is any way to help that situation. That is, unless customers are expected to line up to save the cost of a single movie ticket to a device that locks them into more than $1,600 in calling and data plan contract fees over a 24-month period. What a mark that $10 will have, yes? If Apple and Best Buy really want to "help out" more customers, it sure needs to be more than a measly $10 pittance.

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) enjoyed many years of mythical-type growth as a result of the innocuous little BlackBerry device that emerged on the scene around the turn of the century.

The thumb-driven mini-keyboard and its ability to access e-mail away from the computer allowed busy professionals to get more done, greatly improving productivity.

Unfortunately for the company, some of the biggest users of these devices were the Wall Street crowd. With the financial sector in complete disarray, investors in RIMM are legitimately asking if the loss of sales will be temporary, or something more permanent.

Shares of RIMM have been in a freefall during the latter half of this year. Since reaching a peak of nearly $150 per share in late June, RIMM lost more than $100 in value. Shares now trade in the mid-$30 range.

So what gives?

It was just a matter of time. It looks like the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G will be coming to Wal-Mart sometime before the end of the year, but probably after Christmas. According to the Boy Genius Report, which claims its sources are reliable and to have come across some internal Wal-Mart correspondence, the iPhone 3G will be sold in 2,500 Wal-Mart locations in about a month from now.

Remember that the iPhone 3G must be activated (unlike the original iPhone), so only Wal-Mart locations that can use a specific ordering and activation system can carry the iPhone 3G. Some Sam's Club locations will also carry the iPhone 3G, but they also must use the Wal-Mart ordering and activation system in-house (several Sam's locations use a different wireless activation system). All in all, this will make the iPhone available to just about every American (well, the ones with good credit at least) as more U.S. shoppers have exposure to Wal-Mart than just about any other store.

The question is whether Apple is forsaking the iPhone cool brand allure by offering it at the largest discounter in the world. At this time, no. The iPhone 3G has been out in the world long enough for the iPhone to make its name. Offering it at Wal-Mart now won't impact its reputation nor affect Apple's cred.

Since Apple pretty much dictates pricing to its retail partners, expect the iPhone 3G to sell for a dollar or two less than the standard $199 and $299 pricing levels seen at all other retailers. Say, something like $197.48 and $297.48, as Wal-Mart is into non-standard retail pricing schemes to try and create the illusion of low prices against the competition. The presumed launch date: December 28th. Get ready.

In business school, MBA students play a marketing strategy game where they launch imaginary electronics products, using phantom research & development dollars and marketing expenditures to position the products as high-end or low-end, to market to certain audiences, and then to change the price point to attract the maximum sales possible. It's a delicate game meant to emphasize how consumers value products; and how some will not purchase a product if it's too inexpensive; the low price devalues the item. It's a quest for the perfect price.

Smartphones have been on that quest, with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in the lead. No company seems to more attentively strategize its price points than Apple, and the iPhone has a storied history, first launched for $599 and $499 for the 8GB and 4GB models, respectively, followed swiftly by a $200 price cut for both products. Now the new 8GB iPhone 3G is $199 if you buy it with an AT&T phone plan (and $299 for the 16GB version).

In a research note yesterday, analyst Charlie Wolf of Needham Research said he'd done the analysis and Apple could safely sell the 8GB version for $99, a price point that, with the subsidy from AT&T, would protect its margins at 42.3% (I need to see the numbers on this), and certainly convince holdouts like me (the refurb Blackberry I use was free with the contract subsidy) that the iPhone is the thing. At this price, surely the game would be a landslide in Apple's favor. The iPhone is more beautiful, more useful, and has more geeky cred than the Blackberry; at $99, I agree that the market would be won and to the iPhone conqueror would be the spoils.

Michael wrote yesterday about Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) announcement of newer iPods plus a major update for the iTunes music/TV/movie store -- and how the market seemed to not care about anything other than the health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. I say, enough already -- can the analysts and pundits get off Jobs' case and let the man lead his company without distraction?

This seems more like checkout line magazine idiocy and entertainment smut more than anything. Instead of talking about Apple's growing dominance in the cellphone, PC and music marketplaces (where it is incredibly strong already), the entertainment media street analysts continue yakking about Jobs' health. Do they not know that Jobs has lined up such an incredible design and execution team that Apple would, umm, continue to be a market powerhouse even when Jobs eventually retires or leaves the company? Ever hear of Phil Schiller? How about Jonathan Ives?

It's true that not one executive on this planet embodies a company like Jobs does to Apple. That's the trick -- but that doesn't mean Apple would implode five years after Jobs leaves (when he does, by any method). Although Jobs looked gaunt yesterday when introducing all these new products, he was energetic (very much so) and continued to decline comment on his health. Get over it, folks. Let's talk about Apple's business prospects and results, not about the health of its evangelical founder and CEO.

Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) expanded their existing relationship this past Sunday, as the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. became the exclusive provider for the Apple iPhone 3G, aside from Apple and its wireless carrier partner AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T).

The fact that Best Buy is now selling the iPhone 3G should help Apple sell up to ten million iPhones (original and 3G) in 2008. If you've been lusting after an iPhone but can't get to an Apple retail store or AT&T retail location, just head on down to your local Best Buy store. Best Buy reported that it is now selling the iPhone 3G in all 970 full-size stores along with 16 Best Buy Mobile specialty stores.

What does this mean for Best Buy? Probably more foot traffic to the already market-leading source of flat-panel televisions, PCs, gadgets, and music. Best Buy should also be able to help educate potential buyers on the iPhone 3G and help turn those folks into AT&T subscribers and Apple customers.

It has become apparent to my colleagues and I that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is perhaps the most popular company to write about and should you have the slightest question about its products, service, or stock price you are bound to get a few flaming comments from the Apple faithful.

The stock is slightly up from last month when I posted Chasing Value: Apple -- two rights and one wrong closing at $160.18 Friday.

However, this is down about 20% from its high of $202.96, so it is under performing the market by about 5%. No big deal for a stock with a beta of 2.36. Actually, a few of the faithful probably made some good money buying when Apple was down earlier in the year, under $120.

This is one company that people are in love with and that is where some caution is warranted. Just like you might overlook a friend or loved ones idiosyncrasies you might have a tendency to do the same with this stock. Discipline (and perhaps some luck) is required by successful investors and the feedback we get is that some Apple investors have been blinded by the light.

There will come a day when the blockbuster products and features disappoint.

Apple's forward looking P/E of 28 has come down some with the stock price as earnings growth continues, even if Apple says that might slow too. On that I say -- who knows? It has been accused of downplaying its future earnings just to have us marvel at the upside after reporting. We shall have to wait and see.

It has been about six weeks since the 3G iPhone found its way into my 15-year-old's growing hands and he loves it (but owns no stock). All of the features advertised have met his expectations, but, and it is a big but, the battery charge does not last very long unless you consciously conserve by using less of the features.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me and other readers as to why Apple cannot make a removable battery that users can replace themselves. Apple would make more money by selling back-ups that iPhone owners could swap out themselves extending the usefullness of the phone. I carry an extra battery for my phone. If Apple did this I think even a few more people would use it for business.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of AAPL.

When Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) released the iPhone 3G back in July, little did it know (most likely) that the device would have issues worldwide connecting to 3G networks, causing consumer frustration on a level we've rarely seen with any Apple product. Well, some consumers have apparently given up and they're moving back to the older, slower, original iPhone, which is causing a cottage industry to spring up around the older device.

NextWorth.com is charging $200 to $300 for a used iPhone (the non-3G kind), which is more than the price of the newer, sleeker and faster iPhone 3G. Why? There's demand -- and lots of it. Some customers don't want to be shackled to AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T), the exclusive carrier for the iPhone and iPhone 3G in the U.S., as the original iPhone can be unlocked very easily using software tools found all over the internet. Once unlocked, the original iPhone can be used at any WiFi hotspot. There are no 3G connectivity issues either.

Does Apple have a problem now that the older, discontinued iPhone is still in hot demand? No. People using iPhones, new or old, reinforces the brand among other things, and Apple still made the original sale after all. If there is any loser here, it's AT&T. The largest wireless carrier in the U.S. still has the smallest nationwide 3G wireless network compared to its competitors. Launching a product with the magnitude of the iPhone 3G was just asking for problems given AT&T's network, and some informed customers don't want AT&T at all.

Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G continues to sell like gangbusters even with multiple issues and some furious customers. But, if Apple really is bent on selling over 10 million of the now-iconic, do-everything handset, it may need to beef up its sales as best it can. Enter China Mobile.

That's right -- the wireless company that has more subscribers than there are U.S. citizens may be selling the iPhone 3G soon, according to reports. And we're not talking gray market handsets, but an actual partnership between Apple and China Mobile. Talks between the two companies, according to the 21st Century Business Herald, are in "final stages."

China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou stated this week at the ITU Telecom Asia 2008 exhibition in Bangkok that "Steve Jobs and I hope the iPhone will enter China as soon as possible ... we are discussing this issue, but we do not have an agreement." If Apple can get its do-everything handset into China Mobile, we've not seen anything yet in terms of iPhone 3G sales.

IPod sales may be on the decline in the near future -- but can the iPhone 3G make up for that? We'll see.