iPhone 4

Looking to upgrade your phone this holiday season? Radio Shack is running a promotion on the iPhone 4 until December 11 to highlight its wireless sales. Prices have been slashed $50 for the sale, bringing the total cost of a new 16GB iPhone 4 to $149.99 with a two-year service agreement.

This deal puts the 32GB iPhone 4 at $249.99 with the same contract. The iPhone 3GS is also available for only $49.99. Radio Shack has also beefed up its Trade & Save program, which will be of special interest to those upgrading from an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS.

US retailer Target is next in line to offer the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS in stores. The company will launch both Apple handset models in its Target Mobile section starting on November 7. Customers can get support from Target Mobile employees and activate their new device on the AT&T network in-store.

Target will initially offer the iPhone at 846 locations across the country, with most of the remaining 906 stores rolling out Target Mobile sections and iPhones at a later date. With the November 7 release date, the retailer plans to attract shoppers just in time for the holiday season.

Apple opened an online store in mainland China this week and it took only 10 hours to sell out of their entire inventory of iPhone 4 units. The country has four Apple Stores and iPhone buyers have waited in long lines since the release of the device in September. iPhone buyers were clearly enthusiastic about purchasing the phone online, although some reports have indicated many of the phones may have gone to scalpers who will resell for a profit.

iPhones have been in China for some time on the grey market, with millions imported from other countries. There's also a booming market in counterfeit and iPhone look-alike mobile devices as well. Despite this, the official product had no problem selling online or at retail stores, with over a quarter million units sold on launch day at the end of September.

Call centers connected to Apple and cellular carrier Verizon Wireless have begun hiring in earnest, with rumors and speculation flying that the staff additions could only be in preparation for a Verizon iPhone launch. One company, Ryla is hiring 1,700 people in four states on behalf of a "major wireless cell phone service retailer."

Further evidence points to Teleperformance in Salt Lake City, who has a history of working closely with Apple and Verizon Wireless in the past. The company has advertised hundreds of positions in six states related to wireless, communications or cell phone support. One ad states that job applicants will offer technical support for personal computers and portable devices including MP3 players and smartphones.

Dev-Team has released an updated version of their simple and powerful PwnageTool jailbreak software. The new version combines the pwnage2 exploit with the pf kernel exploit from comex and geohot's limera1n. PwnageTool results in an untethered jailbreak of iOS 4.1, allowing unauthorized software to run on your device.

The second-generation Apple TV is now included in the PwnageTool device list, as well as iPads running firmware 3.2.2. Right now the Dev-Team is offering a Mac OS X version of PwnageTool, and as normally happens development of a Windows version is probably underway.